Friday, 28 February 2014

De Stempelwinkel - Tick Tock Tag


Morning all, A very quick teaser post this morning, It's my turn over at De Stempelwinkel to share and I have a little tag, I made this for a swap I took art in, I hope Claire likes it.x
It would be great to see you over at De Stempelwinkel.
The main stamp is from one of their new releases, It's one of my all time faves and is now bigger than ever ;)
Thanks for stopping by. xx
I have fixed the link now. Thanks Anne x



Tuesday, 25 February 2014

3 Shabby Chic Hearts And A Distressed Plaque


Afternoon, Thanks for stopping by, A quick post today with more samples from the CHSI show.
All three of these hearts came from the range in a set, they started life as plain grey moulded stoneware, almost cement really.
I decided to use the three most common finishes on these.
The new Chalk Paint from DecoArt needs no prep work and covers pretty much any type of surface.
For the top heart I used the Vaseline resist technique.


For this heart I used the wax resist technique


and finally I used the new crackle medium specially formulated for the chalk paint range.
I will go into these techniques in more detail very soon, I am just catching up with sharing everything from the show first ;)
Only one more post to come, honest ;) and then I will get into explaining things with a couple of simple tutorials xx


For this plaque I used the Vaseline resist technique and finished off by using one of Decoart's new stencils.
Thanks so much for stopping by, It's always great having you here and means a lot to me. xx

Sunday, 23 February 2014

De Stempel Winkel - Da Vinci and Chalk Paints



Morning all, Just a quick post this morning, It's once again my turn to share over at De Stempelwinkel and as you may have notice I am on a bit of a chalk paint trip at the moment, this time though I have been using them in a more crafty way and all I can say is I love them, they stamp incredibly.
You can see the full piece by clicking the link as well as a little what's what of what I did.
Thanks as always for stopping by, it is always great to have you here x

Friday, 21 February 2014

More Decoart Chalk Paints, An Old Box And The Make And Take Frames


Afternoon all, Thanks for stopping by and and a big welcome to my newest followers, It is so great to have you stopping by x.
As promised earlier in the week, here are a couple more pieces from the Craft,Hobby and Stitch trade show. This box was on my table and the tray held the new Chalk Glass paints.
The picture frames are what I was using for the make and takes.
The box was my great aunts sewing chest and is actually the top section only, the bottom piece that has a couple of drawers needs some tlc before getting the shabby chic make over.



I have used one of Decoart's new Stencils for the top of the box and have used the mid brown wax to hi light  the carved leaf details.


I have lined the tray and deeper inside the box with papers from the Madame Payraud 12" paper pack from Docraft, The inside lid of the box has been covered with the Sticky back canvas from the same set, The designs on each paper are beautiful and there really isn't a bad design in the set and it fits in with the whole shabby chic feel really well.
I have also used their papers to fill in the frames bellow.




These frames were from pound saver and horrible cheap plastic rubbish but the fancy edges were ideal for a shabby make over. The frame on the left is what we made on my make and takes at the show, Thanks to everyone who stopped by and signed up, it was great to meet you all x.
The frame on the right was just to show two different finishes showing the paints and waxes in the new range.
I think everyone enjoyed themselves ;)
Check out what Jenny Marples has made with her finished make and take, It is beautiful.
Here are some close ups of the details.



Thank you so much for stopping by, I have been so lucky to have been able to play with these paints early but they are on their way and will be in the craft stores very soon (uk) they are already available in the USA.
Ill do one more show round up in the next day or so and will share with you a new class I will be making available.
xx






Wednesday, 19 February 2014

Decoart Chalk Paints, Tim Holtz Shabby Chic Charity Shop Chair


Thanks for stopping by, After a very crazy but very enjoyable 4 days I am back home and just about recovered from the CHSI (Stitches) trade show.
First of all I would like to say a very big thank you to Stan, Patrick and Andy from DecoArt who had me demonstrating their new chalk paint range at the show, It was brilliant to meet you and I was honoured to be part of your stand.
It was also great to meet so many people new and old, they guys from Country Love Craft and Personal Impressions,  who are the UK distributors for DecoArt,  Lindsay Mason , Jenny, Brenda, Gabriela and so many other lovely people.
Ok so on with the post.
Now the show is over I can start to share some of the pieces I made for the display and as samples.
Today I am sharing my favourite piece, my charity shop dinning room chair, this cost me £12 and was perfect for the chalk paints.After Kelly saw it finished I was told to go and get the other three chairs and a table to match so we could have them in our new home when we move.


