'Add Something Pink' Challenge Entry

Hi Everyone and a very happy sunny Sunday to you all. Todays blog is my entry for Lavinia Stamps monthly blog challenge titled 'Add Something Pink'. To follow the blog and see the DT lovely examples click on the link  http://blog.laviniastamps.com

ITEMS USED

Lavinia Stamps Secret Garden and Fairy House

Tornado Stencil by Andy Skinner

White greeting card measuring 15cmx15cm

White card for stamping, not too thick around 160gsm

small amount of black and pink card i.e. scraps

Smallest heart from the Inkydoodles bag of MDF Shapes

Memory Box Ivy Tendrils Die

Small flower punch

Distress Inks in Victorian Velvet, Tattered Rose, Antique Linen, Wild Honey, Iced Spruce and Pumice Stone

Versa-mark ink pad

Ranger Seafoam White Embossing Powder

Stampendous Fran-tage Aged Ivory Embossing Powder

Tim Holtz ATC & Corners Bigz Die

Pink and white Bakers Twine

Fresco Chalk Acrylics in Blush

Perfect Pearls Mica Powder in Perfect Pearl

Decoart Metallic Lustre in Black Shimmer

1 Brad

To begin with colour the greeting card with the Distress Inks using 5 of the colours but not the Pumice Stone. I started with putting a base of the Antique Linen down all over and then random patches of colour. The centre and the edges are the parts that will show when the card is complete.

Next stamp the secret garden stamp in versa-mark in the centre if the card and sprinkle with the sea foam white embossing powder. Tap off the excess well and then sprinkle a little of the aged ivory embossing powder around the edges of the stamped image and the edges of the card before heating with the heat gun. I didn't use any ink to adhere the aged ivory powder to the card as there seemed to be sufficient dampness left from the distress inks and I have found in the past when using this EP that as it's a little courser in texture you only need a very little powder to create an effect. Once embossed using a blending tool I rubbed a tiny amount of pumice stone ink over the image to help make it pop.

Now stamp the image onto a piece of scrap paper and roughly cut out. Place this in the centre of the thin white card which has been cut to 13.5cm x 13.5cm and mark where to cut the aperture. 

What you cut away does need to be accurate as you then snip the edges of the hole ready to roll back the card. This card was then coloured with the same inks. Spritz the centre edges with a little water and then gently roll the edges of the card enlarging the aperture and refining the shape of the window.

Using the stencil add a few of the curved lines to the card in the matching colour inks. Then ink the curled edges that you have rolled back in victorian velvet.

Using the edge of the fairy house stamp ink up in the versa-mark and randomly stamp the part image around the card. Sprinkle with the sea foam white EP, tap off the excess and then sprinkle the curled edge with the aged ivory. Tap off any surplus powder and then heat emboss. The aged ivory has odd specks of gold in the powder which gives a nice effect.

Tie a length of bakers twine around the aperture with a bow at the top. To secure tuck into the curled card here and there. The very edges of the card were then brushed with the mica powder to give a slight sheen.

Next onto the small heart, this was given 2 coats of the blush acrylic paint and once dry the edges were rubbed with some sandpaper back to the wood.

This was then stamped using versa-mark and the very centre of the secret garden stamp. Sprinkle with the sea foam white powder and emboss.

The 4 corners were then cut from the black card scraps and rubbed with the black shimmer lustre. Once dry they were buffed to a metallic shine. The 2 flowers were punched out from 2 different pieces of pink card scraps and fastened with a brad in the middle. I cut 1 ivy tendril from white card and this was cut into 2.

The aperture card was attached using double side tape, then the 4 corners were stuck in place using glue. The heart was threaded onto the righthand thread of bakers twine and then a knot was tied into the 2 ends. The ivy tendrils were threaded through the loops of the bow and the flower fastened with a blob of Pinflair glue.

This is not a card I would trust in the post as the centre may get crushed in the posties sack. I have to say I'm not a 'pink' girl but I have enjoyed being out of my 'comfort zone' of turquoise, blue, beige and greens!

Thank you as always for stopping by and reading todays entry, I hope there has been something of interest to you. If you have any comments, questions or queries please feel free to leave a message at the bottom of the page and I will answer them as soon as I can.

Well I'm off to do some much needed weeding while the sun is shining, I hope you have a relaxing Sunday and have a good creative week, take care Jane x

PS. There is a Mother's Day Card  Draw over on our Fb site, if you fancy entering click on the link 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Castle-Kelly-Crafts/377921828949942 

"A Stitch in Time " Entry for The Sunday Stampers Challenge

Hi Everyone, hope you are all well and that you have been able to enjoy this lovely Spring sunshine that we have had the last couple of days. Todays tag is my entry for Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers Challenge titled " A Stitch in Time".

To view the other entries and to read her great blog click on the link  http://pinkleart.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/sunday-stamper-week-298-stitch-in-time.html

ITEMS USED

1 Large Manilla Tag

Stamps from Inkydoodles Cross Stitch Heart background and Primative Angel, Studio 490 Flower Art, Daisy and Dandelion Christmas Wishes.

Small Heart from the bag of Inkydoodles MDF Shapes

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil Measured

Pan Pastels in Magenta extra dark, Hansa Yellow shade and Permanent Green shade.

Versa-mark ink pad

White embossing powder and Wow Metallic Pewter embossing powder

Distress Ink in Vintage Photo

Brilliance ink pad in Graphite Black

Memento ink pad in Sweet Plum

Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die

Memory Box Trailing Ivy Die

Small amounts of cream card, patterned papers and material

PaperArtsy Fresco Acrylic in Nougat and Satin Glaze

Distress Stains in Seedless Preserves and Milled Lavender

Decoart Metallic Lustre in Black Shimmer

Cotton Tape

3 Pearls and 1 brad

To begin with I coloured the tag with the Pan Pastels using the soft tool applicator starting with the yellow at the top, then the green and lastly the magenta. I  didn't layer the Pan Pastels too thickly as I wanted a slightly mottled effect.

Next I randomly stamped the cross stitched hearts in versa-mark ink and then using the soft sponge went over them with the green shade Pan Pastels.

Then using the vintage photo ink, make-up sponge and the stencil I made 2 areas of tape measure across the tag. As the Pan Pastels will rub off onto your hands its best to set them in some way and for this I brushed on a layer of Satin Glaze before the next stage. This glaze takes only about 5mins to dry.

The large flower from the Studio 490 set was stamped onto the tag using the sweet plum ink. This was stamped just off the tag at the bottom as I wanted the flower going off the edge.

Next I coloured a piece of cream card with the Pan Pastels to match the tag but using a little more of the magenta. This was also given a coat of the satin glaze. Once dry I stamped the tag using the graphite black ink from the Christmas stamp set but didn't ink the christmas greeting in the centre as I wanted the stitched edge. Then the message You're Sew Special was stamped in versa-mark and embossed using the white embossing powder. The tag was then cut out with a craft knife and a hole was punched ready for the tape to go through. 

The heart was given a coat of nougat acrylic paint, then once dry was stamped with versa-mark using the trellis heart from the Primative Angel stamp set, sprinkled with the Wow embossing powder and then heat embossed. A pearl was threaded onto some silk thread and tied onto the heart.

Now onto the flower, firstly I stamped the large flower with versa-mark onto a chosen piece of patterned paper and then embossed with the white embossing powder. This was cut out with a pair of scissors. The other layers where cut from card and material scraps using the tattered florals die. I cut 4 different coloured ivy trails using the Memory Box die. 

Once I had decided on the sequence for the layers of the large flower and the small one for the top of the tag they were then glued together. When the glue had set I then applied some of the metallic lustre to the edges of the petals on the large flower. This was then carefully buffed up with a soft cloth when dry. 

The white tape was then coloured using the distress stains. This was done by dabbing the stains onto a craft mat, spritzing with a little water and then dragging the tape through the wet ink, turning it over as to colour both sides. This can be dried using a heat gun if you are in a hurry ( or just a tad impatient!) The tape was then attached to the top of the tag.

I added some faux stitching to the edges of the tag with a black micron pen before assembling.

The large flower was attached first.

Then the message tag and the small flower were stuck in place and just for fun I stamped the 100% original art in black ink from the primitive angel set!

Hope you have enjoyed todays entry and perhaps can take some element from this to use on one of your creations. Thanks as always for stopping by today and reading this blog, it is appreciated. Please  feel free to leave any comments at the bottom of the page or if you have any questions or queries I will reply as soon as I can. Take care and have a good crafting week and hopefully see you back here soon  Jane x

 

Decorating MDF Shapes for Embellishments

Hello, and thanks for stopping by, today I thought I would show you some great MDF shapes now being sold by Inkydoodles, I will start by showing what the bag contains and then I go on to explain how the 3 in the photo above were made.

OK, the picture above shows all the different shapes and sizes that are in the bag and the numbers above each mdf shape is how many of each kind are in the pack. There is a total of 52 items in all!

For todays crafty make I shall be using these 3.

To begin with the heart and tag were given a coat of white gesso and left to dry. If you don't have any gesso in your crafty stash a coat of slightly watered down white emulsion paint will also work as its just to give a light base to work on.

