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29 April 2015

DDTIO - Black and Stencils

My lovely talented friend Helen chose this fortnight's theme at DragonsDream Tag It On and it's "black and stencils". The tag I made is a complete accident! I had a whole other idea but found myself making this and as I enjoyed making it I thought I'd share this one! I'll make the other one some other time!
I sprayed a tag with Fresh Lime Dylusions spray and then, when dry drew through a stencil and used Dyan's wavy ruler to make two boxes.
Then I used Black Marble ink in water pen before adding some Wendy Vecchi stencils in paint over the top.
I then added a figure by putting paint through a Dylusions stencil and then stamping a sentiment. I really enjoyed this one Helen! Great choice! I hope you will join in with Helen's this time - we've had some awesome entries this year! The rules are simple -  use a tag and at least one stamp!
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26 April 2015

Still moving forward

Had the chance to play in my A4 journal yesterday and to use my new Dina Wakely stencil - I couldn't chose between both faces so, of course, bought both! The stamps are various Emma Godfrey for PaperArtsy ones. The background was made up of brayering layers of Fresco paints (Concrete, Bourgainvillea, Beach Hut, Limelight and Snowflake) and I chose Slate for the stencils.
Thanks for popping by today!
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23 April 2015

Birthday Photograph

On Saturday we went to the Tower of London (really do recommend it as a day out - though be warned, they don't let you try on the Crown Jewels!) as my birthday trip and took loads of photos - of course! I didn't know that, along with Yeoman Warders (commonly known as Beefeaters) there are also soldiers from the Coldstream Guards. I wanted to have a play with some more of the new stamps I have recently acquired and so I made an Emma Godfrey inspired tag using PaperArtsy Fresco paints and Emma's stamps and stencils. 
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21 April 2015

By your side

It's April and the theme at Country View Challenges and this month is... use kraft card. I love kraft card - it's a fabulous substrate to work with as it is truly versatile so the possibilities are endless! 
I thought I'd make postcards for my projects this month. I love postcards because they are really satisfying to make, and equally satisfying to receive - I hope!!! I decided to use kraft card as the basis of my postcard and layered white and then four shades of blue paint on top. Then I layered white and blue paint through a stencil and then I sanded it to reveal some of the kraft card beneath.
I added two more stencils (all stencils are by Wendy Vecchi) again using the same paints and then drew round the stars to make them stand out a little more. Then I added stamped lines (an Ellen Vargo stamp for PaperArtsy).
I lightly covered a little book text with white paint and then, when dry, stamped the geese. I also stamped the geese straight onto the postcard. I cut out the geese bodies and coloured the beaks with Spiced Marmalade Distress Marker and added a little Vintage Photo Distress Ink to the bodies and then adhered them to to postcard.
I hope you'll join in with us this month!
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20 April 2015

Birthday Tulip

It's my turn to play over at Country View Crafts Projects and I am sharing this tag. Please do pop over for more details!
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19 April 2015

Rusty Heart

Today is my birthday and I managed to squeeze a few minutes in between opening gifts and replying to the really unexpected ton of FaceBook and Twitter messages to pop into the Studio! I had nurtured this idea all week when PaperArtsy published their latest challenge - Niches. Then the lovely Wanda Hentges posted a similar idea so I knew that mine had to be made! 
I die cut four ATCs from mount board and then I die cut the heart from three of them. In hindsight I'll cut the heart at the same time as the ATC - it's quicker! Then I used  pretty much all of the blue Frescos I own (and I think I own them all!) and brayered the top ATC mixing a little Concrete into the final layers. For a final finish I added a PaperArtsy script stamp lightly stamped with Distress Ink. Then I did the same with reds for the bottom ATC. Treasure Gold, rusty wire and a rusty washer (found in a car park!) and it was complete! Thank you for popping over!
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15 April 2015

Cute

There's a new challenge at DragonsDream Tag It On chosen by the lovely Elizabeth who keeps the DT in line so beautifully and it's Blue and Words. I've had a huge tidy up in my Studio this Easter holiday and found a 'few' things I have never used *hangs head in shame*! 
For my tag this fortnight I used a huge 12x12 Prima stencil that I bought with Helen (fellow teamie) at last year's Ally Pally show and never used! Consider we've just returned from this year's that's pretty embarrassing! The word 'cute' fitted nicely on my tag so I used Clear Embossing Paste to emphasis the letters. When dry I used a few Fresco paints over the top, using a baby wipe to remove most of the paint from the Embossing Paste. 
Then I assembled the elements and that was my tag complete! We are really enjoying seeing your entries and with a guest DT spot open every fortnight it's worth entering!
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13 April 2015

Aries

So I have been participating in Deborah's zodiac challenge. Sadly she has decided not to continue with it but I had already made this in anticipation so I'm sharing it anyway! I really know nothing about the zodiac but I do know I'm an Aries! A quick Wikipedia search told me that "the symbol of the ram is based on the Chrysomallus, the flying ram that provided the Golden Fleece" and so this was born!
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9 April 2015

