Time to Be Thankful

It is about this time of year my sister puts in a request for some Thanksgiving cards for her American friends, so I thought this year I would get a head start.  First the Sizzix Fern embossing folder was used on white card.

Distress Ink was applied and built up in layers, the embossed areas coloured with Promarkers and  leaves stamped around the edges.  The stamped leaves were partially coloured in.

 

Treasure Gold was lightly rubbed over the embossed area and smeared more along the edges.

Two set of leaves were stamped, cut out, coloured and curved using an embossing tool on a foam mat.  More Treasure Gold was applied to the edges of the leaves.

Distress Ink was used to create a co-ordinated coloured background on a card blank and the leaves adhered with silicone glue.  The wording was cut on an Original Silhoutte digital cutter.  And there you go!

 Recent events have given me reason to reflect and be thankful I have such a great life.

Materials used:

Sizzix Embossing Folder: fern

Distress Ink: weathered wood, dusty concord, salty ocean, squeezed lemonade, fired brick

Woodware Clear Stamps: Leaves and Swirls

Promarkers: tulip yellow, gold, pumpkin, orange, berry red, lush green

Treasure Gold: white fire

silicone glue and adhesive tape

Mixed Media Messing Around

Last weekend I had a great time at The Craft Barn on a class with Gio.  The project was a mixed media journal cover using our homemade stamps, stencils and masks.  We chose a photo of a model from a magazine, covered the page in cellotape to make it more durable, and cut around the outline to create both a mask and stencil.  We made our own stamps by die cutting sticky backed foam and mounting it on pieces of polystyrene packaging. We also used plastic draining board mats, plastic table cloth pieces, bits of lace and even a fan from the inside of a computer as masks. 

The cover was prepared with strips of masking tape roughed around the edges for texture and covered in gesso.  When dry the image mask was put on, other masks placed around and the whole lot sprayed with dye based inks.  Using the stencil part of the image different coloured inks were applied to the silhouette. Next, stamping with Distress and Archival inks, some outlining and a bit of translucent texture paste.  Finally a bit of Treasure Gold to highlight the raised areas.  Certainly took me out of my comfort zone! And here it is...

If you like this style check out Gio's blog Scrap in Progress.  She's queen of upcycling and repurposing!  Thanks for stopping by.

Tando Triple Birdhouse

Thank you for popping by.  Here's something I made a couple of weeks ago.  The kit comes in flat pieces and I did most of the painting while flat, just touching up the joins at the end.  To start with everything got a cover of white gesso, except for the outside of the front and back pieces, which started with a layer of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish little black dress.  Once dry a thin layer of crackle glaze was applied over the black and left to dry.  For the base colours I used mermaid, guacamole and cheesecake.  A good tip when using crackle glaze is to apply it with a piece of Cut-n-Dry foam to get a nice thin layer.  When you apply the paint over the top it will start to crack quite quickly so make sure that you do not apply it too thickly and NEVER go back over it to fill in any gaps or you will just cover up the cracks.

The roofs had an additional layer of a translucent shade (south pacific, yellow submarine and hey pesto) painted and/or stencilled on, with a little snowflake paint rubbed on the edges.  JOFY stamps were added with black archival ink and painted in with more Fresco Finish colours.  Then it was all glued together with Cosmic Shimmer glue and any gaps touched up with paint.  It now sits on my window sill at work cheering me up as I plough through endless admin. 

Making your own stencils

This started off as a Gelli Plate background using PaperArtsy Fresco Finish chalk paints with some additional stamping and stencilling.  The cricketer was taken from a clip art image, printed on to card and cut out to leave a  stencil.  More paint was sponged through the aperture.  The wording was cut from white card using an original Silhouette digital craft cutter.

Something I made earlier

To get started I thought I would share some cards I made earlier in the year.  They have Gelli Plate backgrounds using PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic paints and a variety of masks and stencils.  JOFY flowers and butterflies are stamped in black Ranger Archival ink and coloured in with Faber-Castell Gelatos, with a little white highlighting to finish off.

Birth of a blog

Today sees my first forays in to the world of blogging.  Over the weeks and months I hope to share my creative adventures and inspiration with you.  Watch this space...