Portrait Tag

My crafty mojo definitely went missing for a large percentage of last year - I struggled to find much motivation and enthusiasm and at times even wondered if that was it - I was done ! But thank goodness I seem to have found a renewed passion and have had some lovely days at my craft desk - it also means that there may have been one or two items that somehow found their way into an on-line shopping basket or two. One of my new purchases was this cute little die cut frame which is a Tim Holtz alterations die.  I've used it on this Tim Holtz inspired tag  - 

I'm trying to explore new techniques so started by using enamelled embossing from Compedium of Curiosities, with Weathered Wood and Walnut Stain Distress inks, to create the background of the tag. I cut the frame and embossed in gold before using it to frame the printed portrait (from my stash). I added a strip of cream lace and a label and to finish off rubbed the edges with antique white paint - which I also flicked about a bit too. 

I'm sharing this over at  -
A vintage Journey - Use a Portrait
Country View Crafts - Use something New to you (die cut and technique)

Thanks for stopping by - Happy Crafting...Esther xx

Glitz and Glamour at Indigoblu

I've had some more crafty time and have made a tag for the challenge over at Indigoblu where the theme is 'Glitz and Glamour'.

I started by using Distress inks on the tag, then spritzing with metallic distress sprays. I stamped the flourish in versamark and applied perfect pearls (though you can't see the shimmer on the pics).  Images are stamped in Ganache Stazon (which is my new fav colour!). I added some white circles - (just gesso printed with the lids from a glue stick and a pen) to lift the background and flicked some watered down gesso about too.

For some added glitz I stamped and embossed the little flourish on the top and bottom in gold and added some stickles round the edges and to the glamorous ladies' parasol. Then just added some lace and thread which has sparkly gold bits in (which again doesn't show on the pics) to finish off. Thanks for stopping by...Happy Crafting...Esther xx

Water, Water everywhere at Craft-Room

Hi all - It's my turn to choose the theme over at Craft-Room and this fortnight I'm asking for all things Water based as we are now in the Sign of Aquarius - The Water Bearer. This means you can either use a water based technique i.e. water colour pencils/paints, or a water themed image.  If it isn't obvious please make it clear what technique you use - this also helps share techniques that may be new to others ! Our sponsor this challenge is Tando Creative.

 I used a couple of techniques to make a tag. First of all I used the 'brush less water colour' technique - inked a background stamp (Judikins) with distress inks, spritzed with water and stamped onto water colour paper. 

I then stamped a little flower stamp (freebie from craft Stamper mag) and coloured with Derwent water colour pencils, adding stickles for a bit of sparkle

And then put it together with a stamped quote (Stamp Addicts) and a little background script stamping. 

 So whether you use a water based technique or create a water themed project I look forward to visiting and seeing your work - Happy Crafting...Esther xx

Fashionable swirls

We have some exciting news over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges– Shirley has been working very hard on some changes to the challenge site – Starting with this fortnight’s challenge (and I’ll get to that in a minute) we have a brand new sponsor – Flonzcraft and have our own dotcom address. This means our challenge site has moved so make sure you change any stored bookmarks and links via our logos !

So onto the current challenge then – which is Swirls as chosen by Shirley herself. I’ve made a little tag -

I used Tim Holtz's wrinkle free distress technique for the background, stamped Inkadinkadoo foliage trails and added die cut swirls and Butterflies.

The butterflies are cut from book pages that have been coloured with ink sprays and stamped and embossed (and yes I know..the text is upside down, – guess who die cut them the wrong way up?!).  The stamp is from the Vintage No1 set by Stamp Addicts.

The tag is to go into my Creative Chemistry 101 Album, I signed up for the online classes and am slowly getting round to making samples for each technique!
I'm sharing my tag at -
The Artistic Stamper - Tags
HappyCampers - Flutterby Butterfly

So, lets see your swirly creations, don’t forget to check out the beautiful inspiration pieces from my team mates and remember we do ask for some stamping on your entries.  Have fun…Esther xx

Sharing the Love @FSC

Hi all – it’s time for another challenge over at FSC and with Valentines fast approaching we thought we’d share a bit of love around !  I have made a little tag –

Since joining the blogging world I’ve shared some amazing creativity with some lovely friends. For me this is all about sharing what we love to create, ‘meeting’ fellow crafters and enjoying a positive experience.

I do hope you will join us in sharing some love around our fellow crafters and bloggers, we would love you to visit the crafter who entered the challenge before you and even more entries if you can – and don’t forget our design team who all work really hard for FSC, especially the lovely Shirley, without whom FSC wouldn’t happen so some special love going out to her this week !                      

 My tag is part of a bigger project -  last year I joined Tim Holtz’s online class ‘Creative Chemistry 101’ and my intention was always to make a collection of tags using the lessons…so better late than never this is number one  - blended spritz and flick !

I’m keeping them in an unused photo album, making two tags, leaving one to show just the technique and the other completed.  I’ve also included the step by step by step and a materials list.             

I’m sharing my tag over at -              

Crafty Ribbons – Love/Romance         

Penny Black and More – Love is in the air                                                        

Stamp and Create – Love                  

Stampin for the weekend – something Girlie

Phew – long post ! Thanks for sticking with me – I’ll be over to see you all soon…Esther xx

Floral Vintage

WOW – it’s already time for my second challenge with the Fashionable Stamping team, I loved looking at all your ice cream creations last week and choosing winners is going to be so tough ! But that’s for us to worry about -  on to this week. Fliss chose ‘floral or hand made flowers’ as this fortnight's theme. Inspired by an article in Craft Stamper magazine I created a tag -

I dry embossed a Kraft tag then added touches of walnut stain Distress ink.

My flowers are cut from Glassine paper using the Tim Holtz tattered florals die, scrunched and spritzed with  forever violet perfect pearls mist. A torn strip from an old book, inked and stamped paper, and a scrap of lace make up the rest of the tag.

The sentiment is a Penny Black stamp heat embossed with Adirondack espresso EP and I finished off with a little butterfly button. I really hope you share your floral creations with us, as always we are sponsored by Marina from Cottage Crafts, and don’t forget to check out the fabulous work by the rest of the Design team…Esther xx

Shattered Stains

Goodness I nearly forgot to post this...but got here just in time. Here is my tag for this weeks Compendium of Curiosities 2 challenge, happening over at Studio L3. The challenge this week is sponsored by Simon Says Stamp.

Linda asked us to try the shattered stains technique that can be found on page 48 of Tim Holtz's book. I used this chipboard butterfly and don't think I quite got it right as it didn't all colour but I kinda like it anyway. I shall have to practice.

I've used another technique to make the tag background, inspired by "Just us Girls" who's challenge this week was to use generational stamping, which I've done with this Butterfly stamp.I've used Pumice stone and worn lipstick Distress inks. 

I'm also sharing this here - 

Moving Along with The Times - Keep it real

Papertake Weekly - In the Garden 

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything Goes

Stamptacular Sunday - Butterfly Kisses

Looking forward to seeing which technique Linda chooses for us all tomorrow, Thanks for popping over....Esther xx

MOJO returns !!

Hurrah - I have my crafting mojo back! After a fair few weeks of struggling to have any ideas or motivation, other than my DT piece last weekend I haven't made anything for absolutely ages  - but today I have spent a lovely afternoon at my desk getting inky and messy...and what's more I tried something completely out of my comfort zone and made a male themed tag !

Now I have only dipped my toe into the realm of Steampunk once but I was inspired to try this as I recently acquired some new stamps by Andy Skinner and Indigo Blu.

I started with a Tim H tag, and used ‘wrinkle free distress’ technique to add several colours over which I added piece of notebook paper stamped and coloured with aged mahogany DI.   The dashing gentleman is then stamped and embossed over the top.

I don’t have lots of shop bought embellishments and trinkets, so used a gear stamp from The Artistic Stamper on acetate and embossed with copper kettle and again in opaque pewter EP. I  left the copper as a larger piece, cutting round the edges and sticking in the corner, then cut some individual gears and added them on top. I had  few bits from an old watch and added these and some eyelets and brads in various metal finishes. A few patches of opaque pewter EP on the tag edges was the finishing touch.

I’m sharing this over at the following challenges -

Joanna Sheen – It’s a Man’s world

Make My Monday – For a man/Vintage

Artful Times – Tags

Simon Says Stamp and Show – Tim Technique

Gingersnaps Creations – Random Redhead – Last Century

Lets ink it up – distressing

I’m so pleased to be back in my crafty zone – shame I’ve got it just as I have to go back to work tomorrow !! Thanks for stopping by…Esther xx

Music at Craft-Room

The time has come round for another Craft-Room Challenge, though I'm a bit late getting this out there as Mr Blogger ate my scheduled post! I loved visiting all your sparkly creations for the last challenge, the winners will be announced next Tuesday. 

Our challenge this time is sponsored by Tando Creative and has been selected by Hazel who has chosen music, which is a favourite theme of mine. I've been in a bit of a creative slump recently - not been crafting much, so this was a perfect theme to get me going again. Because I've been struggling I chose one of my favourite colour combinations and a tag because I do love making them, the weather has been so sunny this inspired the spring feel and of course getting inky and stamping are always my fav things to do..This was just what I need to get me back into the crafty zone and here is what I came up with - 

I coloured with distress stains first of all and used a Tando Creative sequin waste mask to sponge distress inks through before stamping with a music stamp and flourishes. The Chipboard butterfly is also from Tando.

After colouring the chipboard with distress stains I sponged on a couple of colours of acrylic paint using one of those netty shower scrub thingys (can you tell I don't know what to call it !). 

Tando Creative have a great range of Chipboard and high quality masks and have donated this great prize for the winner of our challenge - 

Pop over to the Craft-Room Challenge site to see the fab inspiration from my teamies - including the newest addition to our Design team, Suzanne who we were very excited to welcome for her first challenge this week.

I also want to enter my tag into these challenges -
Allsorts  - Photo inspiration
Fashionable Stamping - Spring in the Air
The Stamp Man - BINGO (green, flowers, swirls)
My Monthly Mojo - Tagology
Unruly Paperarts - Reader Art Quest 1 -  Sponging
Unruly PaperArts is a great new collaborative blogozine by Shar Briss, one of the founding femme's at gingersnaps Creations who are sadly closing their doors. The blogozine will feature a panel of regular columnists as well as reader submitted articles and Reader Art Quests, with the winners voted for by the readers !

Hope you enjoy getting musical, I look forward to seeing your creations, thanks for visiting Esther xxx

Craft Room Punches and Die cuts

Hello - I really enjoyed all the hand made flowers you've shared with us at The Craft Room Challenge over the last two weeks, as always it's going to be tricky to choose our favourites. This fortnight it is Nikki's turn to challenge us and she's asked us to use our die cuts and punches.  My contribution was inspired by one of Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas.   

I've used Glassine paper which I've scrumpled, inked with picket fence distress stain ( I've wiped over with a damp cloth to remove some of it) then stamped on, before adding a Tim Holtz elegant flourish die cut, Sizzix Holly leaves die cut and a sentiment on layered Nesties. A net adn ribbon bow and my favourite Martha Stewart Snowflake punch finished off.

Now it's your turn to show us what you can do with your die cuts and punches.

To be eligible for the Random draw and a chance to win £10 to spend at Craft-Room remember to display the shop logo and a link to the Craft-Room shop in your side bar.  We also have Blog Candy, click on the Indigo Blu plate on my sidebar to find out more.

As always I look forward to visiting you...Esther xx

Just Because...

It's been ages since I had time to make something just because - What with Christmas Cards to make, Design Team projects,  not to mention an assignment for work so today I took some time out, browsed some challenge sites and made a tag for no other reason than because I wanted to.  It was great to do something different and I hadn't made a tag in ages so inspired by The Stamp Man challenge to use a Tim's Tag technique I chose Tag no 9 from 2010 and this is what I did -

 

I took the colours from this weeks Play Date Cafe - gorgeous rich colours which put me in mind to make a more male style tag. I used Distress inks to colour and stamped a background, made a rosette with a strip of papermania DP, coloured some buttons with 'Currant' alcohol ink added a camera charm , square brads and a die cut flourish. The sentiment is made with rub on letters.

I'm sharing my tag here -

Crafty ribbons - Anything but a card

The Play Date cafe - Maroon, Copper, Turmeric

The Friday Mash up - Rosette

Sentimental Sunday - Male Tag

The Stamp Man - Tim's tags techniques

While we're talking about male projects I thought I'd share a Design team card I made for Stamp Addicts. This fab set is called 'Graffitti' and is just perfect for those tricky teenage cards !

I'm sharing this over at Stamptacular Sunday where the theme is 'Boy oh boy'

I've had a lovely time playing this afternoon - hope you all enjoyed your weekends too,  thanks for coming to visit..Esther xx

Not a snowflake in sight...

..and that means either outside or on my crafting ! Nope, we've had no snow..I thought at first we had had a light dusting but it seems to be more of a heavy frost than anything just on the cars and the roof...and as for my crafting, I've been poorly all week,(still sniffling now - kleenex and Lemsip have made millions I bet!) and the mojo and motivation was definately lacking. However yesterday I picked up a bit so rather than battle with the last of my Christmas cards I made just what I fancied - a non-Christmas but definately Tim inspired tag....

I used distress inks to colour the tag (bundled sage, pumice stone, frayed burlap, tattered rose, antique linen) scrunching and wrinkling before adding some Walnut ink DI to the raised areas. I used an ATC which I again coloured with DI and did a bit of masking too before stamping. I used some tissue tape (traveller) down one side and stamped and cut out some tickets to make a border along the bottom with a lace scrap.  

I then followed Tims video from his 12 tags of Christmas post to make the tissue tape flower and was really pleased how it turned out after adding Moonglow shadow mist. I've taken a close up to try and show how this gorgeous mist adds a hint of shimmery colour - in this case emerald, you can see it better if you click to enlarge the pic. Although I really just went with whatever took my fancy to make this I did have a couple of challenges in mind and there are a couple that it happens to fit so I will be entering this into - Sir Stampalot - Travel the World, Gingersnap Creations - Vintage Hues, The Stamp Man - Anything goes tag and Simon says Stamp and Show - A Tim Holtz technique. 

And now I'm off to play some more - I'm so excited as I took possession yesterday of  long awaited for and much sought after the tattered florals and rosette dies! Technically they are Christmas presents from my mum but , well, I had to order them and they're here and unwrapped so...sshh..don't tell anyone !

Thanks for stopping by...Esther xx

Tims Tags - playing catch up!

I have a cold...thanks to my darling other half who kindly shared his! So what better way to rest and cheer myself up than a day of making Christmas tags Tim Holtz style (see his 12 tags of Christmas here)...now I'm way way behind and will not manage them all but I've finished the first five. So here they are - I've had to adapt them to use materials I have but have followed the technique instructions pretty much..

Tag 1 - WOYWWers may have seen this incomplete on my desk last weds..since then I made a little holly garland (so fiddly!) and added smoke and a ticket. This took my ages - I made everything from scratch as didn't have any of the dies or pre-made embellishments but was really fun to make. I'm going to enter this at The Artistic Stamper Creative Teams challenge blog. (Ooh..and a thankyou to The Artistic Stamper cos I won a prize for guessing the materials used to make their snowman, looking forward to Mr Postie arriving!)

 Tag 2  - I really like the colours on this one - going to enter it at Gingernsaps Creations in the Colour challenge which is vintage hues and Simon says Stamp and Show where the theme is 'Holiday Greeting'.

 (tag 3 was made earlier in the week and is posted here)..

 

Tag 4 -The paper on this tag is Crafty individuals, I didn't have a facet to use so made an oval from shrink plastic and did the alcohol ink technique on that instead which I think worked ok. The glitter flourishes at the bottom were made with crystals on Tims card but i'm too frugal to use that many on one piece so used white glitter instead, I think they look like little snowballs!  Going to enter this one into the Gingersnaps Creations Spicey Supply challenge.  

Tag 5 - I think this is my favourate - I love this stamp from Stampington and Company. Made the numbers from grunge and heat embossed with white EP and then clear UTEE.  I'm going to enter this one over at Lets Ink it Up - their Christmas theme has an added option of sparkle or bling and the stickles on the holly leaves here definately add sparkle!

Thanks for stopping by...Esther xx

Another crafty weekend....

Hi - well here I am having another great crafty weekend - should be thinking about getting washing and ironing done for our holiday but...well..other things just sort of got in the way like blog hopping and Christmas cards....

This first one was inspired by the challenge 'come fly with me' at Daring Cardmakers - and who better to have flying across the sky than Santa!! This is a new stamp for me this year from Crafty individuals and I've stamped it onto some card which I'd brayered using a Marvy Blending Block.  The card base is stamped with a christmas script stamp using an Opalite ink pad.

Challenges - Daring Cardmakers - Come fly with me

                Creative Inspirations - Pink & Black

                                       Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes

Next I kept it simple using the colours from The Play Date Cafe inspiration photo. I love turquoise and red together and used my marvy markers to randomly colour the bauble stamp - a green sentiment and some icicles stickles finished off. The design was inspired by the One Layer Wednesday Challenge  on Susan Raihala's blog Simplicity. Susan challenged us to use three images and a sentiment.  I'm also entering this over at Stamptacular Sunday where the challenge is to incorporate a grid pattern which my PSX bauble stamp does nicely - more by fluke than planning! 

Finally after two simple cards I moved away from Christmas to try and get an entry into the Compendium of curiosities challenge this week - I've missed the last couple but really enjoy  this challenge so wanted to get back to it. I made this tag using  TH mini masks (see P58)  and my favourate stamps. This little fairy stamp is one of my all time favourates, though it is tricky to choose just one, I love this image so it's a strong contender...and my favourate background stamp of the moment is the Hero Arts cling Dots which you can also see in here! This favourate choosing is all in aid of the Lets Ink it up challenge - I've been trying to enter this since it started a couple of weeks ago as it focuses on my first crafty love - stamping, and finally I've managed it! Although these challenges were my main inspiration for this tag it also fits into these ones - Allsorts - Use three Punches (3x flowers) and Gingersnaps Creations Spicy Supply challenge - Punches and Tag you're it - from the Fairy Garden

Phew - that's a lot of challenges - they just kind of all fell together this week! Anyway thanks for looking, better hop off to the ironing pile!!   Happy Creating...Esther xxx

My First Gothic Arch....

I've had a lovely creative day....here's what I did...I made my first entry to the Gothic Arches Challenge which this week is 'Daisies' - I don't know if it's Gothic enough, but I like it! Edit - someone has pointed out that the Gothic part is actually the shape of the Arch so that's ok then - DUH Blonde moment !!

I used the colours from this weeks Play Date Cafe challenge  - Hot Pink, Mustard and Navy Blue. At first I thought they would be really difficult to work together, but it wasn't too bad. I used Wild Plum and Butterscotch alcohol inks to create a smoochy background, and then stamped with Fuchsia Pink and Midnight Blue Stazon before adding some gold embossing  (I deliberately allowed some specks of poweder to melt randomly) and a sentiment.

Staying with Colour challenges I then had a go at Gingersnaps Creations latest Colour challenge which is Red and Black.  I don't use this colour combination much but always think of oriental when I do..and this is what happened today -

The Tiger Lily Stamp is from Rubadubadoo and I have stamped it onto a piece of card I coloured with distress inks and my one cosmic shimmer colour spray I have, luckily red! Having embossed the foliage onto black card with black EP I added a scrap of sequin fabric, gems and ribbon. 

Whoopee...no work tomorrow, thanks Bank Holiday - got to make my nieces wedding card so off to get some sleep ready to create again in the morning ! Esther xx

WARNING - contains Christmas

Finally got time to have a play and create something for my favourate challenges. I struggle with those that start on Monday because I don't really get much time to craft during the week so it's usually a last minute entry on a sunday afternoon but I love joining in. Here is my card for Linda's Compendium of Curiosities challenge over at Studio L3.

This week we were working from P42 of Tim Holtz's fabulous book - I have used the crackle paint on the background rather than a focal element, I thought it gave the impression of bark and tied in nicely with the tree theme. 

The base of the card is made using a great technique demonstrated by Katy at Gingersnaps Creations using Tim Holtz embossing folder and brown acrilic paint. The pattern reminded me of the rings that you see in  the cross section of a tree trunk. Katy warns about the paint staining the folders -but I found if I wiped the folder well, gave it a good spritz with water and ran through my machine again with some folded kitchen paper in, it cleaned no problem - and I got some great 'moulded' kitchen paper to use on something else!! So - this card is also going into the Gingersnaps Creations Spicy Supply Challenge which is 'Paint'

The Inspiration for the colours  came from this weeks Play Date Cafe challenge and this great photo. I used Bundled Sage, Antique Linen and Walnut Ink Distress inks. The trees were stamped with Timber Brown Stazon. The Tree scene stamp is from Crafty Individuals and the larger tree behind, which I stamped on acetate, is by Personal Impressions. 

I also made my first ATC today - as soon as I saw the photo this stamp came to mind and seeing as I've been intending to start Christmas Crafting, I thought no time like the present! I kept it CAS, just layered distress inks by masking, stamped the Three Kings over the top and added some more colour - you can't see on the photo but I've added some gold touches to the kings.

Finally while in the christmas spirit and loving this colour combination I kept with the basic supplies on my desk and swapped stamps to make a tag to enter (again at the last minute!) to the New Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge which has a 'things with wings' theme. The Background is stamped with Hero Arts Diamonds, Do-Crafts snowflake (forever Friends set) and Hero Arts script. The main image of Angels is from Dovecraft.  Well if you've made it this far thanks for sticking with such a  long post.....hope you've had a good weekend ! Esther xx