Scary stuff

Hello there

Tonight I've spent some happy times with my crafty girlfriends using a pack Catherine made up using elements of the Stampin' Up Afternoon Daydreams simply scrappin' kit. There are some really lovely elements in there and the papers are pretty gorgeous too.
Catherine had designed three cards for us and a scrapbook layout. I didn't get to start on the layout but I can do that tomorrow. 

The scary part was the brayering, which I've only done once before. Once you get the need to be gentle with the brayer though; roll from off the cardstock and roll off at least once before using it, it's quite an easy process really. You need to know which colours to use together to get the invisible link between them and Catherine is excellent at that and oh, so patient, hence I was able to get great effects. 

This is just such a moody image but the embossed 'pool party' card and the colours of the patterned papers and the sentiment with the ribbon, all help to bring 'it out'.  The twine help to 'ground' the trees too. Catherine's a very clever girl.

I think this is my best one with the sun in exactly the right place.
My brayering was rather heavy handed on this but I still love the
effect.

Look at the way that sun sits so well behind the branches-
pretty as a picture! 

I am so pleased with these cards and I'm so lucky to have talented friends who don't mind sharing their skills with me.

Take care out there

My winnings

Hello there

I won these on a Tando blog hop recently. How cool is it to win so many things that you
love just for looking at design team entries, which are mega inspiring?!!

My daughter asked me recently to make a frame for her latest drawing.

It just so happens that a backing and an Arabian arch fit perfectly around her  drawing.
I got to playing around tonight with paint and some heart balsa wood embellishments

The arch looks even better with the gold paint dabbed on. I'm
going to leave it to dry and see whether I should've put gesso on the  chipboard
before painting. No problem if that's the case, as I'll just
turn it over

Yee hah! I spy fun times ahead with this little project.

Take care out there

Time

Hello there

Tonight I've actually managed to get some crafting done! Last week was awful with my daughter in hospital or very ill at home, so I either didn't have the time or I just couldn't focus on crafting. Thankfully, she seems fully recovered now, so life is getting back to normality now. Change is nice but we can do without that sort of change.

I had intended on doing a friend; Catherine's sketch as appears on her blog but I couldn't remember the date she'd posted about it and by the time I got round to asking and finding out, I had already got underway with some die-cut remains from a couple of weeks ago. Yes, stuff sits on my desk for a long time, even if I do have to clean it around when my mum comes to stay for the weekend :-) Catherine has set up a monthly challenge of creating a sketch and getting her readers to interpret it and share with her. My sketch for her will have to wait for another day now - that's no problem, as Catherine is used to me being slow. Head on over there (after reading this of course) and have a go yourself.

If you saw my last post, you'll recognise elements of this page, as they're the same as I used on that scrapbook page i.e the stamp die-cuts and stencil and the postcard from the Steampunk digikit designed by Sarah Hurley for CraftArtist.
I've also added a gorgeous little sheep from Create A Critter cartridge.

I had to do this as the top photo shows a field, which actually had sheep in it, who got out of the field when we were there - very funny and not dangerous, as I think there's only about 5 cars on the whole island of Muck. It's gorgeous!

I used the stencil from the sheep die-cut and created almost little shadows of him in the right hand corner under the title. I love fun little elements like that, which are impromptu ideas, off the cuff, so to speak. 
The font of the title is 'loop de loo' from the Lyrical Letters cartridge - I sized it on Cricutcraftroom.

The bird tag is from a kit I have and there's that postcard again. I also used some Tim Holtz tissue tape in a couple of places on the page, as I thought that they fitted the theme really well.

Well, I did enjoy that. A stress free, productive yet relaxing evening. Don't mind if I do! :-)

Take care out there

Freebies

Hello there

Last week on Cricutcraftroom they had another pile of free images on there just for a week; every week there's a different cartridge/range of images that you can cut for free. I didn't like the actual images they had on there but my eye was caught by the photo mats, which have the slits cut out for you to fit your photo/topper in. So I got to cut out a pile of left over card in a couple of colours. Today's layout uses the cut outs and the negatives from that. 

I got my layout inspiration from a Basically bare blog entry. Although after saying that I just went with the creative flow really with the materials I wanted to use and what I have/found, which I find to be so satisfying.

I wonder if you noticed the dribbles again - my Stampin' Up ink
is going to get lots of use, me thinks! :-)

I had intended on using some wire to replicate the swirls on the float but whilst I was searching for it (I still haven't found it!) I came across this punch; I keep them at the back of a shelf as I don't really like them but oh boy, was I pleased to find this one at this time - it was meant to be! :-)

Yet again, I used the cut outs, and the negative and I also used sections of the die-cut as a stencil for the background. The only reason I used the top right hand corner negative piece though, was to cover the spraying mistake I made there. Happy accident!

