Playtime with new goodies!

Morning everyone,

It's a bit of a mixed bag here weather wise by the looks of it.....had a little fine rain, lots of cloud and the odd burst of sunshine and I've not been up and about long (had a little lie in ;D).  Hope the sun wins out in the end!  

Last week my lovely friend Sam sent me a a parcel of DecoArt goodies (to cheer me up as my recovery is taking so long).  I was blown away by her kindness and generosity and couldn't wait to have a play.  First of all I watched loads of Andy Skinner YouTube videos to give myself a bit of insight into how the products work and my favourite was a gorgeous crackled heart so that's where I decided to start.  I totally forgot to take a pic of the heart on its own when it was finished but I was so chuffed with it so immediately started searching through my stash for stuff to create a suitable 'setting' for it.

I am not going to bore you with step by steps, partly because I was having such a good time playing I forgot to take any photos, lol, but there are quite a few layers at each stage and I would recommend watching Andy's excellent videos and then just play to get to know what these products do.  Sam has lots of projects on her blog where she's used DecoArt goodies too.

Anyway, here goes with a few photos.

 A couple of close ups of details....

Products used : DecoArt black Gesso, black modelling paste, clear Crackle Glaze, White Crackle Paint,
                         various Antiquing Creams and Fluid Acrylics, Soft Touch Varnish, Ultra Matte Varnish.
                         Supplemented with a couple of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish acrylics & the wooden block
                          frame.
                         Tim Holtz stamps and embellishments.
                         Rusty wings and wire from I know not where they have been in my stash so long, lol!

Till next time.......

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

Using up scraps.....what me???

Good Morning All,

This weekend is the fab craft show at Alexander Palace and lots of my crafting buddies are going  My favourite company PaperArtsy have a huge stand there with lots of fabulous new goodies I'm dying to get my hands on.  I haven't been to Ally Pally for at least a couple of years now and I must admit I'm missing it as apart from shopping it's a great show to meet up with friends.  I've just been texting with two very dear crafting friends who are on their way as I type and I hope they and everyone else I know have a fabulous day/weekend.  I will have to content myself with the lovely StampMagic show at Doncaster in a month's time when hopefully I will be up to a full day out.

Anyway, I have a couple of cards to share today and unusually for me I managed to use a few scraps from my scrap box(es).  They are quite a contrast to each other.

For the first one I used a square of designer paper (no idea whose) which was dark brown with touches of orange and a sage green design.  I toned it down a little with a very light wash of watered down Chalk Fresco Finish Paint and a little background stamping using a Colorbox white ink.  

Next I found a square of card I had previously brayered with Fresco Finish pinks and oranges.  I added some more orange and some sage to tone it in more with the dp and then used Wintergreen and Sage Frescos to stencil the  Lin Brown leaf.  Next I added some stamping in the background and the quote using Archival Inks before finally stamping the lovely leaf spray with Potting Soil Archival and embossing with clear embossing powder.  I distressed the edges of both layers, sponging them with the Potting Soil Archival then wrapped the wired paper string before layering up onto the base card.

All the stamps I used are from PaperArtsy's new Lin Brown releases plus a little stamp from one of Sarah Naumann's sets.

 

My second card uses a piece of Brusho'd watercolour paper that I did when I first got my Brushos.  Aren't the colours fabulous!  I stamped the HoneyDoo Lilies with Memories white pigment ink and embossed with Wow brilliant white ep.  I then removed some of the colour from the flowers with water and a brush. 

I then stamped the swirls (again HoneyDoo) using the Memories white and a red Archival Ink.  I edged the piece with a red Sharpie and stamped and embossed the sentiments onto a scrap before cutting them out, edging in the same way.  

I still have tonnes of scraps and I know I will never use them all but I feel quite virtuous using these few and loving the results too.  It's also added a couple more cards to my standby box ;-)!

Have a lovely weekend everyone whatever you are doing.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

The first on my September birthday list...

for my lovely Sister-in-Law!

It was Linda's birthday a few days ago and for once I got the month right.  We've only known each other 40+yrs but for some reason I nearly always think her birthday is October and I was determined to get it right this year.  This was the card I made for her.

I already had the Infusions background piece from a little play when I first bought these gorgeous little bottles of powder and can't remember what colours I used now.  The photo doesn't really show them very well and probably looks a bit dull but there are some lovely little splashes of blue and lemon.

