Paint Resist Christmas Cards

Today I'm sharing two Christmas cards I made using Tim Holtz Christmas Blueprint stamps and Tim Holtz / Ranger Distress Paint dabbers. Both cards I've kept very simple but I love the alternative colour scheme!

For this first card I uses the Snowflake stamp from the set, I stamped it onto a luggage tag using Perfect Medium and embossed it in clear embossing powder. While that cooled I cut a kraft card mat for my card blank, covered it in frosted film and rounded the corners.

Once my embossing was cool, I misted the tag lightly with water and took Paint Dabbers in Broken China, Picked Raspberry and Mustard Seed (I know it looks like more than 3 colours, I overlapped and mixed them onto the tag!) I Started with the Picked Raspberry down the edge and then blended the blue and yellow in from the other side.

I allowed the colours to overlap as I went before taking some kitchen towel and wiping the excess off in a circular motion to blend the colours even more. once it was completely dry I added some vintage style glass glitter from Stampin Up on part of the edge (Glossy Accents works perfectly for adhering this!) and some dots of Liquid Pearl to embellish

This card uses the Christmas Tree from the same set but using the exact same technique, here is a little close up...

I love working with these paints and the colours are gorgeous!!

I hope you like my alternative Christmas cards and I hope your preparations are nearly done, as I'm at Create & Craft for the next two days I finished mine today (eek!) I'm so relieved we have everything and I even got to stroke a pony on the way out of the supermarket (the local riding school was raising funds outside) I'm starting to feel very Christmassy :o)

Than you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Halloween Time! Altered Alarm Clock

Today I'm sharing a project I actually made a few weeks ago but thought I'd save up for today! When the sneak peeks came around earlier this year of all the new company releases, my eye was immediately drawn to the Tim Holtz Alarm Clock, I had so many ideas for them that I ended up buying a few when they were released (oops!) My first one though, is this one...

Halloween is one of my favourite holidays and I love to make projects for it (even though we don't really do as much for it here in the UK!) For this I used the October Afternoon Witch Hazel line (one of my faves!) the back of the clock I covered in the black star paper before cutting and layering my gravestones and witches and pumpkins and cats to build up my Halloween scene inside...

The edges of the clock I decorated with foliage cut from coordinations distress card using one of my favourite ever Sizzix dies, the Tim Holtz Autumn Gatherings die, reminds me of crunching leaves!

 

I also used the Sizzix mini daisy die - these little dies are great as it cuts out all the petals individually and you can build it up as much as you need with Pinflair glue! I added some Stickles for sparkle too

 The little 3D spiders and webs are from some older Jolee's Boutique stickers that I had hoarded away

I used a combination of Pinflair glue and Glossy accents to layer everything together before adding my flying witch to the outside...

 Here is another little peek inside...

I loved making this and can't wait to start on my next Clock, I have another idea (or 10!) in mind already...

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Elaine's Birthday Butterfly

Today is the lovely Elaine's birthday from my Design Team and she set some of her crafty friends a little challenge, as she loves butterflies, she sent us all a plain card butterfly cut using one of my SVG files on the Silhouette and we all had to decorate it for her however we wished!  Here is my butterfly for Elaine...

I used layers of Tim Holtz Distress paint through my stencils to create a colourful textured background before doodling around the edge of the wings and then stamped randomly with crackle texture, some stars and the 'Someday I'll Fly Away' sentiment (from my stamp sets) This is now winging it's way (pardon the pun!) to Elaine, I hope she likes it :o) Happy Birthday Sweetie!!! x

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

New Lovely Crafty Things!

Today has been a super busy day getting things ready but I'm so pleased to say there are lots of new things up in my shop today including my first ever paper collection (wooooo!) journaling cards, and the much awaited and longed for stencils / masks which I was playing with last night...

as you can see, they work very well with Tim Holtz distress paints and Dylusions sprays...You can get yours here!

I hope you love them as much as me!

Sarah x

Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral Challenge!

Today I'm sharing my entry for the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral Challenge! I've actually only ever entered one other challenge before (by my lovely crafty friend Fab) can you believe that?! but as soon as I saw this one, an idea came to me and I just had to do it! So here is my altered vintage wooden spool...

