A Moment of Magic

With Christmas over finally there's a chance to play and get inky!  I've been having fun with Dylusions inks and stamps and Giovanna Zara's Tando stencil.

I'll be sharing this on the Dylusions Facebook Challenge for December.

Winter Trees

Some of my Christmas cards this year were inspired by Kay Carley and how she uses Brusho.  The joy and frustration of using Brusho is that no two came out exactly identical!

Materials used:

Woodware: trio of trees

Brusho: gamboge, sea green, prussian blue, yellow, canary

Stampendous embossing powder: detail white opaque, frantage shabby white

Stickles glitter glue

Aurora Borealis

The last theme for The Craft Barn calendar challenge is silver/gold and trees.  Last year I was lucky enough to see the northern lights in Iceland and so my entry is inspired by that visit.
 

 Our sightings weren't quite as dramatic as the scene I've created!

Materials used:

Faber-Castell gelatos: black licorice, boysenberry, blueberry, cotton candy, 

snow cone, acqua dolce, spearmint, lime, margarita mix, coconut

Archival ink: jet black

Distress embossing ink

Hobby Art: winter scene-its, in the country 

Stampendous detail embossing powder: silver opaque

I've had a great year taking part in the calendar challenge and now I will get to enjoy all of the projects again throughout 2016.  I'm looking forward to next year's projects...I have my dictionary ready and await instructions!

Here's a look at all of the pages together...

Thank you for your support and lovely comments throughout the year xx

A day to give thanks

We need to learn how to want what we have not to have what we want 

in order to get steady and stable Happiness
― Dalai Lama XIV

Grey Owl

With the first little sprinkle of sleety snow this morning I felt inspired to tackle the Craft Barn's November calendar challenge.  This month the theme is grey and owls which initially I thought would work well with a Kate Crane style Journal Soup approach.  Having got started though I decided to keep it a bit simpler and more muted.

First a generous layer of white with layers of shades of grey (not quite 50).  Then more grey and white through a stencil, with some dry brushing on top to create the feel of a blizzard.

Next edging with Gelatos and Stabilo All pencil, and a little shading to ground the owl.

The owl was cut out of a piece of card painted with darker shades of grey and some stencilling was added.  Wings and feet were added separately and his face drawn on.  'Snow' was added with a piece of crunched up tissue dipped in paint.

Actually I quite like him like that, but that wouldn't really work for a calendar challenge!  I won't stick the calendar on yet and maybe some lucky owl lover might get him as a Christmas card next year!

Wishing you all a warm and cosy weekend xxx

Materials used:

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint: snowflake, elephant, taupe, little black dress

The Crafters Workshop: mini circle explosion

PaperArtsy: PS002

Faber-Castell Gelatos: squid ink, chocolate

Ranger Multi Medium: matte

Stabilo All pencil: black

fine line pen

Coasting Along

Hi there
A friend asked if I'd be interested in selling a few things at a craft fair and I thought I'd do my best to pull together a few bits and pieces.  I thought coasters always go down well so I set about altering nine bisque coasters with chalk finish paint and archival ink.  I chose three designs and three colour schemes and created a mix and match set.  I started with a white undercoat and then a mid tone on top and a darker tone on the edges. 

Then followed some stamping in white paint and I'm afraid at that point I got so engrossed I forgot to take pictures. 

 The next step was stamping in different coloured Ranger Archival ink and when that was dry the words were repeatedly stamped in black.  Before the ink was fully set the edges were rubbed with a damp baby wipe to knock the colour back a bit and make the centre stand out.  To tie the layers together some circles and a border were stamped in gold paint and a co-ordinating colour.  The edges were also painted gold.  The coasters were sealed with three layers of matte finish glaze to protect the stamping and give a surface that you can wipe clean with a damp sponge.  To finish they have been backed with a co-ordinating square of felt.

The problem is now they're finished I think they'd make rather good presents for my friends!  I won't be too sorry if no-one buys them ;-)

Materials used:

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint: amethyst, orchid, chocolate pudding, Irish cream, 

eggplant, lilac, snowflake, chalk, vintage lace, old gold, matte glaze

Ranger Archival ink: jet black, coffee, cornflower blue, deep purple

PaperArtsy stamps: EDY09, EDY10, EDY11, HP1006, HP1009

Impression Obsession: solar system

Stampers Anonymous: stuff to say

Pumpkin Power

Work, social life and colds have all conspired to limit my crafting opportunities this month but I couldn't miss out on getting my entry in to the Craft Barn calendar challenge.  This month the theme is Orange with Pumpkins or Fruit.

I've used a digital die cut as both a mask and a stencil and combined Distress Ink and Promarkers for the colour.

Today marks the end of an era as the physical shop at The Craft Barn closes.  I'd like to wish Sandy and Ian all the best with achieving a slightly more leisurely lifestyle and the success of the online shop. I'm very much looking forward to classes in the new venue.  See you soon!

Materials used:

Distress Ink: wild honey, scattered straw, squeezed lemonade, 

shabby shutters, twisted citron, pine needles

Promarkers: cool grey 1, 2, 3 and 4, pressed leaf, leaf green, lime green, winter spruce 

Archival Ink: jet black

Impression Obsession: Seth Apter solar system

PaperArtsy: EDY05

Kaisercraft: edges

Mushroom magic

Hi there
Whilst waiting 3 hours for my computer to update my iPhone I thought it was a good chance to crack on with my Craft Barn calendar challenge for September.  The theme this month is brown trees/leaves.  The mushrooms and leaves were stamped and embossed in white (with a little bit of masking).  The Brusho was applied a little at a time by wetting the area and sprinkling a colour on.  While wet the colour can be moved around or lifted off with a paper towel.  The mushroom stalks and shadows were added with Promarkers.

The good news is we seem to be set for a few days of sunshine so we can enjoy the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.

Materials used:

Dylusions stamps: doodle parts, further around the edge

Stampendous embossing powder: detail white opaque

Brusho: light brown, crimson, lemon, gamboge

Distress Ink: clear embossing 

Promarkers: burnt sienna, oatmeal, satin

Gelli plate soup

Hi
On the very last day of my long summer holiday I finally had time to revisit the fabulous Journal Soup 2 tutorials by Kate Crane.   I had an enormous amount of fun getting messy with the Gelli plate and returned to work with paint encrusted fingers and nails.

People who know me will no doubt agree that I can't follow instructions without making my own changes and this was no different!  I chose the option of stamping on tissue paper, not to avoid mistakes, but because it allowed me to paint colour on to the back.  The result is that my creations are probably not as bold as Kate's.  I blended some Stabilo All pencil with water around the images to create a faint shadow.  I also used Fresco Finish Chalk Paint which dries quite quickly and so the background colours are not as blended.  Overall I was fairly pleased with the results and would definitely use the techniques again.

Materials used:

Gelli Plate

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish chalk paints

The Crafters Workshop stencil: mini circle explosion

Stampers Anonymous: stuff to say

PaperArtsy: EDY05

Pam Carriker stamp: Ophelia

Katzelkraft: KTZ118, Chatool KTZ63

Kaisercraft Clear Stamps: edges, film edges

black and white gel pen, Stabilo All pencil

Leave a trail

The August issue of Craft Stamper features a free camper van stamp...very handy when you know someone with a camper van with a birthday coming up in September!

The sunshine was created using Brusho through a stencil and blotting to get second and third generation images.  The road was added using distress ink through the same stencil.  The van is decoupaged and the windscreen is cut out so that the background shows through.  The IndigoBlu sentiment is one of my favourites and I've used it many times before.


I can't decide whether I like the top card best with the stronger colours or the bottom one with the van coloured in more traditional colours.  It might depend on if you're a VW purist...what do you think?

Materials used:

IndigoBlu: Grand Tour III sentiment

PaperArtsy: EDY10 flying birds

Kaisercraft texture clear stamps: chevron, edges

The Crafters Workshop: mini sunburst mask 

Brusho: scarlet, ornage, yellow, lemon

Ranger Archival Ink: jet black 

Distress Ink: faded jeans

Promarkers: ice grey 2, capri blue, sky blue, orange

Adorned and adored

Last year I treated myself to the extra large bottle of Dior's J'adore just so that I could have the marvellous gift box with the magnetic clip!  Finally I have had time to work on it just in time for a friend's birthday.  Inspired by the work of Giovanna Zara and her blog, Scrap in Progress, I set to.  The first stage was sticking on die cuts and embellishments, giving it all a coat of gesso and then using Dylusions ink sprays to create a coloured base.

I added a little yellow and orange paint to the base layer and the box was dry brushed with white paint to knock the colours back a bit and create some highlights.  I used Viva Decor Maya Gold paints to bring out the letters and using a sponge, added a slight shimmer over the whole box.  Further highlights were added with gilding waxes. Et voilà!

 

Materials used: 

various die cuts and embellishments

Ranger Multi Medium: matte

Dylusions Ink Sprays: funky fuchsia, post box red, squeezed orange

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint: yellow submarine, autumn fire, snowflake

Viva Decor Maya Gold; magenta, lilac

Treasure Gold: white fire

Creative Expressions Metallic Gilding Wax: patina