The chair started out like this, pretty ugly but it had all the right features for the type of finish I wanted, some hard edges but also some areas of detail and a little bit of shape, not just flat and square.
I wont go into to much detail of what I have done here as once all the samples have been posted Ill work on some tutorial pieces including another chair.
What I will say though is the paint is amazing, there was no prep work involved at all, no sanding or stripping back involved, I just started with the colour I wanted to show through my top coat.


When I saw the fabric range that Tim Holtz bought out last year I new I wanted to get my hands on several of the designs but was really struggling to think how I would use them in the sort of work I usually make.
As soon as I knew I was going to be working with these paints I had my answer, for me this pattern was the perfect fit for the chair.
The old cover was taken off, Tim's fabric was lined with an iron on piece of fabric (forget what it's called) just to make it a little more durable and the cusion was re covered.



Thanks as always for stopping by, Ill be posting more of my samples over the next couple of days and I also have a new clock class sample coming using the chalk paints.

Simon Says Stamp are having a 'cameo appearance' challenge, they asking us to be creative with the theme, you could use a normal cameo, or think of actors who have made a cameo appearance in a movie or TV show, I know I am pushing it but my cameo appearance is the Tim Holtz fabric ;)

Artistic inspirations are having an anything goes/masculine challenge.








Monday, 17 February 2014

De Stempekwinkel - Chalk Paint Clock


Evening, I hope you are all keeping well, Day two down from Stitches, a really good day today, caught up with some blog faces which is always good, I love being able to put a face with a name.x
Im sharing a Tando-Creative clock today over at De Stempelwinkel I have been working on sections of this at the show demonstrating the new Decoart Chalk Paints in a more way more suited to crafting, I have been moving between craft and home decor aplications. Did I say how much I love these paints?  
For the full pic and more details please head over to the De Stempelwinkel blog xx

That Craft Place - Guest DT and Some Pictures fresh From Stitches ;)



Well, A little late today for this post, but a good excuse, honest. After a very long but very enjoyable day at the Stitches Trade Show Demoing for Decoart I am now back at the Hotel and can get to writing my post.
This is my first post as a guest designer for Lisa over at That Craft Place, the theme for this two week challenge is 'Make Or Alter A Box'
If you are not familiar with That Craft Place, they are a lovely and friendly shop located in Eastbourne (UK)
They also do a brilliant mail order service and have an incredibly friendly and active face book group, all the details can be found in the sidebar of the blog page. The Bricks and Mortar shop can be found HERE.
I will be popping up from time to time throughout the year and am very honoured to have been asked to contribute to along with her regular DT, I am sure you will recognise some familiar faces over there. 
Now this challenge was just what I love to do,I love altering boxes, adding texture and depth, I am also a huge fan of projects that have a use at the end ;)
This started life as a cigar box, I managed to come back from Las Vegas with a case full of them ;) Yes customs did search the bag, all the boxes were full of things like dylusion sprays, ink pads and stamps, I think they were a little disappointed.
The main focal point of the box is this beautiful stencil designed by Lisa and is from her own range of stencils. I used modelling paste coloured with decoart acrylic paint and applied with a pallet knofe through the stencil, when dry, the box was painted with various colours and aged up with washes of paint. I used The Crafters Workshop clock faces stencil, Andy Skinners Code Breaker Stencil and a text stamp from The Artistic Stamper. Finally I used Decoarts two step crackle to give a nice aged look.
The Challenge runs for two weeks and it would be great to see you joining in,The DT have created some amazing projects with a vast range of styles.

To finish of here are some pics from Day 1 at Stitches that I shared earlier on Facebook, I will post a few more over the next couple of days.
As always a big ol thanks for stopping by xx



The stand before the show opened, this is where Ill be demoing and holding the make and takes.
Thanks for everyone who stopped by today.Was great to have Lisa and Lyn on the first make and take of the day. Hope you enjoyed it ;)
I have been using the brand new chalk paints, I will be sharing my projects and test pieces after the show ends.


This Is where Andy Skinner will be going through the amazing new Media range


The Ladies on the second Make and take of the day.


