Reuse, Recycle

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a few projects to share with you today featuring stamps from this month's TV shows on Create and Craft.

My first project features a bit of recycling, and when I showed it Lesley, we both laughed, as we had both thought up very similar projects! I started by creating a vibrant background using red, orange and yellow Brushos on a piece of Drawing Cartridge. These backgrounds are a great starting point for a project and you could have a crafty afternoon making lots of them and save them for later.

I then cut up a brown paper shopping bag, the sort that you get your groceries in from a supermarket, and ironed a smalled piece nice and flat. I stamped the Poppy Ledger image using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. I put a small amount of yellow, orange, red and olive green Brusho onto an acrylic block and gently spritzed each colour with water. I used a brush and some extra water to paint the image with these colours. I then used a couple of the colours to splat the image with my brush afterwards, to make it look a bit older. 

I added a piece of scrap card behind the image to make it a bit stiffer, then attached it to a piece of corrugated card that I had trimmed to become a mount. I think that this card would look great with some little tickets and some twine added to finish it off, don't you?

I have a couple of older projects to share with you. On my next project, I decided to stamp the lovely focal image from Fragile Wings onto dark blue card for a change. I used white pencil for highlights and than added some blue and green pencil for a pop of colour. The blue/green background uses a couple of useful background stamps that tie in well with the main image.

 

Next, this card featuring Floral Study is another older card, but I like the greens contrasted with the pinks and oranges, it feels quite warm. I have added stamping from the Glorious stamp set in the background, and used watercolour pencils to colour the main image.

I am also sharing some projects using some stamps from the tree house stamps that we brought to the shows. My next project uses the fabulous Tree House stamp set, and I chose to stamp the image onto a piece of patterned paper created by Lesley a while ago. The paper had lovely pink and green elements, and this became the basis for my colour scheme. I created a background for the card using Picked Raspberry and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks, then added a tree image and sentiment from the Trees a Crowd stamp set using a dark green ink. I stamped both repeatedly over the background.

I coloured the focal image with pencils, and then added extra shading around the main image and background using the Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.

You could create a similar look if you did not have the patterned paper, using a piece of black and white script paper or a piece of plain smooth white stamping card. You could add script and a subtle floral image to the plain background, or some coloured stamping to the script background, plus a bit of shading. You can very easily achieve a patterned background that looks every bit as nice as the one that I started out with.

I have some older 'house' projects to share with you today, to round off this month's selection. I hope that you enjoy them. 

This one is created using the Mushroom House, and the moon reflecting on the house at night.

This one is the Heath Robinson House. I stamped the main image on a tag, coloured it with pencils, and used one of the sentiments to create a background over a gelli print.

 This one is Italian House, with a couple of Trees from Orchard Design a Tree, words from Words of Wisdom, and circles from Make Your Mark. I have added texture paste through a stencil and coloured the images with pencils.

This card was created using the Dutch House, and a tree from Trees a Crowd. I wanted the colourful houses to look like a street in Amsterdam in the Spring. 

Finally, a project from the Garden House. I stamped the image onto book paper, using the Tagtastic stamp as a frame. I added a couple of bees from the Honey Bee set and a sentiment onto the watercoloured background.

Thanks so much for stopping by and take care xx

Fun With Flowers

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have a few more projects to share with you featuring stamps from this month's TV shows on Create and Craft.

My first project was created by stamping and embossing the very pretty Wish Flower repeatedly over a piece of Drawing Cartridge using Versamark and white embossing powder. I then added Wilted Violet and Broken China Distress Oxide over the top. The white embossing acts as a resist, and creates a beautiful design. 

I then stamped the flower again, complete with its accompanying words onto a piece of fabric using Archival Jet Black Ink. Don't be worried about stamping onto fabric, you just need to allow a little bit more time for the ink to do its job, so allow the stamp to sit for a bit longer before you lift it off. I coloured the image with Inktense pencils, first a pale green and a lilac, then added water with a brush. While the image was damp, I added a deeper green on the leaves and stems, and a turquoise on the flowers in the dotted areas for shading. As the fabric was damp, the colour was a little bit deeper.

I chose to leave the fabric as it was, but I could have frayed the edges, sewn the piece with a sewing machine, or drawn some faux stitching around the edges with a fineliner pen, (see my example below). You can really play around and experiment with fabric, it can be a lot of fun.

