Little Wooden House Inspired by Jo Firth-Young

Happy Wednesday to you all and today I would like to share a small wooden hanging house that was inspired by one of PaperArtsy's designers Jo Firth Young. To view her trio of houses click on the link
here

As I didn't have any wonderful house frames like Jo I decided to construct one from some wood off-cuts found in our garage. I drew the shape I required first, then marked it out onto the strips of wood and cut them with a saw.

The edges were sanded and then the pieces of wood were stuck onto a thickish piece of card with pva glue. once dry this was then cut round with a craft knife. The house measures 12cm high and 8cm across.

I then drilled a small hole in the top from which to hang from.

The wood was then painted using a mix of PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylic in Nougat and Pumpkin Soup. The random stone work was stamped in Pumice Stone DI using a stamp from Jofy 12 stamp set.

The door was cut from a piece of Co-Ordinations card stock using Tim Holtz Artful Dwellings Die, lightly sanded, the knocker was stamped using  Crafty Individuals set 304 and embossed in pewter EP. The door handle is a small button.

The white picket fence was cut using Memory Box Wrought Iron Fence Die.

The ivy leaves on the roof were stamped and then cut out using Jofy 28 stamp set.

The leaves and flowers on the left hand side were stamped using Jofy 12 and the flower heads on the right hand side were made using Jofy 13.

Although its hard to see in the photo the flower heads were all cut and layered. I had real fun making this little house and I would definitely make more, perhaps add a chimney to the next one! They would make great fridge magnets, especially if someone was moving house and you added the house number or name.

Well I'm off to pick the ripe tomatoes in the greenhouse to make a batch of tom sauce to be frozen down for the winter months ahead ( hard to think of the winter while we are having such a fabulous September).

Thanks as always for stopping by and if you have a spare 5mins do pop over and see Jo's 3 houses on PaperArtsy's Blog.

Take Care and enjoy your week.

Jane x

Tag Using Mini Birds/Branches from Tando Creative

Happy Monday to all of you and I hope you are all well. Todays tag began by playing around with paint on black card and ended up as a fun piece that I really l was pleased with various aspects of.

I started with a large black tag which I painted with watered down Fresco Chalk Acrylic paint in Inky Pool, Pewter and Beach Hut. Then I added some Grunge Paste through Dylusions small alphabet border stencil.

The tag was then stamped using Versa-mark ink and white embossing powder with the tulip stamp from Studio 490 - Art From the Heart set.

Next onto all the small elements that make the tag such fun. The heart is from Tando Creatives grab bag, the birds and branches are also Tando Creatives from their mini series and all the small tabs and tags were cut from a Tim Holtz die using kraft card.

1 bird, the heart, the round tab and the insert for the oblong tab were given a coat of equal parts fresco chalk acrylic in Pumpkin Soup and Americana staining medium. Once dry the heart was then stamped using the centre part of the tulip stamp and white embossed like the tag. I added touches of the paint mix to the grunge paste letters at the top.

The 2 branches were painted with a mix of Toad Hall and Pumpkin Soup.

The 2nd bird and the larger of the 2 small tags were painted with equal quantities of Autumn Fire and the staining medium. Odd touches of this paint mix were also added to the letters at the top.

The birds were stamped with numbers using black Archival ink, the round tab was stamped in Versa-magic Ocean Depth and embossed with clear EP. Using the same ink The dots from the leaves of the tulip were stamped onto the oblong tab.

The centre piece of the tab, the branches and the larger of the tags were stamped in Walnut Stain DI using Inkydoodles Text background. The tiny tag was white embossed with the number 5.

The tag was then assembled using pin flair glue. Various edges were given touches of Treasure Gold Wax Gilt in Renaissance. The tiny tag was attached with a brad.

I would like to enter this into Tando Creatives monthly Challenge titled 'Numbers and Letters'

To see the DT samples and the other entries click on the link  Here.

