Craft Stamper TIMI Challenge May Reminder- Take A stamp

Morning everyone,

It's time for a quick reminder about the Craft Stamper TIMI Challenge, our May theme is just 'Take a Stamp', so it's nice and easy.

The rules are simple, one entry per person, with a link in your post back to the Craft Stamper Blog, and your blog post must only contain the one piece you are entering.  No cased entries please - your own work.

For full details see the Craft Stamper Blog HERE.

In return, we have two amazing prizes on offer as always, firstly our Design Winner , who is chosen by our DT, who all vote for their favourite designs from all of the entries.  This winner will have their winning project published in Craft Stamper Magazine, (with a 2 page spread of their very own!), they will have a GDT slot for an upcoming challenge, and will also feature in their very own Winners Profile blog post!

And then we have this totally amazing prize on offer, to our completely random winner.
Our sponsor this month is: Designs By Georgina 
Prize: As pictured. 3 stamp sets and 3 new release stencils.

Over on the Craft Stamper blog our team have some fab inspiration for you, here is my offering:

I made a tryptiche with Tando Creatives mini Arches, and painted them with DecoArt Media Acrylics, in Andy Skinner's Rust style, and using Andy's stamps, the steampunk set.

I painted a piece of card in the same colours, and stamped the butterfly and clock in black versafine, and clear embossed them, then cut them out.  The clock was shaped to arch and cut around, to make it fit.

The skull is a Tando mini, I LOVE these!  I'd put them on everything if you let me.. It's painted again, then embossed with Frantage embossing powder, in aged copper.  It has some amazing texture to it.

The three little arches are held together with some mini hinges and glossy accents, but you could use ribbon or washi tape as hinges too.

I stamped on top with the steampunk words in black, to add a little more interest.  And the whole thing was coated in a layer of ultra matte varnish, to make the rust more realistic and take down the shine from the embossing.

So I hope you can join in the challenge at Craft Stamper this month, and you enjoy our team's inspiration.

See you soon,

Nikki

xx 

Craft Stamper TIMI May Challenge - Take a stamp

Morning,

Today is the start of Craft Stamper Magazine's Take it Make it Challenge for May.  Our theme this month is 'Take A Stamp'.  This means any new stamped creation you have made, with rubber stamps.  The rules are simple, one entry per person, with a link in your post back to the Craft Stamper Blog, and your blog post must only contain the one piece you are entering.  No cased entries please - your own work.

For full details see the Craft Stamper Blog HERE.

In return, we have two amazing prizes on offer as always, firstly our Design Winner , who is chosen by our DT, who all vote for their favourite designs from all of the entries.  This winner will have their winning project published in Craft Stamper Magazine, (with a 2 page spread of their very own!), they will have a GDT slot for an upcoming challenge, and will also feature in their very own Winners Profile blog post!

And then we have this totally amazing prize on offer, to our completely random winner.
Our sponsor this month is: Designs By Georgina 
Prize: As pictured. 3 stamp sets and 3 new release stencils.

So my inspiration for you today is a Tando Creative Tag.  I painted it in DecoArt Media acrylics in Dioxazine purple and mixed with the tinting base which is white, to give a variegated effect.  On top of this I stamped in stazon's vibrant violet and gothic purple, using Andy Skinner's Steampunk stamp set.

Next I used Stampendous' Frantage in Jewel Purple, all around the edges of the tag.  I used Flitterglu to hold the embossing, as it doesn't heat or boil when used, and is excellent for embossing purposes as it's very high tack and holds it brilliantly. 

Next I took an mdf heart and painted it purple, then used DecoArt's Media Crackle Paste in a nice thick layer on top.  This gave some lovely deep cracks across the heart.  I also dropped the green interference paint into the paste as it was drying, and used a pin to swirl some edges out, making little pinwheel shapes.  It has a lovely green irridescent sheen across the heart in patterns.  I went round the edges of the heart with some more paint, and then stamped part of the steampunk stamp set across the top.  

For the finishing touches I painted a piece of card in the same way as the tag, and stamped and embossed in black versafine, the steampunk butterfly from Andy's set, and DREAM, which was from a PaperArtsy stamp set, Eclectica 18 by Emma Godfrey.  These were added with glue and pads to give dimension.  

I hope you like my inspiration, and can hop over to the Challenge blog to see the rest of our amazing team's work, and enter for yourself!  

Craft Stamper magazine is available in magazine format HERE, and also available digitally, in easy to read format on your tablet or pc or phone, check it out HERE.

Best Wishes,

Nikki

xxx

It's a Jungle out there!

Morning all,

Not sure if I was thinking of my allotment when I made this page...  seems like the first time this year I've managed to get over there, and it's daunting how quickly weeds grow!  And I feel just like 'Percy', with his arms crossed in a huff!

My page started with some Decoart Media fluid Acrylics, I dabbled and mixed some colours on a palette, so there is orange, white, teal, titan buff, more white.. and a bit of red..
I then stamped some background stamps from Indigoblu, tasty textures set, with different colour stazon in first and second gen stamping.  Next was the Laurel Leaves stencil with a faber castell pitt pen to do the leaves all the way round the page.  It took a while but I love the effect.

Extra stamping in white paint was done with Kate Crane's lovely spiral stamp a friend bought me at Kate's class a couple of weeks back, and some old lids to make rings.  I then doodled in places on the page around white bits.

'Percy' is by the lovely Lindsay Mason, he's a digi stamp available in Lindsay's Etsy Store, and I absolutely love him.  He is coloured with Prismacolour pencils and cut out, then glued to my page and lightly pencilled round to ground him.

This is my first piece for Lindsay on her fab Design Team, I hope you like it. Here are a couple of closer pics.  The moth was one Kate printed for us in her class, I had a few so cut him out and added him here.  Although all I had today at the allotment was cabbage white butterflies...!

You can see more of Lindsay's design's in her store, and on her blog.

Have a good day all,

Best Wishes,

Nikki. xx

Caution!

Morning all,

Well it was going to be just a quick post today, just wanted to share a fun card I made recently.  I had an idea when I saw Andy Skinner's Toxic stamp set.

But before that... I have some news....

I'm so proud and happy to say I am now a Decoart Helping Artist, I had confirmation last night from Decoart and I'm absolutely made up to be part of the scheme.  You'll notice a shiny new badge on the side of my blog.  So I will be bringing you a lot more projects and ways to use Decoart products, in my usual style of course, and will be getting out there with workshops and demo's too.

I'm currently doing a 'happy dance', so it's probably just as well this isn't live or on video....

Now back on to my 'quick' make..

The background was created using Andy's rust technique (No 3), but to create the cogs, I used a stencil, and Decoart modelling paste, to make the cog background.  I then coated the background and some of the cogs with Decoart Texture sand paste, to give a rough feel, and made some of the edges higher with my fingers.  The rust was then applied.

The layer behind the rust, is plumber's aluminium foil tape, applied to a square of card slightly larger than the rust piece.  I then passed it through an industrial style embossing folder, to make the metal effect.  It was too shiny, so a few layers of carbon black were applied and wiped back with a baby wipe, to age the metal.

I painted another piece of card with a mix of primary yellow, and pyrrole red, to get the vibrant orange colour used for the Caution sign.  That was stamped in black Versafine.  I also stamped the scratches stamp from the same set over it, to age it slightly.  It's cut out and layered onto the rust background.  The rest of the sentiment was computer printed, I just thought it worked well.  I aged it with raw umber before glueing to the card.

The outside frame is just a lovely washi tape I had, and fitted with the industrial feel of the card.

Have a good day,

Best Wishes,

Nikki
xx

Ministry of Mixology Make & Take

Hi all,

Today I'm doing a bit of catching up, and blogging my make and take for the Ministry of Mixology which was held at the Holiday Inn Coventry on 9th/10th April.

Firstly I'd like to say a huge thankyou to Andy Skinner, and Di at Tando Creative, for giving me the opportunity, and letting me help throughout the weekend as well.  I had the BEST time, and met the nicest bunch of creative people, everyone was amazing, teachers and attendees alike.

So this is for those who want a recap, or didn't get to do the make and take with me, and would like to.

Firstly I took some Mini Arches from Tando, and gesso'd with Decoart Gesso.

I then took Decoart Media paints in Turquoise Blue Hue, and Primary Magenta.  Paint the boards with the two colours, allowing some to dry, and some to mix in area's. This will give you a lovely turquoise, magenta and purple mix where the two cross.  You don't have to worry too much about this stage, just get the colours down.

On top of the background, I took the peeled paint effect stamp from Andy's Toxic Stamp set, and stamped in Cobalt Turquoise Hue.  To do this, put a little paint on your craft mat or a pallette, and spread it out to a thin layer with a paintbrush.  Then you can load your stamp without it being too much.  Stamp the turquoise, and then clean your stamp immediately, you don't want to leave paint on to dry.

Next we stamped in Titanium white media paint, with Andy's Steampunk stamp set, and I used the steampunk controls stamp.

I then stamped the Steampunk text from the same set, in Versafine black, or you could use paint again.  

After this, I took some of the scrumptious Decoart Metallic Lustre in Brilliant Turquoise, and you only need a teensy bit, and rubbed round the three frames with my finger.  This made the colours on the frame pop, and added a lovely metallic element. 

