MY MOJO MONTHLY MARCH-VINTAGE VIBES!

 VINTAGE VIBES CHALLENGE!

IDEAS, GIVEAWAY AND 

INTERVIEW WITH KAZ HALL!

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All new posts below.

A Little Retro Grunge!!!

Hello again to everyone looking in...
Well, the Mondays keep on a coming and that means another great theme and challenge at Simon Says Stamp & Show! This week it's a chance to get really crafty, arty and playful with Handmade Backgrounds. Distress inks, paint, stamping, embossing, collage, sprays, grungy, girly or full on funky...just choose your favourite and do your stuff! It's been ages since I've made a card for the Design Team...

I thought it would also be a good idea to see if I could magic up one with some of my great new Tim stamps and yet still create a Grungy look. Sometimes you need a card but not everyone wants flutterbys and flowers. So...

Browns and blues always seem to like each others company, whether shabby chic or funky. I started by creating the main panel of colour and interest with Kraft Glassine paper and Alcohol Inks. I pounded Pool and Picket Fence Alcohol Inks onto the paper to create a random blotchy effect. Then I heat set the inks with a quick blast from my heat gun. You'll see the paper turn slightly shiny and waxy as you heat it which is fine and also necessary to "set" the inks.

Then I embossed it with the Retro Circles folder and swiped Walnut Stain Distress Ink over the surface to pick out the texture and detail. Heat set again and repeat the inky swipe if you want a darker colour. I distressed the edges and added some random stitching before layering it up and adhering it to my Kraft card base which I had stamped with Tim's Mixed Media spots

The Glassine paper will become more delicate during all these processes, so do take care not to tear it after embossing. That being said, I myself had a slight casualty with A Retro circle centre. So I decided I'd take it off completely and make a feature peep-hole of it!!! I slipped a piece of dictionary paper in behind and added an "Ideas" Trinket Pin to mark the brainwave!

I stamped Tim's Words for Thought in Sepia Archival Ink, then re-stamped some again in Coffee Archival and layered them up adding two real staples to the 'finding'. More inky edges, a bit of string and a wrap of rusty wire - and there you go - Retro Grunge! It's a fabulous theme this week with lots of room for artistic expression and discovery!

 Take a look at the wonderful display of Background Beauties over at the Design Team Blog and check out all the wonderful new goodies at the Store. You might be the one who gets to spend that $50 voucher, or be one of the Top Three chosen artists! I'm looking forward to seeing what you all cook up with this one!
Thanks for calling by and staying a while...wishing you all an inspired and sunny week.
Sarah.

Kilts and Punk

Now that might seem like quite a random post title but over at Grungy Monday Linda is reviving a retro Tim technique which is all about plaid and alcohol inks. I immediately think 'Tartan' and that soon leads my thoughts onto Scotland and kilts! But not quite what I had in mind. I have to admit I was a bit stumped with this one and how to make it work for me.

After a few dabbles everything on my desk resembled badly washed car blankets and I thought I'd give it a miss. Plaid, tartan - whatever you want to call didn't seem to do it for me. The only thing that flickered was the thought of Punks and designer Vivienne Westwood - both renown for their Tartan escapades. I decided to give it one more stab with some bright colours, step out of my comfort zone and just go with the flow...

I used a mix of Pool, Wild Plum and Lettuce Alcohol inks going for fairly bold stripes...before getting busy stamping with lots of black archival ink, Urban Chic images and a touch of Mixed Media. 

I re-stamped and cut the heart and embossed it with lots black before putting it in the freezer for a few minutes. Then I bent and cracked the surface for a shattered look, shaped it and stuck it over the original with pads for extra height. I used wooden peg stamps to add the word "Rebel" inside the banner.

If you're going to do Punk then a few rips, attitude and safety pins are right at home. I used my Dymo to add the whatever and 1974 which is a quintessential punk year... all finished off with a tattered tie and wire. So all in all not a Sarah tag AT ALL but a challenge and a bit of inky fun which is enough for today. Right I'm off, I saw some boots on sale yesterday and I'm out to score a bargain. Enjoy the weekend and see you Monday. Sarah.

WOYWW? Not a lot, but hooray - a mini giveaway!

