Hallowe'en Part 2 By Hels

Goooooodly Morning Snazzyfans, tis I, Hels, back again with my other Hallowe'en project for this month.  I have concentrated on the Hallowe'en Blueprint stamps for this project because the other one was mostly about the Carta Bella All Hallow's Eve papers.  Did you know that you can buy the DT kits we get sent (not the actual kits we have because they wouldn't be full... I shall shut up now)  HERE are all the deets on how to get your inky mits on them... and if you buy them together there be a discount to be had too!  Oh and while I think on, did you know the Snazzy website is getting fuller so do pop over to see what goodies are there... and it is being added to regularly too!  HERE is a linky for that one.

So, being as I am in a spooky kind of mood, I decided to stick with the 3D decoration thing that I have going on at the moment.  The base is a wooden shadowbox which is approx 8" square so you have an idea on the sizing of my project.  The base was given a quick coat of Eggplant Dabber and then I used some Crackle Medium and bobbed a coat of Pitch Black Dabber over the top.  My Crackle stuff is ancient so the crackles are a bit disappointing, so I grabbed a scratchy tool and scrubbed a bit... well, it is sort of crackled.   The insert is some Tim Holtz Paper and I dripped some Red Pepper and Pitch Black Alcohol Ink down inside it so it looked a bit more spooky, like spiders blood or something.

I filled up some Corked Vials with more of the Alcohol Ink and made some little labels using Tim stamps... adding a smidge of Alcohol Ink to the labels and corks to make the bottles look well used.  I wanted to add some kind of spider web to the frame but was puzzling over what to stamp it with... when all of a sudden, like a bolt of the proverbial, I hit on the idea of stamping with Ranger's Glue & Seal and then sprinkling the new Rock Candy Dry Stickles over the top... it worked! I am chuffed about that!

The Bats are stamped onto Grungepaper, coloured with Pumice Stone and Black Soot Distress Ink and then curled to make them look like they are flapping about.  The Skull and Tombstone are both stamped onto white card and cut out. The Skull has a smidge of Black Soot DI to make him a bit less standy=outy and the Tombstone has been snipped down the side and folded so it looks a bit more 3D.  I coloured this with Pumice Stone and Black Soot DI.   Kitty is a little cutie isn't he?  He has been stamped twice, I layered up his head and back legs, adding a couple of brads so he is a bit mobile and then 3D'd him onto the frame.  Finally, another couple of spiders.  The first one is cut from Clearly for Art Blackout using an Alterations die and heated to curl the legs a bit.  The other one is from my pack of Hallowe'en critters from the £1 shop.

And there you have it.  I have been trying to think of ways to get some kind of lantern light into the box but struck a big fat blank... if I was handy with a drill I might have drilled holes and added fairy lights just poking through but I am rubbish with anything that may cause skin to be cut lol  OOoooh and whilst I think on, you still have a couple of days to enter this months giveaway... all the deets are HERE for that.  Thanks for looking... Happy Haunting!  TTFN

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Steampunkery Trio By Hels

Gooodly Morning Snazzyfans. I am here (again) and I am getting it right this week. I got all confused last week and blogged a week early! Anyways. I have been playing with the fab Steampunk stamps from Chocolate Baroque and for my second DT piece this month I have made an ATC trio.

I started with blank cardstock, cut to ATC size. I spritzed each one individually so I will just say how I did one, then you know that is how I did the rest too: Spritzing the ATC with water so it was nice and wet and then using Dylusions Sprays to colourize it; the colours I used were Fresh Lime, Vibrant Turquoise and Black Marble. Once the sprays were on the ATC I lifted it up so they all dripped and blended together and then dried it off with a heat tool. The steampunky image was stamped with Jet Black Archival and I made a mask for it by stamping onto a big sticky-note pad. Overlaying this onto the base image covers it up so you can then go in and stamp over the top with the text stamp and the text will appear behind the image, meaning that you don't get text on the image in the foreground. I did this for all the ATC's.

Next I used a bottle cap and stamped out some black and white circles using Jet Black Archival and Snow Cap paint Dabber. Once these were dried, I edged each ATC with a black pen to give it a nice frame. The bottom of the text stamp has some nice bigger words, so I stamped those onto cream card and cut them out, mounting them onto 3D foam to add some dimension.

To make the ATC's sturdier, I mounted them onto more cardstock... whilst the card is a decent thickness, after all the wet and heat treatment it can go a bit wibbly, so popping it onto more card flattens and strengthens it.

Finally, I punched some holes in the ATC's and added Jump Rings to fasten them together and added a Snazzy Steampunk clock and a metal key embellishment.

That's all from me for today... if you missed my Steampunk Locomotive that I accidently blogged last Monday, please click HERE to see it... here's a peek at what it looks like :O)) Don't forget that all the stashly goodies I used on this project are available on the Snazzy website HERE. Thanks for looking... have a Snazz-tastic week! TTFN

The Steampunk Locomotive by Hels

Gooooooodly Morning Snazzyfans! I don't know about you but I do love a smidge of steampunk - ok, I admit, I am totes-addicted to all things steampunkery so when I received my DT package for August (many thank-you's to Val & Don for their fab choices btw) I was chuffty-tuffty. The rest of the girlies have been busy making all their steampunk creations so if you haven't had a chance to look at them yet, please do scroll back thru the month so you can be inspired!



The first week of the month saw us offering a challenge and we all made a little something with the Chocolate Baroque stamps and goodies we had been given. I made a 6" shadowbox and whilst making that I came up with an idea for my main project. I have this old chipboard house and I was planning to add some cogs and gears to the roof and make it a bit steampunky. When I finally found the chipboard house (yep, several hours rummaging ensued before that saw the light of day again) I was dead disappointed. It was just so wrong, the height, the size, the whole thing! Funny how our memories change the way something looks isn't it? Anyways. Whilst doing said rummage, I found a mini shadowbox that is about 3 1/2" square. That set the cogs whirring (haha, steampunk reference there lol) And then the cogs whirred some more.... and gradually the little shadowbox evolved into ... The Steampunk Locomotive.


You might not know this but I do love trains - comes from driving them for 10 years I reckon. Well, this little box was being transformed into a vehicle, the cotton bobbins making perfect wheels when I had this here brainwave. The Loco needed a form of propulsion! What better than a hooge propeller on the roof? Out came mountboard and a pair of scissors and almost instantly, into the bin they went. Akkk, all wrong. They needed some dimension but also needed to be swooshy. Another rummaging sesh in the box of metal embellies unearthed 3 Idea-ology Wings.... YAY! PERFECT!!!! And of course, if you have a propeller you need a windy thing to make it start to move... so the Idea-ology Clock Key was perfectomundo for this job. Then, when I popped it onto the top of the Loco it looked more than naff! So, another rummage (you should see the state of my room now!) I unearthed more treasure in the form of really old cotton bobbins, like smidgey little ones... and after gluing the propeller to the mini bobbin that I had painted silver just worked.


Faced with decorating the inside of the box came next. I had planned to do a mini patchwork inside it... and then spied a little sqaure frame that was lounging about on my desk. I quickly whacked some black paint onto that and popped it into the middle.... perfect fit but it was a bit flat. So, another bobbin was used, gluing it to the back of the box and then to the frame... and the Idea-ology Drawer Pull is actually supposed to be a window-opener (like on a Mark 3 coach) The Chocolate Baroque stamp I used was stamped a few times and layered and then I added watch bits and three ickle watch hands.


So, that was the Loco more or less finished. But then I decided that it need a buffer on the front (purist railwaywoman remember?) I had a G45 brad so that got stuck to some Idea-ology Gears and then they were stuck to another old bobbin. And of course, a buffer on one end means a tail lamp on the other... so out came a wooden cog, an old but and an Idea-ology Bulb, painted red and aged with black paint. The wheels look ok but.. .they needed something else, so I parted with 4 Hitch Fasteners (they are now discontinued unfortunately) and a bit of Ball Chain... and voila, one Steampunk Loco ready for duty. How I wish I had more of those little shadowboxes because I want to make some coaches for it now! Anyways, if you will indulge me, imagine my little Loco, clonking along, sounding a bit like Ivor the Engine and issuing smoke and steam...


That is all from me for today... don't forget that you can get all the stashly supplies I used from Snazzy's - they have their website nearly complete... all the deets are HERE if you fancy a little peek. Thanks for looking... TTFN!

**Guess what folks, in my excitement to share my Locomotive with you, I inadvertantly wished my life away and blogged a week early!!! I know!!! I reckon that Loco got me time travelling! Anyways, Astrid is showcasing her amazing art this week and I will be back next Monday (10th) with the rest of my projects!**

Project Three by Hels - London Canvas

Helloooooo again peeps. Tis my final piece for this months' focus using Darkroom Door London Collection Vol. 1 Plate of stamps. I know I have waxed lyrical all week about how lush the stamps are... but I just have to say it again... they are gorgeous!!!

Anyways, this time I wanted to create something a little more dimensional so I chose a 7" x 5" canvas to alter. I started by painting the edges with Pitch Black Dabber, bringing it ever so slightly onto the front of the canvas. I cut a piece of card to fit the front of the canvas and set about making a background for my stamping. Using Gesso and applying it with a babywipe, I streaked the lower part of the card and then added some Broken China Distress Stain to the Gesso and dappled this onto the top of the card = making a bit of a cloudy sky - I was trying to get "London Blue Sky" colour - tis so long since we saw that though I was going from memory lol

Once this had dried I used Jet Black Archival Ink to stamp Picadilly Circus and Big Ben - leaving a smidge of a gap between them for my bus, which was stamped onto scrap cream card using Versafine Satin Red ink. I used Distress Markers to colour the buildings - Pumice Stone works a treat for this. I added dots of Mustard Seed DM to the lights and Eros and then added some Glossy Accents to make them pop.

The bus was cut out and then I used Distress Markers to add some colour to it - again Pumice Stone is fab for the windows. I used Black Soot to emphasise the panels on the bus and colour in the wheels, to which I added some silver brads for hub-caps. I stamped "London" directly onto the card using black ink and smudged some Pumice Stone Marker under it to give it some shadow. I then stamped it again onto scrap card using the Versafine Satin Red ink, cutting out this and leaving tabs of card at the ends so I could roll these up behind the scrolly bits. This was then layered over the original image using Stix 2 Clear 3d tape and the Idea-ology Crown was popped over it to make it a bit regal.

That's all for me for this month. I will be back soon with my next projects... ooohlalala, just wait til you see what we are playing with for July!!! Thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

Design Team Project #1

Good morning everyone ... Gillian here with my 1st DT project for Snazzy's. My project kit contained the following items which are available from Snazzy's.

7Gypsies Lille 12x12 Papers
7Gypsies Lille Clear Stamps
7Gypsies Lille Tags
Ranger Distress Stains (Vintage Photo & Weathered Wood)
Versafine Crimson Red
Tando Creative Chipboards (Mixed)

I started out by painting the smallest of the Configuration boxes including inserts with Adirondack Paint Dabber (Expresso). Using the 7Gypsies (Lille) papers I tore various areas of the paper and adhered to the side and top of the box using Matte Medium, then distressing with Distress Ink (Vintage Photo). I then stamped 7Gypsies (Lille) clear stamps in Versafine (Crimson Red) onto the 7Gypsies (Lille) tag and distressed with Vintage Photo. The inserts top left, top right, bottom left & bottom right also have 7Gypsies (Lille) paper within. I then covered the small Tando Chipboard squares with Lille papers and edged with Vintage Photo attaching a Philosophy Tag on one & a piece of IdeaologyTape on the other . I then stamped (7Gypsies Lille Stamps) onto said papers and adhered to the Ideaology Cork Vial (again using Matte Medium) and distressing with Vintage Photo. In the centre of the box I have torn a piece of 7Gypsies Lille papers and adhered to the Ideaology Film Strip using Matte Medium. I then highlighted various areas of the Configuration Box with Metallic Rub on Wax. Various Ideaology embellishments have been used to decorate the box.

I will be back on Wednesday with an extra bonus DT project using the above supplies. I hope to see you then. A big thank you to all our new followers who have joined us since the DT launched, it's great to see some new and familiar faces alike.