Gingersnap Creations Visiting Artist - week 5

Happy Wednesday

This is my last piece for Gingersnap Creations as one of their visiting artists for June. I have thoroughly enjoyed having the freedom to create projects to a fabulous theme and to be able to use the materials and resources that inspire me to experiment, learn new things and to create projects that otherwise I might not have attempted. Thanks Sharon for giving me the opportunity, I have loved every minute of it.

The overall theme of shopping  has included a variety of types of challenges and this week is a Blue Moon challenge and Shar is challenging us to use 3 words, 3 papers and 3 buttons. I have chosen to keep to the shopping theme and I have altered a note book and pen that can be used for shopping lists. I love this book, it is one I pixked up when I was shopping in Basingstoke with Lucy last week at a shop called Tiger.

This picture shows the before and after.

My three papers are all from my bits box - coloured paper that I stamped with Fresco paint after smooching distress stains over it and edging with gesso. I also inked over that with DI. The image I found on the internet and resized it in PE to fit inside a nesties lacey circle. I dotted some metallic red paint on some of the cherries just to highlight them.

The green dotty and black papers make me to 3 and the cherries are buttons I found in my button box.

 The words are generated in word to show it is a shopping list. Don't you just love that the pages and original covers are made of kraft coloured paper? And there is a matching pen as well. Cool.

Is anyone into real blues music. I like some of it - not too heavy you mind, but Ken loves it. So last night Ken and I and a couple of friends went to the Albert Hall in London to see BB King. I don't really listen to his music but I know he has been a huge influence on many of the rock and blues artists like Eric Clapton. But I have to say it was a brilliant show. BB didn't do too much himself, but his band are great, and he also had some amazing guests. There were a couple from America and I didn't catch their names, a husband and wife who played guitar brilliantly and she sang. But also appeared Ronnie Wood (old Faces and Rolling Stones fame), Slash from Guns and Roses and Mick Hucknall from Simply Red. They all played together on stage, much of it seemed to be spontaneous blues playing and singing - but it was incredible. There was a standing ovation at the end and everyone crowded to the front of the stage.

Well I will be back to entering the weekly challenges at Gingersnaps in the future - see you there.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Dress Form card - Kanban

What a beautiful day again yesterday, but nothing like it today. We had a great BBQ on Sunday with friends and the family here, sitting outside in the garden. It was gorgeous.
I have made a couple of cards using a Kanban set I bought from QVC a little while ago. Now normally I hate toppers and won't use them unless I have to, but these images really took me and I love them. The patterns, colours and images can all be intermixed from the set and of course I have added some distressing to go with them.

This is the second card I have made, and it's using the sketch this week from Simon Says Stamp. The other card  is sitting on a draft blog in Windows Live Writer on my now defunct PC, so I will need to photograph it again and show it to you at some point.

On this one I used the TH dress form die and added gold foiling round the edge using a Zig pen and a roll of gold foil also from QVC. The other things that have come from my stash are some green, brown and gold backing card, all the other elements are from Kanban.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

liuv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Grungy Monday 12

Here is my contribution to Linda's Tim Holtz challenge at her blog, Studio L3. This week she has searched into the archives and found a technique of Tims that he showed in April 2008. It's his 'shabby chic' technique but this time using printed paper and made much more grungy. Click the link if you would like to see how to do it.

I have used  Tims Crowded Attic paper stash and focused on the buttons and sewing parts of it. You don't always have exactly the same resources as the inspiration piece and this is one of those times where I have had to substitute things. For instance I didn't have the papers he used (but that's good as it makes you stretch your creativity and come up with something totally personal to yourself) and I haven't got the dymo, espresso paint dabber, grunge pieces, nor the same harlequin stamp, but I improvised and I think it has worked ok.

I love that this has a little tag attached to it.

Hope your weekend has gone well. Our BBQ went well this afternoon and we have just finished cleatring up after everyone went home.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Other challenges to have fun with -
CYDA - Vintage
Ink on my Fingers - Words (Thanks Hels this fitted perfectly this week - just luck I know!!!!)

Altered Mirror Frame

This is my entry for Simon Says Stamp and Show this week which is to use metal on your project.

I had started this frame by sanding it and priming it a few weeks ago but just hadn't got round to using it, but this week I have had great fun making the embellishments and covering the frame itself.

