Oops I did it again!

I do hope I've just popped that song into your head for the rest of the day...

Sometimes a crafter is in need of a card to say sorry and, believe me, better be prepared with one so you only have to write and post it. Creating with the pressure of an immediate deadline is so stressful!

With this in mind, I have been making some "Oops" cards, using a new stamp from USA based Joggles, who produce quirky stamps new to the Craft Barn.

Supplies:

Joggles Quirky Bird No3
Distress Oxide Fossilized Amber
Inktense pencils
Chicken wire stencil
Memento black ink
Stampendous alphabet stamp set (very old!)

Do pop over to the Craft Barn blog for a step by step.

If you have noticed my visits to your blogs have been haphazard of late, know that this isn't me ignoring you. I have been dealing with a family situation which hasn't left me a lot of time for crafting or blogging and I have focused on my existing DT commitments. Soon, I hope, with a routine established,  normal service will resume...

I have acquired some new followers recently (I so wish Blogger sent notifications!) and I'll take this opportunity to welcome them.

As always, thanks for coming by, and for those on an extended weekend, enjoy!!

I am entering the SSS Wednesday, Addicted to CAS, Stamping Sensations and Addicted to stamps challenges.

Trying out the Distress Oxides

After seeing Tim Holtz demos I had to lay my inky hands on some of his latest ink formulation, the Distress Oxides. He promised they would be different to anything we've used before and it's true.

Today I'm showing a step by step of a card made with Distress Oxides over the Craft Barn blog and I share my experiments.

Supplies:
Distress Oxides in Faded Jeans and Fossilized Amber
Impression Obsession Cover-A-Card Rooster
Honey Doo Lilies stamp set
ELB33 from Paper Artsy stamp set
Carabelle Studio Weft fabric and numbers Stencil
Black Lace: Docrafts
Flower: Prima (antique collection) re-coloured with the DO inks of course!

Do pop over the Craft Barn blog to get all the inside info!

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Craft Stamper TIMI and Fashionable Stamping challenges. (one of my favourite things is making my own "paper" with large background stamps)

The magic of rust

So as it turns out, everything I touch turns to rust... magic! That's my superpower sorted... But don't worry I'll share my tricks with you!

For this second rust inspiration piece for the Country View challenge, I wanted to create my rust effect with paints and used a Gelli plate to get my base rust. I used ArtDeco Mixed Media paints in Yellow Oxide, Transparent Red Iron Oxide, Blue Green Light and a Tando stencil (Random Circles).

I love the Finnabair stamps, great imagery and they aren't too expensive, and now the whole range is available at Country View I will be able to pick up the sets I missed out on!

I thought I might stamp the cog/wheel from the Trust the Magic set but, in the end I didn't find a space for it. Instead, I used the sentiment Trust the magic and turned it into "the magic rust". I take my fun where I can and it tickled me to subvert the sentiment in this way...
Now I need a suitably humoristic quip for the inside of the card, involving poking fun of a male recipient getting one year older, along the lines of "sorry you're going rusty".
Ideas in the comments please!

For embellishments I used die-cuts made with the Hardware findings Tim Holtz Bigz die, and painted layer upon layer of paint finishing with a touch of ArtDeco Metallic Lustre in Champagne Ice.

Core'dination Black magic and brown cardstock have been die-cut with MFT Blueprint 7 dies

There are so many ways of getting the rust look you are spoilt for choice if you want to enter our Country View challenge... And if you do, you could win a £20 voucher to spend on crafty goodies!

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the We Love To Create, Creative Mixed Media and Mixed Media  challenges.

Scenic Stamping

This one has been in the making for a while now... First, it took  me a long time to work out the placement of the stamps for a reasonably realistic perspective, secondly, I dithered about the colours and finally, the finished painting waited for me to have time to blog it!

I love scene stamping and the latest stamp sets from Crafty Individuals are great for this and mix perfectly with a lot of the tree stamps sets I already have from them. Yes my favourite stamps must be tree stamps!
I chose a panorama layout partly because I wanted to fit more stamps and partly because it would be a complete change to my default setting of a square make!

Stamps sets:
CI-460 : I used all the stamps in the set
CI-449 : the figures
CI-450 : The trio of trees on the left and the trees directly in ahead of the figures.

Since I stamped this, Crafty Individuals added a stamp set with sheep that would have looked at home in my empty paddock... If only I'd known....

I have used Versafine black for all the stamping and used regular watercolours and brushes for the colouring.
The paper is watercolour card which I cut to size. (approximately 11cm x 30cm or 4.5"x12").

I quickly painted a bit of cardboard to mount the painting to take the photo whilst I decide if I want to frame this scene or work on another (better, obviously!)

So there you have it an English landscape and no drawing involved!
Do let me know what you think in your comments...

I am entering the Fashionable Stamping, Stamping Sensations and the Craft Stamper TIMI challenges.

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.

Front of house

Not even Easter yet and I'm dreaming of summer holidays...

The heat of the sun in southern Europe, lazy days...  Well I can dream! In the meantime I made my own villa in the sun!

I'm showing how to make this, and especially this masonry so prevalent on the continent, on the Craft Barn blog today. So do pop over for a closer look...

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Paper Artsy,  SSS Monday and City Crafter challenges.

Spring Fashion

Spring is in the air and a lot of challenges are turning to flowers, garden party and all things spring. Unusually for me here's a classic, many layered, feminine card. Hey, I love all styles me...