My Cup of Tea

Eek! It's very exciting to be part of this semester's 3UP week at PaperArtsy - a huge thank you to Leandra for including me! Our challenge was to use these paint colours: Limelight, Mermaid, Candy Floss, Gold, a dash of yellow Submarine and to use the themes this semester: Fragile Papers, Shiny Things, Paint, Miniature Art, Deconstruction or Texture Pastes. 
I cut an MDF plaque to an 8cm square and then covered it with Chalk paint. This will mean that the Limelight I put on top will stand out nice and bright! I added Mermaid through a Lin Brown stencil and 'bumped' Sherbet on top (I couldn't find my Candy Floss - where did I put it?!) I added a script stamp and then sanded the whole plaque. The final touch was to add Distress Ink to the edges and a little Gold Treasure Gold on top of that! 
So, the colour part of the challenge complete I added Chalk paint to an old book page and then stamped three of the cups from the Lynne Perrella stamp. They were painted with watery Limelight and Yellow Submarine paints and cut out. I added a slit in the top of two so I was able to fit the next cup in.
Then I needed to add my sentiment... I had decided to use Emma Godfrey's letter stamps and so I thought I'd share the "maths" I did to make sure I stamped out enough letters! All that was left to do was assemble it and add a little wire! 
I hope you like my miniature hanging! A huge thanks to Leandra once again! I'm going to Ally Pally on Saturday so if you go, do say hello if you bump into me!
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6 April 2015

April Showers

Curious to know why I created this precarious looking tower? Pop over here to see!
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4 April 2015

When to stop and listen

This month's Make ART challenge is to use re-inkers. I have had really mixed results using re-inkers on anything but re-inking my ink pads! So I thought I'd use my entry this month to  use the re-inking part as an element rather than a whole background - minimises the risk of failure! So I used Red Carnation re-inker and then used that as the background for the heart.
I love this challenge as I get to use my favourite Wendy Vecchi stamps and stencils and that's what I've used here! The background is Broken China Distress Ink with the stripes and stars in the same ink again. The crosses are Dolly Mix Fresco Paint and the numbers are in Wild Honey Distress Ink. The leaves are in Fern Green and there's a little gold paint for highlights. I really enjoyed making this so thank you to Kim and Wendy for another great challenge!
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2 April 2015

April

Ooh! It's my fourth month of Kate Crane's Art Journal Calendar challenge for 2015! I think I might have said this before, but I am really enjoying participating in the monthly Art Journal Calendar challenge. I seem to spend the month before coming up with ideas and then having great fun attempting to turn the idea into a reality! 

I had spotted Lin Brown’s flower being brilliantly used by just about everyone and it occurred to me that it had 5 larger petals... April has 30 days so that’s 6 flower heads! In March, I went to the stamp show in Stevenage specially to buy it (and, of course, meet up with crafty friends!) and whilst there found the stamp I wanted to use for May’s pages so it was quite a trip! For this page I covered some of my vintage book pages in Chalk paint and stamped six flower heads and two jugs. I then covered more book paper in green paint and then stamped six stalks, moving the stalk on my acrylic block so that I had two bending to the left, right and straight up! I debated whether to paint the outlines of my petals and in fact left the flower heads for a week before finally deciding to leave them plain. I think the black and white flowers (and jugs) are really effective against the colourful background. 
The background is Lin’s Bougainvillea pink with a little Chalk and Beach Hut. The contrast colour I chose is Tangerine Twist (what a fabulous name!) and I used one of Wendy Vecchi’s stencils. It’s my birthday this month and so that’s what the arrow signifies! I LOVE birthdays and so am looking forward to filling in that petal! I am so very pleased with this page – hope you like it too! I have noticed that the last three months have featured pink so I need to challenge myself and try a different colour next month...!
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1 April 2015

Rainbow Tag

The new theme this fortnight at DragonsDream Tag It On was chosen by our lovely May and is "A rainbow of colours". I covered my tag and a piece of card in Distress Inks. To the tag I added back paint through a stencil which really made the colours pop! I misted the piece of card with water and let the colours run before drawing the figure on the reverse and cutting it out. I then added an Ellen Vargo stamp before adhering it to the tag. The stencils are all from the Dylusions range as is that fabulous quotation - could you tell what kind of day I'd had a work when I made this?! Hope you'll join in with us this time, we do love seeing your tags!
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It's all in the details

It's April and we have a new theme at Country View Challenges and this month is... use kraft card. I love kraft card - it's a fabulous substrate to work with as it is truly versatile so the possibilities are endless! 
I thought I'd make postcards for my projects this month. I love postcards because they are really satisfying to make, and equally satisfying to receive - I hope!!! I used Wendy Vecchi's Translucent Embossing Paste through one of her stencils. When you first use it it is milky white (like in the photo) but, if you leave it for a while, it soon dries clear! 
Then I dry brushed some white paint over the top and used a baby wipe to remove the paint from the Embossing Paste. Then I added some more white paint over some left over kraft card and stamped my 'body' on and the connectors. 
The head was stamped onto smoothy card and paint was added on top. I'd usually paint on the reverse of tissue paper but because this will go through the post I wanted a more substantial surface!
I hope you'll join in with us this month!
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