The Wish Fairy

Hi everyone!

 My wonderful DT member Laurie invited me to be on her FB Challenge team this term. I am still so thrilled to be doing this - the challenges have been so much fun!

In May the challenge is to make something with a papermache cone

You can buy yours from Laurie's shop and the rules of the challenge can be found here.

I did struggle a bit to come up with something for this challenge - a quick peek at Pinterest for some inspiration (great way to lose a few hours!) revealed lots of Christmas decorations - it seems most of the time these cones are used for Santa and angel models, trees and gift cones. I wanted something a little bit more original....

    My first thought was this could be a dress - why not make it into a doll? Then I thought of a frame (as I always seem to do) and it then made sense to split the cone in two and perhaps make a picture?....

A fairy picture?...wings?....got to have some lace.....definitely have to have flowers.....

......now things are getting somewhere!

 I cut the cone in half and covered it with some printed paper. This paper has an iridescent embossed flower pattern which I thought worked perfectly for a magical sparkly fairy picture.

I dabbed some die cut lace with Frayed Burlap DI and stuck it onto the skirt

The face was a wooden bead painted with Nougat Fresco Paint. The hair was dark brown hemp string. The string was made of up three twisted strands and when I untwisted these and separated them to make the string thinner they had a lovely curl...giving a wavy, ringlet effect.

I covered the bead with strands of hemp string as a base for the hair and then added some of the finer, curly strands.

The fairy's arms are pipe cleaners covered with the card that I used for the skirt.

I added a strip of lace and a tiny pearl bead for the collar of her dress

The flowers in her hair are memory box die flowers - painted with Ice Blue Fresco Paint and dabbed with Frosted Lace Stickles Glue in the centers

The wings were embossed and then painted with Decoart Americana Decoart paint in Lace. I then dabbed some Frayed Burlap DI over the top.

The heart behind the fairy is burlap covered in lace that I stuck to a piece of card and then cut out

I used the word 'wish' from chit chat stickers

I used some ivory hemp string tied into bows along with ivory roses dabbed with Frayed Burlap DI

Memory Box flower die cuts were dabbed with Frayed Burlap DI and had a pearl bead attached

The background of the fairy was made with wrinkle free distress technique using Brushed Corduroy DI. I then added further effects by doing some 'spritz and flick' with water.

 I then stamped some script stamp with Antique Linen DI

For the main background I did wrinkle free technique using Tumbled Glass DI

The frame was constructed from balsa wood. It was painted with gesso and then a coat of Raw Umber Acrylic paint was used. This was sanded down and then I tinted some Ultra Matt varnish with a blob of Raw Umber paint. This tinted varnish knocked back the harsh whiteness from the sanded down areas of the wood and it made gave a wood more of a vintage aged woodgrain look...

And there is my completed Fairy Picture...

I do hope you like it and I hope I have inspired you to come along and join in the challenge - what can you make with a Paper Mache cone?

Thanks so much for being here!

Happy Crafting

Laura xxx

Very Simple

    Hi everyone,

    I am back with another butterfly creation for Nicecrane designs... 

    I was a bit stuck when I made this - one of those horrible mojo-less times and I was really struggling. Then I remembered what Claudia said to me once when I was sure that I would lack motivation for ever - her advice was to just go play, don't try out new things, don't think, just have a play with tried and tested and much loved styles. 

     So I decided to sit and play with neutral colours, totally shabby chic but simplifying things by not trying anything new. 

I had been wanting to use one of the butterflies from Nicecrane designs

Colourful Spring Butterflies III

I had used these butterflies on the card I featured here a few days ago - but this time I enlarged it - this is one great thing you can do with Nicecrane's images....they are so easily transformed in different sizes and colours in photoshop or on a word document. I have changed images to sepia before, this time I simply enlarged this butterfly so that it is the focal image.

