The Artists on the Block - Big Top

It is my turn to post a Design Team ATB (Artist Trading Block) project for THE ARTISTS ON THE BLOCK, which is run by the lovely Amy Bowerman.

This is a scheduled post because I am travelling around Scotland at the moment, visiting lots of my lovely crafty friends and attending a charity craft event, run by my lovely friend Kath Stewart.  I apologise if I do not get round to visiting you, but hopefully I will catch up with many of you when I get home.

Over at (the designer of the ATB, and dozens of other fabulous dies) Eileen Hull's Art with Heart Challenge, the theme for June is Summer Celebrations.  I have taken that theme quite literally for my ATB - as a child, the start of summer was heralded by the Circus coming to town and I loved it!

As luck would have it, Tim Holtz has recently added a Circus themed (Big Top) set of stamps to his wonderful repertoire so I was in my element making my ATB.  Here is a view of one side of the finished block.

The project was started by creating an initial master board using Distress Inks in wonderful bright colours - Ripe Persimmon, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade and Fired Brick and using Tim's wrinkle free distress and spritz and flick techniques.  Love the glorious colours of this combination!

The block was cut from the largest of  Eileen Hulls's block dies using Sizzix custom-made double-sided Mat Board and then painted with DecoArt's Americana Decor chalk paint.

The master board was cut to size, embossed with Tim Holtz's Drapery Embossing Folder, inked around the edges and then attached to the block.  The word stamp from the set was stamped in black Archival and added to the top. The characters were stamped, coloured with Distress Inks, fussy cut (which took ages) and then triple embossed to give a nice gloss. The chevron on the edge die was cut in black card to form the decorative edge for the top of the block.

You can just about see in the right hand photo, below, the juggler with his colourful juggling balls - in order to fit them in, the chevron top was added to incorporate the balls.  The chevron also creates a little drama, which is what the circus is all about, so I was more than happy with that solution.

To finish off the block, I thought it needed some height so I painted a large thread spool in the DecoArt black paint and added this to the bottom.

A final view - this is the top of the box with this wonderful sentiment.

I know that most of the travelling Circus companies now do not have animals (which I totally agree with), but it does not detract from my childhood pleasure of visiting the Circus to see them......

Don't forget, Eileen's June Challenge (Summer Celebrations) which you can find HERE is still open, it does not have to be an ATB.  Eileen always has wonderful prizes on offer, I really hope you will join in!

I will be posting my blocks on the third Thursday of each month, although I will probably do blocks more often, as I love them so much.  I am thrilled that many of you are loving the blocks too. Thanks for joining me and I hope to see you again soon.  Hugs, Anne xx

Supplies:
Eileen Hull's Sizzix Scoreboard Die 658983 is available HERE for the UK and Europe and HERE for the USA.

Artist Trading Block Wedding Favours and a touch of Tim Holtz

My lovely friend Jenny (Buttons) and I had a craft day together a couple of weeks ago.  Our mutual friend Amy Bowerman (Plucking Daisies and The Artists on the Block) had sent us some die cuts from Eileen Hull's Sizzix  range.  I was lucky enough to be featured on the Artists on the Block for a valentine ATB I had made (which you can see HERE), so I was thrilled when Jenny and I got more die cuts to play with.  Thank you Amy!

On the day, we concentrated on the Artist Trading Block dies (ATBs) and Jenny had the brilliant idea to use the ATBs as wedding favours and so we spent the next few hours designing and making up blocks. We made too many to show you all today so I am going to show a few today and then some more next week.

The first couple of samples just show how Tim Holtz inks, stains and stencils and dies can be used to create items suitable for weddings as well as his normal 'grungy' style.  I just love the versatility of that man! The base of the boxes we used are cut from a product called 'mat board' in the US, I think it is much the same as mount board here in the UK, it is a lovely thickness and takes inks, stains and paints really well.

The one above is the first one that I did, using an idea that Jenny wanted me to try.  Using Tim's lattice stencil and embossing ink I covered all of the sides and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  After this had cooled Tarnished Pewter Distress Stain was applied as well as a little Tarnished Pewter Distress Paint.  This caused some of the card to rub off a little, but it created the wonderful aged look.  A couple of simple corrugated hearts cut from a Movers and Shapers die and the box was finished with a Tattered Floral in plain cream card.

This is the largest size of box, just over 3 inches square and could hold a gift for the Bridesmaids, or to hold confetti or even a piece of wedding cake for the guests to take home.  The die for this particular size of box is sold separately to the three smaller boxes which you will see below.

For this set I used a Memory Box Stencil and stenciled direct with Peeled Paint Distress Ink which was then covered in clear embossing powder.  I tapped a little away, just like Tim does, so that some areas are raised and darker (those that have the embossing powder applied more thickly).  The gorgeous little rolled flowers on top were gifted to me by the lovely Nicola (Paper Profusion) and the leaves are ones that Jenny cut for me using her new Tim Greenery Bigz die (mine had not arrived at that point).

I do love seeing the three sizes together, the largest of these is about 2.1/2 inches square, just to give you an idea of size.

This photo shows the smallest box filled with heart confetti but it could equally be used to house something more precious to be used on the day - but you will have to come back next week to see what that is!

And then, just for fun, I though I would try making some of the boxes out of heavy acetate and I was so pleased that it worked.  Sadly neither Jenny nor I, have the Block/Scoreboard die as yet so these were cut by hand using my own measurements.  This is not something I recommend because the fit is nowhere near as good as Eileen's dies but I wanted to see if it would work.

I filled one with sugared almonds (a commonly used wedding favour in the UK), one with truffles (which could be used for a dinner party or a wedding) and one with mini easter eggs, all these needed to finish them off was just a little ribbon.

Next week I will show you some more of the designs we came up with, I think you will love what Jenny did and I tried my hand at a little origami too.  The boxes are a dream to put together (I will show you that next week too) and are really sturdy.

Jenny and I certainly had a fun day and we cannot wait until our dies arrive now, they are due to arrive in the UK at the end of April.  I hope if any of you are anticipating weddings in the family this year that you will find some inspiration in some of the boxes that we created between us.

Thanks for looking and I hope to see you again soon.  Hugs, Anne xx