I won! I won!

Woohoo! I won the retailer blog hop over on Tando Creative! Earlier this week I received a box crammed full of all these fabulous goodies: (for some reason Mr Blogger wants to display the pic sideways)

Among all thee fabulous goodies was a 4 horse carousel.  I love carousels so that was the first thing I played with:

Loads of Fresco Finish paints, gold paint dabber, die cut flourishes and gems later, I used edge punches to make a card trim for the top and bottom and used mica flakes all over the roof.  Here's a look at the opposite side:

This was so much fun to do and went together so easily, I can't wait to play with some more of my prize, and with the Pebeo Fantasy Moon paints.

Thanks for looking.

International Card Making Day...

...is today. Over on the Paperartsy blog Leandra has a competition to celebrate. I don't really do cards, but I thought I would have a go, especially with the chance to win Paperartsy stamps up for grabs!



I painted the front of a card blank with my favourite combo (claret fresco finish, crackle medium then nougat fresco finish) then embossed a music script stamp with gold. I went round the edge with my new love, frantage aged teal embossing powder. The Paperartsy bauble and word were stamped onto grunge paper that had been painted with pea coat and Hyde park fresco finish mixed to match the teal in the frantage. I embossed those with white detail powder, cut them out and edged them all with a gold paint dabber. A bit of gold ribbon tied around the top of the baubles and I was done.

Thanks for looking.

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More Mixed Media

So while waiting for the texture paste to dry on the gift box I started fiddling around with a canvas board I found ( yes, I literally found it in a carrier bag of stash I forgot I had!). I had an idea for something in shades of brown and cream with lots of layers but then it sort of went in a totally different direction (except for the layers, I did end up with those)





Well, there is some brown in there, but I spied the jar of Aged Teal frantage embossing powder I picked up at Ally Pally and decided I had to use that somehow so I veered off into green and blue territory. I discovered to my horror that I do not possess any Toad Hall fresco finish! How did that happen?! So I mixed French Roast into Hey Pesto and got something close.

I love how the Frantage looks around the edge. Must get more of that!

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Mixed Media Madness

I had a very boring plain brown box I intended to use as a gift box but first I needed to pretty it up a bit



I gave it a couple of coats of claret fresco finish then applied crackle glaze followed by vintage lace fresco finish. The box itself had slight ridges, almost like corrugated cardboard, so that added some interesting texture as well.



I stamped the Paperartsy birds in the grass stamp around the sides, then mixed some texture paste with some of the claret paint and pushed that through a crafters workshop template on the lid and around the sides. When that was dry I mixed some hey pesto fresco finish into some more texture paste and pushed that through the grass part of the template on the lid. A bit of washi tape around the lid and I was done.

Thanks for looking.

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Ally Pally Stash Fun

Had a great time yesterday at Ally Pally watching Leandra and Lin demoing on the Paperartsy stand, bumping in to old friends (mainly on the Paperartsy stand) and buying loads of stash - also mainly on the Paperartsy stand. Can you see a theme here? lol.

I did hear a couple of ladies outside saying it wasn't as good as previous years, "there weren't many peel offs" (this is a bad thing?!) How many peel offs can you need? Besides, Topaz Crafts were there. I avoided that stand like the plague, but if you are in to peel offs I would imagine Ms Bibby (who was there in person) would stock more than enough!

Anywho, I have been busy with one thing after another today and haven't had much time to play, but I was determined to make something with my new stash so did a quickish tag with one of my new Lynne Perella stamps from Paperartsy, some crunchy waxed paper from Paperartsy, and some keys from..... Ali-Crafts (yes, I did buy from a couple of other stands!)




The paints are a variety of Fresco Finish colours blended and layered and the techniques are all ones demoed by the dynamic duo yesterday, including the simple but genius idea of Leandra's to clear emboss the Lynne Perella stamps.

Thanks for looking.

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Where does the time go?!

I can't believe it is mid-September already! Where has this year gone?
I've had a bit of  a play with a configurations box

I'm not really sure it's finished, but I've been looking at it for a week now and I can't think of what else to do with it so it's done for now!

I used some music manuscript tissues I found on a shopping trip to cover the outside of the box and painted the whole thing with Hey Pesto fresco finish with some French Roast dry brushed on top, then started adding various bits and pieces.  The flowers are made with t!m's tattered pinecone die and the music notes are from a Maya Road key ring painted with Pumpkin Soup fresco finish and stamped with a music stamp.  The ballerina is from the Artistic Stamper plate by Sioux Jenny's and the jazz band is a Graphic 45 stamp.

So, being stumped with what else to do with the box I decided to play with a tag instead

I painted the tag with Vintage Lace fresco finish then a thin coat of London night and some Pansy dry brushed over the top, then I stamped a Paperartsy text stamp with Dusty Concord DI then made a mistake so I mixed some Vintage Lace and London Night with lots of glazing medium and painted that all over the stamped again with Jet Black archival but that was too much so I faded that out with some more of the glaze.  The bird and grass are Paperartsy again, and then I pushed some Viva Ferro through some crafters workshop templates - blackberry for the birdcage and branch and iron for the butterflies.

What the heck is wrong with Blogger today? It keeps turning my pics sideways when uploading so I am having to rotate them myself before uploading so they come out up the right way!!

