Two Scribbly Birds

Hi there peeps!  Are you enjoying this little burst of summer?  I've managed to drag myself away from the garden for a few hours of crafty time.

I've been playing with the Scribbly Birds set from Dina Wakley.  I made a couple of background panels using Dylusions paints, then cut two panels using the Lawn Fawn Lawn Cuts Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies.

I smudged the paints onto the panel, splattered some white, then once that had dried I brayered some white over the top to knock everything back.

I stamped the bird in Versafine Onyx Black, then watercoloured using Distress Inks and fussy cut the image.

Cut-down strips of Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tissue Tape were added to the panels for visual interest.

My second card was made using the same process.  I stamped some triangles from Hero Arts Stamps & Cut - Happy onto the panel.

This time I tore the tissue tape into strips to layer onto the panel.

Thanks for popping in, and enjoy this good weather while it lasts!
Shirley x

Time Flies

Hi guys!  I've been playing with various media to make this Time Flies canvas.

I started off by making my weathered wood panel by swiping Distress Ink minis from top to bottom.

Then scoring it every half inch before stamping with the Peeled Paint background stamp from Darkroom Door.  I painted my canvas with black gesso and adhered the panel to the canvas.

Added a few buttons, paper flowers, bandage fabric scrap and some moulded items from my stash, and painted those black.  

Once everything was dry I sprayed Dylusions White Linen over it and when that had dried, rubbed on some Viva Decor Inka Gold in Lava Red, Jade and Gold.

The Inka Gold adds a lovely antique metallic look to the painted flowers.

Using the Julie Nutting Mixed Media Doll Wings stamp as a template, I cut out a pair of wings from black card and painted them with Finnabair Art Alchemy Acrylic Paint - Opal Magic Rose-Gold.  You see the gold in one light, and the pale rose colour in another.  The clock is from Tim Holtz Curiosities, sponged with Antique Linen.

I hope time isn't flying too quickly for you this summer!

Enjoy your weekend.

Shirley x

Recycling Backgrounds

I've been recycling a piece of stamped card where the impression hadn't been as clear as I would have liked, and I didn't want to throw it away, so I painted over it to push the text to the background.

The stamp in question was the large text stamp from Tim Holtz Papillon.  I sponged Dylusions Paints (Cherry Pie and Fresh Lime) then using London Blue I scraped some paint lines.  A splattering of After Midnight and White Linen completed the background.

Once that was dry I stamped Donna Downey Poppies, masking the first one while I stamped the second one, then drew in the stems with a black Posca pen, and sponged some white around the outlines to help define the image.

Drawing stems onto flower head images is a great way to stretch your stamps.

Have a great bank holiday weekend!
Shirley x

Horlogerie

Hey peeps, happy Saturday :)  Today I've been playing with one of my favourite Tim Holtz stamp sets, Papillon.  I just love the large background script stamp.

I started off by stamping the image with Versafine Onyx Black on card, then sponging Distress Inks (Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac, Dusty Concord, Peeled Paint).  A quick blast with the heat gun to seal the inks, then I added some highlighting with a white Post paint pen.  I trimmed the panel using the largest frame from the Lawn Fawn: Lawn Cuts Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables which give a lovely stitched edge.

I wrapped some grape Prima Jute around the panel then mounted it onto my base card, and it was finished.  Or was it?  Maybe it was lacking a little something.  The moths and butterflies in the Papillon set came to the rescue!

That's better!  Have a crafty weekend :)

Colourful Masterboard

Morning, folks!  I decided to make a masterboard that I could cut up for cards.  I started by sponging my Dylusions paints onto a sheet of A4 card using Mini Blending foam.  Next came some stencilling using Tim Holtz Stencils, then then stamping with Dina Wakley Textures using Ranger Archival Ink.

Then I started chopping the masterboard up for card fronts and toppers:

148mm sq card (Dymo tape sentiment)

A6 card

Topper on A6 card - this one's my fave!

This could either be a bookmark or a gift tag.

Topper on a 148mm sq card

After I'd finished sponging each colour, I got rid of the excess paint by sponging circles (as recommended by Dyan Reaveley in one of her videos) onto another sheet of card:

Out came the circle stamps from the Finnabair Don't Forget To Fly set.  I allocated one stamp per colour, and stamped over all the circles, filling in the gaps with some of the smaller stamps:

And now I've got another masterboard!

Have a crafty day!

Shirley x

It's A Man Thing

Happy Sunday, peeps!  Shirley here with a trendy masculine card for you.

I started off by stamping the guy image from Dylusions Mini Couture using Tea Dye Distress ink, watercoloured the image using the same colour, then masked that with some scrap paper.  I inked up the Mix Tape 6x6 stencil by Ronda Palazzari with Distress Inks, turned it over and placed it over the masked stamped image at a jaunty angle, pressing it down with kitchen roll so that the colours mixed, and the excess was mopped up.

The scrap paper I used for masking was red and white checked, but because it got soaked by the Distress Inks, some of it ripped and stayed behind as I was removing it.  Doesn't it look cool, though?  Might have to try drawing checks on the jacket next time!

I used a stamp from Dina Wakley Textures to add some detail around the edges, then trimmed the panel, matted it onto black card, then adhered it to my card base.  On a spare piece of black card, I wrote the HB2U with a white Posca pen, and stuck a strip of the trimmed card across the bottom using 1/8 inch Wonder Tape.  It just adds that little bit of interest.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Shirley x

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Sunday, and Happy Mother's Day!  I thought I'd show you the card I've made for my mum, using the Pomegranate Bits from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.

There are two masks in the pack, and all I did was ink them with Distress Ink Minis, spritz lightly with water, then lay each one down onto white card, pressing with kitchen towel to ensure full contact and to make sure the inks blend.

You can get a bit of splatter/leakage as you lay the mask onto your card, but that suits me, because I add more splatter anyway!

When you remove the mask, there is still sufficient ink left on it for another quick spritz and a softer image.  You can also use either side of a mask, which helps to give a bit of variety to your composition.

To finish off my card, I defined the edges of the images by very quickly and loosely scribbling around the edges with a fine tipped black pen.  I created a matching sentiment by watercolouring the same Distress Inks onto white card, then die-cutting the Hero Arts Happy Stamp & Cut, and stamping the rest of the sentiment, then mounted the whole panel onto yellow card.

That's it from me today - enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Shirley x

Happy Anniversary

Happy weekend, folks!  Shirley here with a slightly grungy anniversary card for you.  February being the month of love, we're seeing plenty of hearts, pinks, reds - but rather than a valentine's card, I thought I'd make an anniversary card.

I started by colouring a piece of mixed media card with Barn Door Distress Paint.  Once that had dried, I applied Brushed Pewter Distress Paint to some bubble wrap and used it as a stamp onto the panel.  I used the Lawn Fawn Lawn Cuts Small Stitched Rectangles to trim the panel.

The 'happy' (diecut from glitter foam) and 'anniversary' are from the Hero Arts Happy Stamp & Cut set.

The red Distress Paint hadn't covered fully, leaving some of the paper texture showing, but I think that adds to the grunginess :)

The heart is made from Tim Holtz Grungepaper which had been sponged with Fired Brick Distress Ink then embossed to give it texture, and heat-set with clear embossing powder.  I attached it to the red panel with a heart-shaped brad which I found in my stash.

On a tent-fold white card, I 'painted' some Brushed Pewter marks with a credit card, added some more marks to the red panel, then adhered the panel to the card.

I hope I've given you some ideas for Valentine's or anniversary cards.  See you soon!

Shirley

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

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!