Tic Tac Toe ~ New Challenge for Stamps and Stencils

Hi everybody! It's my turn to host the July challenge over at the Stamps and Stencils blog. I've chosen to do a Tic Tac Toe.  My teamies have done me very proud with some fantastic art work, based on their selections from the grid.

I've made this assemblage piece using elements from the top row of the grid, flowers, corrugated card and lace.I started off by peeling back some of the smooth surface of the cardboard to reveal the texture. I painted the surface with gesso and stenciled some vertical lines using modelling paste through one of Tim Holtz's layering stencils.

I then adhered a piece of textured lace with matte medium and a selection of metal,  plastic and lace flowers. I used a hot glue gun to attach these pieces.

and........

I then painted everything with a couple of coats of gesso. Once this was dry, I added several thin washes of colour, allowing it to drip and pool in the texture. I used deco art Media Fluid in Prussian Blue

Left this to dry thoroughly, and then used a stiff brush with white gesso to dry brush the surface. This really enhances the detail of the different textures.

The crackled photo frame, is the underside of a small canvas. I applied Deco Art Crackle paste over the surface, and rubbed some Antiquing Fluid into the cracks once  the Crackle Paste was dry.

This is a photo boothe picture of me and my Auntie Sue, I think I was about 14 or 15 at the time. I used my mum's old typewriter to type out the phrase, which is something that stuck in my head after listening to Adele on the TV. It is perfect for the reflective mood I find myself in, as I am on the verge of retiring after teaching, on and off, for the last 40 years. Ha ha ! bring on the next chapter !

If you fancy a bit of playtime with a game of crafty Tic Tac Toe, hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog and you'll find all the details of the challenge, as well as some fantastic inspiration from our multi talented design team.

Twelve Tags of 2016 ~ Technique Remix ~ June

Ha ha ! back again with the second post of the day! Here is my tag for Tim Holtz's Twelve Tags of 2016, Technique Remix Challenge. This month, Tim has selected, Tissue Wrap Collage, from January 2015 and Stencil Plaid, from June 2015. You can see his fabulous tags here, with this link. Although I didn't have all of the products Tim used this month, I'm pretty pleased with my improvisation. I recently bought the Globe Die after a long spell of trying to persuade myself that I didn't need it, but..... well you know what I mean! I love it and was so glad I found a great way to use it on this tag.

So that's it for now, better go and cook some tea ! x

A Little Bird Told Me........

Hi everybody ! I was recently doing some experiments with stamping on tissue paper and had a few pieces left over. I thought I'd use some of them up and put them together on this painted canvas board. I used some of the lovely Indigo Blu Cottage Artist's Paints to paint a sky effect on the canvas and then applied the layers of tissue. I used  pieces of dress pattern tissue paper and white tissue paper that I'd stamped on and also typed on. I think that stamping onto tissue paper provides great scope for blending together several stamped images together, as well as being able to reverse images, as I have done with these faces. The reversed image on the left side, is just slightly lighter than that on the right. The panel has been finished off with a layer of Deco Art Crackle glaze which has produced some lovely crazing. I shall put this on the wall in my craft room to remind myself............'never doubt your creative instincts, just go with them and enjoy the ride' Yes that's my kind of crafting ! I'm going to hop this over to The Country View Challenge blog where this month's challenge theme is 'Crackle' They have a fantastic prize of a £20 credit for their fabulous Country View Crafts shop for one lucky winner. I'll be back shortly with my Tim Tag ! x

Sneaky Peek.......Inspirational Post for Stamps and Stencils

It's my turn to inspire you over on the Stamps and Stencils blog. I've chosen a little glow in the dark summertime project. So if you've got a few spare jam jars, some tissue paper, stamps and embossing powder, hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog with this link, and follow my lead x

Floral Frenzy ~ Stamps and Stencils ~ New Challenge.

Hi everybody! It's time for a new challenge over at the Stamps and Stencils blog. Our talented host this month is  Ruth and she has chosen the theme, 'Floral Frenzy'.This is what Ruth has to say.......

'Hopefully it's sizzling June... when beautiful blooms burst into life. Whether they're stamped, stencilled or hand made, we want to see flowers as the main focus of your mixed media project'

Well, this is a challenge that speaks to my heart. I'm sure I've said it many times but I love making flowers! As you can see, my project features quite a few. The substrate is a piece of grey board, salvaged from the back of used sketch book. I adhered some torn book pages to the surface, and stenciled the top half with modelling paste.

Once this was dry, I gave the background a light coating of gesso, allowing some of the text to show through. I then used several colours of Distress Paint, blending and allowing the colours to dribble and mingle, by spraying with water.

I then stamped the face onto a piece of lightweight white card. The stamp by Indigo Blu, is called 'Jane'. It's a large size, A6, so is perfect to stand alone. I used black Archival Ink, and coloured the image with Pan Pastels.

I've made a mental note to use my Pan Pastels more! I've only got a few, and I'm afraid to say I've hardly used them. They are so nice though. I then cut Jane out, and adhered her to the background. I then had a root through my tin of spare paper flowers. I have a stash of flowers left over from past projects as well as ones that I've been trying out. As they were all different colours, I gave each one a coat of white gesso. I really like the way the gesso has blended with the original colour, giving some nice pastel shades. I used Distress ink to add depth to those that were plain.

After trying out a few arrangements, I used a hot glue gun to adhere each of the flowers. I used a black Stabilo pencil and water brush to add some shading around the edge of the head, and a little Distress Ink around the edges of the background. I applied a piece of paper doily, painted similarly to the background, to 'ground' the head. The dyed satin bow was my finishing touch.
If you'd like to join in with our latest challenge, hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog, where you'll find the details of how to get involved. You'll also see some fantastic projects by the rest of the design team. Until next time....'Happy crafting' x

Just got word of a couple of challenges this will meet so I'm going to hop over to the lovely Indigo Blu, where the challenge is 'May...... all your Dreams come True', I think this dreamy image of a young Jane is longing for a summer full of romance! I'm also hopping over to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge blog where I've chosen '#14 Summer days'x

Twelve Tags Of 2016 ~ Technique Remix Challenge ~ May

Hi everybody ! Here I am once again taking it to the eleventh hour, to post my tag for Tim's Twelve Tags of 2016 Technique Remix Challenge. You can see Tim's post here, with this link. Now, my tag didn't get the full remix treatment this month, as I had 'lost' my Tiny Tattered Florals dies. one minute they were there on my table,in the next, they had vanished into the black hole that is evident in my craft room ! Grrrr! I spent ages overturning the heaps of   'un-put away stuff' and retracing my steps to no avail. I decided to just press on and came up with the little decoupaged flower arrangement you can see here with roses cut from the gorgeous Wall Flower Paper Stack.

.......Now what about my Tiny Tattered Florals..... I found them! I had been listening to some music on my stereo player, (I suppose that's a bit old fashioned now) when I got up to change the music, there it was, stacked between the CDs. Doh! x

Drippage Tag

Hi everybody! I had a little time to play with my new Seth Apter dies over the weekend and this is the first one, of two tags I've been working on. I love making tags as they're  ideal for sampling new products and techniques and there's not too much space to cover when time is limited. I fished this particular tag out of one of my unfinished / leftover, project wallets. I'd already sprayed it with Distress Sprays in various shades of blue, so it was just the job for what I needed. The Drippage die cut by Seth Apter and the splat, die cut by Tim Holtz, have been heat embossed with a couple of layers of ultra thick, silver, embossing powder.

The centre die cut is also by Seth Apter. I used gold transfer foil on the surface and then distressed it with sand paper, I then gave it a coat of Andy Skinner's magic  distress wash, which is basically a mixture of  Deco Art Paynes Grey and Quinacridone Gold.

