Butterfly Birthday Card

A fairly quick little card for a lovely little lady.   I stamped the Indigoblu butterfly with black ink and heat embossed it with clear detail powder, cut it out and painted it with distress oxides.  I masked off the card, stamped the butterfly in the middle, and then randomly brushed the background with distress oxides and did a light wash over the the butterfly with the same colours as the cut out butterfly.   I also gave it a little shadow.   The cutout butterfly was glued over the top of the stamped one on the card.

I edged the masked off distress oxide section with a black pen, added some peel offs (well it is no use them sitting in boxes being ignored) and then created the sentiment in Craft Artist and mounted it on card.

"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

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.

Christmas Ornaments

Ornament 1 

A friend and her daughter liked the ornaments that I had made recently that they asked if I could make some for them.   More MDF kits duly purchased and I proceeded to create two personalised gifts.

Ornament 1

They were personalised to their specification 

Ornament 2

Ornament 2

I had such fun painting these.   Everything was covered in white gesso and then the trees had distress oxides sponged on to the edges.   The deers and signposted were painted with Amsterdam acrylics.   The snow detail etc was created using Luv Crafts Let It Snow.

The base was painted with white acrylic paint and then Luv Crafts Puff Paste was applied thinly with a palette knife and "roughed up" which when heated up puffed up to give the looks of snow.  I then sprayed the base with a little water and sprinkled some Ultra Thick Embossing powder on and heated that up to make the snow "glisten".

Finally I painted baubles with the words chosen, and the year, with Posca pens; and added more Let It Snow..   Next year they can add a bauble of their choice or get me to paint one with next year's date on it! - lol!

A few weeks ago I received a RAK in the form of a little box containing MDF blanks.   The proviso was that I did something with it.   Well Having applied some gesso almost as soon as it arrived, it has sat on my desk waiting for me to get inspired.

I had so many ideas swimming around my head I didn't know whee to start.  Inspired by a demonstration on Hochanda where the origin of ATC was explained as a show case of your art, I decided rather than go with a theme, I would try to attempt something different on all of the cards, with a little of something from all my interests and just go with the flow.  So that is the plan

The little book box was covered with some tissue (just ordinary tissue out of the tissue box, but separated and just one scrunched up layer applied with slap-it-on.  When dry more black gesso was applied

Next various metallic and Pebeo DYNA paints were sponged on.  Gold gilding wax was then applied lightly over the rough surface and around the edges of the box   A strip of washi tape applied and a peel-off from my stash.   Sitting on my desk was a die-cut parchment butterfly - so some gold gilding wax was applied to that too.

I stamped the sentiment onto a piece of card and rubbed the edges with pebeo gilding wax.   

I felt the box need something in the bottom corner to balance the butterfly, and inspiration struck and I made a rose and some leaves from air dry clay; coloured them with artistry inks, and a smidgen of more gilding wax.  Happy with the effect.

I also made a start on one of the ATC shapes.   I started off with shades of red, orange and yellow oxides blended in and then sprayed with water and mopped to create lighter area.  I used a Samantha K stencil and some relief paste for the top left corner and added some lines with black nuvo ink and a credit care. I then stamped the words - the black word was embossed.   I wasn't quite happy with the result so I then applied clear embossing ink and Ultra thick embossing powder of the whole card, repeating the UTEE application a couple of times for a smooth finish.   This has of course obliterated the effect of the relief paste - so I shall re-apply it and then decide what else needs to go on the card as the mood takes me.

Christmas Tree Scene Model - Work in Progress

Originally these trees were going to be green, and I had applied black gesso - then I changed my mind.  I am pleased I did - I do like the blue/white effect.   I painted with white pebeo acrylic, and then sponged various blue distress oxides around  the edges, and a little green on the trunk   I did the same with the small trees.

with stag 

 The Stag was painted with acrylic paints.

with snowman

The snowman was also painted with white acrylic and highlighted with black from a Nujvo embossing pad with my finger to give the appearance of a rounded shape.  Ribbon was tied around his neck.  His features were added with micron pens, and the black of his hat was done with a Pebeo 4Artist Marker and a band painted with a Posca pen.

The Merry Christmas signs were sponged with a cream paint and brown paint and the words highlighted with a micron pen.

All there is to do now is to apply a snow effect, and add a bauble - which I am hoping to paint compliment the design - it may even be paint poured.

I will share the finished designs anon.

Freesias

                   

A pal's mother is 90 at the end of the month, and she asked if I could create something for her, as when they called in with some rhubarb for me the other week her Mum was admiring my fairy houses and other creations.  My mind went completely blank "what could I do for a 90 year old who suffers with dementia?"

I discovered that she loves the colour yellow and roses and freesias.   I knew I had a freesia stamp somewhere in my stash, but couldn't find it - so looking online I found this Clarity one, and knew it would be perfect.

I painted the mdf plaque from my stash with white gesso, then applied crackle paste and overpainted with a pale green/blue.   When the paint was dry I stamped the two images with black archival ink and added clear embossing powder.   The freesias were then painted with Pebeo acrylics.

I then applied two shades of blue distress oxides mixed with glycerine around the edges and in odd places.  A coat of spray varnish was added to seal the images.  The back was painted using the same colours as the front with highlights of distress oxides.  Finally pebeo gilding wax applied to the edge, and the string hanger added.

