Artist Trading Blocks

It is Cec here and it is my turn to provide you with a little inspiration.  I decided to make some Artist Trading Blocks with a love theme and work them into a tower.

I was given the actual Artist Trading Blocks by Linda Coughlin of The Funkie Junkie Boutique and they are cut with an Eileen Hull die from chipboard.  For this project I used three sizes and you need two of each size.  The score marks are part of the die and I added Scor Tape on the outside of each of the narrow edges.  The two pieces are then joined together to form a block or cube.

Using Mod Podge I adhered torn pieces of old book paper to all sides of each block.

The next step was to coat each block with Gesso.

I used some Golden Light Molding Paste through a Prima flourish stencil to add some texture on one side of each block and then repeated the process using a Wendy Vecchi stencil called Checkmate on another face of each block.

Next I painted the blocks with some Fresco Finish Blush followed by some Fresco Finish Candy Floss that was wiped back a bit with a baby wipe.

I decided at this point that the other two faces of each block needed some texture so I added thread to one and crumpled up pink tissue to the other.

Next I sprayed each block with a variety of spray inks in this order:

Tim Holtz Worn Lipstick Distress Spray Stain
Dylusions Bubblegum Pink
Tim Holtz Barn Door Distress Spray Stain
Lindy's Starburst Frozen Jack Frost
Tim Holtz Hickory Smoke Distress Spray Stain
Tim Holtz Brushed Pewter Distress Spray Stain

I painted some tiny wooden blocks with the Fresco Finish paints to act as feet and then glued all the pieces together before I added embellishments.

I started to work on some decorations next.  First I altered a couple metal charms and a medallion by painting them with Deco Art Media Paynes Grey and then rubbing some Treasure Pewter on them.  The little hearts on the crown were then coloured with a Copic marker and I added a brad from Making Memories to the floral heart (you can see those touches in the final photos).

Next I dug out a really old swirly heart stamp and used Jet Black Archival Ink to stamp it on a card stock scrap.  I didn't take photos but the next step was to colour the heart with Wendy Vecchi's Red Geranium Archival Ink and then coat it with Tim Holtz Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.

I created a little finial for the top by mounting a small shank button on top of a large bead and then adding them to the medallion.

I used Jet Black Archival Ink to stamp some text from a set from Stampabilities called Everyday Expressions and then cut them into strips, distressed the edges and inked them with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.

I painted a resin butterfly with some Folk Art Rose Shimmer metallic acrylic paint and then collected a variety of lace, buttons, burlap string, ric rac and flowers for additional embellishments.  Each side of each block has some sort of embellishment.

Here are final photos of the tower.  If they look like they are tilted it isn't the tower, it was the photographer - LOL.

Artist Trading Block are so much fun to make and can be used alone or in sets as I have done this time.  They can be adorned in almost any style from cute to shabby to vintage to grungy.  I hope I have inspired you to give this a go - it is a great way to practice techniques and also to use up bits and pieces from your stash.

Winners - Floral Frenzy

Hello ! It's that time again to announce the winners of the last challenge, which was Floral Frenzy. We had so many beautiful entries which always makes it really hard for the DT to choose a winner, but as always a choice has been made.

Congratulations Avril

We loved these beautiful flowers and the 3D effect. Avril please email carringtons22@yahoo.co.uk for details of your Guest Designer spot and winners badge.

 Now on to the top 3:

Esther

 Marty

 Alison 

Congratulations everyone ! Please email carringtons22@yahoo.co.uk for your top 3 badge. 

All of the winners will also be pinned on the Stamps and Stencils Pinterest Board! 

 

The current challenge is Tic Tac Toe and you've still got plenty of time to share your projects with us.

 

Tic Tac Toe

Hi Everybody ! It's Toni here with a new Stamps and Stencils challenge. This month, I thought I'd treat you all to a game of  Tic Tac Toe. If you haven't played along with this type of challenge before, you simply choose three elements from one of the lines in the grid shown below, in either a horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction and use them them in your project. You can include other mixed media elements but please make sure that you include some stamping or stenciling or both ! Let us know which line you have chosen. I've used the top line of 'flowers, corrugated card and lace' on my project I think you'll agree that the design team have put together some fabulous projects which I'm sure will inspire you. I can't wait to see what you come up with !

Toni

Branka

Rachel

Cec

Ruth

Sue

Autumn

Now it's over to you ! Remember the winner will be invited to join us as Guest Designer and both the winner and top 3 will be added to our Pinterest page.

An InLinkz Link-up

Alcohol inks and Yupo.

Hi everyone, Ruth here with this weeks inspiration post. I'd only recently heard of Yupo paper and intrigued by it, I thought I'd buy some and have a play. I've only explored it with alcohol inks so far and thought I'd share my results with you.

Intrigued too? Hope so!

To start with there are a few different types of Yupo available. The SAA was the first one I bought and is lighter weight and less expensive. Ranger also make a translucent one as well as white. I wasn't really sure where to start with Yupo but after some You tube searching found a few fabulous videos from joggles.com which seemed to be focusing on alcohol inks.

The links are below and I own up straight away to saying most of the techniques I've used are from the videos. I'm not going to explain all the step by steps as she does it so well in the videos and offers a wealth of advice so, do check them out.

