Steampunk Blog Hop

***UPDATED July 5th: Bookmark and ATC giveaway is closed.

Winners are Penny -Bookmark & Elle - ATC. Congrats ladies! Please send me your mailing info so I can get these out to each of you.***

***UPDATE June 23rd: Commenting for Blog Hop prizes has ended. Commenting for my bookmark and ATC giveaway is open until Saturday, July 4th at 11:59 PM.***

Welcome, crafty enthusiasts! It's blog hop time with a spectacular array of steampunk creations with sixteen sponsored prizes up for grabs. My contribution to this sojourn is themed Sea, Land, & Air as I join in with a steampunk inspired bookmark and ATC.

The bookmark base is made from water spritzed and crinkled kraft cardstock topped with Stamperia Mechanical Sea World patterned papers including the glossy accent embellished fussy cut seahorse.

Some distressing with Tim Holtz Distress inks, chipboard gears from Creative Embellishments and cut out letters/words from the Mechanical Sea Worlds packaging completes the main part of the "Free to be Me" bookmark in order for it to maintain its functionality as an actual bookmark. Where I had more freedom to add dimensional pieces was with the "ribbon & charm" part that hangs outside of a book.

Supplies: Mechanical Sea World patterned papers (Stamperia), kraft carstock (CTMH), Glossy Accents, Walnut Stain Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Distress Collage Medium (Ranger), mini gear chipboards (Creative Embellishments), Cerith Seashell Stamp, Ancient Anchor Charm (Emerald Creek Craft Supplies), Timber Brown StazOn inks (Tsukineko), Shrink-It (Aleene's), Natural Hemp Cord (Darice), Tim Holtz Idea-ology Jump Rings (Advantus), glass beads (Misc.)

For that, I used hemp cord tied with glassbeads, a shrink plastic seashell stamped with the Emerald Creek Cerith Seashell stamp and an alcohol ink coloured anchor embellishment. I am so pleased with how this came together and that it is perfect for a steampunk enthusiast's use in a practical way.

Up next is this little up-cycled gem of an ATC. I like to reuse/repurpose what I can in art pieces and this one incorporates corrugated cardboard and shell plastic packaging as key elements in its design. It was an add-on item to my initial intention of just having the bookmark as a stand alone piece for this hop. As I waited for the hop day I wanted to make something that expressed the current world wide reflection of the status quo situation and came up with this. 

The "Unlock the Spirit of Change" ATC starts with a base piece of corrugated expose cardboard topped with a distressed piece of the Stamperia Mechanical Sea World patterned paper. After splattering it with Broken China Distress ink and Vintage Photo Distress inking the edges, I applied Tim Holtz Grit Paste mixed with Burnt Sienna Finnabair Fluid Acrylics through the Crafter's Workshop Mini Specimens stencil.

Supplies: Mechanical Sea World pattern paper (Stamperia), Mini Specimens stencil (The Crafter's Workshop), Finnabair Burnt Sienna Liquid acrylic, Mermaid Teal acrylic paint, Lucky Emerald Antique Brilliance, Ingvild Blome Stamp-N-Add Butterfly Wings (Prima), Tim Holtz Distress Grit Paste, Distress Collage Medium, Broken China, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress ink, Patina, Pool and Express Alcohol ink, Gold Mixative, Glossy Accents (Rangers), mini gears chipboard (Creative Embellishments), Mod Podge Industrial molds (Plaid), VersaMark ink (Tsukineko), Vega Gold emboss powder (Emerald Creek), Spirit metal tag (Dollarama), Tim Holtz Ideaology Hex Fasteners (Advantus), metal washer (Home Depot), cardboard and plastic packaging (Misc.)

