A tale of 3 tags..

Hi everyone,  having missed joining in with Tim's March and April tags, I have managed to do May's...just in time to link in. I've stuck pretty much to the original layout, which you can see here.

I had some pale hessian (burlap) which I wanted to use and loved the idea of cream, chocolate brown and blue. I had some prima flowers which I thought were the perfect colour.

The blues are tumbled glass, broken china and chipped sapphire.

I had to pick this card, my namesake and there were a few other substitutions. I think she is about to travel across the sea on an exciting European adventure...but that's as far as I'll let my imagination run. I so enjoyed making this tag, definitely a favourite of 2015!

So what about the other 2 Tags? Well couldn't make them in time for joining in but I caught up this week as I really want to do all 12 tags this year. Introducing Miss March.

I haven't got the butterfly and because of the funky colours decided to use a Dina Wakley stamp, so I could adapt it for my future daughter-in-laws birthday. Purple being her favourite colour.

Trimmed and some background stamping with an Emma Godfrey stamp set.

Last but not least my April tag. Unfortunately no word dies so adapt and overcome, a little embossing, stamping and a JOFY flower.

Thanks for dropping by, hope you all have a lovely crafty weekend...I'm off to Art from the heart at Harrogate as Finnabairs teaching again, just booked one class this time so hopefully will show you the results soon. 

'Shine'

Hi everyone, I've managed to have a bit of play time today and just went where the creative muse took me. I stayed within my comfort zone at first and decorated the front of my small Finnabair journal, which has been naked for far too long!

No step by steps today, but I have used a few Finn products including 3D transparent gel, doily stencil, mechanicals, Primary elements and then some Lindy's Stamp gang sprays that I picked up at the Port Sunlight show the other week. I was hovering around the PaperArtsy stand where my lovely friend Sue Carrington was demoing and doing a brilliant job! I also managed to catch up with some bloggy friends face to face, including Chris, Anne and Lesley. It was so lovely to meet such creative ladies.

One of the other products I picked up from the PA stand was Art Basics graphite texture paste which I had a play with and created a couple of monochrome journal pages. I've been inspired by some of Marta Lapkowska's You tube videos and fancied doing something monochromatic...but with a bit of 'Shine'.

A journal is for playing and experimenting in ...so that's what I did.

I used a couple of grey pages from the journal and applied some of the paste through a stencil, now I wasn't sure how it was going to dry but I'd seen Marta sprinkle glitter on to gels and just sprinkled a little and I mean a little silver glitter on...not that it needed it, it really does sparkle.

I layered up all sorts of white/grey scraps and I've used a Crafty Individuals image I had. I've used crackle glaze, warm grey silk glaze dribbled down the pages, glamour dust and a few micro beads are scattered or splodged here and there.

I then found my H2O's which I haven't used for forever and splattered some of that on as well, hope you can see the shimmer. Finally some black stamping. I stopped at that stage not knowing whether I've finished it or made a mess...but I've experimented and learnt from it.

Anyway when it's grey and black like today, a little sparkle and shine is always welcome,

Hope you're all happily creating out there, thanks as always for stopping by.

'Three of a Kind' for Stamps and Stencils.

Well, what a fabulous amount of entries we had for our first challenge over at Stamps and Stencils! We were blown away.....thank you. For our next challenge it's my turn to host and I've chosen the theme 'Three of a Kind'. We want to see 3 of the same sort of focal element on a project or maybe 3 ATC's or a Triptych? Think of 3's and let your imagination run wild! For all the details of the challenge and absolutely gorgeous inspiration from the design team, please hop across here.

I decided to transform an 8x8 box canvas that I'd had for so long it was starting to turn yellow! I've created a niched (is that a word?) canvas involving lots of texture, inks and paints.
I traced around 3 lids which included a grunge paste lid and a plastic milk bottle top. Then I cut about a cm inside the circle and stretched the canvas so the lids could slide in place. Some Mod Roc plaster of paris roll was applied to the lids and then texture was applied to the canvas using crackle paste.

Once dry white texture paste was applied through a stencil. I'm quite into using glazes at the moment having been inspired by Donna Downey so I mixed some mid grey paint and glazing liquid and applied over the surface. After a couple of minutes I wiped it away using a baby wipe. Love the grey stone effect it left.

I painted some pearlescent card with fresco paints and metallic glaze. Once dry I stamped over it in archival ink. The flowers were cut with a crealie die.

I dripped magenta and blue inks and translucent paints down the canvas and sprayed with water. The rectangles were then brushed with white paint and highlighted with pewter treasure gold. I've added some beads to run out of the recesses.

Fab crackle from Wendy Vecchi's paste.....and just loved the way the inks blended and seeped in.

Not forgetting to decorate the sides as well.

Hope you enjoyed the post and might be inspired to join in. Thanks as always for stopping by and for all the comments you leave, I truly appreciate every one...and Yes I'm still catching up with my blog visiting... but I'm getting there. Ruth x

Guest spot at PaperArtsy!!

Hi everyone, well to say I've been a 'giddy kipper' since I was asked to do this is an understatement! The current challenge theme is 'Sprays' and here's a sneaky peek of my project, I've been making some fabric journal pages.

If you want to see the rest and some step by steps, please hop across to the PaperArtsy blog here to have a look, I had such fun making this! Thanks as always for stopping by. Ruth x