#sdc283-anything-but-card-week-two.

All About Alice

This weeks Stampotique challenge is 'Anything But A Card'.

I wanted to make something a bit more 3D and mixed media and this is what I came up with.

The little box shrine is one that I have had for a while, I decorated it with substrates, painted it with black gesso, then used pigment powders from Indigo Blu to colour it and give it a metallic finish.

I used my Stampotique Alice stamps on shrink plastic and coloured them with artist pencils, then shrank them. The toadstool and red queen stamps were manipulated over a roller, to curve them.

I painted a tree in the background and made the heart bush from another piece of shrink plastic using the Red Queen's skirt.

I finished my little scene off by adding an Alice tag.

#sdc282-only-blue-week-2

I've had a few weeks off again, largely due to working full time at the minute and just not having the time to do anything arty and crafty😭.

But back to it last night and was rather please with this tag that I made with Daniel Torrente's sea horses, lots of backgrounds and mixed media.

 The background was made using streaks of blue iridescent acrylic paint, with Indigoblu's bubble stamp stamped on the top in distress oxide.

 I stamped on the sea horses and highlighted them in blue fine liners, then blended the colours using Spectrum Noir blendable pencils in different shades of blue. I dribbled on light blue graphix pen and made it run. I then over stamped my sentiments and seaweed and added some blue gems.
The lovely thing about this tag is that because I used distress oxides, it reacted with some of the other pens that I have used, creating some lovely purple, green and blue hues.

#SDC280 - INCHIES WEEK TWO. Maria Lawton.

It's odd how I really struggled with my inchie last week, but this week....I just 'did it!'

Again, I have used Distress oxides for the background and on the INCHIES themselves. I used Jo Capper-sandon's seaweed stamp for the background, stamping both with and into spritzed oxides.
I used Daniel Torrente's 'Girl with a heart purse,' to stamp across all of my INCHIES and used a Dylusions sentiment stamp, which is quite close to my heart. To finish off, I used gold guilding wax around the edges and mounted my design onto Kraft card and added a scribble border.

Upward Bound Card.

I have been desperate to use this stamp by Maria Raita Sabina for ages and a belated birthday card for a dear friend's daughter seemed a good excuse to use this gorgeous little bunny.
The card is a fusion of embossed sentiments (Leonie Pujol) stamping and acrylic painting, I loved making it and hope that my daughter's friend loves it too.

#SDC280-Inchies Maria Lawton

After three weeks of sorting out my Art room, I've finally found my desk and made something for the Stampotique 'Inchies' challenge.
Challenge was the appropriate word, I found this quite tricky to do, in fact this is the third attempt!

I have used Daniel Torrente's starfish cube and Jo-Capper Sandon's Seaweed stamps, from Stampotique and the sentiment is from a set by Tracey Evans.
My little starfish Inchie was stamped, then overlaid with glossy accents and finally painted in acrylic paint.
The background, other starfish and card edges were created using distress oxides...love them.

All-in-all I feel that I have done justice to christening my new and improved art room.

#SDC278 - Use Some Kind of Tape - Week 2

Phew! It's ages since I have posted, in fact, since May I have taken a bit of a break from Stampotique challenges as I have been busy with work, painting commissions and co-ordinating a whole school art project to paint a huge mural at my school.
I am now on school hols, so I may have a bit of time to play and join in with the challenges...(between keeping my four children entertained!)
Firstly, I have  confession....I have never used Washi tape before (shock, horror!)
The only Washi tape that I owned came in job lot of crafty bits I purchased a while ago.
Being a red candy stripe design, the Washi tape, immediately made me think of Christmas, so it was the perfect excuse to use my newly purchased 'Chilly' by Jo Capper-Sandon.

  I stamped 'Chilly' using aqua markers onto watercolour card and painted it using aqua markers mixed with sparkle pen to give a lovely subtle glitter effect to the snow.
I then added three strips of Washi tape, then over stamped at the top with Daniel Torrente's  'Hanging Hearts.' I painted these in aqua markers again, then used glossy accents on them and Chilly's buttons to make them stand out.
For the blue background, I used a piece of gelli plate art, which I create ages ago using metallic blue paint. I used Kate Crane's 'Doodle cube', to stamp random snowflakes, which I then embossed with Snowflake embossing powder.
Finally, I layered up my card, using a Washi tape border on top of my card and adding a stamped Christmas sentiment.
I really enjoyed making this and will definitely seek out some  more Washi tape, I have also made my first Christmas card...how organised!!

