Show some stitching at The Stamp Man

Well this next challenge at The Stamp Man is hosted by the lovely Sue and she wants you to show us some stitching on your project. Sue makes some beautiful pieces and I was very lucky to meet up with her when we did the workshop at LB Crafts. Please pop over to the Stamp Man main challenge blog to see all the fabulous inspiration from the design team and don't forget if you enter you stand a chance of winning £10.00 to spend at the Stamp Man on-line store.

I have to say I have kept my piece a bit more simple this time as with the holidays looming fast I am trying to get ahead of myself with all my DT work. With work becoming full time in September even more reason to get well ahead if I can.

So this is a card for a change.

For this project I have used -
Die - Sewing Room by Tim Holtz.
Papers - Tim Holtz shabby vintage.
Distress Inks - vintage photo, victorian velvet
Shrink plastic.
The button is made of clay covered with rose inka gold and is from one of my moulds.
Hessian, fabric and threads.
Sentiment - my own.

 Tiny thread holders cut from the TH die in shrink plastic and then alcohol inked.

 Button made of clay with a mould made when I was at Lucy's. She has the most fabulous work including moulds she makes herself and is doing an on-line course if you are interested in how she makes them. Pop over to see her here. We had a great day together yesterday when she came to visit me and we made more moulds, cut dies and stamped images. Lucy also gave me a very special gift - a wonderful steampunk frame she had made. Pop HERE to see it. Isn't it fabulous?

 The sentiment is not mine, I found it on the internet and just loved it. But I typed and printed it onto inked paper using PE.

I hope you like something a bit different from me again. Sewing is definitely the theme I love best at the moment. (You wait till you see what comes up on Sunday!!!)

Take care and have fun.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Altered book for C4E

Today this is my last guest designer piece for Crafts4Eternity. I have had a great time being on the team, so thanks Michele for having me, I have really enjoyed this last month.

Today the theme is 'Anything but a card' and I warned you last week it was right up my street. But this is my first altered book. It is a mini book and one from a set of children's stories, it is one of those with the thick pages. The girls don't really look at them any more so I decided to use one and see how it came out as a photo album so that I can give it to my youngest grandaughter Maddison.

These are photos of her. She is only just 3 but likes to try and keep up with her sisters so she is loud, but very funny. She speaks very clearly and has a wide vocabulary putting good sentences together and she is such a lovable character.

 This is a set of books the children keep here at our house.

 As you can see 2 are missing - one has been altered so I have no idea where the other one is.

In one of their boxes of toys no doubt.

To make my book, I cut sections out of some of the pages to frame the photos and then gessoed and painted them including the cover. It took several coats of paint to coverup the pictures underneath and even now a little shows through but it all adds to the collage look.

 

 

Once dried I added some glimmer mist, shimmer and texture spray to get different effects.

Then I added inks by masking and stamping. 

 

I stuck in the pictures, glued two pages together through the book and then added the embellishments and journalling.

 

It sounds simple doesn't it, but actually took quite a long time as there are so many different sections to the making of it. But I am very pleased with the outcome.

Although I had started to make this book when my friend Kathy at Purple Princess Diaries was inspired to start some collage work, I took inspiration from her posts as she made some ATCs after watching Kate Crane's DVD. Thanks Kathy.

I have another post coming up later today for the Stamp Man so I hope you'll come back and see my card for that challenge.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -

Sugar Creek Hollow - Let's Play Tag

Try It On Tuesday - Alter something for a gift

Deep Ocean Challenge - Ribbon

Wedding Book pages for the bride and groom

Hi All

Did you like my Frozen Charlotte Dolls - scroll down to the previous post if you haven't seen them yet.

A big welcome to Debbi who has joined in this creative journey with me - welcome Debbi hope you like my eclectic styles.

I have made another 2 pages for the wedding book I am making. If you have seen the other pages you will know that this is a wooden book and the idea is to make lots of tags for the wedding guests to sign and for the bride and groom to add some photos and journalling later. I am using Graphic 45 Le Romantique papers and Hampton Art stamps to match.

This page is specifically for Helen and Jamie as the B&G to write something to each other on the special day. They have a tag each and a mini tag for them to write something to each other on. These will be tied together with some ribbon when they have been completed.

The images were downloaded from the internet and cut out and stuck to tags on which I had used distress stains, starburst stains and perfect pearls, then stamped over the top with a TH stamp.

The flower was made by Suzanne Klezcar and I used the butterfly wings from the fanciful flight die and embossed it with glittery embossing powder.

Do you like the idea of the mini tags to match the larger ones - I thought that was quite neat?

The second page is very simple - A sheet from the Le Romantique paper pad.

I hope you can see some subtle colouring.

I used white pencil, coloured watercolour pencils, pearl pen and inka gold. I think it lifts it a bit and maintains that vintage look.

Inside are two blank pages for photographs to be added.

Slotted behind the pages are 2 tags.

One for the parents of the bride to write something and one for the parents of the groom.

