About Me

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I'm a retired primary school teacher, who started paper crafting in 2008, when I had a fancy to make my own Christmas cards. Since then, I have tried all sorts of techniques and styles - and I kind of like them all. I have been lucky enough to be on blog teams and large design teams and to do a bit of freelance demonstrating - and I love the challenge of working with different products. My crafting style is very varied - from junk journaling and art journaling, bookbinding and journal making, to quilting and patchwork - and of course I still make cards. This variety keeps me interested - and my crafty stash growing!! I'm always seeking inspiration for new projects.

Monday 5 January 2015

Challenge 5 - The Mirror Crack'd

Well, it's time for another Mixed Media Challenge over at The Mirror Crack'd - and this month the theme is Stencils. All we want you to do is to use stencils somewhere on your project!!
This is my contribution to the inspiration this time round. I have to admit that I am going through this jade green/turquoise/teal phase at the moment - just can't seem to snap myself out of it. Anyway, the thing that started my project off was the gorgeous Owl die from XCut. I bought it on a bit of a whim just before Christmas, and really love how the whole thing can be built up in layers.

So, I started by cutting the pieces for the owl out. I used scraps from my stash - so not overly sure where they came from. 

I then stenciled through die pieces with Distress Ink - Peacock Feathers and Scattered Straw.
I then used Pebeo Antique White to cover an 8x8 canvas, before brushing on DoCrafts Artiste Sea Spray across the top half - I kept the paint quite wet and blended the two in the middle.
The next step was to play with my new eBrush. I was really impressed at how quick it was to get going with this piece of kit - and really easy to use. I have an old 12x12 storage box that I placed my canvas in, stuck The Crafter's Workshop Mini Microbial stencil on, and then masked the surrounding area. I used GT1, BT4 and BT5 with the brush to get a gradient effect. I was a bit worried about ruining my stencil - but a wipe over with Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink Blending Solution - and it's fine!! 
After that I mixed some more Sea Spray with Lagoon, before applying the paint with a stencil brush through the Imagination Crafts Honeysuckle stencil. I did this near opposite corners of the canvas. 

I then used a Pearlescent Texture paste that I bought in a set from Lidl, with the same Honeysuckle stencil, placed slightly further out from each corner. 
I used the same paste with That Special Touch Polka Dots stencil, to add a little more texture in the other two corners, and spread some with my fingers around the edges. I also added in a little gold paste there too.
A few Dovecraft paper flowers, buttons and pearls finished it all off nicely.

Make sure that you pop over to The Mirror Crack'd blog to check out all the other fab inspiration from the team. We really look forward to seeing all of your creations!!

I would like to enter this into:
ABC Challenges - A is for Anything Goes
Country View Challenges - Use Something New to You (eBrush)
Imagination Crafts - Anything Goes

Cxxx

6 comments:

  1. stunning project Carole, and love the effect with the stencils! gorgeous!
    Kim x

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  2. Wow, what a great projec!
    Love the colours you've choosen.

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  3. Great project Carole, love the stencil and the colours. Happy crafting, Angela x

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  4. Gorgeous project, love the design and your colour choice. Thanks for joining us at ABC, good luck with the challenge. hugs Shirleyxxxxxxxx

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  5. Love the way you have done this. Like the Honeysuckle stencil too. xx

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  6. Pretty creation in gorgeous colours. Thanks for sharing with us at ABC Challenges.

    Nikki

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Thank you so much for visiting my blog and leaving a comment!! I really appreciate it!! Cxx