Well that's all from me for now, I hope you have enjoyed todays fun tag and thank-you for stopping by and reading this blog. I hope you all have a good week ahead and hopefully we can meet up again soon for some more crafting fun, till next time take care, and bye for now Jane x

PS all comments are much appreciated and read with much interest, thank-you for taking the time to write them. X

Mixed Media Bunting

Hi everyone I hope you have had a good week. Today has been absolutely glorious here in Kent, blue skies, warm sunshine and the birds have been singing their little socks off!

Well todays entry was inspired by Lelainia Lloyd over on PaperArtsy's blog, to view her mixed media bunting click Here.

This is my version of Lelainia's lovely bunting and I must say I really enjoyed making it, so thank-you for the fab idea.

To begin with I chose 5 different colours of Co-ordinations card stock and cut 5 triangles using Sizzix Framelits Banners Scallop Die ( the largest die in the set). I then made a template of a triangle that fitted inside the die cut ones which left the scalloped border showing. Then I cut 5 pieces of smooth white card slightly larger than the template ready to be coloured with various shades of Fresco Chalk Acrylic paint.

Having chosen my colours I set to work with the brayer.

The white card was covered completely with Mermaid, then touches of Beach Hut and Snowflake. The circles were added by dipping the end of an empty cotton reel in the Snowflake and Beach Hut paint.

Started with Blush and then added some Spanish Mulberry and whilst still wet sprayed with water and dabbed with kitchen paper.

First I put down a coat of Guacamole, then added areas of Pumpkin Soup and Zesty Zing. Finally I stamped a regal flourish in the Pumpkin Soup.

Base coat of Nougat, then areas of Inky Pool.The Autumn Fire was added with a stencil brush through a piece of net curtaining.

No 5, base coat of Toad Hall, then touches of Guacamole, followed by small touches of Pewter. Once dry I mixed equal quantities of French Roast and Toad Hall and stamped the trellis from Jofy 12.

All 5 painted pieces of card were then cut using the pre-made template.

The left hand triangle was decorated using stamps from LPC030, the large stamp was stamped using Archival Sepia onto white card and then cut using a perforator. Indian Ink section from the largest stamp in the set was stamped onto blotting paper using Walnut Stain DI and once dry I dripped a small amount of red writing ink onto the blotting paper. The edges of this were torn and an old nib from a dip pen was then added.

The turquoise coloured one was stamped using the Bricks and Mortar 2 set, One Way was stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Crimson and then Glossy Accents added to the arrow. The houses were stamped in Archival Watering Can and embossed with clear EP. The detail to the houses was added using Sakura Glaze pens and a piece of bakers twine was added before stitching to the base.

The pinky coloured triangle was decorated by added some white gesso with my little finger in a dabbing motion to where I roughly thought the stamped flower would go. The flower spray is from HP1004 and was stamped in black Archival ink and embossed with clear EP. the centres of the seed heads were rubbed with Metallic Lustre in Black Shimmer to add some extra sheen. Grow was stamped onto some of the off cut card in black and then mounted onto black card. The grow stamp is from the Bloom set.

The MDF heart had a coat of white gesso and was then coloured with a mix of Adirondack Stonewashed and Archival Brilliance in Peacock. Then using the largest flower stamp from HP1004 stamped using Versa-Mark ink and white EP. Some Tim Holtz tissue tape was added to the triangle before attaching the heart and lace.

Last but not least, the small flower stamp and leaf from HP1004 was stamped in black onto watercolour paper. I then made up some washes of Toad Hall and Guacamole for the leaf and Zesty Zing, Pumpkin Soup and Autumn Fire for the 2 layers of flower and brushed these on. Once cut out the leaf had a piece of wire attached to the back so as to allow the leaf to bend over the edge. The flower had touches of Treasure Gold in Ruby and Renaissance added. The flower was attached with a metal brad.

The material used to attach the triangles is a length of natural coloured calico which I stamped using various stamps from Tops and Tails 6, Jofy 12 and HP1004.

At the 2 ends I added some twisted thin cotton and a couple of old carved beads.

