Artful card- Artists Pastels, Stamping & a Watercolour background!

I'd been musing about this idea for a while, after seeing so many gorgeous projects using Pan Pastels, but having a mass of Artists Pastels & crafters chalks, absolutely cannot justify buying any! Pastels (& chalks) tend to imply, and give, pale colours, so I wondered how I could use the Artist Pastels sticks in my cards, and get some nice strong colours too.
 I've used chalks over Versamark before now, but one problem I always have is that rubbing on the chalks can smudge the image- best cure is to dab them on, rather than rub them in. Artist pastels are in a stick form, and not so easy to get colour off and onto your applicator. One day, whilst roaming around Tesco, I spotted what I thought might be a solution- A Nutmeg Grater!


 So here is what I started this project with:
 A pack of Artists Pastels,  with the Nutmeg Grater in the top left corner  of the pic.

I took one of the Acrylic plate stamped sheets from an earlier post, Versamark ink and a selection of Tim Holtz stamps.

The heart was stamped first, then had some blue pastel grated over it, and dabbed across the image with a cotton wool ball.

I was actually quite shocked at how well it worked, and gave a nice clean image, without a 'halo' of colour, which chalks sometimes give.














 
Another stamp in the lower right corner, covered this time with purple pastel.Dusted it off again, and out pops the clock image.

Next came a brown pastel, over a filmstrip stamp here at the top, and you can see the grated chalk better. I also stamped the filmstrip onto a post it note, and just rubbed the cotton wool ball over it to make a mask for later on.

 Dusted off with the cotton ball again. I like how its applying colour, but with an almost 'distressed' finish, which works brilliantly with the stamps & background.

 I added some stampings of a floral swag,  in brown at the top right and orange in the lower left.

Next I stamped the Umbrella Man at the bottom, using Sepia Versafine. The post it note filmstrip mask came into play now.







The centres were cut out with a scalpel, and the image covered  with it. I used one of the Three Top Hatted men to stamp in Sepia again, into each of the frames.  To make sure I got them in the right place, out came the  Stamp Positioner- I hate it when I do it by eye, I'm always slightly 'off'.

I added some prints of the numbers and small ticket strip, using the second & third print, with Sepia Versafine again.

The final image was a single pen nib in a couple of places, just inking up one nib on the pen nibs stamp, and using the second impression.









 



     For the backing, a piece of Craft Core card, in a Teal colour embossed with Tims texture Fades 'Gears' folder. After I'd embossed it, I rubbed over the embossing with a Chipped Sapphire Distress Inkpad.

  I wanted to add a Clock die-cut to the card- I don't have this die, but had bought some ready cut from e-bay. This is a great way to get a selection of die cuts, without having to buy all the dies, especially if you are not likely to be constantly using them.
 I added colour with Distress Inkpads Faded Denim, Dusty Concord & Chipped Sapphire. Then added a covering of Versamark and clear embossing powder.




The hands coloured in Black soot, and clear heat embossed too.

Now they were layered up, sandwiching the clock face between the two card layers. The clock hands were held in place with a black brad, and I used copper brads to hold the two sheets of card together.

This is my desk, mid composition, lol. It was marginally worse at one point, here I've moved the stamps and my pad for working on, and put the DI pads away.

The whole thing is mounted onto a dark blue card base using copper brads. I  used two to attach the right hand side of the card, then removed the original two, made corresponding holes in the base card, and reattached them. I also added a Tim Holtz token to the top corner.
 Final addition was a pen nib, added with Pinflair Glue gel, over one of the stamped pen images.








