Christmas Cards Inspired by Anneke De Clerck

Welcome and a very happy Sunday afternoon to you all. Today I would like to share a couple of Christmas cards I've made that were inspired by the PaperArtsy blog.

For the backgrounds I followed the technique used by Anneke De Clerck which you can read if you click on the link Here.

For this one I used Memory Box Alpha Worn Out stencil with PaperArtsy Chalk acrylics in Spanish Mulberry, Snowflake and Beach Hut.

Before attaching the background to the card I rubbed the edges with a little Treasure Gold in Sapphire and Pewter.

For the coloured star I stamped the large star from Jofy 07 in versa-mark and then white embossed onto card I'd previously coloured with Pan Pastels in Phthalo Blue shade, Magenta Extra Dark and Ultra Marine Blue. This was then cut out and given a coat of Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy.

The white star was stamped in Adirondack in denim and clear embossed. This too was given a coat of clear rock candy after being cut out which in various places has made the ink bleed---- I must confess I rather like the distress look it gives.

The sentiment was also stamped in denim onto white card and clear embossed and then mounted onto some remains of the pan pastels coloured card. The ring was made from some coloured jewellery wire with a silver bell threaded at the top and then some blue ribbon attached.

Card no 2, for this I used Tim Holtz Measured stencil with PaperArtsy Chalk acrylics in Autumn Fire, Pumpkin Soup, Toad Hall and Guacamole.

I then added some Antique Linen Distress ink with a blending tool as I didn't like the stark white contrast of the card. This had Treasure Gold in Renaissance added to the edges.

The baubles were stamped using the same Jofy set as before, the white ones stamped in Tea dye distress ink and clear embossed and the coloured ones were from the Pan pastels coloured card in the Magenta extra dark, Ultra Marine Blue and Hansa Yellow Shade and white embossed.

Both lots were given a coat of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Metallic Glaze. Small holes were then punched in the tops and cream coloured bakers twine attached. Gold coloured wire was used for the ring on this one. Merry Christmas was stamped and then gold embossed on white card.

I was very pleased with the end results and will use this technique again for backgrounds.

Plus as a bonus that's 2 christmas cards made!!!

Well the nights are drawing in now so that means for me it's more crafting time as I won't be gardening and watering. Thanks as always for stopping by today and I love to read your comments as I know how busy everyone is. Take care and I hope you all have a good week. Jane x

Autumns Bounty mixed with Cold as Ice

Today I'm mixing my crafty make with another of my passions and that's foraging for wild mushrooms.

This was our pickings at the weekend and boy the smell in the car coming home was fantastic, mind you the pasta sauce made with them was just pretty wonderful too! The remainder have been sliced and laid out on a tray over the Aga and dried ready for using in the winter.

Now onto todays make--- 'Cold as Ice' is this months challenge theme over on Tando Creatives Blog of which I was the lucky winner of in September. I am entering this piece as I really enjoyed the theme although I would ask for my name not to be entered into the draw for a prize this time.

For this I started by brayering the Tando Large Snowflake with PaperArtsy Chalk acrylic paint in Mermaid, Beach Hut, Snowflake and Pewter. I then made a small hole in the top ready to hang the finished decoration from.

I then threaded 3 christmas tree light embellishments that I had left from last year onto some ice blue fringed wool and attached these to the top.

Next the snowman was cut from white and black card using the slice machine. The hat and arms were cut from the black version and stuck onto the white snowman. The hat was lightly rubbed with Treasure Gold in Sapphire, 2 holly leaves attached and the berries were from a packet of red metal nailheads. The edges of the hat and the bottom of the snowman were dabbed with Versa-Mark ink and embossed with Stampendous Aged Ivory Enamel. I then tied a length of silver tinsel gift ribbon round the neck for his scarf.

The trees were cut using Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers die, embossed with the aged ivory and then dabbed onto the versa-mark ink pad and sprinkled with ultra fine pewter glitter and lightly heated with the heat gun to melt it in place.

Let It Snow was stamped with versa-mark ink and embossed with white powder onto dark blue card and cut out by hand.

I then wanted a base for the trees and snowman so I tore a piece of corrugated card, painted it with white gesso, embossed with the aged ivory and while it was still hot sprinkled with some white flower soft.

Everything was then stuck onto the snowflake using pinflair glue.

Its hard to pick up the silvery shimmer of the pewter paint in the photos on the snowflake but I think you can get a vague impression.

Well that's all from me for now, a blend of 2 seasons! Thanks as always for stopping and reading this blog and I really appreciate all your lovely comments. Take care and have a good week. Jane x

'Star of Wonder' Christmas Card

Hello and welcome again, today I would like to share a Christmas card that I have just made using a set of Crafty Individuals stamps, some PaperArtsy chalk acrylic paints, mica powders and a few other odds and ends.

Items Used

Crafty Individuals stamp set CI 270 and CI 171

White card scraps for stamping

Kraft Card

Green glitter card

PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk acrylic paint in Mermaid, Inky Pool, Pewter, Autumn Fire, Pumpkin Soup, Pansy, Blush and Metallic Glaze.

Black archival ink

Distress ink in Vintage Photo

Clear embossing powder

Stampendous Aged Ivory embossing enamel

Copper and perfect pearls mica powder

Versa-mark ink

Brilliance Pearlescent Olive ink

To begin with I cut a square of kraft card and randomly stamped the harlequin design in 2nd generation vintage photo. Next I distressed the edges with a pair of scissors and made a couple of small nicks to give an aged appearance. I then added some vintage photo ink to darken the raw edges and rolled the corners.

The palm trees and building were then stamped in the vintage photo and then brushed with the copper mica powder. Then the bottom part of the card was lightly brushed with the vintage photo to give an impression of sand.

The 3 kings were then stamped in black and embossed with clear powder.

Next I coloured some oddments of white card with the paints ready to stamp the 3 kings onto and cut their cloaks out.

Starting at the top the colours used were;

Pansy, blush and pewter.

Autumn fire, pumpkin soup and the metallic glaze.

Mermaid, inky pool and pewter.

The cloaks only were cut out and then stuck onto the stamped figures on the card.

The star was stamped onto white card with versa-mark ink and embossed with the aged ivory enamel and then cut out and stuck above the stable.

Star of wonder was then stamped in black onto the kraft card.

The card blank was decorated with the words being stamped in black and the star in pearlescent olive, then the edges lightly inked in vintage photo and then lightly brushed with the perfect pearls mica  to add a subtle sheen.

The kraft card was mounted onto a piece of green glitter card that had been dulled by adding some vintage photo ink, then attached to the card base.

I really like the sheen and sparkle on the 3 kings robes and cutting them out and layering them onto the stamped figures adds real dimension.

This set of stamps is a new acquisition and I have enjoyed my first 'play' with them, if you have a few spare minutes pop over to Crafty Individuals blog and see what their DT have been up to

http://craftyindividualsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/carrying-on-with-halloween-and.html

I would like to enter this card for Crafty Individuals monthly challenge titled 'Halloween Madness and Christmas Frenzy'.

and

Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers challenge titled 'Stars'

Thank-you as always for stopping by and I hope you have a good week, looks like autumn has arrived so it's a good time to get crafting!

Take care, Jane x

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