Tuesday 31 December 2013

New Years Wish

It's the last day of the year and I want to make it count!  Here is a wish for a happy and healthy 2014 for everyone.




Over on Hels Sheridan's blog the Sunday stamper theme is Wish so here is my entry.  I can see so many things in it I wish I'd done differently and a couple of mistakes but I'm learning.  I've used techniques learned in Hels workshops and from watching her melt pot demonstrations .  The butterflies and flowers were stamped onto graphic 45 Secret Garden papers and die cut using some of the Couture Creations dreamboat collections thry were then dipped into melted beeswax.  The seed head is grungepaste embossed through a stamps away mask.  I die cut the letters from corrugated packaging and removed some of the surface paper to reveal some texture.  


Sunday 24 November 2013

Ideaology Christmas kraft papers given the distress paint touch


I found these particular Ideaology papers very dark and not terribly seasonal until I swiped them through some red and green distress paints.  Embellishments tinted with alcohol inks to match, yellow on silver gives a lovely gold effect.


Saturday 16 November 2013

Christmas cracker / cake stand



I thought this mdf cake stand by Stamps Away would be ideal to display my hand made Christmas crackers made using a tonic die.



 The mdf main part is painted with distress paints by squggling them onto a craft mat, spritzing with water then dragging the parts through. I Covered the round bits with with Tim Holtz Ideaology Christmas memories kraft resist papers which were given the same distress paint treatment.  The edges were all blackened with distress paint then I used Treasure gold by Paper Artsy on all of the edges.



The cracker is made using Ideaology Christmas papers and has a Sizzix Bigz Noel by Tim Holtz that was cut from metallic card then glittered.  I then tinted the glitter with Ranger Alcohol inks. I also tinted the tinsel twine used to tie the ends of the cracker.

More Eclectic Elements Fabrics


I made a roman blind with one of my precious yards of Eclectic elements fabrics by Tim Holtz, now I can enjoy this treasure several times a day :)

Saturday 26 October 2013

Eclectic Elements fabrics by Tim Holtz

My Tim Holtz eclectic elements fabrics arrived early October and I've been itching to sew with them.  As always the first cut into a new piece of fabric is very painful so I thought I would begin small!  I was inspired by a wrist band/bracelet in a book I received for my birthday called Layered, Tattered and Stitched. 


This first bracelet uses the red dictionary pages fabric overlaying with creative expressions lace and underneath added some scrim.  I die cut the cameo (Sizzix/Tim Holtz )from black felt.  The crown and button were in my box, but both were very shiny brassy so I coloured them using Ranger alcohol inks.  The second bracelet uses measurements fabric some hessian/burlap which I frayed a bit and is fixed with an Ideaology hitch fastener.


Another project inspired by one in the same book was a gift cone, these can simply be made to hold gifts as I've done here or they would make fab Christmas tree decorations.

I used black felt, the red dictionary pages fabric, some scrim (it was actually part of a surgical dressing!) I sprayed it with Ranger colorwash spray plus bits of ribbon and lace, buttons and other findings..







Sunday 22 September 2013

Art Canvas

I think I might have got the canvas bug after doing Hels Sheridan's workshop recently.  This canvas uses some of the techniques I learned plus a few other ideas from elsewhere.  The main flower is made from grunge paper which as been painted then die cut.  I also cut netting and burlap shapes which have been coloured with distress paints and Paper Artsy dark blue treasure gold.  The piece of lace under the flower was made using my embroidery machine.  The die cut heart and letters were painted then stamped using paint with part of a Creative Expressions swirl stamp all were then edged with treasure gold. 

Sunday 15 September 2013

Hels Sheridan's Canvas workshop

On Saturday I attended a fabulous workshop at Birds in The Barn, Marks Tey, with Hels Sheridan.  I enjoyed it so much I shall be going back for more in November.  I finished tweaking my canvas today.  The picture doesn't seem to show all of the light and shade.



