Tuesday 31 December 2013

Last Post For 2013!

Hi Everyone

Well here we are at the end of another year - and 2013 certainly seemed to fly by for me!

To round the year of nicely I have been having a play today and created a tag:



I started by covering a white tag with beige textured co-ordinations paper.  Next I randomly applied Snowflake Fresco paint to parts of the tag.  Then using my fingers I added Fresco paint in the following colours: Mermaid, Eggplant, Spanish Mulberry and Rose.
Next I added the stamping using Paperartsy Eclectica Lin Brown 01 stamps - I used Irish Cream Fresco to do the stamping as it goes very well with the co-ordinations paper I used to cover the tag.  I added a double row of random black stitching down the left hand side of the tag - leaving the ends of the threads loose (I totally underestimated how long that would take!!)  I edged the tag with Black Soot distress ink and smudged it around a bit with my finger then added an eyelet to the top using my crop-o-dile.
I took a couple of Prima canvas resist swirls and coloured them using distress markers in Evergreen Bough, Peacock Feathers, Seedless Preserves and Picked Raspberry, smudged some black stabilio all pencil around the edges so they stood out from the background and added these to my tag.  The word *WISH* is from some grunge board letters - I painted them with a couple of coats of Snowflake Fresco paint and then rubbed Glamour Dust into the paint so they are all pretty and sparkly.  I added the letters to the tag also and then added a few black gems here and there.  Finally a turquoise organza ribbon was tied in a bow at the top!

I would like to enter my tag in the Sunday Stamper challenge week 288 over at Hels blog HERE
I would also like to enter it over at the Pan Pastel challenge - Anything Goes Week 52 - HERE

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope everyone has a lovely NYE and all the best for a crafty 2014!!

Claire x

Sunday 29 December 2013

Paperartsy - Sanded Foundations

Hello Everyone

This week over on the Paperartsy blog Leandra is sharing various Christmas Cracker videos demoing different techniques to try using their products.

Today I had a go at the first Christmas Cracker - Sanded Foundations - to see Leandra's creation and the video of how she created it click here

Here is my project:


I used a 6x6 piece of white mountboard as the base for my project and coloured the background using mermaid and pumpkin soup fresco paints.  Next I used the poppies stencil by That Special Touch, I masked off a few poppies as I didn't want the very tall ones.  I then mixed up four different grunge paste/fresco paint mixes.  Mix 1: claret, blood orange and french roast.  Mix 2: london bus, smoked paprika and french roast.  Mix 3: green olives.  Mix 4: hyde park.  I used mix 1 and 2 to colour the poppy heads then used mixes 3 and 4 for the stems and leaves.  
Once dry I sanded the grunge paste mix back, but not too much so it still stands out from the background.
Next I stamped the leaves from Lin Brown 01 along the top of the mountboard using fresco paint in tinned peas and then a few had a little bit of the pumpkin soup mixed in to correspond to the pumpkin soup used in the background along the bottom of the piece.
Finally I stamped the sentiment from Lin Brown 01 onto crunchy waxed craft paper, heat set and tore the edges.  I then scrunched it up and highlighted the torn edges with white fire treasure gold. I curled one end and then added it to the mountboard.

Thanks for stopping by today,
Claire x

Dictionary Challenge - B, X, I and the finished cover!

Hi Everyone,

It's been a while since I shared any dictionary pages for The Craft Barn Blog - unfortunately I simply didn't have time to do them with everything else that has been going on.  I am really sad about this and am determined to finish all my pages - I only have 7 letters left so it isn't a huge ask at all.  So today I will show you what I have been doing with my dictionary this week while I have been off work for Xmas :)

First of all I missed the letter B so here is the page I created using the word butterfly:


I created this using distress inks on the background (tumbled glass, salty ocean, shabby shutters and pine needles) then used stamps from the JOFY range by Paperartsy and coloured with promarkers.

Next up is X - not much choice in my dictionary so I went with Xmas:


The background was again created with distress inks (evergreen bough, pine needles, salty ocean and seedless preserves) I then used the silhouette stamps by visible image, stamped in black versafine.  I added the snow and while highlights on the trees with a white posca marker pen.

Last but not least is I - I chose to use the word ink as it's very appropriate for me!


This was a very simple page to create.  I took various types of inks I had on my desk and added them to the pages!  So I used the ink splotches stamps from Inkylicious with various colours of distress, versafine, adirondak, and memento.  Then I used a few of the Dylusions ink sprays to flick some ink at the pages too.  I drew a border around the definition just so it was a bit easier to spot amongst all that ink!

Now finally onto the cover......this is something I've never attempted before - but I have to say I loved doing it and will definitely be doing this again at some point!  