Sarah Hurley and Serif also saved the day with the postcard from her digikit on Daisytrail which I found whilst looking for a postcard on CraftArtist.






Yay- another great creative morning!
Now to wait for the text from the school saying that it's closing due to the snow. Some schools have shut already but thankfully my daughter's school aren't soft!! ;-)

Take care out there in whatever weather you have, as I know that Sydney have had over 45 degrees today, so that won't be any fun either, as it can cause bushfires.

Is this enough?

Hello there

What a morning I've had. I've been sat up here in my little room after a good long walk with the dogs, on a very cold January morning in the U.K. with tiny bits of sunshine thrown in. I've been watching Louise Nelson again but on Vimeo this time, as I watched her Jumpstart 2013 video last night and was so inspired by her style and Debby Lewis's take on her video too, that I had to create myself. I've probably said this before but so often I just get inspired and then that's it. Just sat in front of the computer getting inspired. How is that inspired? It only works if I actually get off my bottom and create. So guess what? I actually got off my bottom! :-)

I got a piece of packaging chipboard and coated it with gesso. I was even enough on the ball to remember to cut it down to 8x8in, so it'll fit in the album I want it to go in. How good is that?!! :-)

The next step has loads of layers, in a practical sense as well as in the layout sense. I spritzed, masked, blobbed and dripped all over the place. Although, no, not all over the place, as I purposefully tried to keep most of the design in the bottom right hand corner. 

It would be rude not to add some Perfect Pearls mist  :-)

Some crude banners I made by just rubbing some
ink onto some left over packaging material

Louise's main focus in the Jumpstart video is crackle paint
and the different products available to do it. I used a blue
Ranger one, as it's the only one I have!

This is a lovely mask but I really wish it was a stencil- the
negative of it is clear plastic, so I find it too hard to use.

I love the finished result, other than that stupid base banner - dozy me placed it too far out, so I had
to cut it down and made a hash of it :-(

To answer my original question; yes this is more than enough for me. It's nowhere near as good as the other members of the Creative Jumpstart but we're all at different places on our creative journeys, so I'm happy.

Take care out there

A blue wreath

Hello there

Here's a quick little post just to show the last wreath I made. I made it for one of my sister's at Christmas. 

I used an absolute gorgeous paper pad by Tilda called Summer Blues. I absolutely love the double sided patterns on the papers and it's such good quality.

The bow took me ages of watching youtube videos as Mel Heaton had helped me to make the last one and I couldn't remember how to do it.

I wish I'd got round to inking the edges of the
flower centres before adhering the
flowers together

My sister lives overseas, so it was a bit of a rush job to get it done in time to allow for postage times. As it turns out, it was actually delivered to her on Christmas day, so her living in a non Christian country has it's benefits.

I'm hoping that the next one I make will be relatively easy now but I'm not holding my breath.

Take care out there

I'm not convinced

Hello there

Over on Creative Jumpstart 2013, Nathalie Kalbach shows a technique on video 13. Nathalie shows stamping on printer transparency paper. "Ok", I hear you say, "big deal!"
But Nathalie stamps using gesso. Yes, you read correctly; gesso. She uses a background stamp and shows how to make sure that your stamp is damp to start off with and when she uses Liquitex white gesso (which is runnier than others), it works, basically fine.

Right, for me to get on with it, NOW! I haven't even brushed my teeth yet and it's 09.30 but I am dressed :-) I love grabbing the bull by the horns and going with the flow. I had a couple of issues though, in that a) I don't have Liquitex white gesso and b) I don't have any printer transparencies but hey, since when has not having all the equipment ever stopped me?! :-)
I used Claudine Hellmuth's gesso and some acetate instead.

For those who don't know, gesso dries hard, quickly! So there is potential here to ruin a stamp if it dries thick in the recesses of your stamp.

After selecting a stamp that I wouldn't be heartbroken to lose, I get dampening it and then putting gesso on my craft mat and dabbing with a sponge and placing onto my stamp and then of course, onto the surface to be stamped.

As you can see, the results weren't amazing to say the least. I had thought before I started that I couldn't see the difference between using white gesso and using white stamping ink or embossing powder and I was proved right. I possibly used too much water to dilute the gesso etc but I'm not going to do anymore as it doesn't create enough of a difference in my opinion. I also tried it on some dark blue paper stock but it was no better on there. 

Take care out there and go grab a bull!