Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: Monster Door Hanger

Hello all!

A special post for me today.

As I was lucky enough to be given the title 'Queen of Snark' in the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers, L is for Legend challenge, I now have the opportunity to post a project for the new challenge 'E is for embossing'...

I wanted to create something a bit different to my usual style using both types of embossing.  This was an ideal technique for me as I love adding texture to my projects and heat embossing was one of the first things that got me into a love of stamping. 

I decided to use a monster set and sentiment from Dylusions, so started by stamping the parts I wanted using versamark ink and then heat embossing with black powder...

 They were then coloured using alcohol markers...

I painted an MDF door hanger using silver paint and then sprayed a piece of white card with some inks.  I used Dylusions black and white as well as Lindys stamp gang steel and teal and dried with a heat tool.  This was then put through my Grand Calibur in a pebble embossing folder from the Crafters Companion texture range.  After drawing around the door hanger and cutting out the card into the correct shape I added silver and teal gilding wax to highlight the texture on the card, then stuck it to the door hanger using an acrylic glue...

To add even more texture I swiped my versamark ink pad around the top and bottom of the hanger and heat embossed with some aged silver powder. 

All the pieces were attached to the hanger using glue gel and a piece of silver cord added.  I then decided to add an extra layer to my 'monster' so stamped, cut out and coloured the head part again to add extra dimension...

I thought this would be good for a teenagers door!!

I hope you liked it, please do pop on over to the challenge blog for a look.

I will be back on Monday,

Jane x

Wonderful Wednesday: Under The Sea

Hello once again,

Today I have made something completely different although still with a mixed media feel!

I have done so much with flowers lately that I fancied a total change of style so got out some fun stamps that I bought in a sale a while ago.  They are a sea creature set by Dylusions, I really loved the quirky feel and thought they would make great cards with a bit of a twist from the usual, so that is what I have done.

I started by stamping out a selection of the creatures using versamark and heat embossed them with black powder.  Then I cut them out and coloured using alcohol markers.  I wanted a contrasting background so used brushos to create a watery feel.  Ultramarine, turquoise and leaf green were sprinkled onto white card and then spritzed with gold mica spray to activate them...

Some bubbles were stamped onto the background and embossed in gold and then spearmint sparkle paste added through a stencil to create some foliage at the bottom of the card...

 

The sentiment was stamped onto black card and embossed with gold powder.  These were then put in place along with the sea creatures and attached using glue gel.  Finally the card was mounted onto black and then added to a 7" square card...

I think the creatures are really cute and quirky!! 

I will be back next on Saturday instead of Friday this week as I have got a post to link up with another blog, more quirkiness will be in that one too...

Hopefully see you soon,

Jane x

Mixed Media Monday: Recycled Flower Bottle

 

 

Hello!

 

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend.  Mine has been very busy but great fun!  Saturday morning lots of lovely craftiness at Alexandra Palace then the rest of the weekend at LEGOLAND, Windsor.  We all had a great time, but do need to have a rest today as there was a lot of walking, but can thoroughly recommend the resort, especially for children!!

 

I am back with a mixed media project today and I am entering it into the following challenges...

 

* Mixed Media Mojo - Recycle (option of metal)

 

* Country View Challenge - Spring

* Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes

* Craft Stamper - Spring Flowers

* A Vintage Journey - Spring is in the Air

 

I recently posted some projects using Finnabair's new sculpture medium, so I decided to try out another type of structuriser called Powertex.  This works in much the same way but the fabric did feel quite a lot harder when this had dried.  I used a recycled bottle and some strips of an old white sheet to start my structure.  The fabric is dipped into the product then applied, it is the same sort of consistency as PVA glue.  I did not have a plan of how I wanted to apply the fabric so just went with the flow!  Here is how it looked after being left to dry for a couple of days...

 



When it was thoroughly dry I used lemon meringue cottage paint from IndigoBlu to paint the whole bottle, then spritzed it with some mixed media inks from Imagination, fuschia and yellow.  After drying it off with a heat tool I added gold gilding wax to highlight the texture...

Using the same ink sprays plus some white, I created some sheets of card to match the bottle for making my flowers.  The Arianna Bloom stamp from Heartfelt Creations was stamped using versamark then embossed with twinkling lights embossing powder by Wow!  These were then cut out using the matching die...