I took a paper pad of Webster's pages and chose five or six different pages from it, I then tore them up and added them in a patchwork fashion to the dictionary cover using multi medium.  I then added some letter stickers from my stash to create the title then sealed the whole thing with a good coat of the matte multi medium again.  To finish off I added a few bits and pieces of different washi tapes.  I really love how this turned out - hard to believe it used to just be a boring old navy dictionary!

So I love how my dictionary now looks - just have to finish off the last few letters and then it will be complete :)

Looking forward to the new challenge The Craft Barn will be setting in 2014 - had a tiny hint so far but I haven't a clue what it will be!

Thanks for stopping by,
Claire x



Tuesday 24 December 2013

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve!  Hopefully tonight the fella in the red suit will be coming down all our chimneys and leaving lots of lovely gifts.

Here is a card from me to everyone who has read and commented on my blog throughout 2013 - thank you all for your support and kind words!

Merry Christmas to you all and best wishes for 2014!

Claire x

Sunday 15 December 2013

The Crafting Cafe - December Sketch Challenge

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for stopping by today.  Here is my DT project for The Crafting Cafe where we had to choose one of four sketches to work with:



I chose to use sketch #1 for my card.  I started by taking a piece of cream linen cardstock and using a very large background stamp by Papermania - I used Distress Inks in Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo on the background stamp.  I used the holly bough stamp also from Papermania over the background for additional interest.  I cut a rectangle of the same card and stamped the sentiment with Vintage Photo, I added a couple of different snowflake stamps - some were first generation Tea Dye and a few were second generation stamping.  Next I pierced all around the edge of the background piece and added faux stitching with a gold pen.  I distressed the edges of both elements using the edge of a pair of scissors then used Vintage Photo to frame.  I took a large paintbrush and very gently dusted Treasure Gold gilding wax all over both pieces of cards - this gives the card  lovely golden shimmer (which was really difficult to catch in the photos!)
I mounted my two panels onto a piece of dark brown linen cardstock, then added this to a cream 7x7 card blank.  Finally I added three golden pearly gems as a finishing touch.

I would also like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Thanks for stopping by today,
Claire x


Thursday 5 December 2013

Graphic 45 Tando Arched Frame for Snazzy's

Hello Everyone

Today over on the Snazzy's Design Team Blog I am sharing a Tando Layered Arched Frame altered with Fresco Paints and the Twelve Days of Christmas collection from Graphic 45.

Here is a little peek for you......

For all the detail on how I created my frame hop on over *HERE* to visit the Snazzy's blog and also check out what the other DT members have been up to with this kit :)

Thanks for stopping by today, 

Claire x

Monday 2 December 2013

First DT Project for Snazzy's

Hi Everyone

Today over on the Snazzy DT Blog I am sharing my very first project!  

Here is a little snippet: 

Please do pop over to the Snazzy DT Blog *HERE* to see the project in full.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Claire x

Thursday 28 November 2013

Paperartsy - Inspired by Jo Myhill

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to share a project I made following a project by Jo Myhill I saw over on the Paperartsy blog *HERE*




My project started as a 6x6 piece of mountboard, I scraped Fresco paint onto the mountboard - Elephant and Mermaid.  Next I mixed some Grunge Paste with Old Gold Fresco paint and a sprinkling of gold glitter and spread this onto the board randomly.  While that was drying I cut out the three hearts using a Paperartsy die and painted them with Little Black Dress, next I added Crackle Glaze and then once dry I painted the hearts with Irish Cream.  I stamped over the hearts with black versafine ink and the Mini 73 stamp then edged them with Vintage Photo.  Now the Grunge Paste mix was dry - the Old Gold hadn't really shown through totally so I used Renaissance Treasure Gold all over then added touches of White Fire here and there.  Next I tore a piece of vintage music sheet that had a list of songs on it and edged with Vintage Photo and added it over the Grunge Paste.  Then I added the three hearts together using foam pads to give a bit of extra dimension.  Finally I edged around the outside of the mountboard with Vintage Photo to tone everything in.

I would like to enter my piece in the following challenges:

  • Paperartsy - Inspired by Jo Myhill, click HERE for details
  • Sunday Stamper - Fields of Gold, click HERE for details
Thanks for stopping by today, please feel free to leave me a comment so I know you popped by!

Claire x

Sunday 24 November 2013

Flower Tag

Hi everyone

A very quick post from me today to show you the tag I made to join in with Liz Borer over on the Paperartsy blog this week. 




