Compendium of Curiosities 2 - Week Three

We're already at Week 3 of Linda's challenges taken from Volume 2 of Tim Holtz' Compendium of Curiosities. Visit Linda's Studio L3 blog to see lots of lovely examples of this week's technique from  page 46 - Marbled Stains. Eclectic Paperie are kindly sponsoring the challenge with a gift voucher.

I used Pine Needles, Tumbled Glass, Scattered Straw, Wild Honey and Picket Fence Distress Stains. I've chosen to use the Tim envelope die again and have decided to do so where possible with all of these challenges, so that I will end up with a pile of envelopes each with a label inside describing the technique. Then I guess I'll have to make a box to hold them all !

The colour of the envelope suggested to me that I should fish out my Artistic Stamper peacock feather stamp, and I've used Indigo Blu glue and their Yorkshire Dales Mega Flakes to decorate the envelope.

A woodpecker has always been a regular visitor to the feeding station outside my kitchen window. I had a marvellous opportunity the other day to get a great photo as he was this side of the feeder showing off his lovely plumage, but of course my camera was not to hand, so this is the best I have managed so far.

Woodpeckers are omnivores and known to attack the nests of small birds such as bluetits, taking eggs and newly hatched babies, so it always amazes me that the other birds don't seem at all perturbed by his presence at the feeders. Yesterday I couldn't get the camera out quickly enough to capture him peck violently at a bluetit who had dared to alight on the peanut feeder beside him. The woodpecker continued feeding by hammering against the peanuts with a tuft of bluetit feathers stuck in his beak, and the bluetit was apparently unhurt but had opted to eat from the nearby fatballs instead.

Compendium of Curiosities 2 - Week Two

This week Linda over at Studio L3 has invited us to try out the Faux Patina technique which features on page 58 of Tim Holtz' Compendium of Curiosities Vol 2.

I wanted to try out my new TH envelope die on glossy card but thought the card might crack. However it worked a treat and in fact has made quite a robust envelope. The flowers are Tim metal ones and the colours I've used are Stream, Lettuce and Sailboat Blue with Pearl mixative.

Compendium of Curiosities 2 - Week One

I was delighted to hear that Linda at Studio L3 was going to start a new series of challenges based on Tim Holtz' recently published Compendium of Curiosities Vol 2; and happily, my copy of the new compendium, ordered back in February, has arrived in the post just in time for me to join in the first challenge. I loved doing all the challenges set by Linda from Vol 1, so hope to complete all those in number two. Simon Says Stamp is sponsoring this challenge with a US$25 shop, so am keeping my fingers crossed for a win some time soon !

This week's technique is how to make custom foam stamps, and comes from page 66 of the new Compendium. It's a technique I've used before when making some of Tim's Christmas tags. Here I've made a stamp of one of my favourites, dear old Umbrella Man. I'm not a great one for Union Jacks and monarchy, but as this year is a special year with the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of 60 years of the Queen's reign and gives us an extra public holiday, and is also the year of the London Olympics, I couldn't resist the Artistic Outpost and Crafty Individuals stamps, and a flurry of red, white and blue inks and pastels. I guess amid all the doom and gloom of these times of recession, a bit of celebration will do us all some good.

I used Chipped Sapphire and Barn Door distress inks on a mask for my background. Umbrella Man is stamped with my foam stamp and Versamark and coloured with red Pan Pastel. The rest of the stamping is in black and crimson Archival. The little gold crown is embossed in the wonderful Ranger super fine gold EP. The whole tag is covered in Paper Artsy's Satin Glaze to fix the pastel.