Altered Torso

... with an inky, stencilled and stamped background and lots and lots of circles and Stickles as dress-up! I created the altered torso for the Art 'n' Soul Torso swap over at Flickr: You could dress it in clothes and accessories. Or use it as a base for collage, stamping, mixed media, whatever you fancy - in any medium you want from fabric to metal to paint. 100% digital excluded. The challenge was set by Deb who has the most wonderful ideas when it comes to challenges, thank you so much.
What to do, what theme to choose for the torso ... I wanted the colours a little bit like Spring or even a bit summary and decided to have a pinky-summer roses colour scheme. I cut the torso base from white card (about 18cm tall) and brushed it with distress ink 'Tattered Rose'. For the first time I used a rough brush, and I quite like that it gives a bit of a pattern/texture to the background. Once the base was covered with ink I stencilled a rhomb pattern (stencil: TCW) with distress ink 'Fired Brick'. To finish the base I stamped various images using a hybrid ink 'Strawberry Fool' (stamps: Stamper Anonymous, Kaisercraft)

 

Now the base was ready to be decorated - Summer dress in 'girlie' colours and rose pattern - this is the front and the back of the torso

I cut lots and lots of circles using Quickutz Circle dies from Crate Paper, positioned them, glued them to the torso and filled the gaps with Stickles. The finishing touches are a little paper flower and a little pearl necklace (lol). 

The sad part of this swap is that this is the last one, the group will be closed. This is absolutely sad, it was the first ever swap I did and it felt so much like home. I will miss the swaps with all the talented and inspiring Ladies in the group. A big thank you to Viv who has been the soul and inspiration behind the group all along! Petra.

Linked to: Unruly PaperArts - inky backgrounds
stamps & fun=Creativity - butterflies
Totally Papercrafts - things with wings 
One Stop Craft Challenge - colour inspiration and die cut
 

Bookmarks & Recipe

Yippeehh, the bookmarks from the last Art Exchange: Travel The World bookmarks arrived and they are wonderful! Thank you so much to Laura, Zoechaos, Sarah and Valerie-Jael

Now you might ask where is the recipe. Well, good things come in three's ... and definitely so at the Gingersnap Creations blog for the the last challenge of the month of June, the Blue Moon Challenge with 3 papers, 3 buttons, 3 words

The papers are from October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket. They are layered and machine stitched onto an A6 plain white card. Both telephone and sentiment are Hero Arts stamps. The telephone is stamped, cut out and covered with Glossy Accents. The finishing touch are the 3 buttons.

Hope you come and join us for the challenge at Gingersnap Creations. Enjoy your weekend, Petra.

Travel The World Bookmarks

The theme of the last Gingersnap Creations Art Exchange was: Travel The World Bookmarks with each bookmark being different and having a geographic theme. I truly enjoyed making them although using the sort of standard size of 1.5" x 7" and keeping it relatively flat posed quite a bit of a challenge.
The Netherlands
First I printed the Dutch girl and the bicylce image (both from the Graphics Fairy) on white card, then I designed the background. The cloudy background is stamped with a Hero Arts stamp and Memento ink, the bottom part of the background inked with distress ink. I did some fuzzy cutting with the tulip image from Hero Arts and coloured it with distress ink. The finishing touch was the stamped word and stamp at the top.










English Seaside
A purely stamped bookmark in the tradition of the scene stamping technique using masks for the beachhuts and the Lady. The stampes are from Hero Arts for the clouds, Eline Pellinkhof for the post stripes and for the rest Crafty Individuals. For the colouring I used inks, Koh-i-noors and Copics.













Paris
All digital images (including the background) are from the Graphics Fairy. There is only little stamping on this bookmark with stamps from Clear Stamps.
















Italy
The background is from Cemerony. The stamped images are from a stamp set from Crafty Individuals which I cut to size and mounted onto the background. The images are coloured with chalks and inks.

Petra.

Two of Four - Part 2

Here are my two missing heart coasters for the Gingersnap Creation Art Exchange. My aim was to make them as different as possible to the first ones ... more vintagey, more romantic

paper: Eline Pellinkhof - stamps: Impression Obsession, Hero Arts, Elzybells - image: Suze Que

paper: Eline Pellinkhof - stamps: Hero Arts, Impression Obsession, La Blanche - image: Her Creative Spirit

Wishing you a wonderful and enjoyable weekend, Petra.

Two of Four

I got in a bit of a panic this evening ... I thought the Gingersnap Heartcoaster Exchange would close next week ... but it doesn't ... phew! There is even still time to sign up (lol). I love the idea for this exchange: create 4 coasters/beer mats with hearts somewhere on the piece. Here are two of the four. The base for the coasters are beer mats.

Wishful Thinking
The beer mat is covered with white slightly textured card. I stamped the background with Rogue Readhead Design stamps. The little frog prince is from Stretch 'n Bubbles, printed on white card, cut out and coloured with Koh-i-noors and OMS. The finishing touch are glittery toenails and a golden glitter crown. The hearts are free stamps, I cut them out , coloured them with copics and covered them with glossy accents. The sentiment is printed.

Hugs & Kisses
As for the first one I covered the base with white card and used Rogue Redhead Design and Hero Arts stamps as background. The edge around the base is slightly distressed with chalk. The little love bird and heart are Hero Art stamps which are cut out and coloured with copics and lightly glittered. The heart is covered with glossy accents.

Now I am looking forward to making the last two coasters and they might be slightly different (lol). If you are interested to participate in the exchange, the details are on the Gingersnap blog. Have a wonderful Friday, Petra.

Winter Themed 4x4 Panels

A 'frosty' art exchange at Gingersnap Creations: Winter themed 4"x 4" card panels. I made the panels in stages ... and ended up with panels which look all quite different apart from the glitter. When looking at them together, I realized each one of them has something glittery! Happy crafting, Petra.

BasicGrey papers
stamps: Vintage Christmas No 4 Adirondack ink
Stickles
brad and ribbon from stash

papers: October Afternoon, Kraft card from Elzybells, BoBunny, corrugated card
stamps: Elzybells
ink: Elzybells, Brilliance
colouring: Koh-i-noors with OMS
Nestabilities
Stickles
ribbon and lace from stash

papers: Crate Paper
image: Graphics Fairy
Nestabilities
Martha Stewart Punch
Flowers: John Lewis

paper: October Afternoon, white textured card
stamp: Whiff of Joy
ink: Brilliance ink
colouring: Koh-i-noor with OMS
Nestabilities
Woodware Punch
Stickles
Sewing machine, thread