Sunday Stampers wk 272: Titanium - 29th August

Good afternoon Friends,

Sunday Stampers week 272...check out Hels Sheridan's very inspirational blog http://pinkleart.blogspot.co.uk

Today is time for my Sunday Stampers project for this week and Hels has set the theme of using metal, so I set about creating a tag. I have used a technique from the Ali Reeve school of craft...

First of all I covered a plain tag with double-sided adhesive paper (I actually had just the right size left over from yesterdays tree post!). Then I stuck a sheet of kitchen foil to the tag. Kitchen foil is very flimsy, so I couldn't just emboss it and using the adhesive paper strengthens it even more. If you try this, don't worry about any creases, they can't be helped and actually add to the effect. I had a little foil and adhesive left, so I stuck this to another piece of card.

I then used a cog mask and ran the tag through my GC..now, Ali advocates using boot polish for the next step, but I had some Rub n' Buff in Spanish Copper handy, so I used that instead. I just rubbed it across the tag and left it to dry.

The spare foil was enough to die cut the cogs, which I also treated with the rub n' buff.

I stamped the sentiment and steampunk bug using  Creative Expressions stamps by Sam Poole and I coated the bug with glossy accents. I used a punch for the sentiment and made some little dictionary page flowers.

The key in the bezel was made recently when I was experimenting with making jewellery using ice resin. I had some left to use up so made this little design, which will eventually end up on a chain, but I thought it went well with this. Of course if I hadn't had to use up the resin, I could easily have made this with my melt pot.

Thanks for stopping by - I haven't had the chance to make something steampunk for ages, so it was great fun to make!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Sunday Stampers week 232 - Tuesday 20th November

Good Morning Blog Friends!

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments about my Dreamweaver Tutorial, I'm really pleased you liked it and found it easy to follow, I hope some of you will have a go, it really is a fab technique. Welcome also to my new follower and thank you so much for joining me on my crafty journey!

I've been missing a few days, because I simply ran out of 'made' projects, or at least ones I had photographed. I simply can't make enough cards or projects for a daily post, certainly not at the moment...tis the season for catching up with friends and relatives outside work, so less time in the craft room! I've also been busy with Design Team makes - I am really excited about my next Fantastic Ribbons one, it took ages but I really like it -and that's all I'm saying for now!

I did however make my Sunday Stampers project for this week, actually on Sunday! This week, after working with Tim Holz's new stamps (Did you hear his phone call when Hels was on C&C last week? Wow!!), one set featuring the most amazing face, Hels set us the task of creating a project with a face.

This led to a frantic search through my stamps and I found three....an Inventor from a Steampunk set that I've used a lot, a 'Venetian' lady that I only recently bought, haven't used and am not 'sure' about and this one that I finally decided to use: 'rocket scientist' from Paper Artsy. I have had this very small stamp for years and never used it...so this had to be the time!

So, I've made a grungy steampunky tag...to begin with I smeared Antique Bronze Distress Stain over the tag, followed by  a  mix of Vintage Photo, Tea Dye and Wild Honey  distress inks. I then went all around the edge with the distress stain.

Next I stamped randomly across the tag using the Thomas Edison quote from Sam Poole's Vintage Inventor stamp set by Creative Expressions (at this point I was still poised to use the face of the inventor from that set). For those of you not familiar with the set and are interested, the quote actually reads:

"I have not failed 10,000 times, I have found 10,000 ways that do not work". 

I wanted it to be quite faded so I stamped a few times on scrap paper before inking the tag.

I stamped the 'Rocket Scientist' using black Archival ink, which I then heat embossed using black embossing powder. It's actually quite a 'grainy' stamp with lots of black areas and it embossed really well. The photo doesn't really show how raised it is in reality and the result very tactile.

The word 'Inventor'  and the light bulb from the Sam Poole set were stamped next. I coloured the bottom part of the bulb with brushed pewter distress stain and then inked the word and the bulb with Vintage Photo - then - although it doesn't really show here, I opened my new pot of Ranger Rock Candy Crackle paint and brushed it quite thickly over both the bulb and the word. Again, pictures don't do it justice, it is really fab stuff, I can't stop running my fingers over the cracks!

The cog is part of a 'Special Touch' mask that I inked with Perfect Medium before running through the Grand Calibur and then heat embossed using  a black sparkly embossing powder. I cut it out and just arranged it at the side. To finish off I added some Ranger pewter brads from my stash box and some ribbon and lace which I grunged up a bit with distress inks.

Phew! That was a lot of description for such a little tag!

Thanks for stopping by,

Carole X