I do like to be beside the seaside.

A quick post from me today, my entry in this week's Less is More challenge for week 187 where there is a song theme : "I do like to be beside the seaside".

Clear stamp from Acid Drops and Whatnots.

Image coloured with Promarker pen : poppy.

Panel matted on centura pearl black card and all mounted on a white deckle edge card.

Artful Times Challenge 62 - Sewing

The first set of Tim Holtz stamps that I ever purchased was Haberdashery so it was nice to revisit that set for the Artful Times challenge this fortnight. I decided to make a tag for my entry. Everything used on the tag with the exception of the word Couture uses Tim Holtz Ranger products. The word stamp was a silicon clear stamp, see the difference in sharpness when using exactly the same dye ink. I have to say, the red rubber is far far superior.

The background was made using distress stains : squeezed lemonade, pumice stone and antique linen, spritzed with water and dried with a heat gun. I then edged the tag with vintage photo distress ink.

Using pumice stone DI, I used the "Measured" stencil and then stamped the images in black archival ink and Red Pepper Adirondack dye ink.

The Tim Holtz Sizzix On the Edge die : Sewing was used to cut the embellishment for the bottom of the tag. This was coloured with distress stains and distress ink and glossy accents added to the scissors. I added three red buttons to finish off and the stitched ribbon.

Not wanting to waste any of the stain and ink I had left on my craft mat, I made a matching ATC.

This was fun.

Have a great bank holiday weekend wherever you are.

Playing with Stencils

Today I did some experiments with my JOFY flower stencil. Ink, paint and doodling, lots of fun. They all ended up on cards which is handy as I have a few birthday cards to send this month.

This one is stencilled with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints. The base flower is mermaid and the then I added Beach Hut over the top. Beach Hut is a translucent paint so the effect is quite interesting. There is a doodle flower on one of the new JOFY stamp sets that fits over the stencil flower but I don't have that set so I drew the doodle flower and added a few highlights in Haystack paint. Mounted on Kraft card with Happy Birthday sentiment.

The second card is the same base flower in Mermaid paint but I wondered what would happen if I added distress ink on top.

Peacock feathers distress ink on the flower overlay and highlights of Haystack paint. This one was supposed to have been a one layer card but I made a bit of a mess. I salvaged it with a Spellbinder hexagon die, mounted it on ribbed Kraft card and I think it works.

So, what does it look like using ink instead of paint?

This one has Tumbled Glass DI applied to the base flower and Peacock Feathers DI for the flower laid over the top. The image is crisper. I liked the blobs of Haystack paint added before so did the same with this one. The sentiment is coloured with Promarker pens to match the flower and the panel mounted onto a Kraft card.

This is a nice stencil. There are 4 flowers, a base flower and 3 that can overlay it to build up layers. 

PaperArtsy stencil PS009.

Go see the designer's samples at Jo Firth-Young's blog.

New JOFY Stamps!

Four new sets of JOFY stamps were launched at the Craft Barn demo day yesterday where I spent a lot of time deliberating over which should come home with me. I chose a Christmas set as I am determined this year as always to start making my cards early. August is pretty early don't you think.
Here is the card I made this afternoon.

The baubles are big. I like the sketchy images so left them black and white and just stamped the word JOY on some Studio Light paper, cut it out and added the letters to one of the baubles. Merry Christmas is stamped on the same paper and cut into a banner, doodles (oops, shaky hand today) around the edge and mounted on matching paper.
This set is JOFY 28. Should I invest in one of the other new sets? One of the flower sets? Probably!
For those of you who like Jo's design's and could not make it to the Craft Barn yesterday, I took a photo of the samples at the demo. That lovely turquoise flower is made using a flower stencil and the second limited edition set of JOFY paints, the colours are delicious, I think I need those paints on my shopping list.