New Horizons (by Magda)

Hi, it is so interesting and lovely to see Lesley from Chocolate Baroque at Hochanda demonstrating Steampunk stamps.
Here I want to share with you the card I made using Steampunk Travel stamp and Steampunkery stamp for the sentiment.

1. Put the stamp underneath the acrylic block  and think about the colours you want to use

2. Colour the acrylic block with Distress Ink Pad

3. Spritz with water

 4. Wipe the acrylic block with a heavy piece of White Cardstock till you are happy with the result

5.  Stamp the image with Versifine black both on the mat and on the card itself, as shown, and glue the sentiment label with Ranger Triangular Collage glue

Isn't that a funny card for a friend who is moving ?
Magda

Steampunk Travels Pop Up Box (by Anne)

Good morning. I had so much fun creating a fantasy world with the Steampunk themed stamps recently featured on Hochanda. Today I am sharing one of my show samples. I just love this sentiment verse and the fun sentiments that come with these stamp sets.

Materials:

• Steampunk Travel and Steampunkery stamp sets (also available as a multibuy)
• Ready made white pop up card blank (approx. 7cm wide box with back panel approx. 16cm high), white stamping card, Kraft card
• Inkpads: Dye based ink (brown) and Versamark
• Ink sprays with mica (blue and gold)
• Alcohol ink pens and coloured pencils (blue, orange, yellow)
• Fine tipped pen (brown)
• WOW heat embossing powders (mix of Verdigris and Gold)
• Dies to cut steampunk cogs and shaped mat for verse

How it was made:

1. The box was spritzed with inks to add colour and edged with brown ink.
2. The images were stamped with brown ink and coloured with alcohol pens and some pencil shading.
3. The verse was cut out with a die and edged with brown ink and faux stitching. The remaining sentiments were hand cut and edged with brown ink. The Steampunk images were cut out by hand.
4. The cogs were cut from Kraft card, coated in Versamark and heat embossed with metallic powders.
5. The images, cogs and sentiments were glued to the card layers to give depth. Thin card strips were glued behind some of the elements to add extra support where needed.

Steampunk fun (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a couple of mixed media steampunk projects made for the recent shows on Hochanda. I've used stamps from Steampunkery to make this wall hanging and a card.

I began by making the beetle - this stamp is one of my all time favourites! I gave the stamp a liberal coating of Black Soft Form Relief Paste with a spatula and left it to dry - it does take a while so it's important to be patient as if you try to remove it before it's dry it could spoil it. I always leave them for at least 24 hours before trying to lift up a corner to peek and check it's dry. 

Meanwhile I made the other elements. I removed the outer layer from some corrugated card and gave it a coat of black gesso before applying acrylic paint in metallic shades. Once that was dry I used hot glue to attach a scrap of metallic tulle and a lacey border made with the lacy stamp from Steampunkery and kraft glassine. The next layer was made from watercolour card, it was actually a background that had gone wrong so I stencilled some circles on it with gilding glue and added gilding flakes. I used straws for the faux pipework, painted them with black gesso and then metallic acrylic paint. 

Once the beetle was dry I added some colour with silver and gold gilding wax. I painted his shell with blue and green metallic acrylic paint and once it was dry I gave it a thick coat of glossy accents. 

I made this card using acrylic paints for the background - sloshing them on with lots of water and then adding rock salt. Once it was dry I splashed with diluted white gesso before stencilling in the moon using the Seasonal Elements Stencil. I applied gilding glue through the stencil and added lots of sparkly glitter. I also applied a layer of glue and glitter around the edge of the card.

Once the background was dry I stamped the gorgeous airship with versamark ink and embossed with gold embossing powder. I painted the bottom of the image with acrylic paint. To make the balloon, sails and flag I stamped the image with Gold Stazon onto some fantasy film layered with angelina fibres and cut the elements out. It's hard to get a good photo as it's very sparkly but it looks really pretty in real lift.

I hope you're enjoying this months inspiration from the DT. If you've got your stamps yet make sure you share your makes with us on the facebook group!

Claire xx

Pretty Steampunk (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I hope you caught Lesley's fabulous Steampunk shows last week on Hochanda, featuring an eclectic mixture of Steampunk images. I love working with this genre of stamps, because you can use the images in so many different ways; very grungy, adding lots of texture, or more feminine in style, altogether prettier, using brighter colours.

I have created a floral card, which could be for a friend's Birthday, or just to show that you care, using a sentiment from the brand new Punky Expressions stamp set which will be available on the website in the next few days.

I started to create my card by blending several colours of Distress Ink onto a piece of smooth Cartridge paper. I spritzed the background with water, to create a mottled effect, blotting the background here and there with a piece of tissue. I stamped the large script stamp from the Eccentric Edwardian stamp set over the background, using blue ink. On a spare piece of card, I stamped the small clock three times, and cut it out. I added a bit of yellow ink to age the images slightly.

