Stenciled card with Alison Bomber.

We have very good news for you - Alison Bomber is back with another project. This time she has prepared a beautiful card in a colour combination that is her trademark. Alison is using The Crafter's Workshop stencils that are the theme of our June's ATP Exchange Challenge. Here you can find more details. We hand you over now to Alison:

Hello everyone, Alison here from Words and Pictures, and I'm so happy and honoured to be back here at Artist Trading Post with another Crafter's Workshop stencilling project for you today. Unusually for me, it's a card.

This creation is a simpler affair than the altered box I shared with you earlier in the month, but like that box it uses Kasia's wonderful Herbarium stencil as well as the fabulously grungy Coffee  Splotch template.

I haven't got many "making-of" photos - partly because this was made up mainly of leftover scraps! I often work with blues and greens, so this is what my scraps usually look like.  The book page had been used to blot up leftover inks from the craft sheet, as had the watercolour paper panel behind it. I layered them together onto some folded kraft card and stuck them down.

Then I stencilled the longest stem over the scraps several times, blending Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters and a touch of Mowed Lawn.  I decided I wanted the stems to have a more defined look against the slightly busy backgrounds, so I placed the stencil back over them and used a PITT pen to outline the leaves.

The MDF flower comes from Calico Craft Parts, and it just seemed like the perfect focal point against all that lush greenery, with the leaves echoing Kasia's leaves in the background.

I added some extra detailing with the Coffee Splotch stencil, done in Walnut Stain Distress and Potting Soil Archival inks.  And of course I find it very hard to manage without plenty of splatter these days!

I stamped the words onto another splattered scrap in Sepia Archival ink, clear embossed them, and mounted them on padded tape for an extra pop of dimension.

And that was pretty much that!  I hope you like it, and I've got one more stencilled creation to share with you in the coming days.  Thanks so much to Kasia for inviting me along to play, and I hope you'll be inspired to play with your Crafter's Workshop stencils too.
Alison xx

Thank you Alison for sharing your beautiful creations with us. We can't wait to see more :)
Here is list of products from Artist Trading Post that Alison used:

TCW548s - Kasia Krzyminska - Herbarium Template - 6"x 6"	TCW458s Coffee Splotch Template - 6 x 6	Product GTIN: 789541020233 Product Code: TIM20333 Our Price: £4.45 Email a friend Description	Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Shabby Shutters	Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Mowed Lawn
Inkessentials Ink Blending Tool	Sakura Pigma Micron 01 .25mm Black Pen	Ecoline Watercolour Ink 30ml - 100 - White	Designer Archival Ink - Wendy Vecchi - Potting Soil	Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Walnut Stain
Archival Ink - Sepia	Ranger Embossing Powder - Clear - Super Fine

Please remember that our new ATP Exchange Challenge is running. And for all of you who need more TCW stencils we have a special offer: we are running a promotion which enables you to buy any amount of 6"x6" TCW stencils and receive free shipping.

Simply place an order containing only 6"x6" Crafter's Workshop stencils and select "TCW 6"x6" free postage" from the shipping menu. This offer runs till July 12th. (UK customers only)

Please note, orders combined with any other products are subject to our normal postage rates, and are not part of this promotion.

Art journaling with Denisa Gryczova.

We hope you enjoyed inspiration from Alison Bomber. For those who love her style we have very good news - the are going to be two more projects from this talented lady this month. Let me tell you in secret (well... it's quite an obvious thing) - they are all stunning, so please stay tuned.

Now it's time to introduce you somebody also very talented, creative and with very unique and arty style. Our next guest designer this month is Denisa Gryczova - winner of our last month's challenge. Make yourself comfortable because you are going to be stunned with her amazing art journal spread. But firstly let's get to know Denisa a little bit better:

My name's Denisa Gryczova. I'm a patient mum of three adorable kids and an enthusiastic primary teacher living in The Czech Republic. I've been a mixed media freak for two years willing to let my imagination run riot anytime and anywhere. My style's been evolving all the time. It's anything but clean and simple. I love collecting weird photos and creating projects with them.

Here is an amazing piece of art that Denisa prepared to inspire you:

Information Needed - She walks In Mysterious Ways.

I was inspired by the photo and U2 music. The song She Walks In Mysterious Ways and the pic just fit in together perfetcly. I love making up the stories for extraordinary shots I discover. 

I created the texture by applying a thick layer of gesso and then heating it with my heat gun (holding it very close to the paper). This allows gesso to form bubbled surface. Very interesting and easy technique to get rid of the flat background. I used some sprays to add dramatic colours and did some random stamping with black Archival Ink. I also glued some black mica flakes on the ladie's head. I love the effect.

Product suggestions:

Dina Wakley Media - White Gesso	Ranger Heat It Tool	Archival Ink - Jet Black	Finnabair Clear Stamp - Dot Grunge	Mechanicals - Typewriter words
Prima Bloom spray - Vintage Coal	Prima Bloom Spray - Ginger Coral	Dylusions Ink Spray - Postbox Red	Ecoline Watercolour Ink 30ml - 578 - Sky Blue Cyan

Isn't it beautiful? Denisa created such a stunning piece with a message, playing with texture, photo transfer and colours. I'm very impressed, especially knowing how quickly she made it for us. Amazing job Denisa! We would love to have you here again :) For all of you who would want to be our guest designers we have a challenge. All you have to do is to enter it. Here you'll find more details.

June's Guest Designer - Alison Bomber.

Hello our creative friends! Today we have a bunch of inspiration from one amazing artist - our June Guest Designer. Her original and colourfull projects are eye catching and inspiring. She knows how to work with media, how to create stunning texture and how to perfectly balance colours. Our Guest Designer this month is...

Alison Bomber! 

Here is Alison to introduce herself:

My creativity was never really on the visual side - I was more the words, music,
books, theatre type. When I became a freelancer in Spring 2012 after eight years at
the Royal Shakespeare Company as a Text and Voice Coach, it was supposed to give
me more time for friends and family. I had no idea that within weeks I would be in
thrall to a whole new creative passion - stamps/inks/paints/texture/stencils - you
name it, I want to play with it!  There's so much to learn, discover and explore.
Now I have to balance the two worlds - hence the name of my blog, Words and Pictures. So much for friends and family...

Now it's time for some beautiful inspiration from our Guest Designer. Sit comfortably because Alison prepared a real treat for you:

Hello, Alison here from Words and Pictures.  I was thrilled to be asked to be a guest here at Artist Trading Post, especially to play with stencils - one of my absolute crafting must-haves.  I enjoyed myself so much that I ended up with a trio of projects, and I'm delighted to share the first of them with you today.

 Believe it or not, this altered trinket box started life as a humble plastic container (cotton buds!) saved from the recycling bin. 

 I coated it with gesso, smeared on various gel mediums and crackle mediums so that there was lots of random texture, and then spritzed it with some DecoArt Media Sprays.  Once it was all dry I applied some texture paste through the fabulous Herbarium stencil by Kasia Krzyminska... with all those blues and greens, the botanical look seemed the perfect way to go. 

 I painted the textured leaves using various Fresco paints, and decided I wanted even more crackle, so I put a coat of Rock Candy Crackle Paint over large areas of the whole box. 

While that was drying and crackling, I started playing with adding co-ordinating paint colours to an oval bezel charm, using a toothpick to marble them. 

 That needed a long time to dry, but once it had I added some ChitChat stickers and a coat of Glossy Accents to seal it all in. 

 The final touch was to add some shimmer using various Treasure Gold colours.  The gilding really helps all the texture to pop. 

 I hope you like my Herbarium Trinket Box, perfect for collecting beautiful moments, and I'm happy to say that I'll see you again soon with another Crafter's Workshop Stencils creation.
Alison xxx

Isn't it gorgeous transformation? Thank you Alison for preparing such an inspiring piece for us and also I must say that I feel very honoured that you used my stencil. :)

Here are some of products that Alison worked with:

TCW548s - Kasia Krzyminska - Herbarium Template - 6"x 6"	Golden - Gesso 237ml	Golden - Extra Heavy Gel (Matte) - 8oz / 236ml	Golden - Regular Gel (Gloss) - 8oz / 236ml	Golden - Crackle Paste - 8oz / 236ml
Rock Candy 4oz. jar	Fresco Finish Acrylic - Beach Hut	Fresco Finish Acrylic - South Pacific	Fresco Finish Acrylic - Hey Pesto	Fresco Finish Acrylic - Space Cadet
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - ChitChat	Inkessentials Glossy Accents	Treasure Gold - Aquamarine	Treasure Gold - Emerald

Please remember that our new ATP Exchange Challenge has just started. And for all of you who need more TCW stencils we have a special offer: we are running a promotion which enables you to buy any amount of 6"x6" TCW stencils and receive free shipping.  

Simply place an order containing only 6"x6" Crafter's Workshop stencils and select "TCW 6"x6" free postage" from the shipping menu. This offer runs till July 12th. (UK customers only)
Please note, orders combined with any other products are subject to our normal postage rates, and are not part of this promotion.
Have a beautiful Sunday!