Craft-Room Challenge 2 – Playing with Dolls!

Wow what a great response we had to our first challenge over at the Craft-Room. Thanks so much for all who entered , I really enjoyed seeing your creations.

So..onto our next challenge – which this time is Altered Paper Dolls! When Kim announced this as her theme my  initial reaction was one of panic. I’d never made a paper doll let alone an altered one..where to start? After a little searching I came across this great blog Paper Thin Personas by Rachel who agreed to let us post our creations using her designs. I found one called Esther so I just had to go with it and this is what I did…

I stamped the top with a music design, the wings are a Tim Holtz stamp on Fantasy Film in Stazon and the legs are from a freebie sheet at Dezinaworld.

I did a major glitter job on her hair with stickles in 3 colours The hair beads were a happy accident – in my impatience I added beadazzles to the bodice before the  stickles hair was dry  - and hey presto – beaded hair!! So after my initial Terror apprehension I had great fun creating my doll and fully intend to have another go, thanks Kim for a great challenge and encouraging me to try something new!

Now it’s your turn –head over to Craft-Room challenge to see the other DT pieces. They are all so different and definitely demonstrate that there is no right or wrong when it comes to this theme! Don’t forget you can win a £10 voucher for Craft-Room and we’ll also be picking our Top 3!

With my doll I'm joining the Linky Parties for the first time at 'Make it Monday' and 'Inspire Me Friday' and also entering into the 'Anything but a card' challenge at MAWTT and 'Anything Goes' at Papertake Weekly.

Have fun…Esther xx

Domino doings...

Many weeks ago I was busily working on Christmas cards and getting frowned on for being too early...now it would seem that while the rest of the crafty world has caught up with me and challenges abound for Christmas cards, my Christmas crafty mojo has abandoned me..peaked too early I reckon. So I turned my hand to something very new today - dominoes.  Having had some arrive in the post this morning from 'The Artistic Stamper' I set about altering and generally having fun  -hadn't a clue what I was doing but knew it had to include alcohol inks and Tim Holtz stamps. The reason for the Dominoes is because it's the theme for the challenge over at Alter It Monthly.  Altered art is an area I've only recently started exploring having stuck with papercrafts til now and I am enjoying my tentative steps into something a bit more adventurous. But enough waffling, can't put off sharing my attempts any longer - here's what happened -

It was really tricky to photograph at this time of night but I couldn't leave it til the morning as I want to enter  the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge which ends in a few hours! The light has bleached the colours a little - it's a bit more purpley in real life but here is the best close up I could get to show off the inks effect better.

For the stamp and show challenge we were asked to choose our favourate Tim Holtz stamp (a challenge in itself I might add) but at the moment my passion is for the expression stamps and I picked this one because it felt appropriate for my lack of altered art knowledge!  

Having inked the dominoes I stamped on tissue paper and applied with watered down PVA glue - the first time i'd tried this technique too! I created the wings with Fantasy Film and hung it all together with some fibre.   I can't help feeling it lacks something but I don't know what - maybe if I had some ideaology bits and pieces I'd add them but I don't, so, it stays as it is. I'm also going to enter this into the Lets ink it up 'recycle' challenge.

Well I better post this and get off to bed - got a Christmas mojo to find tomorrow!  Thanks for looking...Esther xx

Wedding Card

Hello - Tomorrow is a big day for our family - my Niece is getting married, she's the first of my sisters six children to take the plunge and we're all very excited! As usual I've left it to the last minute to make the wedding card (though I did have a clear design idea as I made her invitations so knew I wanted to tie it in with them). I also thought I would have a go at a first tutorial, (just to see if I could )- a very quick and simple technique to make the butterflies I've used on her card (and that appeared on a WOYWW post a couple of weeks ago) ..I'm entering this into the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge which is 'layers'...so here is the card...(the wedding theme is purple Butterflies!)..

After making the gatefold and cutting the arch shape I inked with Dusty Concorde distress ink. I then inked Judikins Floral Arabesque stamp with Versarmark, stamped onto thin parchment and chalked with pearlescant chalks. I cut two panels from this to fit inside the Arch shape and fixed to front of card, adding a few stamped flourishes in moonlight white ink round the edges (layering the papers gives a more subtle finish than if i'd just distress inked and stamped straight over the top). The date and sentiment are computer generated with the rings stamped in gold inside and layered onto gold card. The Butterflies are made as in the tutorial below. A few spots of crystal stickles add a glittery finishing touch.

..and the inside...

And here's how I made the Butterflies -

Ingredients - Butterfly Rubber Stamp - these are from an Aspects of Design set, Stazon or other permanent Ink pad, iron (non-steam), a piece of parchment or tracing paper, Fantasy film - I've used Aurora, Wire, Stickles -  if you like a bit of bling!

Place the stamp face up on your work space and ink with chosen permanent ink - I've used Stazon Royal Purple. (If making more than one piece I ink the stamp between each one.)

Take layers of fantasy film and lay on top of stamp taking care not to move once placed so as not to smudge ink. I've used three layers of film which I find  gives the piece a bit of strength to stay in shape but is still malleable - basically the more layers you have the thicker the finished piece will be (not rocket science!!)

Next lay over a piece of parchment - (or I use cheap tracing paper.) and iron with a craft iron on a high setting or a domestic iron with no steam.   You will see the image through the parchment as you heat,  the film bonds quickly and the length of time to heat is a bit trial and error as the film changes colour depending on heat applied - just experiment.

Peel away the parchment and film from the stamp - you can re-heat if the film is not bonded all over or you want to experiment with the colour more, just lay flat on a craft sheet (without the stamp), lay the parchment on top as before and iron some more -however  this produces a flatter finish as the piece loses the dimension caused from ironing over the stamp.

Once cut out, I added some crystal stickles to the body of the butterfly. I also cut off the antennae and shaped wire to use instead. I folded the film slightly along the length of the butterfly body to add dimension and then attached to my card using a blob of silicon glue in the centre.

Well..if you've got this far, thanks for sticking with it - how did I do ? Esther xx

WOYWW - Christmas free this week!

Hi - just a quick post today (phew I hear you sigh!!) - not enough hours in the day!! This is my blurry desk (well the desk isn't blurry but the photo is a bit - what do they say less haste more speed or something- never get that right!)

Anyway - I am busy making Butterflies for my nieces table plan for her wedding in a few weeks - they match the ones we made for her invitations earlier in the year (that was before I joined the world of blogging so you haven't seen them)

 

This is a strip of Fantasy film (Aurora and Spring Morning layered together), placed carefully over an inked stamp (Aspects of Design inked with Royal Purple Stazon) with a sheet of parchment over the top then ironed with my encaustic art iron - though any non steam iron will do the job.  

And then cut out....here is Butterfly number one complete  - only 14 left to go. At least she didn't need sixty this time like we did for the invites!!

Going for a pamper at the hairdressers after work today so will have even less time to hop around desks by the time I get home...but at least I'll look less of a mess doing it!! Happy WOYWW everyone...Esther xx