"Miniature Art"

Hi, and welcome to you, hope your Saturday is ticking along nicely. Today I am going to share my entry for PaperArtsy's fortnightly challenge titled ' Topic 4 Miniature Art'. Do click on the link to view not only a video describing various types of miniature art but to see the DT's beautiful works of art that inspired me to have a go ! here.

For this I used a mini MDF tag which measures 4.5cm x 3cm and started by giving it a coat of fresco chalk paint in Pea Coat, then a coat of crackle glaze and finally a coat of Nougat.

Then I sanded a small off cut of clear shrink plastic and painted it with Very Berry and when dry stamped in Archival Watering Can using the word spring from the stamp set Bloom.

I then cut the plastic to the right size and shrunk it with a heat gun.

Next I masked off various areas of the tag and gave them a very light coat of various translucent paints which I lightly dabbed off again with a damp baby wipe.

The stamping was done in Versa-fine onyx black ink using stamps from sets LPC030, Bloom, Jofy 13 and 43.

The leaf at the top of the tag was stamped in brilliance pearlescent ivy.

The little bird was heat embossed with clear powder and the beak painted in Zesty Zing.

For the face in the centre I added a little Blush to where I felt the main part of her face would come but left the remainder of the background unpainted. Her eyes were given a dot of sakura belly roll pen and the lips painted with Claret paint. The hair is made from unravelled hairy string!

The watering can had a touch of Pewter paint added to give a slight sheen.

Then I decided to give the girl a hat ----- this I crocheted using some fine cotton and started with 5 chain and worked 5 single crochet but then I tried and unpicked it several times so I don't know what came after that.

Then it was back to the shrink plastic and this time I used the frosted version so didn't need to sand the surface first. The flower head was painted first with Spanish Mulberry and the stem in Evergreen. The flower pot was painted with a mix of Autumn Fire , Chutney and Zesty Zing to get a terracotta type colour.

The top was finished with some fancy yarn, white beads and a small copper flower which I found in my stash.

This photo was taken with the tag on top of a pot of treasure gold to give an idea of the finished size.

I have never done anything in miniature before, I must say it's certainly more challenging and time consuming but great fun -- so if you have a spare couple of hours do give it a try and join in with the challenge over at PaperArtsy.

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear your comments, thoughts or tips. Take care and enjoy your weekend.  Jane x

Paint

Hello and welcome, I hope you are having a restful weekend and perhaps even spending a little time crafting in some way. Today Ive been messing around with paint after being inspired by the PaperArtsy blog --- it's their 3rd topic of the year titled Paint, to view Leandra's opening video click on the link here. This got my creative juices flowing and then I was nudged along by both Sue Carrington and Anneke De Clerck's colour combinations --- I wish I could be as bold with my palate!

I started with a piece of smooth white card the size of a DL card and attached some dry wall tape to the bottom and some grunge paste through a bird stencil.

Once dry I applied Fresco Chalk Acrylic paint starting at the top using the following colours; China and Snowflake then Pumpkin Soup, Tikka and Autumn Fire and finally Toad Hall, Evergreen and Guacamole. This was then knocked back using Snowflake and a dry brush.

The stencil was replaced over the birds and these were painted using Slate. I then randomly stamped the leaves from Flora and Fauna stamp set 3 in Snowflake.

Next I painted a piece of canvas and white card in a mix of Plum and Nougat using a circular motion.

Once dry the canvas was stamped in Versa-fine Black Onyx using the large tulip stamp from ELB03 and the small tulip stamp was stamped in Pumice Stone ink and then brushed with Perfect Pearls mica powder on the card. These were then cut out.

Using a darning needle I then frayed the edges slightly on the canvas tulip.

The leaves were then stamped onto white card using the same stamp set in Versa-magic sage and then over stamped in Bundled Sage to give a 3D appearance.

Using the fence stamp from Jofy 29 and Brushed Corduroy ink I stamped onto white card and then heat embossed with clear powder. Detail was added using the following paints; Toad Hall, Guacamole, Zesty Zing and Snowflake. The end of the card was painted with Beach Hut and Snowflake ready to stamp ' I just wanted to say' on from ECL01 in onyx black.

The picket fence was cut out with a craft knife and the sentiment was edged with a black pen and then over stamped using the same stamp as the background in 2nd generation Peeled Paint ink.

I then decide to mount the artwork onto some cardboard packaging which I painted in Merlin -- ooh yummy colour !

I used PVA glue to stick the card to the cardboard and then attached brads in the 4 corners.

The tulips, leaves etc were attached with Pinflair glue to obtain various depths and dimensions.

I was pleased with the different textures in this project.

And for me this was a bold colour scheme!

If you have a spare 5mins do pop over to the PaperArtsy blog and see the fantastic artwork the DT have produced.

I hope you have a good week whatever you may be doing, take care and thanks as always for stopping by, Jane x

Mother's Day Card with a Twist

Welcome, I hope you are all well and have survived all the fluey, coldy, coughy germs that have been doing the rounds. Tonight I thought I'd share an idea I had for a Mother's Day card which can be hung up or displayed on a stand and kept out a little longer than an ordinary greetings card.

For this I have used the heart and Mum from Tando Creatives large Mum/Baby Feet/ Heart set and a single bird from their Minis Bird and Branches set, lots of PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Paints, Grunge Paste and Crafty Individuals frame mask.

To begin with I coloured the heart and a piece of white card with the paint in the following colours using a small brayer. Lake Wanaka, China, Blush and Nougat on the heart and all of the previously mentioned colours + Very Berry, Spanish Mulberry, Pumpkin Soup and Snowflake on the card.

Once the paint was dry I then added grunge paste through the mask, this had to be repositioned a couple of times to fit the heart shape. The mask was then washed and dried so it could be replaced over the dry grunge paste for colouring.

For the leaves I used a distress marker in shabby shutters and the flowers were coloured with versa-magic ink in mango madness and pink petunia. For the centres of the flowers I applied a dot of liquid pearls in bisque.

Next I stamped Happy Mother's Day in versa-mark ink onto a piece of tissue paper and then applied some Pan Pastels in Yellow Ochre Tint and Light Gold. this was then stuck onto the back of the heart and cut around with a craft knife.

The leaves on the heart were lightly rubbed with a mix of Inka Gold in Platinum and Treasure Gold in Olive Bronze.

The bird was painted in a mix of nougat and pumpkin soup and then when dry over stamped in Versa-Magic Pumpkin Spice. This was then sat on a small piece of pressed heather.

Mum was given 3 coats of embossing powder ( not my real Mum you understand!) in a two-toned colour called Geranium Coral/ Blush.

The flowers were cut using Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die using the painted card + some scraps left from a previous project that I had coloured with mica sprays. The centres had pearl beads glued in.

The tag was cut from cream coloured card, stamped "With Love" in Archival Watering Can and the edges coloured with the pink petunia and mango madness ink.

The grey ribbon was then attached to the back of the heart.

As my Mum is 95 years old ideas for cards are becoming a bit of a challenge as over the years most shapes, books, stepper cards etc, etc have all been explored so I felt it was time for something a little different.

I would like to enter this for Tando-Creatives monthly challenge for February which has a colour theme.

Thanks as always for stopping by, its much appreciated. Hope you all have a good week, take care Jane x

Ooops, just linked to the Tando - Creative blog and the theme has changed from Feb colour palette to cover with paper ------ I did cover the back with tissue paper!!! x