Q&L challenge Proud or Vintage

I am very late entering this weeks challenge as i haven’t been too well and only just managed to create something very basic.

I will not be able to come and visit this week, so may i apologise to those all of the entrants for not commenting. 

I hope to be visiting blogs again during the next challenge.

Found lyrics by The Moody Blues from their song Vintage Wine.

“I remember the taste of the vintage wine
From '63 through to '69
And I'm proud of the things we believed in then
If I had the chance I'd go around again”

Used an iCard mop up sized background, sprayed Dylusions and Cosmic Shimmer sprays, dried with heat gun then added the Indigo Blue circles stamp. Added She was a Daughter stamp over the top, then the quote from above which has Tea dye DI to add the vintage feel.

completed the details of the challenge on the reverse of the iCard, then added a layer of Perfect Pearls over the top.

Thank you for visiting.

xxx

SOC4 Week 3

This weeks colour challenge from TwinkleTwinklelikeastar SOC4 is to use lilac, grey and a hint of plum.

I really love these colours and was pleased to get to work with them,i am not too happy with the outcome. All i could think of was Xmas!

I do love bauble shapes, this stamp is from a very old Anna Griffin stamp set.

Used Kaiserfusion Alcohol pens to colour, used lilac and grey tones and finally got the hang of the blending pen! The gem is one i removed from some sandals i can no longer wear, used the KF pens to colour the centre stone and Rainbow Glaze in Berry to add the plum colour.

The card is from stash, has a metallic lilac and grey background.

 

Added a sentiment to both the inner and envelope, again from Anna Griffin, using Sweet Plum Memento Ink pad.

I had another two goes at getting the colouring correct, adding glazes and glitter,

and glazed all over with glitter.

No greeting has been added as i love the CAS look of the cards, just not too happy with the colours…

Looking forward to your visit and comments.

xxx

I haven’t been too well again and not felt up to visiting too many blogs, please can i apologise. I will try to visit as many as i am able.

SDC152 Sentimental

Over at the playful Stampotique Blog this weeks challenge is from Gez:

Hi Gez here, I am delighted to be your hostess for this challenge.. I love sentiments and sayings, they really say it all to me! They make a piece finished! I'd like you to share some of your favourite words with us this week! They can be a main focal point or an embellishment, it's your choice! Say it with words...

Played with my new DecoArt Paints which i purchased last week when i saw them demoed by Andy Skinner and Mark Gould.

They are the best paints i have used so far, and my double sided plaque has been painted only with DecoArt Americana Satin, DecoArt Media Acrylic and DecoArt Chalk paint called Everlasting.

Side One

Plaque is from the MDF man and is made from greyboard. Painted a layer of  Chalk paint called Everlasting to seal the board, when dry added some DecoArt Americana colours, cocoa bean, pumpkin patch, deep turquoise and muted gold. Never used a make up sponge to blend colours before, they work very well with these paints.

Stamped over the background with a Christy Tomlinson She Art word stamp, added more layers with stencilling using Archival cornflower ink pad.

Next painted a thin layer of the DecoArt Crackle Medium and left to dry.

My favourite stencil at the moment is from Paper Artsy and Lin Brown ELB PS004. coloured some of the DecoArt Crackle Paste with Cobalt Teal Hue, Cyan Primary Media Acrylic and Deep Turquoise Americana Satin paints and used a palette knife to spread over the stencil, had some over so place this onto some satin card stock to dry.

When dry added Treasure Gold Onyxite, Indigo and White Fire to the heads and Limited Edition 1 and Aquamarine to the stems, love the way the crackle has turned out.

Used Posca white pen to outline some of the areas on the plaque to give some depth.

Got some doCrafts washi tape and added a couple of strips to the plaque. Stamped Heartthrob from Stampotique, coloured him is using Kaiserfusion Alcohol Pens, cut him out and grounded him onto a piece of the washi tape.

When i was happy with this side i applied 3 coats of the DecoArt Soft Touch Varnish, when dry it feels like velvet, such a fabulous finish very tactile.

To finish off i added an embellishment to the top of the plaque which i had cut off from some sandals which i can no longer wear, this enables the plague to be either free standing or be hung up.

A few macro shots of side one:

The sentiment is from Dyan Reaveley stamps set The Right Words.

 

Side Two

Side two was created using the same colours with the added colours DecoArt Primary Yellow and Americana Satin Eggplant.

