Christmas Is Coming!

Good afternoon and a very happy Tuesday. Just a  quick post from me today to share the MDF pieces that I made for Lisa Horton's shows on Create and Craft last week. They are all fabulous designs, and importantly, take anything that you can throw at them (including half a pot of texture sand paste that I used to cover up the mess that I'd made)

All of the mediums are from  DecoArt, including the multi media range, glass paints, and good old Snowtex.

For this one I've used lots of lovely glass paint on to acetate, I would normally put the smooth side to the front, but I wanted the texture to show. The frame has been covered with gilding flakes.

This is such a sweet frame and you get 2 in the set, so that means 2 of these gorgeous deer. For this one, I've used DecoArt Multi Media paint and lots of Snowtex.

Now this one, oh my life what hasn't it had on it! I wanted to do a distressed metal effect so put lots of rusty effect colours but it looked awful! I'm a bit out of practice with the old rust effect and some of my teamies had done this and theirs looked wonderful. No way could I let mine stand next to theirs lol. So I took my Deco Art Texture Sand Paste and gave it a very good coating. It would either cover the multitude of sins or it would all fall apart! I then walked away and left it overnight. I hardly dare look the morning after but it was still standing and it looked rather well! You could still see little glints of the silver showing through which looked quite icy so all was well. I added little touches of watery blues and silvers which sat nicely in the crackle from previous layers. The candle is for display purposes only, I couldn't get a battery one, but now The Range is full of them bless 'em!

Now this one is for people of a certain age! Who remembers 'the test card and some music' This was such fun to do and what's a TV ariel for if not to wrap tinsel around! It's also a great size to use as a shadow box, so fab and functional, just like me 😉

All of the MDF is available from Create & Crafts - and there's a 4 x Flexi-pay offer at the moment - just saying! It will also be available directly from Lisa soon, and it's free p&p on orders over £30.00

Take care and have a very happy week x

Shoot For The Moon

Good morning and happy Wednesday. Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with my Stampotique Canvas.

This is very much inspired by a Mixed-Up tutorial that featured Just A Girl And Her Imagination stamps, I loved the look of it, but didn't want to copy so I tried to go my own way.

 Just look at that, a blank canvas. Isn't it the scariest thing you've ever seen!

 So much finger painting later and I have a background.

 Next, I wanted some crackle clouds for my sky, so out with the crackle paste and my homemade stencils. 

 I also wanted a bit more texture on my canvas so I used a sponge and more paint.

 Next, I added some text stamping with one of my favourite Stampotique text stamps.

 I also added lots of texture pastes through stencils.

 I love how these clouds and stars look.

 I wanted to stamp onto silver, but I hate stamping onto Mirri card so I painted my own silver card.

 This was for Angelboy, another of my favourite stamps.

 In fact, I've used lots of my favourites here. The background is Journey Collage - this and Shoot For The Moon are two of my - you've guessed it, favourite sentiments.

So here we are, all done, and I have to say it, I really like this. There are oodles of Stampotique stamps here in Dot's store, and more are arriving soon.

I hope you like my canvas, and join in with our challenge over at Ink Art Designs.
I'm linking my canvas to this months TIMI anything goes challenge at Craft Stamper.

Take care, and thanks very much for looking x

Live Life Now

Good morning and happy Thursday. I've been wanting to alter a clipboard for ages, and now seemed like a good time as the Visible Image Facebook group has a Rainbow challenge, and I knew that I wanted to use lots of bright colours.

I started by sponging my clipboard with all the colour of the rainbow with DecoArt paints.

Then added background stamping with Distress Oxides in the same colour families.

Then more background stamping, this time in black, I've also added some quotes and white paint through a VI stencil.

I couldn't resist some silver embossing too. I love how it's grabbed onto the Distress Oxides too so I have random patches of silver.

And my favourite part, adding oil pastels always seems to make the colours really pop!

Then lots of butterfly stamping and embossing. These have all been made from my bit box - never throw anything away!

And now all put together! Of course, it's useless as a clipboard but it's very pretty lol.

I'm entering my board into the Stamping Sensations challenge which is Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

I hope you have a very happy day, stay safe, and thanks so much for looking x

Best Of Friends

Good morning and happy Wednesday. It's a beautiful day here already, lots of sunshine, so it's a day in the garden for me. Today I'm joining in with the Stampotique Designer's Challenge which is Tags Galore.

I started by painting my wooden tag with lots of DecoArt paint, then lots of Stampotique stamping also with paint to add a bit of texture. Then I cleaned my painty stamps straight away - so not like me!

These are my two best friends Moody and Pedro.
I hope you have a great day whatever you are doing. It may not be what we want to do but at least we are still here to do it.