 

I stamped the wildflowers (Artemio stamps) with Versamark Ink and heat embossed with bright white embossing powder and then overstamped with black Archival once the embossing had cooled down.  I distressed the edges and and then applied Star Dust Stickles all the way round and onto the flowers and left it to dry.  I stamped the sentiment & butterfly onto a scrap of the background and gave them the Stickles treatment and left to dry too.  I then assembled the pieces and stuck them to a base card.

Linda was really happy with the card and my two nieces liked it too.  I'm just pleased I got it there on time this year, lol!

Have a good day everyone...soon be Friday ;-)

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

First play with gorgeous new stamps from Lin Brown for PaperArtsy.

Good Morning All,

Last night I actually felt up to getting to know my gorgeous new stamps designed by the lovely Lin Brown for PaperArtsy (you can see their launch on the blog HERE) and managed to make a card in one session for a change ;-).

Like a lot of people I love the colours of Autumn and these stamps are perfect for them.  I started by masking off the two larger circles with a mask/stencil by Heidi Swapp that I bought years ago.  I used ink dusting brushes to apply shades of Archival Ink around them then, after a blast with the heat tool to make sure the ink was dry, I removed the masks and positioned the stencil, first over the large circle and then over the smaller one applying Archival ink with the brushes again.

 

Next I used some of the very useful background stamps, again with the Archival inks, to create.......the background, lol!  Another blast with the heat tool before replacing the stencil, first to stamp the grasses (adore this stamp)  and then the smaller one for the skeleton leaves which I inked up with two shades of Archival.

 

I finished off the grasses by adding touches of watercolour metallic paint so I've included pics from different angles to hopefully catch the subtle shine. 

 

I stamped the second skeleton leaf onto ink dusted card, positioned the laser cut frame to draw round before cutting it out and sticking it to the back of the frame.  I also added a little White Fire Treasure Gold to the frame and stuck that in position.  The sentiment is from another older set of Lin's.  Finally I risked it all by using a fine Sepia Pitt Pen to squiggle the frames around the circles.  My hands don't always do what I ask these days for fine stuff but on this occasion it turned out right ;D.

The eagle eyed amongst you may notice that there are small areas where the dusted ink has been 'grabbed' on the card and at first I was at a loss why (although I didn't mind the effect).  I eventually realised it's the adhesive on the back of the mask/stencil.  It's still very sticky even after several years so I think I might have to dust it with anti static powder before I use it again.

I think this card fits with a couple of challenges (not often that happens, lol) so I'm going to link to:

http://www.vintagejourney.com

http://stampsandstencils.blogspot.co.uk

I'm filling my birthday card stash up nicely now which makes a change.  More to share later in the week!

Have a lovely Sunday everyone and thanks for dropping by.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

It's a full month for birthdays!

Hello everyone,

Well, recovery is still making very slow progress after my op but I have managed a little playtime in my craft room.  Quite a few friends and family have birthdays this month and I only had one or two in my box so I needed a few more.  I haven't decided where today's card is going yet but it's a little different for me so I wanted to share now (and my poor blog is being sadly neglected, lol).

I wanted to make a mixed media card incorporating pretty napkins and stamping on tissue and this was the result.

I started with spreading Grunge Paste through a word stencil and when that dried I gave it a quick slightly watered coat of Snowflake with a little Nougat Fresco Finish.  I then created some drippage but for the life of me I can't remember what I used, lol!  I think I made a puddle of two shades of Inktense, applied it to the card with a paintbrush and spritzed with water to form the runs.  I also added some stamping using PaperArtsy minis and the sentiment using Archival inks.

I stamped the PaperArtsy Hot Picks image with Black Archival onto some Tim Holtz tissue, tore round the image and applied to the square with Golden Matte Soft Gel.  I then tore the tulips from a napkin and applied this piece in the same way but being much more careful with this delicate layer.  I also gave a top coat of Soft Gel.  I lightly applied Silver Treasure Gold to the edges and texture paste areas as well as picking up some of the texture from the tissue.  Finally I edged the square with black and applied it to a Kraft card base.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out!  I have a couple more cards to share soon so I'm not doing too badly with my productivity, lol!

Hugs

Lesley  Xx