Some Post Xmas Crafting

So how is everyone doing? Over the Xmas eating binges? The roast Dinner was down to me this year and I love a roast with all the trimmings, even if my belt is now on a slightly larger set of notches.

In between bouts of stuffing my face I have been working on several things, some of which I will be sharing very soon, till then I have these, If you are a facebook friend, (feel free to join me) I posted up a couple of samples for consideration and these are the end result.

They are Save the Date Cards for one of Kelly's best friends that is getting married next year, somehow I have been roped into making the invites, save the dates and place cards etc.

I have taken the smaller of the Tando-Creative Mixed Media Boards and have painted the backs using Decoart's Weathered Wood using the accent colour to tie in with the friends wedding accent.

The details were printed off onto some 300gsm card and glued to the boards, edges were sanded and then distressed with archival ink. The Dylusion Stamps have been stamped with Memento ink and coloured with Copics, again matching the accent colour.

They have been finished with the addition of an eyelet and some colour coordinated ribbon.

Now I need to figure out Invites. 

This may be worse than card making ;) xxx

I hope you all had an amazing Xmas and if you are still off for the Holl's I hope you are making the most of it.

Have an amazing 2014.  I'll be back soon xx

thanks for stopping by.

De Stempelwinkel - I Actually Made A Card

Is everyone set for Xmas? Not long now.

Today I have a sneak peek of my make over at De Stempelwinkel it's a rare thing for me, a card.

I make very few cards but there are times of the year and people in my life that I can not get away from making a card for ;)

This was made for my girlfriend Kelly who happens to have her b'day just before Xmas so while everywhere else is festivity mad I'll stick with the normal ;)

I have been playing with the Gelli Plate again and have used several prints to form my card. If you have time it would be great to see you over at De Stempelwinkel where you can see the whole thing.

Thank you all for stopping by and I wish you all an amazing Xmas. xx

De Stempelwinkel - Da Vinci Gift

I have up dated this post with the ics as I would like to enter this into the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge they are having a use a stamp theme to see out 2013.

This was my DT make for De Stempewinkel and all the stamps are from them.

The pencil case was painted with Decoart Paints.A white base coat and some colour washes followed by a thin coat of white that was then sanded back.

The stamping has been done with various archival inks in a random pattern.

The whole pencil case was then sealed with Decoart's Satin glaze.

Thanks for stopping by xx

Decoart - Kids Blocks Gelli Plate Tutorial

So hows everyone doing? Thanks for stopping by, I'm sharing a little Decoart tutorial on some altered kids blocks today.If you have time head on over to the Decoart DT blog where you can find loads of great tutorials from our amazing team.

I wanted to try something a little different this time and with Xmas just a few weeks away they could make a great little present if you know anyone with a little one.

Here is what you will need.

Some Decoart Traditions acrylic paints. I have used Hansa Yellow, Quinacridone Violet and Aquamarine. I have also used black and white Americana. The Decoart paints are perfect for the Gelli Plate
Gesso.
Traditions Satin glaze
Faux Finish Medium
Black Archival ink and some cut and dry foam
A die for cutting letters, I used the Tim Holtz die
Black Card
A Gelli Plate
Stencils, I have used several from The Crafters Workshop
And of course, some blocks, Mine are about 3x3 inches.

I am recycling some distressed blocks that I have had around for a while, I started by giving them a coat o Gesso and let it dry, It was sanded back a little just to smooth them out and then given two coats of white Americana paint to act as a nice clean base.

Now the fun begins, The Gelli plate is something I love but have not really had a good play with but I really wanted to use it on something 3d.

these pictures show the steps each time, the only things changed are the colour and stencil.When working with a Gelli plate it is fairly important to work quick as the paint will dry out, if it dries out to much a couple of squirts with some water and a baby wipe will clean it up.You can add extenders to your paint if you want to but if you work swiftly you will have plenty of time.

I started with the Hansa Yellow, If you have not used a gelli plate, just add a few drops and spread out with a brayer to get a nice smooth and even surface, I laid my stencils on top of the paint (if you are using a text or a directional stencil you will need to make sure you place it the wrong way down otherwise the print will come out back to front)

Once the stencil was laid down I pressed my block firmly straight down,careful not to have it slip, I did this for all six sides with each pattern.
To clean off the Gelli plate I found the best thing to do is have several sheets of paper, thin printer paper works best for me, and just lay it over the remains of the paint and run the brayer or your hand over the top, this will pick up most of the paint and if you keep using the same bit of paper you can get a lovely build up of colour/images that can be used in other projects (back grounds for tags etc. it's also easier to clean your brayer by running it across a scrap of paper.

I used the Quinacridone Violet next, both this and the Hansa Yellow are transparent so you can get some quite nice colour effects, I finished off using a script stencil and the Aquamarine.If you look carefully you can see the script stencil has been laid back to front.

Here are the blocks after all the Gelli Printing

I edged the blocks by swiping Archival ink with some cut and dry foam and added some black stencilling to the face.

