12 Tags of 2015 - May

Hi everyone

Today I am sharing my May tag and as you can see I had fun with a red, white and blue theme!  Well I suppose strictly speaking it is red, cream and blue ;-)

Tim used a heritage photo on his tag with burlap and tiny tattered flowers.  I chose to use denim and a photo of my two lovely boys and made teeny tiny pom pom flowers which looked fab and added great texture to my tag.

I also made my usual sampler square ready for framing at the end of the year.  Can you believe next month we are half way through already!!!

Please check out the video where you can see all the fun I had getting from Tim's inspiration to my interpretation.  I hope you are inspired to join in with this fun challenge or at least follow this link to check out the huge variety of tags this challenge inspires!

I wonder what June's tag will bring - I hope it has sunny warm weather attached ;-)  Hope you are having a fun weekend.  I am off to crop with my friends today so much chatting and coffee with cake for me!!!!  Maybe the odd scrapbook page too ha ha!

Thank you for popping by X

Alcohol Ink Ombre Effect

Hi Everyone

It is my day to feature on the Rubber Dance Blog today and I have posted a tutorial to show you how to create a lovely ombre effect using your alcohol inks.  Here is the sneak peek:

So without further ado …….please click on this link to hop over to Rubber Dance to see the cards and the tutorial.  I hope you give this technique a try as this card design is perfect if you need a card in a hurry!

Whilst you are over there don't forget we are having and anniversary blog hop to celebrate one year in Blogland and there are stamps to be won!!!!  Click on this link to find out more - grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the hop.

If you are popping by from my YouTube Tutorial then this link will take you where you want to go!!!!

Have a fabulous weekend and thank you for popping by X

Rubber Dance Colour Challenge Reminder Art Journal Page

Hi everyone

Just popping in to remind you of this months Rubber Dance Colour Challenge.  For the month of May the colours are Yellow, Pink and Purple and I am sure that you can come up with lots of wonderful projects using these sunny colours.  If you are living here in the UK you know we need all the sunshine we can get right now….We actually had hail here yesterday!!!!

There is an optional prompt of flowers this month if you need somewhere to start your creative process.

I decided to have a play in what I am calling my experimental journal and you will see from the video how I got on trying out two ways of revealing all the texture I created with my Round in Circles Rubber Dance stamps.

So the first reveal was created using a butterfly stencil from Tando and the second reveal was created by cutting around my butterfly wings to help them fly off the page!

If you watch the video you can see how much fun a colour challenge is as the first page in my experimental journal was created using the colours from the April Challenge.

So please follow this link and check out the challenge inspiration provided by my team mates this month and of course while you are there you can have a peak at the awesome Round In Circles and Think Again stamp sets that I used on my Art Journal page.

Whilst I am in the link up mood!!!! here is another link to the Rubber Dance one year blog anniversary Blog Hop!  So there are stamps to be won in the challenge and lots more to be won in the hop so get clicking!!!!

Hope you have as much fun as I did playing along with the May Colour Challenge from Rubber Dance.

Thank you for popping by X

Rubber Dance First Year Anniversary and Blog Hop

Hi Everyone

This blog hop is to celebrate the 1st year anniversary of the Rubber Dance Stamp's blog (http://rubberdance.blogspot.com).

Each member of the Design Team have chosen 3 of our own favorite DT makes for this blog hop, and we will also let you know which 3 are our favorite single stamps. 3 seems to be the lucky number here, so there'll be 3 winners, too!

TWO lucky winners drawn at random will win the Design Team members' favourite stamps!

ONE additional winner who shares this gift giveaway on Facebook gets a €20 voucher (approximately $25) to spend in the Rubber Dance webshop any time she wants! Just tell Bibi that you have shared it on Facebook when you leave a comment on the main blog (http://rubberdance.blogspot.com/…/1st-year-anniversary-give…), and you're in!

To participate in this blog hop giveaway, all you have to do is to visit the blog posts below and leave a comment on all of them. It'll just take a few minutes of your time. You do not have to be a follower on any of the blogs in our hop, but you're of course very welcome to become one - if you aren't already.

Hop along and see the Design Team's fave DT makes and fave three Rubber Dance stamps!

