Dream Big Dragonfly

 

Hi there! I am here with a step by step today to show how I made this card.

I began by putting stencil tape around a 7x5 blank card.

Next I used the number tag inkable to add some twisted citron  distress oxide.

I used another tag inkable to add some Mermaid Lagoon distress oxide. With the small amount of ink left on the brush I blended along the sides of the tape. 

I used Journal Art Elements 3 to add some stamping with Mustard Seed, Twisted Citron and Mermaid Lagoon before removing the tape.

I stamped, die cut and coloured the dragonfly.

Then I added it to the card using sticky pads, along with a stitched border in uncharted Mariner Distress oxide.

Finally I added one of the new sentiments that are out on Monday!

Here is the finished card once more.

I used:

7x5" white card blank

Tag inkables set 1 & 2

Distress oxide inks in Twisted Citron, Mermaid Lagoon, Mustard Seed and Uncharted Mariner

Journal Art Elements 3 Stamp set

Stitched Borders stamp set

XL Birds and Butterflies stamps and dies

Versafine Clair black ink

Ecoline pens

Gelly Roll stardust pen

New Sentiments (out on Monday!!!)

There are 5 new stamp sets, inkables, transparancies, mdf and other gorgeous stuff on Hobby Maker on Monday at 2pm and 7pm. I will leave you with a little sneaky peek 

Oh, and the new challenge for this month over in the facebook group is Spring Zing. We would love for you to enter! 

Thanks for looking! 

Dragonfly Tag

 Hi there!  This month's challenge over on the Bee Crafty Stamps Facebook group is to show us your journal pages and tags. There are 3 entries allowed per person so you can do both if you wish to! Today I have an mdf doodle art dragonfly tag for you. 

I used

MDF tag

Ranger Distress grit paste

coffee stain script and perspective circles inkables

Dina Wakely heavy body acrylic paints - Ocean, Turquoise and Lime

Dina Wakely clear gesso

Pretty gets Gritty explosion powder - mars

Dina Wakely gloss spray -Lime

Texture Border stamps

Texture circle stamps

Doodle Art XL dragonfly stamp

Ecoline pens

Watercolour paper

Glossy accents

Black card

White embossing powder

Small words stamp set

Versafine ink - tuxedo black

Archival inks

Versamark ink 

Copper gel pen

gel medium

I began by applying some grit paste through the stencils to the mdf tag

Once this was dry, I painted the tag with the three colours of paint.

Next I mixed a little clear gesso with the explosion powder and applied it over the raised areas on the tag.

I stamped the borders and circles with the archival ink.

Next I splattered the tag with a little of the gloss spray and left it to dry.

I stamped the dragonfly in versafine ink onto the watercolour paper, then coloured it with the ecoline pens.

I cut it out and stuck it to the tag with gel medium, applying a little glossy accents along the body.

Finally I stamped a sentiment onto black card and heat embossed in white, adding it to the bottom corner. I also added a few bits of copper gel pen to the tag and the butterfly.

Here is another look at the finished tag with a piece of coordinating ribbon. 

Thanks for looking and For all your comments, support and thoughts on my previous post. I hope to see your tags and journal pages in the challenge album too! 

Grungy Dragonfly Greetings!

 Hi there! I am here with another step by step for a card using the latest Dragonfly stamps from Bee Crafty (I just can't put them down!) It is a bit of a long one, so you might want a cuppa before you start reading! 

I thought I would use up some of the tissue paper I had under my spraying when I was using my oxide sprays to create a background. 

Here are the other things I used: 

Dragonfly stamps and coordinating dies

Coffee stain stamps

Circle easy frame inkable

Splatter D'inkable

Distress collage matte medium

Scraps of torn book paper and music paper

Pretty Gets Gritty explosions powder in Atlas

Dylusions dirty martini spray

Distress oxide spray in Brushed Corduroy 

Distress oxide inks in Peacock Feathers and Walnut stain

Fallen leaves Versafine Clair ink

mini mister

6x6 ivory card

Mixed media card

first I started by tearing the tissue, book page and music paper into strips

I stuck it to a 5inch square of mixed media paper with the matte medium. The sprays I'd used were water based so the colour spread a little with the coat of matte medium over it.

once this was dry I added a bit of the explosion powder to the mini mister with some water and sprayed it onto the collaged piece. My thinking was that it would add a little sparkle and I could remind you of the facebook group challenge theme for this month 😉

When it had dried I trimmed the overhang from the edges. Next I placed the innie from the circle stencil over the centre and sprayed with the distress oxide spray

Lift it carefully and you can use this on a blank card like a stamp for another day (everyone loves a twofer!) Both were dried off with a little gentle help from a heat gun.