The flowers were shaped with an embossing tool and glued together with a gem added to each centre.  I made 4 different sizes and then glued them to the bottle using glue gel.  Metal leaves were added and then a variety of micro beads and other beads for added texture.  I stamped out some butterflies from a Bee Crafty set to match the flowers and added metal wire coils for the antennae.  Here is the finished bottle in full...

Here are some close up pictures to show some more of the details...

I think this would make a nice alternative vase for some spring flowers, so I may try it out!

I will be back with another project on Wednesday,

Jane x

Funtastic Friday: Black and Gold

Hello!

Another week nearly over already, where does the time go?

I am entering today's project into the following challenges...

* Mixed Media Monthly - Dimension

* Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes
* Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Goes
* Creative Artiste - Challenge 13: Anything Goes (Option of chipboard, stencils or flowers)

Today I have got a project that is very different from my last one as it is classic black and gold.
I didn't take any step by step photos but have tried to take a range of photos of the finished project so that I can explain each part.

I started with a plain box from IndigoBlu which I painted with black gesso.  Using a stencil and white crackle paste, I put some pattern around the main box and onto the lid to add some texture and dimension.  Once this had dried it was covered once again with black gesso and then gold gilding wax added to highlight the pattern...

To decorate the top I wanted to add some flowers, but not too many as I wanted to keep the box quite classic.  I chose a selection of white paper flowers from my stash and sprayed them with black dylusions ink.  To make sure they dried completely I used my heat tool then added some more gold gilding wax.  After positioning them on the box I added a few gold coloured stamens and found a black and gold bead to put at the top of some strands of gold organza ribbon.  This was all stuck down with glue gel...

Here are a couple of pictures of the entire box to finish...

We are off to Crafting at Ally Pally in London on Saturday then the rest of the weekend at LEGOLAND so we will be pretty busy but should be lots of fun!

I have already got Monday's project in hand so hopefully that will be on the blog!!

Enjoy your weekend whatever you are up to,

Jane x

Wonderful Wednesday: Daisy Delights!

Hello and I hope your week has been wonderful so far!

I have had a lovely start to the week getting nice and painty with some bright spring like colours.

My project today is being entered into the following challenges...

* IndigoBlu Challenge Blog - Pink, Yellow and Green
* Fantasy Stampers - In The Springtime
* Country View Challenge Blog - Spring
* That's Crafty - All Things Bright and Beautiful
* Craft Stamper - Spring Flowers
* More Mixed Media - Yellow

My main inspiration were the colours as I have just got the latest pots of cottage paints from IndigoBlu - Marshmallow, Lime Marmalade and Lemon Meringue, they are so gorgeous I really wanted to use them and they go really well together.  For me the start of spring makes me think of daisies growing in the grass.  I have always thought it was a lovely sight, so decided to use the 'Colour Me Daisy' stamp as my focal image as well as a daisy based sentiment from the 'Enjoy Life' set (both from IndigoBlu). 

I wanted to make a large canvas in a decorated frame to be a colourful statement piece for the wall, so started by putting the 3 colours down onto a 12" x 12" canvas board and then spritzing with water to blend them together...

 

 

Using the Vintage Flourish stamp, flitterglu was stamped onto the canvas and then gold gilding flake added...

 

 

To add some more dimension I used Golden Pink and Spearmint sparkle paste from Imagination Crafts through 2 different IndigoBlu stencils...

 

 

 

I then created a piece of coloured card for the main daisy stamp to go onto by painting a piece of white card in the same way as the canvas then spritzing.  Once it had been thoroughly dried I heat embossed the daisy stamp 3 times with gold powder.  These were cut out with a rounded square die and matted onto some vintage gold card.  The daisy sentiment was heat embossed straight onto the same gold card then all 4 pieces placed onto the canvas using glue gel...

 

 

 

I felt that I wanted some extra elements to add to the canvas so used the same paint again to paint 3 sheets of card and then stamped the vintage flourish using gold ink.  Once this had dried I cut flowers out using a daisy die from Heartfelt Creations as well as some leaves.  I shaped the flowers before sticking them together and adding a gem to the centres.  When I put them against the canvas they seemed too bright and clashed a bit with what was there so I added some gold spray and gilding wax and then splashed on some watered down Goldfinger paint as well.  This helped to tone it all together better. 

