Who doesn't love a saving

It's Thursday and that means it's my turn on the DT blog at Clare Curd Crafts.

 

It was only after I made this card that I realised Clare has put this stamp set and lots more into the 40% sale she has on at the moment

 

The background of the card is brayered with grey ink and over stamped using the small nut & bolt stamp. The motorbike is stamped in grey ink and layered onto black card.

The patterned paper is from the Carta bella well Travelled pad

I cut a couple of cute little banners and attached them.

 

 

A bit of distressing on the edges and this manly card is finished.

 

 

It's getting closer!!

 

It's hard to believe that in three weeks the big day will be here! It only seems like a couple of weeks  have gone by since summer!!

 

My piece for Clare Curd Crafts DT blog this week is a mixed media wall hanging, and with Christmas been so close I made it a little seasonal.

 

 

I used a piece of mount board as my base, and firstly covered it in tissue paper to get some good texture. This was then coated in a layer of gesso, and then lots of layers of acrylic paints. Some stamping was added and some bubble wrap-applied paint.

 

Then I added some areas of Flitter Glu and Mega Flakes in Royal Peacock

The small snowflakes and the robin are from the Winter Critters stamp set

 

 

My girl is paper pieced and then paint added to give some depth.

 

 

 

How cute is that robin

 

 



 

 

 



Getting into the spirit



Every time I see this advert I get that warm, fuzzy, Christmas is coming feeling, and I think it's sort of inspired my piece for this weeks DT spot over on Clare Curd Crafts, only I've used a fox and a hare, no bears here.

 

 

I've used a 5x7 canvas board as my substrate, and applied layers of acrylic paints and sprays to get the desired background effect.

 

The trees and animals ( how cute are they) are from the Winter Critters set, by Crafty Impressions and the Santa and reindeers are from the Here comes Santa set, by IndigoBlu

 

If you are in the market for some new Christmas stamps, have a look over on Clares shop as she has some real beauties on sale.

 

~x~

 

 

Cute Critters

As soon as I saw this set of stamps my first thought was 'awwwwww how sweet' my second was how versatile they were.

The little animals are really adorable and could be used for any occasion.

 

I stamped them in Stazon ink and then painted them in a pearlescent paint.

I then stamped the trees with Versamark ink and embossed them with black embossing powder. The animals were then mounted on 3D foam pads.

I then stamped the star with FlitterGlu and then applied IndigoBlu Mega Flake in Royal Peacock.

Before mounting the black square onto the base card I edged the basecard with flitterGlu and applied some more of the Mega Flake.

Items used :- Mega Flake

                  FlitterGlu

                   Phat Foam

                                         Winter Critters stamp set



Something for the boys

It's my turn over on the Clare Curd Crafts DT blog today and yes I know it's Halloween but I just couldn't bring myself to make anything spooky, so instead I went all butch and masculine and made a grungy card.

 

the base of the card is coloured using a brayer and a brown ink pad.

The layers are cut from the Carte bella paper pack as well as some old Tim Holtz papers from my own stash.

 

Clare stocks a great selection of Tim Holtz products by the way!

 

 

I then started working on my layers, some inking, some distressing and some stamping

 

The motorbike stamp is great and is  from  the Crafty Impressions Explore stamp set

 

I put half the quote on the outside of the card

 

And then stamped the rest inside

 

I'm linking this card to the following challenge blogs

 

MAKE IT MONDAY

 

&

 

SCRIBBLE&SCRAP

 

 

 



Bits and bobs

I hate waste, any kind of waste, food, time, crafting materials. So with this in mind I have a box that I drop all my bits of left over paper into. They do come in useful for those little bits we all need from time to time, but today I thought I would share a couple of ideas that just use little scraps of paper.

 

The best way to start with this kind of project is to pull out a nice pile of contrasting papers, most of mine came from the Well Travelled paper pad

 

 

I then got together a collection of embellishments and ribbons that would work with the papers I'd chosen. You won't use everything you've got out but having them to hand will make decisions easier.

 

The first thing I made from this pile was a pendant, using a wooden tile as a base, you could use a domino, mount board, anything as long as it wont warp when glue is applied.

 

 

I chose my scrap of paper which I then glued to the base

 

file the edges of the paper to get a nice smooth finish

 

pick a couple of other contrasting papers and layer them on your base.

 

Now coat this in Mod Podge to seal all the edges.

Pick your embellishment and glue to the base.

 I stamped and added a word to mine, from the Crafty Impression Explore stamp set.

If you want to make a pendant, make a hole to thread a cord through. You could use this as an embellishment for a card, a Christmas tree decoration, or even add a magnet to the back.

 

 

The second thing I made was a quick card Embellishment, which could also be made into many other items.

 

I started out by cutting three different sized circles using my Cuttlebug.

 

I layered them up and added some ribbon,

 

I chose an embellishment

 

 

and there you have a finished embellishment to use in whatever way you want

 

It's my turn over on the Clare Curd Crafts DT blog today, stop by and say Hi x

 

 



Mixed media on acetate

This week I thought I'd visit a love a had years back, acetate! I have made many things in the past using acetate as the base, I just love the look of it.

