Mail Art page

Over the last year, my faithful  readers might have noticed a marked dip in the number of my posts which matched the lack of crafting... As things return to normal, slowly, I spotted the Mail Art call from Victoria. I have never done Mail Art before but as I have plenty of postmarks and postal imagery stamps, I felt it was a good opportunity to get me back in the swing of things. 

All the details are on the Paper Artsy blog and you can spot all the art under the #PaperArtsyMailArt tag on Instagram and Facebook. 

Our contributions will join Victoria's Vintage journal and we will get back a piece of her Mail Art. 

The background is Infusions (Rocky road) and Brushos (Aquamarine, Moss green) and some Antique Linen Distress ink to add an aged look to the piece.  

Most of the stamps are from Paper Artsy: ID02 (Owl), HP1111(Phrases), ELB33 (Corner) and HP1110 (Chambord Castle).

The miniature postcard has been created with several partially stamped images from MN30 (the writing) and other stamps from my collection.

I really enjoyed this project, using some of my favourite (oldies) stamps and the idea of rejoining the crafting community. 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Allsorts (it's their Birthday!) and SSS Monday                                                                  challenges

Thursday Throwback - Stencils and powders

Welcome to my second Thursday Throwback posts on the STAMPlorations blog. 
Here are my takes on Shirley's card. 

Card 1 supplies;  Flutter Zen 1 Layering Dies and ARTplorations stencil Senecio 1 

Card 2: same as before: Flutter Zen 1 Layering Dies and ARTplorations stencil Senecio 1 

Card 3: Beyond the Trees – ARTplorations Slimline stencil and For the Birds Dies - CUTplorations. 

Do hop onto the STAMPlorations blog for the full details.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   

Cupid tag

February the month of Love... 

It's all hearts and flowers at Country View Challenge, the theme hosted by Jane, this should be an easy theme for everyone. just remember to have prominent hearts and flowers on your make to be in with a chance to win! 

For my first inspiration make I pulled out a longed for, and finally bought, Collage Paper from Ranger to make this tag: 

 I cut and glued a piece of the Collage Paper - Botanical (TH93705) on my tag before adding Infusions powders in Are you Cerise, Rusty car and Violet Storms.

I also added Some Distress crayons on the leaves and stalk, to add a pop of contrasting green and some gold pen around the tag. The top flower seemed to lack something so I added a bit more Cerise to make it pop.

My 3 hearts are the waste from the Triple Stitched Heart (Memory box - 99642) die, popped up on foam pads and the Cupid sitting on top is also a Memory Box die (94103 - Cupid with swing). 

I will be back later in the month for a second inspiration piece but in the meantime, 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 SSS Wednesday Challenge and the Memory box challenge

Under a cloud

Welcome to my second inspiration post for the STAMPlorations Theme & Photo Prompt challenge where the Theme and photo are:

For once  I am really happy with how my design idea turned out and I think this is because the Birds of Paradise never fail to make me smile, especially when I place them in humorous situations. Today one of them is under a confetti cloud to the utter amazement of everyone...Seriously! And I can hear him say: why me????

I stamped the focal bird and masked him before creating a "wet" ground with a mix of Brushos, Infusions and a dash of Perfect Pearls.

I stamped the other birds and coloured them all with markers and set about creating those raindrops/confettis. The  Blue Shimmer shaker blends would have been ideal but I only had the White Frost so I improvised... and tested for you... I placed a few sequins in a small plastic bag, added a few drops of alcohol ink in Stream, Sailboat and Cool Peri (Ranger/Tim Holtz). The result aren't bad, if not uniform, but I had to spend 15mns separating the sequins that stuck together using my craft knife and tweezers. Not worth it...

I placed my Seriously Word die-cut on the card and then painstakingly glued all of the sequins to finish.

***

Whenever you shop for STAMPlorations products you can get 20% off with my code: STAMPGIRLCRAFTY

***

For more inspiration hop on over to the Stamplorations blog, you still have 2 weeks to create something for the challenge and be in with a chance to win a prize…

I hope my birds made you smile too,
I am entering the Stamping Sensations, Penny Black and more and SSS Monday challenges.



     

Guest Designer at Creative Artist

And now for something special... and a long post!!! Back in December I was the winner of the Creative Artist Challenge and I was invited to GDT this month.

Unless they are useful storage items,  I seldom venture in 3D makes, but on this occasion, I felt the talented DT and the readers of the Creative Artist Mixed Media challenge deserved my getting out of my comfort zone!
I seem to come back to this theme regularly, not sure why, but a house garden idea imposed itself and I set about getting it into a 3D creation.

I first created a recessed panel out of cardboard and wrapped it with embossed Core'dination using Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Lumber by Tim Holtz.


For the wall of my house I took some thick cardstock and sprinkled some Infusions in Rusty car and Brusho in Moss Green at the bottom, spraying with water until happy.

For texture, I embossed the panel with the Sizzix/TH - Bricked Texture Fades.

The floor has been painted with acrylic paint both with a brush and some spatters.




I created a window by partially die-cutting a piece of white cardstock with a door die (Grand Madison by Memory Box). I coloured the window panes with alcohol markers and gave them a few coats of clear embossing powder.





On the left I have some sort of  a trellis, which is in fact a honeycomb pattern from the Sunflower Bee die set by Julie Hickey Designs. I used it repeatedly on a piece of aluminium and then used several colours of embossing powders to get to the desired look.
I stuck die-cut leaves (Memory Box tender leaves) and drew stalks and flowers with enamel accents.
 


