PaperArtsy Pearlescent challenge entry....very last minute!

Quick Hello from me on this Sunday afternoon,

Once again it's been a while since I posted.  I really must blog the things I've made recently if only so I have a record of them on here (which is why I started my blog years ago).  Anyway, it's the final few hours of the current PaperArtsy challenge which has a theme of pearlescents so I need to be quick.  Here is my entry.

I started out with the Gelli print background I made a while ago.  I loved how it turned out and I can't remember which paints I used now but it has a really smooth velvety feel to it.  I do know the orangy colour is a Pebeo pearly finish paint but whether you can see that in any of the pics is debateable.

 

The decoupaged flowers are stamped onto a really old background piece I made when I discovered MoonGlow Inks sold by the lovely Jill at The Stampman many years ago.  It was created using cling film and has lovely soft ridges of pearl shimmer and I diecut the sentiment from the same piece.

I used golden pearl-tinted Gansai watercolour paints from Kuretake to paint some of the Jofy images and edged the whole thing with one of the 6 shades then layered onto pearlescent card before mounting on the card base.

As always there has been 2 weeks of fabulous inspiration over on the blog including one from my friend Hazel which shows how to make batches of wonderful Christmas cards so it's well worth a visit if you haven't already dropped by.

Till next time

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

I'm impressed!

Morning everyone,

Last Saturday was the Autumn Happy Stampers Show at Port Sunlight and I had a trip across with my friend Emma.  It's a fair trek of 2.5 hours drive from here which is a bit much for me these days, there and back with a show in between so we went the night before, stayed in a cheap Travelodge, had breakfast in Port Sunlight's Garden Centre then went to the show in the beautiful hall across the road, another bite to eat before we left and back in Mansfield for 6.30.  We had a great time and as always the show was fab (apart from being too hot in the hall). 

I was quite proud of myself as I pretty much stuck to my shopping list for once (just a few extra stencils and 1 set of PaperArtsy JoFy stamps snuck into my basket) and the item I had at the top was a stamping press because I am finding that as I get older my hands occasionally don't do what I tell them, lol, and most importantly I have always had trouble getting really good silhouette images.  There are quite a few on the market now and for various reasons I had decided on the Be Creative one from Once Upon A Stamp.  Today I'm sharing my first little test using it.

As it was just a test and I didn't intend making anything with it I just stamped the cute image from Lavinia stamps onto a piece of scrap card.  I forgot to photograph the first impression too and have to say it wasn't too bad actually but it still had a few bare patches in the middle so I inked up again and repeated the stamping and voila! A perfect silhouette image with no gaps!  Of course, I then thought it was too good to waste so I made a mask and used Distress Oxides and a stencil to create the sun rays.  I turned the post it mask round to cover the rays then used Oxides again to blend greens onto the bottom bit.

 

I dripped some water and dabbed it off for the speckles and I did the leaves and flowers stamping the traditional way and inked around the edges.  Then I used the stamp press again to make sure I got the tiny word stamp in just the right place....perfect!  Finally I added various colours of Stickles before matting and layering onto the base card.  

I was delighted with my little card and I have to say I'm very pleased with the stamp press so far.  I was a bit concerned it might be another gadget that would end up shoved to the back of a cupboard but I now think it's going to become one of my most used tools.

Have a good day everyone and see you again soon.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

And.....Missed It!

Morning All,

Two weeks ago the PaperArtsy blog challenge topic was one of my favourites ie Metallic and I did manage two entries which is pretty amazing given my usual production rate, lol.  However, I did start a third but it got no further than bits on my desk which got left while I tootled off to a fabulous workshop with the delightful Tracy Easson and her beautiful Wonky Tonk Dreamer girls ....more on that in another post!  Yesterday, I determined to stick to my new rule of finishing projects before embarking on the next and this is the result.

I altered a mega cheap frame from Poundland using embossing metal tape and Fresco Finish acrylic paints.

 

I used various shades of grey starting with a good coat of slate and used a makeup sponge to apply so that I got good coverage on the metal. 

I then got carried away having fun and forgot to take progress pics as I added a couple of orange and brown shades with the odd touch of blue and spritzed with water, dabbed with tissue and let it run.  I kept on till I was happy with it, dried with the help of the heat tool and then sanded lightly to reveal the silver foil on the embossing.

I also had a rummage in my old bits and bobs box and found the acetate leaves which I'd coloured with alcohol inks years ago.  I drew in some veins and scrumpled them up a bit by heating gently and then stuck them to the frame with heavy duty gloss gel and added the pine cone to hide the blob.

I then blended co-ordinating Oxides onto a piece of card and did a little subtle background stamping before adding the lovely quote from one of the new Alison Bomber sets from PaperArtsy to finish off.  I only got these on Saturday from the fab Happy Stampers show at Port Sunlight 😃.

 

A close up of the leaf detail.

 

And a final one of the painted metal.

I'm now feeling very virtuous for finishing this little project and as well as having some painty fun I'm pleased with how it turned out.

When I was editing these photos I realised I still have several fairly recent pieces I haven't shared yet so I must make an effort to catch up this week.  Have a good week everyone till then.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx