Artist Trading Blocks and Stampendous - Big Blog Hop Finale

Hello Friends and welcome to the the big “block” hop day! It’s time to pull up your comfy chair and get comfortable with your favorite beverage (hot or otherwise) while you enjoy browsing through the projects inspired by this week's collaboration of Stampendous and Eileen Hull's Artist Trading Blocks.

My first project this week was this grungy, rusty, industrial Steampunk Drama Theatre set. If you've missed it, it's really worth checking out, even if I say so myself :). I really enjoyed making this ATB and dipping into my 'dark' side lol.

And if you haven't joined the hop yet, be sure to check out all the posts this week. The designers have shared some really outstanding projects - you don't want to miss this amount of creativity and ingenious inspiration!

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

And of course, we have prizes! We’ll choose three winners at random from the comments on all blogs in the hop. Then from those three we’ll randomly pick a GRAND PRIZE winner! Two of the winners will receive Stampendous PenPattern Petal and PenPattern Flutter cling stamps. They’ll also receive enough pre-cut, premium matboard from Sizzix to make two boxes, plus some extra pieces for fiddly bits! The Grand Prize winner will receive the stamps as above, a whole package of matboard, AND the Sizzix Scoreboards™ XL Square Box Die die to cut your own ATB boxes!
And if that wasn't enough, eligibility for these amazing prize packages has been extended to include international hoppers, too! I say 'yay' to that!

OK, so here's the project I prepared for today's Blog Hop Finale. This time I stayed well within my comfort zone and shabby chic nature. With the Spring just around the corner, I just couldn't get this idea out of my head - I had to have a bird's nest. I suppose I might still be under an influence of my fluffy Hummingbirds' Nest project :). Here is my block in its full glory.

My focal image is this gorgeous Nestled Bird stamp. It may sound strange but this is actually the first time I've used this stamp, despite owning it for a long time. Somehow I've always felt intimidated by its beauty and serenity, and I was worried I could never do it justice. But I've finally grown brave enough to ink it up :). I coloured it using Inktense pencils and my colours were inspired by the patterned paper I used.

If you look closely you'll see that I added lots of crackle texture all around my ATB. For that I used Old Paper Distress Crackle Paint and DecoArt Texture Crackle tinted with Titan Buff Fluid Acrylic paint. To tone them down and bring out the crackle even more I painted them with a wash using my Intense pencils.

To cover my box I used the stunning 12x12" sheet from Prima Marketing  (Striking Appearance, Epiphany Collection). I adhered each side individually using Adhesive Sheets which have become my adhesive of choice whenever I want full side to side coverage. I then stamped a sentiment on a smaller piece of my DP with A Bird Sings stamp, framed it with White Photo Corners (painted with an Inktense wash) and popped over White 3D Thin Foam Squares.

The sides of the block were stamped with the sentiments from the Angel Wings Quotes Perfectly Clear set. I added die cut wooden frames (a recent bargain find from The Works) which I swiped with Boss Gloss and heat embossed with with the Shabby Blue Embossing Enamel. Ooooh, I always love adding a bit of Frantage!

Inside the box I put some thick pieces of foam to fill it up so I could add my little nest with birds' eggs on top (another bargain from the Works). I also tucked in some natural 'grass' fibers and feathers and I added a spray with flowers and berries (another bargain find in the post-Christmas sales).

Here are today’s participating designers - be sure to visit them all!

Stampendous Blog

Pam Hornschu

Asia King (you are here)

Jamie Martin

Kristine Reynolds

Janelle Stollfus

Tenia Nelson

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Wendy Price

Lea Kimmel

Anna-Karin Evaldsson

Anne Redfern

Donna Budzynski

Diana Hetherington

Oxana Moupasiridou

Eileen Hull’s Blog

Thank you for stopping by today. If you've enjoyed your visit here, be sure to browse through my blog for other projects and ideas. And how about clicking the 'Follow My Blog' button on the right so you can stay up to date with my future crafty endeavours? :)

I'm back again tomorrow with a 'quintessentially British' make for Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L :). Until then, enjoy the hop and have a fabulously crafty Friday!

Big crafty hugs

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Challenges for this project:
Vintage Stamping Challenges #29 - Spring Colours
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Anything Goes
Fashionable Stamping Challenges #92 - Colour Between The Lines
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Also linking to:

WEEKEND RETREAT LINK PARTY #108

Roses of Inspiration Linkup #8