Which Witch?

      Hello everyone! And thank you so much to all who have joined my blog. I have reached 100 followers!

   This was a project that at first glance at the challenge my gut instinct was "Nope, I can't do that"...but I carried on reading and something sparked in my imagination, ideas began to happen. Me, being me, I just dismissed them, but they kept lurking....and I was starting to think "Perhaps?"

        The subject was 'Fairytales, into our Steampunk world' and the idea in my head was the Wizard of Oz....a favourite story of mine.

      I still had one of the houses from the Range and I wanted to make the house very Steampunk (if I could figure out how, having never done Steampunk before) and I would focus on the Wicked Witch of the West.....

       Like I said, Steampunk wasn't something I had ever done before...I did some research online, found some amazingly inspiring things and began to make notes of what I had that I could use on this project...It seemed I had enough items to have a go and I thought "Lets just see what happens"...I figured if Steampunk wasn't my thing, then no one need ever know about it ;o)

     The first idea that stuck in my head was this - I had the Wicked Witch of the West....

      I began to consider bringing all characters in - then I thought it would get too crazy! I decided to focus on the Wicked Witch of the West and her hunt for the ruby slippers.

       Here is the finished house - Sometimes I like how the photos turn out but today I think they are a bit disappointing - they really don't capture the magic of this. I am so pleased with how it turned out, but the photos sadly don't capture it....I even went outside to see if natural light helped....

      

      Anyway - enough of my poor photographs and on with how I did it!

          First I covered the walls with a set of brown paper, with Steampunk words and images. Then I had some metal embossed card and I covered it with black acrylic paint, smooshed over with a babywipe and then sprayed with metallic glimmer mists. I cut separate sections for the edge of the roof to give a slight 'winged' effect.

       Lets see all four sides of the house -

        The Wicked Witch of the West is, naturally, on the west side of the house - And she is looking for those ruby slippers....I stamped the image and painted her face with Peeled Paint DI and coloured the background to match the rest of the paper I chose for the house (Frayed Burlap was a good match) I cut her hat out of card, blended Black Soot DI and stamped an image of clocks over it with archival ink. I used glossy accents to create the glass on the binoculars.

       

I stuck the skull and crossbones behind her hat and cut a strip of metallic ribbon for her hat brim.

      As for her broom....well surely a Steampunk witch will have a steering wheel? I used a twig from the garden and using the same method as making the fringed flower, I made a broom, securing it with rusty wire and adding a few wire curls for an added mechanical look.

        The wings....I couldn't create a hurricane, so for this creation, the house 'flew'! I covered the wings with Frayed Burlap DI on both sides and then on the other side I spritzed with a variety of metallic glimmer mists.

    Now the South side of the house -

     .I attached various left over pieces of 'metal' effect card and attached gold brads. Texture paste was applied to corners and covered with copper glimmer mist painted on with a paintbrush. A bronze cog was added and I made a clock and compass out of images from the paper covering the walls and stuck onto various card and glossy accents were applied to make the glass effect. I also used bits of broken jewellery to the wire and the clock.

      This is the East side of the house -

   

       Again bits of leftover 'metal' was used to decorate the side of the house. A cog was stuck on and a heart cut of card, edged in frayed Burlap and had rusty wire wrapped around it with a compass stuck on that had been coated in glossy accents. The pendant had a clock face attached to it and then I applied glossy accents...after it had dried it looked too neat and not grungy enough...so I dabbed on some rock candy crackle glaze and after that was dry I wiped it with some black acrylic paint and then wiped the paint away revealing the cracks...

    And of course it is the East side of the house where the ruby slippers are

Lets see the North side of the house....

           Here you can see the cogs just below the roof. This was done with embossed card which had black acrylic paint smooshed over it with a babywipe. This was then covered with Tarnished Brass Distress Stain.
          I used bits of leftover 'metal' effect card...this time applying eyelets to one piece and threading rusty wire though - because the wire was difficult to bend it buckled the card giving a lovely wonky effect - Happy serendipity!

I attached a key and a metal label holder with the word 'Steampunk' inside. The pointing finger is declaring 'Danger' - as it is pointing to where the Wicked Witch of the West is beginning her search.....

      And the directions of the house? Indicated by the weathervane.....

     I constructed this from rusty wire. Made into a cross and stuck together at the joint with glue...I then moulded texture paste around the joint - to hide the wires and make it look more grungy.

     I drew the rooster shape and cut two pieces out of card. I painted them with Vintage Photo DP and then sprayed with a dark copper glimmer mist to give a rusty look. When the texture paste was dry I did exactly the same thing.

    I then got the N,S,E & W letters from my collection of metal letters (I wanted one of the letters to be smaller case so chose the 'E') I attached them to the wire, sticking leftover cog embossed card on the back and covering this with the copper glimmer mist painted on.

     I had the most wonderful time making this little house. I adored stepping into the world of Steampunk - It is so much fun! - and I do hope you have enjoyed seeing it!



