ALTERED BOX

I had a gift to send to a friend so decided to alter a box to send with it . I wanted it to be pretty but at the same time grungy if that makes sense to you. I also wanted to experiment with some new supplies.

I was very happy with the outcome and below I explain more of the process and the supplies I've used.

The box was originally brown kraft coloured so the first thing I did was painted it inside and out with white Gesso.
Once dry, I stenciled on the lid with a baroque design using white modeling paste. On the sides of the box and the bottom I stenciled through the "Art Is" stencil by Crafters Workshop. This was left over night to dry out completely.

For the colour, firstly I used Delphinium Turqoise Starburst Spray by Lindy's Stamp Gang but rather than spraying I applied it with a brush for more control. While still wet, I  carefully sprinkled on a minute amount of Bister in Blue in various places and encouraged this to run around the stenciling with a brush. (Available from Art Journey.nl).This gave a fantastic effect with the shiny turquoise interleaved with the darker blue/black of the Bister. (Remember a tiny amount goes a very long way and the colour is very intense).

I dried everything then used Inka Gold wax paste in Steel Blue and Silver to add areas of extra sheen and to highlight the stenciling. (You need to buff it with a dry cloth to really bring out the shine).

I mixed some clear glass micro beads with some Gel Medium and some of the Lindy's stamp gang spray in a small pot and added it to the box lid in random places. This added extra texture and interest.

For decoration I added Cheese Cloth, silver leaves and white flowers which I'd painted the centers blue to co-ordinate.

The inside of the box was lined with a paper napkin which had a lovely sentiment.

As it was her birthday I included a card which I cut with my ScanNcut machine after making the design in their Canvas Software programme.

ScanNcut have included a new feature update into Canvas, where you can now add a dotted score line to your cuts. This can also be designated as a draw line so I was able to replace my blade with one of their special pens and create faux stitching around my patterned paper. Super fun and a very useful addition. So pat on the head to ScanNcut.

I hope you like my box and below is a YouTube video showing me creating this step-by-step.

Die-Namites Dies October Challenge

Die-namites Dies are holding a monthly sketch challenge to win a $25 gift certificate and this is my entry.

The challenge was to make a card using a sketch posted on their blog as a guideline. The requirement was to incorporate at least one of their dies and some burlap.

I chose to use the Daisy Bunch Die DN-1012 which I die-cut in black card to be a silhouette. (I have cut off and moved one of the daisies from the bottom into a higher position).




As well as burlap, the sketch also had a strip of lace, so I used black for this too, to tie in with the die-cut. My matting layers were also black.

 As my strip of burlap was a mustard colour I chose a similar shade of mustard for the background paper. I used the Tim Holtz Mini Baroque die for my center mat and cut the black matting layer by hand. The lettering was cut with my ScanNcut machine. To finish I added a few black sequins and filled in the daisy centers with Black Pearl Pen by Viva Decor..

I really like the quality of the Die-namites dies and they cut very well. They have  a good selection of patterns to choose from.

If you'd like to enter the challenge you have a few days left to post your entry.  http://www.die-namitesblog.com/  If not there's always next month.

Art Journey Blog Challenge

The Dutch craft company and rubber stamp manufacturer Art Journey hold a challenge every month and for August the theme is The Sun. At the end of the month one random entrant is picked to win a 10 Euro gift certificate to shop at Art Journey. The requirement is to follow the set theme and use mostly Art Journey stamps. Here is a link to the challenge if you'd like to join in:-
 http://artjourneydesign-team.blogspot.nl/2014/08/challenge-48-zonsun.html

I decided to create an Art Journal page and the Art Journey stamp sets I've used are Nature Flowers and Ripple small. They are very good quality red rubber stamps and Art Journey will ship worldwide.

I first stamped and embossed the flowers with white embossing powder. I then coloured the right hand corner of the page with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink. I stamped and embossed over this with clear embossing powder and then blended over this again with Spiced Marmalade Distress ink and graduated this colour into the yellow ink previously applied. As you will see the embossed sun acted as a resist and the yellow still shows through from underneath.

Next I added Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to the sky area and Mowed Lawn & Peeled Paint Distress Ink to the lower portion of the page. Using a cross hatch stamp by Jofy I added lightly stamped texture to the sky with colorbox inks in white and dark orange. To make the piece pop I over-stamped the flowers in Black Archival Ink by Ranger.

 To finish I found a quote about the sun on the internet which I though fitted my page well and printed it out. I cut the quote into strips, used Vintage Photo Distress ink around the edges and used Claudine Hellmuth Matt Medium to glue them into place. I used black alcohol marker pen to accentuate the edge of the page then matted and layered it onto blue and then black card ready to be adhered into my Art Journal..

ATC SWAP WITH VELOCITYVETTE08

I was invited to participate in an ATC swap with Jane who is Velocityvette08 on YouTube.

We had to each make 5 different ATC's which could be on any theme.

These are the 5 designs I came up with:-

The first one is a nice jokey card made using a Magazine Freebie Rubber Stamp by Acid Drops & What Nots. I stamped the design several times and then cut out several sections of each stamp to compose a decoupage of the bow on the swimming costume and  the hat. The background was painted with acrylic paint over Gesso. I added glitter to the wet paint for the sand and a Tim Holtz stamp for the birds. To finish it off I added a bit of rhinestone bling with a dolphin and some starfish. I then edged the piece with gold paint pen.

For my second piece I used Dreamweaver Crackle Paste through the Crafters Workshop Mini Cell Theory stencil. Once dry I dripped on Green, Blue, & Black Liquitex acrylic Ink and allowed it to flow into all of the cracks. On top of this I rubbed gold Inka Gold to pick out the high points and add some shine. The beetle is from a stamp set by Chocolate Baroque called Steampunkery. I painted it with alcohol markers and Lumiere paint in Halo Green Gold then added Ranger's Glossy Accents to the clock face and the beetles shell. I adhered this piece with foam tape for dimension and slightly curled up the edges of the wings. 

As I'm English I went patriotic for this card. I used the bus stamp from the DoCrafts Portabello Road set. I used a Union Jack flag napkin for the background and two ribbons from the set. I printed out a tiny London scene and fussy cut it around the edges. Because the design was too intricate to cut it all out, I coloured inside the design with alcohol marker pens to blend into the napkin design. I added flag design buttons for the headlights of the bus and Ranger's Glossy Accents to make the red paint shine. I then added a London Button to finish it off.

This ATC was fun to make and to have a little messy play. I used the stamp set by  the Dutch company Art Journey and fussy cut out all the pieces I wanted to use. For the paint colours I actually used melted wax crayon and allowed it to run down the card. I melted one colour at a time matching each line up with a stamped paintbrush. It's a very tactile card with a lovely feel to it..

For my last card I used the Punky Flowers stamp set by Chocolate Baroque onto a background of Acrylic Paint which was stamped with script and spattered with black Liquitex Ink. The poppies were stamped onto glossy card, coloured with alcohol ink markers and silver paint pen. I covered the light bulbs with Anita's 3-D Clear Gloss Finish and added my sentiment with Matt Medium. I drew a shadow around each poppy with a gray marker pen and added highlights to the bulbs with a white Faber Castelle PITT pen.

I was really happy with how they all turned out and I hope Jane likes them too.

Art Journal Page - "Shining Souls"

This Art Journal page is inspired by the 100 year Anniversary of the beginning of WW1 which is being commemorated throughout Europe.

I used two of the stamps from a set by Chocolate Baroque called Punky Flowers. I stamped onto light weight card several times and then coloured the flowers with Inktense Blocks used as water colours. Once dried, I fussy cut out each flower and covered the light bulbs with glossy accents to look like glass. I used a black Faber Castell Pitt pen to re-enhance all the stamp lines and a silver gel pen to colour the metal elements at the bottom of the light bulbs and the bottoms of each flower. The stems and leaves were painted with two different shades of green.

The background was a piece of light weight chipboard which I first painted with white Gesso and then a coat of Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Paint in Beach Hut. Using a script stamp and Aquamarine Archival Ink by Ranger I stamped across the entire image. On top of this I then used white colorbox ink and a cross hatch stamp by Jofy randomly to create visual texture.

The flowers were glued into place using Claudene Helmuth Matt Medium. Some were cut apart and slotted behind other flowers to achieve the layout design I was looking for. I added some alcohol ink pen around the bulbs in yellow and then went over this again with a wash of yellowInktense block to add a glow. I added white highlights to each bulb then outlined each flower with a dark grey Spectrum Noir marker pen . The sentiment was typed and printed on my computer. Cut apart and adhered into place with Matt Medium. I then added the small white plaque to explain the meaning of the piece.  I matted the page onto yellow, then black card.

I created a step-by-step YouTube video of the creation of this page which you can watch below.

Craft Stamper Magazine July - "Take It Make It Challenge"     

The Embossing Resist Technique.
For this months challenge I've made a card using a large stamp by Hero Arts - Flower Text S5506. I stamped onto white card with clear embossing ink, then used white embossing powder. Once this was cooled I began to ink over the top with Distress Inks. I used Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Stormy Sky and Faded Jeans.
This really made the white embossing pop.

I  dug out my bag of small paper scraps and began to stamp the flowers & leaves onto various colours of paper. I  embossed them with the white embossing powder as before then fussy cut out each individual element of the design and adhered them down with Matt Medium. For a final touch I added some pink rhinestones. The finished front panel was matted onto white card, then navy card then onto the  white card base & voila!

I hope you like it.

Mixed-Media Art Journal Collage
QUEEN

I wanted to do something different with my Art Journal so I thought I would try some collage.
I found a picture I liked in a newspaper and fussy cut it out.
I started the page with a stenciled background using Inka Gold in a mixture of Lava Red and Violet mixed together then some gold through a different stencil.  I toned this down with watered down wash of white Gesso.
Before I glued down my image I added a stamped butterfly wing which I coloured with Derwent Inktense Pencils. I added some shading around the edge of the image and also some doodling. I gave her a crown of chipboard coloured with Inka Gold in Bronze. I wrote my caption aroud the image with a Black Faber Castelle Pitt Pen.

I have a video of the creation process below.

My Video of the creative process