Creative Collage

     Hello everyone - Thanks for being here and taking a peek at something I have made. Huge apologies for not having been visiting for a while - I will try and catch up as soon as possible. I am, thankfully, feeling a bit better now.

    Before I begin visiting blogs being nosey seeing what everyone has created, I do have to devote this afternoon to bread making with my little boy. He desperately wants to see how bread is made and announced to me that he wants to be a chef and ALL chefs know how to make bread....It is obviously on his current checklist for things to learn....that and driving. As he is just a couple of weeks away from his 5th birthday, I have a feeling he isn't going to enjoy waiting another 12 years for those lessons!

*update on the bread...Our little boy LOVED making the dough - he compared the texture of the dough to feeling like "squished sardines" though when this little vegetarian has ever squished a sardine I don't know!!!! - sadly the bread wasn't a success. I noticed the flour and yeast was out of date while making it and didn't have the heart to cancel his bread making lesson. Luckily he lost interest at the point of the uneven, unrisen dough rolls going into the oven and then emerging like little rocks.....I'll buy some fresh flour and he can have another go and perhaps manage to eat the bread he makes!

       Anyway - onto the crafts.....I was inspired to create a patchwork collage after seeing Annette's stunning creation for the Simon says 'Quote' challenge - I didn't go back to it and check the details after finding it as I didn't want to be tempted to copy it at all....so I just went away gathering ideas and have only gone back to it now to get the link....Isn't it amazing that even when we are inspired by other artists and are basically attempting to make the same thing - how different it always looks! Of course mine was never going to be anywhere as good as Annette's....but you know what made me really happy? - I hung up the collage and my husband saw it when he got home and he looked at it and said "Wow!!!...I REALLY like that!" Of course I look at it now and think "Oh I could have used that template, stencil, ink, paint, pen etc etc" But hey! I can always make another! ;o)

      The inspiration for colours came from the decor of our living room...

      So I began to cut different sizes of card...some embossed and some plain. When they were all cut out and arranged in place I began decorate them.

Some were decorated with illustrations and text from old books. I used some Melange Tissue Paper and various tissue tape.

      Then I began to ink them. I didn't use any pre-coloured card - All the colours you see are inks or stains. I selected Forest Moss, Pine Needles, Rusty Hinge, Fired Brick, Frayed Burlap, Peeled Paint, Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Gathered Twigs.

      Then I used some embellishments. This was a good time to raid the junk box...where discarded elements of previous projects go...

      Most of the items on this collage were things that had been made, inked and prepared for previous projects and then I had changed my mind. Now was the time for them to get used. The final stage was to ink the edges with Walnut Stain DI and stick all the pieces together and then frame it. The Walnut Stain didn't give a dark enough effect so after sticking all the pieces together, I dry brushed the edges with French Roast Fresco paint.

     

        So that is my Patchwork Collage! It was so much fun to make - A huge thank you to Annette for sharing her inspiring work with everyone - Thanks so much to all of you for being here, hope to see you all soon!

I am entering this into the following challenge -

Simon Says - Very Strict Challenge (anything goes!)
Country View Crafts - Butterflies
Crafty-emblies  - Anything goes
Try it on Tuesday  - Recycled (I am hoping that my use of previously discarded embellishments can be considered recycling)

Flower tutorial

    Hello everyone! Hope you are all having an amazing Easter - The Easter Bunny visited our garden this year and left some eggs in the snow....the kids were thrilled that the Easter Bunny still came along despite the weather being bitterly cold....

      I am still recovering from a nasty flu bug - so haven't done any craft projects. Today however I did need to tidy up the craft cupboard and while I was sat there sorting stuff out (and the kids were occupied with chocolate) I decided to see if I could do the flower tutorial that I got a lot of requests for....I did manage to do it but I really apologise for the quality of the photos...my camera isn't wonderful at the best of times and trying to take pictures and make flowers at the same time was a bit too much for my poor fuddled head at the moment....some of the photos are too blurry and of course the lighting in my art cupboard isn't great......

    Anyway, enough of my poor excuses....lets see if this is helpful at all.......