Off to get some more of this done, still only about half way through it.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Frozen Charlotte Dolls

Hi All

I have been bitten by the bug. I have totally fallen in love with the little Frozen Charlotte Dolls. Tim Holtz calls them Fractured Dolls. I have used a couple lately, made by myself from a mould - but guess what????

Look..........................



I have been and bought myself some real ones, all the way from Germany where they have been dug up from the grounds of an old factory - you can see some still have dirt on them. Aren't they amazing?

The largest is 3 1/4 ins and the smallest is 1 1/4 ins tall.

Wikipaedia describes them as -

Frozen Charlotte is a name used to describe a specific form of china doll made from ca. 1850 to ca. 1920. The name comes from the American folk ballad Fair Charlotte, which tells of a young girl called Charlotte who refused to wrap up warmly to go on a sleigh ride and froze to death during the journey.

The Frozen Charlotte doll is made in the form of a standing, naked figure moulded all in one piece. These dolls may also be seen described as pillar dolls, solid chinas or bathing babies. The dolls ranged in size from under an inch to 18 inches plus. The smallest dolls were sometimes used as charms in Christmas puddings. Smaller sizes were very popular for putting in doll's houses. Occasionally versions are seen with a glazed china front and an unglazed stoneware back. This enabled the doll to float on its back when placed in a bath.
They are also made in bisque, and can come in white, pink-tinted, or, more rarely, painted black. Some rare examples have moulded chemises. Male dolls (identified by their boyish hairstyles) are called Frozen Charlies.

Other places describe the dolls being used by ladies to stir and cool their hot tea and after they would be given to little girls to play with. Some historical articles say they are called 'frozen' because they are unjointed, with no moving parts to them.

So there is a real history to these little things. Of course the painted and unbroken ones are worth quite alot of money but these ones have not been sold before and would have been thrown away at the factory, so probably were classed as seconds, but even so I think the fact that they are broken adds to their character. (My husband thinks I am mad!!!)

I have also purchased some vintage pen nibs and I am waiting for some little glass bottles to arrive - I think my altered art is going to increase don't you.

Hope you are having a good day. I will be back later with another wedding book page.

TTFN.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

NEW CHALLENGE BLOG COMING SOON

Hi Everyone

Such exciting news - a new fortnightly challenge blog starting next Sunday for the stampers (rubber and clear) amongst us. It will be for everyone to take part, whatever style you have and as long as you get inky hehe. That counts alot of you in then.

There will be a prize for the winner - to be chosen by all the DT and there might even be some blog candy too. The site is up but not complete yet but Shirl of Shirl's Cards is getting it ready with the help of her amazing hubbie Andrew. It will be called FASHIONABLE STAMPING and if you click  you will be transported to the site immediately to see how it is looking. You will also see some names in the design team you recognise I am sure. Agnieszka, Claire, Dot, Fliss, Shirley and of course little ole me. We will also be having Guest Designers and our resident GDT member is Joanna.

I made this card for' Let's Ink It Up' but sadly it closed before I could use it - so I have kept it for the new blog. You can see it over there.

Burgundy back mount stamped with Claudine Hellmuth's stamped flowers which I then painted with acrylic paints. Background text paper - gessoed and stamped. PaperArtsy dragonfly on nesties mounts and I used on the edge dies to scallop the bottom edges. The little tag is another I wrote myself.

Supplies -
Dies - TH Scallops on the edge, paperArtsy Dragonfly, Nesties circles and scalloped circles.
Papers from my box of bits.
DIs - peeled paint, bundled sage, victorian velvet
Distress re-inker - spun sugar
Dulux household emulsion
Studio semi-gloss acrylic paint - landscape green
Stazon timber brown
Stamps - Claudine Hellmuth Bloom collection, PaperArtsy Tops and Tails 2 and 3.
Gesso and acrylic paint.
Flower, ribbon and tag.

Well folks I hope you will be tempted to come and see the new Fashionable Stamping challenge blog, please leave a comment if you pop in so we know you have visited. As you will see there's a bit still to be done but it will be a dead easy theme starting next Sunday - keep watching.

The sun is shining, the garden is blooming and I have a day to craft - what more could we want???

Have a fabulous week.

luv and hugs {brenda) xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Simon Says Stamp - newspaper
The Shabby Tea Room - photo inspiration
Sir Stampalot - Anything Goes
Craft Your Days away - Summertime
Totally Gorjuss - Punches or dies

Planes and Trains - art journalling

The Random Redhead Challenge at Gingersnap Creations this week continues the machines theme with a focus on planes and trains. I decided that having not done any journalling for quite a way this would be my chance to have a play and get very inky.

The backgrounds were made with torn strips of paper, including newspaper, stamped over the top and then given a colour wash. Over that I masked some sequin waste and added paint through it.

All the images have been downloaded, some from the Graphics Fairy and some I just Googled.

Both the planes and the trains are being transported high into space by the balloons enabling them to travel further distances, being watched by some very dubious characters. Are they spies?

