Three's My Lucky Number - SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges

Time for team B to show their inspirational projects for our actual challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges!

"Three's my lucky number" is the theme (and a fab song title from Massive Attack which I really love) - so threes and/or threesomes are what we want to see on the makes entered to the challenge.

I recently fell in love with a new format to work on - 4x6'' Art Journaling Cards! They are originally meant for Project Life journals but I rather regard them as something inbetween ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and Art Journals - not to be done in a sketchbook and also larger than ATCs (which I think is perfect for quick and joyful mixed media projects).

As you can see in the picture I have used some old book pages, Distress products, archival ink and rubber stamping, my beloved letter stamps, washi tape, white Gesso, rough fabric ribbon, a Tim Holtz numeral die, alpha part AND stamp and brads on this AJC.

"Three Men in a Boat" (by Jerome K. Jerome) was my first real English book we read back in school and I loved it! In my version the three men travel by Steampunk boat ;)

I stamped the title, cut out the words and blended the edges with Sepia archival ink. Then I glued them onto my card using matte Decou-Page so I could shade in the single word tiles with the Distress markers. That has been one of my favourite techniques for quite a while now and I first saw (and learned) it with fab Stephanie Ackerman's online workshops - and love using it with most of my makes. And only recently I also saw Tim Holtz use this technique on his January tag for his 12 tags of 2015! (and I can understand why he too thinks it is cool! It really helps blend in and accent word stickers and creates additional depth).

I die cut the "3" using a Sizzix Movers and Shapers numeral die and glued some rough fabric behind the opening - which looks cool when you hold the AJC against the light:

There are a lot of threes and threesomes to be found on my project: the numeral "3" appears three times, there are three different kinds of washi tape used, three colours (white, brown and black), three brads, the word "three" and my three men (outside their boat) of course. So I guess this should be enough...lol.
(No, wait! I just saw that there are 3s on the measure tape washi tape too!!!....I didn't notice until editing my blog post...giggle). 

I love these three gentlemen! They look like real pioneers who are ready to explore new territory and look out for adventures (and take proper notes and draw maps and sketches of all their discoveries of course ;)!

Why don't you hop over to the Steampunk challenge blog now and check out my teamies' creations? I promise you will love what you see! ;) Maybe you will even join in our challenge?.... I would love to see your interpretation of the "lucky 3".

Hugs and happy crafting,

Claudia xxx

SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges - Mid Month Inspiration

Servus, dear Steampunk friends!

As some of you may already have spotted, we have some slight alterations with inspirational posts on the Steampunk challenge blog over at SanDee&amelie's. As our former "ambitious-two-steampunk-girlies team" has grown (because I was so lucky to have some of my favourite steampunk creators join my team), we decided to present our projects for your inspiration with two separate posts - one at the start of the challenge on the 1st of the month - and the other at mid-month, on the 15th.

So today you will find some more and brand new inspiration PLUS our last new member being introduced (AND all detail there is to know) for our actual challenge

"Shades of Grey, Blue and Rust"

if you hop over to our challenge blog.


And this is what I came up with to get you started:

This month we want you to exclusively use all shades of grey, blue and rust you can come up with (and decide to use) to create something steampunk for our challenge! Black lines from stamped images or quotes are allowed of course.

As usual we have a prize to give away too - donated by one of our generous sponsors! And it is once again Tusia from 7 Dots Studio! Yay! Check out the prize package she offers to send to one randomly drawn player from this month's challenge!

I was so lucky to lay my hands on one of the fab Sizzix Alterations arch dies with a sale lately - so I had to use it as soon as it arrived with the mail! The shrine-like shape is so very inspiring, isn't it?

I used some Distress crackle, idea-ology, Distress paints and DecoArt Americana acrylic paints alongside the fab large wooden gear from the fab Ditzie Designs range (which I really really LOVE as it is so heavenly bulky - which makes it look very "real" metal and heavy).

The small panel I glued the gears onto is a scrap of one of the Tim Holtz "Laboratoire" stash sheets. The "steampunk" word is an Artistic Outpost stamp.

The metal foil lace ribbon was a gift from a wonderful swap with the lovely and awesomely talented Candy Colwell (thank you once again, Candy! x).

Even though my mojo is suffering a bit at the moment - due to some health issues that cause trembling hands (which makes stamping and crafting rather tricky and tedious) - I really enjoyed creating this small steampunk assemblage panel! I hope you like it too and that you will join in our challenge soon! Can't wait to see your interpretation of our challenge theme!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia xx

"Balloon, Balloon!" - the November Challenge at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges

Welcome back to another edition of SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges! This month we want you to create something with the theme

"Balloon, Balloon!"

It is totally up to you how you interpret the theme and whether you create a 2D or 3D project - as long as it is Steampunk and the theme is visible with your projects (and we don't have to search for a relating item with the magnifying glass *lol). 

