Hearts All Come Home

Hi All, Jane here!!...with a question, Who loves Christmas, and who is a bit of a bah humbug??.. well, I think I fall into both categories, I love Christmas day, but absolutely hate all the commercial part that starts in September....tut!!!, I am sure a lot of us have lost the sight of the real meaning of Christmas. No lectures from me today tho, so you can relax.
I love Christmas day because that is the one day in the year when all my little hearts, well, the four people that have my heart, my two sons with their partners,and my two grandsons all come to my house, it is so lovely to have them all together, then after a full day of making dinner, playing with jack and Billy, a few Christmas games...and it is just as lovely to see them all go back home...lol.
So I think this card that I have made for this months "Christmas" themed challenge over at The Artistic Stamper is appropriate for me.

KERISMAS MOBARAK

Oh my goodness!!!...I threw everything at this background, stamps, stencils, gesso, inks, gilding flakes, paint, glitter, I can't even tell you how sparkly this is!!...I was trying to capture the essence of Asia to go with the stamped woman from The Artistic Stamper's  FACES stamp set, the three crowns are meant to symbolise the Magi.

  My friend is married to an Iranian, and as she wholeheartedly embraces the culture, I thought I would make this card for her, I tried writing the Christmas greeting in Arabic...but...heck..it looked all wrong, so settled for this instead...translated means Merry Christmas.

 Hope my friend likes it, she is certainly as glittery as this card!!. 

Hop over to The Artistic Stamper and join in this month's "Christmas" challenge. See you there!!

Cos I'm ALL WOMAN!!!

Hi there my crafting friends, this is my inspiration for the ongoing "Square It" challenge over at The Artistic Stamper that runs until the end of this month.
 I adore this huuuge sheet of rubber stamps of NUDES images, it is A4 in size, and has images of different women, and also some useful words in there too. I started off with stamping a few of the images onto some gelli prints...yes still trying to use up my gelli mountain!!!. 
As usual I don't have a step by step of this, but only because I never know where I am going with anything, and especially of this piece, I had to leave it several times and then come back with fresh eyes, my problem was that I wanted it to have a vintage feel, but not to cover up any of the images with lace or doilys or the such like, so in the end I just opted for some crackle glaze and a bit of stenciling with the HARLEQUIN MASK.

Gelli On a Plate

I don't know about you guys, but I have a mountain of gelli prints as high as Mount Kilimanjaro!!!, some I find too beautiful to even consider using, and especially cutting up, so I put them in a drawer and just get them out occasionally to stroke.... but the majority are just waiting for the right opportunity to use....but I didn't even use any of my stash for this months "Square it" challenge, I decided to make more gelli prints using a selection of The Artistic Stamper Masks and Stencils cut them into squares, added a sentiment from Paperartsy on one, and adhered them to my card, easy peasy, and a great way to use up your mountain of gelli prints..(if your'e not like me and decided to make even more!!!).

Square It

As soon a I knew that this months challenge title over at The Artistic Stamper was "square it", I immediately thought of my small square Gelli plate, so that is how I rolled with it.

I used the DOG ROSE A4 mask and the sentiment is from the BOTANICAL 3 stamp set, both from  The Artistic Stamper. Doncha just love Gelli printing!!

Architecture Owl!!

Cool eh!!!....it's not even an owl stamp!!!...it is a stamp from the ARCHITECTURE 3 plate, a stamp set full of columns, arches, doors and statues, the piece that the "owl" is sitting on is a column from the same stamp set. 

I stamped them out, coloured them, then fussy cut them, and added them to my inky background, done with the fabulous distress inks...doncha just love those inks!!!

The White Rabbit!!

Hi Guys!!. You will be forgiven if you think this is a post to do with Alice in Wonderland....but sadly noooo...The White rabbit is just who I am feeling like at the moment, running around saying "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date"!!!. Heck what a dramatic week!!..sooo...forgive me for using this image once again, the lovely hydrangea from the BOTANICALS 3 plate, it is my go to flower now and I love it. So as I was saying, it has been a crazy week, and I am still feeling a bit like The Mad Hatter, running around like a headless chicken!!! and that is why I have done this super quick card for The Artistic Stamper Inktober Challenge. who doesn't love an inky background, done with spray inks and distress oxides on a book page.

