Hummingbird

Hello crafters!

Today I have a first inspiration make for our Country View Challenge held in the Facebook  group. This month the theme is "Winging It" hosted by Fiona.

I chose this Lavinia Hummingbird for my Winged creature as it is a recent addition to my stash.

My background is alcohol inks on yupo paper.  I stamped the Hummingbird Small (LAV894) and the Open Dandelion  (LAV745) with Brilliance inks, letting them dry a full 24 Hours before colouring.

Since I didn't have small nib sizes of acrylic or Posca pens, I used water based markers to colour the bird. Those eventually dried, but, being a transparent medium, the background colours do show through.

I wanted the Dandelion in white and tried gel pen on the petals with mixed results: yes the gel ink dried and yes it added a bit of white but not enough to hide the background colours. [Add to shopping list: small nib acrylic pen...].

I then used my new favourite die (AALL & Create die set #32 Numberama) to cut both image and mat, before assembly on a white base card.

To enter the challenge, hop on to our friendly group here and upload your project to the challenge album. You could win all 5 of the newly released Layer It Up Washis by AALL & create from the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the Allsorts, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, 

                                                         Stamping Sensations and We Love Stamping challenges 

Silhouette stamping

Dear followers and fellow crafters,

I have been trying to use products I haven't used in a while and today I played with alcohol inks and an embossing folder!  

The image is from Crafty Individuals (CI-471 Make a Wish) and the sentiment from CI-449 My Favourite Place.

I layered the matted image on a piece of Core'dinations embossed with the  Sizzix Tim Holtz  Embossing Folder - Lumber (662718) inked with Versafine in Pinecone.

There you have it, a bit of colour to enliven the day!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Allsorts challenge

Paper Doll and Snippet tag

I am back for my last Vintage inspiration piece for our Country View Challenge, where the theme, Vintage, is one I favour.  Today's project is a tag: 

The base is a heavyweight cardstock cut into a tag. I collaged a piece of an old book (top left) and a piece of Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Botanical Collage Paper. 

I coloured the tag with several layers of Distress Oxides inks spritzed with water on the mat. 

The focal point is a paper doll and elements from the Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Ephemera Field Notes Snippets popped up on foam pads and a piece of muslin. 

 

I hope you have enjoyed all my Vintage makes and are inspired to join in our Country View Challenge! Remember there is a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop to be won....

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the SSS Monday challenge and Allsorts challenge

Cats aren't just for Christmas

For my previous inspiration make for the May  Country View Challenge, on the theme of Cats & Dogs, I used a very old set bought in Lakeland when they sold crafts items (I still rue the day they stopped!). But now I was in a quandary... what else could I possibly use for the theme?!
Well... Snarky Christmas cat to the rescue!

The background of the tag is a Gelli printed paper with layers of DecoArt Mixed Media fluid acrylics.

I stencilled some bricks (Tim Holtz Mini Stencil Set #43) on the right with a mixture of Cosmic Shimmer Multi-Tex, glue and Distress Oxide re-inker in Salvaged Patina. On the left I used the Tim Holtz Mini Stencil Set #28.

I stamped and paper pieced the cat from the Snarky Cat Christmas set (CMS416) without its distinctive Christmas hat and the ribbon knot on the box.
The sentiment is from the Snarky Cat Halloween set (CMS407) layered onto some of the AALL & Create Washi Tape #13 - Fasteners, which I also added below right.

And of course the dog from a Paper Dolls pack! Not sure this particular canine is that menacing but, the scene still made me smile...

Over to you now, have a look at what the DT made on the Country View Challenge blog and link up your project to the challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield    I am entering the Paperbabe, Allsorts ans SSS Monday challenges

Complementary coasters

And the holiday season finishes with a whimper... not much to rejoice, so I am thankful for the enjoyment I get from crafting. Not quite sure what is going to happen this September school wise but at least our Country View Challenge is kicking off as expected.

This month Evelyn has chosen Complementary colours as the theme. I'm guessing lots of you will already know what complementary colour pairs are, but if not, any decent search engine should give you the necessary explanations.

Today I chose my favourite "male" colour scheme with blue-orange as the complementary pair.

