Gentleman's Travelling Box

Challenge No 10 over at A Vintage Journey is about Dies and Distress - oh be still my beating heart - my two favourite craft styles!  I adore die cutting and have quite a few of Tim's Sizzix dies, and distress is my all time fave method of crafting.  Well, where to start?  I wanted to showcase as many dies as possible so I chose to do a Artist Trading Block with the theme of "A Gentleman Traveller" for my entry.

I started off with a plain black box. On the top I added a "tile" made using Tim's metal patchwork technique, which I painted with Adirondack Terracotta Paint and Black Soot Distress Paint. I wiped most of it off before it was dry, leaving a rusty, distressed sort of look.  I added a vintage typewriter cut from Tim's movers and shapers, which I wiped with glossy accents in places to make it look a bit worn. I then made a little journal using Sheena's Fleather technique (the link to the tutorials can be found here) filled with some scrap paper and bound with a bit of cord from my stash.  One of Tim's Ideology Nibs and one of his Faucet Knobs which had been given the Distressed Paint treatment completed the look of the top which is meant to show how the journey was recorded.

For the first side, I blended Barn Door, Wild Honey and Stormy Sky Distress Inks with a bit of Frayed Burlap and Vintage Photo thrown in - and then given a bit of spritz and flick to add some faded dots.  I added some chevrons cut from my latest Frameworks Die and applied some embossing paste mixed with Walnut Stain through the Chevrons Layering Stencil. The brown looked a bit dirty (and, well, like something you'd find in a cow field!), so I livened it up with a sprinkling of mica flakes.  The car is Tim's Old Jalopy movers and shapers die, cut from mirror board and dabbed with Pitch Black and Rust alcohol inks.  I used some vellum for the windows which then got the crackle accents treatment. I went over the wheels with a permanent marker just to give them some definition.

 

The addition of one of Tim's fabulous arrows finished off this side which was meant to depict the start of the Gentleman's Journey. (sorry about the shine in the piccy)

For the next side, I used the Kraft Resist Technique, in the same colours as the first, but using Distress Stains.  I die cut the vintage camera from the movers and shapers set, once in black coredinations and once in foil-covered card. I then mixed up the two to create the look of an old fashioned camera.  The lens was created with a big dollop of glossy accents and the straps are just two strips of black card. I added a Remnant-rub eye at the bottom, and voila we have a side showing how the Gentleman would capture his memories!

 

The next side was made using the same colours, but using the marbled Stains technique and then spritzed with Perfect Pearls Biscotti mist.

I then cut out the alarm clock from the movers and shapers, and used one of Tim's clock faces which had the distressed metal treatment (Antique Linen Distress Paint).

 

I added a bit of the waste from the chevrons frameworks die and some Remnant Rubs and here we have the side depicting the time taken to travel!

 

 

Finally, the side depicting the distance travelled.  For the background I laid down the same colour distress inks on to my craft mat, spritzed them with water and then put the card down into the ink without moving it around.  When dry, I water-stamped a text stamp to get that "washed out" look. The Paris, New York, London stamp is from the Papillon set, and the other images are from Tim's sticker sets.

I then die-cut the globe movers and shapers twice - once using some painty scraps and the other with foil covered card.  The foil base was given the alcohol dabby treatment. A Remnant Rub finished the look.

 

And there you have it, my Gentleman's Travelling Box.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for sticking with me though this photo heavy post.  I had an absolute blast creating this - cutting and inking - fantastic fun!  I hope you enjoyed travelling with me on my Vintage Journey!

 

Keep Crafting!

 

Jean

 

 

A Vintage Box

Hello All, I'm back with another post - I'm starting to get the hang of this blogging stuff!!!

 

Today I'd like to share my entry for Challenge 9 over at A Vintage Journey - yes, it's another box.  I love making boxes - they are both decorative and useful and you can indulge your crafty heart without wondering where you're going to display the result.  Tim has a magnificent collection of vintage storage in his studio - I'm not so lucky so I thought I'd create my own!

 

The Challenge this time was to use every stamp in a set.  I don't have too many of Tim's Collections, most of my "Tim Stamps" are backgrounds, but I do have this set and thought it would make a great Vintage Box.  I don't see these stamps used much by other bloggers, so I thought I'd give them a whirl.

 

Firstly I made a box from Black Card which would fit the various images in the Stamp Set. I started by stamping the large diamond shapes several times with Black Archival and then using the Wrinkle Free Distress technique misted with loads of water, coloured it with Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap, Stormy Sky and Chipped Sapphire (my absolute fave!).

I then took a smaller piece of scrap card and covered in with layers of clear UTEE, Gold Embossing Powder sprinkled with Black and kept going until I had a lovely shabby liquid covering. I then stamped into the molten EP with the large image and this is the result.

