Sew Lovely (by Deborah)

Hello everyone today sees the first of three posts this month by our Guest Design member Deborah Wainwright. Deborah has created a beautiful tag for your inspiration. 

Deborah writes:

Morning everyone Debs here with you again with the start of three posts over the next few weeks using the lovely stamps brought to us by Lesley and David.

For this medium sized tag I have used a variety of stamps off some of my favourite sets called Haberdashery, Floral Mannequins and The Sewing Room.

Here's how I created it:


I added Distress Ink around the edges of a piece of decorated chipboard and added this to my tag. I stamped and cut out my mannequin, flowers, buttons and cotton reel, all of which I painted with watercolours. I then aged them with Distress Ink and adhered them to the tag. To finish, I added some embroidery cotton to the cotton reel and added some highlights to the buttons, added some tiny flowers, and to add some retro style I added a beaded hat pin. I typed my sentiment and added it to a small piece of mountboard. Lastly a little trinket was added to the same cotton and tied in a bow.

You can make so many variations with these stamps so why not pop over to my blog to see more samples I made for a recent show on HOCHANDA http://dawainwright.blogspot.com

Take care for now and I'll see you soon

Hugs Debs xxx

Positive Thoughts (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I am sharing my final makes with you for this month. I hope that you have enjoyed what we have created using the sewing themed stamps and the fabulous new Folk Art Garden set of stamps.

I have two projects for you today, the first was created using a limited edition kit that we brought to Hochanda last month featuring a wide paintbrush, which I decorated. I painted the brush using a pale blue paint and dry brushed it with a magenta paint for an accent colour. I stamped some linen fabric which had also been painted with the blue paint, using Plum Archival Ink. I chose one of the ribbon trim images from the Floral Mannequins stamp set. I cut the image out and gathered it up around the top of the bristles with cotton, and stuck it down using double sided tape. I added some Little Birdie Flowers that had been dry brushed with the magenta paint. To complete the project, I stamped part of the large image from The Folk Art Garden onto card, coloured it with water based pens and cut it out, before adhering it to the paintbrush.

To create my second project, I cut a piece of smooth 160 gsm ivory paper to the required size, and made a gelli print. I used two colours of Distress Ink, and added a textured pattern to the plate before I pulled a print. I added the stamped image from The Folk Art Garden all over the background using Sepia Archival Ink. I stamped the sentiment onto a spare piece of paper created in the same way.

To complete the card, I added a strip of hessian, and some toning ribbon before adhering the background to a card blank. The sentiments on this stamp set are so useful to add to a card for someone who needs a bit of encouragement or positivity.

I will be back next month with more projects to share with you. Don't forget to look out for Lesley and I on Hochanda on Tuesday at 10.00 a.m. and 3.00 p.m. with some brand new stamps. Lesley will also be featuring on the screen on Sunday and Monday, so you will have lots of opportunities to see her in action!

Thanks for stopping by,

Judith xx

Fashion ( By Marga )

Hello everyone, Marga again to show you something

This card I made with a scrap paper and the stamps I embossed with silver embossing powder, and then cut them out and put them on the card.

The background I made to fit, stamped the edges with Versamark and then embossed it with white embossing powder. Then I made the background with Distress Ink in different colours. I stamped the images with red ink and some parts I cut out and then put it on the card. I also put some lace and buttons on the card.

Stamps I used are: Floral Mannequins, Haberdashery, The Sewing Room.

Hugs Marga

Folk Art Garden and more sewing...(by Rachel)

Hello there. Rachel here today with some more samples from the February shows.

This one shows the stunning Folk Art Garden stamp simply coloured using water colour pencils.

In this sample I stamped onto tissue and added this to a painted chunky ATC and then added more paint.

Back to a sample using the sewing room and floral mannequin stamp sets. This one involved brushos and watercolour pencils.

Finally in this layered sample I used the floral mannequins set.

I hope this is gives you some ideas.

Rachel xx

Floral Mannequins ( By Marga )

Hello everyone, here is Marga again with some new cards.

The first card is a very simple card with only one colour ink stamped and I put some lace in the middle of it. My mother made the flower and I put a button on it.

The second card I made the background with Distress Ink in blue tones and I stamped the image also with blue and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. The scissors are made by my daughter. The stiches on the card I drew by hand and not with the machine.

The stamps I used are: Floral Mannequins

Hugs Marga

Floral Sewing (by Julie)

Hello, today it is my turn to show you a couple of sewing themed card designs.

For my first card I inked up the plain black mannequin and stamped twice, next to each other, onto spare stamping card and coloured the background with Weathered Wood Distress ink, before matting onto black card-stock. I then stamped both of the floral bodices onto another piece of card, coloured with pencils before cutting out. Both bodices were then placed over the plain black mannequins and glued into place with 3D glue gel.

The base card was stamped with the black mannequin and various sewing items using Onyx Black Versafine ink. All of the stamps used so far are from Floral Mannequins, however the stamped ribbon design on the base card is from The Sewing Room. 

Once stamped the base card was coloured with Distress inks and the card was finished off with two lacy flowers from Floral Mannequins that have been glued into place with 3D glue gel. 

  

My second card is a DL style card that I have stamped with Floral Mannequins. The ribbon design was stamped onto spare card and then cut out and coloured with Polychromus pencils. You will need to stamp the ribbon twice to fit the length of the DL card so make sure the join can be covered by the card toppers.

I have a set of stitched edge, die cut circles, however you can hand draw the stitching on plain circles.

The two larger circles from the set were used to cut the black and white circles for the main image and the lacy flower and floral bodice were layered over the top to create the main topper.

The two smaller circles from the set were used for the little pin cushion topper and was attached towards the bottom of the card. Both the bodice and pin cushion were coloured with Polychromus pencils and the lacy flower was stamped with red Versafine ink.

Thank you for stopping by and please call again for more Design Team inspiration.

Julie xx

Sewing fun...(by Rachel)

Hello there! Rachel here today with some more inspiration from the sewing themed stamps.

I started this sample with an oxide background and then added the mannequins from The Sewing Room and Haberdashery and floral mannequins sets. Finally I added some lace from the Sewing Room set. The colouring was done with watercolour pencils.

Next for this sewing dummy - I painted it first in acrylic paint then stamped the dress base border from the floral mannequins set. Next, on tissue I added the flowers from the floral mannequins set, fussy cut and then added these to the mannequin itself. I finally added more acrylic paint.

This piece was first base coated in acrylic paint before adding stamps from Floral Mannequins and Haberdashery. I then painted the rest of the stamped images in. 

In this final card I created a background in alcohol ink then used lift ink and a lace border stamp from The Sewing room. I used relief paste and the two floral mannequins to add a feature to this background.

I hope this has given you some inspiration.

Rachel xx

mannequins (by Veronica)

 This month's stamps are the nearest I get to sewing!
My firsr sample has a brusho background, with several of the stamps randomly stamped using a orangey  ink pad, and buttons stamped round the edges. The two  body stamps were stamped in black versafine and clear embossed onto scraps of brusho card, cut out and glued on.
Card was edged with a black marker pen then added to a white card blank.

My second card started out with the buttons randomly stamped using versamark onto a piece of white card, clear embossed, then sprinkled with brusho in grey and lemon. I thought I had ironed off  the embossing once it was dry, but I obviously missed some - as I found when I overstamped the scissors and cotton reels! I sponged grey distress ink over it all very lightly to tone down the white. The larger dress  and the smaller  were stamped in black and clear embossed on white card, cut out and glued in place.

 The final card had a distress oxide background with plenty of water splats and the cotton reels and thimbles stamped in smoke and amber inks. I used the lace edging and the smaller lace comes from lace fragments set, both stamped in smoke ink across the card. The mannequins were stamped onto scraps of designer paper using black ink and clear embossed before cutting out - they were glued over the joins in the stamping.

There were some gorgeous samples on the show from the team, and I am sure they will appear on the blog during the rest of the month so keep your eyes peeled!

Oriental Mannequins by Penny

Goodly morning everyone, I hope you are all well.  I'm here with my first post of the month, a card featuring the Floral Mannequins  and the Haberdashery sets of stamps, some Distress inks, clear embossing powder and gold gilding wax.  

I began by  taking a piece of white card and stamped one of the mannequins from the Haberdashery set twice and embossed them with clear powder. I masked them both then created the back ground, blending Distress Inks onto white card.  I then stamped several worker stamps randomly over the card, using the same colour inks.

 I stamped and embossed the floral mannequins then painted them with Distress Inks and cut them out.  I removed the masks from the first mannequins and attached the floral  ones over the top with 3D foam pads.  

I took some black embossed card and added gold gilding wax, then attached it to a white base card.  I attached the focal panel onto the card.  On another piece of white card I stamped and embossed one of the lace images a couple of times, cut them out, then attached them to the card. I also stamped and embossed a sentiment tag, a thimble, a pincushion, and some cotton reel images.  I then painted them, cut them out and attached them to the card, adding some ribbon to the tag.

This is a lovely project to do and you can change the colours to suit your own taste.  I think this bright and cheerful card would suit a lot of occasions too.

Thank you all for dropping in today and taking the time to read this post, I'll be back soon with another project to share with you.

Take care,


                         xx Penny xx

Stamping On Fabric (by Judith)

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first post of the month for March. As you read this post, I will be on my way to Hochanda for the first of our TV shows for this month, with another show tomorrow. I do hope that you can watch or record the shows to see what Lesley and I have in store for you. The Design Team have created more beautiful projects to inspire you once again.

For my post today, I am taking you back to last month's TV shows, when I created some fabric samples, using the fabulous Haberdashery range of stamps, and want to share a couple of those with you. I have used stamps from Haberdashery, The Sewing Room, and Floral Mannequins stamp sets.

I created a card background using a damp tea bag, which I wiped over a piece of drawing cartridge, then sprinkled some sea salt on top, leaving the background to dry. Once I had wiped the sea salt away, I stamped a range of the little worker stamps from the sets over the background using dark brown ink. I created a tag using scraps of fabric and book paper, then added a mannequin which I had stamped onto kraft card using white embossing powder. I coloured the image with Koh-I-Noor paints. The little sentiment was stamped onto fabric.

The large tag would make a gift in its own right it is so pretty, I made another one in a softer colour option. If you are like me, you have lots of little scraps, and these tags are perfect for adding all of your little bits and pieces. For my TV demo, I simply used double sided tape to attach everything, and did not sew the pieces as I have done in these photographs.

My second project is a little needle case, using lots of the little worker stamps in the stamp sets. I stamped the images onto plain cream fabric using brown Archival Ink, and coloured them with Inktense pencils and a water brush. I added some pretty floral fabric which matched my colours to create the needle case, plus felt for the inside 'pages'.

This was a faily quick project to make and is a great way of using up little pieces of fabric.

I hope that you have enjoyed my projects today, and will try stamping on fabric. As I said during my TV demo, just hold the stamp on the fabric a bit longer than you would on card or paper, there is no need to press any more firmly.

Thanks for stopping by,

Judith xx

Plumage frivolity by Brenda

Good morning and welcome to my first post of March where this month myself and the team have the pleasure of sharing our artwork using the lovely sewing room inspired stamps which Lesley showcased on Hochanda TV last month.

My card at the top is a bit of fun and frivolity, after stamping the dress form form from The Sewing Room onto and Oxide ink background I then masked he bottom of the skirt and stamped the stand of  one of the dress forms on the Haberdashery set as I wanted it taller to allow the feather to flow.

Then I used a stencil and texture paste to add a pattern to the corner and a script stencil with Distress ink to add interest to the background and added the same ink to the corner when dry. Next I stamped the pin cushion and scissors from the Haberdashery stamp set adding colour and a little gold pen and finally added the feather to the dress form and mounted onto a Kraft card base.

The card base for this one is gloss card stock and the background colours built coloured with distress inks and stencil. The inks take a while to dry on gloss card stock but retain a nice sheen but I was then able to use Versaine Clair for all the stamping and heat emboss with detail clear as they stayed wet long enough on the glossy background. The dress form is from The Sewing Room and I used the buttons from both the The Sewing Room and Haberdashery to create a border. I stamped and cut out the little cotton reels and wound cotton on to them, added a pin and some lace and matted and layered onto coordinating cardstock.

My final piece has another Oxide background with images from both The Sewing Room and Haberdashery stamped randomly and the three Mannequins from Floral Mannequins stamped and coloured so coordinated with the backing.

As always I really appreciate your visits and king words of encouragement.

Clouterie by Spring Art competition winner Romana Isova

Back in April we ran our very first Spring Art Competition, which was a fabulous success, and we received many wonderful entries.  One of the prizes for the overall winner was to become a Guest Designer for a day and to have a spot on this blog.

Our talented winner was Romana Isova and today she takes her place for the very first time. I am absolutely delighted to introduce her to you, first with a little about her and then with a fantastic project.  This is a long post but very well worth the read, so pull up your chair and enjoy.

I asked Romana how she started stamping and to tell us how she felt about winning the competition.

'I think it started in 2013. That year I wanted to make some birthday and Christmas cards for my relatives. At the same time I discovered creative videos on YouTube, about paper crafting and art journals and together with it I also found the whole creative world out there. I wanted to try to see if I could also create something like that, so on March 2014 I made my first art journal page. Great thing about art journaling is that the pages could be much bigger than cards, so there is more space to express the creative ideas. And with mixed media techniques, the possibilities really are endless'.

How did I feel about being a Spring art competition winner?

'I need to say, that it was a great surprise. I did not expect it, so I could not believe it for the first time. And then I was so happy and bowled over by it at the same time. And when I read that I should make another piece of my art for a Guest Design Team spot, my head was completely out of any ideas in that moment and I was afraid that I will not be able to create anything like my competition piece. But fortunately, after few hours only it was a pure pleasure...and I really enjoyed this new GDT project'.

