Freshly Fresco

Goodly Morning stampfans... I have been having a lovely time of it playing with those lush Fresco Finish paints and... Colorwash Sprays! This tag is a recipe concocted between me and a friend and we were pretty strict on the ingredients... until I completely cheated and added stuff that wasn't agreed so we stretched the recipe slightly... but... saying that... I sometimes find that being strict and only being able to use certain products does indeedily make me a bit more creative.... feel free to pick up the recipe and have a play yourselves :O))


So... the recipe was to use Fresco Paints, Colorwash Sprays and PaperArtsy stamps... and the technique that had to be used was Multi Medium Resist. Now, if you haven't tried this technique before I strongly advise that you have a play... seriously guys, it gives a fab result... and you can use either the Matte flavour or the Gloss flavour and get really cool results. I chose to "resist" some seed head images... so I bobbed some Multi Medium (Matte) onto my craft sheet and smoothed it out with a palette knife and then dabbed the stamp into it and then.. stamped! A good thing to remember is always clean your stamp immediately after you have finished with the Multi Medium... once dried this stuff turns waterproof and I don't want you to turn your stamps into embellishments!




The next thing I did was to mix a spritz of Purple Twilight Colorwash into a dollop of Snowflake Fresco using a palette knife and then spritzing this with a good old soak of water to make a "wash" I used a fat brush to apply this to the tag and then dabbed over the resisted images with paper towel to reveal them... and then dried the whole thing with a heat tool. Next I scraped a thin layer of Crackle Medium over the top of the tag and the bottom of the tag - leaving the stamped bits uncovered... and then went over the top of that with Old Lace Fresco... and the crackles start to appear straight away... am loving the old shabby French that it delivered.


Next I cut some Metal on Card with the large, medium and small Grunge FLower dies and cut two leaves too... and coated the Metal on Card with more Fresco paints, using Cut & Dry foam to apply it... I stamped over the diecuts with Archival Ink and the corresponding stamps and then assembled a flower. TO decorate I added some metal bits and bobs (check out the Steampunk charms section in the shop for similar items) and coloured some seam binding and some Flower Trim with a very watered down mist of Colorwash to co-ordinate them into the design.


So... here are the stashly ingredients I used... and I am being an enabler and popping in the links to the right pages in the shop ;o))

Colorwash Spray - Purple Twilight
Fresco Paints: Snowflake, Toad Hall, Old Lace, Crackle Medium, Metallic Glaze
Metal on Card - Call Wendy on 01235 760821 for ordering :O)
Jet Black Archival
Paper Artsy Hotpicks
Paper Artsy Cutting Dies
Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium (Matte)
Idea-ology Trims
Steampunk Charms

Right, that is me for now, thanks for looking!! TTFN

Hels x

Andy Skinner at The Stamp Attic

We are pleased to tell you that Andy Skinner will be at The Stamp Attic for some workshops. If you are not familiar with Andy's work then hop over to his blog to see what he gets up to. 

He will be here on March 24th for the amazing Book of Secrets..................unique paint techniques guaranteed along with chocolate of course. Booking is now open ................ 

DREAMER

Another vintage creation, a little more feminine this time, working outside my comfort zone of earthy tones using the fabulous VINTAGE set available from The Stamp Attic.

My background piece is from the Vintage Shabby paper stash which I then aged with vintage photo Distress Ink along the edges adding some machine stitching for dimension.

I then took three nested frames from Maya Road (contact Wendy at The Stamp Attic) and painted with Gesso mixed with a little aged mahogany Distress Stain and then stamped my vintage images with coffee Archival Ink. The edges of each frame have then been sponged with aged mahogany Distress Ink.

For more interest and dimension I have cut a flower from the Vintage Shabby paper stash using the Tattered Floral die and created a dimensional flower, again edged with aged mahogany Distress Ink.  For further interest I have added YESTERDAY to a Memo Pin. Before adding the frames to the card I have added co-ordinated ribbon to the centre.

To complete I have stamped stars either side of my nested frames.


Thanks for stopping by, Tracy x x (http://craftaddicts-tracyevans.blogspot.com/).

Eclectic shopping............

We had some new things in today which I wanted to share with you.............

A huge box, or rather two huge boxes arrived with my CHA order of Tim Holtz, Dylusions and Wendy Vecchi stamps and Art Parts ............

Dylusions, the new ones, will be online later tonight, if I can stay awake long enough.....but they are def in stock if you cannot find them and want to call the shop on 01235 760821 .........

