Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Darkroom Door and Art Journey Blog Hop

Welcome to the Art Journey and Darkroom Door blog hop! All 23 members of the Darkroom Door and Art Journey design teams have joined together to bring you a 5 day creative extravaganza! Each artist will inspire you with a project using stamps from both of these fabulous companies. There are also great prizes to be won.
 
 
Here's my project, a Nautical Artist Trading Block.
 
I got some wonderful stamps from Art Journey: Sea and Ripple and decided to make an Artist Trading Block (ATB), so that I could showcase them all at the same time. If you turn the block around, you'll have a different section displayed. For the base of the ATB, I used Eileen Hull's Sizzix 3-D Block, Cube, Bank die (3 x 3 in). This is a little tutorial.
 
Start by die cutting two strips for the block out of white mat board. Did you know that mat board handles ink very well and even works great with water techniques? I smeared some Distress Inks on my craft sheet, misted with water and pressed the die cut mat board into the ink. Leave to dry.

I thought these stamps would work great with a watercolour stamping technique, which also fit with the nautical theme. Ink the stamps up with Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap for the shells, and Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean for the sea horse and circle. Mist with water about four times before stamping. My son was stamping next to me when I made this and distracted me a little bit, so I stamped the circle stamp on the wrong square - I was planning to have it at the top. Later I managed to fix it, by cutting off the one side, and die cutting a new base. Leave to dry.

I wanted more texture and partial script stamping is one of my favourite ways of adding texture. Here I used Darkroom Door's French Script Texture stamp together with Tree Branch ink. Most of the script is stamped with second and third generation stamping, holding the cling stamp in my hand.

For a water texture Wendy Vecchi's Clear Embossing Paste together with a bubble stencils worked great. Smear it with a palette knife through the stencil, here and there. It dries completely clear.

Splatter the sides with a Gathered Twigs Distress Ink, smear it on your craft sheet, mist once with water and pick up with a paint brush. Tap the brush to get splatters. Assemble the block with strong adhesive, I used Wonder Tape. Ink all the edges with Gathered Twigs. I also used an Antique Linen marker along the joints, removing the visible white areas.
 
To add even more of a nautical feeling, I applied some Glossy Accents along the edge, placed a few tiny shells here and there and sprinkled mica flakes to cover the rest of the Glossy Accents. I also glued down a few pieces of twine.
 
I love the look of this sea horse. The stamps have great detail, which is more visible if you stamp without misting with water.
 
There is also a sentiment stamp included in the Sea set, which I stamped with Salty Ocean ink. As you can see the paste dried clear and almost looks like water droplets. 

The circles from the Ripple stamp add movement to the piece. This is such a versatile stamp. I used a few Chit Chat stickers for more sentiments.

One of the other sides, with more shell stamps, script and the Ripple.

At the top of the block, the Ripple is the central focus, after I fixed my initial problem of stamping it in the wrong place. I wanted it to be on the top because I was planning to place a little collection of embellishments in the centre.

You might be able to see the paste dots better on this photo, they were a bit hard to photograph.
 
There is a giveaway too! Darkroom Door and Art Journey will be giving away a few prize packs, with winners randomly chosen from ALL of the blog hop comments received by Sunday, June 29th. Lots of chances to win some goodies, just leave a comment on this post to enter! Don't miss checking out all the wonderful inspiration.
 
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog!

Your next stop on the blog hop is the wonderful Anette van den Berg.

Remember, if you find a link that doesn't work, you can always hop back to the Darkroom Door blog for a complete list to all the blogs in the hop!

Happy stamping!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Stamps: Art Journey: Ripple, Sea, Handmade; Darkroom Door: French Script Texture stamp
Surfaces: Sizzix Little Sizzles White Mat Board
Dies: Sizzix: 3-D Block/Cube/Bank
Ink: Distress Ink: Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Gathered Twigs, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean; Archival Ink: Tree Branch
Marker: Distress Marker: Antique Linen
Medium: Wendy Vecchi Stampers Anonymous: Clear Embossing Paste
Stencil: Ranger Dyan Reaveley: Dylusions Bubbles 5 x 8
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Chit Chat stickers; Stampendous Pearlized Mica Fragments; twine

73 comments:

  1. What a beautiful Beachy ATB! Love the wonderful sea inspired colors on the background.

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  2. WOW - this is gorgeous Anna-Karin! Love how you combined all the stamps and gave it a real watery feel. Love it! Thanks so much for being a part of the blog hop! :)

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  3. So much detail. Just Beautiful.

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  4. As always, I love your project. The theme, the color palate, and all the special tricks. Love the idea of a at block.

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  5. So beautiful! Good idea to use a watercolor technique for this project. Each side of the cube looks so pretty. I also love the effect of the clear embossing paste. Your son is so lucky, to be able to stamp together with you!

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  6. Wauw, Lovely the colors en the stamps, Beatyful....

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  7. Gorgeous, love it

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  8. Realy love what you made! The soft coulours, the box, your artwork. Stunning.
    Louise Kolker
    Art Journey

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  9. a great piece of work! like the fact you added actual shells. thanks for the little tutorial as well.

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  10. What an amazing ATB!! Absolutely love the nautical theme, colours and the elements you have used to add texture!!

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  11. Wow! This is very beautiful and great tutorial.

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  12. Where to start?! I adore every aspect of this, from the watery stamping and translucent stencilling to the mica flakes, shells and coiled string. Yet again you have created a mini masterpiece. LOVE it! Jenny x

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  13. This is such a great idea. With the watercolour theme, colours & textures I can almost smell the ocean ! It was a stroke of genius to use the clear paste with the bubbles stencil. Love it !

