Anything But A Card Challenge #21 - Masculine Or Something For Dear Ol' Dad. . . . . . . .

Hello everyone. It's time for a new challenge at Anything But A Card for the next fortnight. We are asking you to make a creation using a masculine theme or you can produce something for your Dad. Here in UK Father's Day takes place on Sunday 16th June, so the timing is perfect if you haven't yet come up with a little something for that special Dad. Just remember, we accept any kind of project as long as it's NOT a card.

Sadly, my Dad is no longer with us so I decided to make a holder for a gift card or cash present suitable for a boy/man. My holder takes the form of a tag with a little pocket which holds the card or cash gift.

I promised to bring out some more of my gelli plate pieces and I've used one of them for the background of my make - with additional stencilling, pencil work and other things!

The finished tag complete with gift pocket and stamped sentiment using DecoArt acrylic. The bottom edge of the tag was made more interesting by adding the waste card left over from die cutting the pocket.

The tag background, the pocket and the sentiment banner were all cut from one gelli plate print. The print was made using both Americana and Traditions acrylics by DecoArt and various masks. The rich colour around the edges was achieved using archival ink on some cut and dry foam. Some letters were stencilled here there using DecoArt's Americana paint.

Some chunky natural 'rope' was used to dress the top of the tag. Once in position, some rusty wire was added to keep the rope in position and to match in with the wire used elsewhere.

The pocket piece was cut to size and a Tim Holtz die was used to cut the top edge. The dark brown lines on the background were added with a brown pencil to highlight one of the masks used on the print.

I used two more of my little Fimo 'buttons' to anchor down the sentiment banner.

 A washer was given a slightly rusty look before being fixed over the tag hole. 

Stencilled modelling paste was applied in various areas of the tag. I used DecoArt modelling paste and when dry, some DecoArt Traditions acrylic was used to colour the design applied through the stencil. Two shades of Treasure Gold were smoothed roughly over the paste. The whole tag and the pocket piece were then given two coats of DecoArt Triple Thick spray.
Brown pencil was added to the gelli plate print to create depth and interest.

I love the effect of the Triple Thick on the background. In real life it adheres differently to the various areas of the tag. Over the stencilled letters it gives a lovely shine but where paint is thinner, it gives a more gentle sheen to the background. In this image, the treasure gold is easily seen and the Triple Thick gives the appearance of clear powder embossing - it's much quicker though!

The sentiment was stamped with carbon black Traditions acrylic paint and a Tim stamp.

Rusty wire was used on the tag pocket to add interest without covering up the gelli plate print.

Some sections of the gelli print are very subtle as in the image above. I just love how you can mix ink and paints to create a layered look. Now I really NEED some Inktense pencils for my work - I'm busy dropping huge hints!

I do hope you'll pop over to Anything But A Card and see what the rest of the team have put together for you. Check back halfway through the Challenge for some inspiration from our second team of designers too.

So, get those thinking caps on, make something which fits the theme and link up with us at  Anything But A Card. Can't wait to see what you come up with. . . . . . . . 

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge. . . . . . Letter F

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge continues with the letter F. The twist this fortnight is that we can only choose words between FE and FR.

I decided to choose the word 'Fellow' because I recently aquired a PaperArtsy stamp which shows a rather snazzy fellow and I thought he fitted the bill perfectly.

You can join in the Alpha Challenge at any point - it's addictive believe me!

I also wanted to use a little piece from one of my first gelli plate prints which I made at an Andy Skinner class recently - more, much more on that in another post!

Please don't expect too much because the print I used was one of the first I pulled from the gelli plate, but from that moment I was addicted. I never realised these plates were so much fun until I finally gave in, did the class and bought the plate!

Here is my double page spread:

The left page was made with part of a gelli plate. The right page was made using stencils and stamping. Both archival inks and DecoArt Traditions and Americana paints were used.

The word definition was left without paint/ink as required by the challenge.

My 'fellow' was stamped onto white card with archival ink. Most of the background was coloured with distress marker and a waterbrush. Some random acrylic paint stencil work was added to the image to enable it to fit with the page background.

The right hand page was covered with a light wash of Fresco snowflake. Script stamping was done with DecoArt acrylics. Stencilling was added with both acrylics and archival ink.

The gelli plate print was achieved using an Andy Skinner stencil and three DecoArt acrylic colours (both Traditions and Americana). A piece of fancy yarn also helped to add another dimension to the print by placing it onto the paint loaded plate prior to pulling the print off.

The die cut letters were cut from some card covered with a piece of gelli plate print. Once applied, some shading was added around the letters with pencil. Black pen was also used to define the letters.

All the die cut letters had stencilling applied to help them appear as an integral part of the design. 

A little extra shading was added below the foot to act as a shadow effect.

Thanks for looking at my pages - expect more gelli plate work soon but remember - I'm a beginner!! 

A big hello to new followers too. I've been a bit of a lazy blogger lately but never fear, I will get to you eventually!

Our Creative Corner - Recipe Challenge

We have a new challenge going live today at Our Creative Corner. Buttons is the host and she has provided  a 'recipe' to help everyone play along. You are asked to select one 'ingredient' from each of the three lists below and create a project of your choice. You can of course use more than one item from each list but you must tell us which are your three main ingredients on your make.

List A	List B	List C
Lace	Metal	Inks
Fabric	Wood/MDF	Paints
Ribbon	Clay	Stains

My three chosen ingredients are:

            LIST A: Fabric                             LIST B: Clay                            LIST C: Paint

I couldn't resist using a number of the other ingredients too - you know how it is! 

The starting point for my tag was a beautiful stamp made by Oxford Impressions. The stamp depicts part of the painting by John William Waterhouse called The Soul Of The Rose (also the name of the stamp plate):

Waterhouse was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement and he painted this wonderful piece in 1908. 

Here's the tag I made, which, besides my chosen three ingredients, also uses lace; metal (rusty wire) and inks (archival):      (there are quite a few pictures I'm afraid)

For some reason, this has been the hardest piece I've ever photographed -  must be the pale colours and the rotten weather giving no light!

The background was created using the following DecoArt products: Traditions paints, two step crackle,  and some Crackle Paste which only crackled slightly. All stamping was done with archival ink. I've used the crackle paste again since and I realise I didn't apply it thick enough! Some modelling paste was applied through a stencil to create the raised areas. 

Various washes of paint were applied prior to the crackle. The stamping can be seen to the right of the centre. The stencilled modelling paste had some Treasure Gold (white fire) applied to give it definition.

I used Fimo clay to make the heart; once cut into a heart, a rubber stamp was used to add texture. After baking the heart was coloured with various washes of paint. Some crackle was applied with black acrylic paint giving the crackle definition. A hanging loop for the heart was created from rusty wire.

The image was stamped onto card coated with acrylic. At first, I didn't like the effect achieved with archival but I decided it gave the image an aged appearance so I kept it. I removed the lady from the background because I wanted her to appear part of the tag rather than just an add on.

Firstly, I used a mulberry paper rose on the image but didn't like it. I decided to make my own little bloom from  some die cuts which were painted, crackled and some twine was used for the centre of the flower.

The quote was stamped onto painted card with archival, a light wash applied followed by more crackle. I curved the card banner to lift it from the background.

For each end of the banner, I made little Fimo 'buttons'. The texture was achieved as before, as was the finishing method.

Another heart was made and placed behind the knotted silk on the tag. You can just see some lace peeking out from underneath the fabric.

More silk fabric was pleated by hand and added to the lower edge of the tag. Here you can see the only part of the crackle paste which crackled to any degree! Also in the image is some stamping with archival. I hoped to create two 'aged'  finishes in my background.

Detailed image of the stencilled modelling paste.

 I loved this challenge because it gives you so many possibilities for creating. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Don't forget to come back to Our Creative Corner in two weeks time for more inspiration from the other half of the team - you won't be disappointed!

Dust Off Your Older Supplies For Anything But A Card. . . . . Challenge Twenty

For the next fortnight at Anything But A Card we are asking you to '' Dust Of Your Old Supplies''. There's no other theme so you can make anything you fancy, except a card of course! You need to have a good rummage around and see what you've got that has been hiding for far too long.

I decided to use up one of the many little boxes I've either bought or been given, prepared with gesso and then put to one side in favour of other projects. The little box I have used for this project was the first alterable item I ever bought from a craft shop but I didn't really know what to do with it until now.  This is how the box looked before gesso:

I couldn't resist doing another rust creation using techniques learnt from the online Timeworn Techniques workshop by Andy Skinner. I'm not sure why I like rusty projects so much; perhaps it's the number of processes needed - I'm a bit of a technique junkie!

Here's how my box became a rust project:

The lid and sides were embellished with a range of objects. The lid was further detailed by using DecoArt  modelling paste through a stencil. Once dry, two coats of gesso were applied. Some of the rougher edges were lightly sanded when dry.

Top of the box shows a rusty Timeworn finish using DecoArt products.The little hearts are made from Fimo.

Sides of the box with faux studs, card diamonds and rust finish.

The fimo hearts were cut out then stamped to imprint the design. Once baked to harden, the hearts also underwent the rust treatment.

Some rusty wire was cut and coiled then attached to be like wings on the large heart. 