Supplies:
Cutplorations die set: Crazy double Running Stitch set
X-Cut Haberdashery die set (dress form)
Flower dies: All Occasion
Sentiment: magazine freebie (I think!)
Memory Box: Madera Corner
Adhesive backed fabric from Docrafts.
Piece of vellum .

Most of the effort has been carried out by my die-cutting machine so I'll only explain how I put together the dress form.
I placed some double sided adhesive on cardstock before cutting out an entire dress form as my base.
From wooden paper (very thin wood, paper backed that can be die-cut with the thin dies) I die cut top and bottom of the form.
I removed the protective layer of the Double sided adhesive, placed the wooden parts and protected what will be the skirt by replacing the protective layer (cut or fold back the excess). Then I sprinkled loose glitter on the shirt area to give my outfit a bit of bling!
I created a skirt and a belt with bits of ribbon, and voila ready to step out in the spring sunshine!

The Madera corner has been colour matched with the metallic Starlight paint in Mint and since it is such a big die I cut one stem so the proportions would be right for my card.

I made the flowers with several die-cuts of red tissue paper, shaping them with cocktails sticks and ball tool.

I do hope you'll like this make, I can't believe there's no stamping at all but I enjoyed using some of my old stash such as this fabric piece and wood sheet that I was obviously keeping "for best"...

I am  entering the SSS Monday, That's Crafty, Memory Box, Colour Crazy, CUTplorations, and Inkychicks challenges.

Rainbow Butterfly

I have spoken before of Kaleidacolor inkpads and how much I love them. Today I am showcasing some of my favourite ways of using them on the Craft Barn blog.

 

Do pop by the Craft Barn blog for my step by step!

 

Thanks for coming by,

I am entering the Craft Stamper TIMI, Stamping Sensations and WOW Embossing powders challenge.

Infused Grunge Paste

Paper Artsy challenged us to use Infusions in new ways and I took inspiration from Alison Hall to make my page. However, instead of paint, I used Grunge Paste to up the ante!

I am sharing the results here despite the poorly chosen colours and lacklustre design because I think as a technique it works well and looks nice. If only I'd had the time to have another go...

My base is Kraft cardstock and I applied some gesso first before stencilling the grunge paste through the Fabric stencil (Dutch Doobadoo).
Immediately after I sprinkled the Infusions Violet Storm at the top, Golden Sands in the Middle and Are you Cerise at the bottom, using the paint knife to spread the powder/paste. Of course by using the knife in this way, the colours do mix up a little, but that is fine.
Next, I added some stamping using the ELB33 set, which I also used to stamp the leaves and quote.

The Gesso'ed background was niggling me so I used a green iridescent spray to soften the colours.
I was concerned this would re-wet the stencilled Infusions but it didn't... phew!!

I used Golden Sands Infusions again on the die-cut for the quote. This is not a single shape by the way, I just used a curved stitched line (Stitched Snow hills from Stamplorations) several times around the quote.

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the SSS Monday Challenge, We Love To Create challenges.

Fabric bag

Before showing you my latest make let me remind you that the Craft Barn has a blog candy of the 12 new colours of PaperArtsy Infusions!!! Don't delay and enter here, they are gorgeous and so much fun to play with.

Back to the crafting...

This is a bit unusual for me as my forays on fabric are few and far between, but, I have relished testing out some fabric paints that promised a soft feel and I have plans for some wearable art...

Today it's a more humble shopping bag that I have used as a base for my painting.

I have created a step by step that you can see here.

Supplies:
Cotton bag
So Soft paints
Paper Artsy EKC02
Brilliance Dew Drop in Graphite Black
Sizzix Thinlit Mixed Media 1 (for the home made stencils used top and bottom left)

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Stamping Sensations, Penny Black and More and Stamplorations MM & Stencil  challenges.

In the spotlight

Sadly the Spotlight is not for me but for the Time Out Challenges who are turning 3 this month and Uniko Studio who celebrate their 5th Anniversary. Congratulations to both!

Before being underwhelmed by my CAS card, I want you to know that it took me the best part of a day to come up with this design, having consigned a few tries to the bin!

I stamped in black 2 of the borders in black ink and one of the circle in blue (Kaleidacolor) from the Background Builders: Round In Circles set (Uniko Studio).
I added the "Anniversary" (my own stamp) and added the "5" and "th" die-cuts (both dies from Die'sire).

Nothing much to it... but that's CAS for you. "Clean" it might be but "Simple" to make it isn't!
Also entering the Fashionable Stamping, Craft Stamper TIMI and Stamplorations CAS challenges.

Here comes Spring

With March everyone is thinking of the coming spring, and Mother's day if you're based in Britain!
I can't think of a better opportunity to create something classical, pretty and feminine in honour of both ...

I stamped one of the flower stem from the Inspired By Stamping Magnolias set and embossed it with detailed white powder on watercolour card.
I used watercolours and a standard brush to colour the blooms and stamped the "Spring" sentiment in black ink (same set). A pink pearl dots the i!

The pink card base has been embossed with the same Stitched square die used to cut the stamped image and the Mother's day sentiment is one from my collection.

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Allsorts, Stamping Sensations, Wow Embossing powders, Stamplorations Theme and Sketch, Stamplorations CAS, and The Artistic Stamper  challenges.