Inspired by Lin Brown

This week Julie Ann showed her gorgeous box full of wonderful details on the Paper Artsy blog. Didn't have the courage to try myself...

Paper Artsy has new stamps coming out soon and we were treated to a reveal of the latest Eclectica products designed by Lin Brown, along with some samples by the DT.
I fell in love with this one and attempted my own version, with the old stamps, of course !

The support is a piece of cardboard onto which I glued/gessoed a piece of cotton.
For the background, inspired by the Pan Pastel DT who was mixing pastels with all sorts of acrylic mediums, I tried mixing pastel with acrylic paint and created a pink and a green paint.
On top I used a very old stencil of a flower with white, Claret and Limelight paints in different mixes.
I stamped in Aubergine chalk ink (might as well carry on the "chalk" theme) 2 stamps from the ESN07 set for a bit of background interest.
Then, the piece de resistance... this is a technique I am already familiar with and in fact my top favourite, but I had never tried it on fabric as shown by Tracy here for the Pan Pastel UK challenge.
I stamped with Versamark the Tulip from the ELB03 set and the foliage from ELB02.
Then, I applied pastels over the Versamark, using different colours for variation.
I cleaned up the Tulip head with an electric eraser where the pastel shouldn't be but left the rest with this slight haze of pastel. The texture of the cotton grasped more pastel than cardstock does but I liked the effect.
Finally I used a charcoal pencil to create a shadow on the tulip.

I enjoyed the process very much and I am quite happy with the result, for once!

Thanks for coming by,

Deja vu

If you have a sense of déjà vu it's because I made a very similar card last year. At the time, I was so intent on using gilding flakes, that I chose a dark colour cardstock to contrast with the flakes, despite my niggling feeling that this was throwing the colour balance off kilter.

With the benefit of hindsight, I decided a white or pastel shade would be better, so I decided to do a second version. I still have lots of that ribbon, in fact I have a whole reel of the narrower one!

 

 

This time I coloured my stamp with water based pens before stamping on white cardstock.
For embellishments I added a die-cut border threaded with organza ribbon, flower and leaves.
Looking at it now, I think the flower is crying out for a centre and I will add a gem though I am not sure which colour to use.
I am entering the Craft-Room and the Stamping Sensations challenges.

Let me know in your comments which colour you would pick for the flower centre, and which version of the card you prefer,

Love

I am joining in the Love fest that is February with this card. The Arty Inklings wanted something dimensional and I was itching to use my Hexagons die for embossing instead of cutting.

First I used the die to die-cut a stencil out of some scrap paper and emboss the black panel.
Placing the stencil over the embossed panel I applied Versamark directly with the stamp pad.
Then I used 3 shades of micas powders (Imagination Crafts - Earthtones set) whittled down from the 5 pink shades of the set to create a gradated shimmer.

I stamped and embossed in gold a heart (Craft Stamper freebie) and die-cut another heart and an arrow from a Sizzix/Tim Holtz Bigz die. To give more dimension I also embossed the die-cut heart but this time with a folder (wood grain). Some fiddly slots cutting later, I layered them together using foam pads before placing on my background.

The stamped sentiment (old Docrafts set) is stuck on a another die-cut threaded with ribbon.

Zoom on the shine:

I am also entering the following challenges: Imagination Crafts and Lothian Crafts.

Thanks for coming by,

Inspired by Clare Lloyd - W2

I am on a roll... another tag! I have taken inspiration from Clare's project here but couldn't resist adding a face as per her second project for my entry in the Paper Artsy challenge.

I followed Clare's process using a stencil and stamping with paint (the branch from Eclectica ELB02) over-stamping with a background stamp in Archival. My circles were stamped in Archival on an offcut from last week's crafting (also from ELB02).

I stopped at the stitching.... I have enough trouble stitching straight, let alone in a curve! So I faked it with a pen.

As to my face, when I had finished "painting" her (I only used coloured pencils), I decided she should be under glass so I embossed the panel with clear powder. She looks from a different era don't you think? So old the glass would be cracked... which is what I did! Shame my EP was contaminated with white EP and other unidentified bits though!

 

I am also entering the WOW Embossing Powders (Glass) and Country View Craft (Painty pleasures) challenges.

 

Hope you'll forgive my colour scheme - what was I thinking?!

 

Tim Holtz homage tag

I have had Distress inks for a few years now and have read enough blog posts/seen videos to know enough about Tim Holtz famous techniques but I have never made a tag in his style yet! So the Artful Times and The Artistic Stamper challenges gave me the push I needed.

I used a Doily stencil (Prima) with white acrylic paint and a DIY stencil with light blue paint to create a resist for the subsequent distress ink layers. I applied the inks in Barn Door, Forest moss and Scattered straw, then sprayed water over a chevron stencil and dabbed with a tissue.
My final layer with Walnut stain has been applied around the tag and over a cogs stencil.

Time for stamping... I only have one stamp set by TH so I used that one and stamped different bits of the same stamp all over the card with black Archival.

I don't have any Ideology stuff so I made my own metal embellishment and played with embossing powders! I really need more on the tag to emulate TH's style but I just didn't know what to add...

I am also entering the Pan Pastels UK and the Lisa.B. Designs challenges.

Thanks for coming by,

Inspired By Pam Thorburn

This week on the Paper Artsy blog we had some wonderful layouts by Pam, and I took inspiration from her first page.