Alcohol Ink on Yupo paper   &  Alcohol Ink, Metallics and Stencils

My first experiment was with drops. If you want to do this technique it's important you handle the Yupo as little as possible to avoid any finger oils getting on the paper. The two on the right were on the thinner paper and I did find the drops bloomed better on the thicker paper. Literally you just drop 'drops' on. A cotton bud and isopropyl alcohol was used to shade by stippling and I've attempted a little doodling to create some funky flowers as it is my floral themed challenge this month.

Next laying stencils on and using lots of lovely inks. One of the wonderful things about alcohol inks is that you can't make mud, you can blend colours you wouldn't normally and they just don't make mud, you can see this in the first 'drops' experiment as well. Leave the stencils in place until the ink has dried.

Before I started using the inks on stencils, I put deli paper underneath to catch any drips. The inks go through the deli paper creating some lovely marks, they can be used on cards or journal pages.

Any stencils you use will get quite dirty, usually I don't mind but the alcohol can dry quite sticky so I decided to clean them on top of more deli paper with alcohol blending solution...result more bonus papers!

Something I did experiment with is the round foam applicator. Normally you use felt on glossy card or Yupo but I thought I'd try something else. I started at one end and went from dark to light using a pouncing motion. There is a lovely quality to the results you acheive on Yupo, very smooth and very forgiving as the inks don't sink into the paper, I really did enjoy playing with these mediums.

This piece was done on the translucent Yupo and although it's hard to see, it produces a different and lovely effect, almost of more depth.

Using a pouncing motion you can acheive stripes and spirals.

Some of the more traditional effects

Pouncing again...as you can see, lots of pretty papers were created.

The thinner paper worked beautifully for cards. This piece was stamped with archival ink and then wiped with a dry cloth to reveal the underneath.

Some further stamping of a sentiment and I don't think a simple card needs anything else.

 

The results so far

As the card says...Thanks for stopping by and hope I've given you a little taster of using Yupo if you haven't already tried it.

Don't forget you have another week to join in with our challenge 'Floral Frenzy'  Ruth x

Welcome to today's Guest Designer, Drea !

Today we are welcoming another fabulous lady as our Guest Designer. Drea, of Drea's Scraps of Inspiration, was the winner of the Trash to Treasure challenge and was invited to join us for a day. So now it's time to hand over to Drea to share her fabulous project.

Hello stampers and stencilers! My name is Drea, short for Andrea, and I'm so honored for this opportunity to be a guest designer for this month's challenge. I discovered this fabulous blog just a few months ago, and have found so much inspiration and talent here.
I'm from Southern California, but have been living in Reno, Nevada for the last seven years. I'm married to my soulmate for almost fifteen years, and we have an amazing 14 year old son. I've always been into arts and crafts, from drawing, painting, sewing, and quilting. I even scrapped as a teenager when the only papers available were 8 1/2" X 11". Then it took a backseat until 2004, and now everything else has taken a backseat. Lol! Although with scrapping I can incorporate most of my favorite hobbies anyway, especially sewing. I've recently been dabbling in mixed media, and love learning new techniques. But my passion is colour, and the brighter and bolder the better, which is what inspired my project for the Floral Frenzy challenge this month! 

I started with some watercolor paper and Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals, which I ordered by mistake, a few months ago, thinking it was sprays. As I was curious about them, I decided to keep them, and now I want every color. Lol! First I sprayed my paper with water, and used some old toothbrushes to flick the Magicals (Prima Donna Purple, Drop Dead Gorgeous Green, and Sassy Sapphire) in random spots. Then I sprayed the Magicals again with water, and turned my paper around to let the colors bleed into eachother. Just a little bit of powder goes a long way, and produces a wonderful shimmer. 

 I then spritzed on some more water and Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays (Witch's Potion Purple and Tibetan Poppy Teal). So glad I used watercolour paper!

Once dry, I did some background stamping using black ink and Distress Ink (Picket Fence). I used my older black ink pad, as I wanted the black to fade into the background, and not be so dark and dominant.

Then I used some black gesso with one of my newest stencils from TCW (Mini Screen Print) all over my page, turning and flipping my stencil in different areas.

Once that was dry, I placed the same stencil over the gesso, and used my fingers to apply Stickles (Mermaid and Purple) for some sparkle, which really stands out over the black.

Finally for the Floral Frenzy fun, I took out some flower stamps, and embossed them all in black. The largest flowers were stamped onto white cardstock colored with my Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays (Witch's Potion Purple and Tibetan Poppy Teal) and Prima Donna Purple Magical . Then I used a paint brush with the same colors to detail my flowers even more.

 

 

The other flowers were embossed onto white cardstock. For the green flowers, I also used a paint brush to apply Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays (Sea Mint Green, Tibetan Poppy Teal) and Drop Dead Gorgeous Green Magical for the centers. The yellow was painted with Distress Ink (Fossilized Amber). The smallest flowers were colored with Distress Inks (Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch, and Peacock Feathers), and finished with some Stickles (Turquoise and Starry Night) and bling.

 

 

Thanks again Sue and the rest of the team for having me!
Drea xx

 

A big thank you to Drea for such a wonderful project ! Loads more inspiration here for the current challenge Floral Frenzy which you still have plenty of time to join in !