Funky Flowers

When I bought the long owl stamp, this one also came with it as part of the package.   As it was slightly smaller than the owl one - it was slightly easier to stamp.    Simply coloured with alcohol markers, and mounted on green velum.

Owls

I fell in love with this Woodware stamp at the Farnborough Craft Show, but it was out of stock.   Hochanda had it on sale earlier in the week - well it would have been rude not to buy it!  So, I had a little play today.   Not brilliant, as I had difficulty stamping it as it was so large - it wouldn't fit on any of my blocks!

I think next time I stamp it I will try using some embossing powder, which I think will make it easier for colouring.

It also lends itself to doing some zentangling too - so I shall try that.

and finally .... The finished Fairy House!

Finished House

Here it is - the end product!  I will try and recall what I did with it.

I gave the walls a coat of Pebeo Decocremepaint using the lighter grey and cream colours.  I then highlighted the brickwork with the same paints, using the beige and darker grey colours randomly, applying the paint with a wet wipe or my finger.

The Roof and gable had Pebeo creams, golds and beige decocreme paints applied randomly, as well as a smidgen of DecoArt Media Raw Umber.  I also applied some Pebeo Decocreme pearl gold, gold glitter and silver glitter.  

The windows were painted with Pebeo Decocreme pearl gold, gold glitter and silver glitter, with Imagination Crafts Dark Orchid Starlight Wax applied to the raised frames, using my finger, as was the little heart.

and just to prove I got rid of the dodgy Bister splash on the back!

The "corded" edges to the house were painted with various shades of brown, and then more of the Dark Orchid Starlight Wax applied.  The base was painted with a double loaded brush using light and darker grey Decocreme paints.

Finally I tackled the doors - the decision to be made was whether to go bright or wood effect.   The latter won.  They were painted with Decoart Media Paynes grey and sprinkled with salt whilst wet.  A little gold glitter was then applied for a bit more texture.  Then DecoArt Prussian Blue, Ceulean Blue and transparent Iron Oxide were applied  randomly, finishing off with a coat of Quinacridone Gold,  I then went overboard and applied some Chamelion wax paste with my finger (mainly because it arrived this morning and I wanted to try it out!)  Oh yes, and applied some of my new waxes to the lace on the gable!

The door knobs had Pebeo gold gilding wax applied to them, and the inside of the doors had Sky Starlight Wax applied.

The whole house then had a coat of Powertex clear glaze applied.

I couldn't decide whether to add some little flowers to the house, but decided against it (although I may change my mind at a future date).  However, I did use a couple of the little clay butterflies I made the other day, that we decorated with Pebeo Fantasy paints.

I hope I have remembered everything I used.   The trouble is when you start playing you just experiment with what is on the table and get carried away with trying out the effects!  - lol!

More on the Fairy House - Work in Progress

Having applied a coat of Powertex thinly to the house, I then added some texture to the roof with some cotton swabs dipped in Powertex, that I had to use when my husband was alive for washing his legs.  Needless to say the rest of the packet is now in my craft stash!  I wasn't sure how I wanted to progress so I sprayed a bit of Bister on whilst still wet

I then found some stencils - a brick one from Clarity Stamps,  and a random sort of cracks one which I believe was from SplodgeAway (but I don't think they are in business anymore).

The brick was created using the new Pebeo fine sand paste, and the random cracks with the concrete texture gel.  I didn't bother with a palette knife of scraper - I just used my fingers

oops the bister leaked over the edge of the roof - not to worry - I got rid of that.

I also dipped some cotton lace into powertex and used this to edge the front gable edges of the roof

Right I am going to keep you in suspense ........ I will show the finished house tomorrow!  Watch this space.

Touchy feely card

I made this card for my Aunt's 95th birthday.   She is almost blind, so wanted something that she could feel.  I have kept it simple, as I think too much on it might be a bit confusing.

I just used a card and silk flowers from my stash, and put a gem in the middle.  I then applied a little glossy accents over the flower on the edges of the petals, and a little in the centre and sprinkled on unicorn sparkles. which added another texture.

