Fire and Ice

Paper Artsy is having a Glitter fortnight and I have been inspired by Nikki and the fab technique she used on her project and was running out of time to enter the challenge....

I used a double sided adhesive sheet and placed some die-cuts on one side (Diesire - Delicate Swirls Overlay Die) before applying gilding flakes (IndigoBlu Winter Dawn).

On the other side I placed a pine branch die-cut (Impression Obsession Pine Branch), which I had already embellished with embossing powders (White, Aged Aqua - Stampendous, Wow Seaglass).

Tipped half a bottle of fine glitter over it (Art Institute)... Added a sentiment die-cut from black cardstock - I'd planned to emboss it with gold glitter but I felt I had reached the point of TOO MUCH glitter already!

And unusually for me no stamping...

The shining effect is incredible, although in my case, as the glitter is blue, it does interfere with the lovely warm colours of the gilding flakes. A close up and like Nikki I am attempting video:

I would recommend the technique, despite the glitter mess and bits of flakes flying around, well worth it in the end!

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the Addicted to stamps challenge.

Gift for the girls

There is nothing like a hand made gift for the girl that has everything... something with a personal touch and absolutely unique, is the answer for those times when nothing fits the bill.

With a fast approaching Christmas, I constructed and decorated this box from Art-C for a girlfriend to keep her jewellery in, well some of it anyway...

It's an easy project and, having chosen to cover the box entirely with paper, a fairly quick one to make too!

Supplies:
Art-C Masonite Shelf with Drawers kit
Imagination Crafts Rice paper
Scrap of recycled metal die-cut (Spellbinders - Persian accents)
Kaiserkraft stamp
Imagination Crafts: Starlights in Dark Orchid
DecoArt Metallic Lustre Wax Finish - Champagne Ice
Gesso
DecoArt Matte medium
DecoArt Ultra matte varnish

Do come over to the Craft Barn blog for the full step by step.

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the SSS Monday, Inky Chicks, Creative Artist and Craft Stamper TIMI  challenges.

A prickly post

Welcome to my second inspiration post for the Country View challenge! The theme is Mixed Media with Autumn colours, chosen by the lovely Rachel.

I hadn't intended this to turn out quite as Mixed Media as it did in the end... a lesson in what NOT to do!!!

The Mixed Media element is the wooden background which started with 2 colours of acrylic paint, scraped on kraft card.

I then applied Grungepaste through a Tim Holtz layered mini stencil (no 10) and sprinkled some powders, scraping over the paste with a palette knife.

Unfortunately there was a lot of white showing from the grungepaste so I decided to add more powders and sprayed water to give an overall wash. Hmm, I overdid it and the piece got really dark...

From then on I threw lots of things at it in the hope of recovery: sanding block, Treasure gold, acrylic paints till I got a reasonable result! In my panic I didn't think to take pictures of my efforts.

The focal image, an irresistible Zentangle hedgehog from Rubber Dance, didn't give me as many problems, although I did choose time consuming techniques to create this image where, unusually for Zentangle, there is no black to be seen...
I made extensive use of my stamping platform to stamp each colour individually, applying in turn waterbased markers to flowers, leaves, bark etc...

I did the colouring with pencils, without the addition of solvents or burnishing pencils.

Some die-cut leaves and a sentiment (Beautiful words by Rubber Dance ) finish off the make.

Thanks for dropping by and having a look, now it's over to you... if you enter our Country View challenge you could win a £20 voucher to spend on some new stash...  I'm looking forward to see what you will make!
I am entering the Creative Artist Mixed Media, Lost Coast Designs, We Love To Create, Rubbernecker, That's Crafty, Rubber Dance Forever, Stamping Sensations, Penny Black and more, SSS Monday and Vintage Journey challenges.

Autumn days

The Stamplorations Theme and Sketch challenge is back and to my delight I have been invited for a further 3 months as a Guest designer!

This month's theme and sketch are:

For my first inspiration piece, I used both (entries in the challenge are only required to follow either the Sketch or the Theme) and made this CAS card:

For some reason I was intent on using vellum, so I stamped the leaves from the Trendy Leaves set with a Kaleidacolor inkpad (Autumn Leaves ) and used a piece of blue vellum to matt my focal image, the Better than Autumn stamp . This was also stamped with a Kaleidacolor inkpad,  Blue Breeze this time.

I coloured the image with pencils and added the sentiment from the Better than Autumn set.

Now, I'll share with you my experience with Distress Oxides on this project, the inks I had originally planned to use.
I had stamped the leaves using Distress Oxides onto the blue vellum, thinking that the inks would be opaque and the blue would only show in the script and other details of the stamps. As far as opacity went, yes, the D.O  delivered... BUT... within minutes of drying all I could see was the whitish layer of pigment ink, and none of the bright Fossilized Amber and Fired Brick dyes! I'm guessing this is something to do with the absorbency, or rather lack of, of the vellum. Do share your experiences in the comment, I'd love to understand more.

