Project Two by Hels - Picadilly Circus

Helllooooo again! I am back (don't groan lol) with my second project this month, again using those gorgeous Darkroom Door London Vol. 1 stamps. I can't stress how fab these stamps are, I mean as well as being gorgeous red rubber and premounted on EZ Mount, they come in a little DVD style case to keep them in. All you need to do is cut them out... simples. The stamps are really detailed too, you will be able to see just how detailed in this first photo. I decided to go for a simple card design for my second piece so you can see that you don't need to really do much once your images are stamped.

I stamped the image using Jet Black Archival ink onto plain cream cardstock. I gave it a zap with a heat tool to set the ink and then used Antique Linen Distress Ink to cover the whole piece, then I edged it with Frayed Burlap DI and finally went around the very edge with Walnut Stain. I wanted to achieve a sepia style "photo" look to the piece but also wanted the buses to pop from the design. So, I used Fired Brick Distress Stain and a waterbrush to colour them in. I noticed that the advertising on the building was for Bovril, so I coloured that red too. I then dried it with my heat tool and popped it onto some cream cardstock. I added some brads and Glossy Accents to the image to finish it nicely.

To make the border, I stamped Big Ben along a strip of cream card, again using Jet Black Archival and then heat dried it. I coloured it the same way as the main image and then mounted this onto cream card too. I stamped "London" in black and distressed it slightly with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I left two bits of card sticking out from the edge of the image so I could roll them up behind the scrolly bit to add some extra depth. A couple of brads finished this piece and then the pieces were layered onto the card.

That's all from me for today ... I will be back again on Friday with my final offering for this month. Don't forget, you still have a day or two to join in with the candy giveaway... simply leave a comment HERE to be in with a chance of winning a set of these stamps. Thanks for looking!! TTFN

Hels x

First Project Time by Hels - Darkroom Door London Vol 1

Hellllooooo!!! I am soooo happy to be here! This is my very first Design Team post - I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Val & Don for allowing me to be a part of their fab team - I am honoured to be a part of such a great team with Gillian, Astrid, Lesley and Minxy. I am in very esteemed company :O)) So, this month the focus is on those gorgeous Darkroom Door stamps and I chose the London Vol. 1 plate to play with. My first project is a canvas oil board that I have covered with papers, blocking and layering them and then adding a gentle wash of Gesso over the top so the papers all blend together neatly. I added some shadowing using a charcoal type pencil, smudging the lines around the blocks to emphasise the layers. Once I was happy with tis look, I popped a nice thick layer of Ranger Glue & Seal over the top - this effectively seals the papers, making them waterproof and that way they will be protected when hanging on a wall.


I mixed some texture paste with Pitch Black Dabber and left the mixing marbled, so the black of the paint and the white of the paste weren't completely blended. I then spread this through a couple of different Crafters Workshop Stencils, using a random pattern onto the board so it didn't look too uniform. Once this had dried, I used my favourite applicator tool (my index finger) to smudge white Gesso over the textured bits so they pop a little bit more. In my head the larger circle of texture is the London Eye (I know, it looks nowt like it but it is artistic licence lol)



I stamped out the buses using Versafine Satin Red ink - this is a really lush red and worked perfectly with the bus images. I then used some Distress Markers to colour the rest of the buses and added a couple of silver brads to the wheels for hub-caps. Then I stamped Big Ben (I know, that is the bell not the tower but it is so well known as that :O)) using black Archival ink, adding some colour with Distress Markers and then folding it so it is dimensional. The buses and the tower were then popped onto some super cool Stix2 Clear 3d tape - this stuff is FAB, no sign of it peaking from underneath the images like the white stuff! I am sold on this, I need more already!!! I added on some bits of Idea-ology to make a hanging for the board - Hitch Fasteners with Charm Clips glued to them and some Bead Chain popped through, using the clasps to stop the chain slipping through the Charm Clips.



Thanks for looking... I will be back later in the week with my second piece using the fabby stamps. Have a great day and don't forget about the candy giveaway this month - all the deets are HERE, just leave a comment and you could win a set of these stamps, how fab is that!!! TTFN

Hels x

DT Project 2 Darkroom Door London Plate 2 by Astrid

Good morning everyone and welcome to the Snazzys DT blog.

I’m sure that by now you will know how much the DT love the Darkroom Door London stamp sets. If you are a regular here you will have seen some amazing projects already over the last few weeks. Remember, you can win the set of your choice by leaving a comment on Gillian’s first post here

For my second project, using the stamps I decided to do a kind of mini lay out that could either stand by itself or be used as a cover for a London travel journal.

I started by stamping the Westminster Abbey stamp first on a piece of smooth white card and then on a mask created from a post it note. As you can see I also punched out a circle mask as I wanted it to look as if the moon was rising behind the building.

Next I sponged Weathered Wood Distress Ink all around it and then removed the masks.

I then used a water brush and some more of the distress ink to add some shadows and just a bit of an indication of buildings in the distance. I then used this stamped piece as the focus of my lay out for which I used my favourite Prima Almanac Collection, both papers and elements. We show cased these a couple of months ago and they belong to my all time favourites!!

The final stage was to embellish the lay out still with some roses and black pearl swirls from my stash.

Well I hope you enjoyed my second project. I just know you will all want to come back next Monday when the wonderful Hels Sheridan will show us her first post for Snazzys

Design Team Project #1 by Astrid

Hello everyone and a very happy day to you. Today I am sharing my first project for this month using the absolutely wonderful Darkroom Door London Collection. With this project I am using Volume 2. I LOVE Darkroom Door stamps in any case, but this particular collection must be one of my all time favourites.

I decided to make a wall hanging using a little canvas board from my stash.

I started by covering the canvas board with some collage papers attaching them with Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium Matte. Next I put a thin wash of watery Gesso over it, mixed with a tiny bit of Paintdabber in Coffee. This was to blend the papers together a bit. When that was dry I added some texture paste with a bit more of the dabber through a stencil to add some texture

Time for some stamping. I chose various of my background stamps including some of the wonderful Kaisercraft stamps that Snazzys stocks, in various places onto my background with Black Archival Ink. I also chose 3 of the stamps from the London Collection and stamped them in a mix of Black and Coffee Archival Ink and then fussy cut them. I added them to my canvas together with a computer generated title, and then felt it needed some more texture, so I decided to add some Distress Crackle Paint. I only have very few colours so I chose Distressed Linen, but when it was dry didn't like it. So out came the Gesso again to colour over it. The final steps to finish the canvas were to ink right around the edges with Distress Ink in Frayed Burlap, followed by some chalk ink in dark brown. I also shaded around all the main stamped images to make them pop a bit more with a charcoal pencil and added a bit of shadow with vintage photo and a few high light with a white pencil. I added a chain and some Tim Holtz Tassles and that was it. Hope you like it and don't forget, if you want to be in with a chance to win a set of these wonderful stamps, leave a comment HERE.

I will be back with one more project later on in the week, - until then, stay crafty!

DT Project #2 by Minxy : Featuring:

DARKROOM DOOR: London set Vol 1

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Hi snazzy folks, sorry for my delayed posting of this project, 

I got a little sidetracked as I have just adopted 2 kitties from out local shelter.

If your a kitty lover and wanna see them hop over to my blog.

So on to my project:

I went with the Piccadilly Circus image as my main focus, stamping it in black archival on a pre stamped distressed union jack. 

To highlight the image I glossy accented the stamped image.

Next I used my versafine satin red inkpad to stamp a london bus, and the cut out and mounted both pieces on some black card. I then mounted this to a kraft coloured card,

I finished with a Tim Holtz word band that I brushed with some white acrylic paint to make the message pop, and attached with some screwtop brads.

Just shows that with the same products you can get 2 totally different looks {see Gillian's 3rd project card Here}

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget there is still lots more inspiration to come with Astrid and and Hels first DT projects.

DT Project #1 by Minxy : Featuring

DARKROOM DOOR: London set Vol 1

TANDO CREATIVE: lazercut board 'London Set'
Dylusions Ink Spray

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Hiya snazzy peeps, Hope you've all enjoyed the projects so far this month, There is still plenty more where that came from, Starting with this string of bunting.

Yep I've gone the good old fashioned patriotic route for my project.

I first cut 5 triangles from an old cotton pillowcase, I left 1 white and then sprayed the others with London Blue and Postbox Red Dylusions sprays. Once they were dry I stamped each piece with images from the DD london 1 stamp set, in black archival ink.

Next I coloured some of the Tando london board shapes with copic markers. I then attached the shapes to the bottom of the butting with a wet glue, 1 per flag.
Then it was just a case of punching holes in the tops and adding eyelets, and then tying together with ribbon.
***
I'll be back later in the week with my second project, hope to see you then.
Stay Inky

Design Team Project #2 featuring Darkroom Door London 2 stamp set (by Lesley)

Hello again All,

I said I'd be back later in the week with another project and I am ........... by the skin of my teeth, lol!  I'm afraid it's been one of those weeks but never mind, make it I did and this time I've made a little triple hanging frame (Snazzys have loads of fabulous alterables).

I started by separating the three little frames and then covered them with black Gesso. I followed this with adding some texture paste which I stamped into with one of the little stamps from the Darkroom Door London 2 set (spritz stamp with water first and clean immediately after stamping).  It doesn't really matter which one as it was only for the texure.  I left this to dry before repainting the whole lot with Black acrylic paint and leaving to dry once more.  I then dusted the textured areas with Perfect Pearls.

I stamped the largest stamp from the London 2 set using Onyx Black Versafine ink onto cream card twice and then selected three areas from the image to cut out and place into the frames. 

Again using the Versafine ink I stamped the little street sign and a bird from the 7 Gypsies Lille set onto cream card and embossed with clear embossing powder, cut them out and adhered to the frames.  Finally I painted some cream acrylic paint across an Ideology Wordband, wiping it off whilst still wet so that it just went into the characters but it shows up much better irl.  I then attached it to the frame with some of the clear Stix 2 dimensional strip.

Well, that's it from me for this month folks but we still have plenty of lovely projects and inspiration to come from Nicky, Astrid and Hels so do pop back regularly to see their fabulous work.

I'd like to add that it's great to see so many lovely folk leaving a message on Gillian's first post this month!  If you haven't done so already, pop back HERE and leave a little comment to be added to the random draw to win a set of lovely Darkroom Door stamps and a Versafine ink cube..

See you all again soon and thanks for visiting.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx