Recycled & reused !!

I've had such good fun making a card from my ever growing box of paper scraps, score!!

It was so simple, I am going to try this again!

Is it just me or do others save the beautiful packaging when they buy new crafting supplies... I couldn't throw this packaging away so I used it as the starting point for my card!

There is a lovely collection of Prima goodies over in the SHOP. I decided to use the packaging from the lovely, scrumptious Say It In Crystals yummy, embellishments!!

Using scraps of Tissue Paper by Tim Holtz, patterned scrap papers and old pages from a dictonary! Each were matted and layered to produce a simple card. Using a couple of stamped images from Stampotique Originals.

 Bella, Bella...

Happy creating, Gez

'Oh Joy' : An Art Doll tutorial!

Hello!
I'm back after a little break, all ready and raring to go with lots of step by step tutorials! The first one today is an art doll technique. I love these, and there are so many ways of creating them that this might not be the last this summer!  This one is a doll hanger..

 I'll show you some close ups of the finished piece at the end so you can see more detail!
To start, sketch out the head and body on a scrap of chipboard...

No drawing skill needed! Cut them out...

(Then I nearly got distracted as that pic, with the head in that position, gave me another idea! One to save for another day!!!) I covered the chipboard with book pages..

French text, for a change! I did just a little painty decoration of the head and body...

I left the crown part free of paint, as you can see. At this point I remembered I needed legs..... so, back out with the pencil and chipboard!

Cut out, book text and decorate..... I added stripes and red shoes...

Now the legs are done, finish off the body...

Doodling, a cut out word and a red heart. The head needs a face, so stamp on onto tissue using [permanent ink...

Don't worry if its not perfect, we're going to cut bits off! Glue the tissue to the head shape using Mod Podge both under and over the tissue. Even if  the tissue does not cover the whole head shape, I would always add that top layer of Podge over everything. That way the finish is even across the whole shape...

Once dry, the Mod Podge will disappear....

I've doodled a bit around the edges, and added red dots!
The last thing we need to make are her wings. Create a painty background on a scrap of card..

Stamp with a butterfly stamp....

Then cut out...

I have separated the wings as my body was just a little too wide for the butterfly to be used uncut- the wings didn't stick out enough!
Now we're ready to assemble!
The hanger doubles up as the Art Dolls arms... they look almost ballerina-like, raised above her head! The arms are thick wire, and just hot glued to the back of the body...

The wings are then glued behind the arms...

The head needs to be stable, but I wanted to add it at a jaunty angle, so a neck is a good idea! The neck is a bit of bamboo skewer covered in a book page...

The head can then be glued however you wish...

Whilst the head needs to be static, I wanted the legs to have movement. I glued a loop of wire to the body...

Another loop of wire was glued to the legs. This loop needs to be at a 90 degree angle to the loop you already glued to the body. Snip a bit out of the loop on the legs so that it forms a hook.......

Simply hook the legs onto the body...

All done!

So, a simple, painty body...

Topped off with a quirky head....

And every Art Doll needs red glitter shoes...

Hope you like her...I'll be back with another tutorial soon!
Trish xxxx

do what you can

Hello

This is my friend's journal. It has travelled for a few months and tomorrow I'm taking it after this long journey to it's owner. My pages...

I used:
- Dylusions Ink Spray Fresh Lime
- Dylusions Ink Spray Fresh Bubblegum Pink
- Claudine Hellmuth Studio Black Gesso

- Stampotique Originals stamps

- Darkroom Door Carved Birds Vol 1

- Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black

- Distress Glitter

- tissue paper

Stargazing Hares...

Hello!
More paint from me today, but this time combined with a little 3D assemblage...and the use of a niche..

I started off with a box canvas, then flipped it over to use the back! The back of a canvas has a perfect niche, although different sizes and brands of canvases will be put together differently, and so have niches of varying shapes and sizes! The back of this canvas also had the very ugly 'fold the canvas sheet over and use a million staples to secure it' thing going on....not ideal! A great way of disguising this is to spread a layer of texture paste over it. I blasted the texture paste with a heat gun just to give the surface a bit of a 'skin', and then pressed bottle tops and sequin waste into it. This gives nice texture, as you can see...