I had a lot of started projects for this one that went into the bin but finally I found myself messin' around with Distress inks, wrinkle free distress technique, creating stamped layers and textures... I LOVED it! 

I made a wall hanging from some manila card which I glued onto a piece of heavy cardstock. 

But before glueing the layers together I treated the manila card with the Tim Holtz "Wrinkle Free Distress Technique" (something which I never get tired of doing) using Distress inks "rusty hinge", "vintage photo", "pumice stone" and "walnut stain". 

I added some gold texture paste dots with some areas and also some stamped gears images here and there. 

I also stamped some crackle texture onto the hanging using the fab Donna Salazar "Crackle" stamp. 

 

The balloon driver is a stamp from the wonderful "FrenchFlight" collection from

Artistic Outpost. As it has no balloon on top I combined it with the mechanic globe stamp from the Papermania "Chronlogy" collection.

I stamped it with black jet archival ink, coloured the image with crayons and cut it out as I wanted to glue it to the background using thick foam sticky pads to add some dimension.

The label was treated with alcohol inks and its insert was given some crackles by giving it a medium coat of clear rock candy Distress crackle paint and some rubbed in Distress ink "walnut stain". 

For the hanging I bent some black wire into shape and attached it to the card in which I had punched two holes and inserted some rivets. 

I also added two pennants which were stamped on using my HeroArts "letter stamps" and given some strokes of DecoArt Metallic Lustre using my fingertips.

Some metal embellisments with the lower corners - done! Hope you like it and get inspired to do your "Balloon, Balloon" - project for our November Challenge over at SanDee&amelie's SPC very soon ;)

Hugs and happy crafting!

die amelie xx


I enter this panel to the following challenge/s:

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/simon-says-anything-goes-2/

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/challenge-anything-goes/

http://craft-roomchallenge.blogspot.co.at/2013/10/stencils-and-masks_29.html (stencilled dots)

Steampunk Notes and a swap!

I had the great pleasure to do a swap with awesomely talented Candy Colwell lately and today is the day we both chose for showing to you what we swapped with each other.

 As you may well remember - if you have already visited my blog yesterday - she is our fabulous guest designer this month at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges! Yay!

All those who haven't already seen what she made for our August challenge "Matchbox Steampunk" - hop over to our challenge blog or to her blog to see the absolutely fantastic make of hers!!!

 She also created an awesome project for me! A truly terrific Steampunk note book!!!

It's soooo fantastafabuliciously great, isn't it? :)
The inside comes with beautiful papers and an envelope to store some tiny notes in too!!! I LOVE that! 

Loads of yummy texture and detail on the outside:

And the magnifying glass with the awesome portait of a gentleman wearing a top hat is the perfect eye-catcher! Yippeeh! And it's all MINE! *lol


But not enough - Candy also sent some wonderful goodies along with her fabulous note book:

Loads of great ephemera, ribbons, buttons and paper treasures AND also some fab metal embellishments. WOW!

It felt like Christmas (maybe even better!) when I unwrapped all the treasures she had sent me! What a terrific parcel to receive!! Thank you so much, Candy!!! (I already used some of the goodies you sent me *giggle...but I as I did use them on a DT project I cannot show you before 1st of September (yes, I am a well prepared crafting girl *lol).

I also had sent her an altered steampunk note book (but only about half the size of hers *lol). I really wanted to make something very special for her and when she told me that she liked it, I was very happy!  (I am still so very proud and happy that she wanted to do this swap with me as I am a great admirer of all of her work ;).

It took me some days to figure out what I wanted to create for our swap, but when I stumbled upon a little notebook (a free gift from my favourite "Schloss-Hotel", Burg Bernstein) and a folding yardstick from the 1Euro store, the project started to take shape in my imagination finally....

I cut the folding yardstick (with old large scissors) to pieces, alcohol inked them and  sanded them down afterwards for later use.

Then I covered the booklet with some papers from my Tim Holtz stash on the in- and outsides, leaving the paper with the inside of the booklet's back cover a little wider than the actual size of the cover so I could glue one of the yardstick pieces to it.

The edges of the front and back covers were distressed using a carpet knife. After that I blended the edges with DI "gathered twigs" and "rusty hinge".








  For the two "inventors" images behind the screens
on the front and back covers I first gessoed a page from an old book, then stamped the three inventors from the Artistic Outpost "French Flight" sheet onto it using Memento archival ink "rich cocoa" and tore them to three pieces, blending the edges with DI "gathered twigs" (one of my new favourites from the DI range).






I cut two screens from acetate (mostly packaging material from my Sizzix dies) and treated them with various alcohol inks. After they had dried I sanded the edges with a sanding tool and scratched the surface with the Tim Holtz "retractable scratching tool".



I mounted them together with the stamped images and some layers of heavily distressed ribbons to the booklet using brads and glue.


Both parts of the metal latch were glued to the cover and the yardstick using strong crafting glue made especially for use with wood, metal or plastic.

