Mixed Media Heart

This afternoon I've been putting the final touches to a mixed media heart I started yesterday, and I would like to enter this for Crafty Individuals bi-monthly challenge titled "Anything Goes in September". If you have 5 minutes do pop over to their blog and view the other entries and perhaps enter yourself. Crafty Individuals

I started with a large Tando Creative heart which had a base coat of Fresco Acrylic paint in Stone, then once dry the righthand edge had a coat of Evergreen. This was then followed by a coat of Weathered wood crackle medium just on the green paint, once dry the heart was given another complete coat of Stone.

Next I added some tissue tape to the top curves and stamped CI 430 on the righthand side in Versa-Magic Ocean Depth. This was then embossed with clear powder. A hole was drilled in the middle for threading ribbon through later.

Then using a 3ply napkin I painted one of the medallions in London Bus and Inky Pool, tore around the edges and peeled away the 2 bottom layers.

This was then attached to the heart with matt medium. The edges of the heart were then inked using Versa-Magic Sea Breeze.

I tore a piece of patterned paper of similar colour tones and attached a small piece of lace underneath on the right-hand side. Added some grunge paste through an alphabet stencil and once dry applied some Inka-Gold in Platinum.

The bee was stamped in black ink and clear embossed, colour was added to the body using haystack paint. Odd areas around the edges were touched with the Inka-Gold as well.

Using CI 005 I stamped this once on white card in Ocean Depth, twice on mottled orange card in Archival Watering Can and then clear embossed and finally the ticket area was stamped onto a card ticket in black ink.

Next I stamped the Jolly Duck from CI 433 in Archival Jet Black onto Shrink Plastic, once dry colour was added to the underside using Promarker pens and then cut out with scissors. This was then heated  to shrink with a heat gun ------ oh I do think he is adorable!

He was then mounted onto a small white tag.

The flowers were stamped in black onto some card I'd coloured with various paints using CI 206, and then cut out and shaped before attaching to the heart with Pinflair glue.

The butterfly was cut from the 2 stampings so as to layer the wings, an old dipping pen nib was attached for the body. A button was placed where the stamped one was on the card.

Well that's all from me tonight, hope you all have a lovely evening and hopefully we can meet here again soon. Take care  Jane x

Hot, Bright Colours

Hello, and welcome, today Ive been making a card which I would like to enter for Lavinia Stamps challenge titled 'Hot, Bright Colours'. To view their DT's beautiful samples and the other entries click on the link Lavinia.

                          All the stamps used in this project are from Lavinia Stamp's range.

To begin with I coloured some smooth white card with various colours of Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paints.

I love the texture you get from using the brayer as opposed to brushes.

Next I stamped the edges with the flower border in Archival Watering Can and then brushed with Cosmic Shimmer's Iridescent Mica in Black Pearl.

Using some of the spare card that had been coloured I stamped the border on the edge and the Fairy words which were embossed with clear powder.

Then using Treasure Gold in Ruby, lightly rubbed the embossed words. This was then cut out with a die and a corresponding one cut in a deep red. A small metal flower was threaded and knotted to add dimension.

Next I made a mask for the bottom edges so as not to over stamp the border.

To get a thin edge I tore the stamped outline, this prevents a gap forming when stamping the main images.

The flowers, and pixies were stamped in Versa-fine Onyx Black, the poppies were then embossed using clear powder. The small slender mushrooms were stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Copper  (these don't show up particularly well in the photo) and Stickles were added for fairy dust.

I made 2 holes in the corners of the bottom border and threaded some fancy yarn before mounting onto glossy black card.

I was really pleased with the contrast of the border on the painted card and I'm now thinking of using this colour combination for some Christmas cards. Oh gosh it's that time again!

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope it has given you some food for thought/ ideas. All comments  are read and very much appreciated. Take care and have a good weekend when it arrives, Jane x

The Many Uses of Word Cards

Good evening and welcome to you all, tonight I'd like to share with you a little gem that was given to me by my husband. He spotted these wonderful pads/word cards and bought one for me and one for himself, he has now ordered another 2 !!

I have been using mine to try out inks, paints, stains, pan pastels, embossing etc and he is a big fan of fountain pens so is using his cards for experimenting with inks and nibs.

Unlike ordinary journals or pads these unclip so each card can be used individually without soiling any previous work.

And the ink/medium used can be listed on the back.

This keeps everything clear and neat for referral at a later date.

Easy to take 1 or 2 out if you want to match a colour.

Wow who would have thought that there was so much colour in fountain pen ink!

I suppose these are a bit like ATC's that you can keep for yourself.

And they hang on a hook beautifully !

These great word cards have a fantastic texture, I only wish they came in other sizes.

If you are wondering how to obtain your pad of 100 cards you can click on the link which will take you straight to the item at The Journal Shop here. ( No affiliation, just a happy customer)

You can also buy them on eBay post free!

Well there's many hours of experimenting with colour combinations and various mediums left in my first pad so I shall leave you all now. Hope you all have a good week, take care Jane x

PS. If you have any questions about these cards please don't hesitate to leave a message at the bottom and I will endeavour  to answer them asap.

Exploring Gels and Mediums

Hi everyone, hope alls well with you. Today I'm going to share with you my first time of using Golden Heavy Gel Gloss and also Studio Multi-Medium Gloss. I have have a small pot of each for several months but didn't really know much about their qualities or uses, so when PaperArtsy introduced their fortnightly challenge titled 'Gels and Mediums' my ears pricked up.
To view some great videos and samples click on the link to take you straight to their blog here.

I was really inspired by Lin Browns makes using the gels and pastes through stencils so it was off for an inky, painty session.

First  I started with spreading the heavy gel-gloss through Imagination Crafts Wisteria stencil and grunge paste through Clarity's Poppy stencil. Once dry I started the spraying process using watered down Fresco Chalk Spanish Mulberry in a spritzer bottle and Cosmic Shimmer Mist in Antique Green and Twilight black.

This I did in 3 layers gradually building up the colour and texture.

On the final layer I also sprayed Perfect Pearls Mist in Blue Patina.

Areas were hi-lighted with Treasure Gold in Sapphire and Renaissance.

Not easy to photograph but I love the smooth glossy texture of this gel.

Now back to the poppies. I started by giving them a spray with C.S.M. in Plum Twist.

I was surprised at how this absorbed the colour compared to the gel. Then I replaced the cleaned stencil and added some Studio Multi-med gloss to some of the petals. Once dry continued building up the layers with Plum Twist, Lava Red and Marigold.

The slightly darker petals are where the multi-med gloss is.

On the top of the tag I added a little Americana Staining and Antiquing Medium with my finger to smudge the micas together. Artful Blooms was stamped and white embossed.

Treasure Gold in Olive Bronze was added to the stems and leaves.

Ok now I'm hooked so I went onto making a 3rd tag!

This time I used Dreamweaver Translucent Embossing Paste through Tim Holtz Holiday Knits stencil. This took the longest to dry. I added colour with a brush and my finger with the staining medium mixed with Fresco Chalk paints in Tikka, Chutney, Pea Coat and Evergreen.

I love how the paints blend in when mixed with a medium.

To finish I made a mix of 50/50 of Satin Glaze and Metallic Glaze but only added this to small areas as I wanted some parts to still be matt.

Well I've had great fun and also learnt loads about these products so a massive thanks to Leandra and all at PaperArtsy for this great topic.

Thanks as always for stopping by and I hope you all have a great week. Take Care Jane x

Secret Poppy

After spending far too long on Pinterest the other evening, I was reminded of a technique I've not used for some time, so thinking cap on, off to the craft room I went and got the paint out.

I started with a piece of white card 10cm square and painted it with Fresco Chalk paint in slate. Once dry wiped it over with an anti-static bag and stamped the images in versa-mark and embossed with clear powder.

The stamps I used were all from Lavinia's range; secret garden, fuchsia, small path and the foliage stamp from the magazine freebie set.

Next I painted the whole piece again in a mix of Hint of Mint and Guacamole, then when just touch dry wiped it over with a piece of damp kitchen paper. This reveals the clear embossed art work underneath.

I had also stamped the gate on another piece of painted card so that I could open the gate and stick another one onto the back.

Various areas of the clear embossing were then lightly rubbed with treasure gold in ruby and olive bronze and also metallic lustre in black shimmer.

Then I stamped the poppy in black archival ink onto some shrink plastic, once dry turned the plastic over and coloured in the stamped image with Promarker pens. This was then cut out and heated.

In the opening of the gate I stuck a piece of lightly patterned paper then mounted the whole piece onto some glossy black card. 

I cut 4 corners from the same black card and then mounted the whole piece onto a burgundy coloured card. A black pearl gem was added to the gate to form a handle.

I would like to enter this into Lavinia Stamps challenge no 7 titled 'Add a Flower'. To view the DT's wonderful samples for this challenge click on the link here.

Thanks as always for stopping by, hope this might inspire you to get 'painty' too. Take care and have a great week, Jane x

The Embroidery Bug !

Good evening, hope you had a great weekend perhaps watching the tennis or maybe like us joining the family for a BBQ. Well in-between gardening, making salads and visiting I decided to get the embroidery threads out again and here is my entry for Crafty Individuals July Challenge titled 'Face Value', to view Florence's gorgeous samples and the other entries click on the link here.

To begin with I stamped CI 378 onto a piece of calico that had some iron-on interfacing on the back. I  used Archival Sepia ink and wiped as much ink as I could off of the bird before stamping onto the material.

I then embroidered the leaves and flowers on the centre of the frame. 

Pearls and beads were then added to the hanging chains.

Next I stamped the bird onto white card in VersaFine Onyx Black and heat embossed using clear embossing powder.

The crown was stamped again on another piece of white card and embossed using platinum embossing powder.

Both the bird and the crown were then cut out.

The frame was cut from some darkish green textured card, lightly sanded, the corners then stamped with one of CI lovely freebies and embossed with clear embossing powder. small areas were lightly rubbed with Treasure Gold wax in Olive Bronze.

The embroidery was then attached to the back of the frame, a small amount of toy stuffing was added to the back of the material so as to give a slight 'domed' effect, then the whole art work was mounted onto some cream coloured card before adding it to a kraft card.

Finally the crown was stuck onto the bird and the bird attached to the embroidery as in the original stamp.

I am very pleased with how this has turned out, I love the different textures and I will be experimenting further with stamping and embroidery.

Thanks as always for stopping by and reading this blog and all comments are much appreciated. Take care and enjoy your week, Jane x