#SDC274 OLDIE BUT GOODIE STAMP.

I have used Buru by Daniel Torrente to create 'Shack Man Tim.' This is a standing joke between myself and my husband Tim. With all the stresses of life and the recent horrors in the world, he wants to go and live in a shack on the beach and be known as 'Shack Man Tim!'
So this was the inspiration for his birthday card. I have used Buru and the shack is made from my signature driftwood. The background is painted using acrylics.
Needless to say, he loved it😁😁🤣

#SDC273 - For The Boys

It's Raining Men

I have based this weeks challenge piece around the theme of that well known 80's classic 

'It's Raining Men'

The 'men' are stamped onto shrink plastic, which I coloured with blue pencil, then cut into raindrop shapes prior to heating with my heat gun to shrink them.

I stamped 'Relaxin' onto watercolour card, then masked it off with masking fluid, which I also splattered onto the background and used for the puddle.

I used distress oxides for the background with lots of water, to create dribble effects.

I used a raindrop stamp (Designs By Ryn) to complete the background and blended each one with a little water.

I then unmasked my image and painted it using hickory smoke distress ink. 

Finally I added a few shadows and lines with a black fine-liner, stuck on my 'mendrops' and added my sentiment.

'It' Raining Men'

Close up of raindrops in shrink plastic.

#SDC271 BLING IT ON

How cool is the new Stampotique challenge 'Bling it On', I have so much blingy media, it was difficult to know what to chose.
I decided that I would use 'Safina' by Karen Hayselden for this fab challenge, but I wanted to give her a body, so combined it with a Julie Nutting stamp from Prima Marketing.

Once I had stamped my images, I coloured it with Spectrum Noir blendable pencils. I then masked it off and used Safina's frame to stamp the background. 

I painted alternate squares with gold and purple luscious pigment powder

From Indigoblu, then highlighted each frame with black fine liner and white gel pen.

I used Kate Crane's spiral stamp and circle cube to stamp random patterns in the background with Wink of Stella to provide extra sparkly bling, then used clear wink of stella over the entire dress.

To finish off, I turned Safina into a princess, by adding a crown and 'Princess' sentiment by Jo Capper-Sandon, which I stamped in flitterglu, then applied gilding flakes for more bling.

As a finishing touch, I used gilding flakes around the edge of my picture, to give it a blingy frame.
I found this piece rather cathartic to make...been a tough few weeks and a bit of art therapy was well and truly overdue.

#SDC270 TEXT BACKGROUND WEEK 2

I made this card for my friends' son for his 17th birthday.

The background was made using my gelli plate ages ago, when I had a mass background making session! I used a mixture of copper and green acrylic paint, with stencilled through sequin waste and printed circles.

 I used Arwen McCullen's Gears stamp and painted it using a mixture of watercolours and shimmer paint, then added some word stamps from Dylusions and used a Tim Holtz mini stencil to stencil some random letters, 17s and EST. 2000. 

I stamped Newton onto watercolour card and painted him in watercolours, then mounted him on foam pads.

To finish off the card, I added another Dylusions sentiment, which I stamped and cut out of left over watercolour card. I glued on a metal cog, then mounted it onto a card blank.

I love Arwen's stamp and already have ideas for my next project.

#SDC270 TEXT BACKGROUND

I have been wanting to use my 'Take Your Time' stamps by Daniel Torrente for ages and this challenge was perfect for their first outing.
My text background was created from some old maps, which I used to make a card background and a matching envelope.
I stamped the image directly onto the map and used colour co-ordinating pro markers to colour the images....I really like that you can still see the map through the images.
My sentiments are from a set by Altenew......'Missing You' on the card and 'Hi' on the envelope.
I tore the map and distressed the edges with Tim Holtz Distress ink...Tea Stain, then stuck it onto a piece of Kraft card.
For the envelope, I only wanted one half of the image, so I stamped it onto velum, coloured him using pro marker again, and fussy cut him out and stuck him onto the corner of the envelope.
To finish the card, I used a piece of two tone gift wrapping cord.
I love these guys, and intend to use them a lot more...watch this space!X

Quick Card

A quick card to use for posting my ATCs.
I LOVE my 'Wally' Stamp by Karen Hayselden and he looks so cute popping out of the torn hole stamp by Stampendous....hope my swap partners like him too.