Unfortunately, because the piece was so large, some of the EP had started to harden and so the bottom half of the image was less impressed (as was I) than the top.

Here you can see the detail where the EP was still molten - a gorgeous deep impression.

 

I decided to cover the bit where I didn't get an impression with the key from the collection - this was stamped in Archival and coloured with Tarnished Brass Distress Stain.  I cut the image out and then gave it a good dunk in clear embossing powder to make it shine! 

 

This was all stuck on to the lid of the box.

I used the decorative diamond stamp to create strips to go around the lid of the box, colouring them with the same inks as the top and shabbying (is that a real word?) up the edges before sticking them to the edges of the lid.

I used the final stamp in the set to create more strips to go around the base of the box.

Finally I attached a lock plate which had been given the Altered Metal with Paint treatment using Picket Fence and Peeled Paint Distress paint. This was stuck it to the front of the box lid and, hey presto, one box in which to keep my Sharpie Pens!

Just the right size!!

Hope you like my box as much as I do. 

Thanks for visiting

Keep Crafting.

Jean.x

A Distressed Kingfisher

Hello all! Well, it's the first of July already - here in the UK, we've had the summer solstice so we've passed the longest day of the year, but hopefully there will be some glorious warm and sunny weather to keep us going as the days gradually get shorter. 

 

The most recent challenge over at Linda Ledbetter's Compendium of Curiosities Vol 3 asks us to turn to page 39 of Tim's latest book of loveliness and give the technique described there a try.

 

Well, I don't have any appropriate stamps by Tim that would suit this technique, but I have just acquired the latest Bird Stamps from Sheena Douglass and was dying to ink up the kingfisher image.  I love kingfishers, their colours are so magnificent and regal - so different to many of Britain's birds.  Don't get me wrong, we have some glorious birds, but not many that are so obviously, well, gaudy!  The kingfisher sits on a branch overlooking a stream like a dandy at a fancy dress party!!!!  Not that I've seen a lot of them mind you (kingfishers, not dandies!).  You'd think that such a colourful bird would be an easy spot - not a bit of it!  The most I've seen of a kingfisher is a flash of blue and orange as it's flown away into the riverside trees! 

 

Back to the challenge. I stamped the kingfisher from the "King for a Day" stamp set using Black Archival and used the Page 39 technique to colour him in (colours used were Broken China, Spiced Marmalade and Pumice Stone).  I was delighted with the result - I was worried that the technique would result in a washed-out image, but the colours came through really strongly.  

 

 

 

The background was made using the same technique, but on a much larger scale.  Broken China and Mowed Lawn were painted on to a flat 5x7 inch canvas which had been primed with white gesso. 

 

 

 

 

Once the whole surface was covered, I dripped some more wet Mowed Lawn down the canvas to create the impression of a weeping willow alongside the stream.  I then went around the edges with some Frayed Burlap Distress Ink to frame the image.

I stencilled through Tim's Rays Layering Stencil with Scattered Straw Distress Ink and then used some texture paste mixed with Scattered Straw through some sequin waste to create the "centre" of the sun.  I stencilled through a twiggy mask with Walnut Stain and randomly stamped some swirls over the canvas with black archival ink which I had "blotted" first on some scrap paper. I also added a couple of bits of tissue tape to the edges of the canvas. Unfortunately for the purposes of blogging, I was so enjoying what I was doing that I clean forgot to take photos along the way!!  (You can just about see the stencilling in the background of the finished piece at the bottom of this post.)

I used a die-cut branch across the panel, but it seemed a bit flat, so I added some UTEE "dribbles" over the top.  These resulted from cleaning out my Melt-Pot after my last session of playing - rather than waste the residue left in the pan, I dribbled it over my non-stick sheet to create some gorgeous shiny scribbles, which I knew would come in handy one day!!!  I snipped some bits off and stuck them over the flat branch - that's better!

 

 

I cut out the coloured kingfisher, and gave him a special crown from the same stamp-set before mounting him on his perch with 3-D foam.

 

I stamped the sentiment onto a left-over painted background and used one of Tim's pins to adhere it to the canvas. I added a little fish charm to the kingfisher's bill as if he'd caught it from the stream (some imagination required here as the charm is a sea fish and the kingfisher is a freshwater bird!)

 

 

 

I added some embellishments made from polymer clay that I found lurking in my "bits box" to the bottom right corner.

 

 

 

Finally, when I was searching though my melt-pot remnants, I found a pendant made from silver and black UTEE and poured over a texture tread, which filled the gap at the top of the canvas.

 

 

 

And voila!  My entry for the CC3 Challenge 5 - I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making it.

 

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

Keep Crafting!

 

Jean