Supplies used -

10 Second Studio - metal sheets and tools
TH dies - tattered florals, tattered leaves, caged bird
TH Embossing folder - damask
Grungeboard letters - alphabet soup
PaperArtsy dies - grunge flower large and small
Marianne die - small flower
alcohol inks, fresco finish paint,
Distress Inks - spun sugar stormy sky, milled lavender, dusty concord, bundled sage
Distress Stains - spun sugar, weathered wood, peeled paint
Cosmic Shimmer - mallow blush
TH stamps - nature's moments, fairytale frenzy
Graphics Fairy download butterflies

TH paper stash - shabby vintage

Crafters Workshop mask - Mini Birds of a Featherr

Hardware - ideaology, chain and other bits from my collection

Texture paint, fabric

The flowers are made from the 10 second studio metal and I followed Lyn Brown's tutorial at Yours Artfully. (Next week my sister and I are going to one of her workshops at LBCrafts which is a frame with small canvases - sooooo looking forward to it.) The leaves have been die cut then run through an embossing folder, inked and also some paint lightly rubbed over.

Tim's bird cage was also made from metal and I stuck it to card to give it some strength. I added some alcohol inks and also used blender to take off some of the colour on the edges to give it a more shabby look. I made the butterflies by downloading the image from the Graphics Fairy, changing it to a ping file, extracting some of the colour and then printing it onto the pink paper from Tim's shabby vintage stash.  The bird is a TH stamp - this and the butterflies have been heat embossed. Originally I was going to add a mini canvas but that is ready now to use on another project. Instead I have added grungeboard letters painted with crackle paint and inked and added distress stickles over the top.

Have a fabulous Sunday, as predicted the weather is looking very good, so it's a BBQ in the garden with family and friends today. So see you later.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Other challenges to have fun with -
Sugar Creek Hollow - glitter, flowers, pearls (stickles for the glitter, metal flowers and a pearl added in the centre of the pink flower)
Bloggers challenge - Things with wings
Simply Create - Things with wings
Art Impressions - handmade flowers
CCEE Stampers - use pink
Ruby's Rainbow - Flowers
Cheerful Stamp Pad - Things with wings

Gingersnap Creations Visiting Artist - Week 4

Happy Friday everyone - the weekend starts here. The weather in the UK seems to be improving and Sunday is supposed to be hot, hot, hot.

I still haven't got my PC back and my post for the Gingersnap VA piece is sitting in Windows Live Writer on it. As I found the photos are still on my camera I thought I would create a new post today to show you what I have done.

This week is a colour challenge at Gingersnaps and following with the shopping theme Shar is challenging us to use the colours of our money - so I chose blue, purple and brown - yes you guessed it, the £20, £10 and £5 notes in the UK. This is also for Scrolls Work as a GDT piece. Don't forget to head over and see what is left in their sale where everything is reduced by 60%, they have some fabulous Steampunk stamps.

This is a rather arty piece which again I used as a piece of homework for the course I am doing with Claudine Hellmuth which was to create a collage with a horizon line. For the blue background I used dishwasher rinse aid to create the streaks in paint. The main stamped image is from Scrolls Work, the castle image is from Crafty Individuals and the birdcage and car are downloads.

Claudine's comment for this piece was - "beautiful horizon line, great colours and nice dominant focal point", so I was pleased with that.

Right off to do a bit more to a larger project I am working on this week and I also want to get something made for Grungy Monday. I am also 'working' this afternoon, well it's not exactly paid work today but a meeting to arrange some dates for for next term. Slowly I am getting a few dates in the diary so I will be working a bit in the autumn.

My two children have been working at the Paris Air Show this week, I picked Maddie up last night and Ben comes home tonight - the girls have missed him and are looking forward to seeing him back.

Have a great day and a fab weekend whatever you have planned.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Vignette Collage - 2nd homework

This is my second piece of homework for a vignette collage. Claudine's comment for my last piece was fantastic - she said - "A great job on vignette!! I love the way you layered the images and great use of negative space." So I know what a vignette collage is and how to do one and this is another.

I chose the image to go with the backing poster advertising a display of toys and dolls. The other pieces fit in with the theme quite nicely. Again there is only one focal image and all the elements (bar the butterfly) are grouped together. I added the butterfly in the red colour to balance up the ticket. None of the elements bleed off the canvas, although this time I have added a sentiment/title. I have changed the height of the vignette, which is lower on the canvas but it still 'floats'. I submitted this yesterday and left a message saying  -  "My second piece for Vignette. The collage elements aren't all together, I wanted the butterfly to balance the colour with the ticket and the vignette is not floating in the middle. Does this count?" Claudine's reply was "This looks great! It doesn't have to be perfectly centred to be a vignette! I think you did a great job!" Woo hoo, that is soooo encouraging. Thanks Claudine.

Before I started on this I had a look around some of my favourite blogs and saw that Hels at The Sunday Stamper wants to see hats this week and I knew of one that would fit perfectly. It is another of my Scrolls Work stamps. The Paper Variety want 2 or more texts

Only one more week of the course left, I shall definitely look for more. This one was held at 'Big Picture Classes'. You might want to take a look. Everything is done on-line with galleries for downloading pictures, email and a chat forum.

