Category: Stampers Anonymous – Tim Holtz

Claritystamps, Distress oxide ink, Emma Godfrey, Hot Picks, Lynne Perrella, Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz

Distress oxide fun!

Catherine

Well this post is a bit bittersweet for me as it was meant to be accompanied with a YouTube video. The only problem is that during the edit I managed to delete some of the video which meant it no longer made sense. So now no video! 

I loved playing with these inks for the first time and came up with some interesting backgrounds. This first one is the usual wrinkle free distress background but using distress oxide.

I then used a Lynne Perrella stamps and water coloured it using the same inks and made this card. 

Next up is a splash background…. I saw this on a Jennifer Maguire YouTube video. This provided a fun confetti background … perfect for this Zinski stamped bird and sentiment. Once stamped the bird was coloured using the oxide ink too.

This next one was using the oxide inks and blending tools… I love this so much as so creamy and smooth a finish. I then also stamped with the oxide ink and again when adding a small spritz of water they also oxidised. 

Whilst playing with these inks also did some comparisons with distress inks and stains… 

From that I ended up with a really interesting panel which I finished with the bird from the Hot Picks Paperartsy stamps.

And finally I also did a distress ink version of the wrinkle free distress background. 

This I finished off with these Clarity stamp garden stamps… love it! 

So yes I love what I made just frustrated that the video didn’t work… of course I couldn’t let it be… and so late on Saturday I filmed another video… 
And from that made a card and a background for another project I can’t share yet! 

 here is the link to the video!

Happy crafting!

Catherine 

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Designer Series Paper, Masks/Stencils, Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz

Paperartsy challenge … and for ATC’S sake … 38 – 43 !!!

Catherine

It’s been a while since I managed to do a Paperartsy challenge … but I kept seeing amazing art both on the blog and from my friend Hazel who has made three different projects already (all of which are stunning) so I had to join in. 

Last night was the night to get in the zone and do this! The first DT project by Corrie I loved and although my make was nothing like hers it still inspired me to get my colour going! 

The first challenge for 2017 is a colour scheme… pink and orange! Lovely and bright and zingy.  Of course in keeping with this year’s challenge I had to make some ATC’S.  

So I grabbed some paper which I got in the sale at M & S as part of a stationery kit… and went to town with abandoned coral and carved pumpkin distress stains. I didn’t bother going to the edges as I knew that on this 8 x 8 paper I wouldn’t be using it all.

Next I grabbed some neon pink paint. This is DoCrafts fabric paint but I use it quite often on my papercrafts and never on fabric! I grabbed a stencil and added some onto the background but the paint is translucent so barely visible. So then I got out some gesso and an open design stencil so I could provide a base for the pink paint. 

That’s better.. more stencilling and stamping with bottle tops and credit cards and all that remained was some speckles! For this I used the metallic paints from Finnabair to also add a bit of a sheen. 

So I then cut up the pieces into ATC size and added stickers that were included in the stationery kit.

Right onto the focal images.  I wanted to keep them all in one theme and happen to have very recently bought some stamps that I knew would work perfectly… these Tim Holtz Runway ones… stamped in archival onto white cardstock and loosely coloured with the distress stains… perfect. 

I cut them out with a reasonable border and then adhered them to the backgrounds.  They are slightly larger than the atcs so they did loose legs etc… and in one case the dog! 

Then I decided to trim them down and add them to a cardstock base that I cut out of the postcards from the same kit… they had cute postcard style cards and they were perfectly 2 atcs for each… so I did half on the kraft side and half on the white. Oh I and so edged each of the panels with ink before sticking it down. 

Next up… doodling. A bit of doodling and outlining and then some stickers for sentiments. 

And here they are… gorgeous even if I say so myself! I also added a little bit of enamel accents on each just to add a little more texture. 

And here they all are in close up…

So that’s another six atcs made towards my challenge… I am way ahead of schedule (16 ahead already) and really enjoying this challenge.  I also love joining in with the Paperartsy gang for the pink and orange challenge… I do realise that I didn’t use any PA products this time … but I have an idea for another project using these colours and PA products so if idea get a chance in the next couple of days I will be back with that one too.  

In the meantime check out the Paperartsy blog and all the fab inspiration.  

Happy crafting! 

fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Gorgeous Grunge, Inktense, Derwent, Masks/Stencils, Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz, Tap tap tap

Lindsay Mason ATC swap  – all about autumn

Catherine

The theme Lindsay chose for October’s ATC swap was quite open…. all about autumn. So I decided on three very different ATC’S but based on the same base…. cut up bits of scratch paper to which I added texture paste through a different stencil on each one.

