Is it Spring yet?

Hi everyone!

 I can't wait for Springtime to get here!

So I thought I would make a spring themed creation - but with nothing in the garden here yet to inspire me - I went a bit grungy instead!

I started with a piece of mount board and painted some Decoart Media Gesso over it as a base. I applied it quite thickly, making sure brushstrokes could be seen and that they all were going in the same direction...The intention was to make the base look like a wood effect....

 Then I applied some Decoart Media Crackle paste through a TH Lattice Stencil. At the edges of the stencil I scraped some more paste, randomly dabbing or wiping it down the edges of the board

When this was dry I mixed some Carbon Black and Raw Umber Decoart Antiquing cream together and applied this all over. I love both colours but I find the Raw Umber a bit too pale at times and the Carbon Black too grungey...so here I was going for a soft black instead and gained the best of both colours.

When dry I wiped it away with a damp cloth. I prefer to use a cloth spritzed with water as then you are able to remove the excess gradually - I find a baby wipe can wipe a bit too efficiently and before you realise it there is barely any effect left!

The cream stayed in all the crevices of the stencil and highlighted the gesso brush streaks perfectly....

The crackle paste gives such a wonderful effect...and is perfect to apply through a stencil...

I wanted to capture the effect of some garden furniture left to the elements...so a peeling paint/rust/weathered look..... 

So around the edges I began to dab some Decoart Media Texture Paste. When dry I painted over it with Paynes Grey Decoart Media Fluid Arcylic Paint mixed with white acrylic paint. Then I gave this a wash of Paynes Grey and then a coat of Qinacridone Gold. I wanted an even more aged effect, so I covered it with Patina Green Antiquing Cream before wiping away - leaving a tinge of Patina on the rust.

After this was done the whole hanging got a coat of Ultra Matte Decoart Varnish - which lives up to it's name - it gives a totally matte coating and removes any sheen from the paint...this makes the rust even more effective

I decided to put the word 'Spring' on the hanging and used some letters from a TH paper pad.

The flowers were from the Tattered Floral die cut set and I cut several sizes, then I got to work making them up...

This one was made by bathing the flowers in a wash of Squeezed Lemonade DI mixed with water. Then the larger flower was dabbed with some Scattered Straw DI before both flowers were 'grunged up' with a smudge of Pumice Stone DI.

The center of the flower was a metal brad coated in gesso, followed by a coat of yellow acrylic paint before having a bit of Rock Candy Distress Glitter sprinkled over.

This flower was dabbed with Tattered Rose and Pumice Stone DI. A blob of Decoart Liquid glass was squeezed into the center of the flower before having some Tea Dye Distress embossing powder sprinkled over the top.

 This flower was covered with Shaded Lilac and Pumice Stone DI. A blob of Decoart Liquid Glass was squeezed into the center and when dry it was dabbed with a bit of Decoart Media Titian Buff Acrylic paint

This daisy effect flower was left uncoloured except for dabbing around the edge with Worn Lipstick DI. The center was made by the same way as the first flower...

The leaves were bathed in Shabby Shutters DS and when dry the large leaves were coated with Decoart One Step crackle glaze. When this was dry I dabbed the leaves with Gathered Twigs DI

Just to finish it off I added some chit chat stickers 

 And added rusty wire to make the hanger

And there is my (Grungy) Spring Hanger

Thanks so much for being here today!

Happy Crafting!

Laura

xxxxxxx

Autumn at Last

Hi everyone!

Welcome to another Autumn inspired creation!

 This one was actually made last Autumn...but I didn't like it very much and I really had no enthusiasm for writing about it. The photos stayed in a folder on my computer and when Winter arived it seemed wrong to put up an Autumn creation...

I had basically dismissed it as not 'good enough' anyway..but that is something I don't like doing - I really try to not judge my own creations and I have learned to put things on here that I like and don't like - this blog is my creation diary and shows a creative journey and it would be wrong if I left out pieces...so I am sneaking it in now...a year late, but never mind - better late than never. 

It began with a brass hob ring that I found in a cheap store in the Czech Republic. I got out to the Czech Republic each summer to visit my mother in law who lives out there for half the year. There are many cheap shops out there (similar to Poundland in England) where there is a lot of junk but you can find some treasures occasionally....I loved the brass rings and at a cost of basically pennies it seemed a good idea to grab a few.

I basically covered it in layers of paint - Leaving it to dry slightly then rubbing away patches of still damp paint. I repeated this process several times. I used Distress Paint here in Vintage Photo, Antiqued Bronze and Evergreen Bough.

 I applied some Crackle glaze and rubbed some Raw Umber paint into the cracks.

  I made a background for the center of the frame by using Antique Linen DI and Frayed Burlap DI. Dabbed onto a mat, spritzed with water and then swirl the card in the inky pools. 

The card was than stamped with script and flourish stamps using Potting Soil Archival ink and a splatter stencil was used with Vintage Photo DI

I decorated the frame with many things...

First I used several Memory box dies...covered them with Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo DI 

I added real twigs to the decoration too...

I used buttons

I used die cut leaves stained with Ripe Persimmon, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Spiced Marmalade DI. The larger leaves were stamped with a script stamp using Potting Soil Archival ink. Curled rusty wire was added too....

I used an ivory rose that was dabbed with Frayed Burlap DI and an ivory Hemp string bow

I used letter stickers from Tim Holtz salvage stickers set. I attached them to a piece of card after having creased the letters up

A hessian flower was used with a embossed piece of card that was sanded to reveal the colour underneath.

Hope you like it!

Happy Crafting 

Love from Laura 

xxx 

Autumn Forever

Hi everyone!

     We have a new challenge over at Our Creative Corner. This month it is our amazing Julia who will be bringing you a seasonal challenge...

  Shades of Autumn
 

I love the colours of autumn! Those beautiful and dramatic reds, golds, yellows, browns, greens and all shades in between. Your challenge this month is to take some inspiration from the colours in the image provided and make an autumnal inspired project.

I didn't know what to make at first because I had so many ideas buzzing - so I decided to make the leaves first...

I got some die cut leaves and painted them with Decoart paint in  Green gold, Pyrrole Red, Primary Yellow and Pyrrole Orange. Some of them I painted one colour and others I blended a contrasting colour together. All of them were dry brushed with Burnt Umber Decoart acrylic paint.

I then covered them with cackle glaze before covering them with Raw Umber Antiquing Cream - wiping this away when it was dry with a damp cloth.

I covered an ornate die cut frame with some Decoart sand texture paste. When dry I covered this with a mix of Paynes Grey and white acrylic paint. When this was dry I covered it with Quinacridone Gold acrylic paint. A final dry brushing with Cobalt Turquoise Hue gave a patina effect.

I chose to put a picture in the frame - a printed image of a little girl that was dabbed with Vintage Photo DI.

I arranged the leaves around the bottom of the frame with some stained cheesecloth, raffia strands and rusty wire curls

The word 'nature' was stamped with Coffee archival ink and edged with Vintage Photo DI

A grapevine heart was used to frame the word

A twisted strand of rusty wire was used to hang the picture frame up.

And there is my Shades of Autumn frame....

Why not come over to Our Creative Corner and see what everyone else has made?!

Join in the challenge this month and you could be the randomly selected winner of the $25 prize voucher that is being donated by our wonderful sponsor this month

 

Creative Embellishments

You could be our winner and be invited to appear as our Top Talent. 

You could be one of our Top 3 and be pinned onto the OCC Pinterest board!

  
Remember you gotta be in it to win it!

So come on over to Our Creative Corner and have some fun!

 Happy Crafting!

Laura

xxx

It's all an act

Hello everyone!

Over at Sandee and amelie's steampunk challenge the challenge this month is -

Raise the curtains

This month we challenge you to create Steampunk projects in which curtains play the main role.  

Your project can be anything that has to do with curtains (maybe being raised or pulled aside, revealing....well, whatever you can think of). I am sure you will once again surprise us all with your marvelous and imaginative projects!

When I saw this challenge my thoughts immediately were about making a theater...a Steampunk theatre of course!!!....

I constructed a theatre out of balsa wood and embossed card - here is how I made it...

I used a die cut as a template to cut out the balsa wood front. This was then covered with some embossed card.

I constructed the roof out of two pieces of balsa wood which were then covered with embossed card

The back was cut to size and all of it was attached to the base which was a much thicker piece of balsa wood to give it support. All of it was painted with Gesso, then covered with Burnt Umber Decoart Fluid Acrylic paint. It already had a bit of a tarnished bronze look already but I wanted to emphasize that, so I then rubbed it over with Iced Espresso Metallic Lustre. I thought this might be a huge mistake at first as the metallic effect was too bright....but another coat or Burnt Umber paint toned down the metallic effect really well and I ended up with the tarnished metal effect I had wanted....Happy accidents!

I stuck some buttons, a metal rose and an ornate corner onto the theatre

The background for the theater started off as a piece of card that had been swirled in Distress paints - I have absolutely no memory of what colours were used, but looking at it I would guess -Weathered Wood, Vintage Photo and Picket Fence Distress Paints. At the time this piece of card was made it had obviously not been 'right' for the project I had in mind and so had been put into the "Not useable at this time" box....I had found it and thought it was perfect for this creation.

I stamped it with Artistic Outpost stamps from French Flight and Industrial Backgrounds

Now onto the curtains...

I used some of my favourite material remnants that I had used for my dolls house - I knew it was perfect for this project. It is a printed velvet with a very subtle pattern. A two toned silky-soft velvet, it varies in shades from a gorgeous mink brown to a beautiful pale grey blue depending on which angle you look at it. Whatever way you view it there is always a hint of gold from the back of the material....absolutely stunning!

I had a very thin piece of brass tube that was cut to fit the width of the theatre and I sewed the curtain tops so that the tube could be inserted. Once they were sewn I attached the curtains and slotted the tube into the theatre

Pieces of rusty wire were twisted into loops with pliers to hold the curtains open

These were inserted into the walls of the theatre

The performance is about to start....

I used the image of the three men from the French Flight Artistic Outpost stamp set. I stamped them with Frayed Burlap DI and painted them with Tattered Rose DI mixed with water. I added detail to hair with marker pens. I stamped the bodies with Black Soot DI and painted parts with water to add a shading effect.

The actors were then stuck onto a piece of balsa wood painted with Decoart Carbon Black Acrylic paint so that they can be moved along the stage...

 

I do hope you like my Steampunk Theatre...Come on over to Sandee and amelie's Steampunk Challenge to see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you for this challenge....we would love it if you joined in!

Happy Crafting!

Love from Laura xxx

I am linking this creation to Artistic Outpost this month