I used alcohol inks with a plastic palette, alcohol lift ink and polymer plate to lift the print onto my MDF coasters, which I had first prepared with Gesso.




I cleaned up on separate pieces of cardstock, waste not want not... and on a whim added gold foil on what appeared to be still sticky.

Then, I simply stamped quotes from Paper Artsy set HP1901 and HP1206. I have a few more coasters to do so I will leave the finishing for some other time, but these will need protecting with several layers of varnish, preferably one that can take high temperatures for hot drinks.

Over to you now, have a look at what the DT made on the Country View Challenge blog and link up your project to the challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the SSS Wednesday and Paperbabe  challenges.

Pushing the Dandelions

Today I have another make for the Country View Challenge where the theme is "Do More Of What Makes You Happy", chosen by Sue. So use your happy colours, favourite stamps etc..

This turned out completely different to what I had planned... As I love scenescapes, I was going to ink my way through a classic whimsical landscape in the Lavinia style with my new stamps.

After a number of false starts I have ended up with an alcohol ink background and my old favourite Lavinia stamps. Still, also something that makes me happy...

I made the background by spreading alcohol inks on a piece of plastic (you can use yupo, metal or any kind of non absorbent substrate) as my "palette" and used alcohol lift ink and an oval polymer plate to lift the colours and transfer on my white card.

I stamped all 3 flowers from the Dandelions set  in black Versafine, curving the stalks as I wished and added the faerie (Mia isn't in stock at the moment but there are plenty of other fairies here).

For finishing touches, I added a piece of paper lace coloured with Oxide Distress inks in Walnut, a flower die-cut (X-cut Trim Borders) and a die-cut sentiment (All occasion Dies).

You still have 10 days to link to our Country View challenge, plenty of time to do something that makes you happy, and maybe win a £20 voucher which will definitely make you happy...

Thanks for coming by,

Experimenting with alcohol

This should be treat for everyone... My team mate Sue has chosen "Do More Of What Makes You Happy" as the theme of our Country View Challenge this month so all you have to do is use your happy colours, favourite stamps etc..

My faithful readers will know I am a bit of a technique junkie and will not be surprised that, for my first make, I chose to test a new one for me: Gelli printing with alcohol inks. Yes, trying new things makes me happy!!!

As this was a bit of an experiment and I had to work quickly before the inks dried I didn't take any photos but no fear my method is inspired by a video from Barbara Grey who can explain better the process! But in a nutshell, this is what I did:

1. I applied alcohol inks on the plate, added a bit of alcohol, spread the colour with a brayer and placed my stencil on top.
2. With Archival ink and the felt tool I applied colour through the stencil.
3.  removed the stencil, let dry the inks a few minutes and brayered some white acrylic paint on top, then lifted my print with a piece of card.
4.Optionally you can use the alcohol ink remaining on the stencil to create one or more prints by reviving the dried up inks with sprayed alcohol (NOT blending solution).

I managed to get a few interesting backgrounds and some not so great but it is a fun technique. The alcohol inks haven't stained my Gelli Plate except for the yellow (Lemonade), not the end of the world as it is a light colour.

I didn't want to hide the background, which I see as a view over a coastal town surrounded by hills, so I just added some birds (I re-positioned the stencil for that) and the sentiment which I embossed in Midnight Blue.

Supplies:
Ranger Alcohol inks
Archival Mini inks pads Kit 4
Visible Image Strobes stencil
Visible image Where the Dreams take you stamp set
Visible Image Ahead Of Our Time stamp set (the birds)
Versamark Inkpad
Midnight Blue Embossing powder

Over to you now, have a look at what the DT made on the Country View Challenge blog and link up your project to the challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.


Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the SSS Wednesday, Paperbabe, We Love To Create  challenges.

New favourites

There's  nothing like new crafting supplies to spur you on....

I got myself some stamps from Lavinia's latest release, obviously my new favourites, and admired their new papers too (Scene-Scapes) which led me to try getting a similar result with alcohol inks (you can see the particular Scene-Scape here) .

I have no in progress photos as I had 2 false starts and had to scrap my first backgrounds. When working with alcohol inks the choice of card is paramount, but I seem to have forgotten this! Just shows how rarely I use the inks...

