Keeping it simple

A simple card today for a man.   Stamped with a freebie stamp from a craft magazine that was designed by Sheena Douglass, using Distress inks on watercolour card and then shaded with the add of a little water.  The card was then edged with the same distress ink, some nuvo drops added to create a faux brad effect;  and a bit of sparkle pen highlights.

The sentiment was from the same set of stamps and given the same treatment as the main image.

All mounted on cream pearlescent card.

Good old fashioned baking!

meat and veg pie

A bit of old fashioned baking the other day.  I decided to cook up some mince for tea, and I tend to batch cook when I did this - so I ended up cooking a batch of mince and various  mixed vegetables.  I had a portion for my dinner, but whilst it was cooking I knocked up a quick batch of pastry and made a meat and veg pie from the remaining mince - that will do me 8 meals over the next few weeks!

Of course there was some pastry leftover - so I made a few jam tarts - they may not look fancy but remind me of the ones my mum used to make.    There was also still a bit of pastry left, so I made a handful of cheese straws!   (Waste not, want not.   My husband was always pleased when I made any pastry as he knew he would get jam tarts with the leftover pastry, but I would never set out to make jam tarts!  )

little jam tarts and some cheese straws

Birthday Cakes

Following on from previous posts a cake for the birthday girl and some butterfly cakes.   My granddaughters don't like sugarpaste and I wanted to do a little cake for her (It's only 6" square). 

Limited by the fact that it has to be sponge and buttercream, I attempted to make a little record player cake.  The record is chocolate leather and the arm chocolate sugarpaste.

I also made some butterfly cakes, as that is her and her sisters favourites.   No fancy modern cupcakes for them - good old fashioned butterfly cakes!

Card for a Teenager

A simple card created with images from the net for one of my granddaughters who is absolute mad on Bohemian Rhapsody.  She wants a record player for her birthday, and little does she know she is also getting a Bo Rhapsody LP from one of the rellies too.   I think she will approve of this card.

Work in Progress - Apron

I started this apron last year, but as it needs a large space, I need the better weather we have had this week to work on it.   I spent one day painting all the different items,  and then the next day cutting them out and glueing them on with fabric Slap it on.

I still have the ties to do, and I am thinking of doing some stamping on it in some of the blank areas, and then painting them.

Fairy Cake Toppers

Just a quick topper for some fairy cakes  designed in Craft Artist for a family birthday

Allium Birthday Card

 This is the card I made using one of the alcohol ink pieces I shared yesterday.   The image was die-cut and mounted on to blue mirri card.

I used a matching Allium stencil from Clarity on the cardstock and brushed some blue Distress Oxide through it very lightly.

The die-cut was mounted on the card and a sentiment also cut from blue mirri card added.   Finally I added a few blue Nuvo drops.

Playing with Alcohol Ink

 I had a little play with alcohol ink the other day on Yupo paper.   Not a lot I can say about them, as I just dropped on the colours and they did their own thing.

I tried to do a geode first of all, and I am pleased with how it turned out.   Two photos, one taken indoors and the one below in sunlight.  

I then tried an experiment using a stamp on the ink, which I had seen demonstrated on tv by Maria Moorhouse.  She used an alcohol ink removal pad .... well I have ordered oe, but it hasn't arrived, so I tried with alcohol clean up solution on some Phat foam.   It didn't work that well - maybe I had too much depth to my ink   (Maria originally did this technique on lastic).  I then decided to overstamp where I had attempted to take the ink out by using white Posca pen on the stamp - yay it worked as you can see.

Two photos again taken indoors and also out in the sun.   The colours of the stamped image are more realistic to those on the actual image, but the photo below shows up the sparkles more, which can also be seen on the actual piece.

I have die-cut this image and used it on a birthday card, which I will share tomorrow.

MDF Geode - Work in Progress

 Excuse the messy  photo - paint pouring can be a messy business.  I hope you can see where the geode ends against the mess underneath.

This was a first experiment for me.  I had tried to pour the paint in rings, but it decided to do its own thing, even though it was on a levelling table.   The colours are blue, turquoise, green, black, white and purple (created by mixing red and blue).   I used ready prepared pouring paint from the Glass Hut.

So okay it did it's own thing and I wasn't to sure about it - but I threw some glass chippings on it (from Dunelm) and hoped for the best.   I wasn't sure whether it would work or whether I would need to try and colour the glass chippings with alcohol inks first (that will be a different experiment I think).  When it is dry I will apply some clear resin over it.   It takes a few weeks for the paint to "cure" before I can resin it - so will share a picture of the finish article in due course.

I have another geode blank and that is currently drying with white gesso on it, and I shall try and pour that one with just resin  (watch this space)

Violin

I treated myself to one of the Bizarre-ology violin kits.   Here it is made up.  and here it is painted ....

The paining didn't quite go to plan - I originally wanted a crackle finish on it - but my crackle didn't really want to work - actually it was so fine yo could hardly see it.    However undaunted I kept going!

I started by applying white gesso, the Pebeo Dyna blue/green paint.   I then applied buff titanium mixed with  crackle paint.  It was then dry brushed with gold and silver paint and some was applied by scraping across the surface with a palette knife.

I then applied some rice paper images that had a bit of music on them, and added a little more titanium buff and gold to blend them in around the edges.

I add flat back pearls to the keys, and a smidgen of gold paint to the strings (which were supplied with the kit and had a little sparkle in them).  I also applied a little buff titanium and gold pain to the ribbon on the bow.

It needs a coat of varnish and I am waiting for my matt varnish to arrive, though I may change my mind and paint it with a glass varnish if I don't like the matt finish.