Vintage Chic

Hello
I've been having a play with some of the Blue Fern Studio stamps. They are gorgeous in the amount of fine detail in the images. Today one of my cards is the featured project on The Craft Barn blog. By adding different sentiments I've used this card design several times for Mother's Day, birthdays, get well and thinking of you.

For full project details have a look at the blog and for Blue Fern Studio stamps take a look at The Craft Barn shop. Hope you have a lovely day. xx

Owl in a good day's work

Yesterday was one of those very rare days when my friend Mary and I got together to mess around crafting, without a specific purpose in mind. She brought over her new crafty stash and I got out all of my new bits and we had a play. In the end I think I came out of it very well as I used a lot of her new stamps. I think it's a great idea to craft together. We can all get a bit comfortable sticking to the same style or favourite brands. Good to shake it up sometimes!

We used my new stamp positioner and both agree that it's a very useful tool, especially for large stamps, or for adding the final sentiment without fear of making a mistake! It's also great for over-stamping the same image in several colours. I stamped the owl first in vintage photo. Then I inked it up in walnut stain, but removed the ink from the centre with a baby wipe. Finally I inked it in black and removed all of the ink except for the very edges. I drew out some of the colour with a waterbrush. I did the same with the moon using weathered wood and faded jeans.

So far I've only finished one card but watch this space as I get round to making the others up. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a lovely Sunday whatever you're up to. xx

Materials used:

Hobby Art: Orla owl

Creative Expressions: dreamy sentiments

Distress Ink

Archival Ink

Blossom Time

Hi there
I love this time of year as the flowers really get going. I'm especially fond of peonies. The newest Tracy Scott stamps are great for bringing a bit of that spring vitality to a project. Combined with chalk paints I have turned cheap 20p plastic flower pots into pretty containers for plants or herbs.

For full details of how to do this take a look at The Craft Barn blog. Have fun! xx

May brings flocks of pretty lambs...

Hi
This week saw the arrival of the swifts at the reservoir near to my home. People who know me might say I'm a little obsessed by swifts! I'm excited when they arrive and feel sad for days when they go. They are a sure sign that summer is not far away. The reservoir attracts a lot of wildlife and is a well known birding spot. On the grassy banks sheep are grazed and this is a lovely time of year to watch the lambs playing.

And so over to The Craft Barn Twelve Month Challenge. The challenge is based on Sarah Coleridge's poem The Months.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs, 

Skipping by their fleecy dams.

It feels quite sultry this morning. Great for bringing the flies down which means the swifts come in close. I feel a bit of swift watching coming on!

Do have a look at The Craft Barn blog to see what other ideas people have to illustrate this month. Thanks for stopping by. xx

Heartfelt Owl

Just a quickie with another card using this beautifully intricate matching die and stamp set...

Materials used:

GiogioCraft stencil: floreal circle

Hearfelt Creations: sugar hollow collection

Distress Ink

Archival Ink

ProMarkers

Moroccan Lantern

I've had great fun this Bank Holiday actually doing a bit of crafting and finishing a Moroccan lantern I started on a workshop with Helen Chilton at The Craft Barn in March. If you love messy, mixed media but practical projects the monthly Kit and Kaboodle class is fantastic.

The base is a Tando Creative kit. Helen had us painting it with metallic paints and distressing it to make it look worn and rusted. I won't give away her secrets but the faux rust was really fun to do. We embossed acetate and coloured it with alcohol inks to create the 'glass' panels. The hinges were cut with the WRMK tabs punchboard. Of course I had to buy one!

Most people on the day chose to box in the top of the lantern but I already had other ideas...and so a month later I've had time to finish it off.

Firstly it all had to be assembled. Then I painted a few wooden embellishments to add some additional decoration to the sides.

Then time to decorate some bottles to fit into the recesses on the top. I used alcohol inks on miniature glass bottles and some old medicine bottles. To create more intense colours I used one colour on the inside of the bottles and two colours on the outside, plus some metallic mixative. I also dripped the copper mixative down the sides of the bottles,

I painted ribbbon to go around the top of the larger bottles, added painted embellishments and finished the tops with enamel accents.

 

I altered little silver charms with the alcohol ink and tied them on with wire and tiny labels were tied with string.

 

I had some left over paper clay flowers and butterflies from another project, so after a lick of paint I added a few of those, along with a few metallic gems.

I really love the irridescence of the alcohol inks on glass. 

 

It looks fantastic with a battery lit candle in it if I do say so myself. It is only made of cardboard so you really must not use a real candle!
 

  

 

Just have to find it a permanent home now. My husband has already asked where it's going!!!!

Materials used:

Tando Creative Moroccan lantern kit

acetate

Ranger alcohol inks

Tim Holtz grunge paper

DecoArt dazzling metallic acrylic paint

DecoArt fluid acrylics

black gesso

Ranger enamel accents

wooden, metallic, glass and gem embellishments

lace ribbon, string, wire