To get the effect I was after I needed a non porous substrate and Yupo was the answer. It is very forgiving as you can carry on adding alcohol inks or taking them off with Alcohol blending solution until you are happy. This is how I built the top of  the background, establishing a "sky" and "landscape".  I cut a circle to mask the moon.

The foreground was created with shades of grey alcohol pens and masks I hand cut from washi tape. I  sacrificed some of my lovely Prima tape for this, because of its large width, and I cut it in 3 different hill shapes.

With the background in place, the next step was the stamping. Given this is Yupo paper regular dye or pigment inks wouldn't dry so I used Archival, although I hate doing that, first because the stamp is permanently stained and second because solvent inks and cleaners aren't recommended for polymer stamps.
But I had a vision.... so I HAD to do it!

The stamps I used (all Lavinia) are:
Berry Leaves both sizes at the top
Badger
Winter Berry Mini next to the badger, stamped over the mask and mostly upside down.

I am happy with the result although the background isn't as beautiful as Lavinia's Scene-Scape. I do think I might pick them up next time and concentrate on the stamping!

Do let me know what you think!

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Lavinia,  Stamping Sensations, SSS Monday and Craft Stamper TIMI challenges.

Heavy lifting

Yes it's time for my second inspiration make for the Country View Challenge, where the theme chosen by Rachel is Under the Sea.

This time I used alcohol inks to build up my background, and, together with the Alcohol lift ink and Yupo paper from Ranger, I had great fun creating water effects .

First I tried to simulate the broken light seen in moving water by using crumpled plastic to lift the ink, then with a small eraser and embossing tools I lifted the bubbles above the fish.

I then stamped my fish (Paper Artsy Hot Pick 1111) with Memento Tuxedo black ink on a piece of paper prepared with an iridescent medium and fussy cut them before placing on my background.

At this point I decided to add "coral" by lifting the colour with the top of a tree stamp. You can see the before photo:

To achieve the effect,  I actually stamped the "coral" twice, once with the Alcohol lift ink and once with an Archival ink. The first pass with the Alcohol lift ink allowed me to lift most of the colour and the second pass added a bit of colour (one was stamped in pink the other in orange) which was blotted to leave just a hint of colour.
The technique relies on having a stamping platform but it is very effective, even on such fine detail as these tree branches (a Crafty Individual stamp from the CI- 450 set).

I will leave you with the shine shot and hope you will join us at Country View Challenges with your own Under the Sea creations!

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday, Lost Coast Designs (inspired by the Disney song Under the Sea...) and Craft Stamper TIMI  challenges.

You are strong

I have a "quick" CAS card to show you today as I have been inspired to enter a few challenges to kick start my mojo back into action.

The first prompt is from CAS stencil who suggested we used Alcohol ink lifting technique.


Of course I wanted to use it with a stencil and chose one from the Tim Holtz Layering Mini Stencil Set #35.

While pouncing the smoothie to lift the alcohol ink I also applied it where there was no ink, resulting in a positive-negative view of the design.



My focal image is the Flora woman stamp from Cherry Pie and the sentiment is a sticker from the Shine Bright set by STAMPlorations.

Quite a fabulous product this Lift-ink...

Thanks for coming by,
I am also entering the Artistic Stamper,  Addicted to stamps, Allsorts, Craft Stamper  and CAS Mix up challenges.

Memories of summer

Time for a second inspiration piece for our Country View Challenge on the theme Sun, Sea and Sand chosen by Corrie. I have made a card with another piece of alcohol background on Yupo using Tim Holtz's Alcohol lift ink.

Sun, sea, sand and alcohol

With the sweltering heat no wonder we are thinking of holidays in the sun at Country View Challenges….

I wouldn't recommend throwing alcohol in the mix, but hey, I had to try my new supplies, fresh out of Tim Holtz' release. I tested the Alcohol Lift Ink and I am now sharing the results of my experiments.

Christmas Tags

In what is becoming an annual event I have been making my "rubbish" tags again....

As you can see they are all different, which is not ideal for mass making but is an excellent way of using up some scraps, rather than binning them.... hence the "Rubbish" tag moniker!

Deer tag:

Creative Expressions Warped Circles Stencils

D. Oxides in Picked Raspberry and Twisted Citron

Memory Box Deer die-cut

Scrap of foiled cardstock.

