Circles and Furry Things

Morning. It's another new week. I've just kind of bumbled through this past one, with plenty of baking and tidying keeping me occupied in the not so nice weather.

And a new week means a new challenge over at Use Your Craft Stash. This week it's Furry Critters and/or circles. So any animal with fur or just use circles - whichever is easier. And of course, we would love to see any type of craft within the theme. 

I chose to use this Darkroom Door Eclectic Stamp called Sitting Dog. It was a gift from a good crafty friend of mine, and I'm ashamed to say that I've never used it before.  And to stamp it, I dug out another piece of stash which wasn't even out of the bag - this Crafter's Companion Stamping Mat.  I stamped the image using Gathered Twigs Distress Ink onto Neenah Classic Crest Card.

I marked out the circle I would be cutting out, so as I didn't bother colouring too big an area. I used water to move the Distresss Ink and added a little more detail by going back in with the ink on a brush. The tongue was coloured with Watermelon Aqua Pencil (Crafter's Companion) from the Florals tin.

The background was created using Charcoal Brown Aqua Pencil from the Essentials Tin, and Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. To keep with the theme, I mounted it onto circles of card - all from my scraps box.  The large piece of brown card at the back has an aperture cut into it (where you can see the white) and was embossed using Crafter's Companion Textures Distress 8x8 folder.

We look forward to seeing what you come up with this week. 

Take care,

Cxxx

Things With Wings

Where has that last week gone. Despite lockdown, I seem to be so busy with a never ending list of things to do!!  Far too much baking and eating in there!! Anyway, this week's theme at Use Your Craft Stash is Things with Wings. Quite a broad theme covering anything from birds and bugs to fairies. 

I dug out a really old X Cut Large Owl die. I've had it years and probably only used it twice before.

I have also been trying to use scraps of card and paper rather than cutting into new sheets (although heaven knows, I have enough new sheets), so I dug around and pulled out some colours I like the idea of.

I went for pink, cream and brown - and pulled out what I thought went together.

I cut the pieces for the owl, in predominantly brown card, with just a bit of the patterned card left over from a Hunkydory kit.

I wanted to have some flowers on the front, and decided to use a new die - yes I know, we're supposed to be using stash up - but this is one I really wanted for using with flower forming foam.  So, I cut the three sizes of flower from a mixture of cream and pink card, and the Hunkdory patterned card, and an offcut of Crafter's Companion A3 card - I think it was Shabby Chic.

As you can see from the end photograph, everything looks quite grungy, rather than the clean colours of the scraps, and that's because I inked it all with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. 

Having dug out my box of Cut and Dry - and I discovered yet more unused and forgotten stash in the form of Distress Mica Sprays!! Oops!!

I think I was a bit heavy handed (as usual) with the ink - but am happy with the grungy look.

The flowers dies are roses (Sara Signature Garden of Love) so I folded one of the smallest size into a bud for the centre.

Finally, I assembled it all  and added some large pearls for the eyes, and decorated the edges with more pearls.

Take care and stay safe, 

Cxxx

A little something to pass the time.

Today being Sunday, I decided to do something just for me and because I can. Back at Christmas time, I was buying a few bits and pieces and picked this up this little MDF Craft Room Door Hanger from The Wooden Shape Company. It measures roughly 19cm by 8.5cm. It's one of those things that has been rattling around in my stash, just waiting for me to have some time. I have done a step by step for anyone who is interested or really has nothing better to do - but feel free to skip it. This is the finished product:

This is how it came - the hanger and all the pieces. As you can see, I didn't use all the embellishments.

I then had a trawl around to see what I could decorate it with, and decided to go with some Imagination Crafts Rice Paper, left over from another project, and some Starlight Paints.

First step was to gesso both sides of the hanger before applying the rice paper using Imagination Crafts Decoupage Plus Satin.

    

  

I used lots of little scraps of leftover rice paper to cover the back in a similar way.

   

It took me ages to find a layout I liked - and even then didn't follow it completely when I assembled it. And I only used some of the colours of paint that I got out - and a couple of the Imagination Crafts Art Stamps.

   

I used the stamps with Distress Oxide, building up some layers with Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo.

