Happy Birthday

Today I am sharing a birthday card made with my window box design.

"Happy Birthday"

The paper straw background came from a sheet from "The Works" and was coloured with Tattered Rose distress ink. The patterned papers (including the beautiful lady peeking through the window!) are from Graphic45's Birdsong pad.

On Sunday, our new challenge starts at Stamping Sensations so I hope to see you back again. Maddy x

Alice Box - My Turn for the Mid Month post at Stamping Sensations

This month at Stamping Sensations we have been sharing projects with the theme of "Wings, Fantasy and Fiction". There is a fabulous prize from Crafty Devils for the winning project, so I do hope to inspire you to join in. So far, most of our projects have involved fairies, so I thought it would be fun to share a project using my favourite fictional characters from "Alice in Wonderland".

"Alice Box"

The original very plain, wooden box was bought from "The Works" for the princely sum of £1.49. First, it was covered in patterned paper. I always use a heavyweight paper for this job - the checked background is an old Graphic45 paper lightened using sweeps of the white distress stain.  The edges of the box and handle are coloured red with promarker, and morre checks are stamped onto the handle in black archival ink.

Next I stamped a lot of images from IndigoBlu's Alice I & Alice II sets using black archival ink onto tissue paper. I coloured the images using promarkers (you need to be a little bit careful not to bleed the black ink, but I didn't want to use a water-based ink for stamping because it can wash out in the next step. The images are then roughly torn out and stuck onto the box using Claudine Hellmuth's Matt Multi-Medium.

Carefully aligning the images can lead to some fun effects. I love the way Tweedledee & Tweedledum's mouths open when you open the box :-)

Black acrylic paint and red promarker are used to get an aged effect on the hinges and closure.

Once all the images are in place, the next job is to cover the box in UTEE and embed items into the embossing enamel.

I added some watch parts (a present from Lee- thank you!) into the UTEE over the pocket watch image.

This little rabbit charm is embedded in the UTEE on the front of the box beneath the catch.

Here's a teapot charm sitting near the handle. Anyone fancy a cup?

Entered for the following challenges:
That Craft Place - Make or Alter a Box
Cards Und More - Non Cute
Bastel-Traum - Box
The Crafting Cafe - Embossing

February Tag for the Tags of 2014 Tim Holtz Challenge

Here's my take on this month's tag from Tim Holtz. I used the same techniques but with different colours and materials. I wanted my "chalkboard" effect to look a little more otherworldly to match my theme, so used white Perfect Pearls on embossing ink to achieve this result. I diecut papers from Tim's "Lost and Found" pad to make the lacy trim and arrow, and stamped the map onto some seam binding stained with Barn Door distress ink. The arrow is meant to be pointing to the Ranger factory, which is somewhere I'd love to visit one day.

 

"The Journey..."

The stencil for the background "spiky planets" is made by diecutting gadget gears into acetate. Each planet uses three shades of a colour to get the 3d look, and I used the same technique on the globe before covering with distress glitter.

"Planet and Globe colouring detail"

Ingredients

Manila tag (thanks Lee and Happy Birthday :-)

Sizzix Bigz dies: Gadget Gears, Tiny Tabs and Tags, Love Struck

Sizzix Strip die: Vintage Lace

Sizzix M&S dies: mini globe

Tim Holtz stamp sets, various

Distress Inks (Pads & Stains): Tattered Rose, Barn Door, Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Walnut Stain

Distress Stickles: Barn Door, Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire, Tumbled Glass

Tim Holtz paper stash: "Lost and Found"

acetate

cut 'n' dry foam

Clear Embossing Ink

Perfect Pearls: white

 

Entered for the following challenge:

Tim Holtz Tags of 2014: February

Happy St. Valentine's Day

I made this card for my husband. Those Graphic45 Birdsong papers are so yummy, I could stroke them all day. :-)

"Be My Valentine"

If you fancy making a windowbox card like this one, you'll find all the instructions in my tutorial.

Entered for the following challenge:
Cut it Up - Valentine's Day
Fussy and Fancy - Be My Valentine
The Paper Shelter - Love is in the Air
Rhedd and Rosies - Love is in the Air 26th Challenge
Craft Room Challenge - Ribbons and Lace
Bunny Zoes Crafts - Hearts / Love
Wild Orchid Challenge - Love Is
Cardmania - Love is all Around

Wings, Fantasy and Fiction

"Wings, Fantasy and Fiction" is the title of this month's challenge at Stamping Sensations, and as usual we have a terrific prize on offer. thios month, the prize is from Crafty Devils Papercraft who stock a huge range of dies, stamps and papers, etc. I wanted lots of dimension for this fantasy project so I made a book card.

