Tiz Done ... Gramap;hone

I had a busy Easter weekend out gallivanting, but I did sit in the sunshine on Saturday and painted by old fashioned gramophone.  I am really pleased with it.  I tried to keep it authentic and vintage looking.

Another view with the "needle" on the record

The Base was painted with a varied mix of Pebeo and Amsterdam browns, creams and even purple "splodged" on to a painting mat and randomly mixed and then painted on to create a wood effect.. Decoration done with gold posca pen.

Trumpet painted with black gesso and then a Pebeo iridescent gold and overpainted with Golden's gold. The arm was black gessoed, then painted with gold, then changed my mind and painted silver, and then pebeo gold gilding wax. the record was black gessoed and then painted with black acrylic, and the label was created in craft artist. 

Finally a coat of spray and shine

The label on the "record"

Easter Gift Cards

I haven't made Easter Cards as such this year.  I also haven't bought Ester Eggs for the family - with a lot of them having allergies to various things like, milk, nuts etc. I couldn't cope with my dodgy eyes of reading every single package to find out if they were suitable, so this year they are all getting some money.  However, rather than just giving them the money I made some cards to hold the money, so they looked more like a present.

I used the new Katy Sue "Adventures in Creativity" stamps, which I have fallen in love with..  They are based on Emma Boyes paper cutting images, which some of the granddaughters have

.

I stamped the images with various colours of Nuvo pads, and then embossed them with clear embossing powder.  They were then "water coloured"  with either Indigoblu Luscious Powders or acrylic paint (mainly Posca Pens water down)  I found some old Easter peel-offs in my stash, so added those (albeit these aren't showing up that well in the photos)

Old Fashioned Grammophone

Work in progress.   I haven't attached the final panels yet, as I want to paint the main thing first, and also paint the panels separately, but hopefully you can get the gist.   It isn't as big a it looks in the photos!   It stands about 18 inches high.

The "needle" arm is movable too

Can't wait to start painting it!

Black & White Box

I have at last painted this box which has been sitting on my desk for a few months!   Originally I wanted it to be blue to look like Wedgewood, but I couldn't find any suitable card in my stash, and as I needed to stamp and emboss, painting the MDF wouldn't really work.   So ..... I decided to paint it to match the little one I painted a while ago.

Basically the box was painted with black gesso, and then strips of black card were cut, and a pattern stamped (John Next Door stamp) with clear embossing powder, and then Cosmic shimmer white detail embossing powder applied.   The strips where then stuck onto the panels of the box.  The handle was painted white and finally the whole thing sprayed with Spray and Shine.

"Hat-shaped" Box

I have been meaning to tackle this for a while, but couldn't decide exactly how I wanted to decorate it.  I decided to go with a faux leather effect  (Kraft card treated with glycerine and water and screwed up, and when dry I applied distress inks and distress oxides).    The faux leather was cut up into small pieces and applied to the box with heavy duty gel both under and over it.    When this was dry I highlighted all the "seams" with gold Nuvo drops.

I then applied random bits of screwed up tissue to the base with watered-down pva, to create a different "leather" effect.  This was then painted with various shades of oxides, and distress inks and acrylic paint.

I then created a buckled hat band from Hearty clay and a Katy sue mould, which I then painted in various shades of brown and highlighted the buckle with gilding wax (but decided it didn't show up enough so made it more 3D with more gold Nuvo drops.

I painted a selection of MDF cogs and a "star" embellishment with Pentart Rusty Effect and Patina paints.

Finally the whole thing was sprayed with Spray and Shine.

The faux leather effect

How it started off

Anyone For Coffee?

 Card created with Gummiapan dies, and Clarity die for the sentiment.  Simple but effective, using brown pearlised cardstock, and a colouring the heart with pencil.

Messing about in a Journal

I received some new stamps - and naturally I just had to play.   Journalling is still a little struggle for me - but I have found it useful for trying out techniques

The background was done with distress oxides applied with an old dried out wet wipe.  I then randomly stamped with the IndigoBlu "Golden Ratio" stamp.  I then stamped the owl from Katy Sue Designs, and coloured this with Posca pens and water.    It is sort of work in progress, as being a journal page, I can add to it as the mood takes me.

I also did the same background on this page, but used the Katy Sue Unicorn stamp this time,  It hasn't turned out quite as I wanted, the main stamped image wasn't perfect, so painting it with the acrylics wasn't so easy.   You win some you lose some - but again as it was a journal page - I can go back into it and add some more - you never know I may get to share it again when more has been added.

I have realised that I need to add some shadow/shading to make the images "pop".   That;s the advantage of just playing and taking a photo - you can see more easily what you need to do.

Unicorns rule

I love this mould from Katy Sue, which was created using Hearty Soft Air Dry clay.  I mounted it on some green/brown pearlescent card from my stash.   I was tempted to leave it just as a Cameo, but as it was for one of my granddaughters who loves Unicorns, I thought I had better add her name to the front of the card.  I used some Crafters Companion dies for this.

The insert also had a picture of a Unicorn on it with a sentiment that said "Always believe in Unicorns"

Floral Birthday Card

I have been busy the last week or so making the most of the fine weather to get the garden straight, so crafting has been on the back burner.   However a couple of birthday cards have been made recently, albeit I forgot to take a photo of one of them!

This card was made using The Clarity Club die for March on faux pour paper from Joanna Sheen.

I then painted the flowers using Pergamano pencils and water.  Finishing off with a dotty outline around the edge with a fine liner pen.