The Proof is in the... page?

Another page of the concertina book that I'm currently working on, and I had a lot of fun making this one :) This page also counts as my entry into this weeks Theme Thursday Challenge, which is "masculine"!

The word PRIORITY was stamped in off-white acrylic paint and then the tag was inked with Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey, Barn Door and Walnut Stain distress ink pads applied with an ink blending tool. The page was then crumpled and spritzed with water then ironed dry. The ornate bookplate was inked with the same colours used previously and the PROOF word was stamped in Timber Brown Staz-on. The photo is froma collection by Darkroom Door and it was folded and sanded to distress it, and Exhibit A was stamped onto it with the same Staz-on colour. The red rays on the left side were stamped with Barn Door distress ink. Finally, the edges of the page were distressed with a Tonic Studios edge distresser. Oh, and the thumb prints were intentional! :) They were "stamped" with Walnut Stain distress ink.

3 pages done, 9 more to go! :) Click on the image for a larger view.

Video Tutorial - Distress Inks 101

A few weeks ago a few people asked me to create a tutorial on how I blend Ranger's Distress Ink pads when I use them on a project. It has taken me longer than I'd hoped, but here is the result, my first ever video tutorial!! Many thanks to Jane3865 for the loan of the camera and to Jayne from Puffin Crafts for operating the camera and allowing me to film in their store!

Win a tag! (NOW CLOSED)
During the tutorial, I create the tag on the right (actually, I made 5, what with fluffing my lines and having to start over again, LOL). If you leave a comment on this post, 5 names will be picked at random and a tag will be sent to each of those people! Click the tag for a larger view.

To attempt this tutorial, you will need:

• Rubber stamps
• Acrylic block (if necessary)
• A black water-resistant ink pad, such as Versafine or Staz-on
• Distress ink pads in 4 or so colours
• A Ranger alcohol ink applicator or ink blending tool (they're the same thing!) - If you don't have one, you can apply the ink without it, but you may not get such a graduated result
• Squares of cut'n'dry foam, with adhesive velcro on the grey side, or squares of ink blending foam, which already have velcro on the back when you buy them
• A non-stick craft mat
• A water brush or an artist's paintbrush and a pot of water
• Some post-it notes
• Scissors or a craft knife

Note: If you're using an alcohol ink tool for this (as I do) you can NOT use the felt pads that come with it for this technique - they are for applying alcohol inks, which I do not use in this tutorial. You need to use Ranger's Ink Blending Foam, or foam pads you cut from a sheet of Cut'n'Dry foam!

Good luck, and let me know how you get on!

Give 'em an inch, they take a trinch!

This weeks challenge on Mixed Media Monday was to make a "trinchie" - a 3x3 inch piece of art. Not something I'd tried before, so I thought I'd give it a go!

The stamps were from Prima's music themed clear stamp set, inks were distress, versafine and stazon. Buttons were fixed down with glossy accents and the extra large pewter eyelet is from Stampin' Up. The crown was stamped and then over-painted with gold acrylic, before being stamped again in the same position with black stazon. The brass screw and nut was courtesy of B&Q (that's a bit like Home Depot, to those of you "across the pond").

I hope you like it, click on the image for a larger view :)

Fragments Mini-book

I'm getting quite hooked on these 2x2 books! They're a great size cos they're big enough to stamp on, but small enough that you can finish them quickly. This one is for a friends birthday, a few pages are duplicates of things in other projects, but I have mostly missed those out on the photos I've included on here. I hope you like it!

Click on any image to enlarge it.

Bits Mini-book

I've called this a mini-book, but perhaps it should really be called a micro-book, as it's only 2 inches square! It was intended as a kind of sampler, no set theme, just an attempt to incorporate a range of images and techniques on a small scale into one coherent whole.

As there are 18 sides plus covers in this, I'm not going to write about each one. Suffice it to say that the book incorporates stamping, masking, embossing, batik, dabbers and alcohol inks. That might sound a lot, but as the pages are so small, it didn't take to long to make. I hope you like it!

Click on any image to enlarge it.

Garden Jigsaw Frame

Sorry about the camera flash glare on this one, I'm certainly no David Bailey! LOL

Pound shop blank jigsaw and art shop shallow wooden box, enrichened by some great stamps and a chipboard flower from the Artistic Stamper.

Jigsaw stamped in stazon and coloured using distress inks and a water brush. The flower in the top left corner was subsequently masked out and the background was coloured then stamped with a text mat.

