The Moral of the Story....

...Remember I said that I went on a workshop to learn how to use Beeswax at LB Crafts? Well, here is the gorgeous piece that I made on the class...thanks to the expert *and very patient* tuition from Lin Brown, I now can use Beeswax...properly, like without sploshing it all over me, my desk and making a general muck up of things LOL I wasn't going to admit this to anyone...a few close friends know already because I knew they wouldn't laugh *ha, they did* but...the first time I ever attempted to use Beeswax I had a great mishap...of major proportions, resulting in a lot of pain and a very red face.... What happened was...*you may want to get some tissues here cos I know you will be crying with sympathy for me (more like laughter)*... I saw a fab article in Craft Stamper by Kate Crane...how to make a Beeswax collage...so I thought that I would have a try and follow the step by steps...well, I forgot to take the mag up to the Room of Stash and being so lazy I couldn't scale our steep stairs to go and get it...so tried to wing it...and what happened next is probably one of my most stupidest things I have ever done.....ever! *and that is saying a lot*




I inadvertantly dropped a dollop of melted Beeswax onto my trousers...my best trousers that I am banned from even stepping into the Room of Stash wearing...because I was rushing about and wanted to strike while the Melt Pot was hot, I thought that I would take the risk...I wasn't going to be using too much ink after all...so the trousers would be safe right? *wrong, as usual* So, I am sitting there, cursing like a Docker at the dollop of Beeswax that has hardened in about 2 seconds when I remembered an "old wives tale" remedy *who are those old wives BTW?* for getting candlewax out of materials...you just heat it up and dab with tissue or brown paper...simple, my trousers would be back to normal and I could redeem myself...




So...I picked up the Heat Gun... I have one of the hairdryer types, extra hot but very gentle...and started to melt the wax...whilst my legs were still in the trousers....*at this point I expect that you will all be crying for me...no, not with laughter!!* When I said I had cursed earlier...well, that was nothing compared to the cursing that went on for the rest of that day...needless to say, the trousers were binned, the leg was swaddled with a cold compress *and blimey, my hot bath that night was so a mistake....even more ouching going on when the hot water touched my rather tender leg* However, all was not lost...you see, I have a bit of a food baby belly *ok a lot of one* and thank heavens for that...for if I were to be the skinny minny that I have always dreamt of being, I would have given myself a Brazillian of the most extreme sorts...so...in all, my foray into the world of Beeswax came to a rather abrupt halt...until dear Lin spent five or six hours showing me how to use it properly...and safely ROFL




Why I have decided to pass on this story today I have no idea other than I fancied making you all laugh and wanted to show off the piece of art I made but didn't want to waffle about the how to's...you can go to LB and do a class yourself and then you too can be a safe Beeswaxer, which is what I now am :O)) *did anyone spot the not so deliberate mistake on the artwork? A bit of over zealous cutting? A little prize for the first person who gets it right.....*




Thanks for reading...and looking...The Moral of this Story is never use Beeswax without first changing into old clothes and never attempt to remove hardened Beeswax from your clothes..while you are still in them....ROFL Please pop back tomorrow...it is a very special day for the Sunday Stamper...it is 2 years old AND I have a Sponsor with some FAB candy to giveaway!

Hels x

An Altered Canvas - Studio 490 Style!

Hey Peeps,

You know I have kind of got a bit of an obsession about those fabulous stamps from the Studio 490 range by Wendy Vecchi don't you? Well, I just had to have a play with a new set that Grim bought me for our Anniversary....perfect OH or what? ;O))




Anyways, using my new fave colour, turquoise, purple and orange, I concocted this .... using paints, Grungepaper and some little beads that I made all by myself in the Melt Pot....yikes, I didn't even burn myself this time either LOL




I prepped the canvas by dolloping (*NB:Technical Term*) some acrylic paint onto the canvas surface using a palette knife. I kind of swished and swooshed the paint about adding more and more until I got the right thickness. I set this aside to dry and as it got dryer and dryer, I threw some little flakes of paint at it...these were bought in a bargain bucket and I think they are a Nick Bantock product but don't quote me on that LOL Anyways, these little flakes stuck to the paint but look really naff....so I coated the whole canvas with a watered down white coat and then used the massive gingham stamp and stamped white acrylic paint randomly onto the surface.