    

More texture was added using Imagination Crafts Baby Bubbles Stencil and Shabby Chic Texture Paste in Linen. When this was dry, I went over with more Vintage Photo Distress Oxide.

       

The MDF embellishments were painted with Topaz, Antique Gold, Clotted Cream and Salmon Starlight paints and attached with hot glue. I finished it off - as I always seem to do - with some flat backed pearls and ribbon.

Stay safe and take care,

Cxxx

Mixing it up!!

Have been working on a few bits and pieces - really messy, mixed media type stuff. This is the first of my pieces. A canvas with the focal point being a gorgeous rose image. 

What I used

8x8 Canvas                      

White Gesso                           

Crafter's Companion Textures Elements Stamps- Words to Inspire 2

Brilliance Ink - Galaxy Gold

Memento - Espresso Truffle

Prima Finnabair Art Ingredients - Melange Art Pebbles

Metal Butterfly

Imagination Crafts: 

Starlight Paints - Clotted Cream, Topaz, Mint; 

Mix Media Ink Sprays - Light Blue, Sunshine, Dark Brown;

Structure Paste;

Starlight Wax - Diamond, White Gold;

A4 Stencil - Past Times;

Art Stamps - Distress Set 1;

Just Pearls - Antique Brown;

Magi Bond Decoupage Glue.

I started by wetting the rice paper to take out the piece I wanted for the canvas.

 I mixed Clotted Cream with white gesso, and covered the background.

I also mixed Topaz with white gesso and dry brushed this on, creating a vertical and horizontal texture.

I did the same with the Mix Media Sprays, to create a green paint for dry brushing on the canvas.  

I cleaned up the mess by spritzing my mat with water, and then smooshing a piece of card over the top.

 I'm sure it'll come in useful for something!! 

The border part of the stencil was all I wanted to use so I taped it off, and spread structure paste through the stencil onto the canvas.

As ever with me, I then got carried away and forgot to photograph the next couple of steps. So, once the Structure Paste was dry, I added the Rice Paper in the middle with Decoupage Glue. I then put the stencil back over and sponged Dark Brown Mix Media Ink Spray through, and over the Structure Paste.

I also used Topaz over the stencil to add depth. More Clotted Cream and Gesso were mixed, and used to stamp texture over the structure paste and other areas.

 With the script stamp, I used Diamond Starlight Wax to stamp onto the canvas.

The word "sentiment" was stamped once with Brilliance Galaxy Gold, and then re-stamped with Memento Espresso Truffle. I used the washi tape to help stamp in the correct place the second time.  

White Gold Starlight Wax was used to add highlights to the Structure paste, and also brushed on to areas of the rose. The final touches were: Just Pearls - Antique Brown, highlighted with White Gold wax, a metal butterfly and the Melange Art Pebbles.

Phew!! Have a few more step by steps in the coming weeks. Looking forward to sharing them with you. 

Cxxx

Framed Rose Picture

The 3D folders are back today with lots more inspiration from Debbie. And don't forget there are some amazing stamps and dies to go with them. 

I used one of the stamps from the Beautiful Bouquet stamp set coloured with Fired Brick and Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and cut out into a fram with the Parisian Mirror Die. In the background, I used the Textured Swirls embossing folder, with more of the Walnut Stain and Fired Brick. The butterfly is from the Take Flight die set, and the swirl at the bottom from the Floral Delight die set.

Debbie will be back with more shows at 4pm and 7pm today. 

Embossed Tag

Back this morning with another sample using the new 3D embossing folders from Crafter's Companion.

I inked the folder with Toffee Crunch Memento Ink, the ran it through the machine to create the colour in the background. I added more colour with Picked Raspberry and Peeled Paint Distress Oxides. 

Take care,

Cxxx

Hello Sunshine!

Evening - more inspiration for the 3D embossing folders will be on Hochanda at 7pm. I love the combination of the Country Cottage folder with the Cottage Window Die.

This time I used Antique Linen, Worn Lipstick, Bundled Sage and Weathered Wood Distress Inks, to add colour to the folder and die. Behind it, and as a mat, I have used papers from Sara Signature Shabby Chic Collection.

The sentiment is from the "Say It With Words" stamp set that is part of the collection, and I used the Rose Vine Die for embellishment.

Take care,

Cxxx