 

I had the urge to make something girly and pretty so that's exactly what I did.

 

 

 

 

I started out with a piece of acetate, 4x12 inches folded in half (4x6), which I then put the right hand side through my cuttlebug to emboss, bare in mind this will then be the front of your card

 

 

once embossed this is what you will have.

 

Now to start working on the elements for your card. I used some Dylusion sprays to colour my card,

put some of your chosen colour into a pallet and use as paint

 

 

remember to use varying amounts of white to vary your shades.

 

with any paint left cover a sheet of card or paper, you'll need it later if you want to die cut elements to add to your card.

 

Now for stamping, pick your main image stamp and also a few smaller stamps with which to make a background. I used the postage mark stamp from the Crafty Impressions Explore stamp set , as well as a couple of others from my stash.

 

 

cut you background piece about an inch smaller all round than your card base and after edging the sides with some brown ink apply it to the inside of your card. Don't worry about being able to see the glue as you'll cover this up later.

 

Now for the front of the card, place your main focal image where you would like it to be and using decorative elements play around until you like what you see. Clare carries some lovely

elements you could use. Some great items to use are sequin waste, ribbons, lace, paper flowers and die cuts ( this is where your painted sheet of paper comes in handy) ( metal dies )

 

 

My altered die cuts ready to add to my card.

 

Once I was happy with the layout of the elements I glued them all in place.

 

 

Once the front of your card looks pretty you need to pay a little attention to the back and inside as all the glue/double sided tape that you've is visible, so cut a piece of card the same size as the background you stuck inside the card and attach this to the vary back of your card, this also gives you somewhere to write your sentiment.

And do the same to hide the sticky stuff from the front.

 

 



 

 

Having a go

Do you ever see something on your travels around the internet and think 'Oooooo I'd love to have a go at that' ? I know I often do. I first saw mixed  media cuffs a year or so back and immediately fell in love with them and have since then been wanting to have go at making my own. So as it's my turn over on the Clare Curd Crafts DT blog today I decided to have a go with some yummy items she carries in her shop

 

Now those of you who do mixed media know it isn't the cleanest of hobbies and I often have stained fingers, as was the case after making this project, so please excuse my grubby looking nails and fingers in these photos.

 

 

 

I started out with a cutting a length of grunge board that fitted around my wrist and I coated it in gesso then started adding colour, a mixture of alcohol inks and Dylusion sprays.

 

I then added a length of ribbon along the cuff using a good glue.

 

 

The quote is a stamp from the Crafty Impressions Explore set. I stamped this onto a thin piece of metal using Stazon ink and attached this to the cuff using eyelets.

 

The next step was to add the edging ribbons to the cuff. This was done using hot glue.

 

I also added a few flowers to the cuff, just to pretty it up a little, but you could add charms, buttons, anything would look good.

 

 

Finally I added some more eyelets at the back to thread ribbon through to allow the cuff to fastened

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do hope you've enjoyed this little project as I had a lot of fun making it and think I may make a few more.

 

 

There are some great tutorials on Youtube on how to make cuffs if you fancy having a go yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Three little birds

It seems I can only make a couple of clean projects before I'm hankering after something a little bit more messy and so I gave into the urge and for my DT project for Clare Curd Crafts this week I went for it with this canvas

 

 

 

The canvas was covered with a layer of tissue paper then after a good coat of gesso I added layers of paint, Dylusions sprays, stamped images, which included the star stamp from the Crafty Impressions Explore set of stamps, stencilling and rub ons.

 

 

 

Then my birds were cut from some lovely but very old Basic Grey papers.

 

 

the final touches were outlining and adding fine detail with a fine tip black pen and an Inkssentials white pen

Up, up and away

It's Thursday, so that means it's my turn again over on Clare Curd Crafts I can't believe how quick these weeks are flying by!!

 

I made a mixed media panel to share with you today, not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, I may mount it and hang it or I may just add it into my art journal, who knows :)

 

I've used the Carta Bella - Well Travelled Collection 6x6 paper pad and the Crafty Impressions stamp set both available from Clare's store.

 

The background was run through my Cuttlebug to get the embossed texture and then I layered up the acrylic paints and papers from the pack, decorated some tape and applied that and then mounted up my stamped image and quote.

 

 

The hot air balloon was great fun to make. I started off cutting a balloon shape from card then built up the depth I wanted in layers of tissue and masking tape. I then added the ropes by using a length of suede cord I had in my stash, over the top of this I applied another couple of layers of tissue, covering it in home made Mod Podge ( mix equals parts of white PVA glue and water) and making sure the tissue moulded around the 'ropes' 

 

Once the glue was all dry I painted the balloon and added the basket.

 

If you are stuck for inspiration pop over to the Clare Curd Crafts DT blog, someone is posting inspirational stuff on there every day.