Haunted Design House

First off A big apology for being so bad in blog land this week, I have not been on line much and not had a chance to blog hop like normal, so sorry for being quiet.I have been busy getting ready for my Holls, Off tomorrow to Vegas for a week. See you all when I am back.

Right, this week over at Haunted Design House the challenge is 'Movie Madness' Like last week I did not have to think long about what film I wanted to use. My fave film of all time is 'The Crow' The Brandon Lee version, I have been a big fan for years  in all its formats, especially the graphic novel the films were based on.For those of you who do not know the film It is basically a tragic love story.


I decided to do another wooden board,this one is 8''x8'' the back ground is a Tim Holtz paper, they are dictionary pages, I aged this up even more by dabbing the distress pads on to my craft mat and spritzing with lots of water and laying the page face down on top.It was then ironed dry and stuck to the board. I ringed a couple of the words, they seemed ideal for the piece. Memory and Forgive  both seemed to fit perfectly for the mood and feel I was going for.
The main image I tore from an old Crow calender I had laying around iI also scratched the image lightly with some sand paper to make it look more like he is standing in the rain, Its one of my favourite images from the film.
I found the font used for the film logo It's called October Crow and printed it out on to acetate (  ok I need to say a big thank you to my girlfriend who had to go out today whilst I was working to get acetate that could be used in my printer, normal acetate does not work, she then figured how to get it printing ok, I would have thrown the printer out of the window. So thank you Kelly xx) I also printed out the quote 'It can't rain all the time' again a favourite quote from the movie. These were attached by using panel pins.
I aged up the torn edges with vintage photo  and walnut stain to make it look as though the main pic was showing through the dictionary pages.

woyww 163 ( again ;) )

Happy woyww everyone.Ok so I am very late posting this week, the whole work thing gets in the way of a good crafting life style. Want to know what Woyww is then follow the link to Julia's Stamping Ground. Its the must do weekly blog hop where you get to have a nosey poke and see what everyone is up to.
On my desk this week I have laid out the last Atc from the 3rd b'day swap, this was sent to me from Rosa. It has been made to be a fold out concertina style, very cool.each page has a different billboard style pic from Oz (Rosa is from OZ) I also got the lovely card with the really cool skiing sheep stamp. I love that image so much.

I have also been blown away by 2 random acts of kindness over the last two weeks, The first I should have posted last week but got carried away with all the ATC's. I got sent 2 skeletons and loads of really cool stamped skeleton busts, they are kind of day of the dead style, different outfits.  right up my street. These were sent to me by Neet.  Thank you so much, I am really looking forward to finding the right project for them.

This tag was sent to me by Mel I saw this on her blog, loved it and had no idea it was on its way to me, I also got a little care package to go with it, Am I lucky or what, they all put a big smile on my face coming home to find these, thank you so much.

I have been totally blown away by the crafting community since starting my blog. I have enjoyed every moment, so thank you for the comments and encouragement.
Have a great week.  mark.

I will as ever try to get to as many people as poss, at least all those that visit me and all those that end with the same number as me.

Love it to death

This week over at the Haunted Design House the challenge is Music Mayhem and over at Smudgy Antics the challenge is Creatures Of The Night.
This was an easy choice of subject for me, I have been wanting to do something Alice Cooper inspired for a little while now.I have done a double page in my little fat book (not sure if I'm using the term right but the pages are nice thick card), and I wanted to make it a little more understated so decided to try a project just using browns to give a vintage feel.
My fave album Is Love It To Death and one of my fave songs is Ballad Of Dwight Fry follow the link if you want to see what the straight jackets are about.

The back ground was done with some of the Tim papers and a little bit of vintage text tissue paper.I aged them up more by dabbing the distress ink pads onto my craft mat, adding water and then laying the paper face down to absorb the colour and then ironing dry and flat.I then went in with some distress stain in picket fence to lighten areas up (on the left page)  the edges were done with vintage photo and walnut stain.