The man himself, Mr Skinner

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

De Stempelwinkel and Haunted Design House


Evening all, Hows everyone doing?
Another quick teaser pic today, It's my turn over at De Stempelwinkel to share a little something and I am sharing my little Faerie Envelope created with the Tim Holtz die and Decoart paints.
For the full pic and more details on what I did please stop by xx

This envelope is also serving as my DT piece for Haunted Design House, we have just started out new challenge, the theme this fortnight is 'Frightening Faeries'
As always we would love to see you get your creep on and join in the macabre fun ;)
xxx

Monday, 10 February 2014

Stitches Trade Show, Decoart Chalk Paint and Me




Ok, so I can finally announce some news I have been sitting on for the last couple of weeks, 
I have been incredibly lucky and honoured to have been asked to demo at the big UK trade show, Stitches, this is our version of Cha and I am beyond excited ;)
I will be Demonstrating along side Andy Skinner who will be on the Decoart stand showing off the new Media range.
I will be using the brand new Chalk Paints that received a top 20 innovative products award at  CHA earlier this year.
I am sharing a couple of tease pics today and will share a few more as the week goes on both here and on my Facebook page.
I will share the full pics next week after the show.
If you make it to the show please come over and say Hi, I will be on stand No H32  Decoart's stand, It will be opposite Country Love Craft J17 and Personal Impressions H28.
As well as demoing the products I'll also be doing some make and takes over all three days so it would be great to see some of you joining me.
xx




Thursday, 6 February 2014

Tim Holtz Feb Tag For 12 Tags Of 2014



Evening all, i hope your all keeping well. Thank you so much for stopping by. x
After a productive and fun crafty day over at Neil's I have my Feb tag for Tim Holtz's 12 tags of 2014 finished.
You can see Tim's tag and his tutorial on what he did if you follow the link above.
Like last month I am trying to put my own spin on things by using Decoart 
paints and media products.I am also using the Tando-Creative media boards for my tags, they are made from chip board/grey board and are nice and thick so lend themselves brilliantly for paint and other media products.
I started by sealing my board with Faux Finish Medium and then wated down my base colours to create a wash, I applied both colours at the same time and spritzed with water to mix the colours together.
I used slate grey and vintage white.
Once dry I mixed some paint with some modelling paste to get a pink and a cream colour,using a pallet knife I applied the paste through the heart stencil from Tando-Creative.
The edge of the tag was swiped with black archival and the eyelet was added, The hearts when dry were given a coat of Triple Thick to give them a gloss finish.
The heart was cut from chip board and given a base coat of white and then a bright red painted over the top. Some One Step Crackle was added over the top and once it had cracked some raw umber paint rubbed into the cracks.
The chalk board was also cut from chip board, the edges were shaped with a craft knife and painted black.
I used the Tim Holtz stamp and stamped with Decoart's New Chalk Paint, I am absolutely loving this range of paint, More to come soon ;-)
I also very lightly rubbed some paint across the edges of the square just to bring out the detail.
The arrow and 14 are from Tim Holtz and finish of the tag.
This was a very weird tag for me, I really like each individual piece and how they turned out, I'm just not sure I like it as a whole, It might just be because this is really not my style ;)
But it's good to be challenged and if I want to do the 12 Tags this year I  need to do them all lol.
Thank you for stopping by xx

I would like to add this to the Tim Holtz tag share.





Wednesday, 5 February 2014

De Stempelwinkel Belief Media Board


Another quick post today, Here is my little tease pic of my Project over at De Stempelwinkel.For the full picture and to see what I did please follow the link xx
thanks for stopping by x

Sunday, 2 February 2014

A Quick Post With Pics From My First Class.


Welcome and thanks for stopping by, Just quick picture filled post today from a wonderful day at That Craft Place Yesterday (sat) where I was lucky enough to give my first class to a lovely group of ladies.
Above yo can see what they created using the Tando-Creative Tic Tac Toe box and Decoart acrylic paints.

Here is my sample.

 It was so nice seeing so many different colour combos and the end results.For some of the ladies it was either their first class or first time working with paints. I think they all did brilliantly and I really hope they enjoyed the day.
Ill be back there in April giving my Chalk Board class.

More pics from the day below. Thanks as always for stopping by x.