Nuffink, zilch, nada! That evacuated corner is all that is to be seen of my desk this week. Freshly painted and already living in fear of a rogue squirt of green Color Wash. Today is the final day of three weeks of upheaval. Amen. I will be reeling off my (s)nagging list today and pointing out the 'could do better' bits. Call me old fashioned, but as a 'hubby at work' damsel, I hate dealing with male builders and cannot face another, "Yes, love..."

Just need to sand the floors, sort through the now widely spread junk, donate half our wardrobe to Oxfam and scoop up the dust with a JCB. I have a make shift crafty space in another room but most of my gear got shifted at one minute to midnight. Crates, pizza boxes, supermarket bags and suitcases... anything with four sides and 'holding' capacity! I feel totally lost, out of sorts and admittedly darn moody. It's "Grin and bear it"... without the grin.

Thankfully, with just a few pots, potions and ink pads, I could rustle up a tag and felt a lot better for doing so. I saw a Go Green theme over at Inspiration Journal so I thought I have a dabble with a colour pallet I don't often use. I used Peeled Paint and Picket Fence Distress Stains with a splash of Lettuce Color Wash too. I added more white splatters with a paint brush before stamping away with my new Tim stamps and a bit of doodling with a white pen. Me liketh green!

Butterflies grunged with a Picket Fence and Rock Candy Crackle mix, then inked with Forest Moss.

A fitting sentiment for this week. Although I felt the urge to scribble 'My craft room' on top of the first four words.

Idea-ology Ball chain connectors add metal detail to the flutterbys, perching gently on stapled string scraps.

Yesterday I just had to escape the dust pit and went shopping looking for big belly clothes. Came back with these! Just a bright set of Funfetti mini stamps and paper from WAMK going cheap. If they're your kind of thing and you fancy them, leave some blurb or sign your name in the dust and next week I'll pick a winner. The second name out of the hat gets to clean my house...! Right I'm off to vent my OCD with the painters...! Head over to Julia's to join in all the desk-hopping antics. Thanks very much for dropping in... Sarah.

Bring on the Spring....

Monday Morning Greetings to you all!
Boy, yet another swifty week indeed! March is living up to it's name and striding ahead! Here in lurvely England we had a weekend of fabulous Spring sun-rays, definitely more smiling faces and yes, white legs in shorts were spotted. I used that Spring mood in the new theme at Simon Says Stamp & Show where it's the mojo-soothing 'Anything Goes'. Hooray, since my crafty room is now but dusty tatters of it's former self, awaiting a makeover.

I pulled out two Bookplates from my Wendy Vecchi Art Parts treasure trove and wanted to see if I could get them 'working it' in a different way! I thought they would make a great pair of 'screens' and and framed setting for the other pieces. I felt like getting the paints out, using a selection of colours from Claudine Hellmuth and my Dabbers, mixing the colours as I went...

After painting the bookplates, I used Distress inks and Wendy stamps for a shabbier look.
My flower head is painted white and stamped with numbers before masking it off and spraying the stem with Lettuce Color Wash. I painted the scallop in Sky Blue and stamped it and the stem with dots. A press stud centre and a bit of old string for fun!

On this side I sprayed my leaves with Color wash too which is a fab, quick way to get colour onto your Art Parts! I over stamped with text and then made the little sign which is also from the Bookplate set. I used in a book page scrap, painted with Gesso and then stamped with a sentiment in Sienna Archival ink. On all my pieces I sanded the edges and adding shading with Distress inks.

I wanted flexibility but solid colour for my butterflies so Clearly For Art was perfect! I stamped them, cut them out and painted them with gesso, added a swipe of Rusty Hinge and over stamped with this great lattice effect and flowers from Art Rules. Then I could heat them and bend them just as I fancied!

I built up my base using pieces from the Flowers and Florals. Terracotta paint, more Sky Blue and old book pages made a great trio. Here you can also see more of the sanded, inky edges...and some upholstery studs for decoration. Then - 'twas the hour of assemblage! I used good old Glossy Accents...

with my secret weapon...
two metal nuts! They support the back of the book plates and hold everything bang on target!

As said - Anything Goes and a 'be nice to your mojo week!' Make time to just sit, play and create and see what you come up with. Then share it with us! Head over to the Simon Says Stamp & Show DT blog for a whole display of amazing inspiration! You'll love them all!

So I'm all finished with the blurb and arty stuff and must flee the nest... I have an agenda with love handles... Have fun with the theme and thanks for taking a stop here!
Sarah.

