Welcome to the House that Nature's got a grip on!

Hi, today I have completed a wooden house that I've been constructing for the Creative Carte Blanche
May Blog Challenge --- titled 'Wood, Word and somethingWild'. Now from the off I knew I wanted to make a wooden house but as I progressed the design gradually altered, 'the creative journey'!

To begin with I rummaged in the shed for some wood off cuts and set to sawing my pieces for construction.

The body of the house measures 10cm x 11.5cm x 4cm and was sanded well and given a coat of white gesso as was the roof.

The roof was then given a coat of titanium white acrylic paint before stencilling the tiles through a Michelle Ward stencil.

The house was painted with Fresco Chalk acrylic paint in Space Cadet, lightly sanded and then given a coat of Stone paint and sanded again.

The windows and door were painted free hand using the titanium white.

Then on one side I stamped a tree from Jofy 29 stamp set and clear heat embossed. This was then coloured in and the grass stamped at the bottom.

Up until this point the plan was a cottagey type house with bunting above the door with the letters Home on and the back of the cottage was going to have a stamped wild meadow,  hmmmm?

Then I went outside to water the plants in the greenhouse saw some dried dead moss on the brick path and hey presto!!!

The ivy was stamped using various DI's and odd patches were clear heat embossed and touches of Treasure gold in Olive Bronze added.

My work bench got messier and messier!

The birds nest was made from dried ivy roots and the bird stamped from Clarity Garden set. The Welcome sign was die cut and tied using invisible thread.

I cut a wooden bench from a piece of old trellis fence that had started to decay. Twigs , dried old leaves, roots etc were added.

A flower pot stamped, coloured and cut out was added.

A brad for the door handle, smudges of pumice stone, walnut stain and peeled paint DI rubbed into the door and finally some fake moss from Hubby's model railway scenery stash was added to the chimney and roof.

Welcome to my Wooden house that the Wild has begin to reclaim.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my creative trip down natures path.

 Take Care, Jane x

Meet 'Mr & Mrs Jolly' !

Hi and welcome, this evening I'd like to share a card I made reversing an image from a rubber stamp.

Over on the Crafty Individuals blog the Challenge this month is titled 'Anything Goes' do pop over and browse the brilliant DTs samples and the other fab entries here.

To begin with I stamped the jolly duck from CI 433 onto some textured yellow card in black ink and then heat embossed the image with clear EP. I stamped the top hat onto some black card with versa-mark and embossed with pewter EP. Both images were cut out and shaped over a pokey tool.

Next I inked up the duck again with black ink ( not permanent ink!) and rolled the brayer over the inked rubber stamp --- then transferred the image onto the yellow card taking care to start at the bottom and roll towards the top. This was then embossed with clear EP as before. The top hat was done in the same way and transferred onto pink card and then embossed. These were then cut out and shaped ready to be stuck onto my card.

The background of the card was lightly brushed all over with Iced Spruce DI and then using a CI mask for the bottom more ink was added. The top stars were inked through the Dinky star stencil with Wild Honey DI and then lightly brushed with Perfect Pearls mica powder.

'You Make Me Smile' from CI 449  was stamped onto white card and then mounted onto some kraft card, twine attached to the back so it would hang like a sign.

The female ducks tummy was lightly rubbed with some Treasure Gold Ruby and a pink bow added for her bow tie.

The reverse image doesn't transfer as boldly as a stamped image but as this is 1 male and 1 female duck I don't think it's a problem, in fact it gives them a little bit of individual character.

Thanks for stopping by and meeting 'Mr & Mrs Jolly', enjoy the rest of your week, hopefully the sun will return!   Take Care,  Jane X

Altered Cigar Box

Well after several days I have finally finished my cigar box for The Creative Carte Blanche Challenge this month titled "Thinking Outside The Box". Do grab a cuppa and have a look at the other entries and the wonderful teams boxes here.

I started with a very traditional wooden cigar box.

Which was given a coat of white gesso on the outside,

but not on the inside as I knew I would line it with paper and black felt.

The outside was then painted with Fresco Chalk Acrylic in Pea Coat and Evergreen, then small areas of Weathered Wood and then Stone acrylic paint.

Then using a Stencil Girl sun burst stencil applied some Grunge Paste that I had coloured with Beach Hut paint. Next I added some letters to the top and bottom using a Dylusions stencil.

The next couple of days I spent undecided on how to proceed ------ spent some tome searching for a clasp/knob ----

This I took off of an embroidery hoop that is designed to be hung to display the embroidery.

Finally I stamped some script to the 4 sides using a stamp from Studio 490 Art from the Heart set in Sepia Archival ink. This I embossed with clear EP.

