Steampunk It Is

Following on with the Free Theme on JFF this week it is my choice and I chose Steampunk.  I should think by now that most of you will have seen lots of it about and have some ideas on what you can produce.   I have quite a few things on my blog that are Steampunk related and my passion with this began when Sarah did a workshop at Paddy's many many moons ago.

Sarah did lots of research and came up with this taken from Wikipedia

"Steapunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980's and early 90's.  The term denotes works set in an era or world where STEAM POWER is still widely used. Usually the 19th Century, and often set in Victoria era England - but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of HG Wells and Jules Verne."

For my entry this week I decided to make a few tags, not normal sized ones but teeny weeny ones that fit into a matchbox.  Well, not that teeny weeny but still small.

This view shows the matchbox open with the tags inside.  I coloured the wrapping on the box with Rusty Hinge and Walnut Stain and then used Black Soot on the edges to give it a grungy look.

This next view shows the inside cover - as you can see I used some metal which was double embossed to provide the inside cover.  The tags all have part or whole images on them (my Steampunk stamps are quite large) and they hold together with a brad.

The final photograph shows the front of the matchbox - you can see that the drawer has a brad in it to make a handle so you can pull it open to access the tags.  All the tags have a word on the back of them that I think fits in with the theme "Steampunk".

It's a normal tiny sized matchbox (Jo asked in comments below)

Hope this has given you an insight into what you can do and that you enter into the Challenge - afterall it is Just for Fun!

WOYWW

Notice there is no number there this week as I got it wrong last week.  What a Dipsy Doo I am at times!

Well this week I am devoting to Pif time as I received my Pif from Peggy and know how many of you have been waiting to see what she created.  Wait no more -

A set of five ATC's.  These are on my bed not on my desk as I cannot fit them on my desk - in fact they will not fit on any work surface in my room at all - it is such a mess.

Are you jealous?  Well, that is not the end of it - the atc's are all numbered and so you put them in order and they make a long picture

Isn't that wonderful?

Here is one in detail so that you can see that WOYWW has been included and does appear on each and every one of them.

So you don't feel deprived and so you can see what a mess my room is in here is a photograph or two

Taken from the door looking in - my projects from weekend (see previous posts) awaiting hanging in the Guest Bedroom, my shopping waiting to be put away (where oh where do I fit those paints) and the usual mess around.

Close-up of my shopping - my wonderful new paints - can't wait to get playing but I have cards to make - boo hoo!

The left hand side - to prove there is no room for anything - all surfaces taken up.  Next week - TIDY!!"!
Want to see more chaos/tidiness - pop over to The Stamping Ground and all will be revealed.

Had a Ball Part 2

Have decided to show you the other two projects in this posting or it will go on a bit.  As I started with the last project I will continue working backwards and show you the second one first (hope you are following).

When I saw the three sets of little bottles on display I knew I liked them but to be honest I thought there was a strip of paper wrapped around each and then stamped on.  No!  It was the wonderful Fresco paint that was applied direct to the bottle and then stamped on.

The bottles were painted with three shades of the lilac (then I had to add a touch of blue - doh), then stamped on, rims painted and Grungeboard flowers put on the top.

Now you can see why I had to put a touch of blue on my bottles. These are to go in the guest bedroom at home which is why they were lilac - when I got them home they went perfectly with the colour scheme as the paper on the lower half of the room is a definite blue/violet.  Ever so pleased!

Now to the Biggie!  This was the main project and I loved it.  Getting the shading of the three colours proved a bit tricky at first and I began to regret having so much on my base but this is something I will definitely do again at home (in fact got the next one planned already) and because I will be working in my own time I can spend as long as it takes on it.  It will be something I can pick up and leave at various times.

I know there is room for improvement but I like it and it is handmade which means it does not have to be perfect in my book.

I picked out some details for you to look at

A bit of hardware and the inevitable "Time" element with me.  Why is it I love anything to do with "Time" and have to feature it whenever I can?  The cogs and the clock face are mounted on bits of Grungeboard to allow them to overlap and are quite dimensional when you see them.

The "man" is behind a faceted fragment and the little dangly bits contain tiny pictures which have been covered in Glossy Accents.

Finally this is the heart which showcases the Crackle Paint that PaperArtsy have on sale.  I put it on much thicker on the left side than the right so that I could have a variation in crackle and it worked.

Now to show you some of the samples done by Lin/Leandra and The Team - gorgeous and such fabulous colours of Fresco paint.

Now for a peak at some of the Plaster Pictures done by them

Hope you enjoyed this journey through the ArtsyCrafty weekend - sadly I cannot go to the next one as I am away on my Polymer Clay Weekend which has been booked and paid for for ages.  But if anyone reading this fancies seeing what they are doing in September details will soon be appearing on Lin's blog.

Did I have a Ball?

