Bind-it-all Calendar - December

Phew! And now it's done! :o)

This is a fat page sized version of a tag I'd made a while back. Background is scattered straw distress ink applied with a baby wipe and edged with faded burlap. The holly was stamped in pine needles then painted with a water brush. The berries were painted with fired brick ink, which was also used to stamp the "noel" text. Finally a little glossy accents was applied to give the berries a bit of shine.

The quote reads "I heard a bird singing in the dark of December - Oliver Herford "I Heard a Bird Sing".

Thanks to everyone that's stuck with me and looked at each month as I've gone along. I hope you liked it. It was fun to make, though a lot of work!

Nothing (yet) to follow tomorrow :o)

Bind-it-all Calendar - November

November, and a page made with my own stamps that I had made. The birds in flight are one stamp (stamped 1/2 off the page on the left and right sides) and the birds on the ground are another stamp.

The background was created using Tim Holtz's embossing powder/flicking technique from the Christmas tags series on his blog. There's not much else to say about this one, except that I think the stamps have given a really clear impression, and I'm pleased with them! :)

Quote reads "How sad would be November if we had no knowledge of the spring! - Edwin Way Teale"

December tomorrow!

Bind-it-all Calendar - October

It's October, so it must be halloween! Dried marigold distress ink background, overstamped with Tim Holtz's worn wallpaper stamp in black. Blood drips (a stamp of my own design, actually paint drips, but it works for this too!) stamped in fired brick distress ink.

Distressed slide mount outline was stamped onto white card that had been coloured with shabby shutters distress ink, applied with a baby wipe. Witch was stamped in black onto white card, coloured with green ink and a water brush, trimmed and fixed to the back of the slide mount. Slide mount was fixed to the background using silver snaps.

All that remained was to stamp the text in black and distress the edges of the design with black ink.

Quote reads "October is crisp days and cool nights, a time to curl up around the dancing flames and sink into a good book. - John Siner"

November to follow tomorrow!

Bind-it-all Calendar - September

The start of Autumn, and the start of autumnal colours in my calendar. I started with a blank fat page, and coloured the top area with faded burlap distress ink. I stamped a row of bulldog clips across the top, then stamped them 1/2 on the edge of a piece of Basic Grey patterened paper, and stuck it to the background.

The woman's face was stamped 3 times, once in faded burlap to echo the background, once in black soot and once in fired brick. Elements of the 3 images were cut out and assembled. It was fixed onto the BG paper and stamped with a paper clips stamp.

"Begin where you are" was stamped in fired brick on white card which had been distressed with faded burlap ink applied with a baby wipe, and a black thumbprint. It was fixed into place and trimmed to fit. Finally, the whole thing was edged in black soot, applied with a baby wipe.

The quote reads: "September: it was the most beautiful of words, he'd always felt - Alexander Theroux".

October to follow tomorrow! :o)

Bind-it-all Calendar - August

August, and another strong stamped image that stands up on it's own without too much tinkering. I love this stamp, it reminds me of summers as a kid, when they seemed to go on forever and every day would be hotter than the one before. I remember getting cheap versions of these shoes from Woolworths and wearing them all summer long. In fact, I still wear them most days! (Though not the same pair, obviously).

Image was stamped twice using black soot distress ink on white card. One image was coloured with dried marigold distress ink applied with a baby wipe. The shoes were cut out from the 2nd image and stuck onto the first. End of story, simple but effective.

Quote reads "August creates as she slumbers, replete and satisfied. - Joseph Wood Krutch"

September to follow tomorrow.

Bind-it-all Calendar - July

Probably the most straightforward image in the calendar. The background was antique linen and old paper distress pads, applied direct to paper, then spritzed with water drops and left to dry. The sand dunes image was then stamped in black soot distress ink. Simple, but effective! To finish it off, the edges were sanded until they became slightly frayed.

The quote reads "The glory of July is the glory of an English summer - Anon".

August to follow tomorrow! :o)

Bind-it-all Calendar - June

A relatively simple approach this time. I think the stamped image is so strong that I wanted it to speak for itself. I took two sheets of glossy photo paper and applied alcohol inks to one sheet. I then stamped the image on both sheets, using black Stazon ink.

Using a baby wipe I applied antique linen distress ink to the image on the white photo paper to colour the children's faces. I then cut away the background from the top left corner and discarded it, and also carefully cut out the children's clothes from the alcohol inked sheet.

All that was left to do was to make a sandwich of (going from the bottom up) coloured background and childrens heads, then antique linen childrens heads and bodies, then coloured clothes.

That sounds so confusing doesn't it? Sorry about that, it was simple to do!

The quote reads "What is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days. - James Russell Lowell".

July to follow tomorrow!

Bind-it-all Calendar - May

Another month, another technique!

The background was created by applying black, burlap and faded jeans distress pads direct to a piece of white card. Copper eyelets were added.

The foreground was created with Moon Shadow Ink - a walnut based ink with an added shimmer powder for colour. The one I used was "Bucket o' Blood Red", so basically it's a watery brown ink with a fine red pearlescent/metallic powder mixed in it (which settles to the bottom when not used).

This is the technique: After shaking well, paint a small piece of white card generously with the ink. Take the stamp you want to use for the design and place it face down on top of the wet card then leave it there overnight to dry. Once it's dry, remove the stamp, and, as if by magic, all the pearlescent powder has moved to fill the parts of the image where the stamp wasn't touching the card! The design was trimmed then stuck onto the background.

June to follow tomorrow :o)

Bind-it-all Calendar - April

Quite a few processes involved in this one, so (deep breath) here goes!

The background was Shabby Shutters distress ink pad applied directly to paper which was then splashed with water drops and dried. It was then stamped with a paint splatter stamp I have, also using Shabby Shutters. Using Pine Needles ink, a large square was then stamped in the centre.

Alcohol inks and blending solution were then applied to a sheet of glossy photo paper. The main image was stamped on top using black Stazon ink, and was stamped again on plain white card. The leaves at the top of the image on the photo paper were coloured using Pine Needles ink pad and a water brush (yes, it works on glossy photo paper!) The image on white card was coloured with distress ink pads and a water brush, then the central focus was cut out and stuck in place on the photo paper background. I tore the edges, then stuck it in place on the water-distressed card background. Phew!

The quote reads "April is a promise May is bound to keep - Hal Borland"

May will follow tomorrow :o)

Bind-it-all Calendar - March

Time for the next installment of my 2008 Bind-it-all Calendar, and as it's Wednesday, that must mean March!

The image background was cut from a 6x6 Basic Grey paper, distressed by applying black soot Distress ink around the edges with a baby wipe. The paper has a slight sheen to it, so the paperclips and ruler images were stamped using Stazon ink to get a better impression. The words "spring awakening" were stamped in pine needles Distress ink.

The main image was created on glossy photo paper. I tried to use colours that would echo those on the backing paper I'd chosen. Bottle, Denim, Caramel and Terra Cotta alcohol inks were dropped on the paper, and lightened with a few squirts of blending solution. A 2nd sheet was then placed on top and moved around, to create two sheets of identical (or at least very similar) paper. One was filed away for future use, the other was overstamped with the spring themed image in black Stazon. Finally, it was trimmed to size and matted onto black card and stuck to the background.

The quote reads "Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour. - Ralph Waldo Emerson".

I hope you like it! :o)

Next installment tomorrow!