I also decided to play along with the mood board provided for the challenge at the mixed media monthly challenge.

This first one I used a Clarity stencil of a seed pod and then added distress stains and nougat fresco finish paint over the top. I wiped it back once it was partly dry to reveal some of the background pattern and colors. 

Once that was dry I added some Inktense pencils and blended with water for the shading on the pod and some outlining. I also added the sticker for the title and some stamping in the background too.

Then I die cut some frilly bits, added distress ink and then stuck them down. 

Next I added some embossing using the Gorgeous Grunge stamp and some metallic brown/red powder. This time stuck on the pod too but I like the effect it created. 

Finally I also added some embossing to the gold metal butterfly charm I found in my bits and bobs box. I added the embossing to give it a more vintage feel.

The next one I added colour using distress crayons to provide a rich autumnal colour scheme. I then stamped using the alphabet stamp from Tap Tap Tap set. Next I added the lovely wooden frame that was in some happy mail I got.

I then hunted through the bits and bobs box again and found a couple of flowers and some punched circles from dsp. I inked them all up and then used a screw top brad to fix them together. 

I chose my phrase from the Tim Holtz stickers and did some more outlining. Finished! 

The last one I went for a Halloween theme and used lots of black gesso through a stencil, then white and orange marker for the highlights and outlining. Finally the image is a Tim Holtz stamp and I thought the muslin behind it looked good with the image and the graphic background. 

Love how all three came out… all very different and hardly any of the background now looks like it came from the same piece of scratch paper. 

Looking forward to seeing the swaps I get back! 
Entering the halloween one into the atc around the world challenge.

Happy crafting!

Catherine 

fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Random Crafts, Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz

Happy Halloween house

Catherine

A couple of days ago I shared with you a Halloween themed card I made for a friend.  I made reference to the halloween house I also made. Well it is time to share it! 

I am making some Christmas houses as part of a Christmas gift with some friends … more about that at Christmas time … well I had a little house that I had made up but wasn’t feeling Christmassy about it so ended up turning this one into a little halloween house. I knew that Hannah would like it so I thought I would gift it to her for her birthday. 

The house is made from wooden blocks on which there used to be stamps mounted. My  friend has been converting her wood mounted SU stamps to cling mount so as a group we have lots and lots of these wooden blocks to play with! 

This had lots of lovely bright pretty colours on it … but I ended up adding the black gesso over the top of that.  I then aadded some coral and autumn fire fresco paints.  as they are translucent I also added a little bit of chalk in too.

I then added stamping using a text stamp from Tim Holtz and black gesso to add random pattern over the house, and then the spider stamp on both the front and back. I then made sure the rroof was black and added glass bead gel and added a purple bead on the top. Next I some black ink around the edges to give it some shading and some flicks of the orange paint too.  Finally I then added little windows and doors. 

These pictures are whilst waiting for the glass bead gel onto dry.  It did get to be clearer. 

Hannah loved the little gift and I kknow my bit of play time was appreciated. 

Happy crafting ! 

Catherine 

One last pic added before I gave her the house… 

fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Masks/Stencils, Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz

Halloween themed birthday card! 

Catherine

A work colleague, who happens to be the lovely daughter of a friend who is in my team at work is celebrating her birthday today and she is obsessed with all things halloween…. so I made her a Halloween themed card.

I used the Tim Holtz stamps and stencils and some funky different techniques to make this mixed media card. 

I started with a black scrap of cardstock and added the iridescent medium through a Tim Holtz stencil onto one part of it. 

Once that was dry I added some flicks of the gorgeous Autumn Fire Fresco finish paint over the top. 

Then I added a scrap of muslin and the Undertaker skull stamped which I stamped and cut out of a white paper. 

I then tore a piece of paper and used a different Tim Holtz stencil to get the Web effect using both the Autumn Fire paint and some black gesso. I know most of it is covered but it looks so fab. I layered them up onto another black card panel.  I then softened it a little with some orange bakers twine and some card candi.

The sentiment is from Good Greetings which I forget has halloween themed sentiments in it as well as Christmas type ones. I tore that once I’d stamped it and edged with the autumn fire paint left on the palette. 

I also made her a little halloween house but you will have to wait until later in he week to see that! 

Entering this into the bat theme challenge for mixed media mojo

Happy crafting ! 