Eroded Clearly for Art...

Erosion is a slight theme around these parts this week. Both my brain and crafty zone are being worn down on all sides! The decorator is in da house...my house! So I have had to be be up really early every morning, live out of a suitcase and also empty my entire craft room. I'm suffering serious withdrawal symptoms and feel quite lost. Anyway, before my universe shifted, I was having a dabble with Wendy Vecchi's modelling film, Clearly for Art (CFA). Wendy has been showing us a great crackle effect with Alcohol inks and so I felt inspired to experiment and try out my own idea. So this is my take on the eroded look....

I cut nine Tattered Leaves from CFA to form my petals and brushed each one with Claudine Hellmuth Matt Medium. I painted it on in a rough, uneven way to create texture and dried it with my heat gun. It was alright to do it all wrong by getting a bit too close with the heat gun because you get lots of great bubbling... Then I picked and scraped away at the surface to create an even rougher, more ragged effect.

I then applied Alcohol inks, building up the layers of colour. I used a mix of Pool, Silver and Gold metallic inks to create the tones - pouncing the CFA with my applicator tool and a little Alcohol Blending solution. To achieve a more rusted, eroded look I lightly swiped the surface of each leaf with Rust and terracotta inks. Not with a brush...but my finger!

I only wanted to catch the top texture with colour and found this was the best way... (no hot dates that night anyway). A brush released too much colour and you don't want it going down into all the cracks otherwise you lose the contrast of colour and texture. I then heated my leaves and was able to add lots of shape and movement. CFA is specially created to allow you to do this time and time again which is great because you can shape every single leaf in a different way... exactly as you please...even just the tip.

I stuck them to a circle of card stock with Glossy Accents and added an inkified watch cog and Philosophy Tim tag to the centre.I had to leave it under a bottle overnight to fullydry. The next day, for a little extra something, I also went for an Idea-ology Swivel Clasp, key and foliage grunged with more ink and Distress Powder. I would have liked to have made a lot more, tried out other colours or gone for a whole project piece, but the "empty thy room" bell tolled too loudly. Hopefully you can get the gist of it and maybe have a go yourself. Even the reverse side of the leaves looks fab!

I shall be enjoying myself at a vintage fair all day with my hubby - flogging our oldly, worldly stuff to other hoarders...! Then doing a couch potato all evening as I'm totally cream-crackered! So I'll bid you all a fine and merry weekend! Thanks for peeking in. See you again soon... Sarah.

WOYWW? Dust Vultures and Pile-ups...

Greetings to all fellow WOYWWers...Rubber squatters have taken up residence. Many rookies from last week's stash show... but some have been loitering for ages. I catch a glimpse of a few and become quite nostalgic. There's a few 2011er's in there.

I forced myself to sit in the office to avoid crafty distraction and cleaned the lot. More dilly-dallying is not an option. I have the painters in and hence the Dust Vultures. The bunnies legged it. The next victim is my craft room. I have to uproot and shift my entire inky den... which at the moment seems more of a surreal thought than having a baby.

A little twirl in the spotlight...
I have a tutorial in the April Craft Stamper all about Wendy Vecchi Art Parts. I'm also yippity dippity over the moon to say I've been asked to join their Design team. Gas and air please!!!! I just love creating and designing. Deadlines and Mojomania already await!

Here's a sneaky peek of the piece and cor blimey, my cheesy grin too. I was sat on Brighton Pier at the time!

More dabblings for Less is More. Last week yummy scraps and this week neutral tones. Loving the themes! If next week could just be banana custard... I got show-cased last week too! Thank you! Breaking out the Tim stamps. Loving the Remnants set in Coffee, Sepia and Sienna Archival inks.

I stamped the full sentiment, cut out just a few words, all mounted on foam tape for extra lift! No pun intended...
The new My Mojo Monthly challenge is up and it's a 'Vintage Vibes' month! Here's a retro handbag of 1950's glamour to inspire you! Do join in...! How many exclamation marks does a girl need?!!!

So that was my bit of life in a bloggy nutshell. Got a bit of desk-top gossip too? Feel free to join in at Julia's here!


I'm away... Think I might try out the Renaissance look with all that dust. Thanks very much indeedily for calling by. Have an exceedingly good Wednesday! Sarah.