I found a couple of images on the net of people in straight jackets and the album cover from Love it to Death,again aged with worn paper and stuck down. the words are song lyrics randomly chosen and stuck down, I also made a noose out of a brown suede thong, If you know Alice Cooper you know why I've done this ;)I think this also fits the Smudgy Antics challenge as I think Alice Cooper is the ultimate Creature of the night?????  ;)



Thank you for stopping by and all the comments that are left, they are all read and mean a lot.
happy crafting.  mark

Haunted Design House Challenge

A last minute dash to the finish line this week, The challenge over at Haunted Design House is 'Butchered Blueprint' I have not tried a blue print/sketch challenge before and it took me a little while to get my head around it.This is the blueprint.
I decided to do one of the pages in my Little fat book.The pages are thick chipboard/card.It is something I started a few weeks back for a different challenge but with my vagabond dying I could not finish it in time,so I tore all the back ground paper out and left only the Image,Another picture of a painting by Mark Ryden from the Blood collection.This was framed with thick card and I used crocco crackle glaze to give it texture. these two elements are the circle and the flame type bit from the sketch. the dagger is one of Tims spiky things (not really sure what they are called) I linked some chain through this and added a sentiment that reads 'Destiny 5890' thought it was quite fitting to have the word destiny with a pic of a baby. The Tim tape is the spiky element on the edge of the blueprint I added some suede thong attached with the tiny staples for the final part of the sketch.
Ok I have used a fair bit of 'artistic licence' with this design. hope it counts.

I did the inside of the cover as well (not part of the challenge) but it needed to be done. I used some of Tims paper and distressed it up.

Here is a pic of the cover of the book, this was done a few weeks ago as well and posted, but it all goes together.

Thank you for stopping by.  Mark x


A big thanks to Crom for the help she gave me in understanding what to do with a sketch.

Layers,let love fly

Hi, and welcome back.
Over at Simon Says Stamp And Show this week their challenge is 'Layered'.  This was one of those projects that started well and then I hit the wall so to speak before figuring out how to finish it off.

I started by getting a piece of chip board cut 10''x10''.The base layers are a mix of techniques I picked up from Andy Skinner. The torn paper was a sheet of different vintage adds, I coloured this up by applying distress inks to my craft mat,misting with lots of water and laying the paper face down into it. I then dried it with an Iron and tore it to shape to layer on top of the other two finishes.  I wanted to get the effect of a bit of wall that had been covered over with different finishes over the years and was being torn back now.                                                                                                                                            

I stamped over the crackle effect and added stains to age the paint and add layers ;)  I added some small pins to make it appear like a wooden sign.In the other corner over the copper Patina I added a Tim book plate with a Key hole inside, this was distressed with alcohol inks,then  I stamped up some acetate with a Tim Quote and the Tim pen nibs, I also layered on top of the stamp one of his pen nib embellishments. the acetate has been attached using some panel pins and is floating above chipboard/canvas.  the pic does not do this justice, If anyone knows how to take pics of acetate please let me know :)

The heart was next. It was a plain wooden heart , i coloured it with fired brick distress stain and covered it with red embossing powders and then a couple of layers of UTEE, added some vintage photo re inker to give it the dark spots and texture. It was finished off with a Tim tag, The wings are a die cut from Sizzix, I coloured them with distress ink pads and embossed them with a texture folder and finished distressing them with vintage photo.
The 33 c sticker was added to a bit of a cardboard box to give it depth and distressed. I added the key to the top off this as well.
Finally I needed some words, I printed them off onto card stock, aged them up and stuck them down with foam pads to raise them off of the wood base.
I have tried to go for a piece that has several layers and is quite 3D.
This was quite a challenge, the back ground came together really quick and I really like it, I was then stuck for a couple of days trying to figure out how to use the heart.Hopefuly this works.
Thanks for sticking with the reading, a lot of bumf again.  sorry.

