Family Tradition

A Tribute to my Mum

who died on the 4th November 2007.

2 pages in my sketchbook created with paint dabbers over stamped flourishes to create streaks resembling weathered wood.

Scanned photos have been cleaned up and enhanced with image editing software and printed on glossy photo paper.

Stickers and journalling complete the layout.

Created with blood, sweat and tears.

Faux Postage Swap

My swaps for a Yahoo group.

I used the wrinkle free distress ink technique I learned at Ranger U last month.

Experiments

I haven't posted in awhile as my mother passed away on the 4th November. It has been difficult to settle down and do anything but I managed a few crafting moments to distract my mind from it all.

This is my slide swap piece for a Yahoo group.

I created a mini book.

The pages depict an Inchie gallery.

The background was created with Scattered Straw Distress Ink and Flourish stamps from my own stamp range

http://www.stampattack.co.uk/

I played with Alcohol Inks

I experimented with Ranger Crackle Paint

on Chipboard pieces

Some items I made last month from CD pieces, Dominoes and faces from moulds waiting to be assembled into necklaces and other projects.

I mostly used Paint Dabbers from Ranger.

I particularly like the black for stamping.

Ranger U

It's been awhile since my last post as we have been busy with shows. Last weekend I went to Ranger U. This is held at the Ranger factory in Tinton Falls, New Jersey. It was headed by Tim Holtz and Robin Beam.

I left the UK on the 17th of October and met my roomie Wendy Vecchi the next day. Wendy and I had been emailing each other since we knew we had been accepted for the course. Me and Wendy

We exchanged gifts on arriving at our hotel. Wendy had made a box for me which was full of goodies. Lovely.

The course started on the 19th and was attended by a truly international group - US, UK, Sweden, Germany, Canada, Scotland and Ireland.

After our introductions we had a tour of the Ranger factory. It was very interesting and we closely watched the Stickle machine filling and sealing the bottles then each one of us received a sample bottle.

In the classroom we opened our box of products with great excitement.
We received goodies also from other companies and a kewl Ranger apron.

We spent the rest of the day with Tim Holtz walking us through some great techniques which we created for ourselves on tags. Robin Beam had prepared stickers for the reverse of the tags so we wouldn't forget LOL and these were also repeated inside a class folder. A CD completed the theory.

At 5pm we packed up and travelled in car parties to a Chinese restaurant. Very enjoyable as I was able to chat to some of the other ladies and then some of us went shopping at the Mall.

Wendy and I were shattered by the time we got back to the hotel.

Saturday we returned for Day 2.

Tim walked us through yet another barrage of techniques and by 5pm we had 45 tags in total, created over the 2 days.

We went over to Applebee's for a meal. Then it was time to return to the classroom and work on our project. We were each given a mirror and a bag full of chipboard squares and rectangles and we had to create something using the techniques we had learned. We had a couple of hours to do this. I thought about it, looked at my tag book and came up with this.

Wendy and I were shattered again but managed to talk till some unearthly hour.

Sunday was the last day and each of us had to make a presentation and show our project to the class describing which techniques and products we had used.

Each of us received our certificate from Tim.

The class of Ranger U October 2007.


Apron signing by Robin and Tim.

Me Robin and Wendy.

Back to the airport, shared cocktails with Wendy and then home on an overnight flight to Manchester.

I love Wine

Completed my wine pages today. Hic. I have been very busy lately as I was in Germany a week ago at Stempel Mekka in Hagen.

Art Journal Page 6

I finally worked on another double page spread today featuring Nature.

Stewart Gill piece

Made this while staying with a friend who showed me a few techniques and allowed me a free run with her S.G. paints and embossing powders.

Art Journal Page 5

Finished another double page spread. I used soft pastels for the background. I journalled over it with a chunky metallic pencil. Then I stamped different images with fluid chalks. I overstamped these and embellished with die cuts and charms. I stamped the pattern stamp on tissue. I added a little doodling here and there. I like to create layers.

Most of the stamps are from my own range

http://www.stampattack.co.uk/

Hanging ATC's

Here is a set I created for a swap on a Yahoo group.

Art Journal Page 4

I am on a roll here. Reading and Books is the theme this time. A little humour included too.

