Keeping time...

Hello everyone!  Hope you're all having a great weekend.  It's catch-up time here at Words and Pictures (and yes, I'm still trying to do some catching up with all of you too) with a piece I made as a Guest Design piece for the Calico Crafts blog in June.  At the time, I pretty much just showed the finished project, but promised some more process photos in due course... well, here they are.

If I remember rightly, I spent much of the making of this not being sure about it, and wondering where the heck it was going, but ended up fairly happy.  I hope you like it!

It grew into being a piece about what we hold on to, what we preserve in the face of time's onward march, how we keep hold of memories and mementos... with a play on the words "Keep Time" - about a clock keeping good time, and also how we try to keep hold of time, not letting it run away from us too quickly.

I started with one of the little specimen trays, but did away with the sliding lid...

... or rather, did away with the acetate and glued the extra bit of frame into place.

I layered up DecoArt paint and crackle glaze... 












... and more paint...

I lined the rear wall with one of Calico's large vintage collage sheets.  These are amazing - really huge and great quality.

Although I liked the weathered paint all over the frame, I decided to go for a papered exterior, to match the rear wall of the interior.  

And I've still got about 2/3 of the sheet left to use!

I added yet more paint, as well as ink and Treasure Gold white fire...














... to create my weathered look on the frame and within the compartments.

I stamped the Kaisercraft Tic Toc texture stamp onto the paper for some extra "time" texture.
















I also stamped it onto the large rusty heart using Coffee Archival ink.

I cut out part of the paper to use in the little round frame from my stash, covering it with Glossy Accents and leaving it to dry overnight.












All the embellishments and doodads have had a touch of Treasure Gold in White Fire so that they all tone in with one another.

I put some of the fabulous Steampunk Watch Parts into a tiny corked vial - how's that for another way of "keeping time".

And there's one of Artemio's Oldies Vintage clock faces, gilded with the Treasure Gold.  I love the antique-y look that gives it.












On the back of the tray, also papered, stamped, inked and gilded, I decided to add the phrase KEEP TIME.

I cut out letters from the scrabble tiles sheet from the Kaisercraft Timeless Classics collection, stuck them onto card, and inked and gilded them. 











Very happy with my homemade scrabble tiles!















I cut the Tim Holtz Weathered Clock out of Grungeboard ready for some hefty treatment. 

The joy of Grungeboard is it will take any amount of paint, medium, texturising and inking without falling apart - in fact, it stays completely flexible throughout - amazing stuff.












I patted on some DecoArt texture paste with my finger tips, so that it would have lots of texture to it. 

Then it got some paint and some gilding, some more paint, some more gilding and some inking until I was happy with the look.

Everything was glued in place using Glossy Accents...

... and the whole thing got a sealing coat of Studio Extra Time Medium.

(It didn't need to be Extra Time, but I'd run out of all the others!)














A final dusting of White Fire Treasure Gold, and we're done!

I had a wonderful time again with the amazing Calico Crafts goodies. Huge thanks to Helen of Calico Crafts, and the fabulous Louise (a.k.a. Zuzu) who co-ordinates the team, for having me back.




Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today.  I'll see you very soon, somewhere out there in Craftyblogland!

How did it get so late so soon? 
It's night before it's afternoon. 
December is here before it's June. 
My goodness how the time has flewn. 
How did it get so late so soon?
Dr. Seuss

Ingredients available from Calico Crafts:
Small Wood Specimen Tray with Sliding Lid
Treasure Gold - White Fire
DecoArt Americana - Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Buttermilk, Whitewash
DecoArt Weathered Wood Crackle Medium
DecoArt Decorating Paste
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Extra Time Medium
Kaisercraft Tic Toc Texture Stamp
Rusty Hearts
Steampunk Watch Parts
Kaisercraft Timeless Classics paper pad
Artemio Oldies Vintage Style Metal Clocks and Cogs
Tim Holtz Grungeboard
Tim Holtz Sprocket Gears
Tim Holtz Corked Vials
Tim Holtz Trinket Pins
Large Vintage Collage Sheet - Postcards (discontinued, but there are lots of other lovely ones)
Antique Ivory Cotton Crochet Lace
Ranger Glossy Accents
From my stash: Vintage Photo Distress Ink, Weathered Clock Die, various embellishments and doodads

That Vintage Look

Hello everyone!  I was so happy to be invited back by Calico Crafts to do another Guest Spot this month, and here's the first of my two projects for June.  

I know some of you saw it yesterday over at the Calico Crafts blog (which I really recommend for a visit if you've never been - there's a fantastic regular DT sharing gorgeous inspirational makes), but I wanted to join in with The Button Challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show this week.  

So it's here a little earlier than it might otherwise have been, and there are a few extra photos!  And if you need another reason - it also serves as an additional nudge to come and play the Recipe Challenge over at Our Creative Corner.  I shared my actual DT piece - Embrace Imagination - yesterday, but as it happens this also fits the bill: from List A the lace, from List B the metal, and from List C the inks and paints.

Okay, enough with the links, onto the make...

I've loved the Kaisercraft texture stamps from way back at the beginning of my crafty journey, and I'm a big vintage fan, so when I saw the latest set of releases in the same size format, it was love at first sight.
















I've combined them here with Kraft tags from Ranger, some old book pages and lots of gesso and ink to create a canvas celebrating that vintage look!









It all started very simply: I glued some torn book pages to the kraft tags using multi-medium.  














Then I added a random area of gesso to each one.















I stamped the images using Staz-On black ink, and then used Distress Inks to give that aged look.

The tags are topped off with some Cotton Crochet Lace and Ivory Jute Twine.  I also added lace to the bottom of a couple of them.
















At this point, I was still working out what to do with my lovely tags - make them into a book? a hanging? an accordion wallet?





In the end, it turned out to be a match made in heaven when I found a long canvas tucked in a corner of my room (from The Works, I think, and at half price, a bargain £1.99!)

I stuck some more book pages to some grungeboard and used the Tim Holtz WordPlay die to cut out the lettering for my little phrase.

A touch more inking to give the letters a bit more of a distressed look, and an inky edging for the canvas itself and we're almost there...

I used some wooden flourishes from my stash (they're from Crafty Emblies) to give a bit more dimension to the piece.

The final touch was to add these fabulous metal buttons from Artemio - they're from the Oldies Vintage range, so they're perfect for a vintage look.












Because they're proper buttons, they've got quite substantial loops on the back, moulded from the same metal, so there's no cutting them off.

Instead, I used scissors to poke a hole in the canvas in the places where I wanted the buttons to go.

This would probably have held them in place perfectly well, but I added a dab of glue to each of them just in case!

Hope you like my celebration of the vintage look.  If you're tempted by any of the ingredients, you'll find the links below.

I'll be back with another project for Calico Crafts later in the month.  Do check out their store - there are lots of lovely and unusual stash goodies to be found!







Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Oh, and don't forget there're just a couple more days to sign up for my Blogaversary Candy.  Have a great week everybody!

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Click on the links to go shopping:

Ranger Inkssentials Kraft Tags #8
Kaisercraft Vintage Texture Stamps: Bird Cage, Windsor, Perfume, 36, Coat Rack, Dress Form
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso
Oldies Vintage Style Antique Buttons
Antique Ivory Cotton Crochet Lace
Ivory Jute Twine
Staz-On Ink Pad - Jet Black
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Matte Multi Medium
Tim Holtz Grungeboard
Book pages, Distress Inks and canvas from my stash

I'm just in time to enter this for The Button Challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show... only just!

Getting that vintage look...

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first of two posts today.  I'll be back soon with my DT contribution to this month's Our Creative Corner challenge (now here), but first I'm thrilled to be back as a Guest Designer for Calico Crafts this month.  

I was lucky enough to be asked back after my February stint, and the first of my two GDT pieces for June is on the Calico Crafts blog today.

There's a little sneak peek here, but it would be lovely if you have the time to hop over and take a look at the full make.  I'd love to know what you think.

Thank you, as always, for your fantastic support, and I hope I'll see you again later today!

Beauty is everywhere a welcome guest.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(I'm hoping I've earned my welcome with this piece...)

UPDATE - the Calico Crafts blog has closed (though there is the fabulous new blog for Calico Craft Parts to enjoy), but you can see the whole of this project here at Words and Pictures.

The Silence Between

Hello everyone; hope you're all having a great week!  It's my birthday today, so I decided to indulge myself in catching up with one of my favourite projects.

I was so excited to be invited to Guest Design for Calico Crafts on their blog in February, but I only gave a sneak peek of the projects here at Words and Pictures.

I've caught up with one of them, but it's time to get add the other to my full collection here.  I use this blog like a virtual scrapbook of my work, so it feels important to get them all "under one roof".  So, forgive me if you've seen this before...

I love the eclectic mix of products Calico Crafts offer - so much inspiration just from the crafty stash.

The first piece I created for them was a hanging created out of unassuming beer mats, rusty metal and bits of driftwood.  I love the sense of "found objects" being turned into something beautiful ... well, I think it's beautiful - I hope you like it too!

I started by covering the beer mats with the large Vintage Collage Sheet called Principles of Music (sadly not available at the moment, but there are lots of others to choose from).  I love music manuscript and notation, so this huge sheet of old musical principles and rules really delights me.

Once the mats were covered, I sanded the edges for a more distressed look, and then added some gesso with rough brushstrokes to weather them even further.

I stamped some of the gorgeous hedgerow grasses from the Artemio Wild Summer Meadow set randomly across the three beer mats, and added the rusted hearts.  

I arranged the mats on my craft table in the order I thought looked best, and adjusted the position of the hearts until I was happy with how it all looked.

I got some of the small driftwood sticks and lined them up in between the mats to check that the idea I'd had was actually going to look okay before I started getting twiddly with the rusty wire.  I also gave them a couple of sweeps of gesso for fun!

I punched holes in the beermats and then started threading the whole thing together, making sure to leave enough length in the wire for doing some curly wurly stuff at the ends.

I stamped the quote - which, I should of course tell you, is a thought of Mozart's - and cut them up, inking the edges.  

I attached them using padded tape, for extra dimension, inserting a bit of metal mesh behind the most significant words to highlight them. 

And that was pretty much that... a fairly simple make, but one that really pleases me.  I'd love to know what you think, though please don't feel you have to leave a comment if you did last time!

My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence.
Edith Sitwell

True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.
William Penn


Learn to be silent. Let your quiet mind listen and absorb.
Pythagoras

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by.  If you've never been there, it's well worth visiting the Calico Crafts blog for lots of lovely inspiration, as well of course as the online store for lots of lovely shopping!  Happy crafting!

Ingredients from Calico Crafts - click to go straight there:

Large Vintage Collage Sheets

Beermats

Artemio Wild Summer Meadow Clear Stamp Set

Rusty Hearts (small and medium)

Rusty Wire

Driftwood Sticks (small)

Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso