Secrets of the Garden

Good evening all....running a tad late today!

Sunshine and showers has been the name of the game today and waiting for the refridgerator engineer who turned up at 6.30pm!

This has been lying waiting for words on my desk for weeks now but I finally got it finished this afternoon.

My May page in my Art Journal. Lots of stamping and stencilling...main focal stencils from Imagination Crafts and Prima. Sentiment stamps from Bo Bunny, Paper Artsy and Mucky Paws. Background stamps from Artistic Stampers and Crafter's Companion.

Challenges entered:

Mixed Media Mojo - tic tac toe (May, stencil, stamp)

Artistic Stamper - journal your heart out

Stamps and Stencils - three of a kind (flowers)

Crafting with an Attitude - anything goes/spring fever

Inspiration Destination - anything goes

Not Just Cards - anything goes

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

Noted

Good morning all.

We ended up with another glorious spring day yesterday despite the cloudy forecast. The eclipse was quite surreal as my computer sits in full sunshine at that time of day so I was sat with the sun on my back and the moons shadow shading the screen. It was actually too sunny to see the moon itself and I didn't have anything protective for my eyes so I basked in it instead lol.

A bit of upcycling/altering today...I won this  note block in a raffle recently and decided it was ripe for a bit of altering.

This is how it used to be...navy blue tacky plastic cover but a nice size and very sturdy. This is what it looks like now:

This is plan A...I started with plan B and painted the plastic with black gesso then used the brayer with various Fresco Finish paints but I didn't like it....so...

After removing the notepad I recovered the whole outer with adhesive canvas and painted it with gesso.  I then set to with a brayer and some Fresco Finish paints from Paper Artsy in first an opaque Mermaid then a translucent South Pacific. Peacock feathers DI was then sponged through a circles stencil from Memory Box before I stamped a chicken wire and word stamps from Artistic Stamper.

The bird on a branch is a stencil from Imagination Crafts and I've used two colours of Sparkle Medium. Noted is from Prima, metal doily and love plate were a recent purchase from China, butterfly charm from Splodgeaway and corners from Mucky Paws...these were all gessoed then sponged with peacock feathers DI. Feather and flower were from my stash.

I love how this turned out!

Challenges entered:

Mixed Media Monthly - birds of a feather

Our Creative Corner - junk in your trunk

Paper Artsy - deconstruction

Recycle, Re-Purpose & Re-Invent - anything goes

Mixed Media World - anything goes

A Single Rose

Good morning all.

A CAS friendship card and a secret to share today. First my card:

I started by embossing my A6 kraft base card with a Spellbinders stitched frame die...I inked the dotted edge with black to inject a little colour but probably would have been better adding the colour with a pen after embossing...must invest in one of those fine line pens.

Rose stamp from La Blanche...using a stamp positioner (which I bought a year or two ago and this is the first time it's been used!) I stamped in white Brilliance onto red linen paper and then over-stamped in black before fussy cutting. Love how this came out and the white gives a beautiful glimmer to the rose...not sure it shows too well on the photo though.

Sentiment is part of a set from Mucky Paws which I opened for the first time. I've used silicon gel to mount the rose adding some coiled black cord behind it.

Now for my secret...I'm sure loads of you already do this but my brain only just got into gear last week! In the past when doing CAS cards I've wasted mountains of card stock trying to execute the perfect card! Not any more...I now stamp everything out onto waste paper first until I'm happy with the composition then and only then do I break out the good card! The rose was actually a trial on a piece from the bit box which I liked so much I cut it out to use.

Said bit box is sulking in the corner over the enforced diet as we speak!

Challenges entered:

Less is More - friends

CAS Colours and Sketches - colours

Addicted to CAS - world

NBUS Challenge - use new schtuff

Uniko Studio - love and friendship