So I created my tag by adding Fresco's in Irish Cream and Haystack with a baby wipe, I then added three of the translucents: Smoked Paprika, Lemon Zest and Pumpkin Soup , spritzed with water and scrunched cling film on top and left to one side to dry.  I stamped the flower image from Hot Picks plate 1011 onto tissue, painted on the reverse using Eggplant, Lemon Zest and Hey Pesto, then covered with Snowflake - I cut this out very carefully!  Now my tag was dry leaving a wonderful textured background.  I mixed some Grunge Paste with Green Olives, Hyde Park and Hey Pesto and spread through a stencil to give the look of plant tendrils.  I stamped the words from the same plate onto the background using Snowflake randomly.  I inked around the edges of the tag with vintage Photo distress, added the tissue paper flower and to finish off added the purple ribbon in a bow.

Thanks to Liz this week for such great inspiration, to see her projects hop on over *HERE* to the Paperartsy blog.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Claire x

Saturday 16 November 2013

Inspired by Joanne Wardle for Paperartsy

This week Joanne Wardle is showcasing her clean and simple style over on the Paperartsy blog - you can see her projects HERE

To join in with this weeks challenge I created this Christmas card using JOFY stamps from JOFY Collection 06:

Firstly I'd like to say sorry for the bad photo - the light today was horrible and even with my daylight lamp on I still couldn't get the photo I wanted.

I stamped the JOFY hanging baubles stamp and also the sentiment (both from the JOFY 06 stamp plate) using black versafine ink. I used Derwent coloured pencils to colour in the baubles.  I then used a black fineliner to doodle around the edges JOFY style!  I mounted my panel onto a white card blank, all done!

A very nice and simple card in my opinion!

Thanks to Joanne for all the inspiration this week :)

Claire x

November Challenge for The Crafting Cafe

Hi Everyone

Today it's my turn to share my project over at The Crafting Cafe.  The theme for November is Winter Blues and we are sponsored by LEJ Designs who are offering a fab prize to the winner!

Here is my card, using an image from our sponsor:

I created my card by starting with the background using stamps by Lindsay Mason stamped in cocoa memento ink and coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils and watercoloured.  The sentiment was also stamped in cocoa memento and is from Paperartsy.  Next I printed the snowman out twice, I coloured him using the Inktense pencils also and watercoloured him.  Then I cut one image out whole and the second image I cut out only his hat and scarf and layered them up using foam pads.  I tore a piece of white card to create a hill for him to stand on and inked along it's edge with tumbled glass distress ink for definition.  I also added the fence posts and squirrel to this torn card from the same Lindsay Mason set.  I added silver glamour dust to just about everything that snow might land on using a quickie glue pen.  Then I inked around the edges of the card using the tumbled glass distress again.  To finish I mounted my piece onto navy cardstock before adding to a 6x6 scalloped card blank.

To visit The Crafting Cafe blog and link up your own Winter Blues project 
please click *HERE*

Thanks for stopping by today!

Claire x 

Monday 11 November 2013

Some fantastic news to share....

I am thrilled to be able to share some fantastic news with you all today.....

I am a brand new member of the Snazzy's Design Team!

I was beyond thrilled when Val invited me to join the team and am really looking forward to getting going with my very first DT kit!

Over on the Snazzy's Blog today I am sharing a couple of altered beermats as part of my introduction:



I'll be back in a few weeks with my very first DT post but for now you can hop on over HERE as the rest of the team will be introduced in the next few days!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Claire x

Sunday 10 November 2013

Pan Pastel - Altered Media

Hi All

Today over on the Pan Pastel challenge blog (click here) the theme is Anything Goes or Altered Media themed projects if you fancied that instead.

I wanted to alter a beermat to join in with the challenge as I am trying to build up a new set of them which I think I will then glaze.  So here is my beermat:


It started out as a plain grey beermat which I coated with gesso and then painted with Fresco Finish Snowflake.  Next I blended Fresco's in Mermaid, Eggplant and Pansy on top of the Snowflake.  Next I used the Snowflake paint to stamp the words in the background repeatedly.  I stamped the flower from Paperartsy JOFY Collection 13 using black versafine ink and heat set, I also stamped the side border at the same time from the same set.  I coloured the flower and the side border with Fresco paints - I think the colours I used were: Hyde Park, Hey Pesto, Tinned Peas, Haystack, Rose, Spanish Mulberry, South Pacific, Sky and Limelight.  To finish off I added a little Treasure Gold in White Fire around the edges.

