Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey

Hello friends, welcome, can you believe it's the last day of November? Well it is and it's also the 5th Friday and that means it's Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey.

Since I am busy doing Christmas projects, I decided to do two tags, with one having been made into a card:

Both are made using the same set of stamps by Lynne Perrella by Paper Artsy LPCO16 

I'll give you a quick run down of how I put them together. Starting with the card:

I started with a large tag and stamped with Versafine Dove Grey, In inked around it with Distress Inks in Antique Linen, Stormy Sky Chipped Sapphire and Wilted Violet. I then painted over the stamped image with what I though was transparent silver Aqua Tint. Big mistake, the paint is not totally transparent and I lst most of the detail of the stamp, even though it gave me a lovely silvery shimmer.

 

So then I had to start the tedious task of putting some of the detail back in, using a black and white pen as well as a black and white Stabilo All pencil.. I also added some colour with a red and green pencil. (To be honest I actually quite enjoyed it, though it took a while)....

Finally I added the stars in the background using the little star layering stencil by Tim Holtz, using silver embossing paste and then sprinkling Vintage Platinum Distress Glitter while the paste was still wet.

For the tag I used the other main stamp in the set. I wanted some gold shimmer and this time thought I would add some gold Aqua tint to start with, then use my inks and stamp the image as the last step. Sadly the result was not much better, as again I lost a lot of detail which I then added in in the same way.

I added a strip with one of Tim's 3D Dresden trim dies and a little snow flake charm.

 

And this time finished the tag with some gold embossing paste, which like usual with anything shimmery I find almost impossible to capture on a photo.

Well, that's it for now, - if you like tags, do check out what my teamies have created for your inspiration by clicking HERE, and we would love it if you add any tags that you have made.

Thanks for your visit like always and happy crafting!

xxxxx

A little sparkle on a dull day...

Hello friends, hope you are keeping well. The weather has been chilly and grey here the last couple of days, perfect weather for some crafting, - so I am in full Christmas Card making mode. I have made nearly 20 cards so far, but don't worry, I will not show them all, - today I will share just a couple made with some of my Tim Holtz stamps:

I'll keep this post quite short, as these are busy times for us all, just a few close ups and some product info:

This one uses the Holiday Greetings stamp set. The background was done with Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap Distress Oxides. I stamped some trees from a much older set in the background, using Iced Spruce Doxide.

The main stamp was stamped in Ground Espresso Doxide and then clear embossed, I also added some white pencil for snow,

The main card was mounted on a piece embossed with the Lumber 3D folder, coloured with Distress Inks in various brown tones and then I applied a layer of Crazing Medium with a palette knife, a cool trick I learn from my lovely blog friend Sara Emily from Saras Closet  After the crazing medium had dried I then rubbed in some Distress Crayon with a damp finger, to bring out the cracks. I also drew in some stars with a white gel pen and added a little sparkle with Diamond Stickles.

The second card was done in a very similar way, - the bird is from the Simon Says Stamp limited edition stamp set and was coloured with a mix of Distress Markers and coloured pencils

I then finished it with a die cut coloured with Doxides and then I added just a tiny bit of Distress Glitter in Vintage Platinum, it looks really sparkly in real life but it all gets lost in the photo.

Well that's it, hope you are all having a good week and are not too busy. I'll try and visit soon...

xxxxx

The next installment

Hello all and welcome, thanks for dropping by.
Today I am sharing the second part of the projects I created for Hunky Dory using their dies.

These projects use the dies called Pretty Poinsettia and as you can see, I created two further Christmas cards;

For this one I used a frame die and sentiment from my stash, and then embellished with the beautiful poinsettias, leaves and pinecones that are all part of this set.

I cut and embossed the poinsettias from vellum, the other dies were cut from the fabulous card I received, and coloured with a variety of Distress Inks.

I just love these little pine cones, they are put together with two little dies, one fitting on top of the other.

For the second card I decided two cut various circle dies and make a circular card. I used my old Spellbinder dies, but Hunky Dory stock and incredible variety of dies, both their own brand, like these circles for instance, and numerous other ones.. I used some Tim Holtz Kraft Christmas papers and one of the Christmas Worn Wallpaper papers for the background, and then again used the dies to embellish.

For this one all of the dies were cut from the card 

I decided to tuck the little Santa from the last die set I featured in my previous post, in between

 the poinsettias. This time I cut him from Kraft Card and coloured with Distress Inks and pencils etc. to add some detail.

The card was finished with a white embossed sentiment from the Tim Holtz Holiday Greetings set.

Well, that's it for today. I would like the thank Hunky Dory for sending me these lovely products to play with, and hope you all have a great creative week!

xxxxx

.

A wonderful invitation

Hello friends, thanks for dropping by.
A few weeks ago I received an invitation from Hunky Dory Crafts, to ask whether I wanted to receive some of their products and do a review of them on my social media. Well, why not? So the other day I received two die sets and a pack of smooth white card, and today I will show you what I have made with the first die set and some of the card.
The die set I used is called Prancing Pixies.
So here goes:

The first projects was three Artist Trading Coins. The little dies in the set are just perfect for these 2.5 inch coins that seem to be all the rage just now. Below first of all a picture of the actual dies:

And here a few close ups of the coins:

This one uses the little toad stool, I just cut it twice, from the card, which by the way is absolutely brilliant, it's strong without being too thick, super smooth so great for stamping and absolutely perfect for die cutting! Even intricate dies cut brilliantly with my old Big Shot in just one pass!