Digression over, do come by the Stamplorations blog for more inspirational makes from the DT and do enter the challenge! Remember that you don't need Stamplorations products to enter and there are prizes to be won...

I'll be back on the 20th of October for a second inspiration post.

Keep on crafting,
I am entering the Craft Stamper TIMI, Uniko Studio, Infiniment Scrap, and Addicted to Stamps challenges.
   

Autum leaves, the metallic version

Today is the first of the month so if you've come for my DT inspiration post for Country View Challenges, you'll find it here.

Paper Artsy are having a Metallic challenge this fortnight and I was inspired by Alison Bomber Vintage take on the shiny stuff.
I let my make be a bit more colourful and of course I used different stamps, but otherwise I followed Alison's steps.


For the background I have used the leaves and 3 dots from the ELB33 set; the leaves with inks in autumn shades and the dots with Versamark embossed with Stampendous embossing powders (I mixed them up directly on the stamped image).

The focal image is from the ID02 stamped in sepia and aged with Distress inks.
The sentiment from the ELB33 set has been treated the same way.

The leaves have been die-cut (Marianne die) and embossed using several layers of gold and copper powders.  I have used a sticky dot to keep them in place. To hide any of the sticky dot remaining on show, I applied a snippet of gilding flake.

A bit of thread finishes the page.

A few shine shots:



I love the shine of the white fire paint on kraft and white, a real find from Alison!

Before I take my leave, an announcement:  I am happy to report I have been invited back as a guest designer for the Stamplorations Theme & Sketch challenge which is returning from the summer break on October 7th. You can see all the details of the new (and old) Stamplorations team here.

Have a great (crafty) weekend,
Also entering the SSS Monday, That's Crafty, SSS Wednesday, and We love to create, Stamping Sensations and WOW Embossing powder challenges.

Mixed Media with Autumn colours

Autumn is here with all its fiery colours... which provides this month's Country View Challenge inspiration for the theme chosen by the lovely Rachel, Mixed Media with Autumn colours.

License to play then...

First I cut a tag from a piece of corrugated cardboard saved from my recycling bin and tore some of the upper layers. I applied some Gesso and stencilled (Layering stencil by Tim Holtz-MTHS028) some grunge paste. I added clear crackle in places.

Whilst this was drying, I die-cut some leaves from a sheet of fun foam and painted them with DecoArt Mixed Media acrylic colours.




I also created a frame by stacking 4 die-cuts and painting them in red, brown and gold.
The image I want to frame is a charming Rubber Dance Vintage lady (Resting Woman) which I stamped with Distress Oxide inks.
Interestingly, more "oxydation" happened after the stamping without the addition of water on top of the image. Maybe the moisture from the glue underneath?

With the pastes dry, time to get some colours on the tag, with my favourite Prima Bloom sprays. I added a few specks of walnut dye (this is the Bistre container in the photo).

These don't dissolve too quickly and I obtained concentrated colour, a bit like splatters.







When dry I applied Treasure Gold Onyxite in places, as well as on the frame I had painted earlier.

I added a snippet of black metal (also saved from the bin) die-cut with a Mixed Media Thinlit in a corner.

I assembled my frame, leaves and a ribbon and stuck everything with gel medium. A applied a few dew drops with DecoArt Transparent Liquid Glass on the leaves.

A closer look at the textures and the shimmer from the sprays...

That's it for today, I hope this has inspired you to create a Mixed Media project of your own and to enter our Country View Challenge here, where you will also find plenty of ideas from my teamies!

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Vintage Journey, We Love To Create, Uniko Studio, SSS Monday, Addicted to stamps, Stamping Sensations, SSS Wednesday and the Rubber Dance forever challenges.

90 Shopping days

I wanted to join in the Lost Coast Designs challenge this month, using the lovely stamps I won on their last challenge. With Linda sending them quickly and both US mail and Royal mail doing their bit efficiently I got them in record time.
So I had to use them...
The "Numbers" theme wasn't a natural fit for the stamps but the Penny Black and more "Get Ready for Christmas" challenge gave me the answer! I don't really want to make Christmas stuff just yet and, although it probably is what the Penny Black team expect to see, I took the theme literally and concentrated on the "Get ready" bit.  [I hope they will let me off...]

I used papers from the Curiosity Corner collection by Trimcrafts and stamped one of the LCD Big Anthropomorph Birds on both the DP and a piece of white card, which I then fussy cut.
I coloured the image with water based markers.

The sentiments have been computer printed and die-cut with MFT Blueprints. The number 90 has been die-cut from red card with the Die'sire Essentials die -Numbers.