I used loads of different coloured paint, simply smearing a layer on, then drying and going in with a different colour. I also stamped some dots onto tissue paper, and used Mod Podge to adhere it in places. Once dry, the Mod Podge is transparent and the dots look like they were stamped straight onto the background...

The fabulous hares (Crafty Individuals), were stamped onto scraps of blue painted card, then cut out. I stamped the head parts onto yellow painted card, cut out the crowns and added them to the blue hares. I covered them in Glossy Accents to give a 3D shine. Once dry, they were placed on a bed of thin, curled and twisted green cardstock.
My stars are suspended from a curve of wire...

I took three strands of wire, and twisted a little extra wire around the three strands to hold them together. I painted and then glued three stars onto the ends. The wires were then glued onto the side of the canvas.
I added two spools to the bottom...

And some cut up letters to form the word...

I had fun playing with niches again...I have a feeling I may be making some more soon!
Have a great weekend,
Trish xxx

Cool Blues

Hello!
More experimenting with colour schemes again from me today! Or rather, a *lack* of a colour scheme..... blue and white only this time.....

I covered my chipboard sheet with tissue wrap, then gave it a wash of white paint. A wash of blue paint over the top gave me a delicate base to work on...

I then started to build up some detail in the right hand corner. Lots of layers, including stencilling with white paint, and stamping with blue ink. I used the dots from a Bo Bunny set, and a Jenni Bowlin alphabet...

I also sponged embossing ink through a stencil, then embossed it with white embossing powder.
I stamped a Stampotique heart onto white card, then embossed it using a polka dot embossing folder. I cut it out, then added some butterfly wings....

The heart stands proud from the background. I glued a bead to the heart then glued the bead to the chipboard. This gives loads of dimension!
Chit Chat stickers to finish....

A little bland for me really...but a very good exercise in restraint!!
Trish xxx

Texture Heart

Hello!
A simple project from me today.....simple, but with LOADS of texture! All done with the minimum of products too, just tissue paper, paint and crackle medium....

I took a wooden heart (I bought loads of these last Christmas from my local cheapie shop..£1.50 each- bargain!), and covered it with crumpled tissue paper. I used the 'composer' tissue wrap from Tim H, but as you can only see texture, not design it really doesn't matter what is actually on the paper!
I glued it down with a glue stick, making sure the crumples stayed that way! I then built up some painty colour, starting with brown paint, and adding a little dark red. Once this was dry, I covered the whole thing with clear crackle paint.
Once the crackly magic had happened, I then went in with more paint, a little black, gold and red again...

Don't forget to do the sides!

I finished off the heart by adding a rusty wire hanger, and some gingham ribbon...

A tiny word cut from an old book page was my last touch!
This kind of depth is easy, just keep adding and adding, building up thin layer after thin layer. Too much colour? Wipe it off with a baby wipe whilst still wet. Easy!
Have fun!
Trish xxxx

Waiting...

I'm sorry to say that this is one of those looong posts with loads of pictures but that's only because I got carried away with the process and wanted to share it with you at every stage! 

It did start as an experiment which I'm happy to report worked a treat, so here it is;

My page started with a coat of black Claudine Hellmuth Studio gesso just for a change instead of white. I wanted to see how other paint colours looked over the top. I also had the idea to create an area of negative space so I die cut a border of birds from a piece of sticky masking tape (you could use something like stick and spray too) and stuck them down to my page. 

With Neo Colors II by Caran d'Ache in my usual favourite colours, I added colour to the background going right over my mask.

I added water to activate the paint in the crayons being careful around the mask so as not to let paint get under the birds. 

Using a Balzar Design Stencil (mini pomegranate) I sprayed water through then used a piece of kitchen towel to lift off the paint. I loved how the black gesso is now peeking through here. Those Neo colors are really shining on the black background too.

To lift the page further I added some marks in white acrylic paint.

I lifted off the mask and woah, I was so pleased at how pretty it looked.  I added some torn pieces of Tim Holtz tissue paper and drew around the circles.

Finally my title "Waiting".  I like to get the most out of my alphabet stickers so I use my negative spaces too.  I also created some borders with some pieces of Glitz Design papers color me happy.

I'm really loving using the black gesso as an under layer and experimenting with what I can use on top, each time I'm amazed.

Happy thursday

Jaine x