When the flowers had been stuck down I looked through my bead stash for yellow, pink and green beads of different tones and sizes.  These were then added in amongst the flowers and finally a splash of green micro beads added...

 

 

 

I also took some close up photos before framing just in case the glass in the frame meant I couldn't take any pictures very well...

 

 

To frame the piece I painted a pine coloured frame using white gesso then dry brushed using Goldfinger paint.  The frame was finished with a bit of gilding wax to age it before adding a few finishing touches.  On another sheet of card with the same 3 paints I stamped the Big Butterfly (IndigoBlu) using versamark and heat embossed with gold powder.  This was then cut out and stuck to a corner of the frame with 3 other flowers.  Here is the final piece...

 













 

This will be hung somewhere in my house, just got to decide where now!!

 

I will be back on Friday with a new project, I think it may have a bit of a black and gold theme.

 

Enjoy the rest of your week,

 

Jane x 

Mixed Media Monday: Resin Heart Pendant

Hello, I hope you had a good weekend!

 

Mine was a bit busy so I didn't manage to get what I wanted made for today so I am posting something I made a little while ago instead.

 

Back last summer I discovered the joys of resin and had a massive jewellery making session!

 

The part I really liked was being able to create some quite different and mixed media pieces that were then able to be worn.

 

Here is one of the larger pendants that I made...

 

I die cut a piece of paper for the bottom and sealed it using mod podge.  The words were from one of the Tim Holtz sticker pads and these were also sealed.  I then added beads, watch parts and charms before putting in the resin and leaving to cure...

I am going to be using some lovely bright paints this week to hopefully create a canvas to show you on Wednesday,

Have a lovely start to the week,

Jane x 

Funtastic Friday: Fairy Legend

Hello and welcome to the last post of this week!

The sun has now started shining again here which has meant the children have at least been able to get outside for a bit during their school holidays.

My project today is being entered into the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge 'L is for Legend'.

The only legend type products I really have are related to fairies, so I decided to go for a sparkly, mystical fairy theme.

I started with an MDF hexagon with an outer frame.  It didn't have any holes for hanging so I used my dremel tool to make 2 holes at the top of one side...

 

 

I always prepare my MDF using white gesso so that the other products used do not soak into it too much.  Then I added light paste though a 'reverse chicken wire' and 'mini art is' stencils from TCW...

 

 

Once fully dried I painted the pieces using blue and purple shades of Imagination Starlight paints as they have a beautiful shimmer that I wanted for the magical theme.  I used Mediterranean Sky, Sax Blue and Amethyst as well as adding a bit of Pearl.  I painted the colours in strips then spritzed with water at the joins and blended them together...

 

 

 

Silver gilding wax was added to highlight the texture then I painted some of the colours onto card and stamped the butterfly from a Bee Crafty stamp set in versamark and embossed with silver powder...

 

 

 

Five butterflies were cut out then I chose the three that I wanted to use on the project.  I then looked through my box of paper flowers and stems and chose a selection of blue and purple pieces.  After placing them and the butterflies to decide where I wanted them, they were glued down with glue gel for a strong hold, and I added some curled silver wire to the butterflies as antennae.  The hanger was also made using silver wire to match the rest of the piece...

 

 

 

The whole plaque was left to dry overnight so that the glue would be completely set.

I wanted some words that would fit with the feel, so had a look through my Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers and found 'leave a little sparkle wherever you go'.  I die cut a large fairy and some small fairies out of black card (dies by Joanna Sheen) and chose where to place them.  For an extra sparkle I used 2 chunky glitters from Chloe Endean to match the colour scheme and used a white acrylic based glue to stick them down. 

Finally all the rest of the pieces were glued on using glue gel and some touches of glitter glue added...

 

 

It is much more sparkly in real life than can be captured in the pictures!

 

Have a lovely weekend.  I will be at a monthly vintage and craft fair this Sunday and Jayne who runs it always has lovely cakes so I should be ok!!

 

I will be back with another project on Monday,

 

Jane x