The Grungepaper was painted with various types of acrylic but just look at that orange...tis a Claudine Hellmuth *Studio paint...and it is a delight to work with. *can be bought from The Artistic Stamper too :O))




The edge the Grungepaper, I used my fave applicator...my finger...and swished white paint about the edges and undersides of the cut out images....I had stamped the lot using StaZon BTW. Then I just popped it all onto the canvas using Silicone glue as an adhesive and voila, another canvas done and I am so chuffed, cos guess what? I have another set of stamps coming to live with me.....aw, they will have a happy life here!! LOL

Thanks for looking and hope you all have a great day :O))

Hels x

Altered Art - Getting Organised :O))

Hello,

I had one of those days last week, you know, when you can't find a single thing you reallllly need? I had all these packets of Tim Holtz Idea-ology stash and a whole drawer was completely taken up with all the packaging....don't get me wrong, I love the packaging but it was really taking up too much room. So, I decided to alter a wooden box that I had bought nearly a year ago LOL I knew I would get around to it sooner or later!




The box was plain wood to start off with and relatively new looking. I wanted to make it look a bit old and battered and well loved.



I started by bashing the box with a texture hammer and then sanding parts of it. I then used a couple of coats of Gesso to prime the wood.




Once the Gesso was dry, I painted the whole of the box with Adirondack Gold Acrylic Paint. This was fairly easy for the outside but fiddly for the inside of the lid - thankfully, the paint wiped off the little window so I didn't get too messy :O))




Once the gold coat had dried, I used some PVA glue and painted the whole box. I immediately covered this with a coat of homemade creamy colour - I made the colour by mixing white paint with a titchy dash of Butterscotch paint.




Once the PVA started to dry, it split and took the cream paint with it, giving me the lovely aged effect and showing the golden layer beneath.




The inside of the box was painted using the same creamy colour, only this time, I watered it down slightly for ease of covering and because I didn't want to make the layer of paint too thick so the lift out part would still fit in the box.




Because the paint had kind of covered over the bashed with a hammer bits, I decided to bash again with said hammer - memo to self, remember to hit the wood, not the thumbnails! Ouch!
Finally, to add that bit of a mucky and well handled look, I used a piece of Cut n Dry foam and blended Walnut Stain Distress Ink onto the edges of the box.




I was going to use some stamping on the box but I decided against it in the end, I like the way it looks as it is and I can always add stamping later on if I get bored with the plain look. All that was left for me to do was to fill it up with all those Idea-ology goodies and a few extra bits n bobs I had laying around.




I am well chuffed with my new storage organiser and the packaging has been recycled, the drawer that it vacated has been filled up with other stuff (LOL) and my Room of Stash is a little tidier now....well, for the time being anyways!

Thanks for looking - oh and I almost forgot to say - my lack of photography skills have struck again, these pics ain't the best as they look dull, the box actually has a bit of glamour about it with the golden shimmer showing through the top layer.

Hels x

Journey Into (metal) Art

Morning,

I have been playing with my Ten Seconds Studio stash again and made this little hanging piece.



I used mountboard for the backing; cutting it to 8" square and then using a prime coat of Gesso. Once dried, I painted with acrylic paints, making a distressy feel to the piece and using a bubblewrap stamp to make little marks on the surface and an old credit card (one I hadn't melted LOL) to make lines on the edges.




The metal squares all have 1 1/5" sqaure mountboard bases and the metals I have used are the Kiss Me Pink and Chocolate Brown ones available from The Artistic Stamper. I used a variety of techniques to achieve the patterns, using texture plates, moulds and freehand drawing using the tools.




The centre piece has a base of 3" square mountboard and I used Grungeboard letters under the metal to make the Art word. The Journey Into was written onto copy paper with a Sharpie, flipped over and then traced using a refining tool. I refined all the edges and then did a little freehand decorating.




The surfaces of the metals were all sanded and distressed and then I applied Espresso acylic paint over the top, wiping off and then buffing up to get a nice finish.

I assembled all the pieces using silicone glue and on the centre and random pieces around the edges, I used more glue so I have a raised effect.




Finally, I used a little coat hanger, available here and added some beaded ribbons along the bottom as a little fancy finish.

This piece took aaages for me to make as there is a lot of work in each square but I loved making it and love the colour theme.