The beads are stunning, if you look closely you can see a deer and the other one has a monkey. These were found in my Husbands Great Aunt's draw after she died many years ago and I have always wanted to use them in something. We believe they are carved from beetle nuts but the expensive ones would have been made of ivory.

Well if you stayed till the end I hope you have enjoyed reading this entry, I really enjoyed the journey and I am already thinking about a Christmas themed one!!!

So thank you to Lelainia, I would like to enter this into PaperArtsy's monthly inspired challenge, and if you have a few quite moments do pop over to their blog and see all the teams wonderful works of art.

Thank you as always for stopping by, all comments are much appreciated and hopefully see you again soon. Take care and have a good week  Jane x

Layers and Dimension

Hello and welcome back, todays crafting session is a card with not only layers of card, hessian and thick board but also layers of acrylic paint forming the background of the artwork.

Items Used

White smooth card

Kraft card

Brayer

Piece of scrap cardboard packaging larger than the white card

PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk paints in Toad Hall, Snowflake, Pumpkin Soup, Inky Pool, Beach Hut, Autumn Fire and French Roast.

PaperArtsy Grunge Paste

Tando-Creative Baroque Stencil by Andy Skinner

Distress Ink in Antique Linen and Walnut Stain

Archival Jet Black

Versa-Mark and Clear Embossing Powder

Stamps From Graphic 45 Secret garden and Clarity Word Chain no 5

Distress Stain in Gathered Twigs

Tando-Creative Flowers and Stems Grab Bag

Treasure Gold in Olive Bronze

Decoart Metallic Lustre in Black Shimmer

Small piece of frayed Hessian

2 Brads, 1 Feather and 1 Wooden Bead

Small Tag cut from white card

I started by brayering the smooth white card with all the paints except the french roast. The cardboard packaging was placed underneath the white card so as the when brayer went over it took the impression of the corrugated ridges. The white card was turned from portrait to landscape and back 4 or 5 times. I began with the toad hall green around all 4 edges and then gradually built up the remaining colours.

Next I cut the card to size and added the grunge paste through the corner part of the stencil.

Once the paste was dry I replaced the cleaned stencil and coloured the paste with antique linen ink and then applied some treasure gold.

The flower from the grab bag was painted with autumn fire and toad hall mixed with a little french roast for the stem and leaves. Once dry this was stamped with the text stamp using the black archival ink. This was then given 3 coats of clear embossing powder.

Next onto the small tag for the centre, this was coloured with antique linen all over, then the clock was stamped in black archival ink. Once dry the edges were lightly coloured with some walnut stain and then I dabbed some gathered twigs DS onto the craft mat and flicked this at the tag with a small paint brush. ( great fun!!) The edges were lightly rubbed with the metallic lustre.

I then tore the edges of the kraft card and stamped randomly round the edges with the text stamp using 2nd generation walnut stain ink.

Now onto the finishing touches--- Dream was stamped on the side of the background card in black, this was then stuck onto the kraft card and 2 metal brads were attached in diagonally opposite corners.

This was then attached to the card blank with double sided tape. String was tied to the top of the tag and then a bead threaded through and a knot tied to finish it off. The hessian was frayed to the right size and stuck with pin flair glue, next the feather before attaching the tag and finally the flower was stuck on also with a good blob of pin flair glue to give some height.

I really like the texture of the brayered background.

And the richness of the colours.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges;

Tando Creative 'Lovely Layers'

and

Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers 'Depth and 3D

Thank you as always for stopping and reading this blog, I hope you have enjoyed it. All comments are much appreciated and if you have any questions I will endeavour to answer them to the best of my ability. 

I hope you all have a good weekend when it arrives and hopefully the weather will cheer up a little bit as its been very dull the last few days here.

