Sunday Stamper wk 243 - Friday 8th February

Hello Friends!

Sorry I've been missing most of the week - it was the usual 'thing', I  said yes to more commissions than I should have and was also really busy at work, so have been really tired this week and not much time for crafting for the fun of it!

Believe it or not, I started this week's Sunday Stampers project last Sunday. For those who don't know, this is a weekly challenge set by the oh-so-talented Hels Sheridan and I just always have to try my best to take part. The theme of this week's challenge set by Hels is 'Animals' and when I saw the project Hels herself had made I couldn't believe it - Hels used the "Crowned Bunnies' stamp by Alice Palace from Crafty Individuals, which along with another AP stamp 'Favourite Ducks' is my favourite stamp right now!

You saw me using this stamp on the Indigo Blu Cog Clock I made a few weeks ago..ithis stamp really cries out for more that simply using to create a card (though I have made many!). Anyway, even if Hels hadn't used it, I would have, so I decided to go ahead and use it anyway! I knew what I wanted to do: I picked up this little frame for just a few ££'s in Bath before Christmas and it has been sitting in my 'art parts' box ever since and now was the time to give it a life!

However, As soon as I started I knew that I may not finish it, so late one night at the end of a crafting session I even made a quick bunny card - just -in -case - I'll share that over the weekend....

The photo frame was brown so I gave it a coat of Claudine Helmuth Gesso and then a thin coat of acrylic. Then I gave it a light sanding just to give it a 'roughness' and bring the base colour through  - ever so slightly. The hearts were already on the frame, so I left them alone!

Next I stamped the bunnies, coated them with clear embossing powder and heat dried.

The flourish stamps were actually sent as a freebie from Crafty Individuals when I bought the bunnies, so I thought that I would use them fairly randomly over the frame.

I stamped them with Indigo Blu Flitterglu and then coated with gilding flakes, I also stamped the sentiment  (which comes with the Ducks stamp) on black card with flitterglu and gave it the gilding flake treatment too.

Finally, I stamped the hearts. I used some  'you' and 'me' stamps from a set by 'Inkadinkadoo' that I picked up in a bargain bin somewhere last year. I used a Versamark pen and then heat embossed with a mixture of gold and Ranger 'Old Paper' distress embossing powders. Finally I added the little metal butterfly!

So there you are! Hope you like it and thank you sooooo much for stopping and commenting!

Crafty Hugs,

Carole X

What's the time Mr Rabbit? - Monday 21st January

Good Morning Friends!

As promised yesterday, here is my first clock!

It is a very simple design...to be honest I wanted to see how I got on with it, if I enjoyed it..and the answer is that although I'd primed it during the week the entire clock, using the simplest of designs took me a morning and I loved it!

The  MDF clock and mechanism comes ready for you to decorate as you wish - when I first got it I gesso'd it with Claudine Helmuth gesso and once that had dried I gave it a thin layer of white acrylic paint. My final touch after that was to take some blue acrylic, put some on a  dry brush, but then get most of it off straightaway, then swipe it in small strokes randomly over the clock. This barely shows but gives in more of a vintage, worn look.

The numeral stamp set, also with cogs and a rose stamp is made to accompany the clock, but whilst I used the numerals, I chose different stamps for my design.

I stamped the numerals and the little decorative strokes with flitterglu (from Indigo Blu) and then covered with gilding flakes.When I opened my gilding supplies box, I had a very tiny amount of Yorkshire Dales left and some Autumn Blaze, so I mixed the two together. It was a good job I watched Kay from Indigo Blu demoing this from CHA last week, because I had never noticed that on clocks with Roman numerals, the VI is always upside down - I even checked it with a clock we have! So I didn't stamp upside down by mistake, in case you were wondering!

For my design I wanted a quote and I  also just had to use this Crafty Individuals Bunny Stamp that was on my desk for another project. The quote I chose is from a stamp Indigo Blu and I thought it was pretty fitting for a clock, as it refers to not wasting a moment of our time. I used Stazon ink for my stamping.

I am definitely going to make some more of these - this one is going to my craft room wall, but I have ideas for a Steampunk one, an Alice in Wonderland design.....can't wait! What do you think?

Thanks for visiting!
Carole X