Used the paste i had over to create a second set of the poppy heads which i fussy cut then adhered onto the plaque.

Treasure Gold was again added but this time in Indigo, Royal Amethyst and Renaissance.

Moth Fab from Stampotique was coloured using the Kaiserfusion Pens, fussy cut and adhered onto the plaque over another piece of the doCrafts washi tape.

The sentiment if another from Dyan Reaveley stamp set Say what you Mean. The two sentiments i have used are wonderful and positive, something i need in my life at the moment, i hope you like them too.

Added another embellishment at the top of the plaque so it can be seen from either side and will make a more stable hanging point.

The final touch was to add another 3 layers of the Soft touch Varnish, everyone needs this in their stash especially if you are a tactile person, you will keep going back to touch the soft surface again and again.

Some macro shots of side two:

I do hope you have enjoyed dropping by, looking forward to your comments.

xxx

 

Please can i mention that i do try to leave comments where i can. I am not on Facebook or Instagram, Flicker or Google+ so if you leave me a comment from these places i will not be able to return the visit.

House Swap

Made these houses for a Swap at the beginning of June and haven’t blogged them. They are being posted to the recipient on Saturday as they have to be posted before end of June.

Front.

Back.

Used lots of layering with stamps and stencils to get them completed. Really enjoyed the process.

Hope you enjoyed your visit, looking forward to reading your comments.

xxx

Bees in the Yard

It has been fabulous to see lots of bees in my yard today, they have been mostly feeding from the Lobelia flowers. Hope you can see how beautiful they are especially the ones where you can see the wing movement; you might need to look at the images larger to see the movement.

Tasmanian Iris are a rare breed mini Iris, i got my plant from Arley Hall rare plant sale many years ago. I am sure you will agree they are a very pretty flower. The heads measure just over an inch long, at the moment they are in full bloom and will last another week or so.

It is a wonderful time in my yard at the moment. Hope you are all enjoying your gardens or yards too.

xxx

Inspired by Sara Naumann

Sara Naumann showed us how to make a washi tape card, here is a link to the video Paper Artsy has put on their You Tube Channel.

I liked the effect i got from using Pinata Alcohol inks Sapphire Blue and Calabazza Orange. Instead of making one panel i decided to use the half the A4 card and make it into an A5 card.

The washi tape is from Sainsbury’s, thank you again Keren the tape is really useful!

The stamps are from a very old foam set which is for weddings, liked these two bold words, thought they would suit this style of card.

I don’t have any of the sets Sara used so had to improvise. Used Magic Tape to get the text backgrounds. Stuck it onto book pages rubbed down and lifted the words onto the tape. Looks like home made washi tape, very effective and easy to stamp over using an Archival Black ink pad.

The flower was made using Paper Artsy die and beautiful swirl stamp from HP1005 set. The gems in the middle are semi precious and were from Manchester Minerals a very long time ago.

Used some of the cut off card to make the little embellishment under the flower.

Hope you like this version of Sara’s technique.

Thanks for dropping by, looking forward to your comments.

xxx

SDC 151 Boxes

Over at Stampotique Designers blog this weeks challenge is from Arwen, she says

What could be better than to give a loved one something?

To present a gift effectively, I make nice boxes to do so.

Be it for jewellery, candy, books, etc. - for all you can make great boxes.

But the box itself is a wonderful gift idea.

Show me your boxes!

I'm curious about your boxes and whether it will be given away for something or will it be used to preserve things?

Today is my birthday and this is the box i made for my OH to give me.

It is the first time i have made one of these types of boxes, there are many mistakes which i know you will spot lol.

My next one will be much better.

Thanks for dropping by, looking forward to your comments.

xxx

SOC4 Week One

After seeing so many of the blogs i follow taking part in this challenge thought it was time to pay them a visit and see what the excitement was about.

Over at Twinkle Twinkle Like A Star blog page i found this page which gives you all the information you need if you wish to participate in

The colours this week are

Aqua Blue & Yellow

With a Smudge, Splash or Pop of Hot Pink.

Seeing as i am not a lover of either yellow or pink this challenge is good for me as it will make me use colours i find difficult.

Used a book page as the background to the journal page, Portfolio Pastels to create the circles and dots, a Uni Pin pen to highlight areas, Rainbow Glaze to add a little dimension to the pink circles and the pink flower.

Love Posca Pens, their colours are so vibrant yet can be watered down to produce a lovely wash, here i chose to use them as they come out of the pen, the yellow on the dots is very bright.

