Fun With ATC 's ( A little late ) and more ATC's

Well I am running behind as no internet in the house for a few days but am up and running again with a new provider.
This should have gone up yesterday as we have started our new challenge over at Fun With ATC's the theme is Flourishes, head on over to see what the DT have created, you will not be disappointed.
 For this ATC I cut out my blank from card stock and then used the scallops on the edge die, I used Distress inks for the bg and a Lynne Perrella stamp for the main image, I used the distress pens to add some colour to the image. The flourish was cut from the Tim Holtz die and coloured and over stamped with a text stamp, it was then glued down and the overhanging bits were cut off. The whole thing has been given two coats of clear embossing powder.

This ATC was made using a Digi from Smeared Ink that has been coloured with copixs and then mounted to a mount board ATC blank. I then painted over the image carefully with matt glue n seal to act as a resist for when I do the bg. The bg was coloured with the pale yellow distress ink and then over stamped with persimo, barn door and then black distress inks, you can then wipe the ink off of the main image leaving it nice and clear.
 I would like to enter this one into the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp And Show, their theme is Seeing Stars.
This little chap is also a Digi from Smeared Ink and has been given the same treatment but with different colours. the stamps are from Dyan reavely the leaves and little squares have been coloured in using my distress markers. Again both ATC's have been covered with two coats of Clear embossing powder.

This little lady is from Kenny K, they have some great manga style images lots of different genres.
Like the last couple she has been coloured with copics,I tried to keep the colours simple as there is a lot going on with the image. She has also been painted over with glue n seal and the back ground has been coloured with distress inks, the stamping has also been done with distress inks and I used some cogs from Oxford Impressions and the text is from Wendy Vecchi.
 This ATC has been made as part of a swap I am doing with Neil 
 I hope he does not mind me posting it up here early. I still have three more to make for him, I got his on Monday and I will share them with you latter when I have finished my other three.

The last two have been made using a Gelli plate for the backgrounds, I still have a lot to learn, they were initially going to be my flourish ATC's but for some reason they do not quite work for me but they were good fun to make.The images are from The Octopode Factory.




Thanks for sticking with it Hopefully I will see some of you over at Fun With ATC's.

I would like to enter my Stars ATC into the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp And Show. They are having a seeing stars challenge.

Anything But A Card

Happy Sunday everyone and as always a great big thank you for stopping by. Today its time for my DT piece for Anything But A Card we are having a Tie It Up Challenge so head on over to see what the awesome DT have made for your viewing pleasure.It would also be great to see as many of you taking part as possible.
Today I have a couple of projects, first up is this rusty tag, I used some mount board and my Tim Holtz Tag die and then used the on the edge cogs die, it was then run through a diamond plate embossing folder and finished with a rust technique I learnt from Andy Skinner.
I then made an ATC with an image from Nice Crane Designs, I was lucky enough to receive a comment last week asking if I would like to choose one of their digi packs, after looking at what they had to offer , and there are loads of great digi packs, I went for the steam punk set. Definitely worth checking them out,there are lots of Alice in wonderland and Wizard of Oz, also some great Oriental images, more toppers or back ground papers but beautiful vintage designs.
Again the ATC was cut from mount board,the balloon was  painted with Distress inks and then covered with glue n seal to act as a resist, the bg was then inked up with vintage photo and walnut stain. eyelets were added to the corners and holes punched into the tag so I could tie my ATC to the tag with a leather thong. the steam punk automation is from Paper Artsy and coloured with Distress inks and he has just been tucked behind the ATC. To finish off I added the Journy plate and some Ideology  keeping with a travel type theme.

 I would also like to share this little folding book that I made yesterday in a craft class at my local store. I don't do much straight paper crafting so this was great fun to learn and something I will definitely be using again as it is very versatile, to keep in theme I have tied it all together with a leather thong,
here are the rest of the pics.

It has lots of fold out flaps and little pockets for adding notes or photos etc, mine has been left blank for now but I think I will be making another one this week.I will post more about this in the week after I have had a chance to make one with my own choice of papers etc.
 Thanks again for stopping by and I hope to see as many of you as poss over at Anything But A Card there is still one more week to take part.

