Gingersnap Creations Visiting Artist - Week 3

Sorry I am late posting with this piece - but I don't anticipate getting my PC back until Friday (at least Friday and that's if the power pack solves the problem - please keep your fingers crossed for me).

This week at Gingersnap Creations to continue the shopping theme, the Random Redhead Challenge is 'Bags and Tags', so I haven't used any paper, glue and just a little stamping and and some paint. I have used fabrics only to create a collage on a tote bag and used a needle and thread and the sewing machine to make it.

The bag came from Hobby Craft for about £1.00 and I have used offcuts of fabrics.

The flowers are crotched string, fabrics cut with the tattered florasls die and vintage buttons for the middles.

This large flower has been made with black tulle, burgundy velvet petals again cut with the tattered florals die and another vintage button.

The butterfly was a Creatables die which I had to finish off with scissors and I stamped them with acrylic paint.

The main image came from the internet and was printed onto Claudine Hellmuth's sticky-back canvas.

Woo - got my second post finished for today. I hope you enjoy.

Now I can get to my emails and some commenting.

Have a good evening and thanks for coming to see me.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -

Play Date Cafe - Blueberry, cream and dusky pink.

Stampavie and more - Butterflies

Flourishes - Circle and square (background fabrics are square and the buttons are the circles)

Cheerful Stamp Pad - Things with wings

Shabby Chic Bottle

Hi |Everyone

I still haven't got my main PC back so today I have had to load PhotoShop Elements and start again with this post (the original is sitting in Windows Live Writer on the hard disk of the other machine).

Anyway today it is the next challenge for Divas by Design and for this next fortnight we want you to show us anything but a card.

I have wanted to alter a bottle for ages and so I had a go. Can you recognise the bottle (only if you like coffee!!!!!)? I will tell you at the end of the post.

The photos show the changes made. You can see I have used paint - and I used the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish acrylic paint - lace, ribbon, net, string, buttons, beads, a key, a link from a belt and a metal butterfly with some chain.

The bottle painted with 2 layers of paint and crackle glaze between them. All by PaperArtsy.

The top was painted with the PaperArtsy gold paint.

Did you guess the bottle? It is one that had Gingerbread syrup in it that I love in coffee. The same as you can get in Costas.

So show us what you are making at the moment that isn't a card for your chance to win a prize from Crafty pad and we will come and leave you some love.

Before I finish I had a fabulous morning meeting up with another blogging friend. Irene lives very close to me and is sister in law to Shirley who I met up with a few weeks ago. She is encouraging me to start some classes so I am definitely going to set something up. Thanks Irene for your support and advice.

Take care everyone and thanks for stopping by to see what I am up to.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Hello and apologies

Hi Everyone

Just a very quick post to apologise if I haven't got round to leaving you a comment recently but Wednesday night my computer wouldn't shut down properly, so I had to press the on/off button to close it and then Thursday it just wouldn't start up. A friend has been looking at it for me and he thinks it might just be the powerpack so we are awaiting a new one from Dell, but until it is sorted I cannot get to my draft posts on windows writer or to any of my photos, favourites/bookmarked web sites etc, etc. I am on the laptop, but I hadn't loaded anything on it and I haven't got all my favourites sorted so it will take me a while to find everything I need. Please bear with me, I will hopefully get round to everyone soon.

Just to let you know as well, we had the most fabulous weekend at the Isle of Wight Festival except yesterday when it rained and rained and rained, and coupled with a driving wind, in the end it became unbearable so we caught an early ferry home. We only missed the last few acts but even so it was a bit disappointing. However Friday night we saw Kings of Leon who were tremendous and just all I hoped they would be, for me they were the highlight of the weekend. I usually find one group I hadn't heard of that I like and this year there were two - Hurts and Two Door Cinema Club. My other favourites were - The Courteeners, Seasick Steve, Stornaway and Jeff Beck.

I hope to be back up and running with my blogs soon, but will be late with my next Gingersnap Creations one as that is sitting on the other computer - I so wish I had loaded it into draft on Blogger - but I didn't!!!!!

Take care and have a good week.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Textures 3 and very shabby chic

Yay it's Friday and I am posting this early before we leave to get the ferry for the Isle of Wight festival. I am all packed and ready to go.

