Make a Tag

Make a Tag...that's the theme of the January Challenge over at Lost Coast Designs....so I did,lol.

I had fun making this Tag too...Just before christmas  I created some backgrounds on some large pieces of card. All different shades, some blue,green and yellow, and others orange and green, but this colour was my very favourite.

I used 3 different acrylic paints in differing shades of pinks and red...also a couple blobs of cream acrylic...swiped it all over using an old bank card.

For this particular Tag, I added some cream corrugated card that I swiped with Pickled Raspberry Distress ink...I also used the same ink around the edge of the Tag.

Then I used the "Swimsuit Girl", which is one of Lost Coast Designs own stamps, a requirement for their challenge is you must use their stamps.

I then added some string type mesh and scrim before adding the drift wood and shell.

The sentiment,which is part of the stamp I used on a scrap of my background card, cut it with a circle punch so I could use it as the centre of the flower.

I painted the hat in pickled raspberry ink and also shaded the girls skin slightly....

You can find the challenge here at....

Lost Coast Design Challenge

Please be aware you must use their stamps to be eligible for their challenges.

Recycled Tag....

I've had a clear out in my craft room this afternoon, halfway through I remembered I'd not made my Tag for Mandy's challenge.
I missed a few in the later part of 2014, so I am determined to make sure I don't miss as many in 2015
Here's my Tag.....cut from a complimentary christmas card sent by Butlins,lol....

I went over the image lightly with gesso, then set aside to dry. Once dry I stamped over the whole tag using a selection of images.

I trimmed about  an inch off the bottom of the Tag, making it 5" long.

 I stamped  the image on to thin cream card, coloured and then fussy cut it.

I found some sport ticket images in my stash which I trimmed and added to the tag.

To finish I added the stamped image, the tickets and the little forgotten memories sentiment.

The edges of the labels and tag has been distressed using Frayed Burlap distress ink.

Mandys challenge ends on the 7th January, so still time to enter.

The theme is anything goes,you can find her challenge here....Tagalong Challenge

Design Team Project

Happy New Year Everyone...I hope you have a wonderful 2015.

Over at Rhedd's Towers we have a new design team, also a change to our rules & challenges.
I'm really excited to have the new teamies on board, as well as keeping Sammy Jean on as admin.
We will now be featuring one of our teamies to blog mid month with a tutorial on how they made it,or some other technique they would like to share with you.
Do pop over and have a look at the new challenge, which you can find here Rhedd's Creative Spirit Challenge
The design team have created some wonderful projects for your inspiration.

For my design team project I altered a bottle. They were room fragrances, you know the type with the oil and sticks, in fact I bought 2 as they were so nice,they lasted 18months would you believe and the fragrance lasted until the very end....they were quite expensive, but as it turned out,well worth the money and I ended up with 2 bottles to play with.
The bottles are such a fabulous shape so I altered one as my first project for 2015.

This is what I started with, although as I progressed I replaced some items.

The image of this gorgeous lady was printed on to image transfer paper, which I then ironed on to muslin....you'll see in the photo below how lovely this turned out, it has a canvas effect...something I didn't expect.

I padded the back of the image with another layer of muslin and some white felt, I wanted to keep the image fairly flat. Then I pulled a few threads around the image to distress it a little.

I started to cover the middle of the bottle with hessian, some linen and some lace before adding the image. 

For the embellishing, I added the flower, beads and ribbons, securing them in place with hot melt glue....then I added a beautiful stick pin that had been sent to me in a swap some time ago.

I had originally planned to use a glass stopper for the top, but it just didn't look right, I needed it to be a bit more dramatic, so I found a cream porcelain drawer knob that I had in my stash and it fitted just perfectly.

I would love to see you over on the challenge blog....you can find it here Rhedd's Creative Spirit Challenge

Christmas Houses

It's been a really busy week for me, coming and going...I'm feeling tired and today woke up with a sore throat and aching like mad.Not one to give in I met up with my friend and we did some retail therapy. I'm out again tomorrow,but planning a whole day to myself on sunday, really need to chill for a while and also get my craft room tidied up and all my christmas stash put away.
I've been meaning to post these Row Houses's all week...better late than never....

