Antiqued Frame for Stampendous

I do enjoy a bit of upcycling and this project started life as a cheap plastic frame from the £1 shop.

Products used:
Stampendous Stamp: Strolling Skeletons
Stampendous Perfectly Clear Stamp Set: Spider Fear
DecoArt Gesso, Texture Sand Paste and Fluid Acrylics
Gilding wax
StazOn Ink

Here's a quick how-to:

Gesso a plastic picture frame with black gesso to cover it completely.

Mix Gold and Burnt Umber DecoArt paints to make a brassy colour. Dry brush this all over the frame.

Add a further layer of dry brushed black and gold gilding wax highlights.

Stamp the image onto mixed media paper. Ink with a beige colour to make it look old. Scrunch up the paper and flatten out again before inking over the highlights with a mid-brown tone to make them stand out.

Stamp the web onto the glass with StazOn.

Use Texture Sand Paste and paints to create a rusty bookplate. Print off wording, age as before and add behind the bookplate. Finish with a cut out spider.

(Since completing this the paint has cracked in some areas where I think the frame material has resisted the paint because it's plastic. I actually think this is really cool! But to avoid it, sand the frame lightly first.)

Happy Hauntings!

Katy x

DOTD Spooktacular Shrine for Stampendous

I just love all things Day of the Dead and this wonderful stamp set from Stampendous is no exception! I had lots of fun making this 'spooktacular' shrine!

Products used:
Stampendous Cling Stamps: Sugar Skull
DecoArt Chalky Finish Paints and Crackle Medium
Marker pens for colouring
Sakura Glaze Pen
MDF shrine kit

Here's a quick how-to:

Paint a shrine and base with Relic Chalky Finish, add Crackle Medium and when dry, a coat of Everlasting Chalky Finish over the top – allow to dry and crack. Edge with black ink.

Stamp lots of flowers and colour them in. Cut into some to make them smaller. Cut the leaves off others to use separately.

Glue the flowers all over the shrine as shown; add gems.

Stamp and colour the skull. Highlight the eyes and nose with a shiny pen (Sakura Gelly Roll) and add bling details. Secure inside the shrine with layers of cardboard to make it pop forwards.

Stamp the banner, fussy cut out and edge with black ink. Shape around a paintbrush handle before adhering – use lots of hot glue in the centre so it’s raised up.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Katy x

Graveyard Glamour for Stampendous

I do love to play with my stamps and explore new possibilities - here I combined two stamps to make my rather well dressed Halloween skeleton.

Products used:
Stampendous Cling Stamps: Andy Skinner - Birds & Bones; Angel Aviary
DecoArt Fluid Acrylics
Chipboard gravestones from Calico Craft Parts
Florist's moss

Here's a brief how to:

Stamp the skeleton onto white card and cut out. Stamp the fairy several times onto white card and once onto acetate. Cut out the skirt from the acetate. Colour the other images. Cut out the top of the skirt, her hair and various flowers.

Add crystal glitter to wings using glue pen. Use a permanent silver marker to highlight the wire structure in the skirt, working on the back of the acetate.

Assemble the ‘skeleton woman’ as shown.

To create the graveyard, treat a wooden block and MDF gravestones with Texture Sand Paste and paint light grey. Stamp the skull on the stones and mask it off. Add Relic Chalky Finish with a stipple brush. Follow with Viridian and Green Gold, also stippled in places, to mimic moss growing.

Adhere all elements to the plinth and finish with moss and some cobwebs made from hot glue gun ‘string'.

Happy Halloween!

Katy x

Stunning New Stencils...

...from my lovely friend Deborah Wainwright! If you are looking for something a little different, look no further! I love the originality of Debs' designs and I've used her Boho-Jane stencil to make a journal page.