Wednesday 11 September 2013

September Journal page

September began with lots of rain so perhaps that is why I came up with this idea.  Or maybe it was just that the Tim Holtz die arrived in the post recently and I just had to play with it.  I die cut the man from thick acetate and used him as a mask using the same technique as the earlier journal page.  I also received black soot distress paint as a gift this month and used that instead of the distress ink.  I still don't have a fine white pen so outlined the men with picket fence distress paint and a brush.  The plus side is that it is much more black, downside is that the paint bled a little under the mask.  I love the way the left hand page turned out too and cannot thank Dyan Reavely enough for sharing this simple technique.  The sentiment is a stamp by Sheena Douglas stamped with picket fence distress paint.

 
 

Wednesday 28 August 2013

Journal page using Dyan Reaveley's patchwork background technique

 
first the doodling
 
colouring in with Dylusions then placing stencils, these ones from Splodgeaway



 
 
Stencilling over with black acrylic
 


                                                             outlining with white dots.

Summer journal page


Tuesday 27 August 2013

Art Nouvea style


Inspired by Aphonse Mucha, stamps by Sheena Douglass and using WOW embossing powders. 


I'd like to enter this in the WOW embossing powder August challenge.

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Making books

I recently attended a workshop at Neil Burley's studio where we made a mini book with pockets to hold tags with techniques from Tim Holtz creative chemistry 101 class.  We used distress paints to decorate the cover and end papers and the book was sewn and bound in the traditional way.

 
I loved how the distress paints marbled together and putting the book together was a new and interesting experience. 
When I got home I wanted to have another go before I forgot the techniques. There was one problem, I have no distress paints so I set about trying to create my own using pebeo white acrylic paint and distress re-inkers in  aged mahogany, rusty hinge and tattered rose.
 




 
 
I decorated the book front stencilling through a 'that special touch foxglove mask' with black soot distress ink and then brushing that with cosmic shimmer black pearl mica powder.

Sunday 28 July 2013

Summer postcards

Summer means holidays and holidays mean postcards.  When we go away I take some tags with me to give as an alternative to business cards.  Here are my tags for this summer.  All tags were made using the sizzix bigz alterations tag die and the Tim Holt texture fade embossing folder plus papers from the Tim Holtz ranges.  The texture fade was inked with archival inks before embossing to create a resist for the distress inks added afterwards.

 
the tag above has a butterfly cut out from the papers and dipped in utee.  I then brushed it with perfect pearls and re heated to get the pearls to sink in.  The edges of the background tag was dabbed with perfect medium, dipped in clear embossing powder and heat embossed before adding perfect pearls and re heating to give a gilded effect.  I'd like to enter this tag into the WOW embossing powder summer challenge.



 
This tag has a flower cut from the same set of papers as the background, scrunched and shaped then dipped in molten clear embossing powder.  I then dusted with pink mica powder and reheated.
 

the above tag has cut out butterflies coloured with distress stains then coated with glossy accents.

 
The butterfly on this tag was coloured with distress then coated with clear distress stickles, it sits on a dribble of utee.  I especially loved the way the kraft resist background turned out on this tag.

 

Monday 22 July 2013

London is the place to be

Today the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (aka William and Kate) are hoping to give birth to a healthy baby and the world is wishing them well.   Although I have yet to make a new baby card I have created a little patriotic tag.

 
Made with Stamps away flower montage stamps through the Special touch geometric mask.  Stamps away vintage travel stamps - London bus.


Wednesday 17 July 2013

Flutterby Butterfly

This card was a result of using my previous project as inspiration and adding in a couple of summer challenges.



The first challenge was to add layers.  I used stamps away stamp n colour card which is semi glossy.  The archival resist technique used in the previous project involves at least two layers, first the stamped archival ink, then the distress.  I used the summer colours, picked raspberry and salty ocean.  I added a third layer by stamping butterflies with clear ink and clear embossing.  I then added a fourth layer using mowed lawn distress ink.  The black swirl is stamped onto the distressed cardstock and embossed with WOW ebony embossing powder. 


I added another dimension by making an acetate wrap onto which I stamped and embossed the sentiment.  Finally I stamped some butterflies and embossed them using WOW white pearl.  I then took some cosmic shimmer mica powders in colours matching the inks and dusted that over the embossing before reheating.  I cut out the butterflies and adhered them to the acetate front.