This is another in my texture series of tags. I layered Gesso thinly over the surface and using a La Blanche stamp, just placed it down in the gesso carefully. You do need to make sure you clean it up straight away before the gesso dries.  I then misted over it with Glimmer Mist and let it dry. I also laid a piece of net fabric in the gesso down the side and when dry I inked it with spun sugar DI and again left it to dry. After I used a stampede yellow ink pad and did the direct to paper technique over the textures and around the edges.


I wanted this one to look very shabby chic and I was also inspired by the challenge at walnut Sugar Creek Hollow which is to use vintage lace, paper flowers and bling but also to use a vintage, shabby chic or primitive style.

This first photo I just remembered to take before I embellished further so that you can see the textures.

The second on the right here shows you them in close up and in more detail.

Next you can see my flower. I used smooth watercolour paper with DIs and water to get the colours and shapes to the petals.  I used the tattered florals die to cut them out first. Although you can’t see it the petals were painted with stickles to give some extra bling.
The leaves were die cut using text paper and inked with walnut stain.


Here is my lace and bling with additional elements. The Eiffel Tower is a chip board shape bought from the Craft Barn on Sunday. I painted it with Crown household paint and over stamped it with a tiny flourish. I also covered it in distress stickles – these are great because you can heat dry them – that saves a bit of time. The lemon shabby ribbon I bought from CandC.

































So here is the tag showing everything together. I really liked the colours and the finished look. I hope you do too.

Right I'm off to get the ferry and I really hope it doesn’t rain although the forecast doesn't look good especially for Sunday - but hey ho it's the music we are going for.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my work with me. Enjoy your weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Textures 2

Just a very simple tag from me today, but another in my texture collection.
This tag shows two different texture techniques. I began by using DIs and sprinkling with water to get the background.

I stamped in the bottom right corner using Claudine Hellmuth’s multi-medium matte and the leaf shape using gesso mixed with fired brick re-inker.  

I also edged the card using the same gesso and colour. When dry I added more DI to get the multi-medium stamped area to show up and then added the embellishments and tie.    The flower and little butterfly are made from fabrics.

Colours used – stormy sky, victorian velvet, faded jeans.

The sentiment is from Elusive Images and the music paper is a free download. Really this should be embellished more, but I didn’t want to hide the textures and showing you that you can stamp with various mediums to create them.

I am getting excited as the week progresses as I will be away the weekend. Ken and I are off with some friends on Friday to the Isle of Wight festival. This is our third year of going. BUT WE DON’T CAMP – I know you’ll say you’re taking the easy way of doing it, but bed and breakfast is so much nicer. The buses run all night so there are no transport problems and we can all have a drink.

Want to know who’s on? Well I want to see Kings Of Leon and they will be headlining Friday night. Also Friday I hope to see Imelda May and Eliza Doolittle plus Kaiser Chiefs and the Courteeners. Saturday – Foo Fighters headline the main stage also there are Pulp, Seasick Steve and Mike and the Mechanics. Then Sunday Kasabian, Beady Eye, Jeff Beck and the Script. There are lots of other acts on, but these are the ones I shall head for.

I hope you are having a good week and have fab things to look forward to at the weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Gingersnap Creations Visiting Artist 2

Here is my second contribution to the 'Shopping' theme at Gingersnap Creations and where this week the Supply Challenge is to use packing materials. This is my take -

A hanging with a photograph of my children when they were very small and a box to send or keep it in.

This box came with some paper roses in from QVC and I saved it to use for recycling, but you can see I have put it to even better use. Often my cards have 3D embellishments that won't allow them to fit in an envelope and I thought that's what I would use it for, but I decided to make a hanging to go with it instead. I wanted to keep it in a vintage - collage style.

I have used a number of techniques here and a collection of embellishments. I used packaging, as in another box, for the main mount.

 Underneath the fabrics you can just see some gesso, texturised, dried and covered with DIs.

This is ordinary packing tape which is shiny, so I stamped onto it using household white acrylic paint and re-inkers.

Do you like my flower? Can you believe I made it from packaging too? I thought a tutorial might be in order for this one. It's made from the thick acetate packing that the ideaology embellishments come in.

Supplies for the box -
Chocolate Suede Crown paint
White acrylic paint
Studio semi gloss acrylic paint - landscape green
Crackle paint - old paper
DIs - walnut stain
Re-Inker - black soot
Crackle Accents
Packing materials used - box, brown tissue paper, brown wrapping paper, paper bag with vintage images

I layered -
dry brush chocolate and white paint
landscape green paint through a mesh from a takeaway Chinese meal box
crackle paint numbers using a template
stamped flourishes using white acrylic paint mixed with black soot
spray and shine
collage - brown bag, stamped tissue paper, vellum, fabric, lace, brown paper, net, postcard and fairy, label, ticket, corrugated card bird, paper flower, butterfly (download)

Supplies for the hanging -
Recycled cardboard (from another old box)
DIs - walnut stain, tattered rose, weathered wood
AIs - pink sherbert, watermelon, cranberry, gold mixative
Stamps La Blanche
Studio gesso
Chocolate Suede Crown paint
White acrylic paint
Pearlidoodles - pink and blue
Parcel tape
Plastic packaging
Recycled tissue paper used as packaging in a box
TH tattered florals die
MS scalloped punch
Embellishments - lace, tulle, fabrics, trimming
Wire and beads
Run 'n Buff

Steps to make the hanging
1. Rubbed DIs over the cardboard
2. Painted and stipple using the suede household paint and white acrylic paint.
3. Applied gesso and stamped into to get texture. Left it to dry overnight.
4. Rubbed DIs over the gesso but wanted to keep it light in colour.
5. Die cut the plastic with the TH tattered florals die and made the flower
6. Stamped with paint over the packing tape.
7. Inked the edges of stamped tissue paper, music paper, scrap of patterned paper and brown paper torn from the cardboard.
8. Printed out the photograph and the label.
9. Assembled hanging using embellishments and elements prepared.
10. Applied rub 'n buff and pearlidoodles over the box and gesso to give the pearlised effects.

This was a bit of a long project, it challenged me, I loved making it and I am very pleased with the end results.

Enjoy.

luv and hugs {brenda]

Challenges to have fun with -
Crafts and me - Stamp something

Nautical themed tag - Textures

Hi Everyone

I’ve had the dentist today and after having had about 3 years with an allergy that affects my mouth and gums, at last things are improving. My gums are now healthy again, but I still have the allergy effects – but hey ho that’s nothing to worry about.


Well I am so pleased to sat that my Milliners Catalogue won at Delicious Doodles last week and I got to choose 5 of their digi images. Now most people know I am moving right away from digis but Teri has some great ones in her store and I have used one on my tag today.  

I am so into texture at the moment and Neil demoed a great scrumpled paper technique on Sunday at The Craft Barn, I thought I would use it straight away.
My inspiration came from the digi itself, but also these challenges and of course the amazing Tim Holtz.

Delicious Doodles – Texture
Simon Says Stamp and Show – A tag
Grungy Monday 10 – Distress Inks – Colours used are barn door, stormy sky, victorian velvet and walnut stain.
The Kraft Outlet – It’s a guy thing  


The scrumpled paper technique includes distress stains, distress inks, Inca Gold in pink.

The image I coloured with Promarkers and I downloaded the fish from the Graphics Fairy, cutting some of them out to use as embellishments and a piece of it I covered with gesso and stamped the ‘coming home’ over it.
The ship’s compass is from the TH salvage stickers and I added more texture with some little stones and micro beads which look a bit like sand.


To complete it all I added the TH spinner, threaded up the fish to look as they had been caught with a fishing line and a little piece of net in the top.

I am really pleased with this and I am going to ‘collect’ tags with a variety of different textured backgrounds and see if people would like a class learning how to do them.

Thanks for stopping by.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Other challenges to have fun with -
Creative Inspirations – Father’s day or Dad
One Stop Craft Challenges – Texture
Samuel Taylors – Male
Stampin’ Vacation – What a Guy - Fishing

Ribbon Booklet Freebie and Tutorial

Hi Everyone

Do you like making Mini Albums? Well today I have a free mini album cover for you and a tutorial on how to put it together. It is a booklet designed by myself and Chris Warner about 5 years ago and was destined to go on one of her CDs, I don’t think it quite made it as she no longer designs or makes CDs due to illness.

If you saw my Millinery Catalogue (click to bring it up), I made it using this template but this one already has patterned covers for you. It can be printed onto A4 paper and away you go.