The 'studs' have rust runs just like you see on weathered metal objects (hopefully!).

The textured background on the sides was created by using DecoArt Sand Texture paste along with some of their Traditions paints.

So, it's over to you now. Pop over to Anything But A Card and see what my other Teamies have come up with to inspire you. Don't forget that the second team will be showing their creations next Sunday too. Can't wait to see what you make. . . . . . . . .

I'd like to say a big hello to my new followers. I'm always so amazed that people are interested in what I do!
I hope you like my rusty offering. I've yet to give the inside of the box a makeover - the outside took me too long! I won't put this one aside now though and when it's finally finished, I promise to show you.

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge. . . . . .Letter K

It's time for me to show you another page spread in the dictionary I'm altering as part of the Craft Barn's Alpha Challenge. This fortnight the challenge is to use the letter K. As usual, I looked through the 'k' section to see if anything jumped off the page at me but after the third time, I realised that there wasn't much going for the letter K as far I was concerned!

After discounting one or two obvious choices, I settled on the word KIND. Not in the sense of a helpful, sympathetic nature but in terms of something being related to others by having similar looks, characteristics or even genus origins.

Not joined in yet at the Craft Barn? There's still time so why not have a play too?

Here's my pages using the lovely Tim pear stamp:

The word definition was masked and the pages were coated lightly with gesso. Black archival was added last to the page edges to give definition.
(As usual, please excuse the clips - my book is becoming more and more unmanageable! Oh and the poor photography - grey day as usual and there seemed to be little in the way of light).

Masking off the definition keeps it free from the background layers applied. I used a black pen just to highlight the area.

The image was stamped four times onto the page spread and the same number of times onto vintage book pages. The pears on the vintage pages were coloured with distress markers and a waterbrush. The three little pears and the large one were then cut out and applied in the correct place on the dictionary pages.

After the gesso, script was stamped using archival ink colours related to pears. Followed by more archival through some sequin waste (I love using this stuff!).

Letters were die cut from scrap packaging and painted with DecoArt Traditions paint to achieve a wonderful matte black. (you get fab results with these paints due to the high levels of pigment they have).

I didn't enjoy cutting the little pears - 'fussy cutting' just isn't me!

Thanks for stopping by and having a look. I think these pages are about as 'clean and simple' as I ever get! I keep looking at them and wondering whether to add something more but my brain tells me to leave well alone!

A big thank you to my latest followers - I'm honoured to think you want to visit me from time to time.

Blooming Marvellous At Artful Times. . . . . . .

The challenge this fortnight at Artful Times asks us to show how we display our flowers. I love making flowers and just had to find time to play along with Von and Neet. If you don't know these lovely ladies, follow the links to their blogs and to Artful Times - you won't be disappointed!

Another tag from me - I just can't resist making them to be honest. I love the display area they provide and you can pack so many elements into your design on just one tag.

I've used another family photo (copy, of course) and I'm so proud I can say that because I think it's delightful. The photo shows my paternal Grandmother as a little girl and the family resemblance is certainly there.

The finished piece. The photo of my Grandmother looks a little blurred because the original doesn't have anything like the resolution we can achieve now. The main spray of roses is attached to some wire which I've covered with the sari silk so the tag looks reasonable from the back as well as the front.
I've used some more sari silk at the top and bottom of the tag. In real life, the colours match perfectly but I couldn't achieve that on the photos!

The tag was coated twice with gesso. Scraps of Tim tissue tape were glued here and there. The two layers which followed were a mixture of DecoArt Americana and Fresco paints.

Stamping of florals was done using archival ink. You can see the tissue tape peeking through here. The little diamonds are waste from some washer die cuts used previously. They have been painted using the same colours.

After the paint, the diamonds were coloured with pencil, followed by Treasure Gold, dry brushed Americana and finally a thin later of crackle. Some tissue tape also peeps out on the left of the photo.

All the rose blooms were made with die cut tattered florals. Before construction they were painted with Fresco. After construction, archival ink was randomly applied, mica spray was spritzed all over the blooms and when dry, the edges of the petals were swiped with a little Treasure Gold.

Sari silk was pleated and added to the bottom of the tag. To the right of the diamond shapes you can see some script. To achieve this, modelling paste was applied through a stencil and then the area was treated in the same way as the rest of the tag.

For the 'frame', thick card was embossed, layered with Americana acrylics, antiqued with several washes using Americana paints and finally a light coat of Treasure Gold was applied to give definition. You can also see some dry brushing in this image (on the right, under the stamping) which was applied to the tag background.

Hope you like my tag. I've missed a few challenges at Artful Times so it's really good to be back playing with the ladies again.