Thursday 26 March 2015

Wish upon a Star

Hi everyone!

   I am here to bring you another challenge from my brilliant OCC DT member Laurie. I was so proud when Laurie invited me to join her craft DT for this term on her FB challenge site. This month the challenge involves decorating a star and gems.....It was so much fun!


This is what you get in your 'Rising Star' Kit

You can purchase your star kit here

You can decorate it any way you wish!

I decided to make this for my daughter - her favorite style of the moment is fuchsia and black with bold patterns...so the colour choice had nothing to do with me at all....waaaayyyyyy out of my comfort zone here everyone!!!


 I started by painting the star with Decoart Fluid Acrylics in Carbon Black. I then painted some white card with Picked Raspberry Distress Stain. Then I got a floral/swirl stamp and using the Carbon Black paint I stamped over several sheets of bright pink stained card.


I then cut triangles the same size as the sides of the star. I inked the edges of the cut card with Black Soot DI to create some dark smudgy effects, and then began sticking them to the star.

When done I covered it with several layers of Decoart Ultra-Matte varnish (I love this!!! This is the first ever matt varnish I have used that has managed to live up to it's name! There is no sheen to this at all - Brilliant!)



Then I began to decorate the gems...I used Raspberry and Pitch Black Alcohol ink. I painted on several layers of ink.



I used Label Letters to form the words "Wish upon a star" and stuck them to various parts of the hanging.



I twisted some silver wire and twisted it round one of the gems


I used a fuchsia ribbon tied into a bow
 

And there is my pink and black star hanging...Hope you like it! 



Come over to Laurie Moore's 2015 Challenges on FB and join in the fun!

Hope to see you there!

Happy Crafting!

Laura 
xxx













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Sunday 22 March 2015

Go to it!

Hello everyone!
 At Fashionable Stamping Challenges we are featuring as our challenge....

Use your favourite 'Go to' stamp 

I actually struggled to choose a stamp to use for this...mainly because my absolute favourite 'always go to' stamp is a script stamp...a wonderful stamp, but not very interesting on it's own!

I decided to focus on what stamp I would choose if I was sitting there with mojo taking a holiday (pretty much how I was feeling anyway!)....my answer was that I would probably go for a Gibson Girl stamp.............




So here we go....my very favourite Gibson Girl stamp and my 'absolute - must have - always go to' script stamp by Paperartsy - it is such a 'go to' stamp that I actually store it in a tray with my archival inks so that it is always to hand - I think I use it on nearly every project!

I started by swirling some Bundled Sage, Frayed Burlap and Picket Fence DP onto the craft mat with some Frayed Burlap and Bundled Sage DI as well. Spritzed with water and then swirled some card into the paint/ink mix.

I left the card to dry and stamped the Gibson Girl image onto card with Potting Soil Archival ink. I cut it into an oval shape and then dabbed around the edges with Vintage Photo DI.



I made a frame out of embossed card and painted it with Gold Decoart media fluid acrylic paint. I then covered this with a layer of Raw Umber fluid Acrylic paint to make it look tarnished.

By now the tag was dry so I used a lattice stencil and covered the tag with Bundled Sage DI and then dabbed around the edges with Vintage Photo DI.



I then used my favourite script stamp and stamped with Bundled Sage DI and Potting Soil Archival ink


I used the words 'timeless' and 'art' from the chit-chat stickers and they were edged with Vintage Photo DI

Lace was stuck to the bottom of the tag with some pearl beads



An ivory rose was dabbed with Vintage Photo DI and a die cut kraft leaf was dabbed with
Vintage Photo DI. I added some pearl pins as well...


A twine bow and loop finished off the tag








I would love it if you came over to see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you at Fashionable Stamping Challenges!


Remember we are a stamping challenge so please feature a stamped focal image on your creation.
  
You could be the winner of $20 to spend at Flonzcraft Stamps! And of course you could be picked as one of our Catwalk Spotlights!
Hope to see you there!


Happy Crafting!
Love from Laura xxx


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Wednesday 18 March 2015

Butterfly Moments

Hi everyone

     Today I would like to share with you a card I made - Yes, a card!!!

I don't make them very often at all  - I tend to get a bit stuck when making them, but this one was a dream to make....And today it is a card made with Nicecrane Designs images - I chose these beautiful butterfly images...



 I chose three butterflies with shades of blue and peach in their wings and this set the colour scheme...

First I dabbed some Weathered Wood and Picket Fence DP onto the craft mat and used a sponge to dab a mix of these paints onto a Tim Holtz Lattice Stencil. I then got some white card and pressed it down onto the stencil to get a reverse stencil print. 


When this was dry I covered the card with Weathered Wood, Tea Dye and Peacock Feathers DI.

I then stamped some text and script stamps using Weathered Wood DI and Potting Soil Archival ink


I stamped some butterfly and dragonfly images using Weathered Wood and Tea Dye DI


I stamped a butterfly quote onto white card, dabbed some Weathered Wood, Tea Dye and Peacock Feathers DI and edged it with Walnut Stain DI. I then layered it onto some more card covered with  Tea Dye DI


I cut the butterflies out and edged them with Walnut Stain very lightly - just to take away the white cut edges of the paper.


The antennae were too difficult to cut, so I replaced them with brown wire


So there is one of my (rare) cards....Hope you like it!



 Why not pop over to Nicecrane Designs and check out the images there...there are so many - Whatever your style of creating there will be something there you will LOVE! 

Happy Crafting!

Love from Laura xxx



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Sunday 15 March 2015

Gear it up

Hello everyone!

Over at Sandee and amelie's steampunk challenge the challenge this month is -

Gear it up!
 Stamped, embossed, drawn, painted, real, die cut, chipboard, stencilled,....well, gears of any sort you can think of are what we want to see with any projects you can think of - and not only two or three added in a corner here and there for further embellishment! Gears should be one of the main parts of your creations


I didn't really know what direction to go in with this - it is pretty simple isn't it? Just add Gears - to anything...

But sometimes being given a free choice to go wherever you choose can be trickier than a very direct challenge. In the end I decided it would be more fun to sit and play - see what develops and go from there...

So I got a piece of card and I grabbed a gears stencil  (get the challenge requirement in right at the start!) I dabbed over the gears stencil with Picket Fence DP.


When this was dry I blended Frayed Burlap and Pumice Stone DI over the card.

Then I began to use some stamps from the Industrial Backgrounds Artistic Outpost set over the card using Pumice Stone and Frayed Burlap DI.


I then used Coffee Archival ink on other stamps from the set - this time choosing the gears and a mechanical blueprint stamp.

A script stamp from Artistic Outpost French Flight set.


My favourite script stamp was stamped with Potting Soil Archival ink



So now the background was done....where to go with it now?

It was beginning to look very mechanical (of course!) and with the faded sepia look it was needing to be vintage...I was looking for a modern twist too....I was also now bringing in clocks as well as gears....finding a clock face in my metal collection and a clock sticker in the Salvage Stickers set....now I seemed to be looking at a Time Travel creation.....


Suddenly I remembered that I hadn't used any of the Found Relatives cards that I had been given at Christmas. Hunting through them I found the perfect photo. After cutting around the person and colouring the cut white edges with Frayed Burlap DI I stuck him onto the card....



    Now all that was needed was the collection of gears.....



  .....and a few metal corners....


..... and a final addition...the words from the chit chat stickers - "Voyage through time" stuck onto the clock and outlined with Pumice Stone Distress marker...




     Please come over and see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you!
       Hope you will come along and join in the fun!
Happy Crafting
Laura xxx








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Friday 13 March 2015

Mad as a Hatter

Hi everyone!

         It is a 'first' here at Laurart - decorating a hat! I had so much fun with this - though I had one of those weird things happen where it turned out completely different to the image I had in mind in the first place - still those crafty journeys can be fun...

     My wonderful OCC DT member Laurie invited me to join  her craft DT on her FB challenge site. It involved decorating a hat - and two other projects that will be revealed for April and May. This is what I came up with....


 First lets take a peek at all sides of this hat .....

The front


Left


Back


Right



      I wanted to get texture onto this hat so I embossed some card with damask style embossing folders. I cut the card into sections to cover the entire hat. Then I dabbed tiny amounts of texture paste around the joins to fill any gaps. As neat as you try to be, it is difficult when gluing embossed card to a surface to avoid having tiny little gaps. Dabbing a tiny amount of texture paste is a really effective way at hiding any gaps.



     I painted it with a mix of Sage and Vanilla Fresco paint. Then I covered it with Raw Umber Antiquing cream and when this was dry I wiped it away with a damp cloth. I then covered the hat with Matt varnish to seal the Raw Umber Antiquing Cream.


I then wanted to add a delicate dusty effect by covering it with White antiquing cream and then cleaning it away until really only minute bits are left in crevices.

Music serviettes were glued to card and then a bow shape was cut out and stuck onto the hat.




A button was painted with Raw Umber Decoart fluid acrylic paint and then a stamped clock image placed into the button and covered with Glossy Accents glue


Crystal beads were added to pearl topped pins and used as Hat Pins


Buttons, flowers, roses and hemp string were added to decorate the hat.....


Crochet lace was added...


Diecut ivy was painted with Antique Linen, Peeled Paint and Forest Moss DS. The crackle glaze was applied followed by white Antiquing cream before being wiped away to leave white crackles.






 Why not join in the hat decorating challenge! Follow this link to find out all about Laurie's challenge and future ones - make sure you don't miss out on all the fun!

Happy crafting!

Laura
 xxx




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