Tuesday 15 September 2015

Birthday Birdie .... and a Chocolate Baroque Challenge entry!

Morning Everyone!

Well, this morning started out the same as yesterday weather wise ....... it was slinging down with rain, lol!  However, at the moment we have some bits of blue sky and sunshine so I managed to take photos of the card I finished last night before the next shower hits ;-).

I really wanted to enter Chocolate Baroque Challenge 14, mainly because the inspiration colours are not in my normal comfort zone so I combined the need for another birthday card with the challenge.  In the end my colours turned out somewhat brighter but still out of my comfort zone ;D.


The stamps I used are from sets As Free as a Bird - main image and birdcage,  Eccentric Edwardian - script and Amazing Birthday - sentiment
 

I stamped the main image using Archival Watering Can and coloured it with pencils. I edged the oval with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink.
 

I used Distress Inks, Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord, Fired Brick, Forest Moss & Pine Needles blended with cut and dry foam for the background.  I then spritzed water through a peacock feather stencil here and there and dabbed it off for the water mark.  I followed this with a patchy wash of some chalk spray picked up from my craft mat (mainly to tone the colours down a bit, lol).


Next I applied Chalk (colour) Fresco Finish paint through a favourite Imagination Crafts flourish stencil with a stencil brush and stamped the script with Olive Archival Ink. The birdcages are stamped using the Chalk acrylic paint.


I was going to stamp and colour some flower embellishments but decided I really should try to use some of the many purchased flowers I have in my stash......9 down, 10,000 to go, lol!  I diecut some leaves which I stamped over with the script using Stazon ink because the card is pearlescent.  The main image is attached with 3D foam and the embellies with Pinflair glue.





Finally I did my usual trick of deciding to stamp the sentiment directly onto the card and risking ruining the whole thing, lol!  If it had been a whisker out of line with the edge I would've had to cover it with a diecut because it would be the first thing I saw on every photo (bit of OCD slipping in there, lol).

Righty Ho, off to link up to the challenge as it closes in just over 13 hours....talk about last minute!

Have a good day all!

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

Thursday 10 September 2015

A Birthday card and chance to try out some new PaperArtsy products!

Hi Everyone,

After a lovely long weekend in Chester things are getting back to normal around here apart from collecting a dog from the kennels who sounds more like a sealion when he barks, lol!  I think he must have spent the whole 4 days barking (although they said he hadn't) because he's definitely given himself a bad throat. 

I think I mentioned in my last post that I need quite a few birthday cards this month and as I now have some fab new PaperArtsy Fresco Finish products in my craftroom it was the perfect chance to try them out.  I will apologise in advance for the photos because I found it impossible to get a really good one.  Firstly I was trying to photograph shiny acetate and secondly it was very bright in my craftroom today (it's been glorious) and thirdly I couldn't get a good one of the new Fresco Frosting Glaze :-(.




I found some lovely squares of acetate I had created subtle backgrounds on with alcohol inks several years ago so I applied the Fresco Frosting glaze through a JOFY leafy stencil.  You can just about make it out in the above photo.
 

I took a square of PA Heavy Smoothy card the same size and painted it with a layer of Granny Smith from the new limited edition set of Fresco Finish.  I then stamped the 'HAPPY birthday' words from JOFY 26 stamp set using Fresco Finish Snowflake paint and coloured in some of the letters.


I attached the acetate layer to the stamped layer with two green sparkly brads ...... OMG I need to use some of my brad stash up!!! I have hundreds!!!....and then attached the two layers to the basecard with 3D foam.  Lastly I curved the wings of this butterfly (another JOFY stamp) which I had left over from another project and attached it's body to the card.

I know I've only used one of the new colours on this card but they are all quite stunning colours and I'm looking forward to using the rest,  The Frosting Glaze is a very fun product but I need more practice with it and I have a couple of things I want to try it out on.  I just wish it wasn't so difficult to photograph, lol! 

This is the link to Leandra's blog post from Monday evening introducing these new products and also giving links to the suppliers who are stocking them and there are posts all week with some amazing Design Team projects showcasing all the new fab stamp sets. 

Well, it's nearly weekend folks so hope you have something fun lined up. See you again soon.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx



Thursday 3 September 2015

PaperArsty Blog Challenge ... Circles entry #2!

Hi Everyone,

I didn't think I would manage a second entry to the PaperArtsy Blog Challenge before the deadline on Sunday as my OH and I are off for a long weekend in Chester with family and friends but as I need quite a few birthday cards this month I've made one for a very special friend who has a birthday coming up and I've combined it with the 'circles' theme.


Whilst browsing Pinterest I found a card which had some flowers on created from folded circles (HERE - it doesn't give a how to but they are simple enough) and I had already decided I wanted to make some for the card I had in mind but instead of plain paper I wanted to make mine from a designer paper I had created myself.



The inspiration from the PaperArtsy DT over the past one and a half weeks has been gorgeous and has included wonderful backgrounds with lots of layers of Fresco Finish paints and PA stamps such as this one from Emma GodfreyAlison Hall also did a gorgeous one last night using her small Gelli plate; yet more inspiration although I'd already done mine by then.


I just built up the layers with my small brayer, for once being totally slap dash, lol!  It was still very patchy when I decided it was ok, then I started to cover it with layers of stamping mixing the colours to get varying shades.  All the stamps I used were different circle stamps from several PaperArtsy sets (I've listed them at the end of the post).  For the final 3 stamping layers I used different Archival Inks.  It wasn't quite what I wanted at this point so I used a wet wipe to blend a wash of Chalk  FF to tone it down a bit.  I finished it off with a slightly watered down layer of Satin Glaze.


I also painted the back of my designer paper with a mix of Hint of Mint and Evergreen with some Satin Glaze added as it was obviously going to show once folded.  I really like the subtle effect the glaze gives plus it makes the cheap copy paper much stronger and very malleable.  I diecut two sizes of Nestie circles plus some smaller deckle edged circles, edged them all with Archival Ink and proceeded to fold and construct my flowers.

I then got so carried away I totally forgot to take any more progress pics so the rest are a selection of angled shots to show the fabulous dimension of the stylised flowers.

 
I took a 14 cm square of card, stamped a leafy stem and the dotty borders in each corner, both JOFY stamps and painted them using some of the same colours as before.   I gave this layer a fine edge of Archival Ink for definition and adhered it to a slightly larger basecard before attaching my flowers.


I added some stamens to the centre of the largest flower.....


 ....and stamped the JOFY words onto separate card, cut them out and stuck them in position.



I was really pleased with how my take on these flowers came out and the card overall.  Thoroughly enjoyed the 'messy' process for the paper too!  The only problem is I now have to find a box to post it off in so the flowers don't get squished, lol!

Off to link up to the fabulous PaperArtsy Blog where once again we have been wowed by some amazing creations from the DT......it's always well worth a visit for the inspiration!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.  I'm sure I will!  See you when I get back.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

Stamp sets used
EEG07, HP1010, ESN13, HPXT02, JOFY 11/24 & 36.
Fresco Finish Paint colours : Chalk, Hint of Mint, Evergreen, Moonlight, Wisteria, Squid Ink