MIxology Make and Take

 I taught a Make and Take project at the last Ministry of Mixology which was in Milton Keynes in April.

I had made some stencil covers for the new Andy Skinner set of stencils and thought that this gorgeous little rounded tag would create a great little journal/book. So I used several creating a new technique on each one.

  

I called these -

Dip, drip and dry. 

 Distressed gesso layer

Water distressed layers

There were two others that people could do themselves on the open table if they wanted to.

These are in the sample book I made for all five of the techniques.

I then added a little decorative collage to each one using papers and Di's chipboards ...

.. and some words I create on h PC.

I also use some of Andy'ssnew stencils.

I wanted to show that these backgrounds can be used for grungy or pretty projects, it's just the colours that you use that will make the difference.

I hope you like my samples.

Dear Santa, I can explain ...

Hello from Santa

I made this stand up card as a sample for my demonstration session at Ministry of Mixology and I'm also using it for my project sample for Country View Crafts. Di at Tando Creative cut me the boards the exact size I wanted them and I'm hoping she will be able to make me some stands too.

I had decided to use decoart chalky finish for a change and for this technique I pulled out the brayer and had some fun layering the colours thickly so that I achieved alot of texture. Of course all the colours are opaque so we have to be careful where we brayer the colours as each one blocks out the one below, but by being careful and using less of the colours as we go we can achieve texture and colour. I finished this one with some subtle stippling using a natural sponge and then lightly brayered some white over the top.

I sanded the edges and inked them and dipped in some vintage photo DI before stamping with the chalky finish paints.

I brayered some white card with titanium white, titan buff, light grey and raw umber to achieve a light and slightly textured look for Santa's beard. This is the St Nick bigz die by Tim Holtz.

A shabby bow, stamped and cut out holly and some berries with a self generated sentiment and we're done.

I love the retro look to this card.

Thanks for popping in, how are your Christmas preparations going? We're still in the throws of decorating the bedrooms and have also done the dining room and changed it round as well, so I will get to Christmas preparations at some point!!!!

Take care and have a great week ahead.

hugs Brenda xxx

Products used -

DecoArt Chalky Finish paints

St Nick Bigx die

Seam Binding

Ministry of Mixology round up 1 The projects

Well I promised I would be back with photos and info from the Ministry of Mixology retreat weekend in Coventry.

All I can say is it was a blast, I had the most amazing time amongst 80+ incredible people who were all excited and happy to be there, who were extremely kind, helpful and positive about the projects and experience and we had FUN.

I have quite a few photos so I thought I would share them in batches and today I start with my frame that I called -

Inspire Me Vintage

This is my one

I loved designing the frame and deciding on the techniques and feel so blessed with all the amazing comments I received from the delegates at the retreat.

These are just a few of some of the delegates ones I managed to capture at the end of the Sunday session although there have been quite a few more shared on face Book.

As you can see quite a few people brought photos of their own to use which made their frames so much more personal to themselves.

If you scroll back again and look for the photo of the single male gentleman, does he look familiar???

I had great fun using a new app on my ipad and merging the faces of one of my cabinet cards with the face of a rather well known person at Mixology - yes none other than Andy himself. I gave him this version to keep.

Thanks for stopping by, I will share some more of the fun ones and the media boards made at my Make and Take session soon.

Have a wonderful weekend whatever you have planned.

hugs Brenda xxx