Raindrops keep falling on his head...

Thank you for stepping by,

I made this from a blank manila shipping tag. I stamped the umbrella man in coffee archival ink and covered it with a mask. I make masks of most my stamps.

Then I stamped the raindrops in white stazon ink and then inked the tag using faded jeans distress ink and a blending tool. The white stazon works as a resist and the mask protects the stamped man. Then inked the edges of the tag with walnut stain distress ink and added the bow. And once done removed the mask.

To make the drops pop a bit more I went over them with a waterbrush to lift a bit of the ink off. This brought out the drop just a bit more...

I love love love the stamps by www.designsbyryn.com.

Until next time,

Take care...
Frédérique
Xxx

A few projects of January

Dear visitor,

I made a few simple tags this month that I like to share with you.

I am in a stamping phase at the moment. I plan to use my stamps more as I am a stamper at heart, but strayed a bit and used a lot of embellishments and ephemera the last couple of months.

So I am going back to basics hahaha.

Until next time,
Take care and keep your craft on ;-)

Frédérique
Xxx

Blog hop nomination

Today I was nominated by the very talented and lovely Kath for a creative blog hop. I am very honoured and will nominate two other people whpo inspire me and are amazing.

The following questions were asked:

1. What am I working on?

I am currently working on my christmas cards. I always start on time as I don't like pressure. I cannot create under pressure so I like to take my time on each and every one of them.

2. How does my work differ from others in my genre?

Uhm....I don't really know. My tags, cards and mini albums are a mixture of all sorts of styles and techniques. I go through phases of certain things. One day it is stencils and the next it is flower making. Sometimes it is romantic or vintage, and the next day it is distressed and grungy.

3. Why do I create what I do?

To keep me occupied and sane. Plain and simple. I create in the first place for me. I do make cards and tags for special occasions like anniversaries and birthdays, but often enough I create for the sake of getting it out of my head so it won't keep me awake at night.

4. How does your creative process work?

It differes. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night because a design or layout pops into my head. And it won't leave me alone until I have created it. And sometimes I sit at my desk and see something that inspires me like a stamp or a die cut. Other times I just grab a tag and start inking and have no clue where it goes. It has a life of its own and I end up with a tag or card I can send to someone or give to someone. And ofcourse there are occasions where you make the personalised project for a certain person like a birthday or birth.

In any way...it is always a surprise what I end up with....

Well here are my two nominees for the blog hop:

Tammy Tutterow

Tammy is an amazing artist and part of the DT of Tim Holtz and Ranger. And rightfully so. I admire her immensely and learn a lot from her tutorials.

Ryn Tanaka

Ryn has the most amazing detailed stamps. It is no secret that I am madly in love with her droplet and bubble stamps. They take my crafting to a next level and I am Ryn ever so grateful. Her work and designs are brilliant and next to Tim Holtz she is the reason I craft.

you really should check both of these blogs out as they are very educational and different.

Until next time,

Take care.
Frédérique xxx

Tag made with the droplets stamp from DesignsbyRyn

Hello there, how nice of you to drop by.

Today I want to share a little tag I made using my new DesignsbyRyn droplets stamp.
I inked the tag using the wrinkle free distress technique by Tim Holtz, one of my favourite techniques.
I then stamped the droplets in a darker blue ink. I coloured them in with tumbled glass distress ink and a waterbrush. After it all dried I added the highlights with a white gel pen and stamped and cut our the sentiment. I stuck it on the tag using 3D stickers and added the ribbon.

I didn't want to add any embellishments as I think the droplets are too beautiful to cover up any more.

Until next time, take care.

Frédérique xxx

A twist on the Tim Holtz tag from July

Hello there,

Thank you for stepping by.
A while ago I joined the monthly tag challenge that Tim does for the 12 tags of 2014. It was the July tag and it involved making sand, a seahorse and sea scape. The one with the acetate backing is the one I made for that challenge. The other one, with the smaller seahorse and red coral, is a tag I made today using my new DesignsbyRyn stamps. I am totally and madly in love with all the bubbles and water droplet stamps.

The tag is coloured with distress stains and the sand is made with distress embossingpowder, distress glitter and glue. I stamped the coral in red and the seahorse in dark blue. I coloured it with distress ink and then with a wink of stella clear pen to give it some sparkle. I stamped the bubbles in tumbled glass distress ink and heat embossed it with holographic embossing powder. Then I coloured the bubbles with tumbled glass distress ink and a waterbrush. Then I highlighted the bubbles with a white gel pen. Add a piece of hemp string and voilà...

The Tim tag is made with the same sand and background. I drew a seahorse as I don't have the die cut and didn't have the stamp yet lol. The rest are all die cuts too. The backgeound is a piece of acetate that I embossed with my cuttlebug. A word band was added and a piece of string and it was done.

It is so easy once you know how it is done ;-)

Until next time, take care...

Frédérique
Xxx

Alcohol ink backgrounds

Hello dear visitor,

I had a play with alcohol inks again. I love making backgrounds with them. Either in blots, streaks or tartans. In this post I share a card made with streaks and one with a tartan background.
The streak one is very easy to do. I put some alcohol ink on my blending tool and drag it from one side to another to create the streaky effect. After it is dry I stamped the corals on the card using black Archival ink. I let it dry and then stamped the fish silhouettes. Those stamps are all by Designs by Ryn. I love her stamps. They make it so easy to create something nice. Mount it on a card and it is done.

The tartan card is made the same as the streaky one, only I always make sure I put contrasting colours next to eachother. I drag the tool from one side to the other and then rotate the card 90° and drag it again over the paper, this will create the tartan pattern. After it dried I stamped the lady silhouette and let that dry. I mounted it on a card blank after I chomped the corners. Same as the streaky card.

It is really simple to do, yet it looks quite nice I think.

Until next time, take care.

Frédérique xxx

Another tag made with stamps from DesignsbyRyn...

Hello bloggers,

I made another tag with the amazing rain drop stamp by DesignsbyRyn. I love how real they look. The tag itself is cut from ledger paper. I used stencils, distress markers and the spritzer by Tim Holtz to create the background. The umbrella man I cut from a piece of acetate with the steel rol die also by Tim Holtz. I inked it with black and silver alcohol ink. I stuck it on the tag and wrote the sentiment. I then stamped the rain drops on the tag and coloured them in with watered down evergreen bough distress ink and a waterbrush. I adore those droplet stamps. Cannot wait to order more. The edge of the tag I inked with walnut stain distress ink. As the finishing touch I added highights to the droplets with a white gel pen.

Until next time....take care.

Frédérique
Xxx

Designsbyryn take two

Dear fellow crafters,

Again I was inspired by a stamp I received a short while ago by DesignsbyRyn. I just love these droplet stamps. The tags just create themselves.

As the one I did in the previous post, I inked the tag using the wrinkle free distress technique by Tim Holtz and stamped the droplets and coloured them in with tumbled glass distress ink. Then  watered it down with a water brush. I highlighted the droplets with a white gel pen and stamped the sentiment. These stamps are so intricate and detailed that nothing else is needed. In this case....less is absolutely more....

Well until next time...take care

Frédérique
Xxx