The Stamp Man challenge- collage backgrounds

Ooh, the new Stamp Man challenge is right up my street. Collage backgrounds, lots of getting inky sticky and messy :)

I altered a journal with my background. It may eventually be personalised, but I haven't done it yet, in case the recipient spots it on here......

I used Starburst stain daubers on the background, with lots of sponging through sequin waste and embossing with moonglow 2 tone embossing powder. I stuck on scraps of book pages and red tissue paper.

Over the top I stamped a gorgeous Stamp Man swirl in Aged Mahogany and then used the Tim Holtz haberdashery stamps over the top in black. The journal letters are stamped onto black card with Brilliance Moonlight White ink. I've only got a little ink pad in Brilliance White, but I must invest in a full sized one, it's such a good white ink pad.

Lots of white gel pen and some ribbons on the wires and a Christmas present is born! 

If you fancy a go, head on over to The Stamp Man challenge blog, there's a Stamp Man voucher up for grabs !

Starburst Stain daubers - Canna lily burnt orange, Sweet violet purple teal, Marigold yellow orange and Ramblin rose pink

Moonglow 2 tone embossing powder - golden pumpkin blush

Tim Holtz stamp set- Haberdashery

Aspects of Design stamps - 40 Dragonfly dreams

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad  - Aged mahogany

Brilliance ink pad- Moonlight white

Hurray! It's Stamp Man challenge time again!

And guess what? It's my turn to set the challenge and I've gone for a recipe! Crossed with a bingo card really.....

Blue	Embossing powder	Stitches (real or faux)
Torn/ripped	Ribbon	Red
Die cut	Homemade background (no patterned paper)	Sparkle and bling

The idea is that you take three items in a row (horizontally, diagonally or vertically) and make something using all three. 

Here's mine....

I did a vertical line from the middle of the box- Embossing powder, ribbon and handmade background. I made a set of 2 little notebooks and at the front of the picture is a post it note holder/cover. 

The background is made with moonglow starburst stains (thanks Jill) and then stamped with little flowers from 

Aspects of Design 62 Butterfly beauties and Aspects of Design 64 Circle flower framies using a clear embossing ink pad then embossed with Moonglow embossing powders- Daybreak set. 

You can see the embossing a bit better in this picture. It's quite subtle.

Then I overstamped the gorgeous butterfly from the Aspects of Design 62 Butterfly beauties set in black. The ribbon finishes them off and pulls it all together.

Right, your turn now.... what will you make? There's a £10 Stamp Man voucher up for grabs! Head over to the challenge blog for more info.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Papertake- Bloom and grow
Crafts and me- Anything goes
Crafty cardmakers- Embossing

The Stamp Man challenge- hearts. Show us some love!

Have you made your Valentine a card yet? The challenge at The Stamp Man this fortnight is Hearts, so it's the perfect excuse to spread a little love!

My card is made using a fabulous set from the Stamp Man called Artistic Elements. The winged heart is one of my favourites, and I decided to keep it simple and just stamp and emboss the image and the torn edge of the red card. I'm not apologising for my photography skills this time, I tried to catch the light on the embossed areas to try to show the different colours in the Moonglow embossing powders- I used Cosmic blue/mauve and it really changes colours when you move it.

The base card and the background to the main image is stamped with Tim Holtz mini stamps in Fired Brick and Barn Door. 

Now I just have to decide who to send it to.........

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Stampotique Designer Challenge- Valentine or Love

Simon Says Stamp and Show......some embossing

Papertake weekly challenge- Show some heart

Crafty Cardmakers- Hearts

Ooh La La Challenge blog- For someone special

Let's ink it up- Romance/Valentine

Allsorts- Love love love

Crafts and me- Red
Stamp Something.....for your Valentine

Ingredients:

Aspects of Design 62 Artistic elements

Tim Holtz Mini ornates stamp set

Moonglow cosmic blue/mauve embossing powder

Distress Inks in Barn Door and Fired Brick

Red ribbon and gold key

The Stamp Man Challenge 9- Christmas!

Oh my goodness, where are the weeks flying to? Challenge 9 already!!!

It's an easy one this fortnight, we want to see Christmas projects. Well it's given me a kick up the you know what to get going!!! Here is my very first Christmas card of 2010....

I'm totally in love with this Stampendous Perfectly Clear Jumbo Snowman stamp . He's acrylic and just the outline of the snowman, so you can squidge his outline about and make him all sort of shapes and sizes. Then you add his hats or gloves or buttons, so make lots of different snowmen from one stamp set. Fabulous.

Here it is open.

I had made this a sort of off centre gatefold card, but I ended up adding a section of red card for the bodies to stand on so that they looked like they were peeking round the card.

I coloured the snowmen with Promarkers for the bright bits and watercolour pencils for some bluey grey soft shading round the edges. 

The Let it Snow words are another Stampendous stamp and these are stamped in black and embossed with Golden Pumpkin/Blush Moonglow 2 tone embossing powder . It's a bit hard to make out on the photos, but it gives them a lovely shimmer. If your black ink pad isn't good for embossing (like my beloved Versafine), try inking the stamp up with clear Versamark or another embossing pad first, then inking up the black on top before stamping. It works, and it means you can use most ink pads to emboss with.

Some Sparkly red paper, a few punched snowflakes and a squidge or two of Diamond Stickles and I have officially started on my Christmas cards.......

Ingredients

Stamps- Stampendous Perfectly Clear Jumbo Snowman, Stampendous Snow stop

Promarkers- Pumpkin, Bright orange, Red, Berry red, Ruby, Black, Cool grey 2, Cool grey 5

Watercolour pencils- Faber Castell Cold grey 2, light ultramarine

Stash- Diamond Stickles, Red glitter paper, Black and red card, snowflake punches