Journey to the bright side

Hi everyone!

      A few days ago I went to Ally Pally and came back with so much crafting goodies - I had been a bit mojo-less the last few weeks...no ideas were coming to me - I had been trying to make things but they hadn't been going right and I was not liking what I was doing....It might look like I wasn't mojo-less....but I work ahead of time (I am currently working on November projects), so those creations that were a huge struggle will appear at some point in the next month (If I can bear to include them!) - but I will leave you to decide for yourself if you like them - I won't be mentioning which ones I struggled with!

     After I had packed my stuff away I decided to have a play with some new items - so I decided to have a go at making a tag....with Dylusions.....what do you do though when they are so bright they are scary and anyway you haven't a clue how to use them? - You go to YOUTUBE!!!!

     I found a demo - by Dyan Reaveley - explaining some techniques. And I had a go...

    This creation took form from her explaining about not wasting the inks - she makes doubles of things - triples even. As she uses the ink, if there is some on the stencil or the mat then she uses another piece to mop it up. This is something I have never done before - I really must do this with Distress inks...I am afraid I am very guilty of just mopping up the excess pools of ink with a tissue (such a waste!)

          I decided to make 'Twin Tags'.

I had no idea where I was going with this - but I loved the Tim Tag I made last month and that was a successful 'non thinking' craft play so I figured this "Not got a clue state" actually works for me!

    I now have four Dylusion sprays - Melted Chocolate, Vibrant Turquoise, Dirty Martini and White Linen. I already owned the White Linen when I went to the show - but I must have picked three good colours because the woman at the till said "Those will look gorgeous together!"....I figured she was right and decided to use all three on this tag.

    I followed Dyan's instructions...I had two tags ready and sprayed one with water. Then I just randomly sprayed the three colours....Woweeee...these inks are BRIGHT!. These sprays can never be described as delicate! Ok....Well, she did say muted effects can be achieved. I pressed the other tag down on the intensely coloured one and lifted it up.....Now I had two very bright tags. I dabbed with tissue as instructed and the colours were still vibrant but not as shocking. Nice!...I am now liking how this is going.

      I dabbed some excess ink up off the mat as in wrinkle free distress but instead of drying it with the heat gun I dabbed it with tissue...getting a much more muted speckled effect. Then I dried it with the heat gun.

   I wanted a more rustic look...so placing the tags in the 'Spray box' I sprayed from a distance with all three colours....giving very tiny specks of ink.

    Now onto stencils - I like using stencils with Distress inks, and I adore using texture paste with them but they have never worked for me with sprays. I think I spray too much...It is never a very good image, in fact sometimes it is no image at all - just a pool of colour!...I used the new brick stencil with the Melted Chocolate spray and I mopped up the excess ink with the other tag. I did the same with the turquoise and white using the roman letters stencil. Not very clear images but it did give a lovely delicate layered effect....I was very happy!

Then the stamps. I wanted a delicate flourish around the corners and used Wendi Vecchi Archival ink in Fern Green.

I used Black Archival instead of my favourite Potting Soil for the main images because it needed a vivid colour here against the bright colours. I used Tim Holtz stamps and the theme  of 'Journey' began to happen.

Because the tags are 'Twins' I decided to take the imaging across them - so they can work as separate tags or make a whole image when placed together.

    I wanted to add some tissue tape so I made my own using Micropore tape stained with the green spray and stamped with the word 'Journey'...

I couldn't resist adding a hand coloured Turquiose pointing to the other tag!

     I didn't have any ribbon I liked for these tags so I used some tape which had destinations on them, stained them with the Green and Turquoise and tied them to the top of the tags.

 A spray of my new Cosmic Shimmer copper spray (Gorgeous!) across each tag added a hint of shimmer and I blended a bit of Black Soot DI around the edge of the tag to add a grungey look.....and I was done.............and it feels like Mojo might be back!!!!

      

             Hope you like the twins! Thanks so much for visiting!

                

 

Seeing Spots

Hello everyone!

Welcome to a Spotty blog post!

I am bringing you a new challenge today - At Try it on Tuesday the challenge is - 

Dots or Circles

     I must admit I struggled with this a bit - I made this before getting my new Dot Fade stencil and I don't really do spots. So I made a few things and showed them to my best tests for judging if something works or not - My daughter and husband...the responses of "Well it's not your best work" made me start again...and although this isn't my usual favourite colours or style, I had a lot of fun with this...

     I used a PaperArtsy substrate - I love these - they are a good size and as I have said before they are very sturdy and can take anything you throw at it....This one is in fact a previous creation recycled!

     I had some ribbon that had some circles on it - and it was quite a good match for some Fresco Paints I have - Chocolate Pudding, Sky and Guacamole....so that was my colour scheme...

     I started with finding a lovely quote - One that is so very true. I cut some circles from card and stamped the words using an alphabet stamp and Potting Soil Archival ink. I wrote the word 'Circles'

    The base of the board was painted in Chocolate pudding, had crackle glaze spread thinly over it and then Guacamole paint was applied and crackles appeared - Never get tired of watching it!

    I then used a circle punch in two sizes cut out of card and used these as a template for sponging on the Chocolate Pudding, Sky and Vanilla Fresco Paint. So Now I had circles of two sizes scattered over the board in various colours. I wanted smaller dots too...so I used the eraser end of a pencil, dabbed it in paint and stamped it on the board.

I had some tissue tape with cogs on it and I applied it around the edge of the board.....

 ........and in random places on top of the board. I painted over them with a diluted wash of Guacamole paint.

     I then dry brushed Chocolate Pudding Fresco paint around the edges of the board. I stamped some flourish and script stamps over the circles using the punched out card as a mask.

 I shaded the quote circles with Walnut Stain DI and then applied them to the board, adding strips of ribbon to two of the circles.

To carry on the theme of circles I added cogs and watch parts...and also a clock face.

         Why not come over to Try it on Tuesday and join in with your dotty creation!...You could be one of our Top 5 and get entered into the prize draw at the end of the month!


        Thanks so much for being here - See you all again soon!

 

Autumn Colours

Hi everyone!

     I have been so looking forward to autumn! I know some people will think I am crazy hoping for cooler weather, and yes, sitting in the sun is very pleasant - but there is something so very wonderful about frosty days, the gorgeous changing colours of leaves, the smell of bonfires....If you haven't already guessed by my other posts recently, if I had to choose my favourite time of year it would be Autumn...

     Last year I arrived here in blogland at the end of Autumn - sadly missing out on most of the Autumn season - and now I get to make tags with leaves, use the wonderful seasonal colours of red, brown and orange....

        So I am so happy to present the new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges is -

AUTUMN COLOURS

                       

                   


    
   * Before I talk about how I made this I just wanted to tell you about a change I made to my blog - Many people 'Pin' my photos to Pinterest - Thank you so much for doing this if you have - It makes me very proud to see that! Now I have added a 'Pin' to each photo to make it even easier to 'Pin it'! Just hover the cursor over the photo and you will see a Pin icon - just click it and pin.


   Now onto this creation -  I decided to make a scaled down version of the collage I did a few months ago. I loved making it but decided to make a simpler one...this time using Fresco paints instead of Distress Inks....then I got totally carried away and got involved in embellishments, words...and frame making!

     I got out some Fresco paints - Chocolate Pudding, French Roast, Pumpkin Soup, Smoked Paprika, Hey Pesto and Blood Orange - Sounds like items on a menu doesn't it?!

     I needed nine 2" squares so I used a square punch so that all pieces were totally the same size. This square punch was in two sizes so that you can mat the squares for scrap booking - so I made a few smaller squares as well. I applied the colours with a sponge to blend them.

      I stamped images onto each card. I used script, birds, music, alphabet, cogs, a clock, hedgerow....then I arranged the squares onto a piece of thick cardboard.

      I decided to embellish each square -

 A pen nib, that had been coloured with ginger alcohol ink, 

 A few tiny metal watch cogs

.......and a rusty metal heart. 

The rest of the squares were decorated with words from Tim Holtz Chit-Chat stickers that had been inked with Distress Inks.

     For the centerpiece I used one of my favourite leaf stamps and dabbed some Blood Orange and Pumpkin Soup paint on it and stamped onto card.

I blended the paints a little more after stamping as I wasn't too happy with the image, but at least I had the outline - I cut around the stamp and dabbed the edges with French Roast paint. I then stamped a script stamp onto the leaf in Potted Soil Archival ink and added a chit-chat sticker that had been dabbed with Distress Ink.

     I then decided I should make a frame....

      I cut some strips of balsa wood to size and stuck them together.  I applied texture paste through the damask stencil and left to dry. I then covered it with a coat of Gesso - Balsa wood doesn't like paint very much and can sometimes react to it so a primer is best painted on first as a base for the other paint. When that was dry I covered the frame with Old Gold Fresco Paint and dabbed randomly with French Roast Fresco paint - which is my favourite paint for any distressing/shabby/ageing effects. Although this effect works very well - the Old Gold Fresco Paint blends beautifully with French Roast - I decided to add, as a finishing touch, some White Fire Treasure Gold to bring out the embossed texture.

       
          Hope you like it! Please hop over to Fashionable Stamping Challenges and see what my wonderful teammates have made to inspire you this Autumn! Please get those gorgeous colours ready and join us - You could win $20 to spend at Flonzcraft or be parading on the catwalk as one of our Spotlights!

              Thanks so much for being here! See you all soon!

        

I would like to enter this for the following challenges -

Creative Moments - Anything goes/Frame it

 

Frosty Autumn

Hello everyone!

     
 Last month I was thrilled to be chosen as the winner of the Left of Center challenge 'Use something metal'. The creation I entered in the challenge was the 'Wings of Love' altered matchbox. As the winner I was asked to make something as Guest Designer for Left of Center challenges for their new challenge which is -

No Designer Papers

I am still caught up in the Autumn mood here and I can't wait for those beautiful frosty days! So I would like to share with you a very Autumnal tag with a subtle frosty tinge that I made this challenge.......

      I wanted to use the Tim Holtz Clockwork stencil and decided just to have a mess around with some Autumn colours.

    I applied Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs and Antique Linen to the mat and spritzed with water. Then after doing a bit of wrinkle free distress I had a gorgeous pale brown speckled card. I decided to keep it quite pale because I was going to add more detail as I went along.

      Then I used the Clockwork stencil dabbing Vintage Photo around it.

   I dabbed a text stamp with Potting Soil archival ink and applied it randomly around the tag.

     Then I stamped some leaf shapes onto a piece of card using Gathered Twigs, Fired Brick and Rusty Hinge DI and then cut them out. Then I stamped on these leaf shapes with my favourite script stamp in Potting Soil Archival Ink

      On the tag I stamped some of the same leaf shapes in Gathered Twigs DI. I then used a hedgerow stamp and but did this with the Potting Soil Archival ink for a more vibrant effect.. After this I dabbed some Walnut Stain around the edge of the tag to give it a very grungy look. I thought it then looked a bit 'flat' and too dark....so to give it a further grungy look I spritzed the tag very lightly with White Dylusions spray - which is my new crafting best friend - the effects it gives are amazing!

      I curled some rusty wire and draped it along the tag, attaching the leaves which had been given a coating of Rock Candy Glitter glue.

      The label was cut from mount board and covered with Vintage Photo DI. The word Autumn was a Chit-Chat sticker, again inked with Vintage Photo.......

     .......and two copper screw style brads attached it to the tag.

           The tag was finished off with raffia and twine

            I hope you will pop over to the 'Left of Center' challenge to have a look at the wonderful DT work over there and perhaps you can enter too - you might be the winner and be Guest Designer for them too!

        Thanks so much to all of you for all your lovely comments and thanks so much for popping in to see what I have made...



              See you all soon!