 

"Sleeping Beauty"

The arched window is a Memory Box die and the leaves are from Spellbinders. Two windows and a variety of leaves are diecut from thick, brown card and the book cover is made from the same card, then all the pieces are decorated with Gold Pinflair Buff-it.

 

To make the arched window, a piece of acetate is cut to fit the window and glued onto an arched aperture in the front of the card before adding the diecuts front and back, making sure they line up perfectly. This gives an illusion of depth to the window frame.

 

"Inside or Outside"

The brickwork is made using an inking and embossing folder technique. I resisted adding too much decoration to the inside since I didn't want to detract from the castle, but there's plenty of room for a sentiment.

"Make a Wish"

We had a lovely, Sunny day when I took this photo', so I took the camera outside to show you some shadows. The book card construction is great as a faux shadow box. In this one, I added a front with an arch-shaped aperture (cut using the same arched window die), embossed and gilded. This covers the book "pages" so the inside looks even more like a box even though the outside of the card is book-shaped.

 

The castle and fairy are stamped in black archival ink and decorated using Derwent inktense pencils. The fairy's wings and wand have sparkle from a "Wink of Stella" clear pen; the castle is decoupaged. The background is hand-painted with acrylic paints.

Ingredients:

Papermania Midnight Fairytale stamps

Memory Box Arched Window die

Sizzix Bigz On the Edge Iron Gate

Spellbinders Leaves

Embossing Folders: Sizzix bricks, M-Bossabilities asian

cardstock: brown 300gsm, white 160gsm

Ranger Archival Ink, Jet Black

Distress Inks

Derwent Inktense Pencils

Acrylic Paints

Gilding Waxes (I used Pinflair Buff-its in Gold, Red & Blue)

adhesives

Entered for the following challenge:

Happiness Box - Graphic45 Typography

This project is a gift I made for my husband. The box is filled with happy memories (little mementoes to remind him of happy moments, each wrapped in tissue paper).

 

The original box was plain and wooden. I covered it in patterned papers from a Graphic45 Typography pad.

 

 

 

My take on Tim Holtz' January 2014 tag (mine's a card!)

These tags from Tim are such an inspiration. I love to follow the techniques but do something a little different, so this is a birthday card for my husband Tom, a cat lover!

"The Journey Awakens the Soul"

The centre panel follows Tim's techniques, with masking using a small Idea-ology mask and distress inks.

 

"Charming"

I just love that climbing cat charm that a DC friend gave me for Christmas. The "T" muse token is perfect for Tom's card, and the clock charm goes with the overall theme.

 

"Shaker Clock"

 

That black paint on the embossing folder technique is one of my all-time favourites; I love the grimy, oily look it gives.

 

 

"I've got a Screw Loose"

 

See those loose cogs and gears inside the clock? Well they really are loose. I couldn't resist turning this into a shaker card, so it rattles when you give it a shake and the gears move about. There's a layer of acetate over the gears fixed with foam tape all around to stop them falling out. I must get it together to do a shaker card tutorial, I love making them and they are great fun.

 

"Brad"

Whenever I hear the word "Brad", I think "Janet"* and hear that song in my head. But I digress. Another pressie I received was a pack of blank, square brads. I cut a square of inked card added a rub-on, and fixed it to the front of a blank brad with glossy accents. Then I covered the whole thing with a thick layer of glossy accents and left it to dry. Perfect for making embellishments to match your project!

*(for those of a different age group, this is a reference to the Rocky Horror Picture Show"!)

 

"The Cat Who Walks Through Walls"

This cat looks so like our cat Lucky - not so much the shiny embossed gears, more the way he is walking off with tail aloft. A second, black diecut is placed behind the shiny one to act as a shadow and highlight the cat on the coloured background.

Ingredients:

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Mask

Gears embossing folder

Sizzix Bigz Tim Holtz Alarm Clock

Sizzix Framelits Circles

Cat die

Distress ink pads: Peacock Feathers, Seedless Preserves, Shaded Lilac

Alcohol inks: Stream, Plum

Acrylic paint: black

Stix 2 Foam tape strips

Acetate

Cardstock: Black 300gsm, white smooth 160gsm, silver mirri

Blank Brad

Rub-ons

Charms: Muse Token, Clock and Climbing cat

 

Entered for the following challenge:

Tim Holtz Tags of 2014