The gear and the yardstick piece on the front cover were also glued in place after
stamping and heat embossing the Paper Artsy "gears" image using Ranger "rust" embossing enamel and the heat tool.

The "notes" sticker is one of the Tim Holtz idea-ology chit chat stickers, blended with DI "rusty hinge" before adhering it to the cover.

I love the closing mechanism! I had been storing this one for a very long time and was so happy that it finally found its perfect "home" :)









For a finish I added some self adhesive ribbon on the back, covering the overlapping piece on the back of the paper where I glued the yardstick on. I added a tiny piece of a dictionary page for further embellishment and gave the edges of the pages a coating with copper rub on and  - done!

I hope you like it (and of course that Candy does as well ;)! I really enjoyed creating this booklet and using some of the stuff I love so much! Thank you for stopping by and staying with me this far. As usual I have added some more close-ups for you and hope you enjoy them as you enjoyed your visit here!

Hugs,

die amelie x

I enter this project into SimonSaysStamp's Wednesday Challenges "Anything Goes" and Fashionalbe Stamping Challenges' "Script/Book/Pages/Print" challenges

Matchbox Steampunk - August challenge "chez SanDee&amelie's"

Welcome back for another appetizer for the new challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges :)

This month we want you to 

use one or more matchboxes with your projects. 

As always our challenge is "anything goes"

as long as it is Steampunk 

and our monthly theme is incorporated. 

Of course this month we have a wonderful guest designer (with a lot of contageous creativity going on ;) with us again and a prize to give away for this month's randomly drawn prize winner. ;)


I had rolled this theme in my head for quite a long time - having no idea even though it was me who suggested the matchbox challenge... but after I had a long play with some white matchboxes, combining them in multiple ways, stacking them, building a row and whatever you can do with three matchboxes, I came up with a creation that I would call "cubist", as it reminds me of a lot of cubist sculptures that all have in common that the artist had a play with cubes, trying to arrange them to a shape and form that might draw the viewers interest to it ;)

So here comes my "Steampunk Cubism" *giggle:

It also reminds me of geometry drawing one learns at school ;)

I first covered a piece of crumpled and then again unfolded brown paper with random brushes of white DecoArt Gesso and after that had dried I stamped some Kaisercraft "dicitionary meanings" and IndigoBlu adverts on it with black archival ink. I covered the matchboxes with this paper, cutting off the excess afterwards.

The compartments of the matchboxes were sprayed with GlimmerMist first and then covered with a filmstrip washi tape on the outsides (which also helped to stabilize them).

Then I gave the edges of the boxes a shading with Distress ink "walnut stain" and glued the three boxes together. I also added some torn scraps of the brown stamped paper for more interest:

For the insides of the compartments I stamped three Steampunk images (from Oxford Impressions and Artistic Outpost) onto more gessoed brown paper, cut three pieces to size and glued them to the boxes' bottoms.

Next I stamped the "cube steam punk" onto white card using my HeroArts letter stamps and jet black and sepia archival inks. I cut the letters out separately and glued them to three different areas of my "sculpture". Afterwards I drew a black border around each letter for more depth.

Having all my paper work done I went on with embellishing. I created a handle for one of the compartments using thin black wire.

The second "drawer" got a metal tab on it showing my lucky number: 7.

To this matchbox I fixed a Tim Holtz idea-ology light bulb using wire again. The wire also holds the gear in place.

To the top of the third compartment I glued a Prima butterfly nut that I gave some dabs with alcohol ink "terra cotta", with which I also coloured the bulbs' sockets.

The bottlecap (one of my on-my-balcony-rusted ;) was embellished with a plastic button I coloured in black and gave some metallic rub ons from DecoArt afterwards. I also glued a rusty screw to the side of the "cube" matchbox.

The upright matchbox compartment was glued to the box to stay in place. The other two compartments can be closed and opened (to hide or reveal their "treasures").
I had a lot of fun embellishing my tiny sculpture with Prima-, selfmade- and Tim Holtz idea-ology goodness and I hope you like the outcome too :)

Please, hop over to our challenge blog to see what my dear friend and Steampunk soulmate SanDee1899 and our special guest Candy Colwell (YESSS, THE Candy Colwell ;) have prepared for your inspiration! I thank you for staying with me this far (as it was a quite picture heavy post again), wish you a happy crafting time and look forward to seeing your matchbox creations soon entered with our challenge at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk challenges. You always enter such a lot of creative awesome stuff - I can hardly wait to see what you come up with next!

I join the challenges over at SimonSaysStamp - "Anything Goes", Fashionalbe Stamping Challenges - "Script/Books/Pages/Print" , Divas by Design - "Favourite Color Combo" (I LOVE black and white combined with browns!), Out of a Hat Creations - "Numbers" (my lucky number 7 appears two times on my project) and Lady Anne's Challenges - "Monochrome" with this project.


Hugs,

die amelie x