Dancer

Hello

Today I'm sharing a quick post. I had every intention of photographing the steps but before I knew it I was elbow deep in paint and stencils.

 

The background was made with Golden Open acrylic paint and Giogiocraft stencils using a gel plate. You can just see a hint of the gold paint.

The dancer is from one of the new Giogiocraft sets, again added using the gel plate.

To finish off I added some stamping in black archival ink and some white gel pen. I have no idea where the stamps came from! Probably from magazines over the years.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out for a quick hour of messiness and fun after a long day at work. Sometimes it's best to not over think things and just get on with it.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look. Hope you get to let loose and have a lovely day xxx

Bear princess

Hello

I'm sharing another mainly one layer card today. I challenged myself to see if I could do something with the Pink Ink bear hugs stamp that would be a bit more feminine.

 

I made a mask for the bear and crown by stamping the images on paper and cutting out. I used the inner oval and outside frame of a Clarity oval stencil.

First I positioned the paper bear mask to give me an idea where it was going and stamped the crown. 

Then I masked off the crown, put the frame in place and stamped the bear slightly overlapping the crown, so it wasn't perched on the top of its head.

With outside frame, bear and crown mask in place the script was added using a Giogiocraft stencil.

Keeping the crown mask on and swapping the outside frame for the inner oval, another Giogiocraft stencil was used for the flowers. The arcs were added with a PaperArtsy stamp.

I traced around the edge of the oval with a gel pen and added squiggles. Then two shades of grey Promarker for shadows around the bear and the oval.

Finally the bear was coloured with Inktense pencils and a waterbrush.

The sentiment was stamped, embossed and added separately. The only bit that isn't flat.

I like how she is leaning out of the frame.

A good card for my strong, courageous female friends who fight for what they treasure and believe in. I am blessed to have several of these awesome people in my life.

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

 

 

 

Flying high

Hello

Today I'm sharing another card using one of my favourite stamps from StempelBar. I love the challenge of making one layer cards which look like they have some depth to them.

 

The base oval was printed on a gel plate, before stencilling on top with Distress Oxide ink. Careful masking and positioning of the girl and the border strips gives the impression she is just about to drift out of the frame. White gel pen and grey Promarker were added for highlights and shadows.

Sometimes you get an idea that looks complicated but actually is very easy to do. This was quite the opposite! Quite fiddly and lots of detail but doesn't look it. It kept me out of mischief for a while.

Thank you for stopping by. Hope you have an 'uplifting' day xxx

 

 

A gentle return

Hello

I'm back after a couple of months of no posts. I have been doing some crafting and painting, by that I mean starting things that I haven't finished! 

One project I did get finished was a mixed media canvas.

I started by painting a 25cm sq canvas with Fresco Finish paints and stencilling in some background.

Next I coloured white card by 'swooshing' through Distress Oxide ink...

...and die cut leaves, flowers and a vase. It was A LOT of die cutting!

I think it was worth it in the end.

Thank you for stopping by. Have a lovely day, hopefully with a little crafty something thrown in xxx

 

Light it up with a lampshade

Hello

This last week I've been chipping away at a project that I have been forced to take quite slowly. I was given a lampshade kit a while ago and it's taken me some time to decide how to decorate it.

I finally settled on a 'Lavinia' fantasy style scene and chose Inktense pencils as I thought it would look pretty when the light shone through, rather than using opaque paint. I planned it all out first to get the spacing right. You can see what it looked like flat.

Unfortunately the fabric wicked the ink in vertical lines so I had to work slowly in sections and try not to use too much water. 

I used stamps from quite a few different sets including Lavinia, Clarity, Hobby Art and ones from Creative Stamping magazine.

The colours are more muted with the light on but I think it works fairly well.

Of course now I have the old lampshade and I was thinking...what would it look like with a bit of paint on it?!

If you've had a go at decorating lampshades I'd love to hear what you used as I think I could be tempted to have another go.

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

 

 

 

Gnome one like you

Hello

Today I'm sharing a cheeky little chap from Creative Stamping magazine issue 94. Perfect for this time of year when the garden is springing to life with flowers and minibeasts.

I used a mixture of Distress Ink for the more translucent stamping, Distress Oxides for bolder images, Ranger Archival ink for the black and Inktense pencils for colouring.

 I added some speckles with paint pen and Promarkers to give a bit of texture and create some 'movement' in the background.

Finally a little shading of shadows with the pencils to give a bit of depth. Gnomes are not really my thing but I think this little fellow is quite charming.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by. It's always appreciated xx

Spring hare

Hello

Today I'm sharing this lovely hare from Woodware. I used dye based markers on the stamp and a stamping platform to get the image in the same place each time.

The first one I only used one colour on the hare but then I had an experiment building up different colours for a bit more depth.

Think I like the second one better. What do you think?

Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy your day xxx