The base for this one was a wooden coin I purchased a while back, I coated it with gesso, a thin layer of crackle paint and then coloured with Oxide Inks and finally put some embossing powder around the edge.

The toadstools were coloured with a mix of different markers from my stash.

This one was done in a similar way, the moon was done with a mask and the fairy was coloured with shimmer paint, and some glitter was added to his wings. The stars were done with one of Tim Holtz's new stencils, just using a baby wipe to lift some of the ink.

For this one, using the delightful prancing deer, I coated the coin with crackle paste and when that had dried and cracked, added some normal stencil paste and sprinkled some Distress Glitter into the wet paste. The stars in the background used Dreamweavers silver embossing paste through the same Tim stencil.

So far for the coins, but of course the dies can also be used for cards, so below two very different cards I made:

This one uses a chipboard snowflake frame from the Polish company Snipart. I painted it with Shimmer paints, cut a circle to fit behind, coloured with Distress Oxide and some Gesso stamping to add more interest, and then used the delightful sledge as focal point:

The sledge was cut from metallic Kraft core in silver and then aged with Mushroom alcohol ink. The detail was added with a Stabilo All pencil and a black pen.

Now I did want to use the little Santa also, so here is the final card I made, which would be suitable for a child perhaps:

Well, I think that's all for now, thank you for dropping by during this busy time of year, happy crafting and I will be back in a few days showing you what I made with the other die set.

xxxxx

The first CCs

Hello friends, hope you are having a good creative week!
It's only early November but I have started my Christmas Cards. I know some of you make them all year round, but I usually hold off until November and then get on with it full blast. So today I am sharing the first 3, all using stamps from the new 2018 Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous collections.

The moment I saw all the stamps on Tim's Facebook Live a while back, I fell in love and ordered several sets, including the Simon Says Stamp Stamptember limited edition one.... (I know, I know, as if I needed more Christmas stamps)....
Anyway, below a few details.

This one uses the Stamptember set, I just love that little bird.

On this card I stamped it in archival black and then coloured with watercolour pencils. The little stars in the background were done with one of the new layering stencils, using Wendy Vecchies Gold Embossing paste.

This one uses two other stamps from the same set. I embossed the branches, which made them very dark, so I won't do that again.
For both these cards I used the Lumber 3D texture folder, I always love how it looks so much like real wood. The sentiment was stamped on a very old woodplanks die, to match the rustic look.

This last one was done using the Watercolour and Overlay sets. If you are wondering what these are all about, check Tim's video here. He not only shows the stamps, but also some amazing and very inspiring samples!!

Another embossing mistake, the little bird was stamped in Iced Spruce, overlayed with the Merry and Bright stamped in Brushed Corduroy and then clear embossed, which really does not do the bird justice, - like usual, love and learn..... The photo also does not help, the light has just been awful around here....

I finished the bottom half of the card with one of the 3D Dresden Trims, some twine and a snowflake charm.

Well, that's it for my cards today, but before I  leave, just a couple of photos still of my latest mail art envelope, this time in a much softer, romantic style. I photographed it in the plastic card sleave I will be sending it in, just to give you an idea of what that looks like. I will adhere the address label on top of it.

Front

Back

Thank you for taking the time to visit and I do apologize for the quality of the photos. I am a hopeless photographer anyway but the light at the moment makes it even worse....

xxxxx

Mail Art Swap part 2

Hello friends and welcome! I hope life is treating you well. Today I would like to share some further mail art envelopes and artist trading coins. If you missed the first part of this, - you can find it HERE.

First I will share some of the additional envelopes I made:

They are all done in basically the same way, they are A6 size (4.5 x 6.5"), made with the help of an envelope maker and using Stamperia Time is an Illusion collection. I then altered them with the help of Distress Inks, stamping, die cuts, washi tape and some sayings. I decorated both the front and the back.

Here is the first one, like I explained in my last post, they will have 3 AT coins each and will be sent in plastic sleeves. As you can see above, the top flap, slots into the Tim Holtz 3D ornament for easy closing..

All envelopes have a sort of Autumnal theme to them. The squirrel and pumpkin are from a freebie stamp set that came with a card making magazine in September I think.

And here finally is the last one, I love how the 3D die-cuts match some of the element in the paper collection.

I have shown many of the coins I made in previous posts, but here are just 3 of the latest ones:

And in close up:

These will go to yet another lady who is swapping with me, I am having so much fun with these swaps, both in making them and of course in receiving some beauties in return.

The background on these was done with Oxide Inks and then I used paper dolls to finish them.

I am going to add these to the Countryview Challenge Blog where the theme for November is Artist Trading Coins.

Well, that's it for today, - thank you for your visit like always and have a good week!

xxxxx