The inside of the frame was tinted with brushed corduroy distress ink, and the outside painted with old paper crackle paint and stamped with another text mat in brushed corduroy.

The flower was coloured with mustard seed distress ink and mounted with 3d foam onto the frame.

I hope you like it! Click on the image to enlarge it.

Beauty Secrets

I finally got to have a go with the Gibson Girls stamps from the Artistic Stamper tonight. Not the kind of subject matter I'd usually go for, but the images were so strong and suitable for a stark monochrome approach that they instantly appealed to me. This project hasn't photographed that well, but hopefully it's clear enough for you to see what's going on!

The frame was painted inside with espresso dabber and outside with frayed burlap crackle paint. It was then stamped with walnut stain and black staz-on.

The blank jigsaw was a pound shop bargain that I've had stashed away for a while until the right project came along!

The Gibson girl images were stamped on the puzzle using black staz-on (there is a slight gloss to the puzzle, so staz-on was the best option). They were then stamped again onto thin card and cut out to make masks. One by one, each mask was placed exactly over the same image on the puzzle pieces to protect the black and white faces. The pieces were then tinted and stamped with distress inks. Each piece was mounted onto 3d foam and fixed in place inside the frame.

I hope you like it! :o) Click on the image to enlarge it.

Crackle Frame Shadow Box

I thought I'd try something a bit different today - a shadow box. I bought a few of these frames a while back and have been waiting for an excuse to have a go at one! All stamps used in this project were from the Artistic Stamper, as were the watch parts.

The inside of the frame was painted with espresso paint dabber, and the front and outer edges with frayed burlap crackle paint. When the crackle paint had dried, I applied walnut stain distress ink to it to accentuate the cracks in it. The "Time is..." phrase was stamped with black Staz-on. The crackles don't show up that well in this photo, but they're there, believe me!

The background card inside the frame was tinted with walnut stain distress ink applied with Cut'n'Dry foam and then flicked with water to produce lighter spots on it. I then crumpled it up, flattened it slightly, then rubbed it lightly more walnut ink to highlight the crumple folds. I then turned it over, spritzed it with a little water and ironed it flat (yes, yes... I know.... enough already! Those of you that know me find it hard to imagine me with an iron in my hand, but you have to believe me, it's true! Would I lie to you, dear reader?) For some reason that I have not yet fathomed, this produced light blue/grey marks where the crumples had been. I'm not complaining, I think it looks great, I just wish I knew how it had happened!

The card was then stamped with a calligraphic mat and tape measure stamp in brushed corduroy distress ink, and glued into the frame.

The watches were created as follows (going from right to left):

• stamped in walnut stain distress ink
• stamped and embossed with gold embossing powder then tinted with walnut ink
• stamped with black Staz-on onto acetate, run through a Xyron sticker-maker to make the back sticky, then gold leaf was applied to the back. It was then scrubbed with a rough brush to distress it slightly.
  

The watches were layered with 3d foam pads.

The watch face and glass were layered in the lower left corner with a spiral paper clip, tinted with gold Krylon pen.

The key in the top right corner was a real one I had lying around the house, which was suspended from jute twine and held in place with 2 drawing pins coloured with a copper Krylon pen.

The chipboard key was from Maya Rd. It was coloured with gold Krylon, sanded to distress the edges and gently edged with walnut distress ink. It doesn't show up well in this photo, but the word ORIGINAL was then stamped onto the key using black Staz-on ink.

And that's about it! It took a fair while to make, but I'm really pleased with it. I hope you like it too! :o)

Artistic Stamper Insect ATCs

Hello again dear reader, after a lengthy Christmas break! I hope the holiday season was as good for you as it was for me.

It's been all excitement here at Dan Towers - on New Year's Eve I found out that I'd been voted Crafter of the Year by the members of the Craft Swap Forum. I'm particularly thrilled about that because all of the people nominated were so talented and any of them would have been a worthy winner.

In addition, I've been invited to join the design team for The Artistic Stamper, an invitation which I was delighted to accept! The 3 ATCs shown here are the first things I've made using some of their beautiful stamps.

