Past and Future

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

It's just gone midnight.  It's a brand new year, and time for a brand new challenge at The Artistic Stamper.  We're looking for projects with the theme of New Beginnings - and you can interpret that in any way you like - so come and play along.  You don't have to use Artistic Stamper stamps, but if you do you'll automatically get two entries in the prize draw - and you can play as many times as you like!

I've created a pair of ATCs marking what's past and what's to come, complete with some rusty bells to ring in the New Year.

I seem to plunge into really vivid blues and greens in January and February, and these ATCs take full advantage of that.





The backgrounds are from the Family Values plate, and are the perfect size for ATCs.

I applied lots of Distress Inks - Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, Broken China are all definitely in there, plus maybe some others - direct to the stamp, and then clear embossed the resulting image.

I also added some Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder around the outsides, over some Versamark ink brushed directly onto the edges of the ATCs.












The months and years come from Katy Leitch's Dates set, and are stamped in Vintage Photo and clear embossed.

I then cut them into tiny tags and arranged them with some of my rusty jingle bells to ring out the old year and ring in the new (yes - an echo of the current Vintage Journey challenge theme there, and more than a few echoes between these ATCs and my offering for that, Ring In The New!).

I couldn't resist adding a bit of my favourite rusty wire to the mix.










And the Chitchat stickers capture some of my thoughts and feelings about the year going out...










... and the year coming in.

So those are my New Year's ATCs on the theme of New Beginnings.  I hope they'll inspire you to come and play along at The Artistic Stamper this month.

I'll be back later in the morning with the new Country View Challenges theme...  Until then, don't drink too much champagne (is there such a thing as too much champagne?!), and Happy New Year!!




Remember tonight... for it is the beginning of always.
Dante Alighieri

Artistic Stamper stamps used: Katy Leitch Dates, Family Values

Rust Rules!

Hello all!  Can you believe it's October already?!  Time for a new set of challenges around Craftyblogland.

I'll be back very shortly with my offering for Country View Challenges, but first we're kicking off the new theme over at Our Creative Corner.

Our brilliant leader Laura is our host this month, and she's inviting you all to Go Rustic.  Here's what she had to say: We want to see a huge variety of items here, so make anything you like, but add some RUST!  Now you can take this rust-ic creativity to any level you like - you can use just use some rusty autumnal colours or you can really go for it and work with gorgeous, rough textured, grungy, real or faux rust.

Before you go and check out the amazing inspiration over at Our Creative Corner, here's my starter for ten...  I've kept it pretty simple this month.

I do love a bit of rust and I think it goes perfectly with one of my other favourite things, corrugated cardboard.








I built up my hanging over a piece of cardboard which I rusted up with lots of layers of paint and embossing powder.











The paint included lots of DecoArt colours - Burnt and Raw Umbers, Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone Gold, Transparent Red Iron Oxide amongst others.

And for texture there are various Distress embossing powders - Walnut Stain, Black Soot, Vintage Photo - as well as the Ranger Antiquities Rust.










I added Weathered Wood Distress Paint around the edges later on to provide some contrast, and to tone in with the central panel.












For that panel, I stamped one of my favourite Tim Holtz quote stamps onto some white card, and then inked around it with Weathered Wood Distress Ink.















Around the corners I stamped possibly my all-time favourite branches, from the Silhouette Blossoms set by Autumn Leaves.













The Idea-ology flowers have been treated with the Crafty Notions Rusting Powder.  (You apply it over multi-medium and then spritz with vinegar and let it work - you can see the process in detail in my post Tea Dye and Rusty Hinge.)

I layered in a couple of washers from that same rusting session and attached my little floral arrangements in opposite corners.













It still needed a little something extra, so I layered in some torn book pages to give it a little lift, and the whole thing is strung up with twine that's been roughed up with some more Weathered Wood Distress Paint.







I hope you like my rusty rustic hanging.  My team-mates are also rust-lovers and you're going to be amazed by what they've come up with this month, I promise.

Check out their fantastic projects over at Our Creative Corner and we hope you'll be inspired to come and play soon.  Our sponsor this month is the fabulous Funkie Junkie Boutique, so make sure you comply with all the challenge rules to qualify for the prize!  Oh, and I'll be back very shortly with the new CVC challenge details... see you then!

A sword, a spade, and a thought should never be allowed to rust.
James Stephens

Queen Bee ATCs

Hello all!  It's time for a new challenge theme over at A Vintage Journey.  Our host this time is the fabulous Jenny, a.k.a. Buttons - and she has a real treat in store for us... she's challenging us to Get Some Texture!  To read the full challenge guidelines and see the amazing inspiration the rest of the team have conjured up for you, pop over to A Vintage Journey.

But, before you go, here's my offering to get your creative engines started...

This pair of ATCs is full of texture, using Tim techniques and products.  There's a Queen Bee/Royal Jelly kind of vibe going on, I think you'll find!




I stuck some of the amazing Wallpaper papers to some really thick card and cut them using the ATC and Corners die.  There's a lovely thickness and heft to this pair.

Over that I blended some Peeled Paint Distress Ink through the Latticework stencil (done on the left, not yet on the right!).

I added clear embossing powder and tapped the back pretty firmly so as to clear quite a lot of the powder before heating.  