Versafine ink

Wow Embossing powder in Fairy Tale

X-mas tree:

Crafter's Companion Pearlescent patterned cardstock
Memory box Christmas tree die
Green Distress and pigment inks
Wow Embossing powder in Fairy Tale
Die'sire Merry Christmas die

Butterfly tag:
Gelli print with Starlight paints
TCW Mini Specimen stencil (TCW454S)
Grunge paste tinted with acrylic paint
Versafine ink
Clear EP

Stamp from my own collection

Branches tag:

MFT Snowfall Stencils
Branches Die-cut
Prima Heavy Gesso
Graphmaster acrylic paint marker
Merry Christmas stamp (Freebie from magazine)
Versamark
White EP

Signpost Tag :

Gloss paper and Ranger alcohol inks

Spellbinders Victorian Signpost S2-177 die

White embossing powder

Merry Christmas stamp (freebie from magazine)

The light conditions are so difficult at this time of the year I photographed all my tags in direct sunlight to show the shine and also in the shade to give a better idea of the colours, especially for the very shiny Butterfly and Signpost tags.

Let me know what you think!

I am entering the following challenges: Addicted to stamps, SSS Wednesday Challenge, Paperbabe, WOW Embossing powders and Vintage Journey (I don't know about marvels but all my tags are indeed less than 4").

Of rusty supplies...

No April fool, no joke, we're going rusty at Country View Challenges! All lovers of things aged, distressed, grunged up this is your chance to shine and maybe win a £20 voucher to spend on goodies!

For my first project I used a professional product to ensure a perfect rust! Rust powder is the simplest and truest rust form possible for crafting... Here in the UK, it is sold by popular brand Paper Artsy, and stocked in all the good craft shops, including Country View Crafts of course.
If you have held an Infusion bottle from Paper Artsy you will be surprised at how heavy the Rust bottle feels, although it is the same size as the Infusion! This is because the powder is actual metal and not a pigment.

To use, coat the items to be rusted, in my case some cardboard cogs, with an acrylic medium and sprinkle the powder over the top. Let the medium dry, then spray water or water+vinegar to activate the powder and within 20mns to half an hour the rust colour will appear as if by magic!
Don't forget, like I did, to paint a basecoat for your rust effect BEFORE applying the powder!
 
 
I chose dark grey and blue, and had to apply it after the rust... Alcohol inks were perfect and disaster was avoided. [Sorry no photos of said rusting cogs in action...]
Before I get further in my explanations let's show you my make!

For the background I coated my canvas with a mix of Primary Cyan and Prussian blue DecoArt fluid acrylics with some thick gel medium.


Next I applied some crackle glaze and, when dry, a coat of medium grey acrylic. It didn't look very good so I added some pink acrylic ink and then some ochre.

My focal point is an image by Katzelkraft which I stamped on tissue paper with Brilliance ink. I chose this ink because Archival or Versafine inks have a tendency to spread on such a thin paper. Using a wet brush around the image I obtained a feather edge to the image , this helps to get the tissue paper to "disappear" on the finished canvas.
I painted the back of the figure in white where the highlights are, and stuck it with acrylic medium, coating the top as well as the back.

I stamped some texture with a Prima clear stamp (Peeled Paint) and embossed with a mix of powders that include Wow Black puff, clear UTEE, Frantage Aged Copper and some tarnished gold. I can't be more precise than that as I use the same container for my mix and I can't remember what it had in it before I added that day's powder...
It's fun to see the results though!

For the finishing touch I added my rusty cogs with acrylic medium, adding a snippet of fabric and some micro beads.

Do visit the Country View Challenge blog to see more inspiring projects by my teamies and come back from my 2nd Rusty make later this month.

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Vintage Journey, SanDee & Amelie's,  Fashionable Stamping, The Artistic Stamper and SSS Wednesday challenges.

Alcoholic Angel

The latest challenge at Paper Artsy is on the theme of alcohol inks. I don't play enough with them although they are wonderful so I pushed myself to create something.
I loosely followed Helen's post but I had to replace the Yupo by glossy cardstock when I couldn't find it!

