Monday 31 March 2014

Couple of ATCs and stuff

Good evening folks.
I hope you are all well and that you had a good weekend too. Here in the UK it was Mothering Sunday and instead of taking her mother out for a meal my daughter thought it would be nice to go for a picnic instead......
We did have a slight detour in the morning to our local boot fair though where I picked up these goodies


 I love finding belts like these there as there are just so useful in mixed media pieces.
 And I could not resist this, no, I have no idea what it's original purpose was, but it is cool and once I've "rusted" and coloured it ........ anyway, onto the picnic


 We set up in Trosley Park and had a lovely relaxed time. Once we had finished we went for a long walk enjoying the scenery before visiting a nearby garden centre to pick up a cake and then we had afternoon tea in a different area of the park.

It was a lovely day of much needed R&R

I've not had a much time to spend in the crafty cave at the moment but I did make time to participate in an ATC swap. The theme was Brown and Turquoise with the option of adding/using a non crafty item.

This is the lovely ATC I received from my swap partner Kerrie-anne

and this is the one I sent

I do love this Robot by Lindsay Mason, there is something lovely and quirky about him.

Hopefully I'll get time this week to get some more creative time as I have a head buzzing with ideas at the moment but not enough hours to get them done. Have yourselves a lovely evening and I'll be back in the morning with a new post for A little bit Crafty......

Sunday 30 March 2014

It's all about the buttons

Goodly morning peeps

How are you all doing this morning?
It's time for the new challenge over at That Craft Place Challenge Blog and the the theme is buttons. Something that I know lots of folks have a fondness for but not something I tend to use very often so I had to have a serious think.......and in the end I made this little "button Box"

 I started off by using a glue gun to attach an assortment of buttons to the lid of the box and covered everything with a coat of gesso. When that was dry I added a few layers of a thin wash of paint. I used Decoart Traditions in Blue Green Light and Transparent Red Iron Oxide. I just kept adding layers until I was happy with the look.
When it was dry I thought it looked a bit unfinished so I grabbed some lace and cut it into pieces and began to glue them in place with the glue gun. I liked the randomness and the way the overhanging lace broke up the edges of the box.
 I guess you are thinking that this is now where I keep my buttons.......wrong! This box is the box that these gorgeous metal tags arrived in so that's what is inside. I love these tags, they are strong and sturdy, yet they emboss through my Vagabond beautifully as you can see, the top one has been embossed.
To finish I added a flower to add a bit of a different texture to the buttons. I look forward to seeing what you come up with too.

Thursday 27 March 2014

Boxes, paper, clay and paint = amazing

Good morning folks.
Today I thought I'd share with you the trio of boxes that I've recently done as a two part class with a lovely group of ladies. I'll warn you now that this is a marathon post with plenty of visual inspiration so settle in with a cuppa........There are a couple of before and during pics just to give you an idea of where we started then the pics of my finished boxes.
Just to give you an idea. This is where the transformation began; just playing with, paper, card, clay and die cuts.
Stage one kind of ended up looking rather hmmmmmm, not sure..... but just keep on playing and adding.
I love the way that the pediments make great corner details

Then, out come the DecoArt Americana acrylics and layers of base colours go on, mixed and blended to create a rather scary effect.
I can hear you now, your're thinking yuck, looks like something my kid does at kindergarten........ persevere folks, it does get better. These are the finished boxes

They look a bit different now don't they? Everything transformed by adding layers of scrubbed and drybrushed warm white which fades and blends the bright undercolours into something much more subtle

 By varying the amount of white paint you can change the intensity of the colour. The smaller box has the most white and the larger box the least.
 The Dry brushing gives a lovely look to the surface, it brings out the details beautifully, I love it.
 Everything has been covered in layers of colourwash using DecoArt Traditions, Transparent Red Iron Oxide and Blue Green Light which further ties everything together and adds shadowed areas where it dries darker.
 Top box.
 Centre box
Detail from the bottom box.
Most of the flowers, leaves and other shapes have been made just from copier paper but the addition of all the paint makes them robust and hardwearing.
Are you still awake there;  hopefully I've inspired you to see what you can create with a box, paper and paint...........

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Playing in my journal.