Wendy Vecchi's new book, Book 6, is almost sold out as soon as it arrived............just a few left ...........

new sets by Mr Holtz............all in stock right now
and just to show we are a very eclectic shopping stop................the new Special Issue of Making Cards arrived today too..............

also online later................
have a good evening.................

Moments To Remember

A little vintage creation for my DT piece this week for The Stamp Attic using the fabulous VINTAGE set.

I have stamped the ruler and crown in the background with Archival Inks coffee and black and then sponged with Distress Ink brushed corduroy to give that vintage feel to my card. Throw into the mix a little matting onto Bazzill card and some machine stitching and my background is complete.

I have cut three hearts from thick card and covered with torn vintage paper added a little Distress Stain picket fence to tone the text down a little and to add to that aged feel, added a little machine stitching for dimension and stamped my images with Archival Ink. To add a little more interest I have hand stitched three of the Maya Road mini spools to one of my hearts.

"Moments To Remember" sentiment seemed the perfect finishing touch to my card.


Thanks for stopping by, Tracy x x (http://craftaddicts-tracyevans.blogspot.com/).

Uniko Studio launches in the UK

STOP PRESS...............BREAKING NEWS
Beverly and Kerry will be instore on March 10th demoing Uniko Studio stamps and Copic Markers..............


Uniko Studio is a brand new UK company headed up by designer Beverley Parish and we are proud to be among the first promoting this innovative range.

 The first two sets of stamps are now available to purchase with more following very soon................and keep your eyes open on here for more project ideas using the stamps.
This is set one, Time.............

and this is Extra Time

Here are couple of samples by Kerry, of our DT team and  now also part of the Uniko Studio team too.......

clean and simple...........

perfect for layer upon layer................

from bright and clean to vintage.............

Kerry achieved the dimensional effect with Glossy Accents...........

So be amongst the first to get on trend with these brand new stamps and lets support the UK.

Art... Studio 490 Style!

Goodly Morning stampfans... I have been having a right old jolly time playing with the gorgeousness that is Studio 490 and have made a little stand alone Art Part piece that was inspired by a class that I was lucky enough to take with THE Wendy Vecchi last year. All of the ingredients are Studio 490 Art Parts and Stamps, along with Distress Stains, Inks and Archival Inks with a few little bits of Idea-ology thrown in for goodly measures... oh and the ickle cotton bobbins are from Maya Road. I will do a linky thing at the end of the post so you can hop on over to The Stamp Attic shop to see the stashly goodies (am good like that lol)




I started by colouring the base of the main Art Part with Black Soot Distress Stain, I gave it a few good coats, drying with a heat tool in between so the colour has really soaked into the Art Part. The Frame was coloured with Stormy Sky and then Broken China Distress Stain - I used the Stormy Sky first to give the frame a coat and then the Broken China is not quite as bright as usual (I wanted a more muted look) I overstamped the frame with the Squolka Dot stamp from Optical Art using Aquamarine Archival Ink.



The little Scallop Stand Art Part has a little friend with it in the form of a Mini Scallop - the Scallop Stand was coloured with Frayed Burlap Stain for the stand and Fired Brick Stain for the table bit. The Mini Scallop was coloured with Rusty Hinge Stain and overstamped with the gorgeous lace stamp from Sentimental Art using Vermillion Archival. The "ruler" Art Part was stamped with the ruler image using Black Archival and then coloured with Vintage Photo DI. The sentiment is popped inside an Art Part Frame which was coloured with Black Soot Stain, dried, coated again to build the depth of colour and then overstamped with the Squolka Dot again and Gold Dabber. The Scissors were coloured with Silver Dabber and overstamped with the corresponding stamp in Jet Black Archival.




The Bottles - I love these bottles sooo much... they were coloured with Brushed Corduroy and Faded Jeans Stains and over stamped with Jet Black Archival and then coated with Rock Candy Cracklepaint. I stamped the labels again - the Speedball is on paper that I coloured with Faded Jeans DI and the Diamond is on Grungeboard, coloured with Old Paper Stain. Once the crackles had... erm... crackled (!) I popped the labels over the top. The paintbrushes were stamped onto Grungeboard and cut out, frayed and coloured with DI's and then I added a little bit of Ranger Metal Tape which I then scooched with a TSS metal working tool.




The ickle Cotton Bobbins (which are just tooo cute) had a smidge of string wound around them... I cut a length of cheapo string, split the layers so I had one for each bobbin and then used DI's to colour two of them... not quite Bakers Twine (which I haven't got any of.. yet) but near enough. The finishing touches were the Idea-ology Corked Vials, each one has a smidge of Alcohol Ink in it and then a bent Memo Pin inserted into the cork... and a Type Charm dangling so it spells ART. I added some Snaps (sadly discontinued) and a Pen Nib that I coloured the pointy bit with Cobalt Archival Ink.. oh and the little teapot... well, there should always be refreshments in an Artists Studio... the fact I can't abide tea..well, it can double as a coffee pot.




Here's the ingredients:

Art Parts
Studio 490 Stamps: Art By Hand, Rubber Stamp Art, Sentimental Art, Optical Art, Destination Art, Tools For Art
Distress Stains
Distress Ink
Archival Ink
Idea-ology
Dabbers
Rock Candy Cracklepaint
Maya Road Bobbins
Steampunk Charms

Right, that's enough waffle from me for one day... thanks for looking... TTFN!

Hels x

What's this all about then????

Watch This Space..............
all will be revealed on Saturday February 11th.

Vintage Peg

I've been using a fabulous VINTAGE set from TJ designs for The Stamp Attic to decorate one of the fabulous large wooden pegs that Wendy has in stock.

I applied two coats of Gesso to my peg and sponged the edges with Distress Ink brushed corduroy. I cut a heart from thick card and covered in torn vintage paper, applied a thin layer of picket fence Distress Stain to tone down the text a little and add to the vintage feel of my piece, along with a little machine stitching to the outside edge.  I then stamped my image onto the heart with black Archival Ink and hand stitched the tiny mini wooden spools onto the heart.

To give a little more interest to the peg I stamped ART and the crown onto my peg with black Archival Ink and stamped YESTERDAY onto white card, cut out and sponged with brushed corduroy ink and added to my peg.

These pegs would be great for place settings or even attached to the top of a gift bag.

I also decorated the back of my peg, again added a heart decorated in the same way and stamped with another of the fabulous images from the VINTAGE set.


Thanks for stopping by, Tracy (http://craftaddicts-tracyevans.blogspot.com/) x x

New stuff.............

I have just put online some of the new things that are coming in very soon from CHA. First are the much talked about Distress Markers from Ranger. Water based dye ink pens in the complete Distress Ink palette plus Picket Fence (white). Use direct to your stamps for multi coloured images, to colour stamped images and  like Distress Ink Pads, you can watercolour with them too!

We have an introductory Pre Order price on them. You can buy them as a complete set or as individual pens. We expect them into stock towards the end of February.
Also online tonight are Tim Holtz new stamp sets. These have shipped and will here within the week. Also shipping with them are Studio 490 new stamps, art parts and Wendy Vecchi's new book of projects. We will have these all online in the next day or too..............

its going to be busy at our place lol

Final Day.... more artwork and a trip out..........

On the final day we hit the Prima stand, met up with the amazing Sherry Mendoza and I took her make and take class. There were amazing stands at the show, amazing artwork too and if I had to give out a prize (thank goodness I don't) I would divide it between Grapic 45 and Prima....just look at these layouts............

this was inside the stand, every single wall space on the outstide was covered in layouts like the ones above............sooooo much talent out there.

Not a great photo but how do you like this?

I loved the vintage look of them and to my delight found out they are............

new Sizzix dies, out soon.............

Show over we hit the local attractions. I have to say I am indebited to Kristin Langlais who was just amazing, we had the most amazing time. This is the big, and I mean big, Ferris Wheel at the California Adventure, one of the Disney parks, we decided not to go on the roller coaster you can see behind it, but to go on the nice sedate looking wheel...........OMG!!!!!

This is it from underneath................not so sedate now is it?............well you see the cars towards the middle, they start on the outside edge then without warning, as the wheel turns, they glide along the bars towards the middle and swing back and too........three of us up there, one was fine, one was giddy and one threw up!!! No names being mentioned here...........(but it wasn't me lol)

This was too funny, a huge plastic box made out like toy packageing, you get in for a photo shoot lol, well it amused me...........

Maybe our next stop is more up your street, this is a warehouse we visited and this is the ribbon aisle, one side of the ribbon aisle I might add.............I need to stay another week just to walk this baby...........like a kid in a sweet shop I was........

they had all sorts of decor stuff, I loved this metal pumpkin coach..........too big for my case though, but I have my eye on it...........I am sure it would fit in the shipping box!!

Lunchtime............this was a most delicious sandwich..............turkey, avocado and bacon salad with pasta (not too sure about a side of pasta with a sarnie but hey, I ate it and it was lovely).

We went to Old Town Orange, full of antique shops and little cafe's, and this made me smile.
Well, home tomorrow, we get there on Saturday, we leave tomorrow, its been a blast, lots of new friends (one in particular), lots of new ideas, lots seen and lots ordered........see you when I get back.