Mini Marvel Matchbox Swap

Over on a FB group I was invited to named mini marvels there is a matchbox swap going on so I decided to join in. I've constructed everything from scratch using chipboard and patterned papers. Above is the inside of the matchbox.

Then I made a mini book to go inside, but I'm not showing the contents yet as I want it to be a surprise for my swap partner.

Tied a piece of ribbon around the finished book to keep it together.

Made the outside sleeve and obviously made sure the contents fitted inside - lol.

And finally this is the matchbox and contents all closed up and ready to be swapped.

Paula has just started a new monthly challenge, purposely with about 3 rules, no DT, no prizes, no top 3 etc, but there is a theme, and it just happens to be take flight.

Layered Backgrounds

To create this background I used the above DecoArts products. There is also an Andy Skinner video which shows you the first layers. 

This is the outcome of using the easy float over the paints. 

And this is another one I did using exactly the same colours.

I also wanted to find out what the liquid glass did and how it worked.

Stamped the scruffy bird in black versa mark, masked off and then stamped the water drops in black stazon. Used some of the liquid glass over the splodges. It comes out white, but dries clear.

This is it a couple of hours later. It basically works the same as Ranger's Glossy Accents.

Don't know if you can see it but it's on the white dots to the right.

And finally I added white posca pen to the stamped water spots, used a paper distresser around the sides and used carbon black media paint to edge to finish the piece.

Time Flies

Size #12 tag coloured with metalic distress paints, aged mahogany and black soot. Once dried distress stains added over a TH clock mask (bottom right). Clock texture fade embossed in top left corner.

Film strip stamp and numbers added using black archival.

Tim's idea-ology alpha tiles to spell out the words.

Die cut and embossed wings painted in pewter and rubbed with treasure gold. Alteration dies used to assemble the clock face.

Pewter treasure gold used over the embossing to bring out the raised parts.

A Vintage Journey have a theme of time flies and Simon Says Monday have a theme of scratched up and want to see something grungy.

Butterfly Mania

The TH butterflies were stamped onto a background of marbled distressed stains, the next layer was stamped in vintage photo distress stain with the script from the same stamp plate and tinted with milled lavender distress ink and mounted onto a piece of plain black card. The background is a piece of corrugated painted in squid ink, egg plant, little black dress and pansy fresco paints.

PanPastelUk have a theme of summer fun this week and A Vintage Journey are asking for distress stains to be used.

Fathers Day Cards

Two simple cards for our dad's for Fathers Day on 15 June. Just stencilling and stamping.

Lots of challenges for this theme - 

Artful Times - CaS Card

PanPastelUk - One For the Boys

Simon Say Wednesday - Fathers Day / Masculine

Country View Crafts - Only Men Allowed

TH May Tag Inspired by Alison

My take on T!m's tag for May courtesy of my mate Alison. I didn't much like this months tag, but then I saw what Alison did, which you can see here, and had to give it a go.

Abstract Cards

Day 2 over at the PA blog saw Ellen showing how to create fabulous cards using the brayer technique which you can see here. I more or less followed what she did. 

Added some TH tissue tape and a bit of random stamping with the PA minis using stazon ink and used mini paint lids stencil with a mix of haystack and autumn fire fresco.

I wanted to use some bold images for the centre pieces and decided to give my LP images a rest and instead chose those by Dina Wakley and Michelle Ward.

I stamped the happy birthday onto white card, distressed the edges and coloured with black ink. I mounted two onto red card and two onto black.

Close up of one of the images, love how the colours of the background show through the script.

Here they are stood up side by side.

Steampunk Halloween

I've been playing with some of my new TH layered stencils which arrived in the week.  This is the ruler one embossed though the big shot and sanded back.

I did the same with the clocks on but embossed it onto a kraft tag.

Close up of the embossing.

I put the stencil back over the tag and coloured parts with iced spruce distress paint, from the winter collection which I also got earlier in the week.  It's gorgeous and gives it a steely blue effect.  I then went in with distress ink to colour the tag, vintage photo, walnut stain, gathered twig, aged mahogany and faded jeans.  The paint resists the ink.

 

I stamped the TH skull onto white card, tinted the bones, eyes and teeth again with iced spruce distress marker from the new set of colours.  I used gathered twig to colour the outer edges after they had been given the paper distresser treatment. I ended up giving him little gears for eyes!!

Close up of the painted and inked embossed part of the tag.

And finally the finished tag.

Tag Along have a theme of Steampunk Halloween for their challenge this week.

Dream a Dream

Alison's second project over on this weeks PA blog was all about tags and a canvas which you can see here.  As I didn't have a square canvas I used a piece of 8 x 8 mdf instead.  I coloured it with mocha mousse fresco, added some TH tissue wrap and put grunge paste through the ledger stencil.

I stamped various images with saddle brown and pumpkin stazon onto tissue paper and covered some wooden buttons.

I stamped the feathers and main image onto cream ribbed card.  I painted the background in a wash of nougat fresco and edged with mocha mousse which I also used on the tags and main image to bring it all together.  Added the buttons, tags, piece of die cut lace and the word dream.

Tattered Layered Tags

Over on the PaperPlay forum we are having an anything goes tag swap.  I decided I wanted to play some more with T!m's latest blog post of layering stencils.  

This time I used distress stains including a couple of metallics and grunge paste through the stars stencils.

I'm also entering into Country View Crafts challenge which is layers.

Mini Masterpieces

I think I picked this link up via a tweet, it was entitled Stamptember Mini Masterpieces and had me intrigued, so I went off for a look. But I did more than look, I ended up making a couple!!

It's a step by step by their guest designer, the man himself, Mr T!mmy Holtz and he kind of took us back to basics with his mini masterpieces - great fun.

I made mine into larger cards to fit the envelopes!!!

Recycled Steampunk

I used an old dvd as the base of this hanging and covered it some papers I'd received in a swap.  Stamped images onto used brown envelopes, cut them out and glued them on.  The watch parts are obviously re-cycled along with the copper coil on the right out of Martins old camera. The silver bits are from a steel wool pad (these are not recycled as they were pinched before it was used - lol) and the string is also recycled.

Stampotique - Recycle it
Anything But a Card - Steampunk

Kraft Hanger

Simon Says Stamp and Show would like to see our 'kraft' offerings.  I made a hanger using various type of kraft and corrugated card.

April's T!m Tag

T!m is on the ball again with his April tag.  As it was a bank holiday in the UK yesterday and the weather was rubbish I decided to have a play.

T!m suggested trying out different colours, so I used picked raspberry, spun sugar, forest moss, mowed lawn and bundled sage distress paints, mustard seed and walnut stain distress ink and antiqued bronze and tarnished brass distress stains.

I didn't bother to colour the metal pieces as I quite like them how they are.

Faces

Over at Out of a Hat Creations this week they are asking for faces.  So here is another of my male cards using my new T!m stamp plate.

Neutral Colours

Over at Art Journey they have the theme of neutral colours so I was able to join in this month with my AJ grunge plate of stamps.  I used timber brown stazon for the main image and then various colours of distress inks for the background images.  To make it look more natural and distressed I used a paper distresser around the edges and inked it with walnut stain.  The backing is a piece of kraft card coloured with walnut stain and again distressed the edges.

Locked Up

Over at Out of a Hat Creations this week they are asking for birds and/or butterflies.  I don't normally like birds but for some reason I love the row on the TH plate I recently bought.  I also wanted to use the remaining stamp off the blue print industrial stamp plate.

Using the techniques shown by Helen over on this weeks PaperArtsy blog, this time I chose a different technique and scrunched a piece of crunchy waxed kraft paper, unfolded it and painted it with a blend of haystack, Christmas pudding and Irish cream.  I scrunched it up again and rubbed over it with black stazon to hi-lite the creases.  I stamped the image 3 times and painted the acetate layer with nougat.  The corrugated cardboard strip across the bottom is stamped with black stazon and lightly coloured with Irish cream and added 3 metal buttons.  

Queen of Hearts

I'm trying to play along with T!m's 12 tags for 2013 and so far this year, I'm keeping up, yes I know it's only the second one!!  Did have a bit of improvising to do as you can see!!  I used a couple of mini playing cards and doodled around the outsides!!

Also over at Anything But A Card they have a theme of 'share the love', and I think this tag fits in perfectly.

And Happy Daze have a theme of 'love is all around' so I'm entering over there as well.

First Post of 2013

Happy New Year to you all, hope you had a good one.

Well my first post of the new year could only really be a tag couldn't it!!!

T!m's on the ball with his first tag of 2013, so whilst I'm still off I thought I'd give it a go been as I have most of the supplies and I'm going to be busy from January to June with finishing a college course I started in 2010.

I actually made 2 tags, I used exactly the same colour inks / stains etc for both but thought it would be quite nice to see what they would look like on both manilla and kraft tags.

This is the manilla (the yellowy coloured tag).

And this is the kraft tag which is more of a browny colour.

For some reason my 3rd walnut stain distress stain has gone green, hence the colour of the ribbon!!  Tried weathered wood but it didn't show up that well.