My Simon Says Stamp And Show entry, what are you known for?

Hello again and thank you for stopping by, well I have done it again, 3 posts in 3 days, sorry folks, I should pace my self better as all will go quiet for the rest of the week, damn that work thing ;)
 Today I have been working on this, my nailed heart.This has been made for the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp And Show where they are challenging us to show what you are known for, well I am not sure I have been around long enough to be known for much but this is the sort of thing I like to make when left to my own devices, something a little bit dark with lots of distressing ( and not a card ) ;)
 After making my Poe inspired wooden box on Monday I was still thinking along the lines of some of his stories, In particular The Tell Tale Heart. I did not go to literal but could not get the title out of my head.
 I started with the heart, I have seen projects with nails in whilst blog hopping and have wanted to create something for a while, so I started with a plain wooden heart and gave it a coat of red acrylic paint and then a deeper translucent red, I also dribbled some Distress re-inker in red over the heart as well. I then hammered in some old nails and finally went to the melt pot and with a loaded brush dribbled the wax over the the heart letting the wax run. I wanted the gross out factor with the congealed fat look ;) The nails also got painted with some alcohol inks to age them up a little.

The wooden plaque thing was plain wood and was given a base of white and then some colour was added and a wash was added to age it up, it was then given the 2 step crackle finish from Deco arts. This process and finish I picked up in an Andy Skinner workshop held at my local craft store.

I added some upholstery nails to the top edge and added a couple of strips of ribbon to the side panels, these are also held in place by upholstery nails.I also really love to add the Ideology number plates to my projects, there is no significance to them I just really love how they look, I stained this one with some alcohol inks and glues it with some silicone glue.
I also added one of the Ideology word tags to the bottom, this is held with some heavy fuse wire that wraps all the way around.to the back.

Finally I added one of Tim Holtz's key plates to the front of one of the doors, this was given a rust treatment I also learnt on an Andy Skinner workshop.

Thanks for sticking with the post.

I would like to enter this into the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp And Show where they are having a show what you are known for challenge.

I would also like to enter this into the challenge over at Quoth The Raven,Nevermore where they are having an Anything Poe's challenge.

Over at The Corrosive Challenge Blog their challenge is put a pin in it.Im sure nails count as pins? ;)

I would like to make this my 2nd entry into the challenge over at Crafty-Emblies where they are having a Male/Anything Goes challenge.

A quick post for a couple of atc's

Hello again everyone and thanks for stopping by, just a very quick post today, I have a couple of ATC's that I have coloured up with Copic's both images are digital images from Delicious Doodles the first ATC is called Gothic Fairy.The second image is called Ivy Queen.
These images are the perfect size for your ATC's they scale up/down perfectly and are ideal for me to get used to Copic's and play with different colour schemes without needing to do a great big project. They also take me back to being a kid and collecting all the different comic book trading cards.
 This is the secon Ivy Queen I have done the first one made its way to a blog friend for a sort of Xmas card, I really hate making cards ;)
This time I went for a much cooler colour scheme and wanted to go for almost the monochromatic look, I am quite pleased with the cool grey's but the warmer grey's are a little patchy.
Both of these images were printed onto crafting card coloured and then mounted onto mount board, I much prefer the chunky sturdy feel over a single sheet of card, it helps make them much more durable, they were also both given two coats of clear embossing powder, again this is something I have been doing, it really brings out the colours and details in the images and again helps protect them.
Thanks for stopping by, told you it would be quick today x



I would like to enter the both of the images into the challenge over at Delicious Doodles, their theme is 'Winter'
I have tried to go for cold Wintery  colours with both of these.