The resounding answer is YES!!!

Some of you may remember I have been to Lin and Leandra's latest ArtsyCrafty weekend where I did three fabulous projects.  These were using the new Fresco Paints by Paperartsy and I must admit, before I went I just thought they were "another acrylic" but honestly, they are different.  They are absolutely fabulous come in groups of three for each colour (light, medium and dark) - and at £3.95 a bottle well worth the money.  Incidently, there is also a Crackle which is the best one I have ever seen.  Seriously, you need to get the Crackle if nothing else!

Unfortunately due to my breathing problem I could not do the third project.  The Plaster dust just irritated my lungs and Leandra did the first bit, casting my elements, and Lin did the second which was my board background.

I decided to be good and move around the colours on offer so, as I had already done blue (first project), and lilac (second project), I went on the green table.  Think I got Freema's affliction (Artsycraft joke - she can sit on any colour of table and her work always turns out blue) - because mine turned out blue.  To be fair it was supposed to have some blue touches on it but there is not one bit.  So here it is - the third and final project which I enjoyed so much and would have loved to have done the plastering bit as it is my kind of thing.

It all started out with my mixing a colour for the cameo which was to be some kind of creamy type skin tone.  "Perfect" declared Lin and so this colour went all over only to find it dried with lilac undertones. That is why green was not used.  So at the end when all the blue shades had been used there was some lilac added as you can see here (although on my screen it looks quite pink - rest assured it is not - it's lilac).

Can you also see the touches of Gold Gloop?

This is the beautiful cameo

And here is the button and border

I am not going to bore you with everything I did, let you look at this project before moving on to the next so until tomorrow ....  (wonder if Chas fancies doing some plaster mixing?)  

Asian Themed T-shirt

Before I left for the ArtsyCrafty weekend I decided to do another
t-shirt.  This one was not to have Paperartsy stamps on like the previous one done at the club but I decided to do an Asian theme instead.  I didn't want to chance putting figures on in case they didn't come out very well but this time I wanted to introduce some white into the equation.

I tried another slant on the technique and did some Kanji in white and then overstamped slightly to one side in black.  Didn't work - but then I guess it was because the main background colour was black - maybe a coloured t-shirt would be better - watch this blog!

Anyway, I did use white and really liked it, so much so that when I did the lanterns I let the stamp run a bit at the base onto the black. Might have been better had I put the stamp on lower and let more of the white run onto the background.

Then I added a tiny motif to the bottom corner opposite the side with the stamping on it.

This is a black t-shirt!

And a full view of the t-shirt

NB sleeve detail too

Again the heart in the middle is the label inside

Now I have to find my Chinese coins as I want to stitch one or two onto the t-shirt - will have to be careful as I don't want it to be heavy so only a few.

As you probably gathered this is a scheduled post as I am still at the ArtsyCrafty weekend - whoo hoo!

Just a Quick Happy Birthday

Just a quick HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friend Jo who is XX today!  I am not at home therefore unable to ring her to wish her a happy birthday so am hoping she comes for a quick peek on here and gets my birthday wish for her.

Here is the card I made for her - not using one of her stamps but using a Scrollworks one which I have just got.

As you can see it is an easel card

I painted it with Twinkling H2o's and used some of my Washi paper as a background (gee I must love you Jo) then stuck some little flowers in the corner.  Wish I was as good as Diane at getting those flowers right (her cards are out of this world - you really should go take a peek) and at making this type of card - the detail Diane puts in is amazing.

Anyway, I digress, by the time you are all reading this I should be firmly in my seat at the ArtsyCrafty event at Warrington, up to my eyeballs in paint and the such like - wonder what they have in store for us?

Tomorrow I might be able to reveal what we made (if I finish it).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO!  

Been Busy

I think I said in one of my blog entries this week that I was busy.  Well all is now revealed.  I have been making a birthday cake for a friend.  I remember her getting one a few years ago at a Stamp Camp as her birthday just fell at the weekend and her saying that despite the fact that she made cakes for everyone she never had one of her own before.

Well now, Jo, you have one.  It is not a special birthday with a nought at the end of it or even a five, but it is your  birthday tomorrow and so I am delivering your birthday present a little early as I am away over the weekend on one of the ArtsyCrafty weekends.

The cake is a fruit one, hope it is nice and moist, and it has been marzipanned and then iced and there are handmade flowers (sugar) on the top.  I am pretty sure Jo is a bit of a "purple" fan and so that determined the colour of the main flowers - but the rest is white.

As I gave up cake icing years ago and don't have the various cutters any more for making the sugar flowers I had to enlist the help of my friend Margaret.  She helped me and had an alphabet set so we could cut out the lettering instead of doing it all as run outs.

A purple ribbon around the base to echo the one in the spray of flowers and some piped shells (was amazed I remembered how to do these)  finishes it off.