I didn't have any piece of cardboard big enough for a 12x12 so I had to abandon that idea... So instead I printed the corrugations with paint ! Continuing the reverse process, since my background page was white, I stencilled solid hexagons in Aqua.

The colour choice was made for me by A Sprinkle of Imagination challenge:

 This challenged me quite a bit, not only because I had to create papers in the colours required, but also trying to find any embellishments in the colours! I used old designer papers, Fresco paints and a credit card (so easy and quick and limited clean-up!) to create my papers. I also used stamps from Hot Pick 1111 in the background.

The other challenge I had set myself was to use more papers and more layers in a layout so I followed the Scrap365 sketch, based on a layout by Els Brige:

 



As this is my first attempt at following a sketch I didn't dare deviate from the sketch too much!
With no further ado...

Challenging exercise but I am so glad I tried these "recipes" for my layout.

Thanks for coming by,

Silence & Dazzle quote

As I wanted some shimmer, I looked for a suitable dazzle quote for the Craft Barn challenge but to no avail... So I chose silence, still doesn't stop me using shimmer!

I painted the background with Inktense blocks, then stamped my Wrought Iron border with Versamark and, as I don't have any metallic Pan Pastels, I applied an old Platinum powder from my stash (it's actually for water colouring).

Love the shine...

I am also entering the Pan Pastels UK challenge.

Thanks for coming by,

Chinese New Year

Artful Times celebrates the Chinese New Year - year of the Horse - for their latest challenge. As stamps go I came unstuck, none in sight! I do, however, have a number of Chinese inspired papers and stamps so I made this card.

The Chinese seals are embossed in gold and the tree image in black, they are stamps from an old set by Artemio. The kimono is a piece of vellum dry embossed with gold ink detailing.

Hope you will like,

Inspired by Ellen & vintage cloth

Ellen is on the Paper Artsy blog this week inspiring us with colourful pieces. I loved her tag, tutorial here, and I set out to create my own.

One of my dishcloths gave up the ghost recently and I couldn't bear to throw it away. It's made of linen and I would guess it's at least 70 years old and it seems sad to waste something my grand mother has carefully embroidered with her initials for her trousseau.
So I made a tag with it, backed with cardboard. I left the stripe and decided to integrate it in the design as my "bit of red".
The Artful Blooms stamp is from the ELB03 set.

Of course I still have acres of that linen cloth remaining so you might see it again soon...

I am also entering the Pan Pastel UK challenge.

Thanks for coming by,

Smile and shimmer

The Craft Barn challenge this year is about quotes and for the first challenge we are asked to find quotes for either Smile or Up. I selected Smile and googled....

I had already chosen a technique on metal and, digging in my scrap mountain, I retrieved a piece already die-cut (Spellbinders), which effectively decided the design. The Cuttlebug folder I used seems perfect for inserting a quote and I am considering if I should carry the folder all the way through (that is, if I manage to keep up with the challenges).

The technique:
After embossing I Versamarked the whole piece and applied a deep blue embossing powder.
Then using Versarmark again I rubbed the metal trying to catch the peaks only.
Now for the fun bit! I pulled 5 pots of mica powder in pink, blue and purple hues (Imagination Crafts Earth set) and applied them in a random fashion with a soft brush.
To "fix" a simple reheating from underneath will re-melt the embossing and capture the micas.

The shimmer is gorgeous in real life!

I am also entering the Imagination Crafts challenge.

Thanks for coming by,

Inspired by Elaine

Elaine is guesting on the Paper Artsy blog and my curiosity was piqued when she used Limelight Fresco paint (a very vivid yellow) on kraft coloured cardstock.
You can find her step by step here.

I followed her method, colour scheme and even motifs (hexagons) where I could but added some background stamping using the stamps from ESN07 (before painting with Limelight) and switched her Squigly stamps to one from Hot Pick 1207. The stamping of the main image is blurry due in part to the cardstock texture and also to me huffing too much on the stamp!
I also replaced the text on cardstock by Dymo tape words.

Quite like the effect of the translucent paint on the kraft and, although texture paste is much easier to handle than paint with a stencil, paint has the advantage of being completely flat, which is good for storage.

Whilst I wasn't looking, I have acquired new subscribers so I wanted to take this opportunity to give them a warm welcome. I am unreliably told by Blogger that I have now 17 or 19 followers and I wish I knew more about how these things work but since Google Reader going off line last year I have given up!

I am also entering the Pan Pastel UK challenge.

Hung out to dry

I have a huge backlog of photos to scrap and it was high time I started to tackle it ! As usual this didn't turn out at all as expected but I am quite pleased with the feeling of fun that exudes from the layout.

I chose some Core'dination (Chocolate box) and just HAD to do some dry embossing, and since it is quite a dark colour I sprayed a mix of gesso and water through a stencil (Crafter's Workshop - Garden Gate) to tone it down in parts.
I created 3 letters with dies to complement the chipboard letters (My Mind's eye - Bloom & Grow) I already had, and used the remaining papers underneath the photos.
Washi tape, twine and tag stamp are from Docrafts, flowers and leaves stamps dies from Papertrey Ink.

I am entering the layout in the Lisa.B. Designs challenge and the Pan Pastels UK challenge. And yes,  there isn't a frosty finish in sight, but I did that for the previous challenge and didn't want to repeat myself!

Note: 

No scraps were created during the production of this layout!

Let me know what you think,