Finally on the frame I stamped the scratches stamp from the Toxic set in Versafine, all around the edges of my frames.

The butterfly and clock (Andy's steampunk set) were created by painting the same colours, primary magenta and cobalt turquoise hue, onto a piece of card.  They were then stamped with black versafine and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  On top of this, a little metallic lustre was added, and then a coat of Decoart Media Crackle Glaze.  And after that, I used the white Antiquing Cream in some of the cracks when dry.

The Tando mini skull was given the same treatment, painted, lustre, then glaze and antiquing.  I bent it slightly and glued it on with silicone glue to give dimension.

Finally I added some mini hinges that I found on Ebay, or you could use ribbon or washi tape too.  These were glued to the back of the frames, and then for strength I cut out some patterned paper to the shapes of the arches, and aged and distressed it, then glued it down over the hinges and backs.

Here is the finished arch, apologies for my pics as they were taken in a hotel window!  Hopefully some of the colours are showing ok.

If anyone wants to make this or has any queries on it, just give me a comment and I'll come back to you.

It was great to see lots of little finished arches, and different colourways, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you all.

Best Wishes,

Nikki
xx

Rusty old spoon..

Morning,

Just wanted to share with you a necklace I've made this weekend.  Hope you all had a good weekend by the way, it went too quick for me as I worked sunday so it seems like it's just a continuation of the week now.

I like making necklaces from spoons.  But I like making the spoons look rusty even more!  I used Andy Skinner's Decoart rust technique again for this, I love this technique sooooo much!  (Probably a bit too much...)  I've included a link so you can find the tutorial.

I then used the masterboard that I previously created in blue's and yellow's and shimmer misters from the Decoart Media range, for my last piece - Hope, the art doll.  I had some card left over that was painted, and was perfect to doodle some tiny flowers on and cut them out.

The flowers were then sealed front, back and sides, with some Slap it On matte, and glued to the spoon.  I put a first layer of Diamond Resin on, and left to dry overnight.  I repeated this process with more flowers and cogs, so it gave the piece dimension.

I will at some stage make a kumihimo necklace to go through it, but just hung it on a simple black rubber cord for now.

I hope you like it.  This is my entry for the Tracy side of the 'Skinzapfel' challenge, between Andy Skinner & Tracy Weinzapfel Stratton.  You can find details on their respective facebook groups.

I'm off now to try and make something less 'rusty'...  for my upcoming demonstrations at Ministry of Mixology this weekend, it's going to be a blast!

See you soon,

Best Wishes,

Nikki
xx

Craft Stamper TIMI Challenge April 2016 - Spring Flowers

Good morning everyone,

Today is the start of the new challenge over at Craft Stamper Magazine.

Our sponsor this month is Traplet themselves, where you can get your very own copies of Craft Stamper Magazine.

We have a HUGE prize for you this month, this is truly awesome and well worth entering for!  The winner will receive ALL SIX Kate Crane Art Journalling DVD's!!

I so wish I could enter!!

I do have some inspiration for you though, as do my teamie's over at the Challenge, so come and join in the fun.

Our brief this month was 'Spring Flowers', and I love the yellow and green of this time of year, so decided to make a tag using these colours.

My background was created on a lovely Tando tag, with Decoart Media fluid acrylics, in hansa yellow light, primary yellow and blue green light.  I added some texture paste through Indigoblu's Laurel Leave's stencil, and coated with hansa yellow light, which gave them the yellow tone but they still blended in to the background.

I then stamped in primary yellow with Andy Skinner's Toxic stamp set, using the peeled paint/crackle stamp.  On top of that I stamped in blue green light with Paper Artsy's Eclectica 18 by Emma Godfrey stamp, using the small circles.  I then used Indigoblu's script stamp from Tasty Textures, and first and second gen stamped all over in Stazon Cactus Green.  To finish I used Andy's other stamp from the toxic set, scratches, and stamped in Stazon Emerald City all around the edges and a few across the tag.

The flower's from Paper Artsy were stamped several times in different sizes onto a masterboard which was sprayed with Decoart primary yellow decoart mister, turquoise shimmer mister, yellow shimmer mister, and ...... Over the top I stamped with the tasty textures script in Emerald City stazon.  I cut the flowers out and layered them up.

I painted the stems in black, and doodled round them in white acrylic Sharpie.  I added some white dots to the flower centres, and doodled round the sentiment (also Paper Artsy).

Here is the tag all finished.

Hope you like it, we'd love it if you joined us over on the Craft Stamper challenge to see the DT's amazing work, and join in of course!

Best Wishes,

Nikki
xx