I don't often craft with flowers, I'm not really a 'flowery' type of girl, lol, but I'd had in my head, a picture of metal flowers, I tried cutting them from aluminum but I couldn't mould them as much as I wanted to so I had the idea of covering grunge paper with one of the Ranger foil sheets before die cutting with the Tim Holtz / Sizzix Tattered Floral Die, and that worked a treat! Once cut, they looked exactly as I'd pictured all along (and how often does that happen?? lol) Here are a few more close ups...

I wanted the metal finish to be more aged and not too bright and shiny so once I'd made the flowers up, I dabbed a tiny bit of the new Distress paint in black soot onto my craft sheet, misted it with water and then used my finger to dab it onto the petals before drying with a heat gun. I then finished them off with a dab of crackle accents to make them even more vintagey (yes, it's a word! lol) and the tiniest hint of Rock Candy stickles. Here's a close up...

The vintage fabric label is from Rico, I scrunched it and aged it with Distress stains in antique linen and tea dye, then done the same to a ticket. I added a layer of crackle accents to the ticket and then cracked even more after by re-scrunching (also a word... ;o) )

I joined the label and the ticket together with a little paperclip and added one of the tiny game spinners and a vintage glass button, tied through with some cream button twine

I didn't do an awful lot to the vintage spool (available in my shop) just added a touch of tea dye distress stain to the edges and the coated in rock candy stickles before drying off with a heat gun. I added a length of twill ribbon around the centre, plugged the centre with a scrap of the grunge paper that was left over to create a little step for the doll (also from Tim Holtz) - I love broken and disembodied dolls (weird, right?) so had to include this one! I filled the gap with Beacon Adhesives 3 in 1 glue and held him in there for a few minutes until it dried around him, then added blobs of Beacon 3in1 around the cotton reel and to the bottoms of the flowers to secure them in place around him on top of the cotton reel.

I finished it with a hint of rock candy stickles on the dolls hair...

Thanks for bearing with me through that epic post! I hope you liked my creation.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

p.s. scroll back for the DT call details and new Create & Craft TV show dates! :o) x 

Vintage Lady card for Making Cards Magazine

Today I'm sharing another card I made for Making Cards magazine recently - this is part of a set of 3 (I'll share the others another time!)

The stamp is from one of my favourite Hero Arts sets of vintage ladies, I stamped and watercoloured it. The papers are from Cosmo Cricket - love these too! I may have a few extras of these stashed away ;o) which I distressed around the edges with my scissors and then Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress ink (what did I do before those colours came along!) and stitched together (I stitch by hand as I've never got to grips with using a sewing machine) The flower is from the Tattered Florals die byTim Holtz for Sizzix, I cut it from kraft paper and layered with a brad through the centre.

This set was featured in the July issue of Making Cards, if you don't have it I think there are still a few copies available on their website here. My friend and DT lovely Emma also has a fabulous set of cards in there you just have to see, one of them is on the cover, fabulous!

Now I must be off, today is a rare day off for me and desperately needed if I'm honest! Of course I have a few emails to catch up on first... ;o)

Have a fab weekend (I'll be in my studio working on some projects - yay!) and thank you for dropping by.
Sarah x

Watercolour Rose Card with Derwent Inktense

Todays card is not my normal style, but B wanted a Birthday card for his Aunt so I made one that I knew she would like, and I really enjoyed making something I maybe wouldn't have normally...

 

The stamp is an old one by PSX, I've had it for around 10 years but I still love it :o) I stamped it with Staz on Ink onto watercolour paper and coloured the image with Derwent Inktense pencils before distressing the edges and inking the background with Tim Holtz Distress inks in Tea Dye and Walnut stain. I then masked off the image with another one I had stamped on scrap paper and lightly flicked with water before blotting to create the aged effect. Here is a close up...

Today I have been working on some design revisions and some new illustration work in between phone calls and emails! This evening I have some more illustration to do and some writing. I'm really hoping to get back into my studio in the next day or so, its far too long since I crafted and I have the urge to scrapbook!