I shall start with the heart, this was inked with tumbled glass Distress ink and then using iced spruce Distress ink I stencilled the centre pattern on the bottom two thirds of the heart as in the photo.

Once completely dry I stamped the chicken wire pattern from the Inkydoodles 'Primative Angel' set in versa-mark ink and heat embossed with Wow Metallic Platinum embossing powder.

Next I took the word stamp Wonderful from the Inkydoodles 'Its all about you' set and curved it to the shape of the heart when placing it on the acrylic block before stamping it in black Archival ink.

The flowers were stamped onto some coated card stock that had been coloured with alcohol inks and then cut out by hand. They were layered and the petals curled before fastening in the centre with a brad. The trailing leaves were cut using the Memory Box die Ivy Tendrils. These were then stuck in place with a little glossy accents.

I then crocheted a chain with some cream cotton.

This was then finished with a button.

Next is the flower shape, this was inked well with versa-mark and then sprinkled with Cosmic Shimmers Ultra thick Midnight Blue embossing powder and heated with the heat gun.

This was after one coat and then I gave it a second coat---

Much nicer! Then another inking of versa-mark and then a coat of clear UTEE. Whilst the clear layer was still hot I placed the Leafy Swirl stamp by Clarity which had been well inked with black Archival ink into the molten Utee.

You need to press quite hard on the stamp and leave it in place for a few seconds. This doesn't damage the Clarity Stamps or the Inkydoodles ones but I'm not sure about other makes!

Some Treasure Gold wax in pewter was applied to areas of the flower and then buffed up with a soft cloth. Narrow ribbon was threaded through the hole for hanging or attaching as an embellishment.

And now for the third and final MDF shape the tag. A coat of Paperartsy Fresco Chalk Acrylic in French Roast was painted on top of the gesso. Once touch dry a coat of Americana Weathered Wood  Crackle Medium was then brushed on. When this was touch dry a final coat of Fresco Chalk Acrylic in nougat was given for the cracked, peeled paint effect.

Allow this to completely dry before stamping the peacock from Inkydoodles Peacock Mini set in Brilliance pearlescent crimson at an angle. 

Using the same colour ink stamp another peacock onto some white card stock. Allow to dry and then over stamp the birds body but not the head with versa-mark ink using the medieval background stamp from Inkydoodles and then emboss with white embossing powder. Once heated cut out the body and head and stick onto the peacock previously stamped on the tag. The tree branch was stamped in Archival sepia from the "May all your Dreams and Wishes come True" set of stamps again from Inkydoodles. The edges were rubbed with Creative Expressions Metallic Gilding wax in vintage plum and buffed up when dry. An eyelet was placed in the tags hole and some white ribbon threaded through and knotted.

I have used several of these MDF shapes on cards and have loved everyone of them. Its great having a big bag as you don't get the " oow I'm not sure I want to use this as I will only have 2 left" feeling. There are so many different ways of decorating them but its fun just experimenting, and in most cases if you don't like how it turned out paint over it in another colour and start again.

I'm sorry this ended up such a long blog entry but there was a lot to cover and I hope you will have found some of it of interest. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a good week and can manage to fit in a little crafting time along the way. Take care and hopefully see you soon Jane x

Home is Where The Heart is

Hi Everyone, I'm making up for lost time ---- 2 blogs in a week ! 

Todays card is my entry for The Sunday Stampers Challenge titled ' Anyone Who Had a Heart', if you would like to see Hels Sheridans blog and the other entries click on the link. http://pinkleart.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/sunday-stamper-week-296-anyone-who-had.html

ITEMS USED

Gelli-plate

Acrylic Paints in Hansa Yellow, Birch, Viridian, and Deep Madder.

White card 15cm square

Core'dinations card in deep red and dark teal

Claudine Hellmuth stencil Summer Garden

Corrigated Kraft card 

2 brads

scraps of card for 2 hearts in co-ordinating colours

Grunge paste

Words cut from an old book or printed onto card from the computer

Memory box Die foliage/vine

Heartfelt Creations stamp set Sun Kissed Fleur

Stickles

Treasure Gold in Olive Bronze

Decoart Metallic Lustre in Black shimmer

Distress inks in Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Aged Mahogany, Pumice Stone and Stormy Sky

Archival ink pad in black

Clear embossing Powder

Pro-markers in pink shades

To start with I made the background of the picture from a ghost print taken from the Gelli-plate. This was inked up 4 separate times with the acrylic paints listed. The first print taken of each colour  ended up too dark for this project, but the second pulling, being the ghost print I felt was perfect.