Mixed Media Grungy Tool Box

One side

I suddenly realised that I hadn't posted the pictures of my little tool box, having earlier posted the work in progress photos.

Second side

I used various techniques with crackle paint, acrylic paints, stamps, distress oxides, stencils, spray inks, and crystal tints.  This is quite a deviation from my normal painting, but having been fascinated my examples of mixed media pieces, particularly those with a "grunge" them, I wanted to have a go.  It was sealed with Spray and Shine when I had finished to seal it.

One end 

The other end

With some of my tools in it 

Another view

I am quite pleased with the overall result, and if I get fed up with it - I can always apply some more gesso and start again!

Let your dreams fly

A bit of an experiment for me today with this card.   I had a bundle of odd Indigoblu stamps that I wanted to try out, and this was one of the first I came to - and thought it would make a good man's card for my nephew.

I created the background with distress oxide stamps, using an Tim Holtz stencil to start with.  I then stamped the image with a brown Artistry Ink, and using a damp paintbrush and the leftover blue oxide on my craft mat I coloured part of the balloon.   I then added a border with a brown micron pen, and few dots on the balloon.

A little bit different from my normal cards as I don't normally do the "grungy" look, but it's good to experiment, and let's face it men don't really appreciate "pretty" cards!

Paper Cutting

I had another play with my paper cutting yesterday.   The flowers in the centre were speaking to me and telling me that they needed to be 3D !    Using a ball tool I cupped them slightly and also ran the ball tall along the underside of the leaves.   I then painted them with a clear overlay sparkle pen (the grey in the photo is where the sparkle has caught the flash).  

I decided that instead of mounting the cutout on black card, I would create a distressed background with Distress Oxides and glycerine, which I then mounted onto black card.

Finally I added a few gems to the centres of the flowers.    I wasn't sure whether the experiment worked, but friends who have seen it seem to think it worked ok, so who am I to argue.

Dare to Dream

I do love the dreamcatcher die and stamp, so I used it for this November birthday card.  The dreamcatcher and trees were die cut from copy paper and stamped.   I then coloured them with Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens as an experiment.

The trees were coloured with black and green sparkle pens and cut up, and layered to fit the card.

I used one of my Clarity masks and created the setting sun and sky behind the masks (using Distress Oxides applied with a dry wet wipe and my finger).   I also used the skein of geese stamp from Card-io.  That sun seemed to be crying out for birds to be flying across it.

The sentiment was stamped using the Tim Holtz Stamp Platform (love the platform - makes it so easy to position and stamp) and finally added some glitter, and a quick outline along two sides of the card.

Anniversary Card

I received a birthday card from a crafting friend earlier in the year with concentric circles on it.  The effect fascinated me, and I had to ask how she had done it, thinking she had used some special dies - but no the effect was just done with circle dies ........ so I attempted to reproduce a version of it for my daughter's anniversary card.   

I don't have a lot of dies, and only a very small selection of circles - I may have to rectify that, as rather like the effect.  I cut these from gold mirri card.

The background paper was created using distress oxides in cracked pistachio, wild honey and pickled raspberry - randomly applied with a dry wet wipe and blended together.   The rose and leaves were also coloured with the same distress oxides.

I created the sentiment in Craft Artist.  I added Nuvo Jewel drops to the card in yellow, green and pink.  (The ones on the circles are actually translucent green.

Dreamccatcher

I don't know about you, but I love dreamcatchers.   It took me a while to decide on the composition I wanted, but I think this simple style will be an ok for a male relative that often visits the States.

The dreamcatcher is a Sheena Douglass die, which I cut out of black card, and then applied Pebeo gilding wax to in various shades of gold.   I wasn't quite happy with the result, so I painted the top part of the feathers with clear gesso and painted them white with a little white luscious added to it.  I then took a fine micron pen and added some fine detail to the feathers.

The background was created using Distress Oxides and the trees were die-cut from copy paper and then stamped.  After I had stuck them to the background, I lightly swiped some of the twisted citron colour over the top.  Finally I added the sentiment.  All the dies and stamps used are by Sheena Douglass.

Experimenting

I had some new scrumptious goodies to play with this week.  Gold Gesso, Silver Gesso, Clear Gesso, Light and Fluffy Modelling Paste and Shimmery Goodness!   Yes they do sound exciting don't they.  I love them all, and am sharing an experiment with some of them,

A complete experiment as I had no idea what I wanted to do.  To do a fair trial I used plain MDF boards as a canvas (see last picture).

I painted the larger of the two boards with the gold gesso.  It covered really well and dried so quickly.  I thought this was probably due to the fact that it was on MDF - so I gave it another coat - this dried just as quickly - amazing.  I also did a quick test on some card and yes it dried very quickly on that too,

I also have some new distress oxides, so I decided to see how they reacted on the gold gesso.   I used a tree stencil from my Clarity Stamp Club and randomly stamped it across the board, moving it as necessary to cover the area, using twisted citron, peacock feathers and salty ocean.  I moved the stencil to give some shadows.

(with apologies for the shadow of me taking photo)

I applied the silver gesso to the smaller board, and using part of another Clarity Stencil - The rose, I applied the Light and Fluffy Modeling paste through it with a palette knife.    This too dried very quickly,   I then applied Distress Oxides again - using picked raspberry and seedless preserves, to give it some shading.

The small board was then mounted on the larger board.

Below is a photo of what I started with:

MDF board