Shabby Chic Apothecary Cabinet

To Gunge or not to Grunge.

I have just finished my new workshop sample for a shabby chic 8 inch apothecary cabinet. 

I have taken an Mdf Kit from That Craft Place and using Paints and mediums from Decoart given the kit a grungy shabby chic finish.

The clean shabby chic version.

In the class you will have the option of leaving the kit with a clean shabby chic finish or going all in with the ageing process, we will cover several shabby chic techniques including resist and image transfer using some of Andy Skinner's Vintage Downloads.

We will also be painting mini glass bottles that fit on the inside shelf of the cabinet.

there will be a choice of colours available in the workshop so you can finish the cabinet to your own taste xxx.

I will be teaching this class at the following venues this year. 

17 March      The Forget me Not Craft Cabin in Essex 

24 March       Lets Be Creative in Petersfield near Guildford

16 June          Amelia's Creative Crafts  near Birmingham

23 June          Rowan Tree Crafts    Carnforth 

27 October    The Stamp Addict   San Diego California

Simon Says Stamp are having a Grunge It Up Challenge and I would like to enter, you can find them HERE

Mixed Media Revolution

The Revolution begins,

 I am over the moon to announce Andy Skinner and myself will be kicking of the Revolution in Holland with Art Chick Studio on the 11/12 May and in June the revolution will continue in California at It's All About The Scrapbook

Both workshops will focus around the Decoart Paints and Mediums and I will be using some lovely Papers from the fantastic 7 Gypsies.

This is my project for the retreat, it's an 8 inch wall hanging with a shabby chic and vintage vibe, we will be creating a faux patina effect on 3d stars that have been cast in resin from Molds I made.

I have created two samples to show some different colour options as well as showing of some of the different design papers from 7 Gypsies.

ATC Background Tutorial post

Afternoon all, today I am sharing a simple background tutorial on the Andy Skinner blog, Head on over and you can see how I made the back grounds for these Atc's and I have used lots of Andy's Stampendous stamps and the Decoart Media Fluids with Atc blanks from That Craft Place.

The Atc's below use the background technique but stamps from Tim Holtz and Carabelle Studio.

Happy Halloween Stampendous Style

Morning all, And a slightly premature Happy Halloween to you.

This is just a quick post today with a couple of ways to use some of the newer Stampendous Halloween Stamps. I have used Freda Cat and Pirate Cove.

I started by creating a couple of Atc's using mdf blanks from That Craft Place.

The images were stamped with Memento ink on some 240gsm  card and coloured with Copic markers. Once coloured they were glued to the Atc blanks and trimmed to fit.

They have been finished with a couple of coats of Clear ultra thick embossing powder, also from Stampendous.

 I decided to add a little extra and turn them into tags. I had some old grey boards knocking about and decided to use them up.
The boards were given a couple of coats of Decoarts Tinting base to provide a nice white base. The images were stamped with Archival ink and colour washes were added to give an aged and worn look. Finally the boards were given a coat of Decoart Matte Medium to seal the surface. This was important as I was using their One Step Crackle Glaze which needs to be applied over a sealed surface for the best results.
Once dry the Atc's were overlaid  and glued to the boards. xx

If you head over to the Stampendous Blog you will find lots more Halloween makes this month xx.

Decoart / Stampendous Blog Hop Skull Coaster

Items Used:

Decoart Media Fluids

Andy Skinner Stampendous stamps: Skuldoggery, Toxic

Thanks for stopping by on the last day of the Stampendous/Decoart blog hop that has been running all week.

Here are the list of people playing along today. 

Friday

Pam Bray

Jamie Martin

Louise Healy

Asia King

Janelle Stollfus

Lea Fritts

Alison Heikkila

Katy Leitch

Mark Gould

DecoArt Blog

Today I have a 4x4 inch canvas board coaster painted with Decoart Media Fluids and one of Andy Skinners new Stamps from Stampendous.

I started by mixing a pale shade of green using the Media Fluids  and the Media Tinting Base and applied a base coat to the canvas board.

Once dry I stamped the skull with Black Stazon ink and started painting the skull using the fluids acrylics. I watered down the Transparent Yellow Oxide for the main skull, A little Titanium white for the teeth and a little Pyrrole Red for the nose.

I created a mask for the skull by stamping the image on some thin copy paper and cutting it out. I used Andy's Scratch stamp from the toxic set and stamped using the fluid acrylics to add some colour contrast and interest to the back ground.

I finished by stamping the word Fear also from the Skuldoggery set across the top of the skull and using a Posca pen added some highlights to the letters.

The edges were distressed using some Stazon ink applied with some foam.

Thanks as always and If you have some time we would love to see you joining in on the hop and seeing what the other DT members have created.

xx

Industrial Grunge Clock Decoart/Stampendous Blog Hop

Items Used:

Decoart Media Fluids.

Decoart Media Texture Sand

Andy Skinner Stampendous Stamps. Curiosity, Steampunk

Stampendous Stamp Vintage Note

This week Stampendous and Decoart have come together for a week long blog hop celebrating the Andy Skinner stamps new and old and the Decoart Media Line.

Here is a list of the people participating today.

Stampendous Blog

Jamie Martin

Louise Healy

Mark Gould

Ursula Wollenberg

DecoArt Blog

I am lucky enough to be on both design teams and have taken this opportunity to share a new class I have put together with a new faux Pitted Tin technique and a little rust thrown in as well.

A couple of close up pics to show the textures created.

This is a grey board kit from Tando-Creative and measures 12 inches x

I cant wait to teach this class and I am so excited that the first place I will be teaching it is on my return trip to California this May 5th/6th when I visit It's All About The Scrapbook in Dixon CA.

If you have some time it would be great to see you stopping by the the other hoppers pages and leaving some love, you never know, you might be selected as one of the winners.

Head over to the Stampendous or Decoart blog for details of the generous prize pack. xx

Decoart Mixed Media Blog Tutorial Post - Painting and working with Acrylic

Today It's  my turn to share a little tutorial post over on the Decoart Media Blog and I have gone for a Vintage Circus style tag using one of the Acrylic Media Boards from Tando Creative and stamps from Carabelle Studio.

If you follow the Decoart Link it will take you straight to the tutorial post xx.

Hope to see you there. x

Simon Says Stamp are having a 'Use your favorite tool' challenge this week. My fave tool has to e the heat gun, I am an impatient crafter and always turn to my heat gun to help things along when I can, I have also used it for one if it's more traditional uses on my tag for some heat embossing.

Stampendous Embossing Powder Maple Branch Canvas

I hope everyone is keeping well?

Stampendous are sharing my Maple Branch Canvas on their website with quick Step by Step instructions today. Head on over if you would like to know what I have done with their Frantage Embossing Powders and Dreamweaver Stencils.

I have also used some Decoart Media Fluids.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

California Dreaming Road Trip

Wow, What a 2 weeks that was ;)

I am not long back and only just getting over the jetlag but wow, what an amazing trip, We (better half and me) had such a fun filled and welcoming trip adventure for my first trip to teach in the USA.

I gave 3 classes teaching my Mixed Media Tag and Tag Storage box class and in between teaching we managed to squeeze lots of touristy stuff in too.

Sorry there will not be a lot of finished craftyness as this post is more about what we got up to an where and is a good place for me to keep track of events in a time line xx.

First of I need to say a huge thank you to Laura from Stampendous and here entire family who bent over backwards to make us feel at home and Laura pretty much made this trip happen for me, So Thank you again xx

Also a big thank you to my Craft friend Glo and her hubby for putting up with us for the first weekend of our trip xx.

There are lots more thank you's that need to be dished out and I hope by the end I have not forgotten anyone ;)

So the trip started with my first class in America being held at It's All About The Scrapbook with Andrea and her lovely group of ladies that took great care of me and eased me in to teaching in the states.

The following day we had a day out in San Francisco visiting a bucket list attraction for me, Alcatraz.

Managed to get some nice rusty texture pics here ;)

the island

An external rusty door

Close up of a cell door

Close up of an old sign on the island

Cellfie 

After San Francisco we headed a little south to Orange and managed to fit in both Disney and Knotts Berry Farm theme parks.(we did the Knott's Scary Farm halloween night as well)

This was my first Disney experience and I loved the park, everything is over the top but in such a fun way, the rides were great fun but the general feel of the place was just so much fun.

Inside the Hanted Mantion

From the Pixar Parade at California Adventure.

And from Knott's Scary Farm.....

Now this was fun, I love Halloween and we were so lucky to be in the USA for Halloween, Knott' Farm open in the evenings and go full out with hundreds of actors roaming around the park in full halloween dress scaring the you know what out of everyone, as well as the rides being ridden in the dark they also have several horror mazes (loved these) and a live show by the amazing Elvira.

One of the actors roaming around on stilts in the Day of the Dead section of the park

The Ghost Rider roller coaster,  best roller coaster I have ever been on, I have always wanted to ride one of the old wood frame coasters and this I think is the largest on the west coast of the USA. It was even better riding in the dark ;)

For our second weekend we headed down to San Diego where we went on a guided tour of lots of haunted buildings and had an amazing meal at a restaurant called C Level, This top pic was our view from the table.

Sorry, couldn't wait to get started before taking the pic of my dinner.

Saturday I was at the Stamp Addict run by the lovely Roxanne, Another big thank you to Roxanne and her Hubby Walt for taking care of us xx.

And on Sunday I headed to Westlake Village to Deb at Scrapbooking Forever.

Scrapbooking Forever marked the end of my classes and I want to thank all 3 shops for having me and to all the ladies that came along, you made me feel so welcomed and I loved every minute of being there, It was wonderful to finally meet some of my facebook and blog following friends xx. Hopefully Ill see you all soon ;)

The last few days were filled up with a trip to Universal studios....

And one of the crowning glories was the Guillermo Del Toro exhibit At Home With Monster hosted at Lacma.

I pretty much ran my phone battery down taking so many pictures here, there was just so much to see from his personal collection, Film Props, costumes from his movies, Art Journals from several of his films as well as a huge collection of other horror items that have inspired his works.

I have included a few just to give you an idea but this was an amazing couple of hours walking round soaking in all the creativity.

Thanks for sticking with my rather long drawn out post.

And Again, I can't thank everyone enough for all they have done for us this trip, It was so good meeting friends from online and making so many more.

I can't wait to return to sunny California.

xxx.