MEMORIES

Hi Guys. The Artistic Stamper are well into this months "round and round" challenge....my favourite shape!!

I made this card a while ago while I was having a play with some structure gel and the Artistic Stamper large sequin waste mask. It dried clear so I then stamped the small dragonflies from the insects and butterflies set, and added paint and spray inks to the rest, then used a heat gun to bubble the paint and gel to add some texture.....well guys, I think that is how I rolled with this card....lol...my memory is rapidly fading...so that is why it got this title, a word taken from the framed words stamp set....very apt for me!!!

Proud Grandma

Well...today I am introducing you to a new artist on the block......my gorgeous four year old Grandson Jack!!!. We were doing a painting session, and as usual he squirts way too much paint into the palette so he always has loads left over, well I hate waste, and especially when it comes to wasting craft products!!!, so I grabbed him one of the circular stamps from the DECAY JOURNAL PLATE and got him to dip it in the excess paint and stamp onto some card, and look at that gorgeous background that he created!!!...proud Grandma moment!!!...I just finished it off with some words and a butterfly from the INSECTS AND BUTTERFLIES set. On reflection tho, I wish I had put "My love for my Grandson is like a circle".

So, thank you Jack, you are truly awesome, even tho after you did this masterpiece, you went on to paint YOURSELF!!!...."Look Grandma...I'm The Incredible Hulk"!!!.. LOL. 

With You Around!!

"Life is good with you around"....a lovely sentiment that could apply to my partner, and definitely to my Grandchildren, or can be fitting for anyone who you love having in your life. 

The Artistic Stamper  is having a "Round and Round" challenge, well... I have lost count of the circle stamps and stencils that I possess!!... I have about three billion bubbles stencils!!!..sooo I can safely say I love circles!!!

I started this card off by stamping the SEQUIN WASTE OPEN stamp in blue ink, then with the SPLATS AND SWIRL mask, and texture paste, I used the three different sized circles to make these...erm...spheres!!??.  I used Brushos for the background and the circles. Finally I stamped the butterflies from the INSECTS AND BUTTERFLIES set, coloured them, then added them to my background with silicone glue for dimension.

My Fantasy

Hi all.... last minute Lizzy here!!!...yes me...Jane, (I think I have already said that if there was no last minute, then nothing would get done)!!, well it is certainly true for me. I am just in a panic here at the moment because I am in the process of making a memory book for my youngest grandson who is one year old in two days, and as it is my birthday tomorrow I want to do all the things you do on birthdays like going out for meals and drinking lots of champagne.....not stuck in the house trying to finish this book, soooo, I completely forgot about doing my post, so you will have to excuse me for showing a card that I did at the same time as one that I did for a previous post, It is very similar but has a different image and a different sentiment, crikey...aren't I glad that the theme for this months challege at The Artistic Stamper is "Anything Goes"...got me out of a pickle!!!

The Leaf and the Ladybird!!

Hello all you fabulous crafters!!. here is my take on this months "Anything Goes" challenge over at The Artistic Stamper. But even tho it is an anything goes theme...hmmmmm...I have trouble when there is just too much choice and too many gorgeous stamps to play with!!

My piece today started off life as a gesso stamped image of a leaf from the SKELETON LEAVES stamp set, with inks sprayed on,  but... I just couldn't get along with it, so I cut out the leaf, crumpled it up a bit, stamped out the little ladybird from the INSECTS AND BUTTERFLIES stamp set, added some glossy accents to it then once dry, cut it out and glued it to the leaf. I then made a new nicer background with some inks and a calligraphy stamp, then added the leaf....result....happier me!!

Hydrangeas

I have made this card for The artistic Stamper August "anything goes" challenge.
 You can be forgiven if you think that I stamped the hydrangeas on a book page, but it was actually an image transfer (or is it called a resist technique??) from a magazine page done on the gelli plate..a Birgit Koopsen special!. The image didn't come out too well so I just added some light stamping with the Tracey Scott Background 6 stamp, then stamped the flowers onto a gelli print, cut them out and stuck them onto my background, then added the sentiment, both from the Botanical 3 stamp set.

I love how the flowers just pop off the page, hydrangeas are beautiful flowers aren't they, I have three of these plants in my garden, but they are in pots, they are looking worse for wear after all the hot weather...and my lack of watering!!!... hope I haven't killed them off!!

Book Pages

As promised from yesterdays post where I made an inspirational book, I was still working on the pages, some kraft card, distress inks, a bit of stamping.....and a lot of alphabet stamping!!..et voila!!!I have finished them, so here they are..

I called to the Lord!!

For this months challenge at The Artistic Stamper, the challenge title is "distress it"!!.. so I have decided to use my newest purchase...the Eileen Hull passport die, I have extended the front and back cover tho to make it bigger!!
My piece started off as a piece of art that I wasn't too thrilled about so it got the ripped bookpage and gesso treatment!!, then I proceeded to spritz distress inks, then stamped the fabulous church window, and then added the text from my alphabet stamps.

I am in the process of doing the pages for this inspirational book, so if you come back tomorrow I will post the results , and let me know what you think.
I have also entered this book in the mini album makers challenge.

Damsel in Distress!!!...Not me!.

I'm loving this months challenge over at The Artistic Stamper...which is "Distress It".... I mean...who doesn't love Sir Tim's distress inks, oxides, sprays....well to be more precise..every God damn Tim Holtz product!!!..between them and dancing lessons, I am never gonna be able to retire to a villa on the beach in the south of France!!!..lol.

Anyways, I killed two birds with one stone for my "distress it" card, I used my two favourite distress inks, walnut stain and spiced marmalade, and I even used the word distress in the title!!

If you want to join in the fun, you will find it all happening HERE. 

DISTRESSED

The new challenge title for this month at THE ARTISTIC STAMPER is "Distress It".....soooooo....well....obvious to me is distress inks, distress oxides, I just love em all.
So I got to work on it by colouring a tag with the wilted violet and broken china distress oxides.....doncha just love em!!!, watching how they react with the water, never quite knowing what you're gonna get!!.
I then stamped the hydrangeas and the sentiment, and matted it onto a piece of kraft card spritzed with more oxide inks.

DRAGONFLY

Hi all you gorgeous crafters out there, I was playing with some yupo paper, if you haven't used this stuff, it is a synthetic paper!!..yes I know!!..weird eh!!, but it is fab for using alcohol inks on, and if you really dont like what you do, you can just wipe it off or even run it under the tap and start again!!! how cool is that!!.

Anyway, like I said, yupo paper, alcohol inks, the dragonfly stamp from the BUTTERFLIES AND INSECTS stamp set.....which by the way, didn't stamp out exactly clearly, but I love that, it gives it an ethereal quality, so I rolled with it!!

Then I did my usual fave...recycled packaging,...free and fab!!. I scraped some embossing paste onto corrugated card, added someHARLEQUIN stenciling, spritzed it, then used it to layer my dragonfly on, then finished off with a sentiment from the FRAMED WORDS stamp set.

Hope to see you all at The Artistic Stamper "colour it blue" challenge.

The "C" word!!!

Yep.......It's that time of year!!!....The "C" word!!! ..All you crafters will know what I am on about!!!....."Christmas card making"!!. LOL...I can hear some of you saying that I am being a bit premature, and for a gal who if there was no last minute then nothing would get done!!!..I am pretty much organised, so yes, as the theme for this months challenge is BLUE over at THE ARTISTIC STAMPER, it was the perfect opportunity, so I have made a start on my Christmas cards. 

I am obsessed at the moment with my gelli plate, so that is the route that I decided to go down. I started off with a gel printed background, then made some "bauble" shapes with my small round gelli plate, then with several Artistic Stamper STENCILS & MASKS I did prints over the top, then using paint on the gel plate as a stamp pad, I stamped the SNOWFLAKES then finished off with the sentiment from the CHRISTMAS GREETINGS stamp set.

Has anyone else started on their Christmas cards???