Hope you are all making the most of the gorgeous weekend before summer goes away.

Holiday fun

I've just got back from a short holiday to Barcelona with my two daughters. We had a great time wandering around, munching tapas and sipping sangria - perfect.

Got back on Friday and started playing with a back to front canvas (working on the back to make a sort of shadow frame).





While wandering around I stumbled across a collectors market and picked up some old postcards and ephemera so used some of those on this.

For the frame I stuck tissue paper and then spread on some texture paste which I stamped then heat dried to bubble it and add more texture. That covered the staples and canvas edge and then I painted on several layers of Fresco Finish paints. I might give it a touch of rub n buff later.

I used the same paints on the main canvas through stencils and some random stamping then started layering up ephemera and pictures.

Alas, my trusty old printer decided to give up on me so this isn't finished yet. I have more pics to print (have ordered from an online photo printing service) and once those are on I have some charms and other stuff to add, but I am quite pleased with how it is turning out.

Ah well, back to work tomorrow :(

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Tagging along

I'm quite impressed with myself managing to make stuff three weeks in a row and blogging as well!

This week I have been playing with backgrounds on tags.

First was pan pastels (the embellishment is to hide a boo boo I made :o )



Second I played with fresco finish paints and crackle glaze plus the memory box poppy die which I love



And finally I had a go at "bumping" a stencil. First time I've tried this technique and my attempt isn't perfect but I get the idea now. I also stamped on some fabric as this is my new fave technique since Artsycrafts




Thanks for looking.

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Two Weeks in a Row

Hi everyone. Are we enjoying the wonderful British summer?! I think I'm getting webbed feet :o
I thought I would try to discipline myself to blog once a week so here I am for the second week in a row.
I have been playing with the shelf unit thingy that I showed you last week. After base coating it thoroughly I painted the bottom section and the drawers with Fresco Finish in claret, then a layer of crackle glaze and a top coat of vintage lace:



I left the drawer handles plain claret - love that colour for an accent shade!
Decided this was way too pink and clean looking so I set to work with various washes of Fresco Finish - pumpkin soup, claret, chocolate pudding, then dry brushing with French roast. Lots of tissue tape, stamping onto Paperartsy crackle - amazing stuff (did you play with it yet H?) and some die cut metal.



The little vases are fancy bottle tops painted and stamped with script.
Thanks for looking.


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Hello Peeps

And another six months have passed! I promise to try harder, honest.
So, what have I been doing? Settling in to my new job, which I am enjoying, and I also decided to rearrange my bedroom (which is also my craft room - in fact, it's more my craft room where I happen to sleep). Both of these things have caused a major mojo crisis as I haven't had much spare time and, when I have, I haven't been able to find anything :o
Anyway, 3 weeks ago I attended the whole three days of the fabulous Artsy Crafts weekend.
Day one was spent making a fabric book. All new techniques to me and so much fun. Here are some pics of my version:



This is the front page made using all kinds of Artsy Crafts painty, inky, stamping techniques plus . . . . . sewing! With a sewing machine! I was terrified, but I needn't have been as Lin and Leandra were on hand as always with lots of help, advice and tips to make it all so much fun.
Here are the inside pages - I still have one more to make!






The next day was more inky fun making a niche called The Sewing Room






And then the final day was spent making a fab grungy piece called Rusty Relic



I am so glad I went on this event because, as you have probably heard, it was the last ever one :(
I have attended 3 Artsy Crafts events altogether and every one has been amazing. Both Lin and Leandra are fantastically talented in their own right and together they produce stunning art and then have graciously shared that with others.
So, after spending such a fantastic 3 days my mojo couldn't help but be inspired so I have been playing again. A while ago I was given a delicious box of designer chocolates. The box itself had a clear acetate panel in the lid so I saved it to alter. Here's what I did with it




Not the best photo - taken with my iPad which has a pretty basic camera, but I had fun making it.
I went to the Craft Barn extravaganza yesterday and bought lots of new stash including this little beauty



Although the pic is tiny, he is quite a big thing in real life. At the moment he is sitting on my desk having just had a coat of gesso as I didn't want the bare wood soaking up all my paint. I have sorted through my paints and found lots of beige, white and light neutrals that have only small amounts left so I plan to mix these all together and apply as a base coat, then I will start layering on the colours I really want and will hopefully get good coverage with them. That's the plan anyway. I'll keep you posted as to how that works out. . . . . hopefully it won't take 6 months!

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New Year, New Me

Well, it's been over 6 months since my last post and, to quote Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the face of all the world has changed I think. For quite a while now work has been ....... uncomfortable, and this intensified around the middle of last year (seems strange saying that!). This meant that i had very little spare time and when I did have some I wasn't in a very good place so didn't get any crafting done. Anyway, right at the end of the year I was head hunted! I was offered the post of Executive Assistant to the CEO of a group of companies, and so when I returned to work after the Christmas break I handed in my notice. I start my new post mid-February, and it's like a huge cloud has lifted! I am in a much better place now, so much so that I have actually made something this weekend! I used one of my fabby Christmas gifts, the caged bird die from his Holtziness the Tim, and I am blogging about it with my other fantastic prezzie - my iPad :0 so I'm not sure how this will work!


Wishing you all a Happy New Year x - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad