Friday 28 September 2012

Canvas

Hi there folks
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has piles of unfinished stuff lurking around their craft space; or am I? Well, anyway, I had a canvas that I started way back in March that, though I loved the start I ran dry on inspiration to finish so it has been sat there for a while (ok, ok a bit more than a while!) Well, I finally got it finished!
The canvas was covered with a piece of Tim Holtz tissue paper (music) that someone kindly gave me and it was sprayed with an assortment of Moonglow inks (Mardi Gras), so far so good; I was really pleased with it. I used a Tando cogs mask and Dreamweaver pearlescent paste. Again I was really pleased with the result; particularly how the paste picked up some of the colour from the inks. Then it started to go "wrong"....
I tried to add something onto the bottom with tissue and that was an epic fail. I tried to add a balloon with tissue; again epic fail.... so it got shunted to one side!
 Since then; I had acquired a couple more balloon stamps so I revisited it last week and decided the bottom left looked a bit like mountains and by using the balloons stamped separately and layering with 3d foam tape I created the grouping that worked for me. (I've used Tim Holtz, Crafty Individuals and Katzelkraft images)
I added film strip ribbon top and bottom along with the bookplate soar filled with Ranger's crackle accents which finished it off nicely. I may add a bit more stamping but for now I'm pleased with it! At last.....
So, don't give up on your unfinished things as sometimes stepping away allows you to see them in a different light next time.
Hope you all have a blessed and creative day and weekend ahead.

Wednesday 26 September 2012

WOYWW 173

Morning all.
I hope this finds you all well and for those of you up in the wetter areas of the UK are not affected badly.
I'm here to share my creative space courtesy of Julia from Stamping Ground so here it is........
 Yes, regular visitors will notice that I'm not at my usual place in the shed; I stayed indoors as I was lazy (I tell myself I didn't want to get Vagabond wet by taking it outside in the rain) So I've set up a temporary workplace here in the dining room.
 I'm pottering on this journal page... just having a play really.
The tag I posted yesterday is still hanging around. So that's all there is here today I'm hoping for dry weather next week as I have a major revamp of my crafty shed planned, but it's not going to happen in this kind of weather!

Yesterday a friend and I took a wander down to The Artistic Stamper's new shop which was lovely and will definitely be going back;
Anyway, I'll let you get on so thanks for popping by and I hope you have a creative and fun day.

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Tag

Hi there everyone
Hope you are all well. Today I thought I'd share this tag which I made for the Inspiration Emporium challenge which is school themed. Well, as the husband of a dedicated and wonderful teacher, I see things from a slightly different angle perhaps but I'll let you decide.I started out with an over size tag and  used the Tim Holtz Summer Distress inks and one of my masks to create a tangled background. The butterflies are made from the new Tim Holtz tattered wings die.
 Each wing has been layered with  3d foam to create a lovely layered effect and the centres are made with the body of Fanciful Flight.
 I used Dyan Reavely's Further around the Edge stamps and coloured them with Dylusions inks.

 The words are my own and have been stamped with small alphabet stamps.

I had fun with this. I love the funky butterflies. I like being able to use dies differently as it makes them more versatile!
Hope you all have a lovely evening.

Monday 24 September 2012

Funky cards

Hi there everyone.
I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Yesterday's class at The Craft Barn was fun to do. We spent a thoroughly enjoyable day making fun cards using Dylusions and Distress; Embossing and Die cuts.
Here are the ladies; can you see the concentration and focus?

The weather may have been miserable outside but inside was fun and funky. These are the cards we made. All the stamps are Dyan Reavely Doodle Parts and Further around the edge and love how versatile these stamps are for creating decorative elements to die cuts and backgrounds.






It was a great class so thank you ladies for joining me.
And, speaking of The Craft Barn, it's the beginning of a new week over on the blog which means a new product goes under the spotlight. This week is the turn of vellum. Karen and I are kicking off the week with a nice and classic cards to get you into the groove. This is my card

All the details and more pictures can be found HERE, along with Karen's lovely card too!

Friday 21 September 2012

Pebeo paints at The Craft Barn

Good morning all
Over at The Craft Barn this week the team has been exploring Pebeo paints. For a lot of folks these paints seem to be associated with jewellery for which they work brilliantly; but that's not all they can be used for as this week has shown.
Today it is my turn and I have used the paints on a small paper mache book/box.
I took inspiration from the movie "The Legend of The Guardians" which is all about owls. The storyline is predictable but the film itself is a visual feast! I used the paints to cover the book. The paints react beautifully and though slow to dry (especially when you use a lot!) they give a lovely shimmer and sheen to the surface.
 The owl has been done with shrink plastic. I think this stamp by IndigoBlu is gorgeous and definitely up there in my favourites pile.
 Inside the book has been painted black and I stamped the script with silver ink to really stand out before attaching the "Battle Guard" ready to be passed down by the Elder Guardian to the younger when the time comes!
I enjoyed working with these paints and will be exploring them more.