The images have been cut out and inked and some have been edged with pen.

I had a real Steampunk fun time creating this.

Inspiration was drawn from -
Gingersnap Creations - Planes and trains
Try It On Tuesday - Steampunk
Simon Says Stamp - use newspaper
Sunday Stamper - Back to Black - as a tribute to Amy Winehouse, after the tragic news yesterday that she has died age 27. Like Hels says I hope she may now find the peace she couldn't find  before. xx The blue page has alot of black in it - hope that counts Hels.

I hope the weekend is going well - we have some lovely sunshine today and I have been to a carboot sale and picked up a couple of little bits for altering.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Shaped card for C4E

Shaped cards? That's not one of my usual things to do, but when it came up as a challenge theme this week for Crafts4Eternity I really had to put my thinking cap on. I have some scalloped edge cards, but I thought that would be cheating to use one of those. I don't have any of the grand nesties so the only thing I could think of was to cut a smaller shape and see how it went. I used a Go Create die - wavy frame #2.

So this is it. I found this gorgeous image at Bumble Buttons, a magical place for free vintage images, I cut it using the next size die down and then drew round it and cut out the blue mount. With some crystal stickles, one of my frozen charlotte doll moulds and a skirt, a shabby bow and a sentiment I was sorted.

Very simple, but I like that for a change. It is nice to create something that doesn't take me days, as many of my projects do.

Only one more week for me being a GD at C4E. It has been a great time with very enjoyable themes and a very relaxed atmosphere. See you next week with my last contribution and something much more up my street.

Have a very happy Friday and thanks for popping by.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Cogs and wheels Steampunk

Hi All

Firstly a warm welcome to Patricia, Sandra and Wax Beach Artist who have all joined me this week. I am pleased that you have seen things you like on my blog and that you can join me on my creative journey.

This is my piece for the Gingersnap Creations Spicy Supply Challenge - gears, cogs and watch parts. It is machines month, focusing on steampunk and this challenge is to bring the mechanics of machines to the forefront. Other inspiration was drawn from Hels Sunday Stamper - make your own flower, Try It On - Steampunk, Stampotique - Flower power and Just For Fun - metal.

The base for this piece is a coaster made of black plastic with a soft black velvety backing to it. The head is from Hampton Art and is the same lady as can be found on the Graphic 45 Steampunk papers. I stamped her on some card which had been swooshed with distress stains and then used DIs over the top of that.

After stamping I drew over some of the cogs with Sakura glitter pens before heat embossing over the whole thing and stamping cogs into it using a gold metallic ink pad. When it was dry I sprayed it with a glossy sealer which actually left a nice soft textured finish to it.

To finish off I added lots of watch pieces, a handmade metal flower and a metal number plate. You can just see the tiny watch screws in the middle of the bolt at the centre of the flower.


Hope your day is good and thank you to all you lovely friends who visit and to those especially who leave me the most encouraging comments - I really appreciate them all.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Wedding Book Page

It is ages since I have done anything to this wedding book project and I really need to get it finished before the end of the month and so much still to do.

Today I have used the TH dress form to make guest tags. The wedding is in Italy (and sadly we can't go as it is the day after we return from our holiday), but I will send out the tags with the chief bridesmaid who will get them signed for me to put in the book and I will give it to Jamie and Helen when they have their wedding party back here in this country in September.

I am using the Graphic 45 le Romantique paper pack, which is so suitable for this and the book (which is a wooden one) - I showed some of what I have made already Here, Here and Here.

My inspiration for this piece has come from -
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Embossing (the crown and the corner flourish)
Kraft Journal - favourite things (dress forms, make own backgrounds as on the dress forms, inks and vintage)
Our Vintage Affair - Wedding
Shabby Tea Room - Charms

Supplies -
Stamps - TH shabby french, La Blanche, Stamps Happen Inc - rose postcard
DIs - tattered rose, fired brick, weathered wood, faded jeans, vintage photo
Masks - Tando Creative
Charms
Ticket - free download

Officially this is my second post for today, but with the Grungy Monday DT piece not publishing yesterday that also went up this morning, so you have to say that's 3. Must be a record for me.

I said I was going to be creative today - so I hope you like it and of course I hope Helen and Jamie will like it too.

Have a good evening - I think I will crack on and see if I can get another page done.

luv and hugs {brenda] xoxox

Top 3 at Make My Monday

Just a quick post to say that my rusty embossing tag won a Top 3 place at make My Monday.
Thanks for choosing me guys.

I would also like to extend a warm welcome to Trisha, Sarah, Dawn, Josie, Noukie, Debra, Sher, Silvia, Rusty, Clare, cv.nikolaeva, leandra, Moz, Joan, Sue, Henny, Karen, Gerri, Milla, Colette, Sue, Dot, Martina and Summite, who have all become followers in the last month or so. It is lovely to have you guys on board and joining me in my creative journey.

Right I have a day at home today so I am now off to be creative - I hope.


Have a great day.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox