Live with love

Hello

For the February #tagalongwithisa challenge you have to use three elements from the list. I love this colour palette so I went with the colours, embossed heart and gears.

The heart is a GiogioCraft die cut, painted and embossed in several layers of clear embossing powder. I used DecoArt crackle past on the tag and Gelatos to colour it. Wetting the Gelatos allowed the colour to run into the cracks for more definition. The background gears are peel offs which worked better on the rough texture than stamping would have done. There's very fine spatter which doesn't show up particularly well in the photo.

I haven't had the Gelatos out in ages. This was quite messy and fun to do.

Thank you for taking the time to pop by. Have a lovely day xx

 

 

Taking it online

Hello

First of all you may have noticed I've played around a bit with the layout and colour theme. I'm afraid I am still struggling to find how to adjust some of the elements but I'm giving up for now!

I have finally started on a few Christmas cards in the last couple of weeks, but I will save them to share a little nearer the time. I've also dipped into a few online classes for a bit of fun. 

One was with the Cloud Appreciation Society trying watercolour techniques for clouds. It was more than £40 for 90mins and the tuition was a little loose with lots of time to experiment yourself.

One was with Art Sippers at £7.99 for two and a half hours of fun, step-by-step tutorial, quizzes and jokes. The subject was a giraffe and I chose to use Gelatos as a medium. Really good for an online painting party.

For me the best one has been Something Less Boring with over two hours of tutorial for £4.50. What made it so good (apart from the ridiculously cheap price) was the combination of a whole project, with quite a lot of technique, good pacing and a really clear video set up where you could see the teacher and the canvas on a split screen. Of course I didn't finish but I will definitely return to the canvas to finish it off.

I really miss actually joining with people and creating together, but not being able to meet in person has meant a lot of really good quality courses have gone online. I've signed up to a gel printing course with Kim Herringe in Australia... I'd never get to do one of her workshops in person. Watch this space.

Thank you for stopping by. Hope you have a lovely week xxx

The wisdom of cats

Hello
I hope your week is going well. My holiday is drawing to a close and I keep thinking I must do some spring cleaning but somehow I only seem to get crafting done! Today's theme on the #craftingwithgiogio challenge is animals and I have gone with a cat.

I have studied many philosophers and many cats. 

The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.

Hippolyte A. Taine

 

The background was built up with layers of Faber-Castell Gelatos blended with a damp wipe and lifted through stencils.

 

The cat is a kraft card laser cut from Giogiocraft, gessoed then coloured with Gelatos.

Need to keep working on that lettering I think.

Thank you for taking time to look. Take care xxx

Pick of the pockets

Hello
Today I'm bringing you the latest in the #craftingwithgiogio challenge on the theme of pockets. I decided to make two pockets at the back of my journal where I could keep all the lovely tags I've received from Giovanna Zara when I have bought stencils.

I cut down two pages to make the front of the pockets and stencilled gesso to create a resist.

 

The backgrounds were coloured with Gelatos, one half with a warm palette and one half with a cool palette and I used a baby wipe to blend the colours together. The gesso resists the pastel to leave paler areas. To give a little more interest, I rubbed more Gelato through a stencil and used a baby wipe over the top to blend it on to the page.

Next step was some stamping and white highlights with a paint pen.

 

I painted Giogiocraft laser cuts and added light stamping for extra texture. These help to strengthen the pocket. The pockets were joined with strong red line double sided tape.

 

 

I had fun doing something a bit different. It's not too late to join in if you fancy a challenge #craftingwithgiogio or just take a look to see what others have been up to.

Thank you for stopping by. Take care xx

A seasonal hare

Hello
Just a quick post with the third project in the #craftingwithgiogio challenge on Instagram. It took a long time, with a lot of mistakes. I think I went out of my comfort zone in too many ways and ended up messing around with too many media.

The theme was seasonal.

I dislike it so much I've only taken one photo with the phone. What I did like though was using gesso through stencils to get the clouds and patterns in the fields. Will need to experiment some more.

I'll add some journalling...but not today...

Constructive comments gratefully received. Thank you for stopping by.

Materials used:

just about anything I could lay my hands on

Giogiocraft stencils lots of them

Pink Ink Designs love is in the hare stencil

Hobby Art lino cut hares stamps

gesso

Faber-Castell gelatos

Archival ink

Distress Oxide ink

PapaerArtsy Fresco Finish acrylic paint

watercolour pencils

acrylic paint pen

 

You brighten up my day

Hello
Thank you for popping by. When I have a few minutes to spare I am continuing on my mission to use up my craft stash by putting my hand into the bits and pieces box and either make something with whatever I pick up or get rid of it. It's a big box...it may take some time!

Here's a quick card made with a background from my stash that is at least a couple of years old. The owl came from a magazine my lovely husband bought me.

Have a lovely day xxx

Materials used:

PaperArtsy stamps: ETS06 

Woodware stamps: brightening your day

Papercraft Inspirations February 2019 stamp and die set

Faber-Castell Gelatos 

Promarkers

Archival Ink

Hummingbird

Hello
Sometimes I get together with other crafty friends and we admire each other's new purchases and have a play. This usually results in a collection of die cuts and stamped images that get stashed away for future use. I've been trying to stick to my resolve to finish half completed projects and use up bits and pieces, or clear them out. Some of these have been waiting many years to be finished!

First up is a hummingbird card.

Thank you for taking a look. Wishing you a day full of sunshine and flowers xx

Materials used:

Sizzix Thinlits die: free bird

Marianne stamp and die set: two flowers

Faber-Castell Gelatos

Distress Oxide ink

Archival Ink: jet black

Embossing with Gelatos

Hello
A quick one to start today as I realised that this one slipped by without me posting. Although it's a Mother's Day card, with a change of sentiment it would fit many occasions.