I coloured some card with Cosmic Blue DecoArt Metallic Lustre, and then used my Leonie Pujol dies to but out the name.  Once attached to the card I used glossy accents over the top for another dimension.   Finally some smaller matching gems to the larger one in the centre were added on two corners.

Upcycling - Bottle Light

This project has been on the cards for a while, but I couldn't quite decide how I wanted to decorate it.  It is for one of my granddaughters. You may remember I made her sisters a dream jar some weeks ago,  when I used a set of the bottle lights.   She wanted me to do something with this dark bottle that has been lurking in my kitchen since we emptied it at New Year!

Originally I was going to etch into the glass, but was to scared to try in case I ruined it.  Suddenly last night in bed it came to me (why do ideas come when you are just about to go to sleep?).  I had bought the bee and dragonfly dies at the Farnborough craft show last month, as I knew the bee would be very useful with a granddaughter of the same name, albeit spelled differently.

I cut the dragonfly and bees from acetate, and to start with I coloured the backs with Pebeo markers in black and gold for the bee.  I then mixed Luscious powders with "Slap-It-On" and painted the fronts and backs again.  More Slap-it-on was applied when dry and unicorn sparkles applied, with a further coat of S-I-on to seal the sparkles.

I affixed the acetate to the bottle with more Slap-It-On, and then used  Decoart Paper Effects to stick the jewels on the bottle.

It was difficult to photograph the finished project so here follows a few views taken outside and indoors and a couple with the lights switched on.

  

An Easter Card

Had a little play with a technique  being used on the Card-io demo on tv today.  I didn't have their stamps, but used my Leonie Pujol stamps from my stash.   I stamped using Memento inks.

Masked off the cross shape and just stamped randomly around the shape.   When I removed the tape - rather than keep the cross white, I decided to apply some lemon Memento ink to the area, giving it some shading, I then applied clear sparkle overlay to the cross (which is why the photo makes it look a bit "muddy" though it isn't in real life).  Some blue Memento was then brushed around the edges.

Some dots with a quickie glue pen were randomly applied to the flowers and some unicorn sparkle added.   Then some purple DecoArt Paper Effects was applied for the centre of some of the flowers.

I then stamped a DaliArt butterfly onto copy paper and coloured it in and added sparkle overlay, and raided my stash for a peel-off sentiment.

I shall try this a technique again and hopefully produce an even better result.

playing with Pebeo Fantasy paints and clay

A friend posted a video of some butterflies she made with Fimo and a mould, which she painted with Pebeo Fantasy paints.

Inspired I decided to experiment.  I don't have any Fimo, and I find it to hard to work with.  However, I do have air-dry clay, and some little moulds that I bought recently at a Craft Show.  

The flowers and butterflies were made with white clay and then painted with black gesso and varnished with All Round Medium.  When dry I applied the Pebeo paints (Fantasy Moon and Prismé) and a little glitter vitrail.  They turned out surprisingly well, and being air-dry clay are still slightly flexible.

I shall find some more moulds, and play again.

Fairy House - Work in Progress

Just a little teaser as not quite short where I am going with this.  I would like it to be able to sit outside - but not sure about getting it waterproofed with the doors that open.   However, undaunted for the moment I have given it a coat of Powertex.

I am thinking of doing something to the roof with material, and probably something to the "walls" with some sort of texture paste - from then it's anybody's guess - so watch this space.  lol!

It's that time again!

Yes it's time for a male friend's birthday!   I know he likes antiques (being one like me - lol!)  - so for this card I used Sheena's Die and Stamps.    Most of the items were cut from black cardstock, and mainly coloured with various gold and silver pebeo gilding waxes.  The hour glass was stamped onto white card, and coloured with alchohol markers and then had glossy accents applied.   The compass was also stamped onto white card and coloured and glossy accents applied.