Thanks for looking

Hels x

The Swirly Bird Hanging Around

Morning Peeps,

It is true! I have a new addiction! Yes, I am well and truly smitten with the Ten Seconds Studio's metal art :O))

I had a lot of a pain today, so I sat with my feet up, cushions aplenty, and a lap tray on my knee and played with some of the metals and new tools I have. And, I came up with this design :O)) Who said crafting had to be hard work eh? LOL




I started by sketching a little birdy in pencil - this one is similar to my new designs that will be out soon from The Artistic Stamper by the way...anyway, I digress. I sketched a little swirly bird onto some copy paper, I used a Sharpie Marker (top tip from the TSS DVD) to trace over the bird and then taking a largish piece of copper metal, I used a pointy tool (I really must get up to speed on the names of these tools) and traced around the Sharpie design on the flip side of the copper.

I then used the same method and made the word "birdy", again on the flip side, I traced over the letters. I now had my birdy design and word embossed onto the copper side. Thanks to the amazing DVD, I next knew I had to take a fine tip pointy tool and draw around the embossed lines on the copper side to make them "pop". Once this was done, I used an erasing round tipped tool and "puffed" the birds wing out. I was a bit worried that I was going to mess this up so I took it nice and steady and gently pressed the eraser tool into the wing on the flip side of the metal. This effect stretches the metal out so the embossing looks even better. In one of my piccies, I have tried to get an angle so you can see the puffed out look.




I used some stitchy type tools and free hand drew them across the copper side of the metal, making a little frame for the birdy. I also used a fine stitchy tool and went around the inside of the bird, just like my Stitchels designs!! I then used a sanding block to gently remove some of the copper colour from the foil.

Later on, once my meds had kicked in, I disappeared into my Room of Stash and got thorougly messy with lots of shades of alcohol inks, basically, splotching them straight onto the copper side of the metal, using a blending tool and mixed them together and then once they were dry, buffing with a soft cloth. To antique the design, I used Espresso Arcylic Paint (Adirondack), applying the paint with my fingertip, waiting for it to dry and then using a nearly dry babywipe to take off the excess.




Finally, I mounted the metal onto some mountboard, I haven't got any Spackle, which I need to use really to fill in the puffed out bit of the wing to stop it from getting squished, so next on the shopping list is Spackle!! Once the piece was mounted, I placed it into a mini coathanger which I got from The Artistic Stamper. I decided the design looked unfinished though ... mmm ... then I remembered that my lovely Secret Santa had given me some delish ribbon with beads and leaves on for Christmas, so I taped this to the bottom of the mountboard and hey presto! Another metal art project completed.

I just have to add that I asked Grim to photo this piece as I needed it to be hanging and I can't reach my arms up, bless him, he did the photography bit and then promptly nicked off with it - it is now hanging in his Study...blimey, he will be all metalled up if he is not careful LOL




Thanks for looking and if you read all of that....thank you, I am so excited that I have got a new passion and addiction I just tend to waffle on! Oh, and a few of you have asked if the TSS DVD is good....yes, without a shadow of a doubt, I have watched it twice already and have gained so many tips from it.

Hels x

Look What I Found!!!!

Hi Peeps,

I have to admit that I am not the tidiest of people, in fact, my Room of Stash is actually a complete tip for the majority of the time...however, I took it upon myself to tidy away a little bit today as I have just taken receipt of some faaaaab new stash (I used up my Christmas pressie money... honest!!!)







And, whilst rummaging (another word for finding space for said new stash!!!) I found this little tag book. I made this a few months after I first started stamping - so by my reckoning I made this in June 2007 - some of the stamps I used I got for my birthday that year and I was also borrowing a Paisley stamp from Andrea and she had got me one for my birthday....so it is dated more or less.









I was really chuffed that I found this - I have a tendancy to make things and give them away to friends and rellies, so rarely see what I have made in the past. To be honest, I am really excited to see that I have learnt so much about stamping and now use lots of different techniques that would have looked a lot better in this book. Masking for one, as there are a lot of overstamped things....and the use of colour too....I have always shied away from using lots of colour and brown really is my comfort zone :O))






This little book seems to be a bit of an homage to Tim Holtz seeing as the majority of the stamps, inks, paints and other bits n bobs used on it are by Ranger or Stampers Anon! Also, I had been fortunate enough to stand and watch him demoing and I had sort of copied all the techniques he used!! I see that on a couple of the pages I have used some cork - goodness knows where that came from, probably a TSV from QVC as there is also some Mica on one of the pages and I seem to remember getting that in a HOTP kit :O)) Wonder if anyone else who got that kit actually used the cork too? LOL







The book was made months before I got a Bind It All too! I must have used a Crop-A-Dile to punch thru the spine of the book as there is no way I would have done that with a handpunch. And the use of string too...that is something I haven't used for ages, so I may just start using that again!!






