Art Journaling By Paula Tidman

I decided to have ago at making an art journal using some recycled packaging to make the cover. I started with some plain white card and applied some distress stains in pine needles and dusky concord. Then diluted some distress re-inker in dusty concord and added some mica powder then sprayed on the the card. I lightened the page by adding a wash of watered down gesso. Then used bleach on one of my rubber script stamps and stamped it randomly accross the page & overstamped in black archival ink.
I used paper bag studios Be Happy cling stamp  and used distress inks to colour. This stamp so reminds me of photos of myself when I was younger. I sadly sported exactly the same haircut with the short wonky fringe LOL!  I then stamped artistic outpost whimsical melange. I added some words I printed on the computer and used matte medium to glue the page to thick grey cardboard.

The back of the journal was created in the same way and the stamp used is Paperbag studios windsong . I cut up my own paper to put in the journal a mixture of watercolour paper and thick card as I find a lot of the ready made books have quite thin paper.

 A quick reminder about the current Happy Daze Challenge which  you still have time to enter. It is Love, a Technique you love to use. It could be new or a your favourite tried and tested technique.  One lucky winner will be drawn at random to win a  £15 voucher and free P&P to spend in the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person & you must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

• You can enter by blogging you address to the linky widget here, 
• emailing your picture to info@happy-daze.net
• uploading your photo to their facebook page

Feb 2012 Tim-esque tag... by Julie Dandy

Well you probably  all already know this news but T!m has sadly decided to retire his Twelve Tags of Christmas with very good reason after listening to retailer feedback at CHA last month.
The good news is he has decided to make a monthly tag sharing techniques and tips :D

He launched the first of his tags at the beginning February HERE with the gorgeous Love themed tag below.

Unfortunately I didn't have any of the products T!m used, not even close LOL, so had to make some major improvisations with my tag as you will see LOL. 

To start with I didn't have an embossing folder with a matching stamp so had to think of a way I could add colour to my raised image - I could have just swiped over the embossed image with an inkpad but I wanted to try something different.

I decided to try out my new distress markers, so coloured in the debossed images on the folder, placed my tag in, huffed on it to refresh the ink (that seems to be the technical term LOL) and ran it through my big shot.

Voila - once nicely inked raised image :D 

In hindsight I wish I had inked my tag first as when I went in with my blending tool the embossed areas picked up a lot of the colour - lesson learned ;-)

As I was going for a sewing theme I diecut a piece of chipboard with the mannequin die and coloured the base and top with my frayed burlap ink pad, then added the same colour distress stickles.

I cut the body section from some of Claudine Hellmuths sticky backed canvas and this time coloured it with my Victorian velvet ink pad (see, I did learn my lesson LOL).

I then followed the same embossing folder technique using the Victorian velvet pen, the attached it to the chipboard base. I added some little stitch details with the fine end of my frayed burlap pen., then stuck it to my tag with glossy accents. 

I decided for the lace die cutting to use a piece of glassine paper which I inked once crumpled with broken china distress stain, then attached with staples.

I didn't have any appropriate stickers for the tag so I cut the words from the Kraft 12x12 resist paper, inked it with my distress stain, then added  faux stitching with my picket fence pen.

I was going to colour my ribbon with  distress stain but didn't really want such a strong colour, so I scribbled on my craft mat with my marker pen, spritzed with water and ran it through the ink, giving it a much softer colour.

I didn't have any charms that worked quite right with my tag so I used my old faithful buttons but it didn't seem enough. 

I improvised again and die cut the little cotton reels from clear shrink plastic which I coloured with Snow cap mixative and ginger alcohol ink before shrinking, then wrapped them with thread.

I think they look really sweet :D

Are you all joining in??

I will be trying every month and will be linking it via Mr.linky on T!ms blog for the competition :D

And for those of you wanting to try the distress markers Moira has them on order so should be here soon  ;-)

Have fun,

Hugs'n'snogs,

Julie xx

Sticky Stuff by Samantha Read

I may have said this a thousand times but a technique I love to use is stamping on white tissue paper, colouring the image if needed, and then applying to a surface with PVA glue.

