Boxing Clever

Hello
Here in the UK we've just come through a spell of bitterly cold, snowy weather, but today there are glimmers of sunshine and a definite touch of spring in the air. My offering this weekend is a little decorated box, perfect to put a little gift or chocolates in.

For details of materials and how I did it do take a look at The Craft Barn blog. A short post today as I'm going to do my best to actually get some crafting done!

Thank you for visiting. Hope you have a lovely day xxx

Bird Tote

I’ve wanted to do something with some tote bags I have for a while and finally a free afternoon has given me the chance to play. First some card was put inside the bag so that the paint and inks didn’t seep through to the back. Then the branch was stencilled in black fabric paint and set with a heat tool.

 

Then one at a time the birds were stencilled on to the branch in colour and the back and wings added in black, each time heat setting before the next bird.

 

The fabric between and around the birds was saturated with water. Inktense blocks were used to add colour which was then softened with more water and blended out. The final stage was to make sure everything was heat set by ironing it under a sheet of baking parchment.

 Think that might make a nice little present for a birdwatcher I know!

Materials used:

Cosmic Shimmer Lustre Fabric Paint: graphite noir, royal purple, Atlantic blue, 

sea green, golden lime, Moroccan rose

Americana stencil: feathered friends

Derwent Inktense blocks

Be Different

A quick CAS (clean and simple) birthday card for a man. The background was created by pulling a print from dye based ink on shaving foam. The images were stamped and masked to layer them.  Some parts were bleached to keep them white and other parts shaded with ProMarkers to give a shadow effect.

Materials used:

Stampers Anonymous: Call it Art, The Essence of Art

Cosmic Shimmer ink spray misters

ProMarkers

Archival Ink

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.