I really enjoyed creating this project - I have six more boring grey beermats waiting to be altered!!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Claire x


Saturday 9 November 2013

Paperartsy Hanging

Hi Everyone
 
Today I would like to share a hanging I made:
 
 
 
 
My hanging is a 6x6 piece of mountboard.  I started by covering the mountboard with a piece of BoBunny newsprint paper.  I then added Paperartsy Fresco paint with a babywipe - I used Eggplant, French Roast and South Pacific.  I chose these colours as they are all translucent and would allow the newsprint to show through.  Next I added Grunge Paste mixed with French Roast and Mocha Mousse through a SplodgeAway stencil.  I created peaks on the Grunge Paste with my spatula to add further texture.  Next I took the cog stencil, also from SplodgeAway, and used Vintage Photo Distress Ink to create the cog background.  On a separate piece of card I stamped the sentiment in black versafine ink, I tore this and then inked with Vintage Photo and Tattered Rose distress.   
I stamped the image of the clock/lady three times onto card.  I cut one out in full and coloured using distress inks.  I cut the wings from the second image and coloured with distress inks, I curled the wings and added them to the first image.  On the third image I just cut the clock face out, coloured with distress and mounted onto the base image using foam pads.  I added glossy accents to the clock face to make it look it look like glass.  All the stamps were from the Paperartsy Ink and Dog ID10 plate.  Next I added two eyelets to the mountboard, curled some wire around a paintbrush add added it through the eyelets.  I then added the sentiment and the clock to the hanging.  I used Treasure Gold White Fire to highlight most of the hanging - it was added to the Grunge Paste, around the edges of the mountboard, on the wings of the butterflies and around the sentiment.
 
I would like to enter my hanging in the following challenges:
  • Paperartsy - Inspired by Alison - click HERE for challenge details
  • Our Creative Corner - Tic Tac Toe - I chose the line with texture, wire and letters, click HERE for all the challenge details
  • Country View Crafts Challenges - the challenge here is letters - click HERE for all the details
Thanks for stopping by today,
Claire x
 

Tuesday 5 November 2013

One Stamp, Three Ways

Hi Everyone

Darcy over on her blog Art and Sole has challenged people to use one main Christmas stamp as the focal point in different ways.

I decided to use the Paperartsy JOFY Mini 02 to create three different Christmas cards:


The first card was made by stamping the JOFY stamp onto white card, painting the background using Fresco Finish paint in Blood Orange and Zesty Zing, the star was painted with a mixture of Haystack and Old Gold.  This was then ripped and edged with Treasure Gold White Fire and added to a white square of card, the sentiment was stamped from the JOFY 06 stamp plate, the edges were then smeared with the same Treasure Gold.  Mounted onto black card and added to a card blank.

My second card was created by stamping onto black card with Perfect Medium and adding Cosmic Shimmer mica powder in blues, pinks and purples.  I mounted this panel onto a kraft card blank, stamped the sentiment (JOFY 06) and added the little pinky pearls.  (Very difficult to photograph the mica properly!)
 
My final card was created by stamping the mini onto some patterned paper and fussy cutting the star.  The mini was then stamped again onto white card and the paper star layered on top.  I cut a strip of the patterned paper and faux mounted it using a black pro-marker, the mini star panel was faux mounted also.  The strip of paper was added to a card blank and the star panel added to the card using foam pads.  To finish off I added some glamour dust with a quickie glue pen around the outside of the text background to give it a bit of Christmas sparkle.

So there are my three Christmas cards, to pop over to see what Darcy made with her one main stamp click *HERE*

Thanks for stopping by today!

Claire x

Sunday 3 November 2013

Dictionary Challenge - Letters N and L

Hello Everyone

Well I have two dictionary pages to share today for The Craft Barn's dictionary challenge as I missed out on creating my L page completely.
This fortnight though the chosen letter is N and the word I chose is 'Needlework' so here are my pages:




I started by masking the definition and then gave the pages a coat of watered down Fresco Finish Snowflake paint.  I used Distress Inks in Tea Dye, Rusty Hinge, Fired Brick, Mustard Seed and Walnut stain and blended them across both pages.  I then mixed some Grunge Paste with Irish Cream Fresco Finish and spread through a frame mask from SplodgeAway  - I thought this was kinda a lacy look for the pages to fit in with the needlework theme.  I stamped all the images in Versafine Sepia ink - this stamp set came free sometime ago with a magazine.  To finish off I removed the masking tape and coloured the definition lightly with Tea Dye Distress then added a tiny bit of White Fire Treasure Gold wax to the lacy Grunge Paste.

