Crafty Daze

Here is my attempt at distressed for the UK Stampers ATC swap. I have used grunge paper for the ATC colour the pieces with lots of different inks including metallic ones, is that ok for the distressed look? I used my big bite to make holes and attach grommets and eyelets. Some corners were clipped and rock candy crackle paint was splodged around, not dry when I took the photos but hopefully it will crack well. The stamps I used were mainly Tim Holtz ones.

For this card I have used baby blue ink and perfect pearls for the background. I have cut around two stamped images which I have coloured with ink and have layered them onto the card using those little stickly pads. When I started the card I imagined the airplane would look as though it was flying into a sunset, instead it looks like its flying past a huge bomb explosion! So I'm not quite sure when this card will be used, it looks a bit to 'war'ish for all the occasions I can think of!

I embossed grunge paper using my cuttlebug and painted it with Viva precious metal paints. The inside is stamped with his initials and is painted red and orange with the same paints. I have used some Stampers Anonymous stamps and Viva decor paint to decorate the covers. I have used black velvet ribbon to link the pages together.

I have caught the grungepaper flower bug! I cut out loads of petal shapes and coloured them using a whole variety of coloured inks, some metallic some not. Then stamped flourishes onto them to decorate them. Some have some stickles dotted around to add a little sparkle. I used some fabulous, very pretty fabric brads for the flower centres and have curled some of the petals using my heat gun. I am sending one off for a UK Stampers swap, I hope the recipient likes it.

I fell in love with a ribbon box that I saw at the Craft Barn, so credit for my inspiration goes to the clever cookie who made it and left it there to tempt me. The box base is made by Kaisercraft. I prepared the pieces be painting them with a couple of coats of white emulsion and then sanding them to ensure they were as smooth as possible. Then I used adirondack acrylic dabbers in Wild Plum and Purple Twilight to paint lovely strong colours onto all of the sides. The plain acrylic colours didn't look quite right so I have used Alchemy paint all over both boxes; the colour was whirlwind which is an interference colour that reminds me of dragonfly wings. I have used Iris Stazon ink to stamp some flourishes on one and floral flourishes and swirls on the other. The stamps are made by Technique Tuesday. The boxes are decorated inside and out. A butterfly and dragonfly stamp have also been used over each box. The flowers on the floral box now have stickled centres in a variety of colours. I have varnished the boxes with a spray on varnish. I am pleased with the finished boxes but not so with the photos. I need to be able to capture the iridescent finish properly, preferably with a letterbox lens....then I might get a photo I like.

The laughing lady is a stamp called Laugh made by Paperbag studios and Edwin is a magnolia rubber stamp.