             Hope to see you all soon!

       I would like to enter this into the following challenges -

Sandee & amelie's Steampunk Challenges - Fairytales into our Steampunk world 3D
Simon Says - Fly
Craft-room challenge - In the library

Paris in Springtime

    Hello everyone! Thanks to all of you who visit my blog and leave such lovely comments - I do appreciate you taking the time to visit - I will try and improve my visiting rate (it will be easier after the school holidays have ended!)

      Frilly and Funkie is a challenge I can't resist...The DT makes are so inspiring that by the time I have finished looking at them my head is buzzing with ideas. This creation, I am afraid, is a slight replica of 'Any eggscuse for chocolate'....I wanted to use acrylic paints for this challenge and as my Distress paints hadn't arrived at the point that I made this, I had to use my Fresco Vintage lace and French Roast. Luckily I love the colours and I felt they were ideal for this challenge but after I finished I realised just how similar the creation was to my previous Frilly and Funkie entry.

    So please forgive my lack of range of colours at the moment and lets see the Paris in Springtime creation.......

       I bought the wood heart decoration from the Range (another £1 bargain) and painted it with a coat of French Roast Fresco paint at the top and bottom. I then covered this with a thin coat of crackle glaze and then applied Vintage Lace acrylic paint all over....and watched as the gorgeous crackles appeared...

I chose some of the Melange tissue paper for its lovely french lettering and applied some over the top of the paint.

I stamped the Eiffel tower with black archival ink on tissue paper then cut that out and stuck it on.

I also stamped the postmark stamp from one of the Tim Holtz stamp collections in frayed Burlap and stuck this onto the heart.

    I made all the flowers using the tattered rose garland die cut. I chose to do just the Milled Lavender coloured flowers as these matched the ribbon I had in mind perfectly. You can see how I did the flowers by looking at my tutorial here.

 I added in some white flowers from a different die cut as a variation on my usual flower making.

     The butterfly was stamped in Frayed Burlap on tissue paper, stuck onto card and then stained with Tattered Rose and Weathered Wood Stain. Rusty wire formed the antennae......

I blended some Frayed Burlap over two swirls and applied them to the top and bottom of the heart

     I painted around the edges of the heart with French Roast Fresco paint after sanding the edges down to add to the shabby chic look.......A ribbon was tied around the twine already attached the heart and there is my 'Paris in Springtime' creation.

          Hope to see you back here next time - Have a great weekend!

I would like to enter this into the following challenges -

Frilly and Funkie - April in Paris
Country View Challenges - Butterflies
By the cute and girly  - Vintage

Panpastel - Use a stamped image
Simon Says  - Fly

        

This Ole House

     Hello to everyone peeking in this blog to see what I have made! Welcome to 'This Ole House'!

         I was on a shopping trip recently at 'The Range' and couldn't resist picking up a couple of paper mache houses. They were only £1 each so a real bargain and I couldn't wait to start decorating.

    ......"Home is where the heart is" came into my head and I thought of incorporating a heart and lots of shabbiness - Lets see what happened.....

    And as you can see it has a surprise.....

       The roof lifts off and......

 

Out pops a heart!

      I covered the sides of the house with some patterned paper. I decided to use corrugated card for the roof - leaving scraps of the paper covering over it to add to the shabby look. I painted the roof with Vintage Photo DP and dry brushed it with Fresco French Roast acrylic paint, adding a few streaks of Antique Linen DP afterwards to add highlights.

     The base section of the roof was painted in Bundled Sage DP and I wrote across it in white gel pen the words "I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself" which is a quote from Maya Angelou.

     The windows were made by covering a piece of card with Black Soot DI and drawing crooked window shapes with white gel pen. I cut them out and stuck them on to the building. The door was made with Fired Brick DI blended onto card and drawn over with black pen. I stamped some script stamp in archival black in over some of the sides of the house, randomly dabbing it in places, and then drew around the edges of the building in black pen.

      Various tissue tape was stuck onto the building and edges were darkened with Walnut stain DI. A metal cog was stuck to the back of the building and a section of a die cut was used as a plant at the front - covered with Peeled Paint DI.

The words were stamped with an alphabet stamp from the Range - another cheap £1 buy......I stamped the words and drew around them in black pen. I then smudged some Walnut Stain DI around the edges before sticking them on the roof.

         The inside of the box was covered with scraps of Melange tissue paper. When I select pieces I use for projects, sometimes I need to cut pieces off to get the right part....but it is all too precious to throw away the leftover bits....so I collect them all and when I need a very small amount I go to the scraps box rather than cut a new piece. This time I covered the box in all the scraps rather than cut new pieces for the box. So it was a really nice to get to use up some leftovers!

       After the glue was dry I covered it with a watery layer of Fresco Vintage Lace acrylic paint.

      I cut out a heart shape and inked it with Fired Brick DI. I blended some Black Soot DI around the edge and doodled over the heart with the white gel pen - one of my favourite things to do...just sitting there drawing random swirls heart, stitches and dots.

              I then wound some rusty wire into a spring and attached it to the back of the heart with some tissue tape..........

..............and attached the other end into the box with some more tissue tape (which blended in very well with the tissue paper already in there)

 - And finally, a little message for my mother-in-law, who will 'probably' like this little house - It is yours (If you want it!)

         Thank you so much for coming here to take a look - Please leave a comment! It would be lovely to know what you think of this ole house!

   I would like to enter this in the following challenges -

Try it on Tuesday - Spring is Sprung (Include something that moves) - The 'spring' in my project is the rusty wire spring attached to the heart - which moves.
Fashionable Stamping Challenges  - Journalling
Crafty-emblies - Anything goes
Anything but a card - Who are you inspired by? - Whenever I make anything 'House' or 'Miniature' related I am inspired by my mother-in-law (Cestina's dolls houses)
The Artistic Stamper - Texture

Per aspera ad astra

    Hello everyone! The title of this blog is quite apt today....I struggled with this creation and believe me I was tempted to chuck it in the bin on more than a one occasion...It has been quite a journey...

    I got my first Distress Paints a few days ago and have been having a fun time experimenting with them. Finding them a bit tricky at first, I gradually began to realise what they could do or not do...I LOVE the fact that the colour is permanent...I love how they blend and react with water....I wish the pale colours were a bit more opaque - but that is a minor complaint and probably unique to me!

     I didn't really have any ideas when I sat down to do this, other than I wanted to take part in the Inspiration Journal challenge - Marvelous Masks and Spectacular Stencils. I have some stencils and I planned to perhaps use some die cuts as stencils too....I was really wanting to play and see what happened.

   So I put some Antique Linen, Bundled Sage and Vintage Photo DP onto the mat and spritzed with water. Swirled some card in it and well, first one was too dark...too much Vintage Photo. Put that one aside to use another time - Do we ever throw anything away?!!! ;o) Now more Antique Linen and Bundled Sage and a little less Vintage Photo!

    I spent a while making several blended 'canvases' with the paints...each one obviously different from the last. I picked one up and looked closely at it and saw it looked very marble like, while the others had a more distinct streaky effect.....and suddenly I was thinking 'Roman' - I think my devotion to the re-runs of a popular Roman drama on T.V the last few weeks has influenced me! My husband said he really liked this and said "You've been watching too much 'I, Claudius'"!!

    I cut out a piece to fit a PaperArtsy hanging chunky board . Then I stencilled some texture paste with my new roman lettering template.

I watered down the Antique Linen DP and brushed a thin watery layer over the whole tag which seemed to enhance the marble like effect. I used Vintage Photo to add some swirls using die cut leftovers.

     Then things went very wrong....I wanted cracks....so I applied some crackle glaze. What was I thinking?!!! It was too shiny and ruined the lovely chalky matt effect. No worries (I was trying to maintain some confidence here) I will go over it with some Fresco French Roast paint....Now it looked like an awful mess....Ok...don't give up.....Spread some crackle glaze over the top...and Uh Oh....My palest acrylic colour is Vintage lace - which is too pink -.......Think, think, think.....I'll cover it with Antique Linen DP....Well, that didn't work! It is too watery and although it did crackle, it was very streaky and now there are just browny-beige blobs of slightly crackled paint around the edges.

      Bin?.....No, not yet. I left it for a while while I sat moodily bemoaning my uselessness. Returning to it another day I decided I wasn't going to be beaten....Per aspera ad astra.......well I might not reach the stars but I will damn well give it a good try!

     I had another go making the marble effect paper and with these sheets I covered some balsa wood and created a frame - which in the end reminded me of marble pillars so I was pleased with the effect. They covered up the worst of the brown semi-cracks.

    I wound some very thin strips of paper covered with vintage Photo DI around the pillars and I spent ages cutting out leaves from all the left over sheets of marble paper. I covered the larger ones with crackle glaze and the smaller ones just had the edges inked with Vintage Photo DI.

    I found an old Dolls house door frame in my bits and pieces stash. It is too small to use on my dolls house so I decided it would be good on here...I covered it with Antique Linen DP and wiped it with a little Vintage Photo DI.

I arranged some peach roses that had had some Vintage Photo DI blended over them and a rose from a previous project that I had spritzed with homemade Old Paper distress ink spray. I had discarded it from the previous project but saved it for a time when it would fit and this was it.

     And so there it is - My Roman tag. It was a very much a learning experience and I am so glad I didn't give up!

       Thanks so much for being here! Hope to see you all again soon!

I would like to enter this for the following challenges -

Inspiration Journal - Marvelous masks and Spectacular Stencils
Simon says - Very strict challenge (anything goes)
Try it on a Tuesday  - Recycle (Dolls house door frame and rose)
Anything but a card - "Who are you inspired by"? (favourite TV program at the moment - 'I, Claudius)
Crafty-emblies - Anything goes