Gone Gothic...

Yes, I know!   Another Gothic arch...but I just enjoy playing with that shape so much, so when I read that Simon Says Stamp and Show's theme for this week was "torn/distressed" I just had to!      I've used some Tim Holtz paper, the sentiment from THIS TH stamp set, the word"explorer" and the image of the man are both from THIS Darkroom Door set (stamped onto acetate with black StaZon ink, I also dry-brushed some gold acrylic paint onto the underside of the word)    The word was then stuck to a painted puzzle piece,  I've also added a couple of pewter brads and some butterfly punches (with some wild honey Distress Stickles on their wings)      All edges have been torn and/or distressed (with my trusty and very used MM distresser), for the hole over the sentiment I just made a small cut with my craft knife and began tearing the section out, then inked all the edges with Distress ink.
And here are the photos to prove it : )

Collections For Craft Queen

Here are some of the cards I've been making for Nicole at Craft Queen using Collections papers and chipboard:

All the bits and pieces can be purchased through CRAFT QUEEN.

Vintage With a Heart...

 The current theme over at Crafty Individuals new challenge blog is "Vintage with a Heart" so I couldn't wait to join in this month and try out my brand new stamp plate (which I got to choose after being one of very lucky five winners of last month's theme "Free as a Bird")    
Here is my entry for this month...I remembered I had a couple of shadow boxes waiting to be altered, so I started by painting the box with a coat of teal acrylic paint, then adding some burnt umber to the edges.    I then stamped the following images: CI 190 , CI 189 , and CI 306 using black Versafine ink, coloured the images with wc pencils, added some KG here and there, trimmed the images to size and stuck them into the cavities.   I then stamped and heat-embossed the corset images, trimmed and stuck them down using some foam tape for added dimention.    I then went through my stash of ch and found the tiny heart, which I covered with some GMed gause, and then added the tiny buttons...the word is from a Collections sheet.  I hope you like my interpretation : )        Here are some photos:

Thanks for visiting my palace, and for the lovely comments some of you leave for me, I really appreciate them : )

Inkurable Stampers June Entry

I told you I had some time to play today LOL, so here is my entry to this month's Inkurable Stampers theme of "Spots, Dots, and Circles"

I've been missing last years Gothic Arches challenge (also run by Sarah, of Inkurable Stampers) , so decided to use a Gothic Arch shape as the base for my entry (aren't I sneaky???)
I began by painting the arch shape with red, gold,  and bronze acrylic paints, I then stamped some circles (See Dee's) and some splatter (Darkroom Door "Artist" set) using Versafine black ink, and heat-embossed the images with black EP.      I then used the Darkroom Door "Dots" b'ground stamp with some teal acrylic paint.     I then added the sentiment (from Oxford Impressions) and the filmstrip dolls (Cats life Press) both stamped onto white cs and heat-embossed with black EP.    And here are the photos:

I hope you've also had some time to play along...Don't forget, you still have plenty of time left to join in with this Inkurable Stampers challenge...Thank you for visiting me and see you again soon : )

Tag...You're It!

It's been a while, but I had a bit of time up my sleeve today (I know!!!   I really should be catching up on housework, or on some sleep, but I just had to play LOL) so I decided to join in with the great "Tag" challenge for this week over at Simon Says Stamp and Show" challenge blog...Did you know that they offer a $50 gift voucher to the winning entry?    What better incentive than more toys to play with : )  And there's always plenty of gorgeous samples made by the DT to get the inspiration flowing...
I was finishing off some ATCs so I had my white embossing powder out and decided to use that as my starting point.      I began by stamping my images with Versamark ink, and embossing them with white embossing powder.    I then rubbed various Marvy and Distress inks onto the tag, adding the sentiment (which was embossed onto vellum) and using my sewing machine to add a border.     I completed the tag by adding some red ribbon, some sparkly threads and a red and white button...and here are some photos:

I've used the following stamps:
Tim Holtz "Urban Chic" set
Darkroom Door "Wildflowers Vol.1" set

I hope you are enjoying the weekend wherever you happen to be at the moment...

Another Tutorial...

Go HERE to find out what these are...

Never Enough Time, and Never Enough Bookmarks...

I usually only read one book at a time, but I sometimes like to jump from book to book depending on my mood !?      Anyway, for this week, Stampotique's challenge was to use acetate, so this gave me the idea for another quick bookmark.

I cut a piece of acetate to measure 12" x 2", folded it in half, and used my favourite Stampotique Originals image, HEAD, stamping him using black StaZon, adding some bronze acrylic paint to the underside, and some teal acrylic paint over that (I like how the brushstrokes can be seen close up), and adding some printed script writing (stuck with DM)     I then added the quote, and the fibres as a finishing touch, doesn't he look cute?     There's still time to enter this fun challenge, so go on, get inked !