Next I stamped a page from an old book with flowers from a Heartfelt Creations set in black archival ink and clear embossed these also. They were then painted with various colours of the Fresco Chalk Acrylic paint from the Translucent Range.

These were cut out, shaped and layered to form the 2 flowers on the top of the lid. The swirls and leaves were die cut and before everything was stuck in place the embossed script and the grunge paste were rubbed with small amounts of Treasure Pewter.

I added metal flowers from a jewellery kit to the centres of the 3 sunbursts on the lid.

Buttons were added to the centres of the 2 flowers.

Now I have a box that I am very pleased with !!!

So I've finished just before the closing date for the challenge but I'm glad I didn't rush the last steps as I fell sure I would not have been so happy with the end result.

Thanks as always for stopping by, hope your week has gone well so far and enjoy the weekend when it arrives. Bye for now Jane x

Resists on Backgrounds

Welcome, today I'd like to share with you a card I made using 'Resists' on the background before stamping the main image.

Over on the PaperArtsy Blog there is a wonderful array of examples put together by Darcy, so grab a coffee and click on the link here.

To begin with I cut a stencil using a die from Tim Holtz Alterations Thinlits - Mixed Media collection, covered it all over with versa mark ink and pressed the image down with a clean brayer on 2 opposite corners. These were then heat embossed with clear EP.

The card was then coloured using 2 paints from the Fresco Chalk collection with a brayer. Toad hall was applied first and once nearly dry the card was wiped with a slightly wet wipe to reveal the embossing.

Once the Beach hut was nearly dry I wiped away small areas of paint so the embossed pattern was now 2 colours.

Grunge Paste was applied through a stencil to give small areas of the harlequin pattern. I didn't like the stark white of the gaps in the paint or the grunge paste so applied some antique linen DI with a blending tool. The dry acrylic paint also acts as a resist.

The main image from LPC030 was stamped in versa fine black onyx and just before the ink was dry I sprinkled some clear EP on the pen nibs and heated. These were then touched with treasure gold in Olive Bronze.

The image was cut out, mounted onto cream card, then kraft card and the pen from the stamp set was stamped and embossed using the trimmings from the left hand side. ( really like how the diamond of grunge paste fits in with the design on the pen!)

The pen was cut out and rubbed with treasure pewter and then a twisted cord tied through the top.

Love the textures on this and the squares take on different appearances depending on the angle you hold the card, especially the faces.

Well I hope you all have a good weekend, weather forecast isn't brilliant, but there's always 'a bit of crafting' if it's too wet to go out! Have fun and take care, Jane x

"Boxes Of All Sorts"

Hi, and A Very Happy Easter to you all. Today I finally got around to finishing my entry for Crafty Individuals March Challenge titled "Boxes of All Sorts".

I really don't know where this month has gone but it's certainly flown by --- to view the other beautiful entries and the fantastic DT samples click on the link here.

To begin with I started off with 2 basic components ;

an empty box of chocolates measuring 10cm x 10cm and a pack of Twiddleybitz inches.

The box was given a coat of black gesso all over and the inches were cut to size. 

The frame of the inches and the squares were given a coat of white gesso and then the frame was painted with fresco chalk paint in Slate. Once dry a layer of Americana weathered wood was applied, then a coat of Fresco Chalk paint in Stone. the inches were painted in Fresco Chalk paint in Evergreen, Lake Wanaka, Mermaid, Beach Hut and Inky Pool with a brayer.

The inches were stamped using CI 184 and white embossed and the frame had touches of Treasure Gold in Olive Bronze added to the edges.

A small black card tag was white embossed using 'For You' from CI 438.

I then attached some fancy thread to the edges from the back and tied some bakers twine through the tag.

The box had grunge paste applied through CI mask which once dry was coloured with DI in Victorian Velvet, Seedless Preserves, Bundled Sage, Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint. A piece of scrap paper was placed in the centre of the mask so as not to colour the centre of the box.

Once this was dry Olive Bronze Treasure Gold was added to the foliage and dots of Liquid Pearls in Pewter were added to the centre of the flowers.

Some CI text ribbon was attached to the sides of the lid and the inches and frame were glued to the top.

I shall probably use this box as a present filled with homemade chocolate truffles.

Well I hope you enjoy what is left of the Easter break, and hopefully your weather is much better than what we have had here in Kent today. Take Care and have fun, Jane x.

'Pru' the Art Doll

Good afternoon and welcome, today I would like to share with you the making of 'Pru', my first attempt at an art doll. Inspired by 2 challenges I would like to link her to;

  The Creative Carte Blanche  2 theme Metal, Lace and Corrugated Paper link here, and

 PaperArtsy's challenge Art Dolls link here. 