My second project was a pretty little acrylic bookmark using one of Lesley's newest patterned papers. These are all bookmark size, so perfect for this project. I stamped the image from Garden House using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink, then needed to decide what materials to use on the top. Because I knew that I was going to use Matte Medium to adhere my bookmark to the acrylic piece, I could not use anything that might react to something wet, for example watercolours or Distress Inks. So I chose to colour the image with pencils to be on the safe side. I added a bit of shading at the bottom, again with pencils, and also used pencils to colour through a stencil. 

I added a sentiment at the top, which normally would have been too wide, so I used masking tape to cover parts of the sentiment each time I inked it up, enabling me to break it into three parts. Finally, I covered the whole bookmark with Matte Medium and adhered it to the acrylic tag. I allowed the glue to dry before sanding the edges and punching a hole at the top. If you chose to make one of the bookmarks and stick it to a chipboard shape, you could use all sorts of mediums, paints, watercolours, Distress Inks, whatever you like. It was purely because I was inking over the top that I needed to be so careful.

I have an older project using the fabulous Wish Flower that I am sharing with you today. I have stamped the image onto patterned paper and coloured it with pencils. I then took a piece of greyboard and painted it to match the patterned paper, adding some stencilling and the words from the stamp to create a matching background.

I will be back soon with more projects to share with you. Thanks so much for stopping by, take care xx

Stamping on Patterned Paper

Hello everyone, I have some more projects to share with you today showcasing the beautiful bookmark style houses that we brought to Hochanda last month. These three projects formed part of a TV demo that I did on one of the shows. I wanted to demonstrate how to stamp onto a patterned surface, and when an image is coloured, the image pops out, and the patterned surface recedes to the background.

I used a piece of Lesley's Chic Script Designer paper pack, and cut  a piece of the script paper to size. I stamped the Tree House onto the paper. I added a few lines at the bottom using a fineliner pen to finish the landscape, and coloured the image with pencils. I added shading with grey pencil for added depth.

I took a plain piece of green paper from the pach, and using one of the trees from Trees a Crowd and a sentiment, I created a piece of background paper using Pistachio Memento Ink. This was really quick to create, and you can have your own designer background in minutes! I inked the edges of both pieces of paper with the green ink for definition. As you can see, the script paper looks great as a background, and the house sits really well on the pattern.

For my second card, I used the large Tagtastic stamp and stamped onto a piece of book paper. I stamped the Garden House image inside the tag, and coloured the image with pencils once again. I added a bit of shading on the background using Distress Inks.

For the large background, I used a large acrylic block and added pink, blue and green Distress Oxide which I spritzed with water. I smooshed it across a piece of drawing cartridge in one go. I stamped two bees from the Honey Bee stamp set, and added a sentiment. I coloured the bees with pencils and added Stickles to the wings.

For my final card, I created a gelli print background, adding a bubble effect texture, and stamping a sentiment randomly over the background. I used a Crafty Individuals script effect tag and stamped the Heath Robinson House, which I then coloured with pencils. I added bright red highlights which I matched with a bright red ribbon. I added shading to the tag with Distress Inks, matching the colour of the gelli print background.

I hope that you have enjoyed my projects this month, I will be back next month with lots more to share with you, thanks for stopping by, xx

Beautiful Homes

Hello everyone, I am sharing two projects today showcasing the fabulous bookmark style houses that we brought to Hochanda last month. These lovely designs drawn by Sue have been a delight to work with,I hope that you will enjoy my samples this month.

My first project is an acrylic tag, and I have stamped the Garden House onto the reverse of the tag using Archival Ink, then painted the image using acrylic paints. I used a piece of patterned paper from the Chic Script Designer paper pack, and stamped the sentiment onto the paper before adhering the paper to the tag using Matte Medium. The photograph does not really do this tag justice, I love the way these acrylic tags turn out, and they may become addictive!

To create my second project, I stamped the Acorn House twice, masking the image as I went along. (I took care not to ink the sun in the second repeat of the image, by covering it with masking tape first, inking the image and peeling off the masking tape before stamping). I coloured the background with a watercolour wash, then stamped the large tree from the Trees a Crowd stamp set several times. I added foliage using Glade Design a Tree and several colours of Versafine Clair ink, building the colours with first and second generation stamping.

I removed the masks and coloured the house with pencils. Finally I added a sentiment to finish.

The sentiments on these stamp sets are so uplifting and would be suitable for lots of occasions.

I will be back later in the month with more projects to share with you, thanks for stopping by, xx