A Tribute To Tracy Scott

Have you seen the new set of stamps released at THE ARTISTIC STAMPER?... a collection of background stamps designed by the amazing Tracy Scott, her work is so inspiring, vivid, and alive,  so I have made a tag in homage to Tracy's kinda style....lots of vibrant colour, I used the dylusions paint, and I have used one of her new background stamps too, you will find all eight of them HERE, I have used the background 6, I love love love it, I also used the dragonflies from the INSECTS AND BUTTERFLIES set, and the verse from the DRAGONFLY WORDS stamp. I hope you can join in the fun of this months background challenge, you can download your entry HERE.

Lepidopterist???

My hand is in the air..."Hello, my name is Jane and I have a butterfly stamp addiction!!"....so that makes me an environmentally friendly lepidopterist, I dont collect the real ones, and put them in glass cases, I just have an obsession for the rubber sort!!....along with other tiny obsessions of cardboard, circles, stencils..etc..lol. Anyway, This months challenge title is backgrounds, and as I have said previously, I have a huuuuge pile of them, but do I go to them when I need one...oh no...I go and make another pile!!!.
I made this card for The Artistic Stamper monthly challenge, where the subject is "backgrounds". hope to see you there.

Beautiful backgrounds

Hands up all of you who have a huuuuge pile of backgrounds that you have made, either gelli prints or stamped or stencilled, or any other technique, just waiting for the right project to use it on...!!!!....I thought so...sooo that's most of us then!!!....Well...you are in for a treat when you see the new stamps that The Artistic Stamper are launching, and here is a sneak peek of one of them that I have used to make the background for my card. I simply added a butterfly from the INSECTS AND BUTTERFLIES stamp set, then added a sentiment. Somebody stop me from using this background stamp....cos my pile is twice as high now!!!!!
So this months challenge is all about backgrounds, hope to see you HERE.

The Pigeon and the Statue!!

Hi there...Well the snow has gone...hopefully never to return, and it looks like spring is finally here...well there are reassuring signs when I look out of my kitchen window and see the sure signs of my plants starting to spring to life...yaaaaay!!.
Sooooo....for my first card for this months The Artistic Stamper April Challenge, which is "Birds and Bees", I thought I would make a card that would hopefully put a little smile to your face.........it made me kinda chuckle when I got the idea....or maybe I'm just a bit nuts!! lol,...anyway, when I saw the statues from the ARCHITECTURE stamp set, it reminded me of every statue you ever see....full of pigeon poop!!!...Hee Hee.
I love this quote..I think it is very apt!!!!..dont you?.
You will find details on how I made this card, and to join in the challenge HERE.

More Gelli Fun

 Hi Guys!!.. here is my next card for this months THE ARTISTIC STAMPER "stencils and masks" challenge...

If Like me, any of you have been following the fabulously talented Birgit Koopsen's 31 days of Gelli printing challenge, which is all about getting out your gelli plate and experimenting with different techniques, each day you are given a new subject to interpret as you wish, day 14 was all about tissue paper, so I got out my gelli plate and some tissue paper, and started making prints using the CHEVRON MASK, the LARGE SEQUIN WASTE MASK, the SMALL DOTS MASK, the HARLEQUIN MASK, and the ZIG ZAG MASK.

I then tore the pieces up into smaller pieces and glued them randomly onto my card...

Then I stencilled some glitter texture paste through the gorgeous DOG ROSE stencil, then added some cerne relief as an ouline, and finally I heat embossed the word "Beauty" taken from the NUDES stamp set. 

I hope to see you over at The Artistic Stamper.

 

 

Stencils and Gelli's and Flowers..Oh my!!

Eeeeeekkk!!!...I was sooo happy when I found out that this months challenge over at The Artistic Stamper, is all about stencils!!!..I mean, who doesn't love using stencils, they are so versatile, I have trillions...(well..a bit of an exaggeration)..of them, so I combined my Artistic Stamper stencils and masks with my other love...the gelli plate!!!, boy oh boy, you can spend a whole day just throwing things on that fabulous lump of gelatine and always be surprised with the outcome. 