Here's how I made it:
1) Create a background by dipping some mixed media card into pools of Distress Oxide Ink. Keep some areas of white space.
2) Stencil the face in black permanent ink.
3) Fussy cut the Printables sheet and give her a floral hairdo! Add further flowers bottom left to complement. Doodle over the flowers.
4) Use paint pens to go over the stencil lines to give them real definition. Add pink pen to the lips and white paint pen to the eyes. I added gold pen to her facial details and nose piercing. Extend the neck with black pen.
5) Finish with a stamped sentiment (also by Deborah Wainwright for Rubber Dance) and doodled border.


You can buy the stencils in Deborah's Etsy store here.

For this piece I combined the stencil with one of my Printables - Flowers #1 - available here in my new Etsy store.

Thanks for stopping by,
Katy xxx

Teeny Seth Apter Inspired Mini

A new challenge blog has launched this week, Mini Album Makers' Challenge, dedicated to the art of book making. I've been inspired by Seth Apter in my creation, who is the sponsor for this month's challenge. It's based on a tiny album he created a while back. I adore dinky things so was inspired to make my own, incorporating his dies and stamps, of course!

I've made a wee video so you peek inside.

Thanks for visiting!
Katy x

Mixed Up Challenge - Cork

Hello! If you've found your way here from the Mixed Up mag blog - welcome to our first challenge! If you didn't, then check out the challenge here - there's a great prize of a big bundle of chipboard from I Kropka to be won.

The theme is 'Cork', so for my contribution I thought I'd have a go at creating some DIY stamps from wine corks. I may have a few lying around.....

Cork is a bit flaky (like me!), so you can't be too precise with it. It has a tendency to do what it likes, to split and fracture - so go with it. Abstract is the way forward!

I used a lino cutting tool to create these two 'stamps' - on one I gouged out some channels and on the other kind of 'scooped' out little areas by twisting the tool in a circular motion. You can also use a craft knife, which will give you neater results. Two lovely mark making tools - for FREE! Can't be bad!

I used both stamps on my ATC, which is just a bit of scrap from a Gelli print, finished with a Stampotique image and a phrase from one of my printables (coming to the Mixed Up mag website soon).

Can't wait to see what you make for the challenge!

Katy x

An Untold Story with Sin City Stamps

Super excited to have received my new (and first!) stamp set for Sin City Stamps! I work in all kinds of styles but vintage has been a constant theme in my work over the years and I've never grown tired of it. Actually, although based on vintage images, this set is pretty versatile and can be use in a modern context too. You can get them here. I have to say I am so pleased with the quality - they are really thick and beautifully cut! Thanks so much Kim!

Correspondence stamps retail at $18.99 USD (shipping to the UK is $6)

I didn't take any step pics for this one but I'll talk you through what I did.

This page is in my junk journal which is an old poetry book. First off I obscured the text a bit with DecoArt Media Titan Buff paint (watered down).

I stamped the pen nibs directly onto the paper with black Archival, masking off the largest one so they fit better on my page. They are lightly coloured with Kuretake Gansai Tambi Starry Colours watercolour paint - I wasn't too heavy with the paint so I didn't obscure the stamping. The pen at the foot of the page is coloured the same way.

My ink bottle is stamped in StazOn Ultramarine and the highlights are caught with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I stamped the label again and distressed it by crumpling it up and then inking with Antique Linen/Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The text background is stamped onto card which has also been inked/distressed and then torn.

The Tim Holtz Paper Doll has wings (not from my set - but we've all got 100 butterfly stamps, right?). I gave him wings to fit with the stamped quotation 'There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." I thought it was fun and quirky to have him 'sitting' on the ink bottle.

At the end it all looked a bit brown so I added a very watery wash of DecoArt Media Prussian Blue Hue (I also coloured the wings with this and the Kuretake watercolours). I treated the acrylic a bit like watercolour by making it very runny and allowing it to pool on the page - it has soaked in more where there is no paint and less where the Titan Buff layer was applied - which I really like.

Hope you like my make and my stamps!

Don't forget to tell YOUR creative story!

Katy x