Anyways, I thought I would share this with you all....and I am off to have another rummage to see what else I can find that I kept for myself....perhaps a few ancient ATC's and 4x4's? :O)) Then again, perhaps not LOL







Thanks for looking - oh and BTW, I am also just in the middle of making something for tomorrow's Sunday Stamper challenge so please do call back in the morning to see what the challenge will be....it is a nice one, I promise!

Hugs Hels x

Frosty Goes Grungey!

Afternoon peeps,

A few weeks ago, I made a couple of tags for the swap I run. I have already blogged the Santa tag so thought I would show you the other that I made :O))

The tags I use are from LB Crafts and are, for me, the best you can get. They are lovely and smooth so really love Distress Inks and are the perfect size, being about 6" x 3".




I started off by painting the tag with Weathered Wood Cracklepaint. Once this was dry, I used a blending tool and covered the bottom of the tag with Weathered Wood Distress Ink and then edged with Faded Jeans Distress Ink. I next inked up (using Midnight Blue StaZon) the fab Snowman stamp which is from the Tim Holtz range by Stampers Anon. I stamped this onto the bottom half of the tag and luckily, the stamp is just the right size to fit perfectly!




To make the snowman stand out more, I used white acrylic paint, which I blobbed onto my craft sheet and then spritzed with a little water. This made the paint thinner and more pliable as I do find that acrylic paint can be a little bit thick to paint with LOL I used a fine paintbrush and carefully painted in the snowman and the words and snowflakes on the stamped image. I used a cocktail stick to add little dots of white to the background to make the snowflakes stand out a bit too.




The large snowflake on the top of the tag is actually a Grungeboard shape from the Seasonal range. I had previously painted it with Weathered Wood Cracklepaint and then just lightly brushed some Pearl acrylic paint over the top to make it shimmer. I added a brad as a fastener to finish it off. Finally, I used a piece of snowy paper which is from last years stash (think it is My Minds Eye), tore a small piece to cover the join between the distress ink and the cracklepaint and added a little greeting. I forgot to take a photo of the back of the tag but it was just covered with paper and nowt special!! LOL




Thanks for looking - I can't remember who got this tag in their swaps but I hope that they liked it.

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 39 - Lily The Pink + Blog Candy Winner!!

Morning Stampers,

First of all, thank you to everyone who joined in with the Sunday Stamper last week - it was great to see so many peeps visit my Blog. Without further ado, I can announce the winner of the Blog Candy that was on offer last week is.......


*drumroll please*


Wacky Jacky


Well done Jacky, I will be in touch hun and your Candy will be on the way to you this week.

Secondly, I apologise that I haven't been able to be here since Tuesday.....but.....I have had a really bad 'Flu bug which has completely wiped me out :O(( (1,2,3.....awwwww!!)

I have done no crafting at all, spent most days in my bed and been thoroughly wretched! However, thankfully the worst is over now and I am hoping to be able to make a little something for this weeks theme later today.

The theme this week is Pink - simply make something that has pink on it and incorporates stamping, link a post on here and then I can come and see what you have made. **here is wot I made!!**




I will be back later to post my entry - am thinking something canvassy as I am still really enjoying altering canvases at the moment.

Anyway, have a good day everyone, congrats to Jacky and have fun :O))

Hugs Hels x

Later...........

Hi Peeps

Teensy Weensy Canvas




I have had a really fun time getting covered in paint and I made this canvas for my entry to this weeks' theme.....using Adirondack Dabbers in Pink Sherbert and Raspberry, I painted the whole canvas, painted a teensy weensy canvas and some Stampbord shapes. I used some old dressmaking patterns and stamped onto them using Timber Brown StaZon ink. I cut them out and pasted them directly onto the canvas surfaces using watered down PVA as a medium. The Stampbord was stamped and scratched them attached to the canvas using Glossy Accents.


Stampbord Piece



The stamps are mainly from the Tim Holtz Collection by Stampers Anon and the dotty background is by The Artistic Stamper.

Thanks for looking!

Hels xx