Haunted Design House Last Words Challenge

Happy Monday everyone, well till tomorrow and then Happy Tuesday, but I am sure you get the point.
Welcome back and a big Hi to some new followers, thank you for stopping by.
Today we have the 2nd challenge of the year over at Haunted Design House and the theme is 'Famous Last Words' Now this can be from a book, a film or even death bed confessions ;)
Why not pop over to Hdh to see what the DT have been up to and don't forget we are now running our challenges for two weeks so you have even longer to create something suitable macabre or at least a little dark ;)
I chose to go for one of Edgar Allen Poe's last lines to one of his classic stories 'The Mask Of The Red Death' The line reads...
'And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable Dominion over all.'  cheery stuff huh?
 I decided to alter an old cigar box, I was lucky enough to come back with several from Vegas last summer  where I cheekily asked the cigar shop in the Venetian to hold the boxes at the end of the day, I went back 3 days running and came home with about 10 boxes best bit is they did not want any money for them, result.
Anyway I have been wanting to do something Poe inspired for a little while and this was the perfect opportunity to get something done. The box will be used to house a little journal that I will fill with Poe pages and also any tags/ATC's etc I make relating to him.
 The box has been given a couple of different treatments that I have picked up whilst taking part in the workshops given by Andy Skinner
I have mixed feelings about this so the main image may get re done in time, I like the faux rock look and feel but the quote is not as visible as I would like it to have been,It looks fine from some angles but because the gold script has been done with Perfect Pearls it catches the light a little to much. Oh well, live and learn ;)
 The skull started as a image transfer but again was not clear enough so I re printed the skull onto some acetate and used brads to pin it over the first one, at least you can see it now, the image is from Smeared ink.
 The inside of the box has just been given a coat of Paper Artsy's Fresco Finish paint in London Nights. I want to do more inside, probably add a pocket into the lid for tags etc but till I get some other stuff made I am keeping my options open, Stay tuned ;) lol
Thanks again for stopping by it is very much appreciated.

I would like to enter this into the challenge over at Quoth The Raven this is a fantastic Poe related challenge blog, every month they have a poe themed challenge, I have been wanting to take part for some time but just not found the time, this year will be different.You may also recognize a few of the DT members.

Crafty-emblies are having a Male/Anything goes as long as it's an altered item, not a card scrap book etc.

Fun With ATC's 3rd Birthday challenge and Blog Hop

Welcome back and 3 posts in 3 days, don't worry I wont post tomorrow ;)
 Today we are celebrating the 3rd Birthday of the Fun With ATC's Blog,the first challenge went live on the 19th of Jan 2010, so as well as our usual fortnightly challenge we are having a Blog hop as well, more in a mo.
 The challenge theme is of course celebrations so we want to see all your funky celebratory ideas in ATC format. head on over to add yours to Mr Linky and to see what the awesome DT have come up with for your viewing pleasure.

Ok so now the Blog hop. This is the first time I have done one of these so bear with me, you should have arrived here from Claudia's page and your next stop is Suzanne The start of course is Fun With ATC's. Now as this is a special occasion not only is there the top pics spots up for grabs but for the people that comment on all the blogs in the hop there will be a random draw for the prizes, yes we have some wonderful sponsors for this event, their blogs will also be part of the hop so make sure you leave a comment with everyone.

Now here are the sponsors,
  Tando-Creative they make wonderful chip board pieces and masks and for me they are a local company,I have a whole draw full of their bits and bobs in my craft room.
 Visible Image they are a stamp company designing and producing their own stamps,they have some wonderful designs and I will be adding some of their images to my wish list very soon.
 100% Proof Press Are an American red rubber producing stamp company and again, lots of their images will be making their way to my wish list very soon.

Ok boring  bit, the what I did bit ;)
For Xmas I was lucky enough to get given a gelli plate so I thought it was about time I took it for a test drive so to speak, well I learnt a lot, which is the polite way to say I threw a lot of pap out. but I finally got to something I liked but this ATC fought me all the way. I realised just how much of a grumpy git I actually am, thinking of something for a celebration/party theme almost undid me ;)
So after 2 days of playing I was left with this, which I quite liked but I really did not know what to do next, so I looked through my stamp stash and found the Dyane Reavely doodle stamp set and went with the flowers, but first I stamped it on to some acetate so I could see what it would look like on top of the ATC, I did not want to re make another base lol.
It looked ok so I went ahead and stamped with some black Stayzone which decided to be a git and only faintly come out so after a panic i went over the image with a fine line pen and coloured some of the bits in solid black.
Now I must mention in creating the back ground I used some sequin waist and a new mask from Neil Walker of Neelz Expressionz they have just hit the shops, I used the tangled wool mask, there are a few others and they are produced by one of our sponsors, Tando-Creative.
 The whole Atc was clear embossed and that left me with the sentiment to add, with so much colour going on it was a bit of a struggle to decide what to do. I ended up using some of the newish Tim Holtz plastic alphabet letters, I coloured them with copper alcohol inks and glued them to the ATC with some silicone glue, I find it the best glue if you want to attach to an embossed surface, glossy accents just pops off.
Thanks for sticking with me.
I hope to see you over at Fun With ATC's