I die cut some flowers from some Crafty Individuals paper, and scrunched them to give them a bit of texture and movement. To complete the flowers, I stamped three stems using an image from the Diamante Delights stamp set onto the background, and some leaves from the Bold Blooms stamp set onto some scrapbook paper, which I cut out. I added the clock faces to the centre of the paper flowers, and used some 3D foam behind the central flower.

You may have caught sight of one of my old samples on the show created using images from some of our Steampunk stamp sets, featuring the fabulous beetle from the Steampunkery stamp set as a focal point. I have again used paper flowers to create this design, but added cogs in the centre, dropping beads into the middle of each one, and stamping onto the leaves this time.

I will be back later in the month with more ideas to share with you, do keep checking in to see more fabulous ideas from my Design Team mates. Thanks for stopping by,

Steampunk travel (by Miranda)

Hi there,

Today another one of my Steampunk travel posts. I have used both the Steampunk travel and the Steampunkery sheets. I have mad a background using Brusho and Bister pigment powders onto water based paper (300 grs.). It creates a real old and worn look.

I have stamped both sizes of the balloon and used all of the words which are on both sheets. I have colored them with pencils and added some gear die cuts.

Thanks for your visit and till the 31st for my last blogpost!

Have a lovely day,

Set Sail (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, this is my final marine themed post for this month. I have really enjoyed working with these stamps, and have lots more ideas for them.

My project this time around uses the large ship image, which I wanted to portray sailing through a forest at the bottom of the ocean. I stamped the images and then embossed some cogs from the Punky Flowers stamp sheet. I coloured the background using Distress Inks, and then stamped a cog fragment from the Steampunk Butterfly stamp set over the top.

I coloured the images with Inktense pencils and added some fronds at the bottom of the page using the legs from the octopus taken from the stamp of the month set. Finally, I added a sentiment taken from the Steampunkery stamp set.

 Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Guest Post - Steampunkery Fun by Debs Smith

Our guest blogger this week is Debs Smith and she is probably our most far flung contributor! Debs has been playing with  some of our steampunk themed stamps and designed this wonderful card.

Hello everyone, 

My name is Debs Smith and at the moment I live in Shanghai!! First let me thank Glenda for inviting me to do this post I feel so honoured. And secondly thanks to all of you for reading this post. I knew as soon as Glenda asked me to do this post which sets of stamps I was going to use. So here we are -  it's taken a while!

The stamps sets I have used are Punky Flowers and Steampunkery.  These sets are great for both male and femail cards, the designs are really edgy and a little bit different from other steampunk set!, I must admit I had a couple of cards made before I got to this design, they just seemed a bit ordinary!!

This one in the end was really simple just using two stamps, one of the flowers from Punky Flowers and the Beetle from Steampunkery. Firstly I stamped the beetle into roughly the centre of the card as I wanted it to look like it had found the clock in the flowers and was flying away with it. Then I stamped the biggest flower image on the left side of the card with Jet Black Archival, and then created a mask of that flower by stamping it onto a post it note (making sure that the sticky bit had the heads of the flowers once it was cut out). 

I placed the mask over the top of the first flower and stamped the second flower and then placed the mask over the second flower and stamped the third flower until the card was filled.  It doesn't matter where you stamp your first image as long as once you have stamped it you cover it whilst you do the second. If, for example, you wanted to stamp the first flower in the middle leave the mask on the first image until you have stamped both the second and third image otherwise you will have stamped over one of the images. 

Then I painted the flowers with Distress Paint using Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar, Broken China and Dusty Concord. After shaking the bottles I just dabbed a bit of paint onto my non-stick craft mat and then with a damp brush (I used a water brush but an ordinary brush will work just as well) I picked up the paint from the mat and painted the flowers.   

With the Beetle I wanted a bit of a metallic sheen to him so I mixed a little Shaded Lilac with Dusty Concord and some Brushed Pewter (again on the craft mat), painted the beetle and then once he was dry just added a little more Brushed Pewter to give him some highlights to make him sparkle.  Then I painted the clock with Brushed Pewter.

To create the background first I punched a 1” circle out of post it notes and stuck it in the top right hand corner of the card.  Then I took a piece of scrap paper and tore a strip off  to give it a nice rough edge.  Next I placed the piece of paper on the card and with Broken China distress ink I started to shade the background.  TIP: The piece of paper just gets moved  down each time you have finished the section above it, which gives you a nice sky effect (or it can create nice mountains and hills.) 

Once I had filled the background with the cloudy sky I removed the post-it note circle and voila there was my sun (or moon). The Time Flies stamp from the Steampunkery set was stamped onto a piece of card painted with Brushed Pewter and matted onto piece of card coloured with Shaded Lilac.

If you like would like to see more of my work it can be found on my blog (along with other cards using Chocolate Baroque stamps) Notations of a Crafter or I am on Pinterest as ShanghaiDebs.

Please join us in sending our thanks to Debs (all the way back to Shanghai) for this fun design by leaving a comment below.