Art Journal Page 3

Page 3 double spread is Music one of my favourite things. Having learned the piano as a child I appreciate many types of music but focused on Classical for my theme.

Art Journal Me page

I finally started my Art Journal after saving ephemera and ideas for some time. The first page shows 2 map scraps. One with the area I was born and Blackpool where I have lived since I was 13. The bus ticket stamp is from the area I came from and the sisters stamp is my little sister and me. I used my favourite quote and of course Blackpool Tower had to feature somewhere too.

A Yahoo list I belong to are doing a similar thing and it is very encouraging. The idea of using descriptive words came from there.

Stamps by http://www.stampattack.co.uk/

Art Journal Page 2

Page 2 starts a section on Hobbies and Things I Like that I have enjoyed since Childhood Days. This page focus's on Stamp Collecting. I have 1,000's of stamps mainly GB and Poland where my Grandfather was born. I love Mail Art rubber stamps too.

My weakness is the journalling part.

Journal Card

Journal Card Cover. Perfect Pearls painted with Gum Arabic then embossed with a cuttlebug folder.

Page 1

Page 2

All stamps used are from my own stamp range www.stampattack.co.uk.

Shabby Chic ATC swap

I created a set of 3 ATC's for a swap. To get the 'look' we had to use gesso in 1 of 4 ways. I chose to brayer die inks and gesso so stamping was involved.

Inchies

I created 36 Inchies in Earth Tone colours for a swap on a Yahoo list.

Small canvas I am working on

I used lustre colour washes. Laying down some colour first I then spritzed with water. I covered with cling film and scrunched it up and left overnight to dry. It left an interesting pattern.

The next step was to find some foliage and texture material. I used a fern from a friends garden and a piece of hessian. Laid them down added more colour. It looks even more interesting now.

Kimono Cards

I played around with an idea I saw on a web site. It was how to create a Kimono card from 6 tags. I did my own thing and these are what I came up with.

Kimono Card created with Stampattack Oriental Background stamps,

www.stampattack.co.uk Distress inks and Bleach stamping.

Kimono Card open.

Blue Kimono Card. I coloured the tags with Broken China Distress ink, Then stamped with Faded Denim and a gold paint dabber from Plaid.

I added fabric flowers, eyelets and fibres to finish

Canvas

I played with my Lustre colour washes, Lumiere paints, Gesso and foam stamps. I have created layers of colour on my canvas starting with 3 colours of colour washes. I was thinking scenic in my minds eye. I start with a plan and work from there. I overstamped images using foam stamps and gesso. I laid some mesh and spritzed again with the colour washes. Next came a stamped layer using the same foam stamps and Lumieres. I stamped another layer with Gesso.

I like it as it is because the shimmer is amazing. My plan was to stamp images on tissue and apply with Mod Podge.

Colour Washes

I finally cracked open my colour washes after purchasing them in the US back in January. I attacked watercolour paper like a Grafiti artist.

The results - well one of them.

Flip Flop Book

I had a page or 2 left over from my Whimsy pages so I created a Flip Flop Book.

All stamps are from www.stampattack.co.uk

Whimsy Chunky Book Page

I created 33 pages for a Whimsy chunky book. I used Distress Inks applied with a baby wipe then I spritzed them and left them to dry before stamping. I used Vintage Nursery Rhyme images with Bo Peep as the main focal point.I stamped her with Black Soot Distress ink. I dyed some ribbon with Distress inks to complete and stapled them on.


This is the back of the page. I stamped using a distress background stamp, Red Riding Hood, swap details and my details.

String Stamp

Today I made a string stamp. I glued my string design to a wooden block with PVA. I created a quick background with Distress inks - Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick and Mustard Seed.
I inked up my string stamp with Aged Mahogany and stamped my background. A satisfying result.

Wot I did

I made some cards with the Stazon technique. This is my favourite technique at the moment.
Stamp image on white glossy with Black Stazon inkpad. Heat set. Sponge different coloured Stazon inks on and over the stamped image covering all of the cardstock. Stamp bold words, bold border stamps or similar around the main image. Take a white gel pen and highlight the words, borders and anything like veins on leaves. Trim and layer your finished piece on complimentary cardstock to finish.