Catherine 

Howlstooth & Scaringbone, Indigo Blu, Masks/Stencils, Spellbinders, Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz

Postcard swap- all about halloween

Catherine

The theme for the postcard swap in October was “all about halloween”.

Now I didn’t have a clue where to go with this at first having used up my Halloween thoughts for the ATC swap which I shared yesterday … but then I decided to just start with some dsp that was halloween coloured … the lovely Howlingtooth and Scaringbone dsp that SU did a few years ago that I used for scrapbook pages from our halloween trip to Disneyland Paris. And then I just followed where my mojo took me!

I tore pieces up and collaged them onto a 6×4 piece if packaging I used for the base. Then once that was dry I added some black gesso to blend the papers together into the background.  Then I added some lovely Autumn Fire Fresco finish paint which works perfectly with the papers. I also used a stencil I have that I thought looked a bit like a spiders web and some glass beads gel through it to add some texture. 

Next I grabbed a die that I have had for several years and never used and die cut the gothic arch window from some paper. I coated it with black gesso and then a layer of the glass beads gel too. Yes as regular readers of my blog know I am obsessed with glass beads gel! 

Here they are drying… the glass beads gel dries clear… although the die cut is on the postcard it isn’t stuck down. I knew I had plenty more layers to add! 

Next I felt I needed a scene through the window so I stamped the bare forest from indigo blue in a mixture of distress ink colours and added embossing powder to it, heat set it and added more distress ink over the top! 

I cut it to the right size for the window by die cutting it and then trimming off the ornate frame part. Then my card sat untouched for a couple of days! Well OK it might have been closer to a couple of weeks… but I got distracted! He he! 

OK fast forward to when I finished the card. I added stamping and embossing using some Tim Holtz stamps that I ended up buying due to the realisation that I had no halloween stamps at all!  

I then added the Undertaker skull stamped image that I then embossed too. Lots of fun layering up with muslin and thread. 

Added some white pen outlines and highlights. 

I love how this came together when I finally finished it. Hope the recipient loved it too! 

Happy crafting! 

Catherine 

Dylusions, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Masks/Stencils, Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz, Ticket punch

Artful ATC Halloween swap

Catherine

This month the Artful ATC swap theme is Halloween.  I managed to find one specific Halloween stamp in my collection so made stuff up instead! (Yes then bought some Tim Holtz halloween stamps … he he he! Well I did spot a gap in my supplies!)

I started with these two pieces of thin card I had used for wiping paint and textute paste off on from other projects. 

It was when I tidied my desk last month and cut all the pieces of scrap into ATC size so I could have some pieces started. And I have already made a significant number of ATC’S from this little stash! 

I trimmed both down a little so that they could sit on a card with a frame, then started with the one on the right.   I added distress stains in carved pumpkin and Fossilised amber which resisted the paint but coloured the rest of the card. 

Then I used the Tim Holtz stencil called crackle and added versamark ink which I then clear embossed. Once this was heat set I added some more distress stains, this time in ground espresso which only went into the gaps in the embossing. I added some archival round the edge and then wrapped some orange and black trim round the piece. 

I then stamped the ticket stamp from That’s the Ticket SU set in versamark and embossed with black detail powder. 

I finished it off with black around the edge of the Base card too. 

The other piece I took the same stencil and added black gesso over the top. This left the cracks as the colourful sections. But I wanted a Halloween image for the main feature for this.  I then spotted the crazy bird set my friend has left at my house and this particular bird reminded me of dracula… so a few little additions drawn on and there is my vampire bird.   

I coloured the bird with distress stains as watercolours and then cut him out. I decided he needed to be upside down like a bat and once I stuck him down on the background I also wanted to heat emboss the whole panel …. once embossing powder is out on my desk it gets used for everything! 

Then I chose the sentiment from my Dylusions stamps and added that and the blank ATC as the Base.  

Cute and fun … not exactly scary for my Halloween ATC swap! 

Happy crafting! 

Catherine 

Masks/Stencils, Serene Silhouettes, Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz, Washi tape

ATC based cards

Catherine

Yes I am still going on about ATC’S! I am currently in an ATC obsessive mood so that’s all I seem to be able to create. I’m involved in a few swaps though and someone asked to trade with me through instagram so I also had to make a little card to go with the swaps…. so what did I start with … yes an ATC! 

This one went to Sam who organised an impromptu ATC swap … love the addition of the acetate layer over the colour and texture on the ATC and then some washi tape to bring it all together! 