Supplies:
Artist Chalks ( The Works)
Nutmeg Grater
Assorted stamps- mine came from the following Clear stamp sets( all bought from e-bay)
Lifes Possibilities
Lost & Found
City Central
Pen nibs & Top Hatted men from Cling Stamps Curious Possibility
Versafine Sepia
Versamark
Clear Embossing powder
Heat Gun
DI Pads in  Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans & Dusty Concord.
Clock Die Cut (E-Bay)
Texture Fades Embossing folder, Gears. (Comes in a two pack, with Blueprint)
Craft core cardstock
Embellishments & brads

Monochrome in reverse

As I mentioned in the WOYWW post below, I wanted to do a reverse version of the monochrome card on my desk, and here it is. The stamping was much easier this time round, as I used Memento Tuxedo Black with clear embossing powder- no having to get rid of all the stray specks! It was also starting to have a 'male' feel to it, so I stamped a mans face image (Paper Artsy), and the 'Describe Him' text stamp, which is by Artifacts, from The Stamp Bug, which pulled it all together.The base card is from PDA Card & Paper, and is black with silver flecks on it- they also have a black with gold flecks, and white with gold or silver flecks. I didn't have any white webbing spray, ( I don't even know if there is such a thing), so this card was the best option.It has white eyelash wool tied around the spine instead of ribbon, but was made in exactly the same way.

Collage Art

The main image is Illuminata, by Inkadinkado, stamped in black versafine onto cream linen card, then green, red & ochre inks  added with a stencil brush. The card base was cut to 15 cm square, and a sheet from the Kay & Co Lifes Journey pad torn and added to the left side. The image was matted onto dark green card and trimmed with a deckle edge blade then mounted partially over the torn paper. The letter A was die cut and overstamped with the same stamp, and inked in the same way. This was then triple embossed and left to cool. The word stamp from Winter Wonderland Plate 1, from Paper Artsy, was stamped in Gold Brilliance ink in the top right , then heat embossed with clear powder. The letter was fixed in place with Pop-up Glue dots. Live Well Laugh Often, Love Much was stamped in Espresso ink down the left, and some narrow brown & green ribbon tied around the spine.

You can't cross the Sea....

Both main images are from The Stamp Man, the Antique Map, and the Ship Collage  are here.The map is stamped on an Alcohol ink background, the ship on a brayered one in similar shades. Both matted onto black card, the map is mounted with DST, the Ship image is raised with foam pads. The sentiment is from Butterfly Kisses, from a set called Nautical Collage. This is stamped onto a scrap of the Alcohol ink background and matted onto black card. I set it in place with silicone glue, so I could angle it slightly- it is raised from the card base at the top. Two dolphin charms were added, also with silicone glue. The dark blue card base was cut to 15cm square. I have entered this in the Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge for this week- using your newest stamp.

'Mappy' Birthday?

This map stamp I have had for so long, I have no idea where I got it from, only that it came on a sheet with half a dozen maps and some sea/sailing -related stamps.The ship & compass collage stamp design is from The Stamp Man, and was stamped onto inkjet film that had the Crystal technique applied to it,and I cut the two parts of the image out and layered them separately, with a few dabs of silicone glue. The map was stamped onto a brayered green/blue background, then cut into three panels and matted onto blue/grey cardstock, then white. The sentiment was treated the same way. Black Staz-on was used for all the stamping. A small piece of white netting was smudged with Adirondack Latte & Espresso then scrumpled up. Held down with some silicone glue, which was also used to attach the Lighthouse charm and the sea shell. I filled the back of the seashell with the silicone to help protect it.
***  Update to this post, the map set of stamps comes from Stamp & Go.

Mosaic Birthday

White smooth card, brayered with Adirondack Sunshine Yellow & Distress Shabby Shutters, leaving the central part white.Stampscapes Cloud w/Crescent Moon, 202G was stamped at the top of the card, then Pines & Rocks, 195G,was stamped 3 times across the card,using a stamp positioner, all in Black Staz-on. Allowed to dry, then a little colour added to the rocks with Adirondack Espresso, with a sponge. The image was trimmed to 10 1/2 cm square, then cut into 3 1/2x3 1/2 cm squares. Reassembled and mounted onto a piece of bronze card, leaving a narrow gap between each square. This panel was mounted onto a square (15cm) black base card. Sentiment added to a small label, and threaded with a short piece of Bronze ribbon.

Birthday Knight

For this I took a piece of slightly textured cream paper, and stamped the large wording from the Elusive Images Medieval Heraldry u/m sheet at the top in Staz-on Timber Brown.I stamped this twice, one next to the other. Below this is stamped the script from Elusive Images Scripts & Timepieces u/m plate, also in Timber brown.This was stamped three times down the length of the paper below each of the large words. Over this I stamped the crowns and shield from the Heraldry plate. The shield was stamped in Adirondack Red Pepper, the crowns in Espresso, both second impressions.Tear  the paper at roughly 8 cm wide down its length.  I then used a colour duster to add some Terracotta ink in patches lightly over the design. I stamped the Knight in Copper Pigment ink,(Ink It Up) onto some cream hammer card and embossed with Stampendous Copper Detail powder.The sentiment was also stamped & embossed the same way. Cuttlebug folder 'Forest Branches' was used on a sheet of gold card cut to the width of the embossing folder, but twice the length. Because of the type of pattern, you can emboss half the card, then turn your card round and emboss the other half, just line up the pattern you have already embossed to the bottom of the folder.Trim down the image and matt onto black card, then onto the embossed card, leaving a wide border. Repeat with the sentiment, not leaving so much of a gold border. Black card was cut and folded to make a blank 10 1/2 cm x 20cm. The stamped script paper was then attached to the left side of the card blank with about 1cm folder around the back. The Knight was mounted with foam pads to the right hand side, and the sentiment added to the bottom. Red & Gold cord was wrapped around the spine and a red tassel added.

Mulan

This was named after the film that gave me the inspiration. Its an Asian cinema film, and if you don't like subtitled films, it's not for you.It seems that the modern dog-tags worn by soldiers are predated by the chinese army by a couple of thousand years- I assume they were made of bamboo, but carried the name of the soldier, so he could be identified. In a scene in the film, Mulan is washing these tags taken from dead soldiers, to remove the blood, before they are returned to their families. The main tag was made by painting dark brown acrylic paint & crackle glaze onto card, then a lighter brown for the top layer. The Asian lettering is from a Great Impressions stamp(#K50), and the warrior from Non Sequiteur plate 67C.Both were stamped in Staz-on Black. I dabbed some red ink onto the stamped tag.The medium tag was made by triple embossing a tag dabbed with black ink, then stamping in Kanji characters in gold Encore. The red tag had oriental letters stamped in black on a red background, triple embossed then a different Kanji stamped into it. I chose the Kanji's for Strength, Honor and Courage, as these seemed most appropriate.Kanji stamps by Stamp & Go (SIEWKFS01B.). The base paper is a torn piece of snakeskin effect paper, which reminded me of the texture of the armour.A small coin, a couple of bits of cocktail stick and two pieces of raffia combined for the final embellishment. Oh, I threaded some thick cord through the tags, and made a small bead out of Black Fimo to thread on to it. The base card was stamped with a Bamboo motif, in Versamark. I have entered this in the 'Cards for Men' challenge at The Stamp Man Blog.

Illuminata

Illuminata (1003, Inkadinkado) is stamped in Versafine Black onto white linen effect card, to give a canvas feel. A mixture of blues and purple dye ink was sponged onto the image, then cut into three equal pieces. This was matted onto black card with space between them then trimmed. A piece of calligraphy vellum was torn and stuck to the right side of the card front. A piece of calligraphy paper was punched with a fleur di lis corner punch (with the guides removed) then cut to length and added to the left side of the image. The image was then mounted using foam pads.
NOTE: make sure you punch down the LEFT side of the paper, or your text will be upside down when you add it. Yes, that is the voice of experience,lol.
An offcut of linen card was again sponged with blue & purple ink, then the letters ART from Anna Griffin's Flourish Alphabet were stamped in black and cut out into tags. Eyelets were added and some fibre threaded through before mounting with silicone glue below the main image.

Three Wolves

Three Wolves (Coronado Island SJ009-K) is stamped in Black Versafine onto white card, trimmed and matted onto black card. A square brad was added to each corner. 'Describe Him' words from The Stamp Bug's own stamp brand, Artifacts, is stamped 4 times onto white card in Black Versafine then trimmed down to size. Then matted onto black then white card and fixed to the card front with DST. The wolf panel is positioned overlapping the words panel and fixed with foam pads. Both sentiments are from the Rubbadubado Stick & Stamp message sets, and are stamped in black on white, matted onto black then mounted with silicone glue.