Those magnificent men in their flying machines (posted by Claire)

As soon as I saw the Steampunkery themeplate I started singing 'Those magnificent men in their flying machines' and just couldn't get it out of my head so I made a computer generated sentiment to go with this card.

I've used distress stains to create the cloudy sky and distress markers to colour the image. Pop over to my blog for all the details 

Thanks for popping by and for all your lovely comments

Claire xx

Mobile phone (posted by Claire)

Hi there, Claire here with another sample from 'Steampunkery and 'Steampunk Travel', I thought the mobile phone would be perfect for the man who has everything lol.

I've used Derwent pencils to colour the image and popped a die cut aperture over the top before matting on some kraft card. The lacey cogs border was also stamped on kraft. I used the digital backing paper 'Edwardian Gentlemen' and inked over with vintage photo distress ink using the Crafters Workshop 'Gears' template. In the opposite corners I used the same template with stencil paste, brushed over with mica powder for a metallic look. I added some brown velvet ribbon and a lovely little lock brad to finish off.

I hope you're enjoying the new stamps as much as I am. 

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Steampunk beetle (posted by Claire)

Hi there, Claire here with my first project using the new Steampunkery and Steampunk Travel Stamps, I really enjoyed experimenting with different products to make this card.

The background was made using black and brown shades of PanPastels just blended together and then stamped with the text from Steampunk travels using versamark ink. I brushed over gold mica powder and not only did it pick the detail up beautifully it left a slight golden shimmer over the panpastel base. The next layer was  made using the same shades of panpastels this time using the 'Gears' template from Crafters Workshop. I added a top coat of Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium Gloss , dabbed on with some kitchen roll, Next came a layer of torn card coloured with panpastels and stencil paste applied through a Tile Texture Crafters Workshop template

I stamped the beetle three times on some black Clearly for Art modelling film using versamark ink and embossed with gold. I painted the beetles with twinkling h20s and cut them out before giving them a coat of Matte Multi medium. I layered them up and finished off with a layer of glossy accents on the beetle and the clock face. You can see the detail a little better in the photo above

I hope you're enjoying all the inspiration from my team mates, these stamps are going to be perfect for those tricky male themed cards with the steampunk images and the fun sentiments

Claire xx

Bright little Beetle (posted by Judith)

For my second project, I wanted to create a more feminine feel with these steampunk stamps. I set about creating a soft background using Pan Pastels in shades of orange and pink. I used  the reverse Chicken Wire Crafter's Workshop template through which I sponged Versamark, and then applied a blend of the same colours of Pan Pastels as before. I then stamped the large cog and flower stamp from Punky Romance in opposite corners, again using Versamark, and applied more Pan Pastels.

I cut some flowers and leaves from handmade paper using Nestability shapes, and coloured these with Pan Pastels. I stamped the darker half of each leaf with the small tree from Steampunk Christmas. I scrunched the flowers and stuck them together with a brad. I attached them to the card with a bit of Glossy Accents, before sticking a cog in the centre, filling this with Glossy Accents and then adding some seed beads.

I coloured the beetle with Polychromos pencils, and brushed the wings and body with a little bit of gold Mica powder before I covered the body with Glossy accents for a bit of shine.

Keep popping back to see what my Design Team mates have come up with using these great new stamps over the coming days. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Cabinet card concertina book (posted by Elaine)

As soon as I saw these new steampunk stamps, I felt they were crying out to be used on a kraft card based project. I wanted to do something like an advertising themed project and so the idea for this little book was born!

I cut 6 panels from kraft card using the Tim Holtz cabinet card die. On each panel I added one of the various contraption stamps in versafine onyx black ink. Making sure the ink was thoroughly dry, I added colouring with brown, white and cream colouring pencils. I added a little crackle stamping using the mini mail art set crackle stamp and shading in more Distress Photo DI. I added a computer generated title which I mounted in a chipboard bookplate with some die cut flourishes. I finished off with a couple of metal cogs.

The back cover uses  the top hat image, masked with an image from the Edwardian Gentleman plate added

I joined the panels together with cream vintage ribbon which means the book can be tied together to make it stand up more firmly.

I really enjoyed making this project, colouring onto kraft card with the pale pencils adds a really nice effect.

I have posted another project on my own blog, here is a sneeky peek -

Do pop over and take a peek here at this project where I went to town with embossing and metal!


Elaine x

Announcing Steampunkery (by Glenda)

Last week we released two new stamp sets, Steampunkery and Steampunk Travel.

Available individually or as a great value multi-buy, these mix so well with our other Steampunk stamps (Punky Romance and Steampunk Christmas).

The girls have been having great fun with these sets and they will soon be showing you their wonderful artwork, both here and on their own blogs.  You can find out more details of how the card above was made on my blog.

There is more Sunny Sunflower artwork to come too, so lots of reasons to stay tuned (or become a follower if you aren't already).  

And as if that weren't enough, I have one Steampunkery multi-buy to give away and I will be selecting ALL the comments from now through to the 16th June.

Best of luck!