Simon Says and TIO # 96

 Wanda has chosen to challenge us to show some fashion at TIO this week, and Simon Says Stamp and Show some steampunk, so I just had to conflate the two... especially as I just had some new stamps from Wendie Rhodes at Kanban Crafts. So my tag is on the right, attached to a frame of the tray...

 Wendie's images are very steampunk fashionista... I just added some metal elements to dress them up a little, chains. a key, roses, necklace etc...

 I made a terrific pair of backgrounds, for the tray and for the tag, by stamping layers, as always and embossing in clear ep...

 I also made some more of my roses!! well Lynne's really but I have adopted them as my own!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE making them, and they look so good with these metal twists... I have been asked to show how I make these with my twisty thing, and I will, soon...

 Here they are close up and personal... don't you think they are yummyiness??? and they go so well with the TH gears...

 Here you can see the paper I  made  and the ickle pocket watch... . nice Martha Stewart flutterbies too... also, some more gears and cogs...

So here is my tag for TIO #96 as part of my project for Simon Says Stamp and Show some Steampunk... hope it goes down well in both challenges, and any others I might find where I can slot it in!!! Thanks for looking and commenting... I am thrilled by the reponses I am getting to my work these days...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

I also want to enter this piece into the following challenges
Fashionable Stamping Challenges - tag
Anything goes Challenge -

WOYWW - Travelling On... Simon Says!!!

Another day another dollar... oops wrong intro!!! But it IS yet another Wednesday in this fast retreating year!!! Soon be my birthday (the equinox, for goodness sake!!!) and sailing down the Nile!!!... but I digress - yes, it's that day when we all do lots of bunny hops to others' blogs, in order to snoop admire their tidy and creative desks, courtesy of the wonderful desk-headmistress, Julia...

So sit back and take a ride with me... bring a cuppa, cos I have gone to town this week!!!

 Desk with beginnings of the project on Sunday... beautiful sunshine ready for streaming through my window... we were at a jumping show, later, with the horse and she and Freddie did very well, whilst the rest of the family, and me, did really good at the picnic!!! tee hee...

 So, the larger of the pair of suitcases then, and generally inspired by my heroine, Laura Denison at Following the Paper Trail - actually, she designed a suitcase herself, and I have bought the pattern to make one ... it is bigger than this one, but the ideas are based on her's... I gessoed it inside and out, and gave it some texture... gosh did I get in a mess with the gesso AND paint!! Thank goodness for scrubbie!!!

 The texture shows up well on the lid...

 Next I painted it -yup!! you guessed, brown, cos all the old suitcases we ever owned at home were simply, always brown... now it's all that black fabric stuff and you can NEVER recognise your own case on that dratted carousel!!!

 Back to the plot... inspired by Laura again, I decided to make a mini album for the inside, from the TH Adage tickets leftover packaging!! Here is her You Tube link... great little video!!! the booklet uses envelopes, and mine are much smaller than hers...

So here is the inside of that ickle suitcase /valise... in the lid are pen bibs, tickets, a watch, a camera, a tag, a compass, a key and some scissors...

In the bottom is the mini book, all decorated up, with TH letters, coloured with distress inks...

Above are the two "pages" I have made so far... plenty of room for pictures and some journalling,with a pocket inside the envelope... great little project this one...

Here is a peek at the whole project... the suitcase with it's sewn leather taglet - not sure that's actually a word!!! with a TH ticket in there and a wanderer disc... actually it's grunge paper, but it does look real eh??!! The tag booklet is also backed with a leather-looking tag... below are all the other tags in the booklet/travel document...

So that's it for another week... I didn't win through at SSSS again, last week with my blingyfied piece, so let's hope I fare better this time, tee hee... At the end of the week, Travel will be the theme I have chosen at the Stampman, so this is a sneaky pre-view of my DT piece, and DragonsDream TIO's challenge is also Travel, cos I chose this week there too... I thought it was spooky that Linda and I had had the same thought...  well I MUSt go to bed now, cos I am getting less and less sleep!!!

Thanks SO much for coming, commenting, and looking and lasting this long, quite frankly!!! My tea has gone cold writing so I hope you kept sipping yours!!! tee hee

Love and light

Frankie

xx

I shall also enter this project into

Take a Word - old-fashioned

Incy Wincy Designs - anything but a card

Art Journey DT - anything but a card

Simon Says Stamp and Show - some Wendy Vecchi Style

 So Wendy Vecchi - Studio 490... love her work and that of others who use her work and style... so this challenge was timely for me... I recently bought my first art parts and clearly for art sheets, and this was a good excuse to have a go with stuff...

 I feel one needs to get the signature bits of a style, and for Wendy-work it seems to be a recipe of :-
- dotty paper
- butterfly
- spectacular flower
- squared/graph paper
- an art part or three
- neutral colour scheme (frequently anyway)
- odd-ball theme/idea

 So here is a close-up of my version of spectacular flower, courtesy of the lovely Lin at Yours Artfully. She has fantastic tutorials on her blog, so check it out. I have wanted to work with metal for a long while and I fianlly did a class with her at her shop, L.B. Crafts.

These petals are from PaperArtsy dies. This metal started out bronzy coloured then I worked it with the tools. The pointy petals are done with what Lin calls the "scribbly scribbly" technique - literally scribble with a pointy tool... I painted with black then pool acrylic paint, then swiped off most of it, to leave the channels of the pattern etched in colour... that centre is a button/brad from Graphic 45 - total yumminess, introduced to me by the wonderful Laura Denison at The Paper Trail... she is a desginer for them, and makes the most amazing creations, including jewellery using these babies!!! Take a look, she's awsome!!

 Here is the mandatory dotty butterfly, here made from TH kraft paper put through the Vagabond in a swiss dots embossing folder, then coloured and dots enhanced. I used some homemade coiled wire for it's body and antennae. The arful tag from TH is coloured in the same way as the flower, attached with a swivel clip, hanging from a hitch thingy... the flowers are creamy Prima, inked and misted a very lot...

 TH sprockets and gears and spinners contribute to the steampunky flavour of the piece, as does the beautiful Vintaj piece in the centre of the art part pocket watch...

The wings are stamped from a birdie, by TH then cut out and aged with vintage photo and broken china inkiness. It's all mounted on a little frame, which I left unpainted cos the colour was just right. The leathery-look backer is a piece of crumpled/ironed kraft glassine paper - actally there is a ring of petals in the flower made from that too... wonderful stuff!!

So, I hear you cry... too much TH and not enough WV!!! However, when you listen to Wendy demo, or you read her blog, you realise SHE uses a lot of his inkiness and idea-ology too, cos they work for the same companies, and they admire each others' work... so it must be ok for me then!!! Whatever, I really enjoyed making it and hope it fits the bill over at SSSS, as I love their challenges and the high standard of work submitted there...

Thanks for looking, again, and for leaving your fab comments - I love 'em and want 'em quite shamelessly!!! tee hee!!!
Love and Light
Frankie
xx