Stamp and Stencils Guest Designer

Wow I was very excited to learn I had been picked as a winner over at Stamp and Stencils and would get the opportunity to be a guest designer with the very talented team.   The current challenge picked by Ruth is 'three of a kind' and I made 3 ATCs and mounted them on a board.

 For a step by step pop over to Stamp and Stencils , I hope you get creative and join in....

I'm also sharing this over at The Mirror Crack'd - Tryptich

Happy Crafting Esther xx

Summer colours ATC's

This year I've been really struggling with my crafting - Mr Mojo seemed to disappear completely and I had a bit of a health situation that was worrying for a while and needed a complete break from my challenge design teams. I didn't do any crafting at all for several months and wondered if that was it :-( BUT...the mojo is back, I've had a lovely couple of days playing this weekend and for the first time in I don 't know how long have created something just because I wanted too !! I browsed some challenge sites and inspired by A Vintage Journey created a set of ATC's -   

I made the backgrounds using Tim's mono printing with stencils and paint technique from Chemistry 102 - I used bright cheery summer colours and stamped with Archival black for contrast.

 The stamps are all Tim Holtz and the stencils I used a bit of a mixture.  

 I used Pebeo and Adirondack paints and Distress inks. 

As the backgrounds were so bright and busy I didn't want to over do the embellishments but did feel they needed a little something so used coloured staples and ribbon for just a finishing touch.

As well as A Vintage Journey I'm also sharing my ATC's here - 

The Artistic Stamper - Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes

As it's Bank Holiday Weekend here I'm looking forward to another day's art tomorrow too :-) Esther xx

Late ATC’s at Craft-Room

Well there I was all organised, ATC’s made, drying on the shelf…off I went to pack for my holiday and before you know it I was on a plane to Turkey – and  had I photographed and scheduled my ATC post ?  - of course not !! So now I’m home, here they are better late than never -

The pics are a bit rushed and taken in not great light, apologies they are not the best. So of course this is my inspiration sample for the latest challenge over at Craft-Room.

My set of ATC’s are all cut from a single Gelli print (no surprises there and no apologies for the continuing use of Gelli prints, still loving my Gelli plate !).

I’ve embellished with stamping, moulding paste coloured with rub N buff,  cut out embossed flowers and Frantage embossing powder and mica flakes.

Maria chose the ATC theme but she has some ‘life’ stuff to do (you know that every day stuff that gets in the way  of crafting!) so Zoe is filling in for her over on the challenge site and all you have to do is make an ATC or a set and share them with us!

Our Terrific sponsor this time is Tando Creative.

We are also having a DT call, there is a sticky post here with all the details and it’s open til Oct 6th.

Well I have holiday washing to get on with – I look forward to seeing your ATC’s…Happy Crafting, Esther xx

Shabby ATC's

As I've mentioned before, my crafting has been on a bit of a go slow lately and I've just been doing DT stuff and nothing much else - however, I have a renewed enthusiasm thanks to my Gelli plate shaped birthday present ! I love this new toy and have had a lovely messy time playing today, while it thundered and poured with rain !!  Here is what I made - 

A little trio of shabby ATCs. I was inspired by the Unruly Paperarts RAQ 1 challenge, where the theme is Pink and Brown Shabby Chic. I wanted to see if I could achieve a shabby chic background with the gelliplate. I used pale pink and rose pink on the gelli and then used a rubber stamp to lift paint off before taking a couple of prints on an old sheet of music manuscript. I used the same technique but added some brown paint for the third print.  (forgot to take a pic of the printed sheets before I cut them up!!). 

This ATC is the second print, which gave a more shabby finish, I've embossed the edges and the bottom button with Stampendous Aged Rose Embossing Enamel and stamped some text on the top button. 

This background is the first, darker print, I've stamped some text, added the crochet flower, buttons and finished off with some Tarnished Mica flakes. 

and finally the last print, with brown paint added to the pink, added some lace,shell buttons, little key and a stamped image. 

I  recently came across a bag of buttons while sorting through some stuff at my mums and the Simon Says Stamp and Show button challenge is the inspiration for the decoration of my ATCs.  I was really pleased with how the stamp worked on the paint and will definitely try this technique again. Thanks for stopping by...Esther xx

Fashionable Sentiments

Wow - how quickly a fortnight passes by. It's already time for another challenge with the Fashionable Stampettes, and it was my turn to choose the theme. I would like you to make a sentiment the focus of your creation this week.  As always the gorgeous girls over at FSC have some lovely inspiration for you, and we also have a fab guest designer with us, whow has made a beautiful project for us. I kept it simple with a little set of ATC's using my favourtite sentiment stamps -

 I created the background with the wrinkle free distress technique in monochromatic colours

 Added some background stamping with subtle colours of distress inks

Sprayed inks through a stencil

and heat embossed the sentiment over the top. This last one is my favourite!

As usual our generous sponsor is Flonzcraft and you can win a voucher to spend on their wide range of rubber stamps, and don't forget that we do need to see stamping on your entry.

I'm sharing my ATCs over here - 

Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes

Happy Campers - Use a Mask/Stencil

Paper Crafting journey - Use a sentiment

Totally Papercrafts - Monochromatic

I look forward to visiting your sentimental projects..Esther xx

WOYWW and ATCs

 Really really quick post with several pics...just finished my ATCs for this months swap over at the Stamp Man where the theme is Friendship..I missed the last one because I ran out of time but was determined to get back in again this month. Decided to keep them simple so the images and words spoke for themselves, backgrounds created with Distress stains and Inks and images coloured with Pro-markers...not that happy with some of the attempted shading, I'm still learning!

This is one is my favourate. I've used Crafty individuals Stamps with an Artistic Stamper crackle background stamp.

And now for my desk...wow what a lot of sorting out I did at the weekend thanks to some new storage I had delivered.

I sorted out this messy lot -  

 and turned this untidy space -

 Into this organised slot -

 and this tidy, clear and ready for action desk!!

I love it...the shelves are sold as CD storage - and although I do have some CD cases in them it's probably not what the manufacturers had in mind as mine contain unmounted stamps - and I still have some space to add to my collection ! Oh - excuse the orange blob...I forgot when I took the pic I had a 'left here to dry but cannot be shared yet' project on the top!  

Please go visit Julia at the Stamping Ground where loads of other desks can be found for your enjoyment! Happy WOYWW everyone...Thanks for stopping by...Esther xxx

Wise Words

I am really enjoying being part of The Stampman ATC swap, hadn't ever made an ATC in my life before I joined in and now I'm a bit addicted and have received some lovely art work from other crafters. This month the theme is Wise Words and as there is a bit of spring in the air I've used these lovely stamps which are Aspects of Designs I've had for ages. I love playing with the individual stamps - the pots, planters, flowers etc to  create scenes and came up with three different garden/spring themed pieces, each with a different quote from the same stamp set.  I don't have a garden so creating these was lovely - my own little pieces of spring inside!

I've used Flower soft on this one to create blooms in the pot

This is my favourate and like on the third one I did some masking and stamping

 They are all coloured with Promarkers - got a bit of a wonky pot on this one!

As well as The Stampman Swap I am entering these into the following challenges -

Crafty Calender - Spring

The Artistic Stamper - Spring

Stamptacular Sunday - 'Are you talking to me?'

Secret Crafter - Anything but a card

Hope spring is finaly arriving where you are too..Esther xx

The STampman ATC Swap

As well as making Tim's Christmas tags (see previous post) I found time to make my ATC's for December's swap with The Stampman - the theme is 'tis the season. I'm so enjoying this, the swaps I've received have been lovely and as a new ATC maker I'm loving designing and making mine to send in. 

I've combined this with the Play Date Cafe's challenge this week which is to use the colours inspired from this gorgeous pic. I absolutely love this colour combination so set to work with my Distress inks and glitz sprays. I've used Penny Black 'it spells merry xmas' and dove stamps. I don't know where the baubles or swirl are from, the snowflakes are Forever Friends and elusive images. I made the backgrounds by smooshing distress inks on a craft mat and spritzing them with glitz spritz which gives a lovely shimmery finish which you can't see on the pic.  The words are heat embossed also which doesn't really show and the Peace ATC is actually milled Lavender and Pumice stone so is much more lilac/grey in reality...pretty naff pic really isn't it !

Thanks for looking..Esther xx

More ATC's - this could be addictive!