I used the distress oxides to stamp the coffee stains and numbers around the edges .

Next I used the splatter dinkable and the same inks to add a border to the base card. I also sprayed it with a bit of the left over explosion powder spray. 

I layered it with some coordinating card and stuck the collage panel to the card.

I stamped and die cut the largest dragonfly and the circle using the versafine clair ink

I sprayed it using the explosion powder spray and a little dylusions dirty martini spray

then attached both to the base card with 3d glue/ gel medium.

I just love the contrast of the explosion powders sparkle against the lovely chalkiness of the oxide spray. It's quite hard to capture it in the photos.  

Thanks for looking and I hope you like it. Apologies if I have missed a few of your posts in blog land recently. Thanks for all the lovely comments x

Dragonfly Plaque

Hi there! 

There have been some amazing facebook lives and demos recently, so taking inspiration from Bev, Jane and Lynette Jasper I thought I would have a go too.

I used:

XL Doodle Art Dragonfly stamp

Versafine Clair Nocturne ink

Gel medium

Ranger Grit paste

Bakewell Inkable Big ones 

 a scrap of corrugated card

Black gesso

White gesso

Pretty Gets Gritty Explosion powders (I used Elf, Atlas, Neptune, Mermaid and Unicorn)

clock face MDF

lolly sticks/ waxing sticks (these are 15cm long and almost 2cm wide)

Watercolour card

Ecoline pens

First I stuck 2 lolly sticks across 8 laid in a square with gel medium. 

When it was dry I turned it over and applied some grit paste through the Bakewell inkable.

Next I stuck the torn piece of corrugated card to the centre of the plaque with gel medium and left it to dry. 

I stuck the clock face over the corrugated card, 

then painted the whole thing with black gesso.

Once it was dry I used a dry brush to brush some white gesso across it (horizontal and vertical light strokes on the textured areas)  

Once this was dry I sprinkled with the Explosion powders....

before misting with water....

At this point you will want to enjoy the magic. I got more colour variation when I didn't use a heat gun on it. You can go back in with the powders and mister as many times as you like until you are happy with the effect. 

Whilst this completely dried I stamped the XL doodle art dragonfly in black ink onto watercolour card and cut it out. 

I coloured it with coordinating ecolines and added a few highlights with white gel pen.

I stuck it to the centre of the plaque with gel medium and added some glossy accents on the yellow parts and the body

Here is  the finished plaque. Such a shame the shimmer doesn't show as well as it does in real life!

The challenge this month in the Bee Crafty Facebook Group is to recycle something. It could be a bit of packaging, a few buttons, a tin or anything that would go in the bin. Why not pop over and join in? Thanks for looking! 

A Shrink plastic key ring for Bee Crafty

 Hi there!

I thought I would share a bit of shrink plastic with you today. It is something that has been around for a long time, but it seems to be one of those things that you don't see much of it unless you seek it out. I thought I would show you how to make a simple key ring, and let you know a bit more about it. 

Shrink plastic comes in several different sorts. You can get clear, frosted, black and white. If you wish to colour on it you can sand it with some fine sandpaper, although some comes ready sanded. You will need to use a permanent ink  - one that dries on any surface - I use Archival or Brilliance. The ink will need to air dry for a good amount of time  (at least half an hour for Archival and overnight for brilliance)  The easiest way to colour your stamped images once dry is with coloured pencils. A sanded surface will help with this. Be aware that as the item shrinks the colour will intensify, so light shading with coloured pencils will give a better result.

I used: 

shrink plastic

XL Doodle Art dragonfly

archival ink

coloured pencils

corner rounder

hole punch 

heat gun

Key ring findings

First I sanded the surface of my shrink plastic

Then I stamped the dragonfly onto the sanded surface with black archival ink and left it to dry.

I rounded the corners with a punch....

and punched a hole in the corner (a regular hole punch could be used for this too)

Next I coloured the image with pencil crayons - remember paler and lighter is better as it intensifies when shrunk.

On a heatproof surface use your heat gun to start heating. It will curl and squirm, so keep some tweezers close by in case you wish to turn it over or reposition it. Occasionally it can stick to itself. Try and seperate it as quickly as possible if it does, but mind your fingers as it will be hot! 

Once it has finished shrinking, place an acrylic block (not a skinny one, but one with some weight) on top to make sure it is flat. 

Thread a jump ring through the hole and add the keyring. 

As you can see the colours are much deeper than before it was shrunk. I think I should probably have gone even paler! It really is huge fun to play with and a great hit with kids. there is something so magical about the shrink process. 

Thanks for looking!