Wednesday 20 July 2011

Wildflower Card - Composition

Aren't  digital cameras the best thing ever invented?  I am playing with the composition of this card and it was so easy to try out various options without fear of forgetting which one I tried first!  I'm still torn between 2 ideas so I thought I'd post the project unfinished and see what feedback it got :)

here is a pic of all the items I used, in addition I used a little coordinating paper, plain cardstock, raffia and two Ideaology fragments.  I would have used round glass glintz as they would have  magnified the little moths/butterflies beautifully but I couldnt find them!  All of the inks are a coordinating green colour.  The finished card measures 8" x 8" and the main image  is 4" x 4".

 Stamping - I stamped the main image by daubing the Ranger distress stain onto the stamp.  Using the Versamark pad I stamped images onto the background.  The rectangular green paper started out as smooth white cardstock, I stamped images with Versamark and then brayered lettuce Adirondack over it.  Still using the lettuce I stamped two butterfly images and a sentiment onto white card and set them aside for later.

Spritzing - Both the background and the main image were spritzed with Cosmic Shimmer mist - golden mint.  I cut an oversized mat for behind the main image from coordinating cardstock, scrunched it up and spritzed it with the cosmic shimmer, scrunched it when wet, spritzed again then smoothed it out and left it to dry.  For the intermediate layer I tore some plain white paper and dyed it with the distress stain.  I matted and layered the green paper with coordinating card





Finishing - I glued the two fragments on top of the butterfly images using glossy accents, the ink bled a teensy bit but that added to the charm.  I trimmed the edges when dry.  I tore out the stamped sentiment and then gently distressed the edges with lettuce ink.  Using perfect medium and clear embossing powder I double embossed the sentiment piece.  I tied a bow using shredded raffia and put a few dots of stickles on the seedheads.  Now all I have to do is decide the final layout.  All suggestions are welcome.

Sunday 17 July 2011

Tasseled Cushion

Just finished another cushion.  The knitted piece turned out too wide for the pad I wanted to use but no worries, I undid a few rows and wrapped it around a smaller rectangular pad.  It's hard to work out what size the end piece is going to be when using  6 or 8 different yarns on jumbo needles!  The tassels on the corners were so easy.  I have made a few tassels in the past, I love making small ones with silks but they take much longer than when using big yarns.

Friday 15 July 2011

Random Art

I thought I'd post up some random things that I've played with in the last couple of years.  I dont consider myself an artist, but I think everyone can have fun at least trying.  If we make mistakes its only paint and paper we are wasting so go on give it  a go!  This first piece is d.one in watercolour.  I was thinking about a petal from a flower and it sort of evolved from that.  I was really happy with how it looks as if its curling up from the page



The pic on the left is also watercolour, I've never been happy with the background but I like the shape, influeced by a bunc of tulips.

The pic on the right was done using wet on wet watercolour and splashing in salt.

I did the landscape at an art workshop.  The idea was we tore up pieces of paper and painted those  and used them to 'stamp' the different areas.  We then used different brush strokes to finish it off.  My daughter in law is an artist and she actually asked if she could have  it.  I was amazed as again I was never happy with how it turned out!

The last one is simply a pencil still life/

Thursday 14 July 2011

Clock card

I love this creative expressions embossing folder, it's a good size but still fits in the big shot, using core-dinations card and sanding and distressing it really brings out the design.  The tiny bit of black in the matting and layering of the sentiment seems to bring the print to the fore, and the silver mirri card does similar to the clock hand.  The bottom border is a piece of embossed and distressed card set onto some black sequin waste.   I didnt think it really needed much more than a sentiment and a couple of Tim Holtz embellishments.

Thursday 7 July 2011

Needle Book

I have had this blank book from Eco Green for a long time awaiting inspiration.  Recently I came across a large collection of vintage paper needle cases that I had been saving and decided to use the book to make a needle book in which I can store both vintage and useable needles.

Before I started decorating I aged and distressed the book with Ranger walnut stain and brushed courduroy inks.  I then splattered with water and blotted to get the splqattered effect. I used Creative Expressions Vintage Sewing stamps by Sam Poole, some Tim Holtz papers and a piece of core-dinations cardstock, torn and embossed with sizzix embossing folders then sanded to reveal the core and distressed with walnut stain distress ink.  For the reels of thread I stamped and cut out the image before winding on coordinating thread.  I then used glossy accents on the areas of the reels still exposed.  The sentiment was coated with crackle glaze.

Monday 4 July 2011

Music is the poetry of the air.


We are quite a musical family so collecting related crafting items just has to be high on the agenda. I used Aspects of Design Classical Instruments stamp set - the tracey Coats Collection from The Stamp Man to create this picture.

   I also used

a cheap plain wooden frame made to take an 8" x 5.5" photo. 
3 or 4 sheets plain white cardstock
Eco Green paints in Black and aged Gold
Cuttlebug music embossing folder
Core-dinations Black magic with a pale fleshy pink core
A piece of A6 silk art card for stamping
some matt gold cardstock for matting
Tim Holtz symphony tissue tape
some buttons (I used giant brads with the tails cut off , painted and stamped )
ink pads used were - Versamark, tattered rose distress ink, Black archival , gold and an old chestnut coloured dye
Glossy accents
a stick of lip salve or petrolium jelly for the paint resist technique.
sandpaper
a brayer
nestabilities
glue


To decorate the frame:-
Tear or cut out the white card into roughly A6 size pieces and paint them all black, once the paint is dry to the touch emboss them using the Cuttlebug die.  Now tear up and glue the pices of embossed paper to the frame in a random pattern neatly folding the corners.  I used a strong white glue for this and made sure each piece of paper was thoroughly coated.
Once the frame is covered with the black painted embossed card rub lip salve over the areas that are to stay black and then paint all over with the gold paint.  When dry buff all over to polish it and reveal the distressed black areas.

For the inside of the frame:-

Background - Cut a piece of core dinations card slightly larger than the aperture (this will be aproximately A5 in size and should just fit into a Big Shot or Cuttlebug).   Using the embossing folder emboss it right up to the short side then slide the folder along to emboss the other side so the whole piece is embossed.  Using a sanding block or sandpaper take off the surface of the raised areas to reveal the cards core.  Put a very small amount of gold paint on a piece of kitchen paper,  blot it onto scrap paper then rub over some areas of the background, aim for a very light effect.  Stick the background into the frame.

For the images-  Cut a  4 1/8" x 3 1/4" piece from the silk art card, and trim the waste piece down to 3" x 2" approxmately for the sentiment piece.  Using a versamark pad take a small musical stamp and stamp all around the edge of both pieces card. using a brayer and very light coating of chestnut coloured ink (roll excess onto a scap piece of paper first) roll right over the image from corner to corner, you can add more ink if you need to some areas.  The versamark images resist the ink and are now revealed.  Using the same brayer without reinking  do the same with the smaller piece of card.  Ink up with tattered rose and blot the same stamp and then apply all over the both pieces of card for a light background effect.  Old ink pads are perfect for this light effect.

On the small piece of card stamp a sentiment using black archival ink and emboss to set the ink.  Cut out the sentiment using a small nestability and run through again to emboss following instructions for your machine.  Run the edges over the gold pad, dip into embossing powder and heat.  Put glossy accents over the sentiment card and put aside to dry.

On the large piece of card stamp the instrument using a gold ink pad, sprinkle with clear embossing powder and heat.  Cut out the mats and layers from the gold and black cardstock sanding the edges of the black and stick all three together. 

Cut an atc sized (3 1/2" x 2 1/2" ) piece of core-dinations and stick the Tim Holtz tissue tap all over the pink reverse side of it.  Distress with tattered rose or chestnut.   Mat and layer it onto black (sanded and distressed) then gold card.

Arrange both matted and layered pieces in the frame and glue with stong glue.  Stick the sentiment card on the atc with silicone glue and add 3 buttons also stuck with silicone.

It's easy to vary the theme with this project, I can imagine embossed cogs or timepieces around a Enjoy!



Friday 1 July 2011

Steampunk stamps have arrived! Twisted easel card.

My set of Creative Expressions Steampunk stamps arrived yesterday and it didn't take long before I was creating.   I decided to make a 6" square twisted easel card with Coredinations card as a distressed look works brill with these images. 

Folding the 12" x 6" card blank
Folded blank - Mark the botom of this triangle
 
For the card blank you need a piece of card 12" x 6" folded in half.  To get the twist  score and fold the front of your 6" x 6" card diagonally from corner to corner.  TIP. mark the bottom of the front triangle so that when you attach the decorated front you know which way up to place it. 
Cut a 5 3/4" square to matt onto the base, I stamped mine with some of the cogs in the sets before fixing it in place with screw top brads.  Cut out a coordinating 6" x 6" square for the front.  I distressed the edges of mine with and emery board.  The front is matted and layered with the shimmery mirror  card, and a third layer of coordinating cardstock.  TIP - An ideal way of measuring layers is to reduce the size of each layer by 1/4" which will give 1/8" border all round.  I had some corrugated card in my box so I tore and cut a piece to fit the front and distressed with black soot Ranger distress ink and ran a tiny bit of aged silver paint over the ridges.  Alternatively you could emboss the top mat and distress that. 

I stamped the train from the Vintage Illusion set using black archival ink onto shimmery mirror card.  Taking care not to smudge the ink I sprinked on clear embossing powder and heated to set the image.  I cut the image  to 4 3/4" x 2 3/4" and matted and layered it onto coordinating card distressing the bottom layer by sanding and inking.  The small image is from the Vintage Treasures set, stamped onto coredinations card and coated with glossy accents.  I cut the tails from two brads with wire cutters and glued them all into place with silicone glue to add dimension.  for further dimension I added chipboard cogs in painted with aged silver Eco Green paint.

An easel card needs something on the base to stop it from sliding down.  I made an atc sized stopper, 3.5" x 2.5" using mirror card, stamping and embossing a sentiment from the Vintage Treasures set.  A piece of the corrugated card, torn and embellished with more cogs and a piece of Tim Holtz chain finished the atc stopper.