Feeling the heat..

Quickish post, I had a fabulous day yesterday at Sue Carrington's Triptych workshop. I didn't quite finish assembling it in time so said I would post the the completed project. If you click on the link you can see the original colour scheme but I think the heat must have got to me and I chose a vibrant colour scheme. My comfort zone is neutrals or muted shades but it's been so sunny recently I just couldn't help thinking of sizzling sunny colours!

Anyway it was a fab workshop as always. One of the joys of a workshop is meeting like minded people, some who have crafted before and some to whom it's a whole new world....and one of the things I realised meeting new crafters is that there should be a crafters dictionary or thesaurus because we really do have our own special lingo. There were some puzzled faces, but by the end you could see another crafty addict emerging and looking forward to the next workshop.

Lastly thanks for all your lovely comments from my 2 recent posts, it's quite scary being given the honour of producing a piece of work for another blog but I thoroughly enjoyed it and really do appreciate people taking the time to visit my blog and for leaving such lovely comments...A Humungous Thank you!

Fresco

Today I am very happy to be sharing this project, I made it for the Top Talent spotlight over at Our Creative Corner. Please hop across you'll find out a little bit more about me alongside my finished project. Such an honour...thank you OCC!

So what did I decide on, well they said anything goes...

....so I decided to get plastered.... read on

I started with an 8x8 box canvas and added a variety of torn scraps of paper. I had an idea that I wanted to try and create vintage worn images on a rough plaster wall and at this stage wasn't sure what would show through but wanted to add some depth.

I had some resin plaster and just mixed it up and poured...oooh!

I then added a variety of textures and trimmings and before it set removed them.

I scraped away some of the plaster and decided to add some bead gel into those areas. I really wasn't sure whether this would work or where it was going, but I was having fun!

Hopefully you can see the texture. I didn't take photos of the next few steps but after a rough coat of Fresco stone paint I stamped a variety of images onto 1 ply tissue in versafine vintage sepia; a mixture of architecture, scrolls, text and flourishes. The main (beautiful) image is from lost coast stamp designs and was my initial inspiration for the piece.

I used matte medium adhere the images, not forgetting the edges.

Then to bring all those neutral shades to life, treasure gold in renaissance, spanish topaz and florentine. Loved the effect on the bead gel.

I'll leave you with a photo taken in slightly different light. It was an experiment in texture for me and I loved doing it. Thanks for dropping by and don't forget to visit 'OCC' 

Emboss Resist for Craft Stamper

I am delighted to be sharing this with you, it's my GDT slot for this months Take It make It challenge over at Craft Stamper. The slot is part of my prize from being lucky enough to be chosen as a winner for 'Pink Gingko' , then the technique revolved around potato printing. This month it's all about 'Emboss Resist'.

I started with a 8x8 canvas board and stamped some little patches of text in versafine spanish moss. I then stamped and clear embossed a mixture of flourishes and text stamps. The flourish stamps are La Blanche and Crafty Individuals.

Then Distress Inks, well I used several and they included peeled paint, bundled sage, broken china, salty ocean, chipped sapphire and dusty concord but I'm sure I used a few others as well. Then some spritz and flick with water.

Hopefully you can see the versafine text underneath the emboss resist.

Now for the flowers, I used the TH tattered florals die and cut them out of cotton paper, as it was a special project. It holds the shape beautifully and has a texture which works so well with the canvas background. I used the same technique on the flowers. The leaves are die cut using TH garden greens die.

The sentiment is from a Lin Browns Eclectica set. This part was a happy accident, I'd used the same emboss resist technique but there was far to much ink on the cotton paper so I thought I would try washing it off (like you do!) the top layer of paper around the edges of the text just gently rubbed off leaving a lovely distressed look....and I did it twice so I knew it wasn't a fluke.

I added a little bird and flower.....and to finish, yes just a smidgen (good word) of  treasure gold. Please hop across here to see some wonderful inspiration from the design team. I do hope you'll be inspired to create something as there's a fabulous prize of WOW embossing powders to be won. Thanks for stopping by.

Stencils part 2

Back again! Following on from the previous post, I experimented a bit more with the watercolour stencil idea.

Slightly different inks this time...salty ocean, spiced marmalade and a little walnut stain. The first stencil is Lin Browns PS004 and as you can see you get slightly different effects depending on how you apply the ink and how much water you use. I like them both.

This is using the same inks but on glossy card stock and the bottom one is the second print.....subtle. When I had removed the stencil I stood the card on edge so the drips would run down and let them dry. The drips don't seem to run into the blank areas.

Keeping it very simple, just a stamped greeting added.......so I am entering this card in 2 challenges, the Sunday Stamper challenge which the theme this week is 'use a greeting' and I'm also entering it into the  Country View Crafts Challenge , which this month was chosen by Sue Carrington and the theme is 'Stencil It'..... do hop over and see the magic woven by Sue and the design team. 

 My final offering is this

A simple Thank you card...I used a rub on greeting (but don't look too close as I didn't apply it very well!) I've really enjoyed exploring this technique a bit more and they do make quick effective cards when you are in a rush.....Thanks for dropping by, I hope you'll drop by again soon....maybe tomorrow morning? I'll be sharing a project I am really thrilled about! x

Fun with stencils

Over on the PaperArtsy blog this week Keren Baker has been weaving her magic again, I loved this project and here's my take on it which I am submitting for this weeks challenge.

I didn't have any graph paper but used a Hot Picks stamp and grey versafine to create a similar effect and I've used a JOFY birdcage.  

I've used the MN28 stamp instead of text for the bird and diecut it out. The DI used were peacock feathers, shaded lilac and picked raspberry.

I coloured some seam binding to match and having read Shirley-bees recent post I soaked up the remainder of the DI from the mat so I have a couple of backgrounds ready.

Here's the finished card complete with tiny bird cage. I haven't used shrink plastic for ages and forgotten how much fun it is to use....when it behaves that is!

However I didn't stop there, I'll be back later with a couple more simple cards that I made having been inspired by Kerens stencil fun.

Background Tag

Well with only a few hours to go I am submitting this tag in the CC3C challenge no 5 hosted by Linda Ledbetter. This time  Inspiration Emporium are sponsoring the challenge, with a $50 gift certificate going to a lucky participant. Unfortunately I couldn't enter last time, and nearly didn't make it this time.....but here it is....I think!

The challenge this time was distress watercolouring ... I'm not sure I enjoyed the journey, it was one of those everything seems to go wrong times and I'm still not convinced this is the finished tag as there isn't a focal point, but it's showing the technique and I can always go back to it and add a few more embellishments near the bow.

The first attempt used different stamps from the set but I can't say what went wrong without giving the technique away. Anyway for the second attempt I've used grey and hydrangea archival ink to stamp randomly over the card stock. 

I've then used distress markers as per technique in various shades of yellow, pink and lilac. I've added some more stamping and remnant rubs. There's distress ink around the edges and it's 'finished' with a  bow and token. It isn't dimensional or detailed which is different to how I would normally do vintage but I really didn't want to cover up the background, so this is it. Thanks for dropping in.

Reflections

Over on the PaperArtsy blog this week, Liesbeth Fidder has been creating some lovely artwork with Lynne Perella stamps. I really liked the card collage here and this is my variation on the theme that I am submitting.

As you can see I started out by following the same process and I've made a few cards like the original. 

Then I decided to use the other stamps in the set and I've added a stamp from one of the Sara Naumann Eclectica sets. The background was great fun to do, certainly will try that again. To finish I've used some patterned papers from my stash to mount it onto a white card blank. Thanks for stopping by.