A Manly Beginning...

Hello all, so happy you could drop in today - there's a lot going on as it's the first of the month!  

First of all, I'm very excited to share my news with you.  I'm delighted to be able to announce that I'm joining the team at Country View Challenges - so happy! - and so here's my project for the June theme of Only Men Allowed.

Later in the morning, I'll be back (with a completely contrasting tag!) to share my inspiration offering for the new Our Creative Corner challenge.  But first let's check out the men!  The Country View Challenges team have created some fabulous makes to inspire you, so do hop over and check them out when you're done here...

I'm starting out with a tag - what else?! - and drawing inspiration from my favourite crafty men: Tim Holtz and Umbrella Man.  There's a list of ingredients at the end of the post, so you can click on the product links if you feel an uncontrollable urge to go shopping!

I had a ball creating the background for this... I stuck some Metal Foil Tape Sheets to a Size 8 tag, and then ran it through my BigShot with the glorious Subway folder.









I splurged some paint onto the surface, black acrylic and Faded Jeans and Weathered Wood Distress Paints.  








The first layer ended up far too dark for my liking, so I added more of the two blues, spritzing and drying until I was happy.











Once it was all dry, I sanded the surface of the embossing to reveal the metal tape beneath - v. cool look, I'd say!

Glancing around the craft table, I spotted a steely blue mop-up tag which was hanging out over in one corner... perfect for Umbrella Man.  
Once cut, I blended on Black Soot Distress Ink from the left to create a shadow effect.

He's stamped with grungy numbers from the Ultimate Grunge stamp set, and mounted on padded tape to create a pop of dimension.

He needed somewhere to stand, and since he's trying to work out which way he should go in life, I thought this arrow (a.k.a. a clock hand/Game Spinner) might help.












And I added some other Idea-ology bits and bobs, as well as some other metal pieces to help on the journey - Sprocket Gears and a Compass Coin, for instance.













The ChitChat stickers are edged in Black Soot and have a touch of Weathered Wood DP to add to the stormy steely bluesy look.














The topping is made with tissue tape - Commute, to co-ordinate with the embossed background - stuck to some seam binding to create a stiff ribbon, and it's tied with Paper String.











So, that's my first masculine make for you.  I'll be back later in June to share some more inspiration.  Do hop over and check out what my amazing new (to me!) team mates have created, and we hope you'll come and play Only Men Allowed some time this month.  There's a prize draw generously sponsored by Country View Crafts.

And, as I mentioned, I'll be back all too soon to play over in Our Creative Corner, with something completely different... hope to see you then!

To map out a course of action and follow it to the end requires courage.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'd like to enter this in the following:
One for the Boys at the Pan Pastel UK Challenge Blog
For the Guys at Allsorts

Click to go shopping at Country View Crafts:
Metal Foil Tape Sheets
Size 8 Tags
Subway and Stencil Texture Fades
Stampers Anonymous - Ultimate Grunge
Idea-ology Game Spinners, Sprocket Gears, Compass Coins
Commute Tissue Tape
ChitChat Stickers
Paper String - Solids
Umbrella Man has been discontinued - shock, horror, tears!

Memento Mori

Hello all, an unexpected post today... well, unexpected for me at least.  I really didn't expect to fit in the Tim Holtz May tag, so this is a bonus!

I knew I'd be making it at some point as it's an absolutely beautiful piece of inspiration from Lord Holtz, but I thought that'd be somewhere down the road a way.

Quite apart from the time available, I've been feeling pretty Mojo-less.  That's not quite fair... my Mojo's been busy with the dollshouses, but that doesn't seem to leave much over.  

So it was a real pleasure to just sit down and let someone else do the thinking.  And oh boy, did I have fun playing with all that metal?!

So it's an even bigger thank you than usual to Tim, for giving me a couple of happy hours at my craft table, when that's been a rare commodity lately.










You'll notice one major change from Tim's tag (apart from not having the ShadowPress folders - yet).

As you'll see further on, I simply couldn't get an inky background that I was happy with so, since we were playing with the paper sizes, I decided to let some 12x12 in on the act too as my background.











With various things that are going on, I found myself reaching for objects to do with Time and with the things that are precious to me in my life - things I want to make sure play a big part as those seconds tick away.  How will you spend your time in this life?








It started to become a bit of a Memento Mori, a reminder of death - but in a positive way!  A reminder to make sure the things that matter to you are included in life on a daily basis.

So music and words are here, for starters in the background papers on the panels.  In a cliched kind of way, this key was perfect... these things are the key to a happy life for me - words, music, learning, and of course the crafty creativity.









I had the Rabindranath Tagore quote running through my head while I was making the tag: the butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough - another prompt to live in the moment and make the most of it.

So there are butterflies too... delicate filigree creatures, balanced on the edge of time.

This one is perched on some old watch parts - internal workings and an old pocket watch back, along with some other bits and bobs, including a lucky number 7.













The pen nib reminds us of the possibility of leaving something to endure - whether that's memoirs, music, art, writing, children, good works, happy memories - to leave you able to smile in the face of death.

The butterfly shape is echoed again in the lock I chose ready for opening with that key.  

In fact, I noticed as I took the photos, that I seem to have chosen harmonious shapes - circles, ovals and butterfly shapes in the main... it wasn't conscious!









There's another genuine clock part connected to the Lifetime Muse Token - this watch face has a lovely shine in the sunlight.

(Oh, yes, sunshine - another key ingredient in the happiness recipe - I'd've liked a snidge more of it for the photos really).









And no, I haven't got any of the lovely ShadowPress folders yet - the set I think I'll make most use of doesn't come out until later in the year, so I'm holding off (there seem to be a few dregs of willpower remaining) until then.

So instead I used my favourite dimensional lettering, the Alpha Parts, and added an iced topping of Distress Paint in Picket Fence and Pumice Stone.










Another lucky number 7 to ward off the evil eye...












Oh, and the tiny little clock brad (Prima, I think?) was a happy find at the bottom of one of my travelling shoe boxes of stash.  Perfect for the theme which had developed.













And the linen ribbon to top it all off, fastened with a metal panel to echo the larger ones on the tag.













I'll just quickly share a couple of the dismissed backgrounds... feel free to skip all the failures! 

I think part of the problem was I rested the panels on some white mountboard while I was inking, and I became rather attached to that look - so nothing else quite worked for me.

















I tried some dark metallics (with Perfect Pearls Mists and Distress Stains) thinking it would pick up the metallic elements on the panels quite nicely.  No go.


















Next go was a paler look - closer, but still no banana...




















... even once I'd added another layer of splatter and inked the edges - nope.











So that's when I gave in - I really did try, honest guv! - but there was definitely too much over-thinking going on.  Having hauled all these beautiful things out of my stash, there was no way I was putting them on a background I was only half happy with.  

For a while, it looked like the plain white would be the winner, but then I thought about what Tim said in his post about the different pattern sizes within the pads, and I grabbed the large 12x12 music sheet.  And that was the one for me.

In the end, the whole thing was so heavy, I had to put it on another piece of mountboard to stop it flopping everywhere.  That solidity gives it a really lovely weight and presence - and the whole thing makes me very happy!

Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.
Mahatma Gandhi

Whoever uses the spirit that is in him creatively is an artist.  To make living itself an art, that is the goal.
Henry Miller

I'd like to enter this as my May tag in Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2014.
At the Craft-Room Challenge the lovely Annie would like to see Things With Wings - will butterflies from butterfly do?!
At Craft Hoarders Anonymous the challenge is to Show Some Metal or Glass.
At Creative Inspirations the challenge is Tag It.
At Tag Along the theme is Tick Tock.  With all those watch parts and the theme of what to do with the time you have, this should fit right in.

The Parfumerie Collection

Hello everyone - I hope you're having a wonderful weekend.  I'm so pleased you've dropped in, as I can share my happy news with you.  I was delighted to be invited to be a Guest Designer over at the Fashionable Stamping Challenges - it's a challenge site I've loved since I set out on my travels in Craftyblogland, and it's a real privilege to play alongside the wonderful Fashion Stampettes.

Not only that, but I was offered the chance to pick the theme so, purely selfishly - as I felt at the time it was a while since I'd been properly dimensional - I challenged them to create or alter a Three Dimensional Object.

Well, having thrown down the gauntlet, I had to come up with a three-dimensional object of my own... Well, I did.  Several of them in fact.  Without further ado, I give you... The Parfumerie Collection.

I'm afraid I'm a bit low on "before" pictures, and even of step-by-step photos, as I got wrapped up in the process itself.  We are, nonetheless, in for a photo-heavy post, so you might want a cup of tea... or perhaps a glass of fine champagne?

I like to imagine the finished toilette collection gracing the dressing table of an 18th century lady or madame, ready to hand as she's preparing to host one of her renowned salons, where artists and intellectuals gather for stimulating conversation.













There's a pretty fine line between society hostess and courtesan, of course... What could be more seductive than a woman of scintillating wit, great beauty, and with every inch of soft skin divinely scented!








You might first need some soap - if you're of the minority who feel regular bathing is not injurious to the health.

It's just a little wodge of paper inside, I'm afraid - imagination is all here!  The tissue paper around it is dyed with Bundled Sage and Iced Spruce Distress Inks and Stains. 

All the labels are stamped in Sepia Archival ink onto Specialty Stamping Paper.  

With stamps as exquisitely detailed as these, by Crafty Individuals, that extra bit of fine detail which the paper gives is worth every penny it costs!









The Eau de Toilette bottle in fact once held alcohol.  It's one of many alcohol miniatures I have stashed awaiting alteration (years in the collecting, I hasten to add!).

There's something particularly elegant about the shape of this one, so it was a perfect choice for this collection. 










There are various crackle effects in use throughout the collection.

I believe that on this one I used the DecoArt One-Step Crackle, over a coat of their sealer.









Then I added DecoArt Blue Mist and Ice Blue acrylics over it.  They were slightly diluted, so as to keep the translucence of the glass.  

You can see the glow as the sunlight illuminates it here.












For the lid, I used a decorative button from my stash, altered with the same paints, and a touch of Tarnished Brass Distress Paint, and there's some Idea-ology bead chain and a tassel around the swan-like neck.  









(I'm sure our elegant courtesan has a swan-like neck too, plenty of room for dabbing the eau-de-toilette to attract the lips of the rake as he's whispering gossip in her ear.)

The metal filigree piece, from The Funkie Junkie Boutique, seemed perfect to go behind the label.











The small powder container is one of my moisturiser pots (empty, of course, and thoroughly rinsed out), again hoarded for months awaiting its moment in the candlelight.










The Blue Mist and Ice Blue came into play again to alter the colour, but applied quite roughly to get a textured, distressed look.

As with all the pieces in the collection, I layered inked book pages, some lace, and then added some metal embellishing, altered with various paints to make them all co-ordinate.










For the final piece in our toiletry set, the Cologne bottle, I do have a part-way photo.  

This glass bottle is originally from Germany and contained coffee milk.  You've seen one like it before in my black and gold PaperArtsy Christmas candle collection.










Well, this one had been the subject of some Tim Holtz experimentation.  

He shared a technique to apply Rock Candy Crackle Paint to glass, and this was where I tried it out... then it just sat there, awaiting the next step.










It turned out the next step was some Blue Mist and Ice Blue paint.

In fact, the places where I over-applied the RCCP, so that it slid down in globules, now became rather fabulously funky - creating really cool additional texture and interest on the surface of my bottle.








I used a metal rose for the lid, glued onto another button from the stash, and again altered with the DecoArt paints as well as some Tarnished Brass Distress Paint, sanding back to the metal in places too.













The Idea-ology Ornate Plate on the front got the same treatment, and I attached it using some frivolous ribbons, with another one around the neck to match.  










I'm quite certain that our courtesan decorates her powdered wig with the most frivolous of ribbons, so it seemed appropriate.















I hope you've enjoyed this brush with history - a particular historical vignette that I'm very fond of.  I think I'd've made an excellent salon-hostess (and probably a pretty good courtesan too, come to that!) and I suspect I might have been more at home in the 18th century than the 21st. 

I hope my Parfumerie Collection will inspire you to create or alter a three-dimensional object of your own (one will do!) and join in over at the Fashionable Stamping Challenges this fortnight.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I'll see you soon, either here (later this morning, in fact) or elsewhere in Craftyblogland.  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Odours have a power of persuasion stronger than words, appearances, emotions or will.  The persuasive power of an odour cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally.  There is no remedy for it.
From Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

Having borrowed Madame's toiletries for this Mixed Media make, and with the added Metal embellishments on each piece, I'd like to enter this in the M Challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.
At the Craft-Room Challenge the theme is Recycle - the bottles and the moisturiser pot are all in the mix.
And the All Crafts Challenge at Craft My Life are playing Anything Goes But No Cards.
At PanPastel UK the new theme is Florals - quite apart from the floral fragrances inside, there are flowers on the labels, as decoration and as one of the lids!
Craft Hoarders Anonymous are inviting us to use up Ribbon, Lace and Twine - with not only ribbon and lace but all those hoarded bottles and pots - well, it seems like a match made in heaven!