Take care and hopefully see you here again soon,  bye for now Jane x

Inspiration From Linda Cain's Journal Page

My blog entry today was inspired by Linda Cain's wonderful journal page for PaperArtsy's weekly blog challenge, to view this masterpiece click on the link.  Here

This took me several days to complete as after the first stage I was not sure whether to continue, then having gone back to it a day later and added the main 3 flowers I was convinced it should go in the bin! Then I read Deborah Wainwright's blog on her interpretation of the same journaling page and I thought ok I shall look again tomorrow with fresh eyes and a clear mind and hey -- this is how it turned out. Although I really would like to start a journal I haven't got round to it as yet so I have made this into a birthday card.

Items Used

PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk paints in Guacamole, Nougat, Snowflake, Blush, Mermaid and Spanish Mulberry.

Archival ink in Jet Black

Imagination Crafts Stencil Bay Leaf

PaperArtsy stamp sets; Bloom, Tops and Tails 6 and Jofy 12

Permanent ink pens in black, blue and white.

Light grey water based felt tip pen.

Happy Birthday peel-of.

DI ink in Bundled sage, Victorian Velvet and peeled paint

To begin with I sponged the paint onto the white card, details can be seen on PaperArtsy's Blog.

I didn't take any photos of the various stages as I felt all the way along that it would end up in the recycling bag.

Next I drew around the stencil for the 3 delphinium type flowers and coloured in the stripes for the stems. Wasn't sure about the colour of the middle flower so I added a little victorian velvet DI through the stencil to tone it down slightly. I then cut out various pieces of an old book page for the larger flower, stuck them on and added some shading with the grey pen.

Next I added a little snowflake paint with my finger to the area where I wanted to add the sign, I then stamped the bird and sign ( this is so cute) in black archival ink , added some shading and coloured in the beak with a pencil. The bottom border of grasses and flowers was then stamped in the black.

The daisy type flowers were then randomly stamped without putting the stamp on a block. These were then painted with watered down snowflake paint.

Next the leaves were added by sponging the 2 green DIs through a home made stencil. Once dry the white edges were drawn on with the white pen.

Still not quite convinced about the project  I added some paper petals to the daisy flowers, started to add some dots and circles with a black pen--- hmm I'm beginning to think this is ok.

Added the blue dashes to the edges--- but now wished the pen had been a little thicker and a tad darker but hey ho.

Lastly I stamped don't eat the daisies and I was then feeling reasonably happy with the end result.

I really think the added dots etc are what made the biggest difference.

I love this little character.

I would like to enter this piece for PaperArtsy's Weekly Challenge.

Thank you for reading this page and if there is one thing we should all do sometimes is take a step back and start afresh another day. Have a good Bank Holiday Weekend if you are lucky enough to not be working, take care and hopefully see you soon for another crafty session  Jane x

PS thank you all for your lovely comments on my last entry, they were all much appreciated X.

Painting on Fusible Webbing !

Good Morning all, just a quickie this morning as we are off to a wedding today. The clouds are beginning to clear and there are large chunks of blue sky appearing so fingers crossed for a lovely day.
Todays entry was inspired by Penny Nuttall over on PaperArtsy's Blog, she made a material book using hessian and fusible webbing, material and paint---- had to have a play! to view her brilliant book click on the link .
 http://blog.paperartsy.co.uk/2014/08/welcome-back-gd-penny-nuttall-project-1.html

To begin with I made a paper pattern of the heart shape by folding a piece of paper in half and drawing the half shape I was happy with before cutting out. This was used as my template for the natural coloured calico material. Once this was cut I then frayed some of the edges.

I then painted the iron-on fusible webbing with PaperArtsy Chalk Acrylics in Zesty Zing, Nougat and Guacamole. My first attempt I was not happy with, I don't think I added enough water but the second go was much more successful. The paper backing was then removed and using baking parchment to prevent it sticking to the iron it was ironed onto the calico heart. This then had a little Treasure Gold in Olive Bronze rubbed over the paint.

Next I stamped the butterfly from Tops and Tails 6 onto some tissue paper in Archival black. This was then cut out leaving a small margin around the edges and a coat of PA Fresco Metallic Glaze was applied.