Further vegetation has been created with die-cuts and enamel accents :








Some small vials have been recycled into pot plants with sand and gel medium for texture and a coat of acrylic paint for colour.
The plants themselves have been die-cut with Memory Box Adelaide stems and Sizzix/TH  Thinlits Wildflower Stems #2 and given the Flower soft treatment.

A house need people and of course Tim Holtz dolls are perfect.

As a final touch, I added mica flakes here and there for a gravel effect .

 Phew... If you want more detail on anything let me know.

Many thanks to Creative Artist Challenge for inviting me , it was a pleasure guesting along this talented DT!

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Memory Box, SSS Monday and SanDee & amelie's Steampunk (OK this one comes in under the Vintage banner)  challenges.

Wild Nature

Hello faithful followers and crafters, Time for our March

 Stamplorations Theme and Photo Prompt challenge. 

You can choose to follow either the theme or the sketch, and of course both, for the chance to win a prize! If you'd like to be considered for the prizes, please make sure you're linking back to the challenge post and displaying the challenge graphic.

I followed the theme and created a wild meadow with the Healing Herbs stamp set.

First I stamped and embossed one of the stems with green embossing powder.

Then I embossed in yellow the next image by mixing the 2 powders directly on the stamped  Versamark.


Next, since I didn't have a light green EP, I used Distress Oxides to stamp and embossed in WOW Skinny Chai Latte. The last sprigs are stamped and embossed in vanilla white (they will show up in the next step).


With all the embossing done and my grasses effectively protected, I sprinkled some Brushos powders on the background and sprayed water lightly until I was happy with the look. (I was aiming for sky and field colours).

I used the Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle die set to cut the card and matted it on a blue card base.

I liked it as it was so I added the smallest piece of cardstock for my sentiment from the Fond Expressions 2 set, stamped and embossed on vellum.

***

Whenever you shop for STAMPlorations products you can get 20% off with my code: STAMPGIRLCRAFTY

***

For more inspiration hop on over to the Stamplorations blog, you have a whole month to create something for the challenge and be in with a chance to win a prize…

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

Crackled powders

Today I am on the STAMPLorations blog with a tutorial taking you through my process with Crackle paste and dye based powders (Brushos, Infusions, Bistres etc...).
This is the first of 3 Mixed Media tutorials I am putting together for STAMPlorations.

So, hop on over to the STAMPLorations blog to read up all the details and I will be back next month with another Mixed Media tutorial.

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




       

Chocolate box Christmas

For those of you who came for the chocolate, apologies… I am only talking about to the picture on the box! Today's offering is a Christmas card which I had great fun creating.

I wanted a brightly coloured night sky, a bit "Northern Lights" and used a mix of Brushos and Infusions (Violet storms) to create it, adding shimmer splatters for stars.

I used paper masks and masking fluid to protect the hills and the stamped cottage before applying the powders.

The small trees on the hill are from Lavinia (Tree Scene set) and both Cottage (CI-460 Build a Landscape) and foreground tree (CI-209 Winter Trees) are from Crafty Individuals, stamped in black Memento ink.

I added watercolour in the foreground for snow and acrylic paint for the snow on the trees and roof.

Let me know what you think...
I am entering the Penny Black and more, Polkadoodles, Paperbabe, Craft Stamper TIMI, Unikostudio, Addicted to stamps and SSS Wednesday  challenges.

Textured Gents

Today is my turn to inspire you to enter our Country View Challenge on the theme, "Textures" chosen by the lovely Miriam.

My make is effectively a pendant to my first inspiration make, it's here if you missed it, but this time I used more masculine colours and embellishments and, of course, 2 different techniques for textures.

On the left, I used dry embossing with 2 embossing folders (Cuttlebug script and X-Cut Chronology  Clocks) directly on the greyboard (after applying the gesso). Although the standard die-cutting machine sandwich needs to be adjusted for the thickness of the greyboard it will still emboss beautifully.

On the right I applied grungepaste with a knife and stamped into it with a bricks stamp (Katzelkraft) and a lead window design from a Prima Finnabair stamp set (Finnabair cling Trust the Magic). Whilst I was doing it I decided to throw in a bit of Infusion powders before the paste dried.

I then sprayed the Infusions and let the colours run down and merge into each other taking care of the right hand side colours.
For the left hand side, I used Distress Oxides all over in Fossilized Amber, Fired Brick and a little Walnut. To highlight the  texture a bit more, I added standard Distress ink in Walnut on the high points of the embossing. I didn't get the depth of colour expected but I forgot how gesso has a tendency to suck the dyes from above layers!

I flicked some water and some black paint to finish the background.

The focal image are 2 Paper Dolls I combined on top of torn vellum pieces, mat and die-cuts.
Finally I added some cardboard cogs I had painted and rusted previously.

Your turn to create something textural to enter our Country View Challenge and be in with a chance to win a £20 voucher to spend on craft stash!

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Craft Stamper TIMI, Creative Artiste, SanDee & amelie's Steampunk, We Love To Create  challenges.

Men of numbers

Welcome to my second inspiration post for the Country View Challenge, where our theme of Letters or Numbers has been chosen by the lovely Evelyn.

Today I have another journal page, yes mine are like buses... and this one is focusing on numbers, since my first was all about letters.

Plant life

Welcome to my second inspiration post for our Country View Challenge, hosted by teamie Rachel on the theme "Plant-astic".
For this one I played with powders, it's always fun if unpredictable...

Come aboard!!!

This summer whizzed by and it's time for our September Country View Challenge! The theme is Planes, Trains, Automobiles hosted by Miriam. It had been a while since I played in my journal so...