Come fly with me

Hi everyone,

     It is my turn to choose a challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges this time and I chose.......

Flying

My reason for choosing this is because my son is crazy about anything that flies, and recently he said to me that I never make anything for him! So this time I set out to make something just for him - After asking him what colours he would like, I chose a Flonzcraft stamp set and decided to make a hanging mobile for him.

I swirled some Festive Berries and Salty Ocean DS onto the craft mat and spritzed with water and swirled some card through the stain. When dried, I added Fired Brick and Faded Jeans DI around the edges and did some spritz and flick with water to add some texture effects to the coloured card. I did this to both sides of the card.

I then stamped the images onto the card and cut them out, inking around the edges with Black Soot DI so that the white cut edges wouldn't show up. I then stamped onto tissue paper and glued this to the back of the back of the cut outs with multi medium.

I then decorated the cut outs (original stamped side) with Perfect Pearls in Platinum Pearl and Onyx Pearl.

   The heart was cut out from a sheet of balsa wood and then painted with French Roast Fresco Paint and then covered in Decoart Media crackle paste. When dry it was dabbed and sprayed with various paints and inks (I lost track of what I used) and the heat gun was used which created a lovely textured bubble effect - I always love seeing what the heat gun will do to products I haven't tried before!

 

 Chit chat stickers were edged in Faded Jeans DI and stuck onto the heart.

Then onto constructing the mobile - I twisted a circle of rusty wire and added a loop to it and stuck the heart onto it. I used plastic wire to construct the mobile which really wasn't the best thing when it came to wanting to see them all hang the right way around for the photograph!

I attached the plastic string to the rusty loop by tying it and attached it to each of the decorations with glue and tissue tape.

     

Why not come over and join us this time 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 at one of our Catwalk Spotlights!

With a song in your heart

Hi everyone!

     I really love the challenge over at my challenge blog 'Our Creative Corner' this month. Alison set the theme which is 'With a song in your heart' and I couldn't resist making something else inspired by this challenge.

     As I said in my blog post for the challenge, I had so many songs I wanted to feature, but they were too personal to me, and perhaps would open up my life a little too much. After I had made my creation for this challenge, I went to see my daughter perform with her dancing school. She has done ballet and tap dancing since she was 3 (after discovering film musicals and discovering a HUGE passion for tap dancing) I was so proud of her - her class danced to Glen Millers 'In the Mood' all dressed in WWII costumes and doing a superb dance that had me doing the biggest, proudest smile and there were lots of happy tears.....

     Anyway....during the dance performance, which features dancers from the age of 3-18, there was one dance that really caught my eye, it was a beautiful ballet performance and I LOVED the music. I glanced over at my husband, who as usual was thinking the same as me! He had the mobile phone out to identify the song (he has an app that can listen to a song and tell you what it is) My first thought was "I wish I had known about this before making my creation for the challenge - I would have loved to have used this song"......and then I thought well, why not still do it? I adore the lyrics -

   How can I love when I'm afraid to fall
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow

I have died every day waiting for you

Darlin' don't be afraid I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more.....

   I had found a technique I wanted to try over at Claudia's blog...You really should go and see the post about this - As always, being the most amazing artist and teacher, Claudia has done the perfect step-by-step demonstration! Using vaseline as a resist for acrylic paint to create a weather worn effect. I HAD to try this! I got a rectangle of plain cardboard and covered it with Chocolate Pudding Fresco Paint. I lightly smeared downward streaks of vaseline and then covered it with Stone Fresco paint. When the stone paint was wiped away there was the lovely aged, worn paint effect tag.

Then I covered it with strips of text paper and lightly brushed some watered down Stone paint over the words. Then I applied Crackle glaze in patches over the tag. When this was dry I rubbed some French Roast fresco paint into the cracks to enhance them

I stamped a clock in Coffee archival ink and also added some music stamp

The words of the song "I have loved you for a thousand years" was stamped with Potting Soil archival ink and then cut out. The card was edged with Walnut Stain DI and dabbed lightly with Vintage Photo DI.