Thanks for dropping by today!
Sarah x

The End of a Busy Week!

Well, Friday has once again sneaked up on me! This week has been another super busy one and I feel like I've barely had chance to catch my breath let alone blog or craft.

At the beginning of this week I visited the UK craft trade show Stitches in Birmingham, I had just a few hours there Monday and a lot of show to see and people to meet up with!  Of course I had to make a teeny bit of time to go and see Tim demonstrating his new Distress Markers and the Distress Stains...

After my meetings I made the most of the couple of hours on the train home to catch up on some sleep! Tuesday I spent the whole day catching up on emails, phone calls and other bits of work that had come in on Monday - why is when you spend a day away from everything twice as much happens?!

Wednesday I was able to take a day to go and meet up with Emma at our second home, Selfridges in London, we shopped, gossiped and had lots and lots of coffee before heading home (with just one little yellow bag, such self restraint! ;o) )

Thursday was spent on book research, magazine write ups, a new work proposal, some product design and a bit of illustration, with lots of tea drinking in between of course! and today I had some errands to run (luckily my Mother in Law came to help - what a star! and B was home early to help too, yay!) and this afternoon, back to work again, although I do plan to take this evening off to snuggle and watch a film with B and Fuzzybutt, hopefully then they will forgive me for working most of the weekend! I can't wait to get back in my studio, my little fingers are itching to craft!

Finally, Melly has some fab projects to share over on her blog today with the new Easter Tea Party Kit - I hope you will pop over and take a look!

I hope you have a lovely weekend, I'll see you next week with some crafty projects,  guest blogging and some news!

Sarah x

Steampunk Bird Tag

This week Basically Bare featured my Steampunk Bird Tag on their blog, and I wanted to share it here too for anyone that may have missed it...

I made the base of the tag look like rusty metal using a copper paint dabber and the fab Letraset Alcohol Inks and used Basically Bare elements and Kuretake Pens to create my mechanical bird, there are also some Tim Holtz elements in there too - how I could I make a grungy project without them!

You can see the full details on how I made this here on the Basically Bare blog.

Thanks for looking!
Sarah x

Metallic Rub On's

Recently I was sent some gorgeous metallic vintage style rub-ons from Paper Cellar, I obviously didn't use them for about a week as they had to sit on my desk and have their shininess admired, but now I have finally cut into them *sob* I have to say I love them more. The first card I made is a very very simple one, using a Papermania grid kraft cardstock to make my card blank. I stamped in the corner with a Versamark pad and a tim holtz stamp and distrssed the edges using 'Tea Dye' Distress ink. 

The metallic Rub-ons you simply cut out (remember they are the opposite way round from how they look on the sheet - totally confused me!) and peel off the backing, lay on your paper (make sure you get positioning right as you can't alter them once they have touched the paper) and then rub firmly (a bit harder than you would for a standard rub on)

They make a fab luxurious looking card and are cleaner than embossing as you don't get your little powder flecks. I'll show you my project with the flower ones soon!

Sarah x

p.s. if you are looking for the DT call please see below...

Kuretake Art & Graphic Pens

Last week I finally got my hands on a full set of the art and graphic twin pens from Kuretake - woo! so that I could make some samples for their shows tomorrow (don't miss them!) Here is a sneaky peek of one of them...

The stamps are from a Tim Holtz set and I've used the pens from the muted set to ink them up and stamp, the bird I went over with a waterbrush after to blend the pink tummy in so there wasn't such a defined line. I added stickles to the bird and eggs in the nest and finally some glossy accents to the eggs to make them stand out. The greeting is even stamped using the pen - I thought it would come out too blurry but they worked perfectly!

I'm not a great watercolourer but I love using these pens directly onto my stamps (I find they work better on rubber stamps than clear stamps), I had some pens to do this with a few years ago but they weren't nearly as good and left horrible fibres on the stamp - you don't get that with these as they have flexible rubber nibs. The muted colour set are my absolute favourite and work with a vintagey style of crafting but they are available in loads of colours.

