Worn cover play

Hello everyone, lovely to have you drop by and happy Sunday!
I recently received one of Tim Holtz's Worn Covers and decided to have a play with it.
Here is the result: As you will probably know, these covers are pre printed and look quite gorgeous just as they are, but the great thing is they are designed to be inked and stamped further if wished.

I used one of the new Layering Stencils, this is Lattice works, fast becoming one of my favourites, I also used the new Numbered one. I stenciled with Pumice Stone, Frayed Burlap and Faded Jeans Distress Inks. Stamps used were from the Nature Walk and Mercantile sets, my two favourites of the latest Stampers Anonymous release.

Here is that gorgeous feather that you will have seen on Tim's March tag, I stamped it in Timber Brown Stazon.

The hand and text are both from the Mercantile set, also stamped in Stazon.

This little family group is from the Found Relatives. I cut them with one of my Spellbinders circle dies and it fits pretty much exactly inside the pre-printed circle ornament on the cover.

Here is the back:

The guy, the  numbers along the top left and the stars are from the Mercantile set again. I stamped the guy and then masked him and put a background text stamp behind him. I also added some more stenciling as you can see and the word Observations is a Remnant Rub.
I started to do one of the inside pages and plan to do more of course as time goes on. I am going to use this album to just play and try out new techniques and lay outs.

The inside pages are 6 x 9". The background is actually a paper from the Papermania Madame Payrauds collection. I added some stenciling and I think it fits the Tim Holtz products perfectly. The two tags were collaged with various Ideaology bits and pieces.

This one was run through a texture fade first, before inking with Tea Dye, Wild Honey and Festive Berries. I toned it down a bit with Dylusions White Linen, before adding some fussy cut bits from the Wallflower paper collection.

For this tag the background was created with some Madame Payrauds Tissue paper, I then added the image from one of the Found Relatives and added various other bits around him.

This gorgeous bottle is another stamp from the Mercantile set (I know already this is going to be a favourite). I stamped it on smooth stamping paper with a mix of Coffee and Jet Black Archival and then coloured with Antique Linen and  Faded Jeans. I just realized I forgot to add a shadow around the bottle, which makes it look as if it was just plonked on top. So, I will still do that, - it makes it look so much better.....

Here is the back of this page:

I am not going to talk you through all the details, because we are all busy, but as you can see, the vocal image is from the Papillon set of course, and this time I coloured the butterflies with Distress Markers straight onto the stamp, breathed on them and then stamped. This was a technique Tim showed in Creative Chemistry 101.

Well, hope you like what I have done so far, more to follow soon I hope, time allowing.

Hope you will have some creative inky time and thank you for visiting like always!!

Tim Tower ATB

Hello everyone and thank you for dropping by here.
Today I want to share a set of Artist Trading Blocks (ATBs) which I made with the help of the wonderful die designed by Eileen Hull for Sizzix.

These are so easy and quick to put together once you have the die, and of course with each cube having 6 sides, there is lots of fun in creating the different sides. I cut mine from grey chipboard, though I have since found the die even cuts mount board really easily. I put them together with strong score tape and then painted the edges black with a black paint dabber. After some trial and error, I found out these dies are designed to cut thick material like chip board. I tried it first with Kraft card, but you don't get the fold lines then, as it is too thin. I know some of you have been wondering about whether you need a crease pad, and no, you don't for this die.

4 main sides of the largest cube

I mainly used Tim Holtz papers, stamps, paints and inks etc to decorate my different cubes. But I also used a few bits from the Papermania Madame Payraud's paper line. I think they combine perfectly with the Tim papers, as in many ways they are similar in style.

Second largest cube, as you can see I also used chit chat stickers and tissue tape.

And the smallest cube. The Tim Holtz mini stamps are the perfect size for these.

These dies are so versatile and of course you can make them in any style you like of course. If you leave one side open, they also could make super little boxes.

I left the top and bottom of each cube pretty plain, just covering them with some paper and inking around the edges, but I made this little heart with the help of a mold for the very top. I made the actual heart out of a mix of Uteeh and various colours of Frantage and then coloured it with Distress Paints (Broken China and Frayed Burlap) and highlighted with a bit of Treasure Gold in Renaissance gold.

Sorry about this blurry picture, but here you get a bit more of an idea about the size of the different cubes in relation to one another.The largest of the cubes is 3" by 3". 

I have some more cut out and am definitely going to make more, they are so much fun.

Thank you for visiting and I really, really appreciate all the lovely comments you always leave me!

Encourage Inspiration

Hello everyone, welcome and lovely to have you visiting.
A sneak peek post for me today I'm afraid to say, as it is my turn to post over at the Artistic Stamper

Hope you'll take the time to see the whole project. All you need to do is click HERE.
Thank you for visiting today and for all the lovely comments you always leave me, - it is very much appreciated!!

Home made faux leather notebook

Hello everyone and wonderful to have you visiting. Hope you are having a good week. Today I am sharing another faux leather notebook with you. I created this for Spellbinders Paperarts as one of their International Blog Ambassadors.

This notebook, unlike my last one, for which I just made the cover, was made completely from scratch. I plan to make quite a few of these to give away to friends.

Instructions on how to make something similar, can be found HERE.  Info on how to make the inside pages can be found HERE.
For my version, these were the products I used:
 Valiant Honour die set
Persian Splendor 3D M-Bossabilities folder

I also used a piece of Kraft card, Glycerin, some white card, Cartridge paper, some charms and a piece of fabric, plus some basic craft items, like Mod Podge, Glue and Seal (glossy), Distress Inks Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain, a needle and strong thread, some gilding wax (I used Treasure Gold White Fire) a heat tool etc.