Do pop on over to The Craft Barn Blog to take a look at the rest of the teams fabulous work; it'll definitely inspire you.

This week too; we have a special offer of 10% off these paints; just add the code PEBEO10 at checkout.


Product links


IndigoBlu twit twoo stamp
Stampers Anonymous Apothecary stamp set
Pebeo paints - discovery set- Fantasy moon (used blue metal and veil of smoke from the set)

Wednesday 19 September 2012

WOYWW #172

Morning folks
A mess, that's what is on my desk! I've been flitting from this to that to t'other without clearing up in between; NEVER a good idea...... I was going to pretend that I "forgot it was Wednesday" but you deserve transparency so here it is; unflattering but honest. My desk.......
Well; that's it, no other close ups; as there is nothing really to say, other than I'm working on flowers, I've a whole board in progress for a class. If I tilt the camera a little...........
Yes, still a mess but in the bottom right corner you can see a few completed.
So, I do hope you are not too traumatised by my place, pop over to Stamping Ground were there are plenty of soothing desks to calm your nerves; See you next time.

Sunday 16 September 2012

More journal pages

Hi there;
I've been working in the studio almost all day but since I can't share those yet I thought I'd share the rest of my journal pages done recently.  I started by finishing one I'd started. Some of my class atendees will perhaps recognise it!
 Then it was haul out the pens time again; no, I was not bored, I enjoy doing this!
 Loads of Dylusions and Distress goodness.
 Another pen moment on a page, I think the Tim tape really blends in with doodling, Zentangle, sketching.... whatever you call it

 And this I really like; it turned out really really well in my humble opinion! Lots of vibrant colours and techniques, and the sentiment and the birds fit really well together!
 I confess to chopping the birds legs off and re drawing them to suit .....



Hope you are all having a good time too. I may pop out to the studio again....... inspiration has knocked so I'll catch up later.

Saturday 15 September 2012

Journal pages

Hi there folks.
I've been a bit busy trying to get all sorts done but inbetween things I've been working on a few journal pages so I thought I'd share them with you today and tomorrow. I really enjoyed doing this one. The background is Dylusions inks. I wrote out the words and then doodled my way around.

 This one, it's so bright I needed sunglasses to work on it! Dylusions pinks are PINK! I'm not sure if this is finished yet, Jury is still out! What do you lot think? Distress markers are great for this kind of detail work too. I use them a lot alongside the Dylusions inks.

 Last one for today, I'm pleased with the way she turned out; and I think the sentiment works well too!


Hope you like them and I'll see you tomorrow to share the next few pages....... have a blessed and creative time.

Friday 14 September 2012

Sizzix at The Craft Barn

Good morning everyone
Hope you are all well. Over at The Craft Barn blog this week we've been looking at Sizzix dies and today is my turn. When I was looking at some of the new dies, Birds #3 popped out at me and I loved the quirky style of them.
I used the bigger bird on this journal page.
 The background for the page has been created using one of the techniques from my journalling #2 class to create a nice textured base. I stamped around this with Dylusions further around the edge stamp and coloured it in with inks
 The bird was cut out of white card and I stamped detail using Dylusions Doodle parts stamps before colouring in as before. What I like is that the die cuts everything separately so you can colour in details like the beak, eyes and feet easily. The beak and feet and the pupil of the eye have been coloured with Distress Marker (Wild Honey and Black Soot)
 The sentiment is from Dylusions Quintessential Quotes which I thought was appropriate for the page too.
The bird has been attached loosely to the page with a velcro fastener to allow for some hidden journalling too.
Hope you like it. For more Sizzix inspiration do pop on over to the blog and take a look at the weeks projects HERE


Materials links


Sizzix dies - Birds #3
Dylusions stamps - Further around the edge, doodle parts and quintessential quotes 
Dylusions spray inks - assorted colours
Waterbrushes (medium- I use them with the inks but you can use ordinary brushes and spray some ink onto a craft sheet.)

Wednesday 12 September 2012

WOYWW 171

Good morning folks.
A bit of a change to my desk today; it's on my lap! I am working on some pages where the focus is on pens and doodling so I was working in front of the telly last night (CSI) and kinda continued this morning. I'm sure normal chaos will resume next time but this is my desk today!
 All the essentials are here; Journal with prepared backgrounds, my Dylusions ink in fillable brushes and distress markers and an assortment of black and white pens!
 This is the page I am doing at the moment.
Then I drew out these alphabets so when I feel "lazy" I don't have to think I can use them as a jumping board. Though if you compare them to the letters used on the page, they are not exactly the same!

So there's my little mobile desk this morning; I'm sure if you hop on over to Julia's at Stamping Ground you'll find many more exciting places. Have a good week folks.