Using the Tim Holtz die and some black card stock I die cut my letters and attached them using the Faux Finish medium,, when dry the whole cube was given a couple of coats of the Satin Glaze, this really helps bring out the colours and gives a more finished look to the blocks, it also helps protect the layers of paint.

De Stempelwinkel - Elephant Present and a Thank you.

Morning all and thank you so much for stopping by.It's my turn again over at De Stempelwinkel and today I am sharing this little sneak peek of my Elephant Parade DIY kit.

This will be given to my Girlfriend's brother for Xmas.

If you have time it would be great to see you over there, lots more pics ;)

I would also like to say a great big thank you to all of you that stop by weather it is your first time or you are a regular, It really is amazing to have you here and because of you guys I have had an amazing crafty year and made some amazing crafty friends.

I would like to say thank you to all my Design Teams and all the people/blogs I have been lucky enough to guest for. I have loved every minute of it.

The year has been dreamlike in many ways and continues to grow. A year ago I would never have thought I would be given the opportunities that have come my way,

creating for the stamp company De Stempelwinkel and The Octopode Factory, doing my first tutorials for Decoart. The response has been overwhelming and very much appreciated.

Next year is looking just as exciting as I am now putting some class ideas together and working alongside Tando-Creative (watch this space ;) ) I will also hope to be doing some Demo days with the Decoart products, best keep my fingers crossed that there will be some interest ;)

Thank you to all the gals over at Haunted Design House who gave me my first break in asking me to be on their DT, I love getting my creep on with you ;)

And really a great big thank you to all of you that keep stopping by, None of this would have happened for me if you guys did not keep popping in xx

Ok, soppy bit over with xx

Thanks for stopping by x

de stempelwinkel - his n hers guft tags

Just flying in posting from my phone again. I'm sharing a couple of gift tags over at de stempelwinkel today and if you have time it would be great to see you over there x

Xx

De Stempelwinkel - Kate Crane style calendar pages.

Morning all, I'm sharing a little peak at my Kate Crane inspired December journal calendar page. The full pages can be seen over at the De Stempelwinkel blog.If you have time it would be great to see you over there x.

Get ready for the Octopode Factory Cyber Monday Sale

Are you ready for the big ol Cyber Monday sale over at The Octopode Factory Nows the time to stock up, and if you are still in the Xmas crafty mood, Lily has just bought out the whole set of Nativity figures.

Tando-Creative Andy Skinner clock and class

A quick post from me today. I just wanted to share this tando-creative clock I made in an Andy skinner class last weekend. It's Andy's own tando design and is the 7" version. He also has a 12" reversable clock. I'll post a link later. I'm seeing if I can blog from my phone.

All the paints ate from the decoart Americana range. 

Thanks for stopping by. X. I'll be back on the 1st with a Kate Crane inspired December calendar page. 

Xx 

Over at Simon Says Stamp they are having a countdown to the Holiday's, Now I always like to stretch the rules so I am sharing my Clock, as I am counting down the hours till Xmas ;)

De Stempelwinkel - Small gift box

Morning all, I hope you are all keeping well and getting plenty of crafting time in.

It's once again my turn over at De Stempelwinkel to share a little make and today I have this little teaser of a pic of a gift box.

if you have time it would be great to see you over there. xx

If you are unsure of who or what De Stempelwinkel are? they are a Dutch stamp shop that produce a lot of their own rubber stamps, hundreds to choose from, if you fancy checking their stuff out, follow the link HERE to the shop. xx

The Octopode Factory - Add a Crown

 Welcome and thank you for stopping by,I hope your weekend is off to a good start?
 Today I am sharing a Journal page I created for our current challenge over at The Octopode Factory, the theme this time is 'Add A Crown'.
 Now You may have noticed a bit of a theme if you stop by fairly often, I quite like the darker things, something with a little bit of creep to it ;)
So when I knew the challenge was 'Add A Crown', my little dark mind thought straight away, Queen, but not the postage stamp gal, more the Queen Of The Damned, (love that movie) and I have loved the Whimsical Devil Girl image for a little while now which is available from Lily's Etsy store.
 The Devil Girl has been coloured with Copic's and clear embossed. The back ground was painted with Decoart American acrylic paints I wanted to give a sort of Hellish feel with flames and darkness. I used a zombie stencil for all the damned souls ( thanks Glo) ;) and Andy Skinners Skull stencil from Tando-Creative. I also used a fancy filigree stencil for the bottom corner.
I finished off by adding one of Andys Stamps to the bg as it seemed quite fitting and the 'Queen Of The Damned' was stamped with the October Crow alphabet from De Stempelwinkel.
Almost forgot, My crown was added, this is one of the Tim Holtz embellishments, I touched up some of the details with some Decoart Gloss Enamel paint.

Now Sadly this will be the last challenge over at The Octopode Factory but we will still be back with DT makes so we are not going anywhere ;)
I would love to see you all joining in the fun with us. you have two weeks to take part, there are images up for grabs too. xx

Thank you all for stopping by xxxx

I would like to enter this into the challenge over at Smudgy Antics, they are having an 'Anything Goes' challenge.

I would also like to enter this into the challenge over at Punkyou Girl challenge blog, they are having an 'Angels And Demons' challenge.

ATC Swaps, Past and Future ;)

 Hi All, Just a very quick post to share some ATC's I did for a swap, most of which I have shared before at somepoint apart from the first one, Something that is not my usual style and do not worry I have not jumped on the Happy Clappy bus ;) but this was made for a blog buddy that is a little more in touch with his beliefs  than I am.

In case you are wondering the swap was with Neil Walker of Neelz Expressionz we started this swap at the beginning of the Summer but with both of us being rather busy it was only a few weeks ago that we finished the swap.

Here are the ATC's that Neil made for me, I love the running theme through these ATC's and the soft colours on the egyptian and tribal ATC's

Now onto the Future Swap, Over at Haunted Design House we are just starting our 2nd Annual ATC swap

Whilst we are on our break we did not want you forgetting us so once again we are running a swap, all you have to do is pop over and sign up. names will be drawn for swap partners some time next month. Head on over for more details.

All we ask is you keep your atc's on the dark or creepy side ;)

I hope to see you all over there joining in, I would love to see more people taking part this year than last.

xx

De Stempelwinkel - Fashion Curio Wax Canvas

So how's everyone doing? It is my turn again over 

at the De Stempelwinkel Blog to share a make.

With the Melt Pot still out I decided to do Wax canvas, it turned out to be a kind of Vintage Fashion Curio type thing ;)

When I use the Melt pot more than any other type of medium the results are always a bit of a mystery and I find the direction of where I think the canvas will go will change several times.

All I knew was I wanted to use the Vintage Steampunk lady from De Stempelwinkel and the rest just sort of mysteriously happened.

Thanks for stopping by. xx

I would like to enter this into a couple of challenges.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge are having a Mystery challenge.I always love the mystery of what will be created from using the melt pot.

Lej Designs are having an Alter it or Gift challenge.  I have altered a Canvas that can be given as a gift ;)

Loves Rubber Stamps are having a shabby chic or Vintage challenge.

Decoart Tutorial - grungy mirror.

Welcome back, It is of course great having you stop by.

Today I am sharing a tutorial for the Decoart International DT, this is a fairly new blog full of amazing mixed media artists creating tutorials using Decoart Products. 

Today I'm sharing this altered Ikea Mirror.

Here is what you will need.
An Ikea Mirror.

Some sheets of Chipboard/thick craft card.

An Embossing Folder

Decoart Gesso

Decoart Americana, lamp black

Decoart Traditios, Hansa Yellow Medium,Quinacridone Gold, Satin Glaze.

Decoarts Deco Page Glue
Decoart Triple Thick Gloss Glaze
Sanding Block.

I removed the mirror by gently heating along the Glue with my heat gun, this softened it enough that it just popped out, I then painted all the edges with Lamp Black americana paint. You dont have to do this but I wanted to make sure no wood would show through if one of the embossed edges was over the edge.

I cut my mount board to fit my Embossing folder, embossed them and using the Deco Page glue stuck them to the frame.Using a craft knife I cut around the frame. If like me you have gaps do not worry, you canuse a bit of Decoart Dimensional Effects.

Using a sanding block and at about a 45 degree angle gently sand all the edges so there are no over hanging bits.

Next paint the embossed card with Gesso, when that was dry I painted everything with more Lamp Back Americana paint.

The Traditions Hansa Yellow was applied and worked into all the low points, this is a translucent paint so you get some nice natural shaded patches and some nice depth. a second coat was added in places just to build up some more solid colour.

I let this dry for a while as I did not want the card to be at all damp when I started sanding, If it is a little damp and you are a bit heavy handed you can tear the top layer off the card.

I found it best to take it slow with this step, the idea is to remove most of the yellow from the raised areas exposing the black undercoat and in places the gesso underneath that.

I wiped everything down with a soft cloth to remove any of the dust from the sanding. To add a more aged and grungy look I used some Quinacridone Gold randomly with a brush and straight away wiped it away/in with my finger, this gives a rusty look.

Finally I gave the top a coat of Tripple Thick Gloss Glaze, with the triple thick its best not to over work it, just move it around enough for your coverage and let it do its thing, It self levels all on its own and gives a really hi gloss thick finish.

The edge of the frame was touched up with lamp black and given a coat of the Traditions Satin Glaze.

Thank you for stopping by. It really means a lot reading your comments and having you follow my blog. Thank you all. 

xxx

This ATC has been given the same treatment But Painted with a wash of Traditions Napthol Red Hue. 

And here is a tag made in exactly the same way as the mirror, I have used A mixed Media Board from Tando-Creative.