Spring in Paris

Hello crafters,

the temperature in the UK isn't spring like at all so it's no wonder we dream about April in Paris!

I made a journal page using lots of my Paris inspired stamps and added spring colours to liven it up.

The background is Distress Inks, Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean and a touch of Twisted Citron Distress Oxide applied with an acetate sheet.

The stamps are all Crafty Individuals: Singing Merrily (CI-309) top left, bottom right and in lighter colours here and there. Iconic World Views (CI-228) in the photo frame, Just the Ticket Border (CI-498) and Imagine Child (CI-101).

I also used bits of stamps or stamps sets as fillers if they had a Paris theme.

The photo frame is from the So Spring die set by Studio Light, the Eiffel tower is Marianne Craftables Eiffel Tower CR1220 and "Soir de Paris" has been stamped on a ticket die (Happy Days Ticket Stubs Dies By Xcut XCU503150). The butterfly is cut from leftover background (Impression Obsession IO DIE008-I)

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Stamping Sensation, We Love Stamping,

                                                       SSS Wednesday challenges

Purple Crocus

Hello again! 

I have another flower card today... I just had to use this AALL & Create stamp that I won at Stamping Sensations challenge last month.

The result sadly doesn't quite match my initial vision, but I am showing it here anyway

 keeping it real...

The stamp is from the Crocus set (#624) by AALL & Create, the heart die (cut in white and then black) is from the Studio light "So Spring" (SS78) die set, and I used a scalloped die to cut the black card (Julie Hickey Designs, JHD-CUT-1003).

Once stamped, I coloured the crocus with pencils and added a bit of white acrylic splatter to finish.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Allsorts, Stamping Sensations and

                                                     We Love Stamping challenges

Of Friends and Flowers

Hello crafters!

More floral inspiration for you today as I am featuring over our Country View Crafts Facebook group. This month I chose the theme, "Flower Power".  

My second make is a mixed media tag with a touch of Vintage.

I first applied different colours of acrylic paint on a gessoed tag, choosing bright colours. 

Then I stuck pieces of Tim Holtz Botanical paper with gel medium. When these were dry, I coloured them with Distress crayons.

Next, I applied a thickish layer of Crackled paste, which turns transparent when completely dry. To enhance the crackles, I brushed a fairly wet wash of brown acrylic paint all over the tag and using a soft cloth wiped off the excess.

My focal image is a Paper Doll that I coloured with Distress Crayons and framed with paper flowers from my stash, adding some enamel accents for the flower centres.

The bee and butterfly are from the Ideology/Tim Holtz Field Notes Snippets as is the cluster bottom. The sentiment is from the Garden Treasures (JH1003) stamp set by Julie Hickey Designs,

Link up your project here for the chance to win a set of Distressed Watercolour pencils from the Country View Craft shop, just make sure flowers are the prominent feature of your make!

Thanks for coming by,
 Craftyfield   I am entering the Allsorts, SSS Monday challenges

Botanical Prints

Hello crafters!

Today I have a first inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook  group. This month the theme is "Flower Power" chosen by yours truly! 

A simple and popular theme, all I need to see is flowers as the prominent feature of your make.

Back in February Tim Holtz did a Live all about the Distress Watercolour pencils. These pencils being woodless they can be dunked in water without problems which allows for fun techniques. 

This was my inspiration for these makes, plural because once you start... let's just say this is perfect for mass production! A sample of the prints I did:

The technique is really simple, one spritz of water on the stamp, then apply any colour of pencils you choose to the stamp. If the water evaporates spritz some more and carry on. When all the stamp is coloured as you wish, another spritz and stamp. More water for a more watercolour effect and less if you want to keep more of the stamp details.
The stamp I used is from the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Exquisite set (CMS453).
For substrate, I used hot pressed watercolour paper to keep as much detail of the stamp. Watercolour paper is ideal for this but I did have some success on cartridge paper although it did buckle and flattening it afterwards wasn't easy.

I made 2 of my prints into these cards:

This is the one is entered in the Allsorts challenge,

and:

I hope I have inspired you and if you haven't yet do join our friendly group here and link up your project for the chance to win a prize from the Country View Craft shop. I will be back with a second floral make later in the month.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the SSS Wednesday, Allsorts,  We Love Stamping,

                                                         and Addicted to stamps challenges