what is it about the white/kraft combo?

My fab friend Chris, of Pearshaped Crafting, shared a little notebook she'd covered earlier this week so whilst in the Trafford Centre last night (the local shopping Mall for my US and other overseas visitors!) I bobbed into Muji to get my own for only 60p!

I stamped mine with antique description and embossed it with fine detail white embossing powder before adding cockatoo screech and my own speech bubble.  This little A5 notebook is perfect for keeping in my handbag, just as Chris suggests :)  Thanks Chris!!

Stampotique stamps used

antique description #7228  by Amy Wilson Wellenstein 

cockatoo screech #5512  by Kylie DiOrio

row of numbers #7213  by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

inlayed die cut honeycomb tag

I won some blog candy!!  And it arrived in the cutest little parcel earlier this week.  Thanks so much Neet, 

  

I got the large bee stamp from Stampotique so I could use the wings to create fairies but now I own the Tim Holtz - Sizzix frameworks honeycomb die I just had to try out the whole bee!!

I used the die to cut out the honeycomb from a tag, inked up the pieces then laid it all down on a second tag which effectively creates an inlay from the die cut.  I saw this idea on Jennifer McGuire's blog here

I seem to be playing with really bright colours at the minute!  I started out with orange inks on the honeycomb, had some overspray of lime Dylusions on my work mat and decided that would be the colour to use for the background!  Lots of different text stamps as the background and ....

...I have another inky tag to add to my growing collection!

Stampotique stamps used:

Journey Collage  7148 Amy Wilson Wellenstein

Big Bee  3008 Jo Capper-Sandon

Barcode Text  10020 France Papillon

French Text Journal Page  10015 France Papillon

Row of Numbers  7313 Amy Wilson Wellenstein

Don't forget to visit the Stampotique Designers' Blog where there's daily inspiration for using your Stampotique stamps.

Stampotique art journaled tag

I love making tags.  I don't know what it is about them, but I love them!

I also love Roc Nicholas' Stampotique images.  'Dog', one of the latest release, stars on this tag.  Roc's designs are so open that you can stamp them onto pre-painted paper for a different effect each time.

I played around with a paintbrush (a bit of a shock for me as I prefer the unpredictability of a baby wipe to apply paint usually, it's a way of getting around my perfectionism) and some watercolour paints for this background.  I did add a hint of orange with a Ranger archival pad and a Primark makeup sponge though.

One day I'll get around to displaying all my tags in my craft room.  For now they live in a box or in a pile on my desk and I enjoy browsing through them every now and again.

Stampotique stamps used:

dog  2433  Roc Nicholas

row of numbers  7213 Amy Wilson Wellenstein

french journal page  10015 France Papillon

barcode text  10020 France Papillon

barcode  10019 France Papillon

a different type of background

For a while now I've felt in a bit of a rut with my journal backgrounds....always doing the same process.  Today, following on from the workshop last week led by the lovely Cath Wilson, I got out my versamark pad and stamped 'sometimes I pretend to be normal ...' over a tag.  I heat set it then added dylusions inks.

Some splashing of water, and extra stamping and I was happy with my background for the artichoke monster.  I used an old map for my background journal page!

Stampotique stamps used:

artichoke monster   4036 Kira Nichols

sometimes I pretend  3069 Jo Capper-Sandon

row of numbers  7213 Amy Wilson Wellenstein

french butterfly tag

I so appreciate being on the Stampotique Designers' team; it gets me making something every week!  I ReaLLY enjoyed making this tag :)  I got some happy post this week and some of the stamps I used were in it...

When I ordered the stamps I had the idea of combining both Papillon stamps to form the background but changed my mind after stamping the script version.

I folded some paper over the base of the tag to mask the bottom inch or so then repeatedly stamped Papillon Script with a black ink pad.