I will also be entering this into My Mums Craft Shop Challenge where the challenge is No cards allowed.
and at  That Craft Place where the challenge is Anything goes.
I am also going to enter it into the Sir Stampalot  challenge where the challenge is Whats your crafty passion.
This piece is the sort of thing I really like to make, A shabby/vintage look in mixed media, I love to use texture and depth as well.

Mark xx

Woyww 163 and the atc's from the swap

Afternoon all, Happy Woyww, What's that you ask?  Its the weekly blog hop/nosey snoop that fellow crafter's can take part in, follow the link and Give it a go, Its the brain child of Julia Dunnit and is a great way to be inspired and see whats going on in craft land.
My work space this week, the usual clutter and hiding under the paper in the middle is this weeks Simon Says project, hopefully a post later today or tomorrow with that one.

A few weeks ago we had the big birthday atc swap. I can now share with you the atc's I made and the atc's I received as everybody has got them now.

 These are the atc's I made, The airballon pic was taken by Deeyll  I Hope she doesn't mind me lifting the pic from her page, I forgot to take a photo of it before I sent it to her, I also sent her the Da Vinci one as well.
Sorry for so many pics, the atc's were all made and sent as they were done so could not do a group pic.


These are the Atc's I got in return and I love them all.sorry for the side ways pic but blogger is being a pain. The Silver 'Art' one Is from  Anne and I showed it a few weeks back along with the butterfly one which was done by April  The vibrant 'Art' card is by another Ann and finally the last card is from Deeyll
Go check out their blogs, some beautiful stuff on show.
If I forgot anyone in the swap or you have not received an atc from me when you should have, let me know.  I really enjoyed the swap as it was the first time I had done anything like that. I am very much looking forward to next years now.
happy crafting, Mark

Ps   This is an Atc made by my daughter (9) Its her first one,  she was so taken by the ones I made and received she really wanted to give it a go.And I told her I would post it on my blog for everyone to see.I think it turned out beautifully.Since making this she has made a few more and I am sure next time she is here she will want to make another one. ;)

serendipity

Just a very quick post today, I managed to finish of the little canvas I started on Monday whilst having a crafty day with Neil Walker. It was great to catch up with a fellow crafter and just mess about with inky things and talk arty techniques. I did not manage to get this finished and was almost tearing my hair out as it was not going the way I had hoped, I started well with the stamped images working but the middle just fell apart. so I white washed it and went home. Thought about it a while and then attacked again using a mask and some red distress ink. The serendipity stamp seemed appropriate as the canvas was one big happy mistake.  The embellishment is a glass necklace square from the bead shop in Brighton, as was the metal heart.All in all I quite like the end result and managed to repay the favour of Neil gifting his canvas to me by gifting mine in return.

Here is the Canvas Neil did. love the quote on there. Thanks again Neil for the day.

from a tag to a journal page

Hi this week over at Simon Says Stamp And Show their challeng is 'Spritz, spray or stencil'.After a few days thought I decided I would do a tag, something with the cosmic shimmer vintage sprays and the Fleur de lys die that I have, First I cut out my Fleur de lys and used the outer as a stencil to colour the image with some of the red distress ink pads, I then used the cut out image as a mask and inked the background with the paper and pumice stone inks.I stamped over the whole image with a cover the card fleur de lys stamp in sepia archival ink, this was ran through a text embossing folder to give me a negative embossed image. I then went over the whole tag lightly with some vintage photo and walnut stain inks, going heavier around the edges, finally I put the stencil down again and went over the fleur de lys again with a bright red ink just to make it stand out a little more. I then sprayed the cut out fleur with some normal red cosmic shimmer sprays and embossed with a floral folder, lightly stained the raised area with distress inks.This was then going to be positioned on the tag, how ever I did not like this, it was just to dark.I thought a little longer and thought I would use the elements in a journal page. I sprayed the page with a mix of dyes, the turquoise dylusion and more of the vintage cosmic shimmers.I stamped areas with the cover a card stamp again and a mesh stamp for some texture, the spots were added with white acrylic paint sponged through a stencil and the ribbon was added for some stark contrast. I tore the tag up and used a paper clip to attach it to the page.The die cut fleur was inverted and stuck down. Now the hard part,  writing or thoughts,  not my strong point.  fleur de lys always remind me of regality so I came up with the quote 'in our hearts  we are all kings' these were cut using one of Tims text dies and they were sprayed with the same bright red cosmic shimmer.Finally I added the crown embellishment from Tim, this was coloured with gold alcohol ink and then aged with a couple of other colours to muddy it up a little.

