Altered Tin for Try it on Tuesday

This week's theme over at Try it on Tuesdays is Altered Tins (sponsored by The Craft Barn), well I can't say I use much tinned stuff or when I do I don't keep the tins but when I tidied my room the other day I came across these nescafe tins that I keep my pens in on my desk. So I thought if they are sitting on my desk they may as well look pretty. For this one I cut some silver metal and embossed in, then painted it white with the new paper artsy chalk acrylic and when that had dried I spritzed it with glimmer mists. Again, let it dry and sand it. I then put eyelets in the ends and tied the 2 pieces together. No need to glue it or anything. It just sits around the tin. Add a butterfly and it looks so much better on my desk than the old brown tin used to.

I'm trying to resist....

....chocolate that is, but it never works.
So over at The Stamp Man we are playing with resist techniques.
I made a notebook cover with kraft paper, hence this whole thing turned out a bit dark. I stamped the cover (front and back) with some spills and splatters and embossed them with clear powder, then spritzed the whole thing with different glimmer mists.
I didn't aim for the whole smudgy, dirty look but as it says on the cover - EMBRACE IMPERFECTION.

Handmade Notebook with a tad of embossing

I made a few more notebooks for the craft fair and out of the 5 I finished off yesterday, this one if my favourite. It's A5 with white pages and the cover has been made using Tim Holtz papers, green and gold shimmer mists and the embossed image is by Artistic Outpost (The Outpost).

I am entering this into the Simon says Challenge - Emboss it and the Gingersnap Challenge - Mists. And not to forget the Artistic Outpost Referral Program.

Oh have I mentioned I made the Top 10 on the Gingersnap blog for the first time, yeah I'm so pleased I'm a Ginger Gem.

Good enough for a prince....

Of course it's the Royal Wedding next week and what more inspiration could one need to make some wedding cards.

I have struggled with the theme before as I always think traditionally like white colours and clean and simple cards but who says wedding cards have to be white? I quite like these 2 cards and the aged look, I used antique linen distress ink which is great on white, gives things a nice aged look and is very subtle.

I recently got hold of a pack of these tattered angels chipboard frames. They are beautiful, unfortunately out of stock everywhere but I found em in an online shop in Germany. I may have to buy some more before they completely disappear, they are just so pretty and have a nice embossed finish.

Dad's Day Collage

I know I keep saying I love these stamps and those are my favourites etc but Artistic Outpost are definitely in my top 5. The steampunk set I used here is perfect for male cards such as Father's Day. I combined it with others stamps here (the tree and birds by Andy Skinner). But the whole set is just fab. I got a whole long list of their stamps I want. Well, the list of stamps I want always gets longer, never shorter.

This is going into the Artistic Outpost Referral Program.

Tim Technique - Water Stamping

Over at Simon says Stamp and Show we are using fabulous Tim Holtz techniques this week. Always a favourite.
So I inked up some card with distress inks and water stamped into it. It's important you get a fine even mist all over the stamp. Too much water can make it runny (see top right corner of the card) and you can't see the image that well. I find that bold images work best although the flower here came out ok.
Give it a go it's great fun and so simple.

LOVE-ly cards

With my first craft fair fast approaching I am trying to have plenty of cards available in many different categories and styles. I seemed to be lacking love, wedding and anniversary cards so I got making some.
I love working with my new Paperbag Studios stamps at the moment, the images are just so pretty.

Also I can't seem to stop making random stamped collages and then using snippets of them in my cards.

I am entering this into Hels Sunday Stampers Challenge, the theme is LOVE and to use things we love, well, I love anything Tim Holtz and especially my distress inks as you can see below, I also love my Paperbag Studios stamps so plenty of love from me.

Vintage Butterfly Mirror

As mentioned before I'm making a lot of stuff for a craft fair at the moment and this is another piece I'll be displaying there. I used an Ikea mirror as they are so cheap and everytime I head to Ikea I stock up on a few of these. I covered it with Tim Holtz Kraft Resist paper which then got white washed and distressed with some distress inks, especially round the edges. From another sheet of the same paper I cute some butterflies and sprayed them with perfect pearls mist and stuck them on with foam pads. Gold corners and letters stuck on and it's done. It's very easy but looks lovely and old and vintagy. I may have to flick through the paper pack again and see what other papers may work well for use with the mirrors. I'm entering this into the Simon says Stamp and Show Challenge where the theme is distressing!

Love Wendy Vecchi style art? Check this out....

Come and have a look at the new Wendy Vecchi group on flickr where you can upload and share your art for inspiration and chat to other lovers of Wendy's stamp. Wendy has been so kind to give me permission to start this group as it's been long overdue. So check it out HERE!!!

Some more Moleskine Notebooks.....

Here are a few more moleskine notebooks I stamped on. It's so quick and easy to transform these little notebooks. And they make perfect little gifts.

First up it's the "Emily" stamp from Stamp Francisco.

These two I really like as well, I have been playing a ot with the Men and flower stamps this weekend.

A handful of Moleskine Notebooks.....

As I am currently making lots of stock for the craft fair I have signed up to take part in, I went a little mad at decorating a bunch of Moleskine notebooks. I love these little Kraft coloured ones and if you use beautiful stamps like these from Paperbag Studios, Stamp Francisco and Tim Holtz, they can nothing but turn out great!

My two favourites are these though. The one on the left is a stamp by Paperbag Studios and the one on the right is a mix of stamps but the hand is from Stamp Francisco. I have recently bought a bunch of really cool stamps from them and I can't wait to play with them more. They are amazing!

The one on the right is being entered into the Creavil Challenge where the theme is "Clocks".

Alter it monthly - April Theme - SPRING(S)

It's time for some more Alter it monthly inspiration. I really enjoyed all your contributions for last months theme - TIME. Very creative and inspirational.

Well as for this month with easter fast approaching and the sun coming out a bit more the theme is SPRING, SPRINGS and EASTER.

I did get myself a big bag of springs and really wanted to create something unique with them but you know how it is, sometimes things don't work out like that so I went for this spring themed frame instead. The frame is painted in white crackle paint and out of boredom i sprayed a few glimmer mists over it and it somehow ended up in these splattery pastel colours. Add a load of grungeboard and stickles, done!

Come and join us and you could be in with a chance to win a great prize.