Poppy Parade

Hi folks, and happy weekend :)  Shirley here with a little stamped creation for you.  I stamped two large outline poppies and one small outline poppy from the Donna Downey Poppies set using Versafine Onyx Black, masking as I went along.  I left the masks on while I stamped the background (Darkroom Door Background Stamp - Peeled Paint) using, appropriately enough, Peeled Paint Distress Ink.

After removing the masks, I painted the petals with Festive Berries and Barn Door Distress Inks, then added Walnut Stain Distress Stickles to the poppy stamens.  Once everything was dry, I sponged a bit of Fired Brick Distress Ink to the centres of the flowers to deepen the colour.

I wanted to jazz up the background, so I covered the poppies with the masks again and stamped the text from Dina Wakley's Textures set.

Then I decided that the gaps between the text needed to be filled in so I used the dot stamp from the Textures set.

Here's another version that I made first, but in a slightly different way.  I stamped the solid poppy images in Distress Ink, blasted with a heat gun, then stamped and gold-embossed the line images.    The embossing powder still managed to stick to the petal area but I deliberately left it, to give it a grungy look.  I was using mixed media paper (porous, similar to watercolour paper) and the embossing soaked into the paper, so I ironed it all off.  Then I watercoloured the background with Distress Inks and stamped the text.

So there you have it, two 6x6 inch stamped and watercolored panels, which can either be trimmed to fit a card front, or mounted and framed.

See you next time!

Shirley

De Claris Sancte

Hi there

Georgie here today and if you have come over from my blog you may have read a little story to go along with this creation. If not, and you fancy a mind wander, you can check it out here.

This whole book was made completely from scratch, I will list all products at the bottom of the post. However, a spoonful of Tim Holtz ideology products, a pinch of Prima Relics, a dash of Finnabair mediums and a whisper of paint you get this!

Papers are made from regular computer paper with some tea stain, then a touch of Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Some torn Tim Holtz French Industrial papers. I found matte medium was the best for gluing and and layering with. Most importantly though, use it to seal the top layer.

 I love Sandra's gorgeous relics from Prima. They add such a magical dimension!

Products Used:

Relics & Artifacts: Visage

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Bird Cage
Tim Holtz Idea-ology 
Tim Holtz French Industrial
Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Paint
Finnabair Matte Medium
Glossy Accents
Finnabar Black Gesso

Playtime !!

Morning all you lovelies out there...

Tracy here today with a quick post, can you believe that January is coming to an end already....did anyone see where that last month went ????

I haven't had much time for crafting this month but have managed to squeeze in a little playtime

I've been having fun cutting up my old scrapbook papers, using old clothing tags and creating fabulous collaged  houses. 

Dina Wakley's amazing acrylic paints are perfect for this technique, I fingerpainted over the top of my collaged houses mixing the colours together as I go creating shadows and highlights. 

Once I was happy with my painting I wanted to add a few metal pieces including buttons and brads and some beads for some extra decoration. 

To finish off I added some number and word stickers and drew in some details with black pen. 

Thank you for stopping by 

Bright and painty hugs

Tracy

Xx

Butterfly flutter by

Hello all, I hope you are all well today and in good crafty spirit? I'm here today with my DT post for A Sprinkle of Imagination. Today I have used some of my favourite butterfly stamps from Finnabair Don't forget to fly set.

I painted an A5 piece of card using Dina Wakely heavy body acrylic paints turquoise and white. Adding some spots of magenta and lime. I pressed on some circles with a spray lid using white and night. Doodles added using black and white Posca paint pens.

I stamped the large and small butterfly onto my sheet and cut out carefully. I also stamped the sentiment and cut out.

I stitched the white base of my card onto some black card and mounted a rectangular piece of my painted background onto some black.

I finally added some black onyx liquid pearls to the card.
Thank you for stopping by today, I hope your day is a crafty one wherever you may be!

Crafty Hugs,
Clare x x x

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Comfort Zone Crafting.. :)

Hello!

You know how sometimes you just want to play without thinking? I quite fancied creating something 'old school'... no new techniques or anything, just a classic 'me' thing! So I did!

A bit of random MDF got the smeared paint treatment! Lots of stamping, stencilling and black UTEE splatters...

A nice sentiment...

A watercolour pencil coloured figure....

Standing on a washi tape 'ground'...

Yes, it looks like loads of things I've made before, but when you like something, you don't stop doing it do you?!?!

Have a great week everyone!

Trish xx

Sennelier Oil Pastels are rich creamy pastels in vibrant colours, and a personal favourite of mine.  This is a fabulous opportunity to get some Artists Quality Oil Pastels for a fantastic price.

Don't forget we still have hundreds of products in our sale, from Paints to Papers.  Lots of your favourite ranges are included. 

You can view all our sale sections here

Happy Creating!

Vicki 

A Quartet of Bright Canvases

Hi peeps, Shirley here!  I thought I'd banish the winter blues today with some vibrant colours.  I had some mini canvases in my stash, so I set to work, covering them with Dylusions Ink Sprays in Calypso Teal and Funky Fuchsia.  Once they'd dried, I covered them liberally with Finnabair Art Basics Clear Gesso to seal the ink - it doesn't seal completely, but does keep leakage to a minimum.

Sunglasses time: out came the lime green Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylic and some stencils by Tim Holtz and Rhonda Palazzari.

A bit of highlighting with a Sakura Gelli Roll white pen and a black pen to add depth.  It's only subtle but it does make a difference.