Used Andy Skinner stencil Hippy chick and turquoise shade Pan Pastels to add the female shape,a black glitter frame to show off the flower and some hot pink washi tape which was given to my by the lovely Keren Baker,thank you Keren!

Hoping you like this entry into Week One of this fabulous challenge, hope to see you there sometime.

Thanks for dropping by.

xxx

SDC 150 Celebrate

Great news this week as over at the Stampotique Designers Blog they are celebrating 150 Challenges. There are some amazing inspirational creations this week by the design team and some amazing news is that Stampotique Designers are going to choose 4 new Designers to join them from the entries of the 150th Challenge!  Hope you join in to have a chance of a lifetime!

Now i know i am not going to win, but i am entering just the same as this week sometime it is my birthday and so have my own reasons to celebrate. I was born in 1957 and this year i am 57 years young.

This page is the June DLP front page and i will include this in my DLP post over on my Wordpress Blog. The word of the month is

CELEBRATE

Used Inktense Bars and Windsor and Newton Inks to create the background.

 

Added stars and cupcakes which were free stamps, then the Fairy and Toadstools from Lindsay Mason and the Balloons from Jelly Bean Soup. Rainbow Glazes cover the Fairy, the balloons and June.

The celebrate word was stamped using a very old alphabet which i can’t find the name of, sorry onto the inside of an envelope. June was stamped using a Kirsty Wiseman alpha set.

Hand wrote My Birthday Month.

Hope you like my Birthday celebration page, looking forward to your comments.

Thanks for dropping by.

xxx

Q&L challenge 11

Over at the Craft Barn challenge 11 is to use the words Mountain or Mistake. Please visit their blog and join in if you feel like it. Am learning a lot, new quotes, new artists, it has been a blast so far, hope to see you there!

Found these lyrics by A-Ha from a song called Foot Of The Mountain.

But we could live by the foot of the mountain
We could clear us a yard in the back
Build a home by the foot of the mountain
We could stay there and never come back

Learn from my mistake
Leave what others take
Speak when spoken to
And do what others do.

Used an iCard size substrate which has been cut up from a mop up piece of card. The blue is from Dylusions spray Midnight.  Added Pan Pastels Orange, Magenta and Dark Red Oxide to create the sunset.  Added a layer of Old Gold Metallic Pan Pastel to add the night shimmer, left a little area without and stamped the stars as if they are trying to shoot out into the night sky.

Tore up a piece of paper to get the shape of the mountains and then coloured the area with black Archival Ink. Stamped the house with a freebie stamp from Craft Stamper (very old stamp)and Versamark ink then dusted over with Perfect Pearls.

Used a white Posca Pen to do the writing, must get a thinner nib as this isn’t very legible.

The completed scene and lyrics.

Stamped the reverse of the iCard with the house stamp and the accompanying tree stamp, also added the alium stamp from Clarity Stamps (one of my all time favourite images). Added all the details and stamped the date.

Am posting early as i don’t want to miss the deadline this time.

Thanks for dropping by, looking forward to reading your comments.

xxx

SDC 149 Pink and Turquoise

Over at the Stampotique Designers Blog the challenge this week is from Sam Read, Sam says:

I'm so excited to be sharing with you my love for polka dots. Almost every thing I own is dotty!

Polka dots are great fun as a main feature or as a delicate accent to artwork. My other love is my favourite colour combination, pink and turquoise. So for this weeks challenge I'm inviting you to have fun with my favourite things: Pink, Turquoise and Polka Dots! I can't wait to see your creations, so get your rubber out and have lots of fun creating :)

Here is my dotty card.

Used Portfolio Pastels through a small circle stencil to create the background, used the bump technique to add a little dimension. Drew larger circles over the top using the same pink and turquoise Portfolios then used some free Indigo Blu stamps for the flowers, dragonfly and the sentiment.

Coloured the flowers using the new limited edition Inktense Pencils, used carmine Pink, deep rose, turquoise, beech green, spring green and sun yellow to colour the flowers.

Hand drew the stems which are not quite right on the pink flowers, perhaps i should have left them floating like large bubbles… Yes, that would have worked much better! Hindsight is a wonderful thing lol. Hand drew the black circles also.

Made this for a friend for their birthday. Here are another couple of images.

The envelope was stamped with the larger set of grasses from the free Indigo Blu set.

Thanks for dropping by, any help on creating good stems on flowers would be appreciated.

xxx