All stamps used were by Sheena Douglass

I would like to enter this project into Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stamper Build your layers challenge  , the Country View Crafts Summer Sizzler challenge and the WOW embossing powder summer and sunshine challenges






Archival resist - Be Happy

Archival ink is used on this tag to resist distress inks added later.  I love the Brilliance inks especially the metallic ones.  They need heat setting to dry them. 


The tag was cut from very thick chipboard packaging that had a semi glossy coating. I used Sheena Douglass A little bit sketchy - Ageing Beautifully stamps to put the layers and texture in the background with Archival ink.  After heat setting I distressed with various Tim Holtz Distress inks and dusted with talc.  I then used distress ink through the detailed part of the Splodgeaway face mask and added embossing powder to that section and heat set.  I then took the corresponding shadow and applied a lighter distress ink.  the Be Happy stamp is also from Sheena Douglass.  The flowers were die cut from Graphic 45 papers using Tim Holtz Tattered Pinecone sizzix bigz die dipped in utee and layered with utee dribbles.

Thursday 27 June 2013

Yin Yang tree


This simple tree card was made by cutting two identical sized pieces of card, one in black and one in white.  I placed them next to each other using temporary adhesive on the back before stamping the Sheena Douglass little bit sketchy tree with versamark.  I then embossed each side individually, using WOW ebony and WOW white embossing powders.  I'd like to enter this into the WOW nature themed June challenge


Monday 10 June 2013

Fathers day with G45

Inspired by projects on todays G45 blog I have made this little fathers day tag card using Graphic 45 papers on a tag cut from kraft card using a Tim Holtz sizzix bigx die.  The tractor is from the Pilkington Transport set two from Ali Reeve.  Entered into the http://craftcreatoins.blogspot.co.uk/p/transpot-challenge.html?spref=fb and the Simon Says anything goes fathers day Challenges


Sunday 9 June 2013

Making distress paint and Paper Artsy stamps

I have been playing with distress reinkers and made my own paints by adding them to white acrylic (or ordinary emulsion paint today!).  I haven't achieved quite the same defined marbled effects you can get with the real thing yet but was very happy with some of the results.  I just put small blobs of paint onto my craft sheet, added 2 or 3 drops of reinker and mixed them in.  I spritzed with water because the paint was very thick and also spritzed the tag with water before dabbing and swiping it into the ink to give me more time before the paint dried.  Once the card was covered in paint to my satisfaction I spritzed again with water and watched the colours blend into each other.  I treated both the tag and background the same way although I added a little more distress to the tag and then stamped with water to lift some ink in places.  the stamps are all old ones from Paper Artsy and the little 'buttons' are the clock part of the wing stamped onto shrink plastic.

Friday 7 June 2013

Sympathy card

I'm not really keen on making or sending religious sympathy cards especially if I don't know the person it's going to very well.  The sentiment on this card was a Sheena Douglas stamp with the word always masked out, the daisy fitted perfectly into the space left.  Daisy stamps also Sheena's little bit sketchy.  I wasn't sure if this is a bit bright for a sympathy card but as it to two males didn't want soft pastels.

Thursday 30 May 2013

Playing with masks/stencils

I love the fact that these splodgeaway masks come in two parts so you can add detail in specific areas.

Above is simple tag on kraft card using a That Special Touch script stencil for the background, I first  put distress ink through the mask and then moving the mask slightly sprayed  dylusions through.  I then used the new splodgeaway mask stencils and distress in aged mahogany and antique linen for the face and to distress around the edges.



  This was designed as a wall hanging on mount board that has been painted black.  The mask was embossed using textured paste through the finer detailed part of the mask, when that was dry I placed the shadowy detail part of the mask over the first bit and went through the mask using a light colour distress ink, I then placed the more detailed part of the mask back in place over the embossing and added some perfect pearls just to those parts.  I distressed around the edges then mounted onto a piece of card that was covered roughly in texture paste when dry I added various paints and distress inks.

Tuesday 28 May 2013

Printed Splodgeaway butterflies

I've been playing with my splodgeaway masks/stencils and thought I'd try putting the colour direct to the masks and running it through a die cutting machine using it as a printing press.  I didn't use the embossing plate just the base and cutting plates.  I had intended to colourwash out some of the ink once pressed but I rather liked the textured effect the ink left made, the resulting picture reminscent of an illustration from a childrens's book.  I used Ranger distress and adirondack inks.