I will also be entering this into the Frilly And Funkie challenge, their challenge is 'show some texture'

Sorry if this is to much typing and waffle. let me know.
thanks for stopping by, mark.

woyww 161

Happy Woyww everyone. Whats Woyww??  head over to Julia Dunnit's Stamping Ground to find out and take part.Its been quite a busy week crafting wise, It started Friday with a class at the Craft Barn where I took part in a class with Jean Hardy, the creative mind and owner of Crafty Individuals. we did a Tando clock and decorated it with papers from Crafty Individuals and their stamps as well. The next couple of days were spent at the Extravaganza put on by the Craft Barn, there were loads of demo's put on by the likes of Jean Hardy, Neil Walker, Andy Skinner, a guy from Sizzix as well as loads more.
To finish the weekend of I spent most of Monday crafting with Neil Walker of Neelz Expressionz, talking all things craft and making a little canvas each.I took a couple of my stamp folders over and we ended up using images from the others collection, Mine started well and then went belly up for a bit, managed to get it back to a point where I can finish it off, Neil on the other hand went in like a pro and made the fab canvas which you can see below and he very kindly gave to me at the end of the day.Thanks for stopping by,I will try to get to as many people as I can, at least the peoples who's blog ends in the same number as mine.



Did also mean to say Happy 4th July to the American readers xx





By Neil Walker

Haunted Design House challenge

Hi, Thank you to everyone who has posted comments and joined my blog, it totally blows me away. thanks.


Right on with the show, this week over at the Haunted Design House their challenge is 'Vintage Vile' so I thought I would try out a technique I saw demo'd this weekend at The Craft Barn's annual Extravaganza. This technique was shown by Andy Skinner go check out his blog, I love his style and use a lot of what he has taught.Its basically using a paint on crackle medium between coats of paint but then gets taken further with the stamping technique and colour washes etc. The end result, hopefully is a vintage, paint cracked piece.
On the inside I used two different Tim Holtz papers to line the box, these were cut in one piece folded and stuck in place,distressed a little with distress inks.

The heart was a plain wooden heart that I stained with distress stains,fired brick and then distressed with a bit of walnut stain, the other half was some tissue paper I grabbed from the clothing store All Saints, (good find or what?) and was all covered with wax from the melting pot. I also threw in a stamped 'red 13' card stamped on acetate to finish it off.

Can Anyone spot the Deliberate mistake???? should their be a prize??

No Skulls ;)

Hi all, and yep you read it right, No skulls, and Im not feeling ill. thought maybe I should try something that is not quite so 'Dark' lol
I thought I would do an ATC for a blog friend so I thought I would also do a matching tag to go with it.I just started too play about with the colours but already had the butterfly idea in my mind.I thought I would do a second entry in to Simon Says Stamp And Show where the challenge is depth of distress.
I used the Tim distress pads to colour the back grounds, added some of his tape down the edges. The sentiment is from one of the Dylusions stamp sets. It says 'Until you spread your wings you have no idea how far you'll fly'
I thought it was quite fitting with the butterflys.
The butterflys are one of Tims Dies and I coloured with distress ink and stamped with the papillion text stamp and then used the enamel technique to make them look a little shabby.
to finish them of I have embellished with a Wendy Vechi adornment, a key and a pen nib, for the atc I just used the pen nib.