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  14. Wow...i just love the colours. I love the stampset (it's my favorite)....i love everything about your project...it's just Great!
    Greetings
    Anita

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  15. Great work. Love the colors, so Much detail. Lovely!

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  16. What a wonderful project Anna, products always find their full potential in your hands. Thank you for always igniting creativity!!!!!!!!

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  17. Oh...this has captured the feel of the sea beautifully! I love the embossing paste texture to it, but then, there are so many interesting bits to look at
    Dot x

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  18. A stunning atc box...you can almost feel the sand and smell the sea!
    greetings, Alie

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  19. What a great piece! And you can show so much more on a 3d block than on a flat card! Great!

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  20. I had never heard of an ATB.. But what a great thing this is ! And you have made a perfect one ! I just love it! Everything about it is just so how it should be.. The colors on the ink.. the watercolour effect.. the stamps and the embellishments ! wow.. it is stunning !

    Dianne ten Hove

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  21. I absolutely LOVE it. Love the stamps used and great colours, i love the blues !!!

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  22. Wow, this is lovely! I like everything about it, the colors, the images, the texture and the artwork! Miranda

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  23. Wow! This is a real art-block! Love the colours and watercolourtechnique! The mica fragments and bubbles fit so beautiful!

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  24. This is stunning Anna-Karin! I love how you stamped this, and all the extra little additions are beautiful. Thank you too for the tutorial. Something else I need to add to my long list of projects!

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  25. Just love this. One of my favorite places is near the ocean so this really speaks to me. Nice work.

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  26. The colors in this are SO wonderful and I love your use of the clear embossing paste!

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  27. wow what a nice colors, great work

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  28. This is great, i love this project, such lovely colors
    Marie-Anne Raeman

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  29. What can I say? I echo all the above comments. You are such an artist with color and stamps. Love this!

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  30. What a beautiful art box, love the colors you used and all the details!

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  31. What an absolutely wonderful project, I love it so much! I rarely stamp in DIs, using them instead for colouring, but your project really showcases their versatility. The colours are stunning and fit your theme perfectly. This is so special. Thanks for the inspiration. Elaine

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  32. I love all the images and colours you've used Anna. Truly lovely.

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  33. Beautiful stamps to work with and wow you certainly captured the essence of underwater life.
    Wishes
    Lynne

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  34. Gorgeous! Beautiful chose of colors. Though I live at the beach I'm usually not fond of beach theme items but this a so elegant.

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  35. Thanks for the tutorial and wonderful use of the products. It's very inspiring.

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  36. This is simple magnificent. I especially like the "bubble" detail!

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  37. This is simple magnificent. I especially like the "bubble" detail!

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  38. Absolutely gorgeous, with beautiful colors and details!

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  39. A wonderful ATB Anna and I love the stunning stamps. Great details that you have added and they make it quite special

    Thank you
    Annie x

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  40. Beautiful colours that remind me of the sea on this special box.

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  41. Love all that you added to this! Your stamped compositions are so pretty they should be papers... As always you have done such a great job with the project, photos and tutorial Anna-Karin!

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  42. Wow, awesome project! Love the way you combined all the different stamps. Beautiful colors and details too!

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  43. So awesome!!love the colors!The stamps are great too.

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  44. That's a fab block. Loving the colours and the design...... so pleasing to the eye !

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  45. beautiful! Love all the littel details and textures. Twine and shells and stamps and.. and.. Love it! TFS!

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  46. Utterly stunning - the watercolour stamping is heavenly, and the colours are just so perfect. This is a beauty, Anna-Karin.
    Alison xx

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  47. I love this. What a beautifull idea. And think you for your little tutorial

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  48. this is absolutely beautiful!!

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  49. This is just an amazing piece of art!

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  50. Your ATC block is gorgeous! I love the Nautical theme and the soft colors are delicious! TFS!

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  51. Absolutely Amazing ATC, Ana-Karin!! This looks like a precious little treasure box you'd be lucky to find in a vintage, musty, oceanside antique store! Just love it!! I'm hopping around with the DD & AJ blog hop and you've out-designed yourself, again :) XOXO-Shari

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  52. It's beautiful! Love the colors and the watercolor feel of the stamped images looks so nice!

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  53. Hi Anna-Karin. Great block and I love the stamps and colours you have used. Take care.

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  54. Anan-Karin, this ATB is gorgeous. love the colours and the stamping is fabulous. My favourite images - I just love the sea and your block captures the essence perfectly. Love it. Jean.x

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  55. omgoodness Anna karin - could it get any more stunning than this? beautiful ATB - love it xx

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  56. This is such a stunning project Anna. thanks for the blog hop
    x catherine

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  57. These stamps are great, especially the seahorse, and I love the watery colours you have chosen. A great project. x

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  58. Great!! Love the colours, great stamps.

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  59. What a beautiful, beautiful project! I love the colours, stamps, composition and embellishments. Simply gorgeous! It has a delicate but weathered/ vintage feel.A real beuty:)
    Jenni

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  60. So beautiful. Makes me feel good.

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  61. What a SPectacular piece! i love your seashore box- Bravo!!

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  62. What a great project ! You can keep looking at it, and discover more superb details !
    Thanks for the explanation too !

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  63. The nautical theme is so serene, so lovely! xx

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  64. Wow wow wow absolutely gorgeous stunning ATB, I really love the water colour effect, awesome:-) Kezzy xxx

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  65. Stunning piece. Love how you used the real shells.

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  66. Ek het al meerdere male na hierdie ATB gekyk, en dit bly vir my so mooi!

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!