Front of house

Not even Easter yet and I'm dreaming of summer holidays...

The heat of the sun in southern Europe, lazy days...  Well I can dream! In the meantime I made my own villa in the sun!

I'm showing how to make this, and especially this masonry so prevalent on the continent, on the Craft Barn blog today. So do pop over for a closer look...

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Paper Artsy,  SSS Monday and City Crafter challenges.

Spring Fashion

Spring is in the air and a lot of challenges are turning to flowers, garden party and all things spring. Unusually for me here's a classic, many layered, feminine card. Hey, I love all styles me...

Supplies:
Cutplorations die set: Crazy double Running Stitch set
X-Cut Haberdashery die set (dress form)
Flower dies: All Occasion
Sentiment: magazine freebie (I think!)
Memory Box: Madera Corner
Adhesive backed fabric from Docrafts.
Piece of vellum .

Most of the effort has been carried out by my die-cutting machine so I'll only explain how I put together the dress form.
I placed some double sided adhesive on cardstock before cutting out an entire dress form as my base.
From wooden paper (very thin wood, paper backed that can be die-cut with the thin dies) I die cut top and bottom of the form.
I removed the protective layer of the Double sided adhesive, placed the wooden parts and protected what will be the skirt by replacing the protective layer (cut or fold back the excess). Then I sprinkled loose glitter on the shirt area to give my outfit a bit of bling!
I created a skirt and a belt with bits of ribbon, and voila ready to step out in the spring sunshine!

The Madera corner has been colour matched with the metallic Starlight paint in Mint and since it is such a big die I cut one stem so the proportions would be right for my card.

I made the flowers with several die-cuts of red tissue paper, shaping them with cocktails sticks and ball tool.

I do hope you'll like this make, I can't believe there's no stamping at all but I enjoyed using some of my old stash such as this fabric piece and wood sheet that I was obviously keeping "for best"...

I am  entering the SSS Monday, That's Crafty, Memory Box, Colour Crazy, CUTplorations, and Inkychicks challenges.

Rainbow Butterfly

I have spoken before of Kaleidacolor inkpads and how much I love them. Today I am showcasing some of my favourite ways of using them on the Craft Barn blog.

 

Do pop by the Craft Barn blog for my step by step!

 

Thanks for coming by,

I am entering the Craft Stamper TIMI, Stamping Sensations and WOW Embossing powders challenge.

Infused Grunge Paste

Paper Artsy challenged us to use Infusions in new ways and I took inspiration from Alison Hall to make my page. However, instead of paint, I used Grunge Paste to up the ante!

I am sharing the results here despite the poorly chosen colours and lacklustre design because I think as a technique it works well and looks nice. If only I'd had the time to have another go...

My base is Kraft cardstock and I applied some gesso first before stencilling the grunge paste through the Fabric stencil (Dutch Doobadoo).
Immediately after I sprinkled the Infusions Violet Storm at the top, Golden Sands in the Middle and Are you Cerise at the bottom, using the paint knife to spread the powder/paste. Of course by using the knife in this way, the colours do mix up a little, but that is fine.
Next, I added some stamping using the ELB33 set, which I also used to stamp the leaves and quote.

The Gesso'ed background was niggling me so I used a green iridescent spray to soften the colours.
I was concerned this would re-wet the stencilled Infusions but it didn't... phew!!

I used Golden Sands Infusions again on the die-cut for the quote. This is not a single shape by the way, I just used a curved stitched line (Stitched Snow hills from Stamplorations) several times around the quote.

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the SSS Monday Challenge, We Love To Create challenges.

Fabric bag

Before showing you my latest make let me remind you that the Craft Barn has a blog candy of the 12 new colours of PaperArtsy Infusions!!! Don't delay and enter here, they are gorgeous and so much fun to play with.

Back to the crafting...

This is a bit unusual for me as my forays on fabric are few and far between, but, I have relished testing out some fabric paints that promised a soft feel and I have plans for some wearable art...

Today it's a more humble shopping bag that I have used as a base for my painting.

I have created a step by step that you can see here.

Supplies:
Cotton bag
So Soft paints
Paper Artsy EKC02
Brilliance Dew Drop in Graphite Black
Sizzix Thinlit Mixed Media 1 (for the home made stencils used top and bottom left)

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Stamping Sensations, Penny Black and More and Stamplorations MM & Stencil  challenges.

In the spotlight

Sadly the Spotlight is not for me but for the Time Out Challenges who are turning 3 this month and Uniko Studio who celebrate their 5th Anniversary. Congratulations to both!

Before being underwhelmed by my CAS card, I want you to know that it took me the best part of a day to come up with this design, having consigned a few tries to the bin!

I stamped in black 2 of the borders in black ink and one of the circle in blue (Kaleidacolor) from the Background Builders: Round In Circles set (Uniko Studio).
I added the "Anniversary" (my own stamp) and added the "5" and "th" die-cuts (both dies from Die'sire).

Nothing much to it... but that's CAS for you. "Clean" it might be but "Simple" to make it isn't!
Also entering the Fashionable Stamping, Craft Stamper TIMI and Stamplorations CAS challenges.

Here comes Spring

With March everyone is thinking of the coming spring, and Mother's day if you're based in Britain!
I can't think of a better opportunity to create something classical, pretty and feminine in honour of both ...

I stamped one of the flower stem from the Inspired By Stamping Magnolias set and embossed it with detailed white powder on watercolour card.
I used watercolours and a standard brush to colour the blooms and stamped the "Spring" sentiment in black ink (same set). A pink pearl dots the i!

The pink card base has been embossed with the same Stitched square die used to cut the stamped image and the Mother's day sentiment is one from my collection.

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Allsorts, Stamping Sensations, Wow Embossing powders, Stamplorations Theme and Sketch, Stamplorations CAS, and The Artistic Stamper  challenges.

Inspired by Tim Holtz CAS Card

Welcome to my second inspiration post for the Country View Challenge, where our theme is "Inspired by Tim Holtz. My first Tim Holtz inspired make was very much in his style but today's is definitely cleaner, more my style!

The inspiration is product led on this make and I was testing out the Substrate Sheets for which very little information is available. Also being tested is the new Oxide Distress inks.

The Substrate comes in a pack with white, brown and Kraft colour which is what I used here. It is described as thicker than Grungepaper but thinner than Grungeboard, very resilient (does not tear) and can be die-cut even with the thin dies.

I cut the sheet in half and then die-cut it with a wavy die (Papertrey Ink).

Next, I used an embossing folder with Flourishes (Crafters Companion I believe) since this is one of the classic motifs that Tim Holtz likes.
I put the folder through once to make sure the paper would not move as I wanted the embossing to continue on the 2 pieces as if they had been embossed first.
I applied Distress Oxide ink before running the sandwich through again ( I took the tape off this time!)

To test the ink I had to spray water on it, since I'm told this is when the magic happens! Verdict: yes, once wet, the ink takes on a lighter shade, which against a coloured background makes it pop:

I didn't want to hide my background so, unusually for me (and for Tim), I didn't add any stamping.

Instead I created a flower embellishment with Tim's Tattered Florals (anybody remember the rush to get that particular die?), a brad and some Treasure gold in Amethyst and Gold.

Then I set out to test the Substrate by die-cutting one of the very detailed word from the Sizzix TH Thinlits 660215 (Sentiments words) and embossing it multiple times with copper, Aged Aqua, Black and gold embossing. The Substrate did indeed hold up to that treatment but alas wasn't showing up much against my background... (looked amazingly gorgeous though).  The die-cut I actually used is in fact plain card embossed with clear powder and has gone translucent after triple embossing.

A charm threaded on twine finishes the card.

I hope I have inspired you to have a go at our Country View Challenge, in Tim Holtz's style or your own, just as long as we can see how Tim inspired you. You could win a £20 voucher to spend at Country View Craft shop...

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Allsorts and WOW Embossing powders challenges.

Inspired by Tim Holtz 1

Welcome to March and this, my first post for the latest Countryview challenge. This month I chose the theme, "Inspired by Tim Holtz". I trust most of you will find it easy... who hasn't got any products designed by him, from Sizzix, Ranger, Stampers Anonymous and lots more or hasn't tried one of his techniques?!

Should you need inspiration from the master himself, I will point you in the direction of his blog where Tim has lots of steps by steps, mainly through his 12 tags monthly posts from 2012 through to 2016, a whooping 60 and that's even before we look into his Christmas tags...

Without further ado here's mine:

First I created my base, the equivalent of a No8 Manilla tag, after realising that this is the size TH actually uses and not 10 as I thought! I cut a tag then gessoed it, painted in Fresco Vanilla and even created a faux hole protector.

Then I applied some tissue tape. I tore 1 strip in half to give uneven edges, which you'll see if you look close up. You'll notice I have the dispenser too and it may be an extravagance but it is nice to have this tool as it makes it super quick to get a piece of tape.


For my focal image, I stamped the Bowler hat man from the True Gentleman set from Flonzcraft with Archival.
It's one of my favourite stamp set and I couldn't possibly narrow it down to just one!

I applied some Grunge Paste (Paper Artsy) through the Retro Circles(Stamplorations) and Reverse Chicken wire (TCW) stencils.



Next, I spritzed my tag and applied Distress inks re-inkers. Usually TH would use Distress Stains for practical reasons but, as my experiment reveals, it's perfectly OK to use re-inkers although messy (beware stained fingers)...

I used a chicken wire stencil to add more stencilling with black ink and tried to lighten my man's face and clothes.

For finishing touches I added some wooden gears (Calico Crafts) and an arrow (Tando) after giving them a metallic look with DecoArt Metallic Lustre in Silver Spark.
TH would at this stage include some sort or words be it Chit-chats or a metal plaque, but I couldn't find the right space for it and I'm a woman of a few words so I settled for the single "authentic" from the Thinlits set Adventure Words die-cut from black card.

I am looking forward to see all your Tim Holtz inspired creations on the Countryview Challenge blog! You could win a £20 voucher for your entry...

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the Penny Black and more, SSS Wednesday and Vintage Journey challenges.