I'm afraid this is as far as I got with the step by step photos so I'll just have to describe it to you!  I stamped the large butterfly on some pre-sprayed paper, and stamped the centre of it (inking it up first then masking the wings with post-its) onto the tag so that I kept the detail of the antennae after cutting out the butterfly.

After spraying some dylusions slate grey ink onto a strip of plastic (acting as a palette) I tried stamping with this and got a lovely effect which I then stamped row of numbers onto.

A few scraps of stamped and sprayed paper collaged onto the edges and my tag was done.  Hope you like it!!

Stampotique stamps used:

Papillon script by Jo Capper-Sandon

Large Butterfly by Jo Capper-Sandon

Row of Numbers by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

Time Square by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

my Stampotique February calendar pages

I am so pleased with myself...I've got beyond January with this year's calendar pages!  This is a first :)

I've missed a couple of days, but keeping my 'journal' by my bed means I usually remember to write something.

I'm particularly happy with the little pages I added which gave me space to list the books I read in January.  I still need to add a couple but it's pretty much up to date.

The stamped lines are from a homemade stamp - I carved it from a big eraser purchased in Asda/Walmart.

And look!

I've completed almost a week in February too :)

To be honest, having a weekly commitment to the Stampotique Designers' Blog helped motivate me to get my February pages made.

I added some sprayed paper to my journal.  This was torn at one end so I stamped Journey Collage with Archival Monarch Orange over the white space.

I decided to colour Peggy's face and hands, rather than paper-piece them.  Whilst colouring I discovered that she had a heart on her jumper ... I'd never noticed that before!

I was a bit worried that the white hearts stood out too much, but once they have writing on they 'tone down' a touch ...

... and I think I like it :)

Stamps used:

Peggy by Jill Penney and Daniel Torrente

Daniel's Hearts by Daniel Torrente

Row of Numbers by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

Journey Collage by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

Alphabitties by Jill Penney and Daniel Torrente

And if you'd like to join in with the calendar challenge, or just drool over some gorgeous pages, head over to Kate's blog here

rejuvenating my art journal

This square journal has lots of my favourite pages in, but some pages that I didn't like so I decided to give one of the spreads a Stampotique revamp ('cos that's where you'll find me every Friday). This one started off covered with torn text paper over which I'd rolled a marble dipped in paint.  I was trying out different things!!

Not liking it I gessoed over most of it, leaving some of the page with the original paint, and gessoed over it again, and again!  Some splatters of blue ink (because the bottle was a bit clogged up) and some transfer letters and I was beginning to like it!

Now there's a reason why you must never work on an extremely tidy desk (well, that's my excuse anyway!).... I had this bright pink painted paper nearby so stamped up a few 'time square' and added them to my page, along with some hydrangea punched flowers and an apt quote!!

Stampotique stamps used

Time square

row of numbers

Ecclesiastes

two

I love these little clouds by Stampotique.  I love words and numerals so had a quick play with a tag and the theme 'two'.

The balloons are from the image 'Upward Bound' and, along with the numeral '2' on the 'row of numbers' were highlighted with Diamond Glaze.

Friday girl at Stampotique

Back in September I responded to Stampotique's Design Team Call and how I've kept the secret for so long I do not know!!!!  I am thrilled to be one of seven designers who will post weekly on the Stampotique Designer's Blog - I'm the Friday girl :)  Check the post here to meet my fellow designers.

There are two teams over at Stampotique, and the other one leads the challenges.  You can meet those guys over on the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog.  So come 2014 there will be tonnes of Stampotique inspiration out there!!

I had a little play with my new stamps in celebration of the news, challenging myself to ONLY use Stampotique images :)  This is a large tag from PaperArtsy as I wanted the little rabbit to have a large area of sky in which to float!  I slightly misquoted Mark Twain to make the quote applicable:

"the air up there here in the clouds

is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious"

Mark Twain

Stamps used:

Stampotique Upward Bound

Stampotique Row of Numbers

Stampotique Abstract Foliage

Stampotique 2 Nuages (Fr)

Stampotique Journey Collage