On top of that is a collection of Creative Embellishments Mini Gears chipboard, Industrial Mod Podge molded gears, lock and key coloured with a combination of alcohol inks and Finnabair paint and wax. The butterfly was created from left over plastic shell packaging coloured with Patina and Pool alcohol inks and then heat embossed stamped with a Prima butterfly using Emerald Creeks Vegas Gold Emboss powder. The butterfly is mechanized with an alcohol ink coloured Prima metal wing screw embellishment hopefully giving the illusion that it is wound to fly as it is set free. There is much symbolism in this piece with elements purposely chosen that marry themselves well to express the message through a steampunk theme.

Now onto the give away part...

As for my blog's giveaway... it is both of these creations. Yes, you can become the owner of one of these crafty creations and yes, I am willing to snail mail them internationally so two lucky people can enjoy them. To be entered into my blog's Sea, Land and Air giveaway draw, you simply have to complete these two steps:

1. Be a follower of my blog or my IG account here or become a follower of either and 
2. Leave a comment below on this post stating which you would like to win e.g. ATC, bookmark, or either one.

My blog giveaway ends Saturday, July 4th at 11:59 PM. Please note that this is a different timeline than the Steampunk blog hop sponsored prizes which ends Monday, June 22nd.

As for a chance to win one of the 16 sponsored prizes for our Steampunk Hop - we're proud to say these are small businesses run by artists. Let's show them some love!

1) A Vintage Girl - $20 prize package

2) Angel Dream Crafts - $20 gift certificate (shipping not included)

3) Linda Israel Art - $50 gift certificate (shipping not included)

4) A Matter of Crafts - $20 gift certificate (shipping not included)

5) Expressions Craft - $25 gift certificate (shipping not included)

6) Nellys Artistic Creations - original artwork (see link for examples of her work)

7) Gecko Galz - $25 in digital products

8) Creative Embellishments - $50 (shipping not included)

9) Emerald Creek - $25 gift certificate

10) Electric Pandemonium - choose a $45 original artwork piece (shipping not included)

11) Thompson's Craft Supplies £20 (approx $25) (shipping not included)

12) It's Oddly Appealing - original artwork (see link for examples of her work)

13) The Funkie Junkie Boutique - $25 gift certificate

14) Hobbilicious - £15 (approx $19) (UK shipping free)

15) ITD - prize package worth £25

16) Stamperia - a pizza box prize pack

To have a chance of winning one of the 16 coveted prizes, leave a comment on this post, along with your email address or social media contact (IG, FB, etc) and what country you're from, from now through Monday, June 22nd. Sixteen winners will be picked randomly from all comments left from all of the artist's participating! The winners will be contacted via email/social media so it's important you leave your address/social media contact! Good luck and enjoy the hop!

For your next stop on the Steampunk hop, please head on over to Monica Longard's MonDo Creations.

If you are just beginning the Steampunk Blog Hop with your visit here on my blog, below is the full list of all the inspirational talented makers:

It's Oddly Appealing

Roni - Ink Stained

Krystal Overby - Electric Pandemonium

Crafts From The Fairy Den

Chaitali Dekhtawala 

Nellys Artistic Creations

Jane Austin

Priya Mishra

Archana Sehgal

Bhavani Balaji 

 You Are Here ➽➽➽➽➽ Cassandra - Scrap Savvy Creations

Monica Longard - MonDo Creations

Shraddha

Amy Love's Designs

Kanika Jain

Empire of the Cat

Shwetha's Art

Sonika Agarwal

In Search of my Creative Side

The Journey is the Start

Ina Grehan

Crea-Red
Kim Slade-Fuller 

Orquide'art

Juli Loves Paper

Leslie Lineberry

Linda Simpson

Jessica Larios

Riddhi Jani

Lynne Joncas

Zoe Bateman

Pooja Sharma

Nicole Palos
A Vintage Girl 

A big thank you goes out to Cathy Frailey (owner of Bleeding Art challenge blog and the coming in September Steampunk Challenge blog) for organizing this hop. Be sure to visit all the hop stops for some fun mixed media steampunk creations and be sure to leave some love!

TTFN,