The video on the PaperArtsy blog was excellent and gave me the idea for construction.

To begin with I made a frame for the dolls skirt from wire and then attached this to a piece of wooden doweling which would become the centre part of the complete doll.

I stood this in a cotton reel while I was preparing everything, but managed to get Hubby to cut a block of hard wood and drill a hole in the centre for the completed Pru.

Next I painted several dictionary pages with the following colours of Fresco Chalk Paint; 

Chartreuse, Zesty Zing, beach Hut, Pumpkin Soup and Inky Pool.

 Then gave them a light spray with Perfect Pearls Mist in Blue Patina.

Once dry the pages were torn into strips along with some blue vellum and some white lacey Japanese paper and the skirt was then constructed using PVA glue. 

Then I made a template from some scrap paper to stamp the material through.

The centre flowers are from Jofy 12 and the leaves around the edges are from Flora and Fauna 3.

This was then embroidered and beads were also sown onto the flowers.

A corresponding heart was cut from another piece of fabric for the back of the body.

The face was stamped onto another piece of fabric using stamp set LPC 010.

This was lightly coloured using DI in tattered rose, trimmed to fit a small polystyrene ball and then the mauve felting wool was attached using a felting needle.

Now it's time to assemble the doll --- 

the 2 hearts were stitched together leaving a gap at the top and the bottom so that it could be threaded onto the doweling. Whilst stitching I added a small amount of toy stuffing and added a large pipe cleaner for the arms.

Wooden beads were threaded onto the pipe cleaner and the ends of the pipe cleaner were then threaded back into the centre of the bead forming a loop for the hands.

A metal charm was sewn onto the point of the heart.

A bow was made from some antiquey lace and attached to the back.

A metal cog was placed on the doweling before attaching the head. Wire and pearl beads were then added for a tiara. 

The book was made from a piece of stripped corrugated cardboard and the page was taken from a dictionary with the definition 'Art'.

You might be wondering why the name Pru ---- no particular reason other than when I was popping the head on that was the name that came to me!

She might not be as 'Quirky' as some Art Dolls but I had fun making her and she will sit in my craft room and keep me company while I create.

Now I'm away as the sun is shinning and I must do a bit of gardening. Thanks for stopping by and getting to know 'Pru'. Take care and have a good week whether it's working or 'playing' Jane x

Wax -- Now that's something new.

Hi, and a very happy Sunday afternoon to you. Today I've been inspired by the PaperArtsy blog, this their 3rd challenge of the year --Wax, which I have to say is a completely new medium for me. Leandra has put together some wonderful examples and the DT have produced some stunning pieces, so do pop over to their blog and have a peep http://blog.paperartsy.co.uk/2016/02/2016-topic-3-wax-challenge.html

I started by colouring my base heart with alcohol inks and then stamping in black archival ink using the text stamp from Studio 490 - Live and make art.

While this was drying I screwed up some tissue paper, added some distress stain to my craft mat and mopped up the remains of the alcohol inks with the distress stain.

I then gave the heart a coat of wax that had been melting in the melt pot. Once this was cool and set I then stencilled some slate Fresco paint to the righthand edge and sprinkled some aged silver EP. this was then gently heated with the heat gun to set the paint and to hold the EP granules in place.

Using LPC030 stamp set The face was stamped onto the coloured tissue and cut out. "Live Your Dream" was also stamped onto the tissue and the edges was torn.

Next using a Stencil Girl stencil by Michelle Ward I added stone paint through the stencil and then drew around the edge with a fine black pen. Grunge paste was added through the stencil in 2 areas and then once dry over stamped in black archival ink.

The ladies face was applied with melted wax as was live your dream. The little wooden frame had touches of slate paint added and then lightly rubbed with treasure gold in renaissance.

The heart was then given another thin coat of wax before adding treasure pewter to the edges. Once completely cooled the whole heart was buffed to make the beeswax shine.

This has been a difficult project to photograph due to the shine from the wax and the treasure gold but I hope you can get a fair idea of how this turned out.

The final coat and heating of wax slightly distorted the stencilled outline for the frame but I really like this effect --- a happy mistake, but would make that a feature on another project. 

This was my 'first toe in the water' for this medium but I will have to explore this in greater depth --(play again!).

I would like to enter this for 

PaperArty  - Topic 3 Wax

Creative Carte Blanche -  include something you've never done before. http://www.creativecarteblanche.com http://www.creativecarteblanche.com

Craft Barn - Heart

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you have a brilliant week whatever you may be doing, bye for now  Jane x