Something Different!!

What a busy time I've had since my last blog - unfortunately not all crafting. Have been extremely busy at work so haven't had a lot of time to do anything much else. The garden has been a bit neglected, as has the housework - but I'm catching up on all that now. This is the first weekend in a while where I've not had to work - and the first time I've had two consecutive days off in over three weeks.

And of course amongst all that I was working on some items for birthday presents for friends. As both these friends have now received said presents, I can reveal them to the rest of you. I have used the Paint Fusion that I mentioned in the last blog - and created a range of items. One set is Wild Rose, the other is Poppies.

I feel I am improving with the painting - it certainly is straightforward in principle - but does need a bit of practice!! Am getting the hand of double loading the brush now - don't end up with a murky mess of colour - and also of tipping the brush with a third colour (like with the poppies) which gives a brilliant effect. I am finding it easier to start with foliage each time - still struggling to make the stalks look right - I think painting them first would perhaps be easier - and then put the leaves and flowers over them - it would look less disjointed.

So, these are mirrors with lovely large frames (from a certain Swedish shop). I rubbed the surface down to begin with then painted them with acrylic paints (a combination of Pebeo paints and Eco Green paints). Once dried, I sprayed with Spray and Shine (a couple of light coats) to add a varnish finish. Have to say, of all the items, the mirrors were the easiest to paint - the surface allowed the paint to move nicely, and didn't soak it all up and leave you with a dry brush half way through the stroke.

The candles were much more problematic - painting a slippery paint on a curved slippery surface, whilst trying not to smudge anything - was a bit of a feat for me!! It also needed several coasts of paint in order to get the density of colour I wanted.

The coasters and the images for the card were all created in a similar way. I used watercolour card which is great because it doesn't buckle under the paint, but I did find that it soaked it up - so I really needed to load the brush for some of the larger strokes. To finish them off, I used distress ink on the edges (Forest Moss and Victorian Velvet on the Wild Roses, and Forest Moss and Fired Brick on the Poppies), then edged with gold embossing powder. And the final touch was a waft of gold Spray and Sparkle.

I am really pleased with the results. I have plans to make a few of these to sell, hopefully alongside boxes and wall hangings - just need to find the time!! So watch this space.

Meanwhile am also working on my usual card stock in preparation for the next Card Party - looking forward to seeing some of you there!! I may have a few paint fusioned items ready for sale by then - but don't hold me to that as I am still really busy at work.

Well that's all for this post. Don't forget to check out the website.
Cxxx