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Monday 14 October 2013

Inky Fingers

I promised myself an inky day, trying out a couple of the new techniques that Tim Holtz showed in his Creative Chemistry class that I signed up for last week. I had bought some of his stencils when they first came out - I love the patterns, look at that burlap pattern, and the splatter one. I finally broke them out of their packets yesterday, and look how neat - they all clip together onto a jump ring, so even I (messy worker +++) won't toss them away by mistake....



I lined up all my distress inks ready for action - crikey! I have a lot...


 Who knew that distress inks are embossable? I didn't, but I dabbed ink through the stencil, then added clear embossing powder and heated...


I used ALL the stencils - never one to do things by half measures! The stamps are by Hero Arts, and I mounted the panel onto a plain cream card base....


Then I dug out the grunge board. Now this was a miracle in itself - I bought that stuff on sale in Tuesday Morning in the USA years ago and promptly lost it, then I found it but didn't know what to do with it, so I lost it again, now, just when I needed it, there it was, so I cut out some Sissix leaves and inked them. They look very glossy because I covered them (as Professor TH advised) with clear crackle glaze and I was waiting for them to dry.....



Now it's dry, and you can see the crackle - I don't think I got it quite right, but it looks okay....


So the leaves join the little boy in blue coloured image, waiting to make it onto a card, but even so, I had a lovely day, just messing around with inky fingers

Now I am going to chat about something that all my UK bloggy friends will have heard about endlessly, so they may want to sneak away now..... But for those of you overseas, those intrepid citizens of countries where you fight off rattlesnakes and deadly biting things on a daily basis, you may like to hear that there has been a huge amount of publicity here in the UK over some spiders that have sneakily found their way across the Channel into the UK, they are called Fake Widow spiders, and apparently, they can give you a nasty bite - not as nasty as their sisters called Black Widows, but a bite nevertheless. Now this has sent the country into a bit of a spin. We don't have many biting creatures here - just bees, wasps, horseflies and the occasional unruly dog..... We don't even have poisonous snakes, apart from one called an Adder, which is so rare that it's a protected species. So the thought of Fake Widows crawling onto your pillow and biting you has made the British stiff upper lip tremble a little, arachnophobia has become a national hobby. The newspapers are loving it of course, slow news day? Don't worry, we can wheel out the spiders again....
They even have experts telling us that we are killing innocent non-biting spiders, and this is not good for the environment...hilarious. Well, it's hilarious until the next time I see a spider in my bathtub, then I will turn into a screaming spider murderer - all those diagrams about how to recognize a Fake Widow will have been written in vain.....

Cheerio for now x  




15 comments:

  1. Oh Enfys, I just love reading your post even in the midst of a new technique LOL. I took TH's class too and, yes me too, found the grunch paper and now I can play and make lots of butterflies, hearts, and frames. Stay out of dark spaces where spiders lurk!

    hugs,

    Carmen L

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  2. Lovely work enfys!!i didnt know the inks were embossible! X

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  3. Your card turned out lovely Enfys -those colours look beautiful together. I've only tried using crackle glaze once & it wasn't a success but after seeing your leaves I may give it another try. Pat x

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  4. I love what you've produced so far on the course - definitely TH style but not TOO messy!

    From what I gather looking round news websites, only ONE person has been bitten by one of these spiders, talk about making mountains out of molehills! People are being killed and made homeless all over the world by wars and natural disasters, and our press are obsessing about spiders!

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  5. Love those leaves and your card is lovely.
    Isn't it fab just 'playing'.

    Toni xx

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  6. Lol, you do make me laugh with some of your comments Enfys. I totally agree with the spider thing, I am getting such big spiders in my home at the moment that I have to keep killing them with my walking stick. I love what you have done using the masks & distress inks, I must try that as I cant seem to find my versamark at the moment so Im using an embossing pen to cover my stamps which is not a good idea!!
    {{{hugs}}}
    Marg ;) xx

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  7. Your leaves look amazing, and I love the way your stenciling turned! As for the spiders, kill em all, I say! Of course, I loathe all bugs. Good luck. BethAnn M.

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  8. Ohhhhhhhh ... what fun goodies you've made with your "inky fingers" love the look of the backgrounds from the inked stencils, and you've altered your grunge board beautifully too. Can't wait to what you finally make with that adorable little boy in blue!

    As to spiders ... ewwwww! I don't care what name they give them, even if it's called "the lovely little harmless thing that will save your life and make you a multi-billionaire". If I see a spider, regardless of it's name, type or size ... it will be HISTORY. My sweet DH (whom, in this case, I shall call my HERO) promptly takes care of any that I see. Apparently he prefers their demise to my blood curdling screams! OH and btw, the same applies to snakes of any kind and yucky bugs too!

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  9. Love, love what you did with the stencils Enfys!! I don't have any stencils ... yet.... Now see what you did? I feel a shopping trip coming on!

    Funny story about the spiders. I live in Florida where we have all sorts of insects and animals that bite.

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  10. love the technique, your attemps worked as the leaves are awesome.

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  11. Oh your card it gorgeous! I love all those techniques that Tim teaches, but I never remember them when I'm crafting and I don't have half the products. His style is sooooo cool, but somehow it never translates the same when I do it, guess I'm just not a grunge kind of gal. I have to learn how to integrate some of those techniques and keep it a little more clean and simple I guess.
    The leaves did turn out beautiful, will be interested to see what you do with them.
    As for those spiders, I just kill them all when they appear, don't know a good one from a bad one. Just don't like any of them!

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  12. The embossed card is so beautiful! Makes me want to get my stuff out and try...I love what you've done!

    Hopefully no spiders your way!

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  13. Hello Enfys I signed up for TH classes too and did five days from 101 on Friday. Now to get a day to do the other days. LOL I did it at an Archivers store so I could get the supplies I needed. That is just dangerous. LOL TFS

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  14. Love what you & your inky fingers have created here Enfys! I went to a class the other night & got inky using stencils also. We made 4 scrapbook pages using the same stencil but different techniques...lots of fun!
    As for spiders...doesn't matter if they are big & hairy or nearly invisible they get "stomped" in my house....HATE them!
    Hugs, Renee

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  15. Wow!! I love you card front! You did such a great job!! What I love best is while it uses Tim's techniques, it is still very you, En. The results are wonderful. So glad you could find all your supplies.
    I always learn from you! I had no idea you had only one variety of snake in England! We have way too many over here but I'm sure you know that from all your time living over here. We have all sorts of things that bite! Spiders don't bother me...they eat bugs so help the garden. Now the big hairy ones are another story.
    You always make me smile, my friend. Thanks so much for starting my day on an upbeat note.
    Sue Brailey

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I love reading your comments, thank you for taking the time
Enfys x