More Wings and a Thankyou

As I promised yesterday I have a couple more things to show you using the current challenge theme we have running over at Anything But A Card, the theme being 'Things With Wings'
First of is a ceramic tile, sorry for the photo,the light just would not play ball. The technique was learnt on an Andy Skinner workshop at my local craft store.We started with a plain bisque tile and using a couple of different techniques ended up with finishes like this, below you will see the one I worked on in the class, when I got home I wanted to give it ago with different colours and to reinforce the learning so to speak.The close up shows the stamping with perfect pearls to give that shimmery look.
The blue tree tile was one of the things made in the class.The Same techniques have been used and I can not wait to make some more, play with colours and textures.Finally I have an ATC I made with a stamped image that was sent to me from my blog friend Red Anne she made a lovely tag with the images from this stamp plate, they are from Chocolate Baroque which was also included with some of the stamped images, It was such a surprise to find them waiting for me last week and I just had to get started on doing something with them. Anne had already stamped this one on to an ATC for me and this is how it turned out.


The top hat image was coloured with copic's I then painted over the image only with a thin layer of glue n seal to act as a resist for when I coloured the back ground with distress ink pads in old paper. The ATC was then placed into one of my steam punk embossing folders being careful to find an area that would have minimal embossing where the hat would be.
This actually worked better than I thought it would, the hat came out pretty flat even though some of the lines run right through it, I am not sure if the glue n seal helped to keep the structure of the hat but ill take it ;)
I went over the embossed parts with some vintage photo and then some walnut stain distress ink and also went around the edges. As the image was on normal card stock I glued it to a mount board blank to give it some strength. The whole thing was given two coats of clear embossing powder, again I was not sure how it would work being an embossed piece but it came out really well, no misses and you can still see/feel the embossed surface when you rub your fingers over the top. To finish of I added a couple of Tim Holtz's cogs.

Ok that's the wings over with.

Now on to the Thank You.
 I have now been crafting for about a year and have had a blog for the last 8 or so months, I have constantly been blown away by the kindness of the comments, the encouragement given and the overall feel the crafting community has about it's self.
The comments mean the world and I feel bad that I can not get around and leave as many comments as I would like to, sadly that work thing gets in the way, How ever I do visit a lot more blogs than I can leave comments on and it always inspires me when I look at so much incredible stuff.
 The kindness of you guys as well is mind blowing, the swaps have been incredible but also the random acts of kindness, see above. I am so glad to be part of something like this.There are to many of you to list but I really do appreciate everything.
Right, mushy stuff done, I just felt it needed to be said.

Ill be back tomorrow with an ATC as we are starting a new challenge over at Fun With ATC's  and there is something a little special happening as its the 3rd b'day of the challenge blog. Head back tomorrow to find out what's happening.

I would like to enter the atc into the Foreever Night Creepy Challenge, they are having a Steam Punk theme.


Thanks, Mark

Anything But A Card, Wings Challenge.