I was a bit surprised at how much the glossy cardstock absorbed the inks (it shows at the back) and it took a long time of adding inks and alcohol before I got the same sort of effects Helen achieved.
Next time I will choose colours that are closer on the colour wheel, instead of this complimentary red and green scheme (blame it on Santa) which is easily transformed into mud colour.
Apologies for the lacklustre photo I'm using my phone and indoor lighting.

The star stamp is JOFY Mini 06, which I have stamped with white pigment ink and embossed with WOW Pearl Blue embossing powder.
The Pearl powders are translucent and combined with the white pigment ink give a semi-opaque look that doesn't totally obliterate the background. I wasn't entirely satisfied and decided I needed to get some of the stars, at least, to show up a bit more. I heated the card again and sprinkled white detail embossing powder on and around the stars, obtaining a flurry of snow in the process.

The sentiment is from the All Occasion Sentiments #4 set (Uniko Studio) stamped and embossed in the same way.
In this next picture I'm trying to show you the Blue Pearl effect (excuse the lightbulb's reflection):

The card called for a bit of something in the sky and That's Crafty gave me the solution with their "Angel" challenge theme. I finally used this lonely angel in my stash and gave it the alcohol ink treatment before hanging him from silver cord (hence my title...).

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the Uniko Studio and WOW embossing powders challenges.

Patina and alcohol resist techniques

In September Tim Holtz is revisiting Paint Patina and alcohol ink resist techniques. I love the look of patina but never tried Tim's technique so this was the time to experiment!

As usual I won't describe the step by step as Tim has done it better than I ever could HERE.

My  resist isn't as defined as I would have wanted it (did I leave it to dry too much?) but up close you can recognise the stamp, Family values from The Artistic Stamper.

I had to replace the alpha part by a die-cut, I used one of Sizzix/Tim Holtz Thinlits (Sentiments words) and decided to add a die-cut corner, also a Sizzix/TH thinlits (Mixed Media) on the upper left.
A hinge die-cut from black shrink plastic (Hardware findings Bigz - Sizzix) and a Tando arrow chipboard have been given the patina treatment to tie in.

For stencils I used Tim Holtz Layering stencil set 10 and TCW Mini Ledger.

As techniques goes, I really enjoyed the patina and love the effect, especially on the arrow:

but I'm less enamoured of the resist as it is more difficult to control!

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the Stamps & Stencils, We Love To Create and Sandy & Amelie Steampunk  challenges.

Peacock CAS

Recently I saw a background made with drops of alcohol inks on glossy cardstock and the vivid colours made me want to try.

A simple image and sentiment on top and voila, a both rough and CAS make!

The image is a freebie from a magazine (Simply Card & Papercrafts, year/issue unknown but probably classified as Vintage!). I stamped it with Archival and as you might find it difficult to see from the photo what bird it is, it's a Peacock.

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Casology, Craft Barn, SSS Wednesday and That's Crafty challenges.

All packed

I saw the Vintage Journey latest challenge and had to try their Destination Inspiration Travel Bag made up of cardboard, Lilac colour, rust and metal on a hanging panel:

My substrate is cardboard, from the recycling bin.

The background is a masterboard painted with several layers and colours of Fresco paints (Paper Artsy).
Designs were added with stamping using Snowflake and Blueberry Frescos as well as some stencilling through die-cuts (hexagons and circles, both Papertreyink cover plates).

My focal sentiment is a Paper Artsy stamp from the Hot Pick 1203 set and I used a Martha Stewart corner punch top and bottom.

In the bottom right corner, I used Grunge paste with a brick wall stamp (Katzelkraft Transportation stamp set). When dry I spritzed mica sprays and finished with Treasure Gold.

On to the rust... by far the lengthiest aspect. The key and keyhole are die cuts (Sizzix Hardware findings by Tim Holtz ) from gold coloured metal and painted with acrylic in yellow, red oxide and blue.

A layer of crackle and some more acrylic paint. Blah...

Some alcohol ink in a dark grey, better.

A dash of Treasure gold in Onyxite... not perfect as an imitation rust but I liked the look so I stopped tinkering!

A closer look, in the sun :


Thanks for coming by,

Also entering the We Love To Create, Stamplorations, Tando Creative (W2) and the Craft Barn challenges.