First I scribbled on two pieces of card and blended the colours with a damp baby wipe.

Then I coloured an embossing folder using the lighter colour first. I did both sides and then spritzed lightly with water. 

I put my coloured card pieces back to back in the folder so that I could emboss both at the same time, ending up with one side embossed and one side debossed. There was still some colour on the folder so I spritzed again and ran two pieces of white card through. 

 

Using a different folder I embossed and die cut some flowers and used the pieces to build up the card, adding some string, gems and a sentiment to finish off.

 I had enough pieces for two cards so one for my mother-in-law as well!

I know that a lot of the world celebrates Mother's Day in May so there's still plenty of time to be inspired. Take a look at The Craft Barn blog for more ideas here...here...and here.

Thank you for taking time to look. Don't go away - there's another post coming!

Joseph's Coat

Hello
I'm a bit late posting this one. I had a busy day yesterday and spent a great evening at Chertsey Museum doing a bit of crafting with nine lovely ladies making mixed media notebook covers. They must have enjoyed it as they want to do the same technique again on something else. Didn't get to photograph them all but they made an excellent job of it.

This week The Craft Barn has been showcasing the Joseph's Coat technique using different ways of masking to reveal a layer below. I went for a canvas board.

There are quite a few steps for this one so do take a look at the blog for all of the details. The weekend awaits and I am very hopeful for at least one day of crafting! 

Thank you for stopping by. xx

London Town

A new theme on The Craft Barn blog is buildings and I get to kick off the week with a card using the Carabelle Studio London stamp and Gelatos.

Do take a look at the blog for full details and don't forget to check out what the other DT members have done later in the week.

Bokeh

Bokeh is the word of the day! If you're none the wiser Wikipedia describes it as: 

In photography, bokeh (originally /ˈboʊkɛ/, /ˈboʊkeɪ/ BOH-kay — also sometimes pronounced as /ˈboʊkə/ BOH-kə, Japanese: [boke]) is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light

You can see how to imitate this effect in mixed media at The Craft Barn this week starting with my project today.
 

For full project details check out The Craft Barn blog.

M is for Meadow

Penultimate letter of The Craft Barn dictionary challenge...M. A quick one as Christmas is nearly upon us. I've used a variety of flowery meadow stamps with a Gelatos background and some acrylic paint splatters. I rubbed away some of the background with a baby wipe and circle stencil to create a bokeh effect.

Just one last letter to go...

Materials used:

 Gelatos

PaperArtsy stamps: EDY10, EDY11

Woodware: hedgerow

Hero Arts: blooming meadow

Free magazine stamps

Archival Ink: cobalt, cornflower, jet black

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish acrylic paint

Y is for Youth

Hi
All a bit hectic at this time of the year. I'm scraping in at the last minute with my page for The Craft Barn dictionary challenge. This fortnight the letter is Y and so I have gone with bright cheerful colours for youth.

I'm afraid it's a bit blurred around the edges! Not enough time to redo. The background was made with Gelatos, stencils and a baby wipe. Only two letters to go now, amazing how quickly the year has gone.

Right...off to write some Christmas cards...

Materials used:

 Gelatos

GiogioCraft stencil: art deco flower

Carabelle Studio stencil: around the world 

Crafty Individuals: CI284

sticky gems

N is for Night

Super quick post for The Craft Barn dictionary challenge. You'd think being on holiday I should have more time, but it doesn't seem to work out that way! I was going to go with numbers for the letter N right up until the point I got the stencils out and saw the Clarity town stencil. That's the joy of crafting you never know where the muse will take you!

W is for wine

W is for wine...of course! Thought I'd get the gelatos out for a change for The Craft Barn dictionary challenge this fortnight. The background is made with layers of gelatos rubbed through stencils with a baby wipe, then stamping on top with a few highlights. The main image was stamped and watercoloured with the gelatos. A little distress ink was added here and there for shadows with the rings stamped in paint.

Materials used:

Stencils: Stampers anonymous harlequin, Clarity trellis, unknown brick

Creative Expressions stamps: wine label

Faber-Castell Gelatos: buttercream, butterscotch, iced chai, cinnamon, chocolate, red cherry, grape

Archival Ink: jet black, coffee

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint: blood orange

Distress Ink: black soot, vintage photo

gel pens, Stabilo All pencil

F is for Friendship

Time for another letter on The Craft Barn alphabet challenge.  This time the letter is F with the added twist that a heart has to be included.  Friend immediately sprung to mind.  As I haven't used my Gelatos for while this was a good opportunity to  get them out.  The background is created with Gelatos, blended with a baby wipe and then gesso on top.

Materials used:

Craft Individuals: CI284

PaperArtsy: EDY10

IndigoBlu: BFF

Fancy Pants: bella brush

Gelatos: blood orange, tangerine, mango, banana, spearmint, 

lime, cotton candy, blueberry, boysenberry

Stabilo All pencil: blue

Archival Ink: jet black

white gel pen

multi matte medium

Every Pawn is a Potential Queen

A quick one for The Craft Barn dictionary challenge.  I've had this stamp set quite a while and this was the perfect opportunity to use it...even if queen is somewhat predictable.

Do pop over to The Craft Barn blog to see what everyone else has come up with too.

Materials used:

Chocolate Baroque: the art of chess

Tando stencil: letters, distorted harlequin

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint: snowflake, chalk, Irish cream, mud splat, elephant

multi medium matte

Archival Ink: jet black

Distress Ink: vintage photo, walnut stain

Gelatos: iced chai, chocolate

Stabilo All pencil

Montana paint marker

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