The background was created using a complimentary stencil from Andy Skinner and one of his little board nuts had gilding wax applied to it for the centre of the propeller blades.

Quite pleased with how this turned out.

Troll Headbands

I have had a lot of fun today, making some Troll headbands  - You will already have gathered from earlier posts that my youngest granddaughter is into Poppy Troll!

I started off with this one:  

and then I made a turquoise one.   I wasn't very happy with the flowers, although I knew "Poppy" had flowers on her hair, but ......

.......   revisiting the video on how to make them I realised that I needed to re- position the flowers.  Fortunately I hadn't glued them permanently into place with my glue gun.

So here is the finished headbands with another one made in purple:

Yes pleased with the finished product!

Present Tag

Just a little tag for a little lady's birthday present.   Created in Craft Artist.

Poppy Troll Birthday Cake

When asked what she wanted on her birthday cake, my youngest granddaughter replied "Poppy Troll".   Well needless to say I had no idea what she meant.   So when I asked about Poppy Troll - I was told to go on my phone and put in "Trolls" and then "Poppy".  Heck I felt old being told by a four year old how to search the internet!  (I didn't let on that I don't use my phone for the internet).  Needless to say I do know how to "google" on the computer - rofl!

So this is the topper I created for her cake.   I do love that we have Simply Topps just down the road from us to get it printed.  (Even better I just email them the picture and tell them when I want to pick it up!

Here is the finished cake

Henna Butterfly

Another birthday card using a Dali Art Henna Butterfly.  A different one this time.    I also decided to make it a "henna" butterfly, buy stamping with a brown distress ink and then pulling the colour out with a damp brush.  I stamped the image on the card, and also on a spare piece of card, which I just cut the wing part from (having had the "accident" with the other one I shared with you).   This was then added to the image on the card to create a "double winged butterfly.

To be truthful the photo doesn't do it justice - it really looks great in the flesh, and I am really pleased with the effect.

Another Toadstool Card

A single "house" this time, with an extra embellishment for the door - a "witchy" button from Craftwood Creations - Button-It range.

Background painted with Spectrum Noir glitter pens as a wash, and the grass was stamped and painted using distress ink (bundled sage off the top of my head)  The fence was also stamped in a brown distress ink (walnut stain) and then "brushed out" with water.

The house was coloured with alcohol pens.

Funky Camper Van Card

I was so into mindfulness and colouring over the past two days, that I decided I wanted to tackle the camper van image in the All Counties Craft Challenge postcard pack,

Again I used the illustrator pens, together with some of the sparkle pens, and the sparkle overlay.  I knew exactly who would appreciate this card for their birthday.  (In fact for once I am ahead of the game as her birthday isn't until next month!)

Butterfly Card

Who doesn't love butterflies - another stamp set I fell in love with at the show!   The Henna Butterfly set was by Dali Art.

This is the largest of the set, which I coloured with Spectrum Noir Illustrator pens, and then sparkle overlay added  (The antenna are actually better than the ones on the card, but I decided to cut out the stamp and managed to chop one, so had to chop the other one too!   oops!

Twit - twoo - an owly card

Another stamp I fell in love with.   It would be a great stamp for zentangling.

I suddenly remembered I had forgotten a nieces birthday - oops,    

Background painted with luscious powders, and the image coloured with alcohol pens.   Wording from Clarity Stamps

Gnome Houses Birthday Card

I went to Make It at Farnborough on Saturday.  I didn't need much, just a bit of card stock and some double sided tape.  However, you know what it is like when you go to a craft show, you see things you just have to have!

Well I fell in love with this die and stamp set.  The toadstool shapes are the dies, and the windows, door, fence, flowers etc are all stamps.  I had great fun sitting and colouring and creating this card.

The background was created with luscious powders, and everything else was coloured using alchohol marks (Promakers and Spectrum Noir illustrator pens.  I then went over most of the houses and flowers with clear sparkle pens.

The wording was done with the quirky alphabet stamps from Clarity Stamps, and a peel-off from my stash.

close up of the houses