The insects were stamped with Staz-on onto acetate and coloured using solvent based pens and alcohol inks. The insides of the slide mounts were tinted with walnut stain distress ink and spritzed with Moonglow mist ink to give a bit of a gold shimmer. The slide mounts and background cards were tinted with walnut stain ink and stamped with one of the Artistic Stamper's calligraphic mats in brushed corduroy distress ink, and a vintage tape measure stamp. The quotes were computer printed and mounted onto black card.

I hope you like! Click on any image for a larger view. More to follow... :o)

Bind-it-all Calendar - June

A relatively simple approach this time. I think the stamped image is so strong that I wanted it to speak for itself. I took two sheets of glossy photo paper and applied alcohol inks to one sheet. I then stamped the image on both sheets, using black Stazon ink.

Using a baby wipe I applied antique linen distress ink to the image on the white photo paper to colour the children's faces. I then cut away the background from the top left corner and discarded it, and also carefully cut out the children's clothes from the alcohol inked sheet.

All that was left to do was to make a sandwich of (going from the bottom up) coloured background and childrens heads, then antique linen childrens heads and bodies, then coloured clothes.

That sounds so confusing doesn't it? Sorry about that, it was simple to do!

The quote reads "What is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days. - James Russell Lowell".

July to follow tomorrow!

Bind-it-all Calendar - April

Quite a few processes involved in this one, so (deep breath) here goes!

The background was Shabby Shutters distress ink pad applied directly to paper which was then splashed with water drops and dried. It was then stamped with a paint splatter stamp I have, also using Shabby Shutters. Using Pine Needles ink, a large square was then stamped in the centre.

Alcohol inks and blending solution were then applied to a sheet of glossy photo paper. The main image was stamped on top using black Stazon ink, and was stamped again on plain white card. The leaves at the top of the image on the photo paper were coloured using Pine Needles ink pad and a water brush (yes, it works on glossy photo paper!) The image on white card was coloured with distress ink pads and a water brush, then the central focus was cut out and stuck in place on the photo paper background. I tore the edges, then stuck it in place on the water-distressed card background. Phew!

The quote reads "April is a promise May is bound to keep - Hal Borland"

May will follow tomorrow :o)

Bind-it-all Calendar - March

Time for the next installment of my 2008 Bind-it-all Calendar, and as it's Wednesday, that must mean March!

The image background was cut from a 6x6 Basic Grey paper, distressed by applying black soot Distress ink around the edges with a baby wipe. The paper has a slight sheen to it, so the paperclips and ruler images were stamped using Stazon ink to get a better impression. The words "spring awakening" were stamped in pine needles Distress ink.

The main image was created on glossy photo paper. I tried to use colours that would echo those on the backing paper I'd chosen. Bottle, Denim, Caramel and Terra Cotta alcohol inks were dropped on the paper, and lightened with a few squirts of blending solution. A 2nd sheet was then placed on top and moved around, to create two sheets of identical (or at least very similar) paper. One was filed away for future use, the other was overstamped with the spring themed image in black Stazon. Finally, it was trimmed to size and matted onto black card and stuck to the background.

The quote reads "Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour. - Ralph Waldo Emerson".

I hope you like it! :o)

Next installment tomorrow!

Bind-it-all Calendar

I decided to use my trusty Bind-it-all to make a calendar as a Christmas gift for a friend. I will post a month on here each day for the next 12 days. The front cover was created on glossy photo paper with alcohol inks, then stamped with Stazon. January was distress inks and white pen. I trawled the web to find a month-related quote for each page. I hope you like it! :o)

February to follow tomorrow!

In-flight Entertainment

This project is based around the movie descriptions in an Air Canada in-flight magazine. They were so short that taken out of context the sentences seemed a little bizarre, and many of them were not even recognisable as the movies they were supposed to be describing!




Pages 1/2 - "A commitment-phobic man keeps falling for a woman with no short term memory".



Pages 4/5 - "A professor framed for a murder in the Louvre unravels a religious mystery".



Pages 6/7 - "The son of a brilliant archaeologist receives the ancient map that his father died to protect".



Pages 8/9 - "A Manhattan orphan infiltrates a brutal gang in order to avenge his father's death".



Pages 10/11 - "After a series of unsuccesful romantic set-ups, a visually impaired man meets a woman he could fall for".



Pages 12/13 - "Stripped of her noblesse, a French woman goes to Versailles to try and win back her status". The attached mini-book contains an account of the famous case of "The Ghosts of Versailles", in which 2 women on holiday in Paris in 1901 claimed to have gone back to the time of Marie Antoinette.



Comments welcomed!