Be Original

I've been playing with the Tim Holtz paper dolls again and as I've got a couple of male birthdays coming up,  these make a change from stamping.

I've used one of my  backgrounds made with white embossing and Oxide inks.  The globe die was coloured with DIs and then gently brushed with bronze perfect pearls for a subtle sheen. I stamped the trunk, an old Chocolate Baroque stamp, with Vintage Sepia Versamark and heat set with clear EP.
The quote was computer printed.

Fire and Ice at TioT

Hello, it's time for a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday and this fortnight the theme is Fire and Ice.
How you interpret this is up to you, hot or cold colours or as I've done cold colours - snow and ice reflecting last weeks weather.

It's  another little journal spread,  which started with a watery wash of Chipped Sapphire over a gessoed page. I then used embossing paste for the snow speckles and snowflakes and applied white embossing powder, which was heat set when dry.  There's also some background stamping with Iced spruce and some shading with Distress crayons along with a vellum snowflake that was smeared with Frosted lace stickles.  To finish I fussy cut some winter images found on the internet.

The DT have all interpreted this challenge differently, so please pop over to the main blog - you won't be disappointed.

Avril xx

Anything Goes with Stamping at FSC

What could be better than an Anything Goes with Stamping challenge to kick off the first challenge of the New Year at Fashionable Stamping.

I've used Dancing Woman stamped with Black Versafine onto a piece of Tyvek that had been used to line my spray box, I love how you still see the fibres  showing through.  When the image was dry, I used a fine paint brush with clean water, painting over the skin areas and flowers,  then dabbing with a tissue to remove the stain.

Matting and layering, but still keeping it flat for the post.

There's some fabulous inspirational makes from the rest of the DT, so please pop over to the main blog where you will also find  details of our Sponsor, InkArtDesigns who is offering one lucky random winner a stamp from the shop.

I'm going to enter this at:
  Allsorts - No Patterned paper
  Addicted to Stamps - Clean and Simple
  Country View Challenges - Anything Goes
  Rubber Dance Forever Challenge - Anything Goes

Have a great day,
Avril xx

Favourite Things for TioT

Hello,  it's our first challenge of the year at Try it on Tuesday and to get you back into the crafting mood, we just want you to use your favourite things and tell us what they are.

Any regular visitors will know I love Vintage, inky and embossed backgrounds and I always love adding flowers, so I've combined them all on this card.

I only used Shaded Lilac Distress ink for the background, the stencilled and embossed flowers were coloured with Peeled Paint and Abandoned Coral and Worn Lipstick for the flowers.  I've used one of Tim's paper dolls along with some ephemera and the flowers were cut with the tiny tattered floral dies, coloured with Did and sprays.

The rest of the DT have some wonderful inspiration for you, so please pop over to the main blog, you won't be disappointed.

Avril xx

Let it Snow

Happy New Year, I hope it's Happy, Healthy and Creative.  I don't usually make resolutions but I am going to try to keep up with my little journal - as it really felt like 'playtime', so that's what we're starting the year with.

We may not have the snow at the moment, and Friday's snow has all gone but this little girl looks happy and dressed for snow, so when I found this image on the internet, well she just had to have a snowy page.  Although 'something' happened to her friend when I printed her out, this little one was intact and looked happy enough to be on her own, so out came the scissors and the cutting began. 

After deciding where she would stand I used a snowflake stencil and embossing paste and then sprinkled on some white EP and heat set when dry.  I added a light watery wash of PaperArtsy Mermaid paint to a gessoed page and blended Tumbled Glass crayon around the edges before adding die cuts and the image, along with a computer sentiment.

Although I love Christmas, once New Year's Day is over, it's down with the decorations and trying to get back to normal as quickly as possible and hopefully a bit more 'playtime'

Thanks for calling in,

Avril xx