I started by cutting a piece of Kraft card to 5 x 7", prepared it in the way described in the video, by spraying with water mixed with Glycerin a few times, crumpling it, spraying again and crumpling once more. I then dried it with my heat tool and then embossed it with the Persian Splendor embossing folder.

Next I  swiped Vintage Photo Distress Ink all over it and spritzed some water to make it run a bit. This was followed by inking it further with an ink blending tool.. Below you can see the difference between the first and the second step of inking.

Starting to look a bit like leather already. Now to add some more interest I cut these pieces with the Valiant Honor die set.

As you can see, the pieces on the left were treated with the same faux leather technique after they were cut.

Time to put the notebook together. I folded the cover in half, cut 9 pieces of Cartridge paper to 6 x 4 3/8" to create 3 signatures. Then I covered the inside of the cover with a piece of fabric. I used Mod Podge to glue it to the cover and trimmed and rounded the edges:

Here you can see the fabric all glued on.

And here is the faux leather side, after I had covered it with Glue and Seal to give it that shiny leather look.
Next I pierced the holes for the binding as described in the video. Obviously there are many different binding techniques, so there are many ways you could do this.

Being me I pretty much eyeballed it, - I am not the neatest worker as you can see, but to be honest, this was my very first attempt at book binding, - so,embrace imperfection (yet again....)

Here it is, with the signatures all stitched in

And this is what the spine now looked like from the outside:

And closed up

And with the inside of the cover showing:

Alright, now for the decoration: I used the two extra brown bits to become like straps and glued them around the spine. I stamped and coloured a little butterfly and placed it on the label. Some of the raised bits were high lighted with some gilding wax first.

I added some charms to the spine still and that was it.

Hope you like my little notebook, thank you so much for visiting and I hope you will have some time to be creative yourself!

W book on the theme of Words

Hello everyone and I am so happy you decided to join me here today.
I am excited to share with you my latest project for A Vintage Journey.

 

Alison from Words and Pictures is the host this week and she chose "Words" as her theme. Well, with all of Tim's wonderful word stamps, I just knew I wanted to make a little mini book, and as I recently purchases the wonderful new Wallflower paper stash I just had to use some of it. Like all of Tim's paper stashes, there will be 12 x 12, 6 x 6, ATC sized and in this case also 3 x 3" images in the collection, and it is these last ones I decided to use for this little book.

I followed Tim's lovely video for the W book, as that would be just the right size. You can find it HERE

I used one of the 12 x 12 papers from the French Industrial papers for the structure of my book. But unlike Tim, I made a separate cover out of Kraft card. For that I cut two 3 1/4 squares plus a separate spine, measuring about 3 1/4" by 1" (how wide you make it depends how fat you want to make your book).

After I had folded the book together as per Tim's instructions, I inked all the edges and then glued the back and front pages to the two craft card squares. I then glued the inside pages, again like Tim describes, but created three pockets also by only gluing either the top or the bottom of two pages together. If you decide to make one, you'll understand what I mean. I found to my delight that the pockets are exactly the right size to hold the journaling tickets, either the ready bought ones or the ones cut with the Sizzix die.
For the front and back of my booklet, I chose one of the 3 x 3" papers and glued them to the Kraftcard, I then folded the spine piece around it.

I embellished with a stamped egg from the new Feather and Flight stamp set. I stamped the solid egg in Broken China Distress ink and then the speckles in Jet Black archival. I also added a pre rusted pen nib, a little leaf charm, some tissue tape and word stickers.

Here is the first of the inside pages:

On the left side, one of the papers plus some chit chat stickers and a bit of tissue tape. On the right a quote from the Stuff to Say set and one of the stamps from the Tiny Things set. The pen was an old stamp from my stash. I know I have said this before, but you get so much more depth to your pages if you add shadows to your collaged bit and stamped images. I recently discovered that this works brilliantly if you cover your page with Glue 'n Seal, let it dry and then use a Distress Marker. You can blend it with your finger. I used the Walnut Stain marker for all of my pages.

Next double page, very similar technique. This sentiment is from the same set.

More of the same, stamps this time from the Way with Words set and the ticket from the Going Somewhere set. The pointing finger is from the Bitty Grunge set. The Art Scarbble tiles were from my stash.

On this one the sentiment is from the Going Places set. I also added some Vintage Ephemera bits and some more chit chat stickers.

 This page is rather busy, but I thought that kind of would suit the sentiment, which is from the Stuff to Say set.The other stamps are from the Tiny Things set. The buttons were cut from the Crowded Attic papers.

Nearly there, this is the second last page. Sentiment from the Stuff to Say set, some letter stickers and the photo is from the Vintage Ephemera bits. As you can see, I reinforced the spine a bit with Tissue Tape.

And the final page, you'll be glad to hear. Sentiment from Stuff to Say and the gent was cut from the French Industrial papers. Like before, the added shadow makes him pop I think.

I also added some letters to the spine

And here finally you can see the ticket tags, both their front and their backs:

Well, there you have it. I leave you with a final photo of the booklet with the tags inside.

Hope you like it  and that you will feel inspired to join us for this latest challenge.

Remember, one chosen entrant will win a £10 voucher from Country View Crafts where almost all of the products I have used can be puchased.

Thank you for visiting and Enjoy the Journey!!

Springtime Hanger

Hello everyone, thanks for dropping in here. Tomorrow Spring is meant to start, so I thought I would make a Springtime hanger for my project for Calico Crafts. Here is a sneak peek:

If you want to see more, please click HERE.
If you have been there recently, you will have to refresh the page to see my project.

Thanks so much for visiting today and I hope you are having a good and creative week!