Supplies needed
1. Front and back cover plus one of the spines. (There are two available to you depending on whether you want a plain or patterned one).
2. Ruler, scissors, knife, scoring tool, sellotape and glue.
3. Ribbon to tie the book up with.

 Ribbon Booklet Front Cover

Ribbon Booklet Back Cover

Ribbon Booklet Patterned Spine

Ribbon Booklet Plain Spine

To make the booklet up -
1. Print off both covers and spine.
2. Score folds for both covers.

3. Cut into fold to create a gap for the ribbon to go through and secure with sellotape. 

4. Fold flaps and glue down – you have created pockets for your pages to go in.

5. Take spine and fold where score lines are shown. Fold and glue side flaps to create an even edge on the covers.

6. Glue covers to the spine and line up centrally. Cut slight angles into the flaps at the top and glue them over the spine.


7. You have now created your ribbon booklet. I distressed the edge of mine with some Walnut Stain distress ink.


The pages are going to be in the next tutorial I post, very soon.

I hope you enjoy making your album and please link yours back to me so I can see any you make.

Please respect the copyright and again link back to this tutorial if you post about it on your blog.

Have fun and I can’t wait to see what you make with this.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Selection of Tags for The Stamperie Creative/Design Team Call

Since LIIU has closed I have been looking for a Design Team who focus on stamping for their challenges and I have found a DT call for The Stamperie where Jo is looking for 2 individuals to join her as part of a creative team for a new challenge blog.

From June 2011 The Stamperie on-line shop will be selling a line of stamps from The Unity Stamp Company (one of the hottest stamp companies in the United States)  called {Ippity}. I have taken a look at the range and have seen them about but never used them – but oh boy I would love to have a go with them as they are exactly the style that can cover a range of genres and I see great potential in creating all sorts of exciting things with them.

To apply for this post Jo has set a challenge and it is called Tag... You're It!   The only requirements are that the project includes Rubber Stamping of some sort, that a tag is included somewhere and the challenge is open to your own interpretation!

My collection of rubber stamps is growing all the time with more and more ranges being added to it. Primarily I started with Tim Holtz, but now my collection includes Wendy Vecchi, PaperArtsy, Crafty Individuals, Paper Relics, Creative Expressions and a whole lot more. I also have a number of clear stamps with Claudine Hellmuth being my most favourite.

 For this DT call I have made 2 tags using my most favourite of Tim’s new collections – Haberdashery and Papillon.

I have used this opportunity to combine the application with the challenges at Studio L3 where Linda this week is challenging us to use Tim’s technique from his Christmas 2007 12 Tags of Christmas, day 10 and at Simon Says Stamp and Show which is to use your favourite stamp. Here Tim shows us how to create a shabby chic effect using paint and embossing powder. It makes a fabulous background, which can be seen on my tag. To make the sewing card I used the Sewing Room die, I also used the tag and bookplates die.

I think the  photo shows how the tag has been made. It’s the background which took the most time and work.

Colours used – DIs victorian velvet, brushed corduroy. Paints black acrylic, vintage lace and honey dew (PaperArtsy Fresco Finish).

My second tag uses Papillon stamps and is a completely different style. The background was distress inks, spritzed and the tag dragged through the colours and heat dried until I got the coverage I wanted, then stamped over with the Papillon text stamp.

I used some Mariposa paper and a Fiskars border punch to create the pouch for the little tag which was stamped over with a music text stamp.

   

I stamped the Papillion butterflies on acetate, cut them out and layered them over a Martha Stewart punched butterfly (the small one I just cut the punch down to fit it). The flower shape and ribbons finished it off.

Colours used – DIs dried marigold, crushed olive, peeled paint, tumbled glass, black soot, mustard seed.

Here you can see the second little tag, covered with DIs and stamped with a different text stamp.

Jo – If you would like to see other designs and ways I have used stamps look here, here, here and here.

Wish me luck everyone – I hope Jo gives me a chance and hopefully I have showed I can inspire others by demonstrating a wide range of styles and techniques.

Before I go I would like to extend a warm welcome to Leandre, lovely to see you.

Have a wonderful weekend, the weather is supposed to stay fine, so time to get out and about if possible. We are going to go down the coast this evening, it’s about an hours drive but with the later evenings we will be able to go for a walk and have something to eat. Tomorrow it’s a BBQ yay.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox