Under the influence!

Yesterday we went on a family visit - and it just so happened that Hels lives in the same county as they do - so we made a detour, and I got to meet her in person as well as deliver the bags.

The crafting 'fraternity' are wonderful - everyone that I have corresponded with or met! And Hels was no different.

It was just a flying visit, but she welcomed me as if I had known her for years - and guess what - I got to see some of her art work.

Well lots of it - and its stunning in real life. It looks wonderful on her blog!   Seeing it in 'real life' and holding it and examining it is a whole different thing.  We keep saying this when we take photos of our work - and it really is true - you just don't get to see the textures, the depth and true colours, the layers of inks, shimmers, crackle paints - the camera just does not pick it up!

It was just a flying visit - en-route - but boy did we cram in a lot - well me asking lots of questions!   It was a real treat and a great perk - and it really lifted me up to come out here today,  to my shed, in the pouring rain, to play.

Among other things Hels showed me some amazing tags - which I can't have a go at yet until I get the stamps and other 'stash' I need to have a go at some of the elements.

But her lovely 'pep' talk inspired me to use some bright colours for a change - I tend to favour 'safe' colours.

I layered on bright inks, stamped with hessian background stamp in the same colour

I over stamped with a vintage script, and part of a border.

The Crafty Indivduals image matched the colour perfectly, and as it is on glossy paper, and I wanted a dreamy look I dulled it down with Gesso.  I also drew some swirls in white to marry the picture to the tag to soften the edges so that it didn't look so 'stuck on'

I finished it off with more overstamping of the script,

more swirls, a border at the bottom and a ribbon to match.

Thank you Hels for giving my 'papercraft' mojo a kick start - it was lovely to meet you, and maybe in the future we can meet up again - and perhaps even do some crafting!

Craft Stamper - The Magazine

I bought my copy of the Craft Stamper magazine on Friday.
Had visitors all day on Saturday, and out all day yesterday. So today I took myself off to my studio for a 'read' and to have a go at the inspirational articles in there.

I was inspired by the front page so just had to try that out first.


I had a brayer - to try out the technique, but it was not the same make - and I wonder if that made a difference because no matter how hard I tried I just could not achieve the look that Tracey has.

Maybe is was my inks. I threw so many attempts away, that I improvised to make this version.

I really love the effect of the hanging branches, the butterflies, and the fairy - but without anything remotely suitable I could use to create that fabulous look, I just had a play.



I sponged on the ink colours, created a mountain and topped it with 'snow' which I embossed. I added a misty look with white chalk ink, and using an Oriental stamp I stamped the foreground several times with water reeds at different heights.

Isn't it strange the difference in colour that photographing on a different background colour makes!

I finished it off by drawing oriental style butterflies in the centre foreground, and birds flying off into the distance.

I used some Japanese kimono ribbon, to add authenticity to my 'Land of the rising sun' but it doesn't really go does it - so will change it for an organza ribbon.

I am making tags lately, mainly because I got all the free mount board and I can try out lots of techniques. They are also make great bookmark gifts.

There are so many things in this months magazine that I want to try - it will keep me busy until next months comes out!

Tomorrow I am off to see Paula who is also featured in the magazine. I don't expect to get any creative work done though, we will be too busy talking!

Tag

Well I filled in the gap on the tag I made the other day. For some reason a line from one of Elvis's songs jumped into my mind.

"Love me tender
Love me true
Never let me go"

Not like me to get so sloppy!



And bought a better matching piece of ribbon - so I think it looks better balanced now.

I was a bit of a dope as I printed out the sentiment on what I thought was a transparent label - but it wasn't - and it was too late to do another one.

Welcome Home Tag

Well I didn't have a go at another ATC - I just couldn't get into it - so made a tag instead.

The threads are the wrong colour - so I will remove those and find something better - and there is a 'gaping' space beside the couple that could do with a sentiment - so I will search out, type up, and add one there.


Apart from that I quite like the colour combinations.

Monthly tag swap July - Letter E

Blue tag - with a stamped image which has been embossed with distressed black embossing powder.

Outside the image the area has been aged with dark chalk and the edges have been embossed with distressed black embossing powder.

The letter E has been painted with gold.

Monthly tag swap this month is E

E is for Eyes.

Tag on dark green painted card - with lots of textured golds and greens bubbled up with a heat gun

Tribal Tags

Painted and stippled background. Printed image - coloured and enhanced with gold Krylon pen



Stamped embossed background. Stamped tribal warrior painted.

Tag - January - Children

It was a cold and very frosty day today - which reflects in my tag theme.

I scrunched up a tag so that it was all creased then flattened it out, then tore it.

Using water based inks I made it look vintage.

Stamped Victorian wording in blue for the background and embossed with distressed blue powder which gives it a matt distressed look.

This is a really touchy feeling tage as it is all textured with embossing. The image was another I printed off from my collection and coloured and added snow details with embossed matt white.

The ribbons, wool, and chiffon threaded through the top picks out the different shades used on the tag.

Tag - January - Childhood Innocence

I painted the tag pale pink, then dripped some watery ink on top to give it a nice texture and random pattern.

I printed off one of my Victorian photos, and highlighted the roses and bow, then embossed some areas with clear embossing powder so that parts of it just catch the light.

The butterfly is an image from crafty individuals which I cut out as I didn't want all the picture. I then dipped the butterfly into enamel and it now shines wonderfully. It is sitting on top as apposed to being clued down flat.

I edged the image and the tag with pink ink and added some wool threads and finished off with a few tiny beads in the bottom left corner.

Oriental Tag

This is the first tag I have made and it fits in nicely with with the Tuesday Challenge on Created by Hand

I cut out a tag shape on textured red card almost A4 size in length - then stamped using a Kodomo stamp and embossed the left hand side with gold, and used a fine textured Japanese paper bag for the right hand side.

I scanned into my computer a Geisha, enlarged her and then enhanced her with water colours.

On her back I painted the ‘material’ gold, then masked it and stamped it with cherry blossoms masking the stamp to just get three little parts I needed and masking the lady too. I edged it with dark blue ribbon to give it ‘depth’ so that it does look layered.

The patterns on the Kimono I enhanced then clear embossed them, ditto the hair and the shoes which now look realistically shiny!

The calligraphy symbol is made of paper which I enamelled so it looks like an ivory tile,

I edged one side in dark blue ribbon and edged that with gold, using a gold krylon pen to edge the rest.



I punched a hole in the top and added colour co-ordinating fibres.

It took quite a few hours to make - but was fun to do.