B is for binoculars

As birdwatching has been such a big part of my life I had to pick binoculars for The Craft Barn dictionary challenge - letter B.

Materials used:

Impression Obsession: solar system

Katzelkraft: KTZ118

PaperArtsy: EDY09, EDY10, EDY11

Papermania Urban Stamp: looking glasses

Stampers Anonymous: handwritten thoughts

Taylored Expressions: discover your wings

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish: snowflake, cheesecake, 

guacamole, hey pesto, chocolate pudding 

DecoArt: glorious gold

Archival Ink: jet black, coffee

and some other stuff...

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

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

A Trouble Shared

Hi There
Thanks for stopping by.  Inspired by Alison Hall's plaque on PaperArtsy's blog, mainly because I love the colours, I decided to make one with a particular friend in mind.  The theme is all about paint, an excellent excuse to get out the Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics. 

First some grunge paste was added to mount board and when dry painted with snowflake and chalk paint.

Pieces of patterned paper were glued on.  Some masking tape was painted in patches with bora bora, wording stamped in snowflake and pieces added to the paper.  Splatters of eggplant and beach hut were added by flicking a paint brush.  More script was stamped in cobalt Archival Ink.

Gelatos were added to the edges and very lightly over the Grunge Paste.  Treasure Gold was used to add highlights.

The flower was stamped repeatedly and painted with washes of beach hut and eggplant.  The flowers were layers up, with one flower cut smaller.  Treasure gold was added to the tips of the petals, gold pen added to the centres with a pearl gem. 

The sentiment was stamped in Archival Ink, coloured with paint wash and adhered with Multi Medium.

I'm entering this in PaperArtsy's Challenge 3 - Paint.  Thank you for taking the time to look.  I really appreciate all of your comments.

Materials used:

PaperArtsy stamps: Eclectica EDY05, EDY10

IndigoBlu stamps: B.F.F.

PaperArtsy stencil: PS003

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint: Bora Bora, beach hut, snowflake, chalk, eggplant

PaperArtsy Grunge Paste

Treasure Gold: white fire

Faber-Castell Gelatos: grape, cotton candy

Ranger Archival Ink: cobalt

Ranger Multi Medium Matte

gold marker

masking tape

patterned paper

All the things I try to be

Six weeks after my first Journal Soup 2 online tutorial I decided it was time to try another one.  In Part 3 All the things I try to be, Kate Crane's video gently guides you through the steps to create a journal card with a whimsical face.  As a first attempt I'm fairly happy and have a few ideas of what I could do differently next time...

Materials used:

gesso

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint: little black dress, snowflake, mermaid, 

Bora Bora, London bus, limelight

Spectrum Noir pencils: 24, 29, 33, 34, 65, 66

Faber-Castell Gelatos: cherry red, margarita mix, cotton candy, acqua dolce, snow cone, blueberry

Hero Arts stamp: life of the party dots

Meli-Melo stamps

Ranger Multi Medium, Matte

Stabilo All pencil

white paint marker

washi tape

 

Smile

Hi there

Not a lot of time for crafting or blogging at the moment but here's a little something with a Valentine's flavour.

The heart is made with grunge paste through a Tando stencil, which is why it was difficult to get it all in focus.

The Craft Barn calendar challenge for February is Red and Hearts...I'm hoping I can get away with one heart!  Thank you for taking the time to have a look.

Materials used:
PaperArtsy: Grunge Paste

PaperArtsy stamp: JOFY  JM05
PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paint: eggplant, claret, orchid, red London bus, mermaid, snowflake
Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray: post box red, funky fuschia
Ranger Dylusions stamp: The Right Words

Kaisercraft stamp: Arty

Tando stencils: Hearts, Giovanna Spiral
The Crafter's Workshop stencil: Mini Circle Grid
Stabilo All pencil
silver paint marker

Shiny Stuff

Hi there
I've not had much time for crafting in the last month but with less than 24 hours to go I decided to make something for the PaperArtsy Challenge - Shiny Stuff.  Inspired by Trish Latimer's post I decided to make something with copious amounts of Treasure Gold in different guises.

I started by melting some glue with a glue gun, and pressed in to it a flower stamp which had been lightly smeared with vaseline to help it release.  When cool, I cut out the petals and covered them in classic treasure gold.

I covered two edges of a piece of card stock with a thin layer of grunge paste.  On the left a brick stamp was repeatedly pressed in to the past and on the right a script stamp to add a little texture.

Then I experimented with some Fresco Finish chalk paints for a background.  I stenciled on some leaves but later changed my mind and painted them out.  Some script was stamped in distress ink and the flowers were stamped in Archival ink.  The flowers were outlined with a Stabilo All pencil.  Some more stamping was added to the background.

Treasure gold was lightly rubbed over metal butterflies to highlight the design.

 

More treasure gold was used to highlight the painted grunge paste.  Some extra lines of treasure gold were added with the edge of a credit card.  Gold microbeads were added to the centre of the flowers with a little extra higlighting of course.  Finally I decided against the painted red stamens and added some metal nailhead stickers for a final bit of bling.  Definitely shiny stuff.

Thank you for stopping by. Why not pop over to the PaperArtsy blog to see some of the other entries?

Materials used:

PaperArtsy: Eclectica EDY10, JOFY JM05

Fresco Finish chalk paints (chocolate pudding, taupe, vintage lace, chalk, mermaid), Grunge Paste

Ranger: Archival Ink (jet black), Distress Ink (peacock feathers), Glossy Accents

Treasure Gold: classic, white fire

vaseline

white gel pen

Stabilo All pencil

metail embellishments

cool glue gun and glue