Hi there peeps
I trust that you are all well. I'm flitting from pillar to post at the moment but grabbed a moment to work in my "scrap" journal. All the pages that were from my pile of papers I use to mask off when I'm working with sprays etc have been bound so it creates a starting point for journaling with none of the dreaded white page panic syndrome.
I picked up the Dandy Robot stamps from Stampers Anonymous. When I first saw these I wasn't too keen, then I saw them "in the flesh" so to speak and thought, oooh, these actually look pretty cool....needless to say, I took them home and promptly fell in love with them when inked up!
These are the resulting pages

 The word smile gives a somewhat surreal feel to the already quirky image. All the colouring was done very roughly with Dylusions.
 I didn't add anything to the background except for a touch of stamping. I like the way there was almost a window for the character to come into focus in the page.
 This next page was added to by adding details with the Distress Marker Spritzer and I added the tag for hidden journaling.
 I had fun with the images, I inked up the main image except for the head and stamped it. I then took the head from the Presenters and stamped that which worked brilliantly to give me another character. I made a mask for that and them stamped the full dandy robot behind to give me the two characters
 I stamped them in greay so the are fairly shadowy and added a little colour with Dylusions.
 I used tissue tape to attach the tag to the page.
The metal piece at the bottom of the tag was something I picked up off the street to which I added the compass sticker and attached it to the tag with a faux screw brad.

I had a good time doing these and am very happy with the finished pages. Now, I'm running late for work so I'd better get a move on! Take care everyone.

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Altered Tissue Box

Good morning friends.
I'm knee deep in re decorating at the moment, at the kind of regretting it but too late to change my mind stage..... Ho hum, it'll get there eventually.
I needed a break so thought I'd pop on to say hi and share this project with you. And, be warned, there photos a plenty as I've done some through the stages in case anyone wanted to give it a go......


To begin, I took the wooden tissue box holder and added some torn strips of paper, just gluing them along one edge. The next step is to add various pieces of chipboard to add more dimension. When I was happy with the placement I added a few fake rivets and gave everything a covering of gesso.
To add further dimension I die cut a couple of hinges and the On the edge Iron Gate and, using the "negative" as a mask, I added texture paste details

Once that was dry I began to add a selection of Decoart Americana acrylic paints mixing them up to create a very garish covering and set aside to dry.

When it was dry I added some vaseline in various areas. I chose areas that I liked the look of.

I then took paint in a grey colour and covered the whole box with paint and allowed it to dry. Once dry I began to rub back with a damp cloth. The vaseline acts as a resist and stops the top layer of paint from adhering to the bottom layer so you can rub it away to reveal the colours underneath.

To add more details I created some  packing tape transfers using Time Travelers cog stamps and added them to the box.


I added The Chemist to a chipboard circle and added crackle to the surface. When dry it was added to the box.

Finishing details..... I covered the box with washes of Traditions paint to add more "grunge" to the surface. I added the die cut hinges which I had coloured with metallic gilding waxes and added some more wax to the box to highlight details too.
 I added a little bit of stamping to tie everything together too.




Hope you like it. Have yourselves a fun and creative afternoon......

Sunday 16 March 2014

Flowers

Goodly morning peeps.
I trust that this finds you well and that you are having a creative weekend too. If you are in need of inspiration, the new theme for That Craft Place Challenge Blog is Flowers/Mothers day. So pop on over, be inspired by the team's creations and join in the fun.......
I've tried to do a clean and simple card today (well, 6 actually) I always struggle with this style and I'm one of those folks who never quite knows when to stop...... but I'm pretty pleased with these


I began by stamping 3 of my background stamps onto a sheet of A4 card. (Doodle Bubbles, Retro Square and Fantasy) in black ink. I cut the card down the length (approx 14 cm, to fit the width of the card blank) and cut into strips.

I punched flowers from the offcut piece.

For a splash of colour I added some Dylusions ink to the flowers.


To add shape to the flowers, snip between each petal  as you can see here.


Using a pricking mat or similar, working from the back of the flower,  use either a large embossing ball tool (or like me you could use the closed pokey tool from Tim Holtz which is a perfect size LOL) and press into the petals in a circular motion adding pressure.


When all petals are done, flip over and press into the centre. The result; one beautifully shaped dimensional flower.

To assemble the cards, adhere the strip onto the card blank, glue the flower in place and add a self adhesive gem centre.

I've left my cards blank at the moment so that if I need a Thank You, Birthday or Whatever card in a hurry, I can just add the sentiment and they are good to go. If you are looking for a gift for Mother's Day, how about making a dozen of these and popping them in bags with the envelopes etc along with an assortment of peel off stickers or a sentiment stamp set and ink for the perfect gift?    

Hope you all have a good day, I've a lounge wall or two to paint so I'll be off.........