 A bit of stamping and a Chit Chat phrase provided the finishing touches. So, that was a lovely afternoon, spent with three of my favourite men, Tim, Seth and Andy. What an awesome trio heh heh! I'm going to hop this tag over to Sandee and Amelie's Steampunk  blog, where they have an Anything Goes, Steampunk/Industrial Challenge. They also have some lovely prizes, for 2 entrants, chosen at random, from their sponsors, Deco Art and Boozy Bear, as well as fantastic inspiration from their very talented design team. What's not to love !  you can see some of Seth  Apter's work over on his blog The Altered Page, and Andy Skinner's, over at  his blog with this link

Think Pink ~ New Challenge for Stamps and Stencils

Hi everybody ! the first Thursday of the month has rolled round again and that means that it's time for another challenge over at the Stamps and Stencils blog. Branka is our fabulous host this month and she is asking us to 'Think Pink'. I've really enjoyed making this heart wall hanging with loads of girly pink and a moderate helping of grungy crackle! The heart is made of grey board, this is how it looked before  I gave it a little Andy Skinner treatment.....

I followed a technique he shared, in a recent online tutorial he made for Wanderlust 2016. In fairness to Andy and Wanderlust 2016, I won't go into too much detail, but the technique involves stamping into modelling paste, followed by lots of painting and crackling, before finishing off with iridescent paints. This is it before I added the handmade flowers.....

 Here's a close up of the surface....

I must say I really love the finish, even though I need a bit more practice with the stamping and some of the brushing techniques.I'll certainly be trying this again. It was also great fun to get back to some flower making. I used die cuts stacked together for these flowers, and sprayed them with Dylusions inks once they were constructed. I always find that scrunching up the flowers, whilst they are damp and then leaving them to dry, helps to give a more realistic look.....

An extravagant bow, dyed with Distress and Dylusions Sprays completes the heart. I've really enjoyed this 'Think Pink' project  and hope you feel inspired to join our Stamps and Stencils May challenge with a Think Pink project of your own. We'd love to see what you come up with! Hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog by clicking on this link and you'll find the challenge details and also see the fabulously inspiring projects by Branka and the rest of the design team. As a little bonus for joining in, I have a set of two grey board hearts which I'll send out to one randomly drawn entry, at the end of the challenge. So come on, get those rose tinted specs on and Think Pink ! x

Twelve Tags Of 2016 Re-Mix Challenge ~ April

Hi everybody !Whoop whoop! It's time for another great Tim Tag. For this months re-mix challenge, Tim has gone back in time to March 2012 and November 2015 and combined two great techniques, 'faux mosaic' and 'paint resist'. You can see Tim's fabulous work by following this link . Tim has updated the techniques by using his Distress Mosaic Kit and Distress Wood Grain Card Stock. I've used a few improvisations on my tag, but have stuck pretty close to Tim's. I was going for a 'broken china' look on my bird, using off cuts from the gorgeous Correspondence Paper Stash. I've scrolled back through my blog posts to see how I interpreted Tim's original tags and here they are........

This is my March 2012 tag and here is November 2015 with the paint resist technique in the background.......

Not long to wait for the next of Tim's re-mixes. I'm really enjoying these little trips going 'back to the future !' x

Trash to Treasure ~ Stamps and Stencils ~ New Challenge.

Hi everybody! It's the first Thursday of the month and of course, that means it's time for a new challenge over at  Stamps and Stencils. This month Autumn is our talented hostess and she has put together a fantastic challenge which she has called Trash to Treasure. This is what she has to say about it........

Don't we all love a good upcycled project?  This month at Stamps & Stencils we'd love to see how you take something that you'd normally discard and give it new life in your art.  Whether it's glamorizing boxes, turning Styrofoam into a stamp, diecutting your packaging, or another idea you have.  Bring on your best mixed media repurposing!  We can't wait to see what you come up!  Don't forget to use stamps or stencils in your project.

If you have arrived here from the Stamps and Stencils blog, you may already know what I have used to make my project, if not, then have a look at the steps I used to make this picture frame which was inspired from a little Victorian tin photograph I picked up from our local junk shop. Here it is....

Quite adorable don't you think? The shop had a few of these little pictures and some consisted of two portraits side by side, unfortunately these were beyond my budget so I decided to make my own. These are some of the materials I used.....

Yes that's right, tea bags and  a couple of tomato paste tubes ! this is how I got started.....