Susanne: http://clayscrapkreativ.blogspot.no/…/rubber-dance-1st-anni…

Majo: http://majos-art.blogspot.no/…/rubber-dance-stamps-1st-anni…

Katy: http://postcardsfromtheattic.blogspot.no/…/rubber-dance-1st…

Irit: http://iritshalom.blogspot.no/…/rubber-dance-1-st-anniversa…

Helen: http://acraftproject.blogspot.no/…/rubber-dance-first-year-… (You are Here!)

Gabriele: https://artatag.wordpress.com/…/1st-year-anniversary-givea…/

Rubber Dance blog: http://rubberdance.blogspot.com/…/1st-year-anniversary-give…

As you have read above Bibi has asked the Design Team to share our 3 of our favourite creations and pick 3 of our favourite Rubber Dance stamps that will be part of the stamp prize bundles!!!!  I am sharing creations that feature my favourite stamps so that you will have lots of ideas if you are one of the lucky winners!!!

This was my first ever Design Team creation and I just love, love, love this shell stamp!  It showcases the beautiful detail you will find in each and everyone of your Rubber Dance stamps.

Another favourite stamp of mine requires me to show you two projects so you can see the versatility of this stamp……….so starting out with the feminine and romantic …….

and moving on to the vibrant and funky!

Love these butterfly wing stamps - hopefully this counts as one stamp!!!!  You can never go wrong with a butterfly embellishment ….or hair do…….I say!

Then for my third favourite stamp and I have to say I found choosing only three very difficult indeed…….but I have chosen this cute daisy stamp!  I used a masking technique to set my daisy against a text background for this card.

So to round them up and give you the details, my three favourite stamps are; the Shell from the Beach Sentiments stamp set, the Butterfly Wings from the Collage Elements 1 set and the Daisy from the Da Vinci set!

This was a fun post to write and I hope you have enjoyed looking at just some of the projects I have created over the year using my fabulous Rubber Dance Stamps.  You will see just how versatile and inspiring these stamps are when you visit everyone on the Blog Hop - have fun and don't forget to leave a comment a quick comment along the way x

Happy Anniversary Bibi - It has been a pleasure to be part of your exciting online journey and your fabulous Design Team - I will raise a glass of something sparkling to toast to even more success and creativity in your second year!!!!  You deserve it.  Sending big hugs and kisses and hopefully lots of blog hoppers your way!!!

Thank you for hopping by!!!

Helen X

PS Hope you have enjoyed your visit to my blog - there is a video tutorial for all my Rubber Dance creations so if you want to see how to achieve any of these looks using Bibi's wonderful stamps then please click on this link to check out my Rubber Dance Playlist.

Stampotique Challenge goes Polka Dot Crazy

Hi everyone

Just nipping in to post a card tutorial and to join in with the SDC 193 Stampotique challenge this week!  I thought this card would fit the bill as I always like to include a few dots in any arty backgrounds I make and this card was no exception!

I used my Dots Fades stencil for tiny polka dots and some sequin waste for larger ones!  Don't forget the dots I made with splattering too ;-) This tutorial looks at how you can create fun arty background like I did using a variety of items and mediums.  I think they are perfect for showcasing your fabulous Stampotique stamps - let me know what you think.

Click on this link if you have a project featuring polka dots that you want to enter into this weeks SDC 193 challenge - there is a new challenge each week so don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss a thing.  I am a relatively new collector of Stampotique stamps and I have to say that they always give me a chance to be adventurous and a little crazy ;-)

The stamps I have used are designed by Magda and Daniel Torrente for Stampotique.  Here are the cutting dimensions:

Yellow card - 11 1/2" x 8" scored and folded at 5 3/4"
White card - 4 1/2" x 6 3/4 " - cut 2
Navy card - 4 3/4" x 7 " - cut 2

As always I show you how to make your inner match your outer!!!  That's it from me I am off out into the sunshine to do some pottering in the garden.  I hope you find the tutorial useful as there are a million versions of this technique that you can come up with to create fun backgrounds for your stamps!

Thank you for popping by X

12 Tags of 2015 Tutorial - April

Hi everyone

Before I get to posting my April tutorial I just wanted to let you know if you don't already that I didn't make it on to the Graphic 45 Design team for this year.  I was a bit sad yesterday as you can imagine but I managed to stay away from the chocolate which is good!!!! ;-)

Today I just wanted to thank you all for the tremendous support and good wishes that you sent to me.  It means the world to me and you will be pleased to know you can uncross those fingers at last!  The good news is that I feel a renewed determination on the crafting front and you will see two brand new tutorials appearing on my ETSY shop shortly as a result of the work I did for the audition.

I do always have fun auditioning as I completely indulge myself and bury myself in all that lovely Graphic 45 paper.  On the plus side too I did get a step closer this year ;-)  I wish the new design team lots and lots of fun this year and I look forward to seeing what they create as always.  I especially want to say congratulations to Clare for her second term as the Graphic 45 UK ambassador.  Hopefully we will bump into each other again soon.

Here is the promised tutorial for this month's 12 Tags of 2015.  I hope that with the post yesterday and all the fun you can see I had with my tag on today's tutorial that I inspire some of you who are perhaps thinking about it to have a go in May.  Which reminds me I must pop over and see what Tim's inspiration is for this month.

and just for fun and a blast from the past here are a couple of other tag tutorials.  This from way back as I was just learning this videoing malarky and it is a review of the first year I played along with the 12 tags of 2012.

Here is a tag from 2013 for you to check out.

Way back in 2012 I also used to play along with the lovely Tag Tuesday group.  They are still going strong so if you check out this video and then click on this link you can see another group of lovely crafters who make tags every week!

I still have all my tags from Tag Tuesday hanging on my wall for inspiration! Many fond memories of a lovely group.

And last but not least a fun tag video I made when I was just starting out on my YouTube journey!  Please imagine me laughing away to myself as I edit the final shots in the video!

So that is it from me for today.  I hope you have fun watching some of my videos.  Don't forget to like and share them as it really helps me promote both my YouTube Channel and my Blog.  X

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend - we have a bank holiday weekend here in the UK so more crafting time for all ;-)

Thank you for popping by x

12 Tags of 2015 - April

Hi Everyone

Today I am posting my tag for April - can you believe we are a third of the way through the year already?!

As usual I am getting to my tag late so I will post the photos today and the tutorial tomorrow or Friday depending on upload times!  At least if I post the photos today I can actually join in the challenge!

For those of you new to my blog I thought I would explain what this tag challenge is all about.  Each month I play along with the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2015 challenge which you can see if you follow this link.  Anyone who wants to play along can do so and we all link up over on Tim's blog.  On the first of every month Mr Holtz publishes a tag to inspire us.  There are always detailed photo instructions of how he made his tag and that always involves interesting techniques for us to try.  There are always lots of lovely products to see so plenty of inspiration every month…..oh and there are prizes to be won too!!!

Then it is over to you/us.  If you are a beginner you may wish to mimic Tim's tag and try out new techniques but nine times out of ten we don't have all that Tim has used so that is the fun part of the challenge.  That is our chance to give our tags our own unique twists.

From Tim's Inspiration to our Interpretation.  When you look at the tags of all the people that join in each month you will see the variety of tag designs Tim's original tag inspires.

I have been playing along for 3 years now and I love to see where the journey takes me - sometimes you can instantly recognise the original inspiration and you will definitely see that this month but other months you would have to look hard to see the elements I have taken from the original tag.

So without further ado here are my April tags and of course the matching 3" sample square.

One of this months techniques was using water colour paper and water colouring techniques.  You will see my colouring is a bit more vibrant than Tim's and if you watch my tutorial you will see how I achieved the look using both my Distress Inks and Distress Stains.

I decided to add a little decoupage element to my flowers and used my ink pads to create the two tone ribbon to match my project.  Tim used his Distress Markers to create an ombre effect on his ribbon and as I don't have many Distress Markers I did things a little differently.

Here is a close up of the sampler square:

I have four little squares now so I thought I would show you just how each month takes you in a totally different crafting direction.

I am looking forward to seeing what the whole sampler looks like when I frame it at the end of the year.

So I hope I have encouraged a few newbies to play along with this fab challenge.  Click on this link if you want to see all the different tags Tim has inspired with his April Tag.

I will post the tutorial of how I got from Tim's inspiration to my interpretation tomorrow - YouTube willing!!! ;-)

Thank you for popping by x