I began by making the background using Frayed Burlap, Weathered Wood and Picket Fence DP. I applied some blobs of paint to the craft mat, spritzed with water and then swirled the card in the paint until it was covered. Then I placed another piece of card on top to make a print. Both pieces of paint covered card were dabbed with a baby wipe to blend the colours together to get a marble effect.

 One piece of card was used as the background and this one I dabbed Brushed Corduroy DI over the edges to darken it slightly

The other pieces I cut into pieces for the title and main picture.

The title was stamped with a flourish stamp in Frayed Burlap DI and had a chit chat sticker applied

 The main picture was edged with hemp string and had lace strips applied

The butterfly was stuck onto card and then cut out. Rusty wire was twisted into antenatal

 Walnut Stain DI was used around the edges of the butterfly to darken the white cut edges and it was also used to stamp some text onto the wings

Frayed Burlap DI was used to stamp flourish , text and script stamps in the corners of the main image

 The frame was made from four pieces of balsa wood stuck onto thick card. Frayed Burlap DP was painted over it and then white antiquing cream was applied . This was wiped away when dry to leave a distressed effect

 Tissue tape was used around the edges of the frame 

 Brass hinge fasteners were used to attach hemp string to the frame

So there is my butterfly frame - going back to my favourite vintage shabby chic style...

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

In The Frame

Hi everyone!

 I am here today with...wait for it.....Another frame (what a shock!).....I love making them!

 I was inspired to do this after watching a video by Andy Skinner....I must admit I don't watch many instructional videos - mainly because they leave me wanting things that I can't afford!!!

 This one caught my eye and I thought I would give it a go.....

And of course, after watching the video I decided I really had to give this technique a try...but the only thing I had was the white antiquing cream - not much good on it's own.

I did have a Decoart Matt Varnish (not as good as the Ultra Matte - which is the BEST!) and I thought I can use approximately the same colours of other paints.....

...........but I really really really HAD to have the stamps - You see!....This is why I don't watch videos!!!....

So of course an order went out for the stamps...and when they arrived I got started...

I am not going to explain how I made the heart - I followed the video instructions and you should too! ;o)

I made a frame (of course) and painted it with Gold Decoart Media Fluid Acrylic and then covered it with crackle glaze. This was then covered with Raw Umber Antiquing Cream which was wiped away to reveal dark cracks

The background was embossed card that was dabbed with Evergreen Bough Distress Paint and then covered with Vintage Photo DI. It was then dry brushed with Raw Umber Decoart Media Fluid Acrylic paint and then rubbed with some Classic Gold Treasure gold.

A key and a cog were treated with some faux rust - first I dabbed on some Evergreen Bough DP then brushed on some Quinacridone Gold acrylic paint.
This was followed by some Picket Fence DP before applying a second coat of Quinacridone Gold.

 Then I added a very light sprinkle of Vintage Photo Distress Embossing powder.

I added some Artistic Outpost stamps to the heart and a quote as well...  

And here is the finished frame.....

Hope you like it! Thanks so much for being here!

Happy Crafting

Laura xxx

Lovers

Hi everyone!

Over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges the subject is...

'Lovers' 

  

I chose to make a Victorian style frame. I had some mount board and covered it with a texture paste through a memory box stencil. This was then painted with Americana Decoart Chalky Finish paint in Primitive.

Crackle glaze was applied and when this was dry Carbon Black Antiquing Cream was brushed over the frame before being wiped away

The picture was made by dabbing Frayed Burlap, Weathered Wood and Picket Fence Distress Paints onto the craft mat and then spritzing with water. The card was then swirled into the paint.

When dry I began to stamp some images - I chose a Flonz craft stamp from this set. I stamped it in Potting Soil Archival ink. I then began to add some text and crackle stamps around the edge of the picture to add texture.

I used a Tim Holtz bookplate and added a piece of card left over from making the main picture. I stamped the word LOVE onto it and added some swirls from  a flourish stamp

I added some lace, a rose and some die cut foliage that had been covered with Peeled Paint Distress Stain.

And here is the finished frame -

I do hope you like it!

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