I then cut the houses from the various card listed and the hearts were cut from the patterned card.

 The Core'dinations card was sanded quite hard to give the old, worn look and the roofs were rubbed with the treasured gold and then buffed with a soft cloth. The houses were then assembled and the brads attached as door handles. The printed background was then trimmed to size and a little stormy sky ink was applied to the top with a blending tool and a little bundled sage and peeled paint to the bottom before sticking the houses  on. I then repositioned the stencil over the fence at the bottom of the picture and spread some grunge paste that had been coloured with the hanse yellow acrylic paint,  with a palette knife. Once this was dry I rubbed on some metallic lustre over the grunge paste and this too was buffed when dry.

The stencil was repositioned again this time over the centre of the large flower on the lefthand side and a little aged mahogany was applied with a make-up sponge just to hi- light the centre.

The flowers were stamped in black archival ink and then embossed with the clear embossing powder. These were then coloured with pro-markers and cut out. The centres were hi-lighted using the stickles in burgundy. A few stems of vine were cut using the Memory Box die and then the flowers and trailing vine leaves were stuck in place.

A little pumice stone ink was applied from the chimneys to give the impression of smoke. The words Home is Where The Heart is were then trimmed to size and stuck in place. The completed picture was then mounted onto some red Core'dinations card before being attached to the blank greeting card.

This is a card that was made for a close friend that is moving house today, it's a real 'touchy, feely ' card as the acrylic paint gives a grainy texture, the grunge paste fence is raised and a little on the rugged side and then all the elements are made from different textured paper stock. I hope you can get a true impression of this from the photos. Well I must fly as I hadn't realised how long I'd been tapping away at the computer. Hope you all have a good week and hopefully see you back here soon for some more crafty antics. Thanks as always for stopping by and reading this blog, I hope its been of interest to you, have fun crafting Jane x

PS Do leave any comments at the bottom of the page or any questions if you have any.

"Blue or Lilac or Both!"

Hi everyone, todays blog is my entry for Lavinia Stamps Challenge "Blue or Lilac or Both!" to view Lavinia Stamps wonderful range and the other entrants click on the link  http://laviniastamps.com 

Items used

White card measuring 15cm square

Lavinia Stamps Spiral of spells, Secret garden, Poppy pods, Mia fairy, small slender mushrooms and small stars.

Heart from Tando Creative Grab bag of hearts

Distress inks in Shaded lilac, Stormy sky and Tumbled glass

Adirondack in Eggplant and Denim

Versa-mark ink pad

White Seafoam and Black embossing powder

Moon Mask

Brilliance ink pads in Starlight Black and Twilight

Cosmic Shimmers mica powders in Antique Blue and Perfect Pearl

Decoart Metallic Lustre in Black Shimmer

1 Lilac Dragonfly Brad

small amount of ribbon

To start with apply the 3 colours of Distress Inks to the white card, this can be done with a brush or a blending tool.

Once the ink is completely dry stamp the Spiral of Spells in versa-mark ink and emboss with the sea foam embossing powder.

Then place the moon mask in the top right-hand corner and with a make-up sponge apply shaded lilac and stormy sky ink to the surrounding area so as to darken that part of the sky and blend as you go. Remove the moon mask and then apply the negative part of the mask so that the moon is revealed and the surrounding sky is covered by the mask. Dab a tiny amount of versa-mark ink to the moon and then brush on the perfect pearl mica powder. Remove the mask and brush away any excess powder and buff up. 

Next the edges were stamped using the eggplant ink pad,  just the very edges of the secret garden stamp were used.

I only inked the parts I knew I was going to use. The stars were randomly stamped around the top of the sky using the Starlight Black ink pad.

The Poppy pods were then stamped in the Denim ink and the slender mushrooms stamped in the lilac end of the Twilight ink pad. The antique blue mica powder was brushed onto the mushrooms to give a slight shimmer.

Now onto the heart, this was coloured with the shaded lilac using a blending tool. Then the fairy was stamped in versa-mark ink and embossed with black embossing powder. A couple of stars were also stamped onto the background.

The metallic lustre was applied to the edges of the heart and once dry buffed up with a soft cloth.

A small piece of ribbon was then attached to the back of the heart. The dragonfly brad was placed on the picture near the moon. The heart was stuck to the card with glue.

I mounted the whole piece of work onto a painted piece of packaging card which had been painted in white acrylic paint and the edges were defined with black acrylic paint that was applied with a small piece of cut and dry foam sponge. A length of tasselled thread was attached to the bottom of the card before to was mounted onto the painted cardboard.