At this point, song titles sprang to mind for each mini canvas.  I wrote out the title words on black card, then wrote some of the lyrics around the edge of each canvas, photographed everything ready for my post, and decided I could be in breach of copyright, so I painted over the edges in lime and used the tiny stamps from the Hero Arts Happy Stamp & Cut around the edges.  Then I added encouragement phrases to each canvas instead.

In case you're wondering: Listen To The Music, Kissed By A Rose, The Times They Are A'Changin, Space Odyssey.

I hope they've brightened your day!

Winter Flower Canvas

Good Morning!

Georgie here today and I'm sharing with you a mini canvas I have made made using loads of Prima goodies!

I had one last Prima Resin Flower (Patty) left, I love these by the way, and can't wait to get more! I sprayed her with Prima Color Blooms in Summer Sky, Iris and Pearl White. The petals absorb the paints perfectly. The base was super easy to do, I ripped some papers from 7 Dots Studio Messy Head 6x6 Paper Collection, using Art Basics Soft Matte Gel to lay it down with and then cover a layer of it over the top.

Then I did a very light coat of Art Basics White Gesso, and stencilled over with Art Basics Modelling Paste using the a Finnabar's Stencil.

I included two pictures here of this little lovely flower, to try and show you the gorgeous shimmer and sparkle. Of course, the opportunity to use some Finnabair Glitter Glass always makes me happy and as I was going with wintery theme colours I chose 'Midnight', and topped it off with Finnabair's Sugar Glitter in White

I love the Micro Beads by Finnabar, for this canvas I used 'Splash'. Once dried, I went back over with the bloom sprays. The leaves are from Prima's Wood Icons in a Box and painted with Art Basics Gesso.

I added some torn strips to the sides with some modelling paste and paint drips to continue the theme.

Finished up with ink distressing the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

So that's me for today, I will be back soon with another project. Hope you all have a fan-tab-u-lous weekend!
Hugs
Georgie
xx

Sale picks...

Have you been to check out our massive Winter Sale yet? 

Here's some of my favourite products that can be grabbed.

[1] We R Memory Keepers 8.5x11 Faux Leather albums

[2] Stampotique Originals.  [3] Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers

[4] Finnabair Resist Canvas  [5] Echo Park/Glitz Design Birthday Wishes

[6] Simple Stories Daily Grind

Crafting is my happy!

Good morning all, it's all go go go! The new year has started and one of my resolutions is to make sure get plenty of guilt free crafting. I guess you could say I am adjusting to the fact that my children are growing up and need me a little less than before. Of course I am always on hand when they need me but I always seem to make myself feel a little guilty when I've had a couple of hours in the craft room. When I do rejoin my brood in the house it seems that they were all quite happy in the first place and are quite happlily engaged in their pursuits and probably didn't notice that I wasn't around! I guess I shouldn't give myself such a hard time sending myself on a guilt trip after an enjoyable crafting session.

Over christmas I managed to grab myself some crafty moments. One particular session I really wasnt sure what to to so I decided to have a play with some Dylusion paints and make some collage papers. This excercise really wasn't planned for anything imparticular so it was really quite random. I used Finnabair dot grunge stamp along with some of my favourite Dina Wakely stencils. Whilst I was painting a little light pinged in my head and I knew this would be my DT make for A Sprinkle of Imagination.

I decided that I would stamp one of Julie Nutting's mixed media dolls onto my jazzy background to make an interesting frock for my doll, I cut out the dress and set aside. I stamped the doll onto white card, coloured with pencils and applied her jazzy dress using Claudine Hellmuth matte medium.

I thought that my doll would great on a tag. I sprayed my background with ink and stamped the tall quote from Tim Holtz stuff to say stamp set. I applied some Finnabair art basics modeling paste through Tim Holtz splotches stencil and then added some embossing powder to random splotches. I gave my doll a coordinating hairband and balloon and gave it a shiny appearence by applying glossy accents.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by today.
Crafty hugs,
Clare x

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Creating frames... :)

Hello!
I wanted to create something with a funky, whimsical looking frame... so thought I'd have a bash at making one of my own!
Here is the end result..

The frame is raised around the picture in the middle, and was really easy to do (if a bit messy!)
I tore up some tissue paper and glued it around the edge of a bit of cardboard...

Once it was stuck down firmly, I used gel medium and old book pages to cover it, making sure not to flatten out the 'bumpiness'

Once the whole thing is covered, you get an idea of the contours and shape of the frame..

The frame then needs to dry out completely before you start painting! I went for a black and white striped look for the frame..

The house and background were all painted with Dina Wakely paint. Lots of doodling, dots and a phrase finishes it off nicely..

I like frames.... might need to experiment a bit more to create some more unique effects, why not have a go!
Trish xx

Teresa Collins Sale News!

Hello everyone and a very Happy New Year. 

This morning I am pleased to announce that we have reduced the 

Teresa Collins Family Stories Collection!

With papers now 60p a sheet and embellishments starting at 99p

Happy Creating!

Vicki 

12 Designers of Christmas: The Winner!!

Happy New Year!

We were so pleased that you all seemed to like our 12 Designers of Christmas blog extravaganza!

A HUGE thank you must go to all our featured designers for sharing some amazing art with us :)

So....... who is the winner of the Mystery Mixed Media Bundle then?

Our organiser extraordinaire Jaine did the random drawing honours...and we can announce the name pulled out of the tin (I can only presume all the hats were being used elsewhere!) is...

Congratulations dragonriding! 

If you could get in touch via email, we will arrange for your prize to be sent out!

Thank you to all those who left comments and were so supportive.