 Today I have had a fabulous time creating my ATC's for the next Stamp Man swap - which this month is 'Take a Letter'. I'm really enjoying taking part  and had some lovely swaps drop through the letter box, I'd never made ATC's before 2 months ago and can see it being very addictive. I have literally taken the A T C letters -

I've used a letter on each one so that they are linked as a set but also stand alone individually because I've used a theme connected to the individual letter  (does that make sense - it's getting late?). The colours were inspired by The Play Date Cafe challenge #54 which are gorgeous as always. Each background was made the same way, stamping and embossing an image in clear then using distress inks on a craft mat, spritzed with water and  'smooshed' on to the ATC. The clear EP resists the DI leaving a white image. I made each letter using the technique from Tim Holtz's compendium that Linda has chosen for this weeks challenge over at Studio L3 - it's page 54 and that's all I can tell you.  Not sure I'm really happy with how the letters came out, I didn't have the right tools so had to improvise and not sure it worked like it should - not 'scratchy' enough!.  I used shrink plastic to make wings for the A and a tiny clock for T. I had real fun with these just making it up as I went along with my stash of E-bay BargainTim Holtz stamps.

I'm also going to enter these into the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge - Shabby. I must admit I get a little confused by the different styles sometimes because they seem to overlap - where does grunge stop and shabby start ? Anyway - my ATC's are Tim Holtz inspired which is what this challenge site is all about so hopefully I'm not too far out. Here they individually -

A - Artist

T-Time

C - Creativity

Thanks for having a look - better get to bed or I'll be no good for anything tomorrow and there's a list of commissioned Christmas cards waiting !!  Esther xx 

Good to be back...

Hi - well we returned from our hols after a glorious week of relaxation, sunshine and cocktails - and although I missed WOYWW here's a pic of what was on my table on Wednesday!

But it's back to reality now which means back to my craft room. Although I loved my holiday it was exciting coming home as waiting for me were my swaps from 'The Stamp Man' ATC swap, which were lovely, (thanks to Meggymay, Crafty Meg and Pam Atkinson) and I gained a couple of followers while I was away so Hello to you. Also waiting for me were some Tim Holtz stamps which had arrived the day before we left and I had not had a chance to play with. I've never been able to justify spending out on these stamps because there's always some in a set that I didn't think I'd get use out of and they are a bit pricey - but I was soooo chuffed to get a real E-Bay auction bargain and ended up with seven sets for about the price of two (and that included postage from the states!!)...oh and I love them.

The first thing I did was make my ATC's for this months Stamp Man ATC swap. The theme is 'travel' so the stamps were perfect and I combined them with the 'wrinkle free distress' technique on P33 of Tim's compendium of Curiosities book which just happens to be the one Linda has chosen for this weeks challenge over at Studio L3 - funny that.   

Here they are with just the backgrounds done.

And here are the finished ATCs - the stamps are all TH except for the Antique Map I've used on the two at the top which is from The Stamp Man, and the 'Are we there yet?' phrase  (not sure where that's from). The Bon Voyage phrase is a sticker I've had hanging around for ages.

I've stuck with neutral colours plus green and am entering these into the Colour challenge over at Gingersnaps creations as well as the Secret Crafter Saturday challenge where the theme is ' distressing'

My next project was also inspired by The Stamp Man but this time the 'Autumn' theme challenge. These are colours which I don't normally use so it was a good project to get me thinking - I used a skeleton leaf stamp from The Stamp Man and distress inks to create two different BPs and then delved into my new TH stamps for the umbrella man image, corners and sentiment. I distressed and inked the edges of the papers before layering them up keeping it fairly simple to let the backgrounds stand out. I have to admit this man was one of the images I couldn't see myself using, but actually he seemed to fit this card, which for me evokes thoughts of the Autumn arriving and the approaching end of another year - I think he is staring out from his umbrella contemplating.  Blimey I seem to have returned from my hols all reflective and thoughtful - that won't last !!

There seems to be no end of 'Autumn themed challenges about at the moment so this card will be finding it's way over to -

The Stamp Man - Autumn

Charisma Cardz - Autumn Colours

Allsorts - Inspiration from a song title - 'Forever Autumn' (Justin Haywood)

Stampin for the Weekend - 'Autumn Inspiration'

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Numbers (the Umbrella man has numbers on)

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - 'Distressing'

Well, I'm planning to work on something gothic/halloween colours tomorrow. I don't like Halloween itself but love the associated colours and so am hoping to play about for a couple of challenges. My range of gothic style stamps is non-existent though so really is going to be challenge!! Thanks for stopping by..  Esther xx