Aquarius

As you can see I'm having a busy week here! Those are the vagaries of blog scheduling... I hope my faithful readers won't mind.

Lately I have been buying unusual (for me) items at the Craft Barn because with the sales, there are some fab bargains to be made and at that price I told myself if I spoiled it all it didn't matter! On this occasion though, I managed to get very close to the result had in mind. Phew...

You can read the details on how I made this hop on to the Craft Barn blog...

My precious Treasure

I am delighted to be featured on the A Vintage Journey blog today as a Pinworthy guest after my Snowman wowed the DT.

I have to say when I discovered the chosen theme for Vintage Journey's challenge in March, I felt panic... using some of my Treasure... How will I be able to cope?!! But cope I have and it is certainly better to use these precious items rather than keeping them for that elusive special occasion!

Today my main treasure is a beautiful resin frame by Prima.

I started with a gessoed canvas and applied texture paste through 2 stencils.

I added pieces of cardstock and die cuts before coating everything with black gesso for a dark base.


For colours and shimmer I used DecoArt Extreme Sheen paints as well as Paper Artsy Frescos, in shades of blue, violet and green.




To add interest to the background I did a bit of stamping and embossing, all in shimmering or glitter EPs.

The frame was treated in the same way with a coat of black gesso followed by some Extreme Sheen paint.


For embellishments, I finally opened an old packet of glitters and sequins and used them alongside some Glitterbitz and micro beads.
I created a few metallic embellishments with bottle caps, the top one has also a glass bead that magnifies the image but doesn't photograph too well!

Supplies:
Stencils: The Crafter's Workshop Garden gate and Dutch Doobadoo A5 Fabric
Paints: DecoArt Extreme Sheen paints, Paper Artsy Frescos
Mediums: Pebeo White Gesso; DecoArt black Gesso, Golden Gel medium
Stamps: The Artistic Stamper Chicken wire and Harlequin
Embossing powder : WOW Sea Glass, Cosmic Shimmer Ultra Thick Silver Pearl and Tropic Red.

Another look at the completed piece at an angle...

I hope you will be inspired by my treasure....
Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Mixed Media Monthly, WOW Embossing powders, We Love To Create, Creative Artiste and The Artistic Stamper challenges.

Cold as ice

The Artic weather conditions we had last week in the UK led me to pick up this Polkadoodle image and colour it with alcohol markers.

I do love the look of her, pretty but powerful, she's striding the snow with a determination I did not feel last week!

Wish you were here

Hello crafters, I am back for a second inspiration piece for the Country View Challenge on the theme "Postcard size", chosen by my teamie, Sue.

This time I went with both the size (6"x4" or A6) and the theme "Postcard" using some of my Rubber Dance Travel themed stamps.

Watercolour challenge

Anyone remember this UK Channel 4 Programme aired late last century? Loved it!

This fortnight it's Paper Artsy who challenge us with watercolours or watercolour look. I just had to join in and pull out my neglected paints for this!

Postcard size

Welcome to my first inspiration post for the Country View Challenge. The theme, chosen by Sue is Postcard - Anything 6x4 size (or A6 card: 14.8x10.5cm).

I went with a Fleur de Lys theme for my card by combining a Crafty Individuals 'Baroque Splatter Script Background'  stamp (CI-430) with an old Spellbinder border die (S4-213).

Behind the door

Hello crafters, thanks for visiting my blog today, I have something to show you that has been on my mind for ages... I think since I got this door die!

The closed door gives a bit of mystery to the card and, hopefully, generate some excitement!

You've been framed

Today I'm showing a technique I discovered some time ago on the Tando blog, one that got me really excited! Come by the Craft Barn blog to read up on the details!

Cubbeys with aperture

Have you seen the Craft Barn sale? I did, and I picked up some great items, and today I'm showing what I did with it.

Paper Anniversary

Happy Sunday!

It might be cold today but at least the sun is out in force... Which is good news for bloggers who have to take photos in natural sunlight! I can't tell you how awkward was my last photo session in the gloomy daylight of a cloudy winter day!

Anyhoo...
For this First Anniversary card, I took inspiration from the occasion and created a card with a "Paper" theme.

Hearts a flutter

Today I am showing a pretty, but NOT cute, Valentine's card to inspire you to enter our Country View Challenge, which I have the pleasure of hosting this month.

Fauxdori Address Book

This month it is my pleasure to host the Country View Challenge and I have chosen an easy theme of "Anything but cute".
I made another Midori-like book, this time to hold an address book. I keep the addresses on the computer so I can easily add addresses or update them, and the flexible binding of this type of book allows me to take out the old and replace with the freshly printed pages easily.

I'm not showing a step by step today but if you need one, I made one last year here.