Altering Found Objects

Good morning, it's my turn to host an Inspiration Post over at Stamps & Stencils today. Here's a little sneak peek of my project. I'd really love you to pop over and see the full project by just clicking HERE. 

Three Of A Kind. . . . . . . .

There's a new challenge today at Stamps & Stencils. Our host is the hugely creative Ruth and here's what she has to say:

'For this challenge we want to see 3 of the same sort of focal element on a project so we don't just mean 3 buttons or embellishments! It could be 3 flowers, 3 figures, 3 inspirational quotes?.....or thinking wider, if you're feeling adventurous you could do 3 ATC's, a trio of ATB's or maybe a Triptych. Plenty of scope, we hope, to make a mixed media project of your choice.Please remember it  must include some stencilling or stamping or both.'

I decided to make a tag with three hearts (er, well, three plus a half heart which I added by mistake!) and using three stencils. I've got quite a few tag bases which I cut from gelli plate prints I made so decided to work on one of those:

My 'Three Of A Kind' are the hearts and the three main stencils used on this tag:

Other stencils have been used but these are the main focus. Annoyingly, I forgot to take a photo of the tag before I started to add more layers! And yes, I'm very bad at cleaning my stencils!

All the hearts are stencilled onto the background using a DecoArt Crackle Paste. When dry, this is painted with Titan Buff Fluid Media Acrylic. Some of the letters are stencilled using this same colour.

All of the hearts have been washed with Quinacridone Gold Media Fluid Acrylic and this colour has been extended onto the background to make it look as if it has bled from the hearts. More stencilling is done using Prussian Blue from the same paint range - some of the letters and all the little stars. 

The 'cup rings' have been stamped with Quin Gold paint as before. The little white circles are applied using a paintbrush protective tube and some Americana Chalky Paint from DecoArt. The other paint layers seen here are part of the original gelli plate print.

Extra depth is achieved by adding shading with a black colouring pencil. More paint stamping is visible here too. The top of the tag is finished with some curled rusty wire and tiny rusty bells. The edges of the tag are sponged with some Carbon Black Media Fluid Acrylic to help create a frame.

Another image to show how the edges are sponged and the pencil is used to add depth (on the large cog in the bottom left hand corner).

The products used to develop the original gelli plate print tag. The Matte Medium is applied to the tag to protect areas which I wanted to remain in their original state - this is really useful for instance, to keep the white areas clean as they won't be stained with other colours if this product is applied. The stamp is a favourite for building backgrounds; the plastic paintbrush is great for those little circles and the black Inktense pencil works it's magic on layered backgrounds.

I hope you like my take on the challenge! Please do go over to Stamps & Stencils to see what the other amazing DT ladies have come up. It's your turn now! Remember to check out further details such as rules and posting dates whilst you're there.

We had some absolutely amazing entries for our first challenge and you can see who the DT choose as the winner and top three if you pop back on Tuesday 12th May. Thank you so much to everyone who joined in and helped to make our first challenge so special.

April Showers Bring May Flowers. . . . .

There is nothing I like more than making a few flowers, not always true to real life but always fun and in your face somewhat. I like them bold, usually colourful and often with patterns and highlights of various types. Good job really because the challenge this month at Our Creative Corner is to share your flowers borne out of April Showers and here's what our wonderful host Shari has to say:

'April Showers Bring May Flowers.......Or so the proverb goes.  Spring comes late in my neck of the world, in the mountains of Northern Idaho.  In the month of May (with Summer just weeks away), our Spring flowers are still, usually, under a thin blanket of snow, until those Spring rains wash it all away. 

This month, the challenge is to create something, a mixed-media project, a journal page, a scrapbook page, a card or tag...Anything, that reflects the Spring rains and/or Spring flowers in your part of the world.   

Now, I'm not going to nit-pic your choices of Spring flowers, as the growing season here where I live is short and our Spring flowers don't last very long before the blooms of Summer start budding.  So, if you throw in flowers of Summer into your creation, that's OK, too.'  

Remember to pop over to Our Creative Corner to see what the rest of the hugely talented DT have come up with for your inspiration! Please find time to pop to their blogs and see all the details too.

Here's what I made this time:

I decided to make a booklet out of a large size tag and some old sheet music. My 'May Flower' is very visible but my 'April Showers' are well hidden but they are there!

I coloured some die cut flower shapes (the very large Tim Holtz ones) with the ink sprays shown and a good spritz of Perfect Pearls.

The flowers are stencilled with some clear matte texture paste and an Andy Skinner stencil. The paste dries clear but will take on the colour of the inks as they are water reactive. I'm keeping my fingers crossed at this stage that it turns out to be a good idea!

Once dry, some of the areas of texture paste are coloured with some DecoArt Fluid Metallic Acrylic in silver. The flowers are shaped using fingers and a paintbrush handle.

Small punched flowers are used for the centre. They are cut from scraps of card coloured with inks in coordinating shades. The centres are tiny black gems - just about the only bling I allow myself!

The manilla tag is used as a template for the outside tag and the 'lining' tag for inside the little booklet. I prefer to use white card as a starting point not manilla.

The paper I used for the outside of the booklet. This is not my cup of tea but I always think that things will be useful and keep them! Anyway, I said I had some hidden 'April Showers' and here they are!

The cover of the booklet is toned down with some DecoArt Translucent White acrylic. I rubbed off some of the paint with a baby white just to allow the resist sections to show through. 

The same stencil is used to add interest to the cover. The paint colours are chosen to match the inks used earlier. You wouldn't think so to look at the photo but I couldn't get a better representation of the colours! After this step the colours are toned down with another coat of the translucent white but I forgot to take the photo!

The inside cover is coloured with the same inks and layers are then built up using the stencil and a baby wipe, a stamp and some chalky paint.

Further layers are built up with the silver paint and the top from a tin. The edges have been inked to give a frame.

Some old music sheets are cut to size and stitched together along with the lining of the booklet. After this the ribbon is sandwiched between the two covers and everything is glued together. The ribbon threads through an eyelet on the front of the booklet.

Seam binding is coloured with the inks used previously. The pinks are much more vibrant than this picture shows but again, the light seems to change them!

Love that shimmer!

Some extra punched flowers are added to the cover. You can just see the eyelet which the ribbon is threaded through here.

I do hope you've enjoyed seeing what I've made. Remember to pop over to Our Creative Corner to see the inspiration from my teamies.

We are honoured this month to be sponsored by the wonderful Ryn of Designs by Ryn. She produces some amazing stamps - I'm only lucky enough to own two at the moment. . . . . . .

Unique rubber stamps by Ryn.

Come back later in the month and see some amazing projects made with Ryn's stamps by some of the DT Ladies. One lucky person will be randomly drawn to win some goodies from Ryn!

You could also be chosen as our winner and go on to be a Top Talent Spotlight on the blog. Three lucky people will also be selected for their amazing work and be able to proudly display our winners badge on their blog. 

It's up to you now - can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks so much for popping by.