#SDC269 - Tag It 'Cogs' Maria Lawton

'COGS'

#SDC269 -TAG IT.

I decided to go industrial this week with the fabulous cog stamp by Arwen McCullen and Bunny Boy by Kate Crane.

I started off stamping Bunny Boy onto my tag, then masked it off to stamp the cogs in the background. I then used masking fluid to mask off Bunny Boy and the background, enabling me to paint the cogs in dark brown Brusho and antiquing paint.

I peeled off the masking fluid...(so therapeutic!) then used Pebeo metallic acrylic paints to paint the background and Bunny Boy. 

I wrote my sentiment onto tiny bits of prepared card and distressed the edges and stuck them on, then used a black outliner and white gel pen to create some highlights. 

To finish off, I used some wire and metal cogs to the top and the front.

Not my normal style, but I really like this and the sentiment describes my head most days perfectly!!

My Daughter's 8th Birthday Card.

Using the gorgeous unicorn stamp by Magda Polakow, I created this 'girly' card for my daughter's 8th Birthday.

The background was created using acrylic paint on shaving foam, to produce a marbled effect. I then stamped and embossed 'unicorn' with white embossing powder. I painted 'unicorn' using pearlescent paint and Luscious powders from Indigo Blu and added glitter pen to the horn and heart.

The moon is an Altenew stamp, which has been layered and embossed in bright pink embossing powder.

I finished the card, by stamping the sentiment in black, distressing the edge of the card using Distress ink and added some gems. As a final touch, I coloured a border using a sparkle pen and mounted the entire picture onto black card.

My daughter loved it!

#SDC268 Add Lace or Ribbon Week 2.

This week, I have decorated a little note book, using Magda Polakow Pajama Party.  

The notebook cover is made from Kraft card, so I used white gesso first, with matt chalk paint on top. I used my dream stamp, with distress ink, then I stamped 'Pajama Party' and painted it using acrylic paint, adding a cloud at the bottom.

I used the gorgeous little star from Jo Capper-Sandon's Great Moon, to stamp some strung stars, then painted each star and the shadow in metallic gold acrylic paint. 

I lightly stencilled on some spots and dots and used a pen lid to add a few circles, then drew a border using a black fine liner.

I stamped my 'Oh My Stars' sentiment onto hand made paper, highlighted the edges and stuck it on, then finally knotted some co-ordinating ribbons along the spiral binding.

I love the finished piece...but my two girls love it more and are currently fighting over who should have it!....I have a feeling that I will be making another one soon!!

#SDC268 'Add ribbon or lace'

I was so excited about this challenge and thought it was a great opportunity to revisit a past love of machine embroidery.
This piece is mounted on a large wooden tag, perfect for hanging.
I have used Karen Hayselden's Flossie Fairy, with Daniel Torrent's Lovely Wings, stamped onto handmade paper and coloured using Luscious Pigment Powder. I then machine embroidered the image to accentuate the lines, adding bits of ribbon in the background.
I basically had a ball throwing bits of ephemera, lace and embellishments at the tag, more was definitely more!

#SDC267 This weeks Stampotique challenge is all about 'seeing red' which immediately put me in mind of the poppy field in The Wizard of Oz!
I have been longing to use 'Jasmin' by Jo Capper-Sandon and she was perfect for this card.
I used a poppy stamp from Hunkydory, which I stamped in watercolour pens, as I wanted a more dreamy feel.
Jasmin's ruby slippers are coloured using Wink of Stella, to give them extra sparkle and the sentiment is from Kimis stamps.

#SDC267 'SEEING RED' BY MARIA LAWTON

#SDC266 Love Bug
I would describe my piece for this challenge as small, but cute😊.
I have made a heart shaped clip, which makes an excellent bookmark and doubles up as a Valentines plaque for my hubby for Valentines Day.

I cut the heart out of mountboard using a Tim Holtz Bigz die.
I stamped Janet Klein's caterpillar onto card, coloured it with pro markers then cut it out...(taking off the poor things legs and feelers)
I then chopped him in half (even crueller) took off another section and stuck him to the heart to make him look like he was crawling through the heart as if it were an apple.
To add some depth, I used some indigoblu slap it on around the caterpillar and painted it once dry with acrylic paint.
To finish it off, I glued a wooden peg to the back.
Quite a simple piece this week, but useful and cute.