I dried out, then emptied some used teabags. We tend to drink Green Tea in our house, so the used teabags are quite pale in colour. I cut a small slit in one side so that I could empty out the tea and preserve the shape of the tea bag and then used an iron to flatten them. Since discovering the joy to be found on the inside of a tomato paste tube, I save them all! To prepare them, I cut off the top and bottom, cut up one side and wash in soapy water. I then flatten out the tubes with something like a wooden spoon or in this case, the flat handle of a paintbrush.

I stamped a couple of the teabags with these images, using stamps from a set by Katzelkraft. They're quirky and I just love them ! I then ran the tomato paste tubes through my Big Shot, using an oldie but goody, embossing folder by Cuttlebug.

I used an oval Sizzix die to cut out a frame, and coated the surface with Deco art Antiquing Fluid.

I then adhered each of the stamped teabags to off cuts of mount board with gel medium. I also cut a couple of extra pieces of mount board for the outside covers. I lined up the oval frame to the stamped image and wrapped the extra metal around the board. No need for any glue at this stage. I repeated with the second image and then turned my attention to the covers......

For these, I used a piece of brown packaging paper, the sort that comes screwed up, in those lovely boxes of crafty purchases. I've accumulated quite a lot of these ! I stenciled the surface with gold acrylic paint, using one of Wendy Vecchi's stencils. Once the paint was dry, I sprayed it with Vintage Photo Distress Spray. I also sprayed a length of seam binding, to use for the hinge and closure.

I used matte gel medium to adhere the stenciled paper to the outside covers and then adhered them to the backs of the frames, using Helmar 360 Quick Dry Glue. I also sandwiched the seam binding between the layers.

As a finishing touch, I added a metal frame with a sentiment created with Tim Holtz rub ons, on top of a piece of teabag. I then used a piece of transparent packaging over the sentiment, and secured it to the front with Glossy Accents. 

And that's how I turned my Trash into Treasure ! Believe me, there is something very satisfying about reworking simple items that would otherwise be thrown away. If you fancy having a go at turning your trash into treasure, then we'd love to see what you get up to. Hop over to the Stamps and Stencils Blog, where you'll find some fantastic inspiration from the rest of the design team, as well as the challenge guidelines. Come on .... you know you want to ......x

Twelve Tags of 2016 Remix ~ March

Hi everybody! The end of the month is fast approaching, so I thought it was about time I posted my tag, for Tim's Twelve Tags of 2016 Technique Remix challenge.This month, Tim has mixed it up with 'textures' and 'dimensional die cuts', as featured on  his November and August tags in 2015. Making this tag, gave me the opportunity to try out the new Distress Crayons. I couldn't wait to get my hands on these, I think I'm going to need a bit of practice as they are very different from the other Distress products but I'm looking forward to making further experiments! Below, are pictures of the tags I made last year, using the techniques Tim has 'remixed' . I can see that the combination of last years and this years tags, are going to build into a fantastically comprehensive resource. 

 August 2015

 November 2015

I'm looking forward to seeing what Tim will have in store for April, not too long to wait! x

Anyone for a Cup of Tea ? ~ New Post for Stamps and Stencils

Good morning! It's my turn to inspire you over on the Stamps and Stencils blog. If you'd like to see how I got from this......

 to this..........

then grab a cup of tea and hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog, with this link, and I'll show you.
See you there x

Play Time !

Hi everybody! I've got altered wooden, book box for you today, inspired by the work of Andy Skinner. I've recently signed up for Andy and Tracey (Weinzapfel) 'Dare to Create' art retreat in July and I'm excited already ! I've been interested in Andy's work for sometime but I've managed to miss his last few UK workshops, so I'm thrilled to be going, and meeting not only Andy but Tracey too, Whoop, whoop! I thought I'd get in a little practice, by joining in with  Andy's Bold and Bright challenge. full details can be found over on his blog. I started off with a blank wooden Memory Box Book, I bought from The Works. 