That gives you a lovely pobbly effect, rather than smooth glossiness.














After some playtime with some moulds and UTEE, the crown and bee were left sitting around on the table for a couple of weeks awaiting a home...










... suddenly it looked as though they might have found one!
















With them in mind, I stamped the large bee and the crown to complement the UTEE shapes.

They're stamped in Coffee and Jet Black Archival, blended onto the stamps as I went.














I added some flourishes in Peeled Paint, and all that stamping got clear-embossed too.













The two hearts are kraft glassine, embossed using the French Script folder, then sanded for even more texture and given a dusting of Picket Fence Distress Paint.









I used the Shattered Kraft Core to cut some strands of ivy from the Spring Greenery Decorative Strip Die, and followed Tim's excellent tip of sanding the die-cut before you remove it from the surround.  

Especially with a delicate die like this, it means you can distress without distress!











Once they were trailing across their respective ATCs, I glued them down by just the stalks, so that I could lift the leaves for a dimensional look.  I love the texture of the Shattered card.












Around the edges I added some Peeled Paint Distress Embossing Powder - this has such a great mossy look, and a rough touch to the fingertips once you've released the textured particles.









Everything got a dusting of Picket Fence, and then a splattering of the same.  The Liquitex Splatter Brush has been one of my favourite Tim recommendations - such fun to play with, and it adds such fabulous splashes of random texture!










A couple of ChitChat stickers and we're done. 

So that's my pair of ATCs for you.  Hop over to A Vintage Journey and see what the rest of the team are packing for this leg of the journey, and I hope you'll be inspired to come and play along with us this month.  

Do make sure you read the challenge guidelines carefully, as well as our Travelling Instructions, in order to qualify for the prize, generously sponsored by Country View Crafts.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'll see you again soon, either here or elsewhere in Craftyblogland!

The men of experiment are like the ant; they only collect and use.  But the bee... gathers its materials from the flowers of the garden and of the field, but transforms and digests it by a power of its own.
Leonardo Da Vinci

Mirror, mirror...

Hello everyone!  I know it's been a busy few days here at Words and Pictures (if you've missed anything - my rusty rustic Calico Crafts debut is here, my glossy steampunk PaperArtsy Guest project is here, and my pink - yes, pink - Artistic Outpost mini-canvas is here), but I'm back again - doing the double today - with maybe my favourite make of this busy time: my take on Tim Holtz's absolutely brilliant January tag.

I'm so happy Tim's offering us 12 Tags of 2014 and, wow, what a start to the year this tag is - I fell in love with it... to the extent that I was a bit stumped about how to even begin my own version.  

But then my Spring Greenery Decorative Strip Die arrived, and suddenly my brain began to whirr.

Regulars will know of my thing about ivy (see what the tag is surrounded by in the photos!) so I knew this die was an absolute must-have the moment I saw it...

















And when I'd cut my first few strands of ivy out of the dark green Shattered Kraft-Core, I found myself in faerie-tale land - a place I love to be.
















I don't have the pocket watch die (yet - it's coming!) so had been mulling over what I might use instead, and when the faerie-tale appeared it all dropped into place.  The Ornate Frame was the perfect magic Mirror Mirror.

It needed a faerie-tale look, so it's had layers of black paint, Pewter Perfect Pearls Mist, Black Soot Distress Embossing Powder and some Aged Silver Frantage.  











This is a mirror which has been on the wall of a secret tower room in a stone castle for hundreds and hundreds of years.  

(Check out those volcanic craters from heating the Frantage for ages!)

And the centre of my Mirror Mirror is revealing its internal workings as it performs its magic, summoning up visions and prophecies.








The background was one of the other things I loved about Tim's tag (all his tutorial details are here so I won't go over them again)... mine has a bit more Walnut Stain about it for that look of old parchment recording the ancient story.  

The clocks are perfect for summoning up time past, and "Once upon a time..."













... and the effect of the sanded rub-ons is just beyond cool.  The man's a genius!!












Have I mentioned that I love, love, love this ivy?!  You'll be seeing this a lot...

I had an almost disaster when I stuck the mirror just a little too high to start with - it wasn't until I was taking photos that I realised it was annoying me enough to have to change it.  

Heart in mouth as I tried to unstick it without ripping the whole thing to pieces... but it was worth it to get the positioning right.











I used my little £1 alphabet to stamp the words of the spell (they still get my heart pumping with the thrill of black magic).










Lovely Idea-ology linen ribbon at the top, and the M of the type charm could be Magical or Mirror or Mystery... 













I'm fascinated that the ChitChat stickers always seem to have just the words you need!











I had so much fun making this - pure joy - thank you, Tim, yet again... (though I fear my bank manager won't be thanking you when all the new CHA releases reach the UK!)

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Mirror, mirror, here I stand,
Who is the fairest in the land?
Traditional variations

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
Mae West

I'd like to enter this as my January tag in Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2014

P.S. Yay - the sun finally came out (but after I'd given up and written the post)... so I'm adding just one photo with that slightly warmer glow to it!

Thanks for stopping by everyone - and for your amazing support and comments over the last few days.  As always, I'm blown away, and so grateful.

And on the subjects of light and thanks, a bonus quote for today, which seems appropriate for a TH post:

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being.  Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.
Albert Schweitzer