And here it is.

Materials:

Stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque: Floral Mannequins and Haberdashery, Texture Fragments for "textile" patterns, Damask Panel for background pattern and corner stamp from SteampunkButterfly. 

Colors: 

for the shop window: mix of Brusho watercolor powders - Scarlet, Crimson, Prussian Blue and Emerald green and Color Burst watercolor powder - Merlot, 

for background: mix of Prussian Blue Brusho powder and Merlot Color Burst powder, 

for drapery and carpet: Tim Holtz Distress ink pads Milled lavender, Seedless preserves, Dusty concord, 

for fabrics: Distress ink sprays Spun sugar, Mustard seed, Spiced marmalade, Twisted citron and Tumbled glass and Distress ink pads Milled lavender, Wild honey, Carved pumpkin, Peeled paint and Broken china and for the haberdashery pieces: Distress ink pads in all these colors, 

for brown pieces: Distress ink pad Vintage photo and 

for shading of all pieces: Distress ink pad Hickory smoke. 

Papers: 

Slightly textured 90 lbs watercolor paper - 24x32 cm for background and shop window, 

Canson Mix Media 138 lb for all stamped pieces

Silk (flower wrapping) paper for "fabrics".

Method:

1. First I made a colored paper for a shop window. I sprayed watercolor paper with water, added red Brusho powders and a pinch of blue. Then I used a brush to make a first layer of color. Until I had the final color I wanted, I kept adding the water and red powders and also just a little bit of Brusho Emerald green, because it is an opposite color of the red on the color wheel and make the red more dull. I always moved the brush in the same direction (from right to left and back), so at the end I had a texture  resembling the wood grain. After everything was completely dry, I used a matt acrylic medium as a sealer. I cut the paper into strips, scored them a little bit for the texture, finished the edges with Jet black Archival ink and used the double sided tape adhesive tape to connect them into the shop window.

2. Next I sprayed my background watercolor paper with water, I added Merlot powder and with the brush made my base flat color layer (quite pink). I let it air dry, so the final color was more vibrant. After that I stamped background stamp repeatedly with clear Versamark ink on the dry page and than sprinkled the page gently with the Merlot and also Prussian Blue powders. With the dry brush I worked the powder into the pattern stamped with Versamark. Than I sprayed the page with water again and spread both colors on the page with brush . The stamped pattern remained darker, but it's necessary to be careful with the water (with too much water the dry pattern will be too blurred and also with too much powders, they are very intense, the whole page will be darker and the pattern less visible at the end. I trimmed the paper a little bit, so it is slightly narrower than the shop window and can be completely hidden under it.

3. I stamped drapery, carpet, mannequins, corners, shop sign and haberdashery pieces on the mixed media paper with Jet black archival ink and heat set it with my heat tool, so I could color them with Distress ink pads without smudging. I cut them out and finished all the edges with black waterproof Faber-Castell India ink marker. For the haberdashery I cut out separate masks (from sticky masking tape I stamped the pictures on) for brown and colourful parts, so I could color them safely without mixing the colors. I used  foam applicators and also daubers for smaller pieces.

4. I cut out rectangles from white silk wrapping paper I had from my birthday flowers and I sprayed them with Distress sprays in rainbow colors. I dried it with my heat gun. After that, for every piece I used a darker Distress ink pad color, stamped a pattern on it and dried it again.  I crumpled the papers several times so it was easier to work with it and arranged them around the mannequins. I used the colored paper ribbons from my stash and stamped buttons to finished the look of the textiles.

5. Finally I completed the page. For more dimensional look I used also a black adhesive fun foam. I used two layers under the shop window and also the drapery and one layer on the back of the mannequins and lower step of the carpet. So the final layers of the page are - black card stock in the same shape as the shop window as a base for the whole page, violet background patterned paper, one layer of the fun foam frame around the page, upper carpet step directly on the background violet paper and lower carpet step with one layer of the fun foam on the back . Then the mannequins with one layer of the fun foam on the back and the haberdashery on the upper and lower steps of the carpet. After that the second layer of the fun foam around the page and under the top drapery and on the top of it the corners with shop window and shop sign.  

For bigger parts I used the double sided adhesive tape, but the mannequins stands are glued with Distress collage medium and the haberdashery with Rangers Glossy accents which I also used (in small spots) under the "fabrics".

I hope you have enjoyed my project and that you might want to try it too.

Romana

Thank you Romana for entering our competition and for designing this colourful and inspiring project. I am sure you will all share in our thanks to Romana and hope that we see her again on this blog some time in the future. In the meantime you can always catch up with her on her blog.