Here are the items I used -

Peeled Paint DI

Forest Moss DI

Antique Linen DI & DS

Scattered Straw DI

Wild Honey DI

Tattered Rose DI

Shaded Lilac DI

Scissors

Glossy Accents Glue

Flower Punch

Brads

Flower and Leaf Diecuts

  

       Most people know the Tim Holtz Rose technique and I doubt mine differs in any way - but here is how I made them anyway...

Three flowers edged in Antique Linen

Cut one segment from one, two segments from the second and three from the third

 Glue the flower together in a cone shape

   I hold them together with pegs while they dry. I use the extra segment of three petals rolled up to make the centre of the rose

Then glue them all together, roll the edges of the petals back - and you have a rose.

Select two flower shapes, one larger than the other, and shade the edges with a pastel colour - Here I have used Tattered Rose.

 Make sure you cover both sides

Place a pencil point inside the flower and squash the petals against the pencil. Do this several times, you should be able to break down the structure of the card so that it becomes soft and flexible. Keep rotating the flower and squashing the petals.

You can see here I have gone a bit to far and torn the card slightly, but that won't matter when it is all glued together. So don't be afraid to really squash the card. Although it doesn't look it, the card flower here is very soft and flexible and easier to mould to shape.

  When both flower shapes are done, glue the smaller inside the larger and bend the petals backwards slightly and arrange how you want them.

 Very simple flower here...cut a length of card - about 4-5 inches depending on how large you want the flower to be. Shade it both sides with any colour you want - Here I have used Shaded Lilac.

 Cut into the paper in strips of about 1cm deep...cut as close as you can to each strand. It doesn't have to be very exact as the flower will fan out and you won't notice the different width strands....However, it is worth just taking your time to cut as narrow strands as you can as this gives a much better effect.

      Stick a strip of double sided sticky tape along the fringe

 ......and roll it up as tightly as you can...It is fiddly but an easy way to start the rolling is to use a thin pin or needle and roll that up and the remove the pin and keep rolling. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the finished flower by itself - but there is a photo of it in the group of flowers at the end of the tutorial and you can also see it on my Any Eggscuse for Chocolate post

Select three sizes of flowers and squiggle some stains on the mat. I used Milled Lavender here. You want to really drench the flowers so give them a good bath here!

  Keep swishing them in the stain

I keep drying them with the heat dryer and then dabbing up any excess

Cover some card with a contrasting colour - Here I have chosen Scattered Straw. Cover both sides of the card. You don't have to be too neat here, just smoosh some ink over it...

Using a small flower punch, cut out several small flowers. I use normally about 7-8

Poke a small hole in the flowers

Push a brad into the centre - Mini brads are best but I didn't have any this time so had to use a normal sized one. Keep adding the flowers but overlap them so they form a multi-layered effect

When you have enough, secure the brad

Add a drop of glue onto the brad

And fold over 3 - 4 petals so that the brad can't be seen

Then push up all the petals so that they no longer lie flat.

     Place the end of a pencil in the centre of the flower and squash the petals against the pencil.

Glue the three flowers together

 Glue the yellow flower centre into the centre of the flower shapes......

Now how about some leaves?

   Give the leaves a really good DS bath in Antique Linen

Allow them to dry (or heat gun them) but when they are still very slightly damp apply some Forest Moss and Peeled Paint DI's to the mat and spritz with water...

Cover the leaves with a light coating of Peeled Paint....you don't have to be too neat with this. Ivy leaves rarely have neat markings in real life and all are different. Just follow the leaf shape and leave a small edging of the Antique Linen.

Apply for a second time working your way inwards...so leave a wider edge this time, focusing on the center of the leaf

Now dab the Forest Moss over the stems and just at the top of the leaf

Take two flowers shapes and cover with Wild Honey DI

Cut a small strip of card and cover both sides with Wild Honey DI. Cut very fine strands about 0.5 -1 cm deep. 

Use the pencil as described before and push the petals into a cup shape against the end of the pencil.

Roll up the fringed card

Cover the two flower shapes with glossy accents glue and leave to dry

Glue the fringed petals into the center of the flower

And here is the finished arrangement. I dabbed the flowers with a bit of Walnut Stain as I wanted them to look a bit more shabby and grungy (I have plans for them that involve a tag with some grungy paper and rusty wire!)

     I hope that this inspires you to make your own flowers....If you do follow the tutorial I would love to know so please leave a comment!

         Thanks so much for being here and reading this tutorial!