The swirly tree in the stamp set was used to stamp around the edges of the heart. As I save various seed heads from the garden I decided to use a couple of poppy heads on this project, so part of the seed head was cut away with a craft knife to allow it to sit on the card and the raised edges were also rubbed with the olive bronze wax.

The flowers that you can see at the edges of the photo I decided not to use on this card in the end.

Using some packaging cardboard I then cut out some trellis using the Tim Holtz die and painted this in the same 3 colours as the fusible webbing. This too had touches of the olive bronze wax.

I always keep some of the cut-outs from the trellis so I decided to add one that was from some linen textured card.

The card was then assembled, the blank has a very small dark pink fleck in it so I used a piece of torn Tim Holtz Kraft-Core no 5 and lightly sanded some parts. Before sticking this down I added some tissue tape above and below where the kraft-core would go. The trellis was cut in 2 as it needed to be just a bit longer!

The seed heads were tied with a length of hemp string. As I was not sure who this card would be for I made a flower from brown wrapping paper using the tattered florals die of TH and stamped the swirly tree onto the petals in Brilliance Pearlescent Olive ink. Then passed it through the Cuttlebug text embossing folder. I had some spare card the same as the card blank and cut out a small tag so I can then add a message or name at a later date.

I would like to enter this card for PaperArtsy's Weekly Challenge and 

Sunday Stampers Challenge by Hels Sheridan titled "Natural"

Well I must away, nails to varnish, hair to wash etc, hope you all have a great weekend, thanks for stopping by and take care Jane x

Faceted Cone for Favours or Presenting a Gift

Sunday I was having a play with shaving foam and alcohol inks prepping a batch of background papers and I was just about to clear everything away when I thought hmmm, what would kraft paper look like dipped in the foam mix----- well I quite liked it. So I decided to put it through the Brenda Walton's Sizzix die and make a cone.

The Alcohol inks I'd used were cranberry, mushroom and eggplant. After cutting the cone from the kraft card I decided on a plain deep mauve for the base part.

The top edge of the inside of the cone was stamped with Lavinia mini hearts in Versa-Magic Perfect Plumeria, to add a little interest to the inside.

I then stamped along the top outer edge of the cone in versa-mark using the Lavinia trailing leaves from the recent Magazine free gift set. This was sprinkled with Judi-Kins Embossing Powder Sticky Stuff, once heated this remains sticky so you can then sprinkle on gilding flakes, glitter, mica powders etc. I chose Distress Glitter in Antique Linen but wasn't completely happy with the colour so I then brushed it over with Perfect Pearls in Heirloom Gold and that made a huge difference.

Next just up from the bottom of the cone I stamped small mushrooms also from Lavinia Stamps in Brilliance Crimson Copper and lightly brushed parts of them in Cosmic Shimmers Antique Red mica powder.

The fairy Mia was stamped in the centre in Adirondack eggplant and once dry the wings were high-lighted with Stickles in crystal. I also added a few drops of fairy dust in the Stickles. 

The cone was then assembled but I felt is needed some form of embellishment so I stamped the Spiral of Spells in jet black Archival onto some frosted shrink plastic, cut it out, punched a small hole before heating. I made a small rose from waxed craft paper, using Tim Holtz tattered floral die, passed the die cut petals through an embossing folder and then spritzed with various coloured perfect pearls.

The very tip of the cone was dipped in pva glue and then dipped into pale mauve glitter. Ribbon was tied to make a handle at the top and fastened with a pearl bead each side. the shrink plastic spell was attached using bakers twine and the rose was glued in place and a small bow added behind the rose. 

Wouldn't a little girl love to be given this with a few sweets in or even a pack of Loom Bands which are all the craze at the moment!

I would like to enter this into Lavinia Stamps monthly Challenge titled ' Add Some Glitter '

Right I must away as the tomato plants are calling me to water them. Thanks for stopping by today I hope you have a good week and all of your comments are greatly appreciated. Take care, Jane x