Initially I painted it with Deco Art Media Fluid in Quinacridone Magenta. It's a gorgeous colour but I could see immediately that it was missing something.... Texture !  I used strips recycled tissue paper and adhered it to the surface with Deco Art Media Matte Medium, manipulating it to create texture as I went along.

I then painted the surface with Primary Yellow Fluid Acrylic. Once this was dry, I gave it a coat of Weathered Wood Medium and then a top coat of the Quinacridone Magenta, and waited for the magic to begin......

Here is the back and a panel I created for the inside to hold the cogs.

I mixed up a bit of Quinacridone Gold and Paynes Grey Media fluid with a dash of Antiquing Fluid, and brush.ed this over the surface to give it a bit of depth. Once this was dry I sealed it with Ultra-Matte Varnish.

Here is my selection of cogs, These are a selection of kraft card die cuts and metal cogs. I applied a thin coat of Deco art Crackle Paste to the surface of each one and then painted them with a selection of Media Fluid Acrylics. I finished  them off by brushing over some of the tinted Antiquing fluid I used on the box. I painted the metal cogs with Media Fluid Acrylics and whilst they were still wet , I applied clear embossing powder and heated until the powder and paint started to bubble.

I used heavy duty dimensional tape to attach the cogs to my prepared background, i also used the same tape to attach the panel inside the book.

I added some metal corners, and a label. The 'handle' is a butterfly nut, adhered to a couple of metal cogs. After puzzling about what to do with the sides of the box, I decided to use some strips of sheet music. I adhered it to the sides, and gave it a coat of the tinted Antiquing Fluid. As a finishing touch, to the sides, I painted on some  Deco Art Crackle Glaze, and rubbed  some black Antiquing cream into the fine cracks. 

and finally here's the inside.....

The back of the cog panel and a piece of card cut to fit the other side, were painted with Quinacridone Magenta, then stenciled with Andy's Serendipity stencil, and stamped over with his Industrial stamp set. I think that's everything.Well, I really enjoyed  altering this memory box, and giving it a kind of colourful, Steampunk restyle. I also enjoyed my two trips to Hobby Craft to arm myself with some lovely Deco Art products ! I'm going to enter this into Andy's Bold and Bright challenge where there are some awesome prizes and blog badges to be won. As my box book has a bit of  Steampunk style, I'm also going to post it over on Sandee and Amelie 's Steampunk Challenge blog for their 'Anything Goes Challenge, where there are also fab prizes by Deco Art and Boozy Bear ! Until next time... have fun ! x

Spring is in the Air ~ Stamps and Stencils ~ New Challenge

Well the months are starting to race away and I can barely believe it's March already! Still, at least it's now officially 'Spring'. The beginning of the month also heralds a new challenge over at Stamps and Stencils. Our fabulous host this month is Rachel and  her challenge title is 'Spring is in the Air'. This is what Rachel has to say.....

'I want you to think about what the coming of Spring means to you? Is it a colour burst, or maybe flowers? Whatever it is I would like you to show us in a mixed media piece, including stamping or stenciling or both !'

For me, Spring is the time of year when everything starts to come alive... including me! I'm definitely not a Winter person. So my project is reflection on the vibrancy of Spring. I started off by making four backgrounds.....

I sprayed four pieces of card with various shades of Dylusions Sprays. I then used a variety of background stamps and stencils in deeper shades of Distress Inks. Once everything was dry, I die cut the four pieces using a Sizzix Accordion die. It was nice to give this an airing as I haven't used it for a while.

I then used a selection of stamps from Indigo Blu and Artemio, to stamp the images onto each panel, using Black Archival ink. The die cuts were a little messy on the back where they had been splashed and spattered with ink, so I decided to cut four more in black card and adhere them together. This also made each piece a little more substantial. I then joined each of the pieces together to make the accordion card.

Whilst I love getting down and dirty with pastes and other tactile media, it's really nice to get back to some basic stamping and inking with a project like as this. So now it's over to you ! If you'd like to join in with our Spring is in the Air challenge, then hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog where you'll find the challenge details as well as some fantastic inspiration by the rest of the design team. You have a whole month to get involved and we would love to see your projects!  So,until next time, happy crafting ! x