TEXTURE - Your Light!

Hello, 

today we are going to go dark and grungy with our textures, but don't worry there is light! Now if you are wanting to go grungy there is only one TEXTURE Stamp to call on and that's the Distressed Panel, this stamp is great for breaking up those blank spaces (like the lovely Dotties) BUT it is more angular and solid so you get a much more industrial look. I get too excited talking about our texture stamps I know!

Anyway today we are going to make this fab fellow....

For this one I used a Kraft tag as I wanted the dark grungy look and as I was apply Distress Oxides the colour would still show. I also chose some grungy colours, notice how I have the old paper in there yes its a light colour but it isn't a bright colour. And distressed my tag, all over with the old paper, then concentrated the tea dye and iced spruce around the edges.

Then using the Distressed Panel stamp I stamped it all over the Tag in tea dye.

Then parts of the stamp using Versafine - Vintage Sepia until I was happy with the effect.

I popped this to one side until I had sorted the bulb. Next I stamped the Bulb in Versafine black onto some white card and cut this out (initially I left a small bordered but later I decided to cut it away!). Over the base of the bulb I applied some gold sparkle pen.

I dried the blub using a heat gun. When it was dry I used  antique linen and tea dye to distress the bulb, then to break up the space I stamped Dotties in both of the Distress Ink colours.

Into the bulb I stamped Bulb Insert - Your Light in Versafine Black and then using a Black Gelly Roll pen I doddled a filament for the bulb.

Now for the next part its important to prepare and the key to all of this is protecting your stamp! 

Now a lot of people say you can't do this technique using a "clear stamp", but there are many different types of "clear stamp", for example the really soft squishy stamps, are generally made from Acrylic DO NOT do this technique with them, it will melt, BUT any good quality Photopolymer stamp (like ours!) these are the stamps that yellow in sunlight, are slightly tacky to touch, smell and are generally very hard wearing, will be fine as these use some of the high quality Photopolymer on the market!

Cover the Cracked stamp in Versafine - Vintage Sepia and place to one side.

Quickly ink all over the bulb in clear ink and apply clear embossing powder, heat to set it set it BUT DON'T LET IT COOL!

Whilst it is still hot apply more embossing powder to the glass part of the bulb, the embossing powder will stick to the hot tacky melted embossing powder. - I did this 3 times!

When the final coat of embossing powder had melted I immediately stamped the cracked stamp into it, I do this all over the glass part of the bulb.

As long as you work quickly and stamp into hot embossing powder you will be left with this fabulous effect.......

FABULOUS HEY!!!!!!!

Now this is where I got a little excited to finish the tag and forgot to take photos, but to finish of the tag I stamped the smaller Sketch Lines in Versafine - Vintage Sepia in the 2 opposite corners and 3 d mounted the bulb onto it.

And for the ribbon I took some Black and Blush organza Ribbon and distressed it using distress Oxides Like I did for the previous tag.

I am so please with how this one turned out, I am having so much fun revisiting all these fabulous techniques. I hope you can join me again soon

Kym x

Items used:

• Distressed Panel (or retired Distressed)
• Dotties
• Cracked
• Sketch Lines
• Bulb
• Bulb Insert - Your Light
• Stamp Bases
• Distress Oxides
• Distress Inks
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia, Onyx Black
• Sparkle Pen  - Gold
• Clear ink
• Clear embossing powder
• Heat Gun
• Tag

TEXTURE - All about the dots.....

Hi, 

Here at Crafty Roo HQ we have decided June should be all textures, so throughout June we will be giving a shout out to our TEXTURE stamps starting with the fabulous Dotties stamp. 

First up I chose three of my favourite aka my go to colours of Distress Oxides (peacock feather, picked raspberry and wilted violet) and I applied them heavily to my tag - the more colour you apply the better the resist will be.

Next up, I spritzed some water onto my mat and tapped the Dotties stamp into it, then stamped it onto the tag and blotted of the water with kitchen roll, I did this all over the tag.

Then using peacock feathers and wilted violet I stamped the Dotties in areas around my tag.

Using the Handwriting TEXTURE stamp I randomly inked it up in wilted violet - I wanted it to have a distressed look when stamped randomly on my tag.  

Next on a scrap piece of card I spritzed it using a Brusho spray of Azillan Crimson and dried it, over this I stamped the Handwriting stamp again in permanent purple ink. I wasn't happy with the texture so I stamped Dotties in picked raspbery over Stan to add more texture. 

When this was dry I stamped the body of the flower Stan and cut these out leaving a small border around the edge.

On the tag I stamped Stan and the sentiment in black Versafine and dried this using a heat gun.

When it was dry I started to add highlights and doodles to this using a white Gelly Roll pen.

I wanted a few more dots around Stan so using the Dot stamp (included with Stan) and permanent black ink I stamped a few extra of these and highlighted them in the same way using the white Gelly Roll Pen.

I then found a piece of organza ribbon but it looked too crisp, so onto a non porous surface a placed some peacock feathers, spritzed it with water then dabbed the ribbon it to this and dried it using a heat gun - BE CAREFUL as the ribbon will singe very easily.

I repeated this with picked raspberry and wilted violet.

When I was happy with the colour the ribbon still looked too "clean" so using the Dots stamp and the Imperial Purple Versafine I stamped over it until it looked right for my tag.