A square of text paper was aged with the same inks and then applied to the tag, which was then covered with a grapevine heart.

 A rose made of Tattered florals die cuts had been inked with Victorian Velvet DI and was placed inside the heart along with a coil of rusty wire.

 A clip was placed at the top of the tag...this was originally bright silver, but I covered it with Chocolate Pudding Fresco paint and then coated it with a mix of Walnut Stain and Tea Dye Distress embossing powder followed by some dabs of rust coloured paint.

A pen nib was covered with Espresso alcohol ink and then lightly dabbed with blending solution to reveal some of the metal underneath.

       And here is the song if you would like to hear it!

Thanks so much for being here!

Discover Inspiration

Hi everyone,

   April is going to be a busy month for me with the school Easter holidays. My daughter will be taking over the art cupboard for all the projects she has planned and my son will no doubt be wanting to learn more cake making skills! Busy busy busy!

   I don't know how many projects I will have time to make this month, but one challenge caught my eye and I had to do it! My wonderful friend Claudia at Sandee and Amelie's Steampunk Challenge is asking us to use our 'Favourite Technique'. I always have found Claudia to be so inspiring - she has helped me many times get over a mojo-less time with the most amazing encouragement and words of advice. And as usual, her challenge blog has provided inspiration again.

    I do admit I have always been a little bit nervous about Steampunk - feeling that it isn't a style I feel comfortable with and can feel a little overpowering at times. Claudia and I were chatting once about Steampunk and she said that she doesn't mind if things on her challenge have simply a 'twist' of Steampunk and I really loved that idea - To use my usual techniques and style but add a Steampunk flavour rather than an elaborate creation overloaded with Steampunk-ness.....and this is what I came up with.

    I don't know what my usual style is because I do try to stay away from focusing on a set style. I think art evolves and as you learn your 'style' changes and grows. I do know that I love vintage, flowers, feminine creations that seem at first to be the direct opposite to Steampunk. I was looking forward to adding a Steampunk twist to a vintage feminine creation. Though I look at this and wonder if I went a little more Steampunk than just a 'twist?!!!

     I used a few favourite techniques here....I love making my own balsa wood frames as also seen here, and here and here....I chose to do this again for this project.

   I cut a square from Balsa wood with a smaller square cut from the inside. I got card that had been embossed with a cogs pattern and cut it to the shape of the frame and stuck it on. I then cut strips of the embossed card to cover the outside and inside of the frame.

    I painted the frame with Chocolate Pudding Fresco Paint and then smudged some copper wax to highlight the texture. This is another technique I adore - though I usually use Old Gold Fresco paint on em,bossed card, darkened with French Roast and adding Treasure Gold. I love making embossed card look like metal.

Evergreen Bough DP had been watered down and darkened with a spritz of Calypso Teal Dylusions spray and splattered over the frame. Then I splattered the frame with a bit of Vintage Bronze DP.

    After this I dabbed some embossing ink on the frame and sprinkled the frame with Walnut Stain and Tea Dye Distress embossing powder. Then added a little verdigris embossing powder.

    The picture in the frame was made using card that had been blended with Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain DI. A vintage photo was added over various stamps stamped with Coffee Archival ink.

    The flowers were covered with Bundled Sage DI and edged with Walnut Stain DI and then small watch gears were added as the flower centers. Watered down Honey dew Fresco paint was splattered over the flowers. A bit of curled rusty wire was added.

 I used the same rusty wire to create a hook for the frame. Curling the edges and then twisting the center into a loop. I used a bronze decoration on top of this.

 The words 'Discover' and 'Inspiration' were chitchat stickers edged with Walnut Stain DI and added to the ends were a tiny pieces from the collection of watch bits and pieces.

    And there is my Vintage Steampunk frame - using more than one of my favourite techniques!

   Thank you so much for being here - Hope you like what you saw!

I would like to enter this at the following challenge -

SanDee and amelie's Steampunk Challenges - Your Favourite Technique goes Steampunk






 

Spotlight sneak peek!

Welcome to another 'Spotlight' at Our Creative Corner! 

Tando are our sponsors at Our Creative Corner this month - and they will be donating a prize to the lucky winner selected by Random.org!

   I loved making this creation with a selection of Tando items. They are so wonderful! Here is a little sneak peek -

 If you want you see more you will have to come over to Our Creative Corner! See you there!

The song remembers when...

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the new challenge at Our Creative Corner. 

Alison is hosting this challenge and she would like you to create something that is made.....

 With a song in your heart

Create something inspired by and including a song title and/or lyrics. 

We would like to see the words appearing on your creation, and please let 
us know in your post the song which has inspired you

    When I found out the title to this challenge so many songs came into my head. With so many to choose from this should have been really easy! I actually thought I had found the perfect one, but then I hesitated about opening up my life into a creation - All of the songs that came to mind are very much loved, but they are so because they remind me of a time or place in my life, bringing back happy or sad memories.

     I was listening to some favourite songs on my ipod and a song by Trisha Yearwood called 'The song remembers when' came on and I thought "That's the one!"...

     I chose it because it is all about why my favourite songs are so important to me - they take me back to a memory in an instant...as soon as the music starts I can see the memories so very clearly...and so this song always makes me smile...

    

     I decided to start with a clock die cut. I dabbed it with Antique Bronze DP, making sure the card wasn't covered entirely. Then when dry I blended Evergreen Bough DI over it to give a lovely rusty verdigris look.

Then I wanted to add some texture so sprinkled with Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress embossing powders and a little Verdigris embossing powder.

I did the same with some ivy die cuts as well.

     I prepared some corrugated card by tearing sections of the surface paper to reveal the texture underneath. I brushed with Gesso very roughly and then added some streaks of Distress paint in Evergreen Bough, Antique Bronze and Picket Fence.

 When this was dry I covered it with Walnut stain DS and wiped away the excess with a tissue - where the paints haven't covered it gives a lovely distressed effect.

   The center of the clock was covered with Antique Linen DS and stamped with a music stamp in Potting Soil Archival ink. So now I had the main parts of the creation and I needed some embellishments...

       One of the challenge requirements is to feature lyrics and/or the title from the song. I did both because the line I chose includes the title! I picked the line - " Even if the whole world has forgotten, the song remembers when" because, to me, this is a perfect description of the power of words and music....that even if the memory seems as if it is gone, a song will bring it back to you. I stamped these words in Potting Soil Archival ink onto ivory card and cut the words out. I then blended Walnut Stain Distress ink around the edges of the words and stuck them onto the collage.

   I chose two photographs from TH Salvage stickers collection and then found in the same collection some tickets and other bits and pieces....

I added some calendar tissue tape in places as it fits in with memories and time and I began to construct the collage. I added a few roses made with tattered florals die and a delicate die cut covered with Copper embossing powder.

 
















A spinner seemed the perfect addition as the clock looked strange without hands - I found that it added a connection to the word 'when' which I had chosen to put on the rusty heart - but had seemed a bit disconnected as a result. So that worked out well!!!

  At this point I thought it was done but I wasn't very happy with it ....and I couldn't figure out why. It all looked 'nice', but wasn't 'right'...I left it and thought for a while and suddenly decided it needed another background. I got some plain cardboard and dry brushed with gesso, applying more in some areas. I stamped a music stamp and a script stamp in Potting Soil Archival ink. I added some strips of calendar tissue tape and then I covered everything with Walnut Stain DI and wiped the surface clean. It looked a little too clean after that, so I softened the effect with some Vintage Photo DI blended around the edges.

Then I stuck the collage on to this, added some ivory eyelets and attached some twine to hang it up.

    So there it is - my song from the heart...and it is a song that is definitely worth listening to! If you have a few minutes to spare, here it is...........