 Happy Sunday all, I hope your crafting week has been good to you.
 Well it's that time again, over at Anything But A Card we have been having an an Anything With Wings Challenge.Head on over to see what the other fab DT members have made for your viewing pleasure ;) Now I love things with wings,I have even gone as far as having some tattooed on my back I'll put a little pic at the bottom of the page.
 I decided to go with an Altered pocket watch from Tim Holtz.  Now this started with a crafting session with Neil Walker of NeelzExpressionz last Monday, Now this watch underwent about 3 different looks to get to this stage,It started of being coated with alcohol inks in yellows and oranges, looked ok but did not really show up to well, It also started out going down the Steam punk path, I think I may have deviated a little ;)
The main body of the pocket watch was given a copper verdigris that I learnt on the Andy Skinner Time Worn workshop, I think it if one of my favourite finishes, the undercoat of the alcohol ink actually gave it the rippled texture on the back.
 The inside of the watch was done with a stamp set from Hobby Art, it has lots of Poppy's and little stamps for creating a scene, I coloured it with copic's and clear embossed.
On the outside I used the same stamp set using a larger poppy and stamped onto some white shrink plastic that I had coloured with water melon alcohol ink. I tried with the clear but the colours were a little to dark they just looked like red blobs.The butterfly's are from  Tim Holts and were coloured up with his distress pens and again stamped on to shrink plastic, It's the first time I have used the distress pens but I like how the butterfly's came out. and must get round to using them much more.
I used some silicone  glue to attach the poppy's and butterfly's
to the edge of the watch so it gives the effect of them bursting through.

One of the butterfly's was glued to a little bit of wire so it sits above the watch and looks like its flying out.
To finish off I added the word sticker from Tim Holtz.
Thanks for reading through, you still have one week left to come and join us in our challenge, it would be great to see you over at Anything But A Card, I would love to see your winged creations.












As Promised here are the wings I had put on me about 10 years ago.
I'll be back tomorrow with a couple of other winged theme pieces.








I would like to enter this into the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp And Show, they are having an embrace the old challenge, the Verdigris technique Is one of my favourite techniques and I have used it in all sorts of ways in the past.

The Corrosive Challenge are having an out with the old challenge. I have had the pocket watch for a while and have not had the guts to do something with it till now.The poppy stamp set was one of the first things I got last year as well, Not use much but a great little set.

Captain america

Helo and thank you for stopping by and a welcome to my newest followers.
 Today I have a tag for you, A great image of my favourite comic book hero, I have been reading the  Captain America comics for the last 20 odd years and when I saw this image over at the Octopode Factory I new I had to have it and as I have been on a copic's mission the last few weeks it was a no brainer.The image was printed on to craft card stock and then coloured with copic's and fussy cut, finally I clear embossed the image twice.
The tag was cut using my Tim Holtz tag die and cut from mount board, I am using this for all my ATC's and Tags as it is a much nicer surface to work on, no warping or creasing. I swiped the tag with broken china distress stain and then a light swipe with the picket fence stain to give a washed out look, I then gave it a quick spritz with water to get the mottled texture.
 I then stamped in Archival blue ink the faux stitching and then added the snow flakes stamping with white, its a very delicate stamp but with the back ground it gives a sort of blizzard look (there are a few snow flake challenges this week ;) )

I stuck Cap to the tag and then added the metal eyelets with my punch, I also added a metal washer around the tags eye.The clip/chain is from Tim Holtz, to finish off I added the word Hero, these letters are also from Tim, one of his sticker books, the edges were sanded and stained with walnut stain.












I would also like to share another copics colours ATC, its another Delicious Doodles image, this one is called Ivy Queen and has been designed by Terri, One of the Haunted Design House DT minions I have the pleasure of working with.
The image has been sized and coloured and glued to a mount board atc blank cut from my Tim Holtz die, it was then given two coats of clear embossing powder.


















I would like to enter the Captain America tag into a couple of challenges.

Over at the Octopode Factory they are having a Snow time challenge.

Over at Simon Says Stamp And Show their theme is Embrace The Old, the back ground has been made with my old faves the distress inks and I have used and old favourite technique spritz n flick.

Incy Wincy Designs are having a Something new challenge, The Octopode image and Tim Holtz chain clip are new.

Lexis Creations have an Anything Goes challenge at the mo.

Love To Create are having a Winter Wonderland challenge.

I would like to enter the ATC into the challenge over at Delicious Doodles the challenge there is Sparkle and Shine, Hopefully the clear embossing counts to the shine side of the challenge.