This one is really just an ATC stuck on a card but this is going to India for a trade via Instagram. I used a little wooden frame that I got in some happy mail and then the Tim Holtz butterfly stamp. 

So ATC’S are just fab and can easily be turned into card toppers too!

Entering into the following challenge page: we love 2 create

Happy crafting!

Catherine 

Inktense, Derwent, Masks/Stencils, Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz

More ATC making… am I obsessed?

Catherine

We have just got home from a fabulous weekend away… will blog about that later tonight but here is the scheduled post I prepared….

I think I might be just a little obsessed with making little collage mixed media ATC’S using old scratch paper as the starting point. They are so darned easy to enjoy a bit of play and use up the bits and pieces I’ve had lying around for ages! 

I have about 25 more of the starting points already cut up … wonder how many I can make in the next few weeks? 

So these started life as the palette/scratch paper off my desk making something else… no idea what but I did use a pretty nice heavy weight linen textured cardstock so definitely not just for throwing away! 

There is a real mishaps mash of colours but mainly light pastel colours. 

I started by adding some more colour through a stencil using distress inks and a blending tool. I mainly used Weathered Wood and Picked Raspberry and the stencil is a Tim Holtz one I just got which came with the butterfly stamps I used in the last ATC set.

Next I added texture paste through the other part of the stencil over the top.

I didn’t tint the paste but it did draw some of the distress ink into it and slightly colored it … but otherwise a milky semi opaque white pattern.  Next I added a little bit of washi tape to all three.  It’s quite a cute ditsy floral print. 

Next I had a little rummage through the many embellishments I’ve had for ages and never use and found a selection I thought would work… some paper flower die cuts, Love tickets, a button, paper rose and a little cute bird house shape sticker that is so old it had lost its stick.

I layered them up and set them out how I wanted them and then started adding shading and definition using the Derwent Inktense pencils as I knew they would blend nicely and yet be permanent once dry. I chose pink, purple and blue colours for this and really happy with how they are looking. Of course I had to add some white paint pen doodling and some splashes of white paint on them (I covered the word Love though as I didn’t want that splashing).

The panels are all one quarter inch smaller than ATC size so now they need mounting. So I cut and mounted them onto white cards which I had already stamped the ATC label stamp onto. Then I added my current must have… glass beads gel. And here they are all drying …. 

I just love the way it adds a bit of something shiny and extra texture to a project and in such a simple way.  It also makes me step away from a project for a while as it needs to dry all by itself…. no point in hurrying it along as you may end up ruining it… so it’s usually at this point I end up giving up on crafting for an evening and going to bed! 

Roll on the next day… time for the finishing touches and jobs a good’un! 

So the next day I added  little bit more sparkle in the way of stickles and some shimmery acrylic ink. Then I added to two of them some additional stickers for titles.

So these are my latest three ATC’S which are for an impromptu swap organised by a friend in the ATC swap group.  

Love this set of love ATC’S. 

Happy crafting! 

Catherine 

Dies, Impression Obsession, Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz

Fluttering ATC’S 

Catherine

Tonight I have some ATC’S to share that I made a few nights ago… why? Because I had stamped the Tim Holtz butterflies out and coloured them with distress crayons but then not used them… so decided rather than adding them to the pile of things that needed using I would make some ATC’S. Of course I was actually meant to be tidying the desk … but the creating took over again … but I did manage to create these without getting anything else out… they were created using what I could reach on my desk from where I sat! 

As you know I am #maremismallart obsessed at the moment and she released another ATC video on you tube recently so that may well have inspired me. 

Some time ago I cut up all the scratch papers I had been hoarding into ATC size so that I have a stash of them I can go to… some of them in sets from the same sheet… here is one such set… 

Although they all look different they came from the same scratch paper … love these organic backgrounds.

In this case all I added was a little stamping… and a die cut for each of them that I had added either silver or mother of pearl paint over the top to make them shiny.

I also added plenty of splats of white and black paint and some doodling and shading using the Faber-Castell Pitt big brush pens.

Next for the butterflies. I added a strip of patterned vellum… again it was on the desk … and some brads.

More doodling, some Tim Holtz word stickers and then finished off with some crystal stickles to add some bling and Glitter! 

Each of the panels is slightly smaller than ATC size which allows me to mount them onto a plain card as a base.

Love how all three came out. Not sure what to name them as a set yet… but thinking of framing them as a set as I think that would look nice. 

Wonder what I will make next time I am tidying up? And is the desk tidy? Not a chance!

Happy crafting! 

Catherine