As usual, I forgot to take photos of the process of this card, but it started off as a gelli print similar to this one...using the A4 SWIRL MASK

I then brayered several colours of blue paint on the gelli plate, added the DOG ROSE STENCIL, and blotted the paint off from the cutouts so that it left the negative impression when I put the swirl gelli print back on the plate. I then went round the flower shapes with a charcoal pencil to accentuate it, then matted and layered onto a card base, waiting for the appropriate sentiment to add at a later date. I loved the end result and I am sure I will be doing many more. 

Big Red Flower

Hi Guys.  Well... I wonder how many of you had a nice Valentines Day!!!.. I got my usual bottle of champagne from my other half, I tell him not to get me flowers....I hate cut flowers, much prefer to see them growing in soil or a pot, anyway....I would much rather receive a bottle of bubbly, a bit of luxury now and then.....yummmm. 

We are still on with the "Roses are Red" challenge, so I was inspired to make this card using one of the huuuuuge flowers from the DOG ROSE A4 stencil. 

 

 I started by making a background using the GRID BACKGROUND, SEQUIN WASTE, and CALLIGRAPHY MAT 12 stamps, then spritzed with a few inks. I then  thickly applied some red paint through the large flower on one half of the A4 stencil, then heating it up with my heat gun til it bubbled to achieve some texture. The centre of the flower is done by using my newest addition to my craft stash... some pebeo vittrail and fantasy moon paints....oh my word...I'm in heaven playing with these beauts!!!. I then added a sentiment before matting and layering. 

There is still time to join in this fabulous challenge HERE

TheYear Of The Woman

Hi Guys!!, Well my card for today is so simple but....crikey!!!... whoever said that  clean and simple cards are hard to do...were spot on!!!.... a week of thinking....twenty minutes of doing!!!

I kinda like it, but had to do several attempts before I was happy, I kept on throwing more things on it but it took your eye away from the fabulous woman stamp...taken from the NUDES stamp set, this is a fabulous set of stamps and includes the words too. 

The Artistic Stamper Challenge for this month is "RED", interpreting  it any way you choose, to join in just download your works of art HERE.. I look forward to seeing your makes.

The Dragonfly

Hi all you gorgeous crafty folk out there in blogging crafty heaven!!!. I'm here again to share one of my makes, that actually just happened!!!, I was just messing about with the circles from the DECAY JOURNAL PLATE, and thought hmmmmmmm..."yes I like that"...so I added the DRAGONFLY WORDS, then thought...ooops...I've not taken photos of each step, oh well...there is only the dragonfly from the INSECTS AND BUTTERFLIES stamp set, sooooo....no point taking photos now it's nearly finished!!!. Something tells me I'm gonna be making this mistake a lot, cos I rarely have a specific idea in mind, and when I do, it never actually works out, soooo....just a lot of playing around. Like I say to my friends, crafting for me is 99.9% faffing...and 0.1% card making!!!!
Anyway, I hope you like my card, I do love butterflies and dragonflies so something tells me I'm gonna be using this stamp set a lot. I'm really loving seeing your entries in The Artistic Stampers "Anything Goes" challenge, and I look forward to seeing more of your fabulous makes.  Have a good crafty day.

Skeleton Leaves

The challenge at The Artistic Stamper this month is "Anything Goes", so I thought I would set on with a birthday card for my friend. I had a few lollipop sticks on my worktop, so I decided to use them.
I started by taping four of them together and then stenciled texture paste through the SMALL DOTS MASK, then I went on to spritz it with different inks. while that was drying I stamped and embossed one of the SKELETON LEAVES and made a little "friend" tag with one of the many words from the FRAMED WORDS stamp set.I then added these to the lolly stick mat,with a bit of raffia and then added this to a card front mop up....mopping up the excess ink from spritzing the lolly sticks, with a piece of card.

Happy New Year and Thank You

This months challenge over at The Artistic Stamper is an anything goes challenge, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to make some Thank You cards to give to the kind people who bought me gifts for Christmas.  
I started by making an A4 masterboard using paints, the SMALL DOTS MASK, the CALLIGRAPHY MAT 12, and the GRID BACKGROUND stamps.  

I then cut my masterboard up into little squares and stamped the small butterfly from the INSECTS AND BUTTERFLIES stamp set and a thank you sentiment to finish off. 

Happy New Year to each and every one of you and keeeeeeeep crafting!!!!