I would like to enter both images into the challenge over at Digi Galore both are new images for me. Not sure if I can enter them both, if not the I would like to enter the tag. x

I would like to enter the Cap tag into a new group I joined called Outlawz Challenges their Tuesday challenge is a colour challenge,at least 2 blues and white.

Haunted Design House, We're back

 Finally, its that time for us in the dungeon to get back to work and that means the challenges over at Haunted Design House have started up again.Miss us??

To ease you all back into tapping the darker side of your crafty world, enough of all that father xmas stuff  urgh ;) we are having a Freakers Free For All, that's right, you get to let your imagination go wild and as long as it's not cute we would love to see what your twisted little minds will come up with.And for something new this year our challenges are now fortnightly so you get twice as long to enter.Head over to HdH to see what the first half of our team have been up to and check back next Monday to see what the other half have created.

 I have been back in my journal and I have to say sorry for the pics, the page does not look this bad in real life,I just could not get a decent pic no matter what.
 The main Image is actually some classic painting I tore out of an old art book (minus the horns) and stuck into my journal thing. I then went to town with the translucent paints, adding washes of yellow, orange, gold and red.I used a Tim Holtz inspiration stamp but left of the happy ending part ;) 'sometimes on the way to our dreams we get lost.....'
I also used my little alphabet stamp set to stamp one of my favourite quotes, I am not sure where it comes from originally but it is used in the Unusual Suspects. 'The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist'
The 666 was die cut and stuck down before the paint went on. Everything got sealed with a watered down mix of glue n seal (I think that's why it was a b***h to photo) There is a tiny bit of distress crackle along some of the edges and some white distress stain swiped over the top to add to the distressed look. I dry brushed around the edges with some pale green acrylic paint for a little contrast.
Again sorry for the bad pics but I do hope you will come and join us this fortnight in out free for all challenge.

Thanks for stopping by. x

Over at Smudgy Antics they are having a Scrap it up challenge, the sticky doily bits are scraps that have been laying around and the numbers have been cut from my scrap card pile.

Fun With ATC's challenge, Try Something New

Hello and Welcome to my followers new and old. Happy New Year to you all, I hope your heads are not hurting to much this morning ;)
 Ok, now on to the new challenge over at Fun With ATC;s, we are kicking off the new year with a 'Try Something New' chalenge, now your something new could be one of those stamps you got for Xmas, some new stains/paints/inks or even a new technique, something you have not tried at all or not tried for an ATC.
 I have two ATC's to share today, the first one I decided to try something new for me, I will try and keep this short, the idea was to create a layered ATC with acetate and mica, a different stamp on each layer and  some blended alcohol inks for some colour.It sort of worked and I learnt quite a lot for next time I have a go at making something like this (fiddly is not the word) the only problem came when trying to get a good pic, It should have been see through with the light shining through but all the pics looked pap so I attached it to a mount board cut ATC blank with some brads. If you look carefully you can see the mica fragment in the middle.
I used Stayzon Ink in black and white and stamps from Tim Holtz, my New stamp from Studio 490 and the cogs are from Paper Artsy.The metal cogs are also from Tim Holtz. The back ground was made with auqa,denim and white alcohol inks and blended together for the mottled look.

The second ATC was a little quicker, as I said in an earlier post it was my Xmas mission to get to grips with copic markers, I am happy with how things look now, But any advice/critique is always wanted.
 The Image is a digi called Eva The Witch and is from my blog friend Teri who runs Delicious Doodles she has loads of stunning images. This is one of my Favourites from her range.

Again, Thank you all so much for stopping by,and thank you for all the words of encouragement and support last year, I look forward to seeing what you all come up with in the year to come.

Oh and of course, to see what our DT have been up to head over to Fun With ATC's to see their amazing creations, Whilst you are there why not enter, it would be great to see what you will come up with.

HAPPY 2013 xxx

I would like to enter the 2nd ATC in to the challenge over at Delicious Doodles they are having an Out With The Old challenge.

I would also like to enter the 2nd ATC into the challenge over at Digi Galore they are also having a something new challenge.
.