If nothing else, the combination of the vintage image with the very modern obsession with shopping makes me smile... and I hope you'll find it funny too.

Thanks for coming by,
My bird is also entering the That's Crafty challenges.

Altered Brush holder

A Vintage Journey is running an Altered Art challenge this month, and that prompted me to turn one of the container I have saved from the rubbish into a brush holder.

First, I prepared the tube by applying 2 coats of Gesso, then I stuck down a piece of rice paper with gel medium. I painted the rest with pink and greenish yellow Fresco acrylic paints (Paper Artsy).

Some pictures of my holder showing the different "sides"

 

The stamp is from Rubber Dance (Summer Love) inked with Versafine ink.

 A piece of Rice paper from Imaginations Crafts (Pattern 342)

Some stencilling with Fresco paints (Paper Artsy)with a Tim Holtz mini Layering stencil (TH - 10).

And to finish I applied 2 coats of Ultra Matte varnish (DecoArt).

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the Rubber Dance (Theme), Rubber Dance Forever Challenge, Creative Artist and Craft Stamper TIMI challenges.

Cute but CAS

I should be working on  a DT project but I'm waiting for the crackle medium to dry.... using a heat gun is not an option because the crackles aren't as big if you do...

Instead I find myself inspired to make the Rubbernecker(s) smile... with an Autumnal card.

The stamps are from 2 Paperbabe stamp sets, designed by Kim Costello. I don't know about you but the sentiment always makes me smile!
I stamped tree, branches and leaves individually with a Kaleidacolor inkpad (Autumn Leaves), since the stamps are small enough to ink them with each small pad of colour independently. In fact, I actually used several inks on each leaf with yellow, green and orange to mimic real life autumn leaves which do not lose their green colour all at once.

The leaves are die cut from fun foam and coloured with DecoArt Mixed Media acrylic colours.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stamping session, in particular building a tree and creating a carpet of fallen leaves exactly as I wanted...

Do tell me in the comments if you like the card and if it does make you smile!

I am also entering the Addicted to stamps, SSS Wednesday, Paperbabe, Allsorts and The Artistic Stamper challenges.

Time for Gelatos

The holidays might be receding in our memories but I am still thinking about the vibrant colours and brilliant light of the summer...

I used a failed Gelli print as a base for my journal page and experimented with Gelatos in my favourite colour(s).

Come and see the details on the Craft Barn blog and, if you missed it, have a look at the Midori style book that contains this DIY journal here, my readers comments tell me this was quite the popular project... so many thanks to my followers for those encouraging words!

Have a lovely weekend,
I am entering the Inky Chicks challenge.

Stamping and embossing on metal

Today is my second post for the Country View Challenge inspiration  piece on the theme of Metal, chosen by the lovely Miriam.

This time I went for a more delicate technique of embossed metal, with a stylus!

First I die-cut a square of aluminium (another re-cycled container for a ready meal) and embossed a border with a Cuttlebug folder on all 4 sides. In addition, I embossed a paperclip in one corner.

Working from the reverse, I stamped my image, a freebie from Craft Stamper, with Archival ink.

I prefer to use the reverse in case I scratch the metal with my stylus as I should be using nylon but use metal depending on the size of the embossing ball I need.

Of course it does mean the image is reversed!

Next, using the stamped image as a guide, I use the stylus to create the first embossed lines on the reverse. This will show the outline of the design on the front.

Now I work  alternatively from the front and the reverse, progressively deepening the embossing. I use a mouse mat for embossing and a stamp block for refining.

Finally I apply black paint, let it dry a bit and softly buff the raised areas for contrast.

Make enough squares and you could get this... as I did some years ago (check out the post here).

Finally I added a piece of vanilla coloured metal that I embossed with a Ten Second Studio Kabuka mold (no8) and a piece of black metal die-cut with a Mixed Media Thinlit (Sizzix) before mounting the lot on Kraft card.

I hope I have inspired you to have a go at this technique or at least to use something metallic for your entry in the Country View Challenge. A £20 voucher is up for grab for one lucky crafter...

Thanks for coming by,

Midori book

Well not exactly a Midori , my own DIY version. Come and read all about its making on the Craft Barn blog.
Be warned though this is a long post!

The cover has been decorated with acrylic paints, texture paste and stamping.

Supplies:

Calico
DecoArt paints
Grunge paste (PaperArtsy)
Imagination Crafts Drop Screen stencil
Tim Holtz Sunrays stencil
Tim Holtz Mixed Media die-cut (used as a stencil)
Archival inks
Paper Artsy stamps from ESN10 and ELB33
Prima Bloom sprays
Elastic cord, clock charm, 1/8" eyelets

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Mini Album Makers challenge (their very first!), Creative Artiste, SSS Monday, Craft Stamper TIMI and the SSS Wednesday challenges.