Thursday 27 February 2014

Butterfly wing flower tutorial

Good morning friends.
It's been a busy time in my crafty man cave recently but not much to share at the moment which is frustrating in many ways so today I thought I'd take a moment to share a quick flower making tutorial with you. I can't show you where they've ended up for a while but I hope you enjoy the process of making them!

Flowers are a very versatile item on many craft projects and I am always looking for something slightly different and this fits the bill! These flowers are created using the new Darcy Eclectica butterfly stamp (EM05) from PaperArtsy.

 Start off by colouring 2 sheets of A4 card with a selection of Dylusions inks, flick with water and dry to create a lovely interesting background.
 Ink up the stamp in black Archival ink.
 Cover both pages with butterflies.
 Then, make yourself comfy and begin to cut all the wings out! Keep them in separate piles so that all the direction and sizes are the same.
 You end up with a pile of little pieces like this.
 Using a soft mat add shape to each piece. (I use the closed poky tool to do mine as I didn't have a large embossing ball tool) Use the largest ball tool you can to make it quicker.
 To assemble the flowers take a large glue dot and begin to lay around as seen so that each piece is attached onto a part of the glue dot. For the smaller pieces you will need 6 and for the larger pieces you will need 7.
 To finish each flower, glue a flat pearl to the center and leave to dry.

The end result of my labours is a lovely pile of flowers, beautifully patterned and slightly quirky and I love them. Hope you do too.
Yes, it is a bit fiddly and time consuming in one way; but now for a couple of hours work I have around two dozen flowers ready to use which is always a  good thing in my book.
So, next time you are bored, why don't you give it a try.
Take care, I've a ton of work to do today so I'll catch you later.

Friday 21 February 2014

Stitches round up

Good evening folks.
Been a busy few days but finally I've a moment to share some photos from my day up at Stitches trade show on Monday. So, lots of photos to follow. I went up by train nice and early..........
 It's impressive what you can do with paper and glue isn't it? This tableau caught my eye at the entrance.
 My first port of call was the DecoArt stand to take a good close look at the new Media and chalk paint range. It is amazing stuff and I loved seeing how everything works together and I am really looking forward to getting my hands on it.
 Andy and Mark, were on top form!
 Mark used the new chalk paints on this cupboard to great effect.
 My next stop was Tando to catch up with Di and Karen. Some lovely new products there.
 I particularly like this desk tidy.....
 Then, it was good to see Hels demoing too. Working her magic with crackle and paint.

 This was one of the things that caught my eye. I really like the way they slot together - no more wonky words when journaling..........

 Tons of inspiration found looking at the new Prima, Ingvild Volme and Finnabair releases; then I turned the corner to discover Finnabair demoing......
 It was amazing to finally get to meet her and watch her putting her amazing creativity to work.

 I was most impressed to discover that I was not the only one who uses their hands as a palette!

 Some of her beautiful samples.

 It was good to see Andy and Mark were being kept busy when I popped on by LOL

 New PaperArtsy stamps. Lynne Perella
 and JOFY
 More Lynne Perella samples
Then I spent some time with the lovely Lindsey Mason. We spent some time chatting and looking at various bits. I had the chance to road test the Distress Spritzer. I was more impressed with it than I expected to be to be honest but I am looking forward to actually getting one.

It was interesting to attend this year's show and see what was on offer. Great to get to meet folks and catch up a bit.
Now, I just need to wait until my wish list starts to arrive at the shops!

Hope you have a good and creative weekend

Wednesday 19 February 2014

WOYWW #246

Good morning peeps.
Time for another round of What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, hosted by Julia HERE.

Welcome to my world......
 Full steam ahead mode on my desk this morning(And I had tidied a lot away too before I got distracted......)
 The candle sconce is something made to test out the new chalk finish paints from Decoart at Stitches. Some new PaperArtsy stamps which I've wanted for a while now.
 Then, some lovely new goodies from Wendy Vecchi arrived on Saturday. I've had time to have a "proper" play yet but I can already see the possibilities with the new stamp n stencil and the buttons and inks are a brilliant addition to my collection.

Then, once I had finished what I had to do last night and moved it "off camera" I got distracted by an "I wonder if" moment with this book I've been working on......It'staking shape nicely in my opinion so I'm pleased.

So there you have my world today. I am still sorting out and processing in my mind, my day at Stitches and will probably share my thoughts and pics tomorrow. Hope you all have a great day today.

Sunday 16 February 2014

A trio of chests for That Craft Place and a bit more.....

Good evening folks.
Well, somehow this got lost in the ether and didn't post as scheduled, so here it is now.
It's a new challenge over at That Craft Place, where this week's theme is to alter a box. There is loads of inspiration from the rest of the team following the link and here in more detail is my offering.
I decided to work with this trio of paper mache  nesting chests.
 All three went though the same process, I just varied the colours slightly.
 To begin, every box was totally covered with a selection of vintage book pages. I chose pages with a strong focal image. I used DecoArt Faux Finishing Medium to adhere. Once it was dry I used thin washes of Traditions paints to add subtle colour but still allowing the image to show through. When that was dry I then covered with a layer of One step crackle and left to dry naturally.
 To highlight the crackle even more I painted the chests with warm white paint and rubbed it off to give a lovely pale whitewashed cracked effect..
 There is some stamped details added and some added embellishments to finish.


I love the shabby, tattered finish and I think the white adds a slightly different feel.
Everything used is available from the shop (except the old paper)
Today too I have spent a lovely day working with a group of ladies at The Craft Barn on the first part of a two part class, funnily enough, a trio of boxes too, albeit on a rather larger scale.



Today was spent working with clay, making plenty of embellishments. Getting a bit of a production line going with the die cutters and discovering just how versatile you can be with paper, scissors and glue.......
I can't wait till session two in March when it all comes together!

Yesterday was happy mail day when the postman delivered these lovely goodies from Wendy Vecchi.


I am already in love with the ink colours, especially the watering can. I love the stamp it stencil it, very cool and effective. The bottom stencil looks to be very versatile. I haven't really had time to play properly but when I finally get a chance next week I'll be sure to share the results.
Now, I'd better get myself sorted; I'm off to Stitches in the morning which I am really looking forward to. Need to charge my camera, pack my notebooks and remember my tickets!
Have a great evening folks and I'll catch up soon....

Friday 14 February 2014

A bit of journaling

Good morning friends
I hope this finds you well. I've been busy this week working on samples and stuff for up coming classes but last night I had had enough so took a little time to work in my Dylusions journal.
 The background was created by spraying an assortment of Dylusions inks through a piece of lace netting to create a lovely delicate background. I added some further detail with paint through a circle mask.
 I drew the girl onto a scrap of card and glued down. She was coloured with the same colour of inks that were used in the background. Her "wings" are a couple of hearts (Sneak view of one of my new stamps - coming soon!)
 The "castle" in the corner is also coming soon as a stamp. This piece is a cut away section of a background stamp..... again, simply coloured with a couple of the Dylusions colours.
 I love the quote - we need to remember that we are unique and special. Our stories cannot be told the same way by anyone else.
To finish, I drew a border and added more colour to frame the page. Though this page is a bit different to my "usual" style; I do like the result. Hope you do too!
Have a great day folks and a creative weekend too.