I'm entering my tag into the Anything goes challenge at Tag Tuesday, (thanks for the nudge Valerie)  and the TIMI at Craft Stamper.
Take care and stay safe x

Take 3 Girls

Good morning and happy Sunday. Dot over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground has recently started stocking Art Journey stamps. Now I have some of these, but I've not inked them for such a long time, so I thought it was time to get them out of their box.

 I started by crackling and painting an old frame. It's been hanging in my craft room for about 5 years now so it needed a freshen up.

 Then I chose my lovely Art Journey stamps. They currently have a challenge which is 'Tiny' so I wanted stamps that you could just use a small part of. The insides of the frames are just 4cms square.

 So I've used Follow Me Girl.

 The very beautiful Freya (I used her instead of the girl from the Time plate)

And finally Girl.

I had such fun using these again - they're definitely not getting buried again, and it's nice to see the frame looking loved again.

I'm linking this to the Art Journey Tiny challenge, and to More Mixed Media, where the optional theme is blue. I'm also joining in with the challenge at A Vintage Journey where the theme is 'We're All Getting Older'I hope you like it, and thanks very much for looking xx

Doing The Happy Dance

Good morning, happy Wednesday, and Happy New Year! Well how can you follow a new year and a new decade, other than to announce a new challenge at Country View Crafts! Our first challenge of the year has been chosen by Monika, and it's LOVE. Here's what she has to say.

This month I will be your hostess and I chose the theme LOVE but in a broader sense. I don't think about only romantic love. You can love your mother or father, your sister or brother, your daughter or your son, your dog or your cat. You can even love your job, your hobby or your life! Any love is welcome here :-)  

Here's the birthday card that I made for my sister at the end of last year.

 I started by making a painty background with a gelli plate and some DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics, then added some stamping.

 The PaperArtsy Zinski sheep have also beens stamped onto gelli prints and cut out. My Trish Lattimer girl has been stamped onto fabric, I think she looks rather fetching in polka dots.

 I also made some red hearts for my background.

And here we are, all done. My sister loved it, and I hope you do too. A very happy new year to you all, my crafty resolution this year is to use up some of my stash - yes even the good 'best' stuff. What is your resuloution this year?

Have a brilliant January, and thanks so much for looking x

Never Have A Closed Mind

Good morning and happy Monday. Today I'm sharing a mini album that I made for a recent Craftascope show on Hochanda.

This is the front cover. The chipboard had been painted with lots of DecoArt paints and crackle mediums. The image is from the Splinters in Time collection.

The inside is an Indigo Blu concertina cotton rag book. On one side I've used some Craftascope stencils and sentiment stamps.

There are five 'pages' on each side, so lots of room for stamping.

And on the reverse I've used images from the Scenes in Time and Lush Landscape plates.

There's also the brick wall again from Splinters in Time.

And another painty and crackly cover on the back.

I'm entering this into this months Mini Album Makers challenge.
Have a very happy week, and thanks so much for looking x

Craftascope One Day Special - Your Journey Never Ends

Good morning and happy Sunday, I hope the weather is being kind to you. At the moment we are in Spain, so life is very good! 

The lovely Nick has had a Craftascope One Day Special over on Hochanda on Friday and Saturday with his 'Splinters In Time' collection, so people on facebook will have seen sneak peeks of my samples. I'll be blogging some on here too as this is my own personal record of my makes 'cos I really will have to start deleting some photo's from my phone.

First up is an A4 album.

This is a bit of an 'everything but the kitchen sink' cover. It's made from a Zutter A4 size chipboard cover, so it's taken all the paints and mediums perfectly. I've used lots of Decoart Media paints and texture paste here, together with Craftascope stencils. The man's face is from the Build a Man stamp set to which I've added some Day of the Dead features as the ODS ran into the 2nd November. The die cut leaves are from a set that Nick will be bringing to Hochanda on Monday, so be sure to watch. 

 I've kept the inside of the covers very simple - I've just used the Retro Rounds strip die on black and white card.

Page one has been made on hessian and uses the Eastern Delight and Fantasy Fields stencils, together with lots more DecoArt paint. The trees are from the Lush Landscapes sheet and have been stamped into UTEE. Although these are clear stamps you can treat them as rubber, so it's not a problem stamping into melted UTEE.

 This is another fabric page, together with lots of handmade papers. The brick wall is from the Splinters In Time sheet, and the scene is from 'Scenes In Time'

This page again has been made using lots of fabric and the Scenes in Time stamps.

And finally the back cover using stamps from the Build A Man and Helping Hands set. Both of the sentiments are from Lush Landscapes.

I'm entering my journal into this month's Mini Album Makers challenge, and the cover into the ongoing Dream In Darkness challenge. 

I hope you like it, I'll be back later in the month with some more of my samples. 

Have a very happy week, and thanks so much for looking x