I'm sure they have some fab demos and samples lined up for you tomorrow so have a look and get some tips (I will be! LOL)

Today I have spent the whole day researching trends, choosing colour palettes and planning my next product releases - all very exciting! planning so far ahead is bizarre, I was doing Christmas in April and now I'm planning for next spring / summer! I've even got some things pencilled in on my planner for 2013! Tomorrow the actual drawing and redrawing starts - thats the best part :o)

Sarah x

Pirates!

Today Crafty Ribbons launched their new range of Skull & Crossbones ribbons, I've had these for a few weeks and keep going back and making more projects with them!

For today, here is the launch card I made, using Kraft card (swoon) with a grungeboard skull (I love the smell of Grungeboard, it smells like new shoes!) which I rubbed over with a black inkpad before spraying with my Teal Ink Spray. The background stamp is from a Tim Holtz set, I inked it up then blotted with kitchen towel to remove some of the ink and give it a more distressed look. The ribbon of course is from Crafty Ribbons!

I have some more projects to show with this later in the week, love it! You can see more info and another project over on the Crafty Ribbons blog :o)

Sarah x

Crime Scene Mini Book

So, I mentioned that I was working on a really fun mini book, now it's all done and ready to be filled with pictures and journaling so I thought I'd share! I recently got these fabby Crime Scene stamps from a Facebook friend:

and I've been DYING to use them! I had a tag / envelope book which I thought would be really fun to turn into a crime scene style 'Case Folder' like you see in those old detective films and programmes



So here is my step by step walkthrough...

The front  cover - I painted the chipboard with acrylic paints and embossed the stamping on the front

As you open it a mini Bulldog clip holds a chipboard file folder, inside is a mini manila card for observations held together with a Tim Holtz mini paperclip

 

The come the Mini Envelopes, each has been inked with Distress Inks using a blending tool...

 

 

 

The little card on the front of this one is an October Afternoon 'Wild Card' which I distressed

This one has a mini 'polaroid' attached to the front...

 This one ties with string at the back...

and contains a tag which has a mini bottle attached to it - I coloured this green with my Promarkers to make it look like it contains something icky!

This one also opens....

 

 

To reveal a tag with a 'blood stained' piece of evidence!

All of the envelopes have their own little tags which I will add my photo's and journaling to - now I just need to decide who my subject will be and their 'crime' I'm guessing Fuzzybutt will be the obvious choice - there is certainly enough photo's of her mischief to choose from!!

Thanks for looking!

Sarah x

p.s. if you are looking for your freebie download it's in the post below, and the Blog Candy is still open here!

A Day Out!

Sunday I had a day out, a visit to Stitches, the UK craft trade show. I had lots of meetings lined up, all of which went very well, you'll be seeing new developments soon! and I met some lovely new people, some of whom I hope to be working with in the near future... :o)

While I was there I met some of the regulars I speak to on Twitter, here I am with some you may recognise,

I saw lots of the lovely new products which will be hitting the shops soon, I can't wait to get my hands on them! I also watched some demos including Tim Holtz (of course!) no pics this year though, despite taking my camera, I was rushing around so much and chatting so much that I didn't get to take many pics and didn't even grab a coffee until we passed Starbucks on the way home!!! By the time I got home I was EXHAUSTED and crashed in bed at around 8.30, was asleep by 9!! shocking LOL

Of course that meant an early start so I thought I would be productive and take Fuzzybutt for a nice long walk - she wasn't at ALL happy with that - she is a funny dog, she doesn't really like walks and would prefer to just have a run around on the green outside our house and then go back inside! She's been glaring at me from her snuggly duvet position all day, don't think I'm forgiven.... take a look at that moody, sulky face!

This week I have crazy deadlines, finishing off designs for 2 different clients, designing 2 new mini collections for another, finishing up my illustrations for the Bologna Book Fair and some other bits and pieces. I do love busy times though, I think it keeps you motivated and enthusiastic about your work when you have a busy and varied schedule!

I'm trying to decide whether to go to the London Book Fair in a couple of weeks, if any of you have been please let me know what you thought (you can e-mail me if you prefer)

Until tomorrow!
Sarah x