Looking at me in my jeans, t-shirts and trainers, usually covered in mud you would never guess that I love to be surrounded by pretty things and I thought this plain, clear plastic sellotape dispenser was about as unpretty as it could be, so .......

An old book page toned down with gesso and 45 minutes later I have a pretty tissue tape dispenser, ah that's better.

I used:

Stampotique, Floral Flutter 

Brushed Corduroy Ink Pad 

White Gesso and 

Black Archival Ink Pad (it's essential to have waterproof ink for this method!)

Wishing you a very happy day, Sam xxx

Sunshine Smile canvas by Julie Dandy

I have had my eye on THIS gorgeous Paperbag Studios stamp for some time and when I was browsing them AGAIN this project jumped in to my mind :D

This months theme on the Happy Daze blog challenge is a little twist on the usual valentines LOVE theme and is techniques you love to use.

I decided to show you my fave technique with one of my fave products Viva Decor Croco which I kind of invented (well I think I did anyway LOL)

I started by by stamping the image in black archival ink on to a piece of white tissue paper and ripped out the image so it had a nice random torn edge. I glued it in place on my canvas with Claudines matte medium.
I painted on some detail to the image with a little bit of wild honey distress stain.

I made myself a shimmer mist by mixing Wild Honey distress reinker and Perfect Pearls in Sunflower Sparkles in a mini mister and spritzed it over a Prima mask
I coloured these lovely Pink Paislee chipboard alphas, which have a fabby resist pattern on them, with Wild Honey distress stain and glued to the top of the canvas with the matte medium.

I tied a piece of white ribbon along the botom edge and knotted it.

I die cut my flowers from chipboard using Tims tattered floral die and coated them with the platinum croco.
When dry I dotted on alcohol inks in shades of yellow and left to dry again, this is important as we want the alcohol to evaporate before we heat them ;-)
When completely dry and alcohol free I squished them on to a versamark inkpad and made sure they were nice and sticky, then sprinkled on UTEE.
The daisy one is coated with pearl (which was a happy accident LOL) for one coat and then clear was sprinkled in while still hot and heated again - it gave it a nice mottled effect.
The other flowers were coated with three layers of clear with a little bit of glitter sprinkled in.

When cool I glued them on to the canvas and added buttons for the centres, then added three little buttons under the word Smile.

To finished it off I added distress stickles randomly in scattered straw to add a lovely subtle sparkle.
I think she is so pretty and definitely makes me want to smile :D
If you would like more inspiration and a tute on my Croco faux dichroic technique please visit THIS BLOG POST.

Hugs'n'smiley snogs :D
Julie xx

Steampunk Time Travellers Book - By Carol Fox

Among the new Artistic Outpost stamps available in the shop are this lovely set, Industrial Backgrounds

I have altered this small hardback notebook using them. I coloured the brown board cover using Inca Gold,  I  stamped on it front and back. I then glued a sheet of copier paper over it, tearing it away where the stamped image was underneath to reveal the cogs and engine on the back.

I inked it using distress inks, stamping the images first in distress ink and then in black archival to build up a background.

Adding the final stamped images of the plane, propeller and certificate. A few bits of Tim Holtz Ideaology and charms finish it off.

Welcome to London - Gatefold Card By Helen Chilton

For this Helen has used  the New Artistic Outpost London Elements plate and the London Underground one.

Helen has done the background using oil pastels. Diamond and cog stencils were overstamped with Black Cherry, Midnight Blue and Saddle Brown Stazon. It has been embellished with washers, eyeletsm brads, ribbons and Diamond Glaze.

City Of London Mug By Helen Chilton

Helen has made this lovely mug  using the new London Elements plates by Artistic Outpost. This is a companion plate to the lovely London underground plate.

Helen Stamped straight onto the mug Using Black StaZon, Cherry Black and Hydrangea Blue.The background was filled in with fine text from the London Underground plate bordered with half the flag top and bottom from the same plate. The clock and shield were coloured using a cotton bud.