Next I attached the body of Stan onto my tag using 3d glue gel and added Glossy Accents to the raised parts.

When it was dry I attached my ribbon.

I just love the Dotties stamp it really is my go to stamp for creating background, I hope you enjoy our month of textures, I and we'd love to see what you create

See you soon

Kym xx

Items used:

• Distress Oxides
• Ranger Tags
• Stamp Bases
• TEXTURE stamp - Dotties 
• TEXTURE Stamp - Handwriting
• Brusho and Mini Spritzer
• Versafine - Imperial Purple, black
• Funky Flower - Stan
• Heat gun
• Gelly Roll Pen - White
• Organza Ribbon
• Glossy Accents

MMM - Magnets.....

Wow I know we haven't had a Monthly Make Monday for a while but I thought I'd try and get 2019 off on the right foot!

So before Christmas the Roolets and I where making a few things using Air Dry Clay, to be fair the pack had been open for ages (years in fact!) and the less clay that was in the pack, the less workable it became so I decided it was a good idea to try and create some flowers using Decembers Monthly Make.

First up you need some Air dry Clay, I like the DAS stuff it is child friendly and lasts ages and a clean flat surface to work on. I like to put some greaseproof/baking paper down to work on as all oc my cutting mats no matter how much I clean them are still messy and the clay will pick up any imperfections.

Roll out your clay until it is about 0.5cms thick (I used the Roolets playdoh rolling pins!) and larger than the stamp you want to stamp into it.

Ink up your stamp I used an Archival Ink pad, this does two things, it stamps your image into the clay, but it also protects your stamp as the clay will suck the moisture out of your stamps so if there is ink there instead it will remove the moisture from that instead. Press your stamp firmly into your clay, being careful note to got through the whole of the clay, but deep enough to leave a good debossed image.

(check out that concentration!)

Once you have stamped your image roughly cut around your flower, then use a pair of scissors to cut it neater. Once you are happy with your cut our flower dip your fingers into some clean water and smooth the cut edges of the flower. 

Then leave to dry, I shaped my flowers then used a cork board and round drawing pins to support it whilst drying.

As you can see the Roolets really enjoyed making them.

The clay will turn white as it dries.

Once your clay flowers and leaves are dry I added peacock feathers Distress Oxide to my flowers and fossilized amber Oxide to the the leaves from the centre out.

I then added some sliver gilding wax from the points of the petals/leaves towards the centre.

Next I took a sharp pencil and drew in the lines.

I found some magnetic tape and cut it to fit the backs of the flowers and leaves and stuck this on using a strong adhesive glue.

When the glue was dry the flowers didn't look quite finished - I found some gems and glued these into place on the flower.

Mojo - Picture Adventure.....

"So, the adventure begins....."

and what and adventure 2019 will be! 

I'm not planning on scaling any mountains or setting sail around the world, but each and every one of us will be embarking on a new adventure this year, whether it be reading a new book or starting a new craft project, every time we open ourselves up to the possibility of the new, our adventure awaits! And that is really why I chose this saying for January, we are trying a new things this year and our adventure is just beginning...

So, should we get cracking on this new adventure?

I think so to! Today we are going to create our very own inspirational picture

First up you will need a picture frame mine was a cheap one that was left from a multi-pack. I took the back off it and just the paper inside as a template to cut my piece of card.

I then made sure my stamps/POLY PLATE were clean and dry and lay them out on the reverse of the paper form the front of the frame.

Next I used our 10cm Circle POLY PLATE and sprinkled Brusho over it (Gamboge, Turquoise and Purple) and added a little SprinkleIT (Copper) too.

I spritzed it a little then cleaned up my STAMP BASE so I won't get as many drips.

I stamped this in place on the sized piece of card. I then stamped one of the trees from the Twin Pines stamp set using Brusho (Emerald Green and Leaf Green).

To stop the trees from floating I sprinkled a little bit of Brusho powder onto my matt and spritzed it  until it was very watery. I then painted in the ground. I then did the same in the sky using the Turquoise Brusho. And then left it to dry.

Once it was dry I stamped the Adventure saying in Black Archival Ink and placed it in the frame.

 Where will our next adventure take us????? 

Monthly Make Monday - Off the page again......

Well, it's Monday so that can mean only one thing there is another creation to share using our fabulous Monthly Make Stamp set!

I had one last Christmas Idea to share with you, again I decided to stamp off the page, but I hope you agree it turned out fab, I just love this colour combination.

First up I trimmed my piece of card down so it was 1 cm smaller than A5. I gave my POLY PLATE a quick wipe with a baby wipe and inked it up using stormy sky, broken china and faded jeans, gave it a quick spritz and stamped one at either side of my piece of card, making sure to re ink between images.

For the centre tree I used darker shades of blue so broken china, faded jeans and chipped sapphire, I stamped the tree in the centre and higher up the page this time.

Next I coloured some silver sparkle pen onto my glass mat and used it to "ink" up the snow stamp and then stamped it across the top of the card. When it was dry I stamped the sentiment in clear ink and embossed using Vintage Black embossing powder.

To finish the card off I mounted it onto a piece of black card, tied a piece of pale blue ribbon around the base of the card then mounted it all onto an A5 white base card.

I hope you agree another really quick and simple card made using the Fabulous Tree POLY PLATE.