Thursday 23 May 2013

French Country box

I made some embellishments (leaves and sunflower centres) using embossing powders, mica powders, my melt pot and some Martha Stewart silicone moulds and although related in no way thought they looked quite good with the G45 french country papers.  I had a stack of three boxes all waiting to be re decorated and used the embellishments along with some fussy cut sunflowers to decorate the top.  The sunflowers have been mounted on Studio 490 black modelling film before cutting then heating and moulding into shape.  I'd like to enter this into the WOW embossing powder May 3D project Challenge and the Country View Crafts May 'How Does Your Garden Grow?' challenge

New home card with Distress and Dylusions

I started this card a while ago when I was playing with home made distress paints,  IE white acrylic coloured with distress reinkers.  I used the paint for the background of this card to add texture and colour.  I added more distress before stamping the dylusions houses and heat embossing them before colouring them with cosmic shimmer paints and inks.

Wednesday 24 April 2013

Butterfly Splodge


Playing with my Splodgeaway butterfly masks.  The butterfly topper is heat embossed with wow white pearl and then further embellished with micro beads adhered with cosmic shimmer glue.
I'd like to enter this into Emmas Crafty April challenge

Sunday 21 April 2013

Altered tin

Rooting through my basket of alterables I found this tin which is a perfect size for storing pencils but I didn't care for the advertising on it. 

I sanded away the writing and cleaned the tin with alcohol.

I then took some alcohol inks and coloured the tin all over until I liked the effect.  The great thing about alcohol ink is that even though it dries fast it re wets and moves when you add more.

When I was happy with my background I took a large flourish stamp and stamped with perfect medium onto the tin.  I then put on WOW ebony embossing powder and heat embossed it.  I then removed the ink from inside the embossed image with a promarker blender pen,  any alcohol pen or nib soaked in alcohol will work.  I recoloured some of the areas with alcohol ink using a brush but decided I liked the brightness  left in other areas.  In some places the embossing dulled where I cleaned inside the image but I found reheating the embossing brought back the fabulous gloss.


 
I'd like to enter this project into the WOW embossing powder April challenge which has an altered or recycled theme.

Fun with Watercolour pens

I can't believe it has been so long since I blogged.  Here is a simple card I made using reinkers and ranger nibs to colour in the stamps in a similar way as you would distress markers.  when I tried to photograph the card the camera had difficulty focusing so this was scanned.  The backing card is white.


Friday 15 March 2013

Yin and Yang

I came to do these two cards as a full project because I don't like waste!  My original plan was to press clear embossing ink through part of a Dylusions stencil to make a background that was clear embossed to create a resist.  I then realised my stencil was coated in the ink and so laid it inky side down on a second sheet of card and brayered all over it to transfer the ink onto the card.  As there was some yin and yang already going on I decided to take it further and create cards for both male and female.


After clear heat embossing both sheets I used shaded lilac, dusty concorde, peacock feathers and salty ocean distress inks for the backgrounds and for stamping.  I clear embossed the blue cupcake, Birthday Blueprint stamp by Tim Holtz and used some WOW white pearl on the purple one.  I had planned all sorts of embellishments for these cards but I just loved how the simplicity of this layout showed off the stamped image.  I'd like to enter this project into the Ranger Seasonal ink pallete and the WOW Embossing powder March anything goes challenges.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Altered paper mache suitcase.

This little case is made from paper mache and an ideal size to store bits of haberdashery, because I plan on using it everything had to be well glued down and durable.  I'd like to enter this into the WOW embossing powder march Anything Goes challenge.


Before covering I distressed all of the edges and corners with iced spruce distress ink.  I then covered the entire box with co ordinating Graphic 45 papers from the Ladies Diary collection using cosmic shimmer glue which has a good grip. I then distressed all of the edges again with iced spruce.  I cut out the decorative panels  backing the 'post card' with a piece of kraft card which I had distressed and then embossed with wow embossing powders, I used pepper, gold pear, burgundy red and metallic gold.  I distressed the edges of the case, the front panel and the strip with iced spruce and metallic gold.

 
The chipboard tag is backed with a scap of co ordinating paper and distressed around the edges.