On your bike!

A quick make to share today. A birthday card for an avid cyclist.

The decoupaged image is a La Pashe traditional decoupage sheet - Sports & Hobbies - Cycling Gear. Not really a great fan of fussy cutting, but this wasn't too bad and the result was worth it. The red card was embossed with Sara Signature Just for Men Checker Plate. 

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

Anyone for a beer?

Afternoon, I have been busy crafting on some messy stuff for the past four days!! It's the most inspired I have been in ages - to the point where I got so carried away, that I forgot to feed the dog this morning!! Don't worry - she's got a full belly now! I will share all that at a later date - lots of step by step stuff to sort and edit.

Anyway, a quick card to share today - this one is made using Create and Craft's Birthday Celebrations kit. Orange is not usually a colour I would reach for - but really like how this turned out. It's not complicated - but still effective.

The image on the topper is just perfect for a man's card. The matching backing card is really effective - and all I added was the die cut name (Crafter's Companion Diamond Press Block Alpha) and the buttons.

Hopefully he'll have received this today - before I plaster it all over social media.

Cxxx 

Applique House

Here is the third in my set of sewn applique card. They are for a group of friends - seven in total - so four more will appear through the rest of the year!!

This one uses Crafter's Companion Cottage Applique die set, with lots of little scraps from my box. This was ironed onto a piece of calico, then quilted onto patterned and plain cotton. 

The frame is cut with Spellbinders Grand Scalloped Squares from a 12x12 sheet of DCWV Luxury Cardstock Stack. It's finished off with flat back pearls, paper roses, and printed and satin ribbon.

Cxxx 

A Pink Thank You

It's getting to the time of year when lots of people are looking to say thank you to teachers and other school staff. I was asked to make a couple of thank you cards - this is the first of them.

The base is a 7x7 scalloped card blank. I started by adding a piece of pink paper (I think from Kanban Love and Marriage paper pad), and softened it by adding a piece of the printed acetate from Sara Signature Flutterby collection. The outer pink frame (cut with Spellbinders Grand Squares) and the inner pink mat are from a very old Create and Craft Textured Card pad.  

The patterned papers are from pads bought at The Works. I then used Crafter's Companion 5x5 Country Garden Create a Card, to cut the decorative mat from Centura Pearl Snow White card. For the coloured parts, I re-cut the die with pink papers and fussy cut the pieces out. 

The sentiment is Crafter's Companion Classique Only Words, and the circle mount is the centre of Crafter's Companion 6x6 Aurora Create a Card die. I finished off with paper roses from The Range, and organza ribbon. 

Back soon (hopefully)

Cxxx

50th Birthday Teacup

It was my lovely sister-in-law's 50th birthday recently, and I made her this card for the big day. The card is 8" x 8", and I used a topper and backing card from Create & Craft's - Birthday Celebrations Pack. Both were mounted onto red card for an extra "pop". The numbers are cut with Crafter's Companion 1" dies, and the name with Essentials Alphabet dies. 

I added a massive bow made of red organza and a co-ordinating pinky satin, topped with a Hobby House Sparkler. A very simple - but hopefully very effective - card.

Cxxx

Just Playing!

You may have noticed that the fabulous Imagination Crafts has joined Crafter's Companion with their amazing range of mixed media products. I've been a bit lacking in motivation recently, so it's taken me a while to have a play. 

I treated myself to a selection of goodies and for this project I used: 

Rice papers - 399 and 403

Magi-Bond Decoupage glue

Fabric decoupage glue

Starlight Paints - Heather, Clotted Cream,Topaz

Starlight Wax - Dark Orchid

Stencil - A4 - Crosshatch Elements

Magi-Cutz - Moroccan Trellis

I also used:

Crafter's Companion Watercolour card

Crafter's Companion Essentials Flowers for All Occasions 3 & 4

A mirror frame (bought loads of these years ago from Ikea)

Pebeo White Gesso

Wooden Butterflies, old buttons, ribbon, lace and pearls from my stash

Art Basics Heavy Body gel

I started by mixing Heather with white gesso and covering the complete frame. I then layed out the the rice papers to decide where they would go, and used water to help me tear them. 

 The rice paper was stuck down with Magi Bond decoupage glue.

Next, I stuck down a load of old buttons - the sort you wouldn't really want to use on anything special. Because I wanted them to stick really well, I used Heavy Body Gel - this stuff is amazing at sticking - but don't expect to ever remove it afterwards!!  

Dark Orchid Starlight wax mixed with a bit of water was sponged through the Crosshatch Elements stencil on the bottom left corner, and also over the buttons.

As I wanted quite pastel colours in the background, I mixed all three Starlight paints with with gesso.

The Clotted Cream mix was painted over the buttons. 

This was also dabbed over the other parts of the frame. The brush I was using is very old and clumpy and formed just the right kind of texture to dab on. I repeated this with some of the two colours. 

It was also used to base coat the two wooden butterflies. 

And to paint onto watercolour card to cut the flowers.  I also used Clotted Cream directly over the Topaz/gesso mix.

As ever, I managed to forget to photograph a lot of stages towards the end. So, I adhered a piece of white lace down the right hand side, and a piece of white organza ribbon across the bottom - both with the fabric decoupage glue. The gesso mix of paints was dabbed over them.

Next, pieces of the magi cut were covered with Dark Orchid Starlight Wax, and the butterflies were painted directly with the Starlights. I also dabbed the Starlights over the buttons. Dark Orchid was also used to edge the mirror. Finally the flowers were cut out, arranged and a small pearl placed in the centre.

There are a few things I would change - but overall I'm pretty happy for a first play with a big range of products.

Off to think about what to do next with all these goodies!! 

Cxxx