So there is how this entry was made. I hope there is an idea that you can take from this and use on a card or whatever it is you are creating. If you like fairies and mystical themed stamps do have a look at the wonderful range over on Lavinia's site. 

I hope you all have a good week, enjoy your creative time and see you again soon. Thanks as always for stopping by, take care Jane x

1st Recipe of the Year

Well a very happy Sunday to you all and I hope you've had a good week and are enjoying the weekend. Yesterday was a bit of a baking session as we had made our sour dough bread on thursday which is left to prove overnight in the fridge and then moulded the next day ready to bake after it's second prove. But things didn't quite go to plan and only 2 of the 4 loaves got cooked on friday and the other 2 were left in the fridge overnight ready for baking in Saturday morning. The sour dough bread is a much slower bread to double in size and this is when the flavour is developed.

So while I was getting things organised with the baking of the bread I thought I might as well bake a cake. We have an aga so the different temperatures needed for the bread and the slow baking of the cake are catered for.

The cake recipe today is a Dundee Cake. This recipe was taken from a magazine some time ago so I'm not quite sure where it originated from but it really does make for good eating. The ground almonds help to keep the cake beautifully moist and the very slight hint of lemon gives it a fresh taste.

Ingredients

140gr unsalted butter at room temperature

70gr light brown soft sugar

70gr demerara sugar

20gr ground almonds

3 large eggs lightly beaten

280gr sultanas

zest of half a large lemon

175gr plain flour

15gr self-raising flour

whole blanched almonds to decorate the top

cooking time around 2 hours

Preheat the oven to 150C or gas mark 2. Line a deep round 15-16cm cake tin with baking parchment, then wrap a folded strip of baking parchment around the outside of the tin and tie this with string. This prevents the sides of the cake over colouring and drying out whilst baking.

Cream the butter and 2 sugars together till light and creamy in texture. Then gradually add the beaten eggs. Stir in the ground almonds, lemon zest and sultanas. Add the 2 flours and gently beat  until they  are combined into the mixture.

Spoon into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top of the cake with the back of a wet spoon to give a flat surface. Place the whole almonds on the top in a classic circular pattern or a design of your choice.

Place the cake tin on a baking tray and put in the centre of the oven for around 2hrs. Test with a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake and if this comes out clean the cake is cooked. I cooked mine in the simmering oven of the aga and this tends to not over colour the tops of cakes and meringues but if you find your cake top is colouring too quickly place a sheet of either brown paper of tin foil on the top to prevent it turning dark brown or burning. 

Leave in the tin to cool and once turned out make sure the cake is completely cold before slicing as it tends to crumble and a perfect slice will not be achieved. This size cake will cut into 8-10 decent size slices. Kept in a good air tight tin this cake will store well.

As you can see in the photo the sides of the cake are just a nice golden colour due to the parchment being wrapped on the outside of the tin, so its worth spending those extra couple of minutes on doing this.

I hope if you make this cake you enjoy it as much as we do. If you have any questions or queries please leave a comment at the bottom of the page and I will get back to you asap. Thanks as usual for stopping by and reading this blog, hope to see you soon, take care and happy crafting  Jane x

WISH - Entry for Sunday Stampers Challenge

Well this is my entry for Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers Challenge. to view hers and the other entrants click on the link ink on my fingers . 

List of crafting goodies used 

Large tag

Tim Holtz on the edge die

Sizzix make a wish embossing folder

Tim Holtz Alterations texture fades pattern and stitches

Tim Holtz Idea-ology kraft resist paper stash

Craftwork cards mini bohemian pad

Clarity Stencil - square set

Paper Artsy grunge paste

Tim Holtz Idea-ology foliage set

Bead cap ( found with jewellery making items)

Recycled handle from a paper carrier bag !

Treasure gold sapphire metallic wax

Treasure wax gilt pewter

1 brad

Versa-mark ink pad

Adirondack ink pad  watering can

Paints

Paper Artsy Fresco in nougat, pansy and french toast

Liquitex in green gold and white

Stamps

Inkydoodles butterfly set

Kaiser decorative tape pieces

Pan  Pastels in magenta extra dark and turquoise shade

This was made as an experiment using some Pan Pastels which I received for christmas and were completely new to me so it was a bit of the " Give it a go and see ! " I really like the smooth coverage and will be playing with them much more in the future. The leaves around the metal flower and the butterfly at the top were stamped in versa mark and then the pan pastels sponged over the top and I was so pleased at how clear these came out. I will not go through the complete process of making this tag as it is a bit on the long winded side but if you have any questions please leave a comment at the bottom of the page and I will get back to you asap. Thanks for stopping by and reading this blog and hopefully will see you again soon. Take Care and happy crafting Jane x