Next up is letter L - I chose the word Lighthouse - and it's a totally different look compared with N:




These pages were spritzed with Dylusions in London Blue, Vibrant Turquoise and White Linen sprays.  I then closed the dictionary so all three colours blended together nicely - then very, very gently separated the pages again and dried.  I stamped the lighthouse and seagull from Chocolate Baroque onto some white card and coloured using Inktense pencils which I then blended with water.  I cut out the images and added them to the pages.  Next I stamped the clouds from the same stamp set straight onto the pages using Versafine Black Onyx ink.  Finally I removed the masking tape from the definition.

To see what others have chosen to create for the letter N click *HERE* to visit The Craft Barn's blog.

Thanks so much for calling by my blog today!

Claire x


Saturday 2 November 2013

SplodgeAway - 2 masks in 1

Hi Everyone

Today I am sharing a project over on the SplodgeAway Blog - we were challenged to use two masks on one project.  Here is the tag I created:

To create my tag I spritzed it with dylusions sprays in lemon zest, bubblegum pink, postbox red, crushed grape and a little bit of black marble.  Once dry I added grunge paste through parts of the cut wood mask and when this was dry I used distress inks to give the grunge paste some colour and definition.  Next I used the mask of many faces to add the images to my tag using distress ink and acrylic paint.  I inked around the edges of the tag with black soot distress and doodled a couple of lines around the tag to form a border.  To finish off the tag I added some red and clear pearls to the eyes and then added a double ribbon to the top.

Please pop over HERE to the blog to see what the other DT ladies have been up to!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Claire x

Friday 1 November 2013

Splattered Christmas

Hello Everyone!

Today I would like to share a card I made to join in with the current Take It, Make It challenge over at the Craft Stamper blog - click here to see all the challenge details and to see some fab inspiration from some of the Craft Stamper DT too.







I created my card by stamping the robin from IndigoBlu using black versafine ink and the masking it.  I then used olympia green versafine to stamp the tree branch from Tim Holtz and the sentiment from Papermania.  Next I stamped the splatters, these are all stamps from Inkylicious and I used Distress Inks in Squeezed Lemonade, Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean.  I removed the mask from the robin and coloured him and the holly leaves using various distress markers.  I then used glossy accents to give him a nice beady eye!

I then mounted this onto black cardstock and popped it onto a white 5x7 card blank.

Thanks for visiting today,

Claire x


Tuesday 29 October 2013

I've made a start for Christmas!

So I've actually made a start on some Christmas cards!  

I bought this stamp a couple of weeks ago at the GNPE show in Harrogate and wanted to try it out with a few different colour variations:








For each card I stamped the image twice and then cut out the oval and holly leaves and layered them over the second stamped image using foam pads.

The first one was stamped with imperial purple versafine and heat embossed with cosmic shimmer embossing powder (can't remember which one right now!).  It's hard to see the embossing in the photo but it catches the light beautifully in real life.  This was finished with a dusting of shaded lilac distress ink and icicle stickles.

The second one was stamped using olympia green versafine, ink dusted with vintage photo distress ink and glittered with glamour dust.  The holly leaves were coloured using distress markers.

The third one was stamped using vintage sepia versafine .  Again I added glamour dust inside the oval and coloured the holly leaves with distress markers.  It was coloured with ink dusters using vintage photo and fired brick distress inks.  To finish this one off I added some brown ribbon down the left hand side.

Not really sure which one I like best - perhaps the third one.....

Well at least I've made a start now! Three done, many more to go......

Claire x

Sunday 27 October 2013

Autumn Thanks


Hello Everyone

Today I would like to share a thank you card I  made for someone who very kindly helped me out recently:





I started by masking off the large sun area in the centre of the card and used ink dusting brushes to colour the background with distress inks in mustard seed, spiced marmalade and ripe persimmon.  I then removed the sun mask and dusted mustard seed over the sun so it wasn't such a stark white colour.
Next I added in the hills using the same three colours of distress and some torn paper.  I added all of the stamping with black versafine ink and all the stamps are from inkylicious.
I finished off my card by mounting it onto black cardstock before adhering it to a 7x7 card blank.

I would like to enter my card in the following challenges:


  • Allsorts - Treemendous, all the challenge details can be found here 
  • Pan Pastel - Autumn colours - click here for all the details
  • Just Us Girls - photo inspiration, click here for details and see the photo inspiration below
  • Inkspirational - photo inspiration, click here for details and see photo below
  • Sweet Stampin - wood, leaves or trees, challenge details are here 
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmhujLLzg65odhIdJjk5ApanaJobh_-g7Q9v2F5TKbC6hu0QMRkb2h9vqO9842DLkIZPGsWvDrweozpshoLU6N3dTMYzhhfrVOyie0RdLp-GRBRLTA3pNIvq2Vt55gSVrRyaumBx96Y48/s400/JUGS212.jpg


Thanks so much for calling by today,

Claire x