I made these Row Houses with a Christmas theme,they are such fun to make, each one is individually decorated and backed.

First I covered each house with christmas themed backing paper, then I used doubled up masking tape to string them altogether. To finish that stage I  added the backs of the houses and distressed all the edges with pumice stone distress ink.

Using a selection of MDF shapes that are from Fernli Designs, I made an embellishment for each house. The sizes vary from domino size to 2"x 2" square.
Each piece was coloured using distress inks and then stamped with a few of my christmas stamps, some having a complete image and some having just a part of an image.

Once all the stamped images were dry,I coloured them and then highlighted some areas with glitter and some others with glossy accents.
I'm very happy with they way these look...may even consider making them instead of christmas cards next year...but that's a long way off yet...lol.

Frosty Tag

Just finished my tag for the challenge over at Artistic Outpost......the last one for 2014.
I do love their challenges, they are "Anything Goes", you must use their stamps, of which I have quite a few, they are so versatile, easy to mix and match...
So here's my Frosty Tag....

I used a 3"x 6" Cream Tag, which I swiped with walnut stain distress ink...then used  the Music stamp from the Epherema Background set and stamped over the tag.

I added some scrim and mesh and hessian in layers on the tag, also added some silver scraps of mesh at opposite corners.

The image is from the Think and Wonder set which I stamped on some scrap cream card that I swiped with Walnut Stain ink.

Then I  mounted that on the lighter side of some Kraft card.....to the bottom edge I added a frayed strip of fabric.

The text was stamped on to some scraps of the Kraft card.

To finish the Tag I dabbed Frosted Texture past all over the tag and around the image, I just wanted a light dusting of frost so was careful not to over do it.

If you have any Artistic Outpost stamps, why not pop over and enter the challenge...you can find it here.....Artistic Outpost Challenge

Bah Humbug....

A month or so ago I stumbled across Lost Coast Design's Challenge Blog....I've long been an admirer of their stamps, fortunately for me I also own a few,so I am able to enter their challenges...I'm sure I can find a stamp or two that I can adapt to their theme.

I just love this stamp ( Gothic Party ) from Lost Coast Designs, the expressions on the faces are brilliant...and perfect for the theme which is "Merry Christmas"

I decided to make a card for this challenge, just layering up on backing paper.I stamped the image and just coloured and then glittered the party hats...although the glitter isn't showing in all it's glory. the light was so bad here today with it being wet and overcast and virtually dark by 4pm!

So if you have any Lost Coast Design rubber stamps in your stash,why not pop along and enter their challenge....you can find it here

Lost Coast Designs

Tis the Season Atcs....

I am a member of a lovely Artist Trading Card group on Facebook...I've been a member for quite a while now and they always have such lovely themes...members can often vote via a "poll" for a particular theme...This month the theme is "Tis the Season"

Fortunately I still had all my christmas craft stash out in my workshop,so made these 3 Atcs this afternoon....all made up from scraps and unused images.

These will be in the post tomorrow....

Christmas Canvas

I'm a few hours late posting my design team make for Altered Eclectics.....I'm sure my boss Elaine won't mind too much though....

For this canvas I adhered scraps of torn paper to the canvas, then randomly stamped over it.

Next part was to swipe it all with some white acrylic paint.

I then tore strips if christmas backing paper to create the tree, then adding some gems to the "branches"

To finish I scrubbed some pale green acrylic paint around the edge of the canvas, making sure not to get to close to the tree, then before it dried I sprinkle fine glitter on to it.

Then I added the computer generated words and the board "Joy"

Once the canvas was completely dry I added antique gold gilding wax around the outer edges.

The canvas looks so much better in "real life" than in the photo...the dull over cast weather dosen't help when you have to take photos.

Hope to see you enter the challenge which is here at 

Altered Eclectics