Enjoy your crafty time.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

ATC for Scrolls Work

Welcome to my blog. If you are new here I hope you find some inspiration and ideas. To my regular readers thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a good week.

On Wednesday I am off to meet another blogging buddy. Lucy at True Colours only lives about 20 minutes away from me, so we are going to meet for coffee in Basingstoke and then do some crafty retail therapy – now that sounds like a good day doesn’t it?

This is a design piece for Scrolls Work and I have used their stamps to create an ATC. Don’t forget all their stamps are 60% off at the moment because they are sadly closing the on-line shop. You might be able to find these stamps still available. I love using these as they stamp so clearly.

 

Supplies
Alcohol Inks - butterscotch, ginger and copper

DIs - shabby shutters, forest moss, walnut stain

Archival Ink – coffee

Distress Stains - vintage photo, weathered wood, forest moss, walnut stain

TH die - ATC and corners

Scrolls Work stamps – Van Gogh houses and children walking

Gesso

Vellum

I started by cutting a vellum and card ATC and brown corners from the die. I used this fabulous tutorial by Kim Dellow to colour up and stamp the ATC  and I tore up some dictionary paper.

I covered the card ATC with torn pieces of the dictionary paper and coloured it up with the distress stains. I added some to the path on the vellum.

I stamped the image and coloured it using distress inks, then cut it out.

These are all the pieces before they have been assembled. My top tip when using vellum is use a glue that dries clear and when securing the vellum to the card, keep the glue under the pieces that have been stuck on the top, that way you can’t see any sign of adhesives anywhere.

Well have a wonderful day and great week and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox



SCROLLS WORK STAMPS - Vignette Collage

This is a piece I have done for Scrolls Work Stamps and for my homework piece for week 3 of the 'Composition for Collage' course with Claudine Hellmuth.

Scrolls Work will sadly be closing their doors on the 15th July, but at the moment they have a whopping 60% of their whole range. If you pop over you can certainly grab yourself a bargain.

I am learning a great deal and also feeling more confident that I have an intuitive eye for composition and have used the techniques Claudine is teaching without knowing what I was doing. I know I can now improve on that though.

I am sure that this is a vignette composition but not a true one in the sense of it having a strong focal point. I think it is successful in that it sits in the middle of the canvas and uses the backing paper as a visual border. All the elements are positioned around the image and the buttons serve as points for the eye to move around but still has quiet areas for the eye to rest. To improve this piece I think next time I would make sure the focal image is stronger to lead the eye straight into the collage.

The stamped image is one from Scrolls Work which I have coloured with distress inks and then double embossed to give it more depth of colour. The bird paper at the bottom and the scalloped circle mount have both been given a wash with gesso to tone them down.

I am entering this into the  Sweet Stamps which is to use embossing and Class Act Insider which is a Vintage theme.

I am going to Ella's school summer fair today, so I hope it stays dry for them.

Have a wonderful weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Dragonflies and Butterflies

Happy Friday to you all.

Today sees a new member join our team at The Stamp Man and I am so pleased it is my good blogging buddy Angela from Pages by The Sea. I am going to have to really be on my toes now as she creates the most stunning pieces of art, do pop over and take a look at her work.

So for this fortnight Angela has been thrown in at the deep end and is hostessing the challenge. We are looking for Dragonflies and Butterflies on your projects

My inspiration was drawn from the challenges at Studio L3 where the amazing Linda has found another of the fabulous Tim's techniques which is like an embossing batik; Simon Says Stamp and Show where we are challenged to use distress/torn paper,  and The Cheerful Stamp Pad  to use things with wings.

I used Tim's tutorial to stamp the dragonflies and embossed them, then added ink all over the card. The stamped dragonflies were then ironed to remove the embossing powder. I shadow stamped some small dragonflies over the card. The butterflies were created using the same technique and I cut them out and inked over them, leaving the EP on them, small micro beads were added to the body. My sentiment was stamped with black soot DI and I used one of Tim's speckled stamps and used paint to go around the edges; they were also distressed with a distressing tool and inked over. The mount paper edges were distressed and torn.

Supplies used -

DIs - shabby shutters, peeled paint, weathered wood, tattered rose, walnut stain, black soot
Stamps - Tim Holtz Urban Tapestry set and Papillon, Aspects of Design Dragonflies
Clear embossing powder.
Acrylic paint

Have a good day and I hope to see you over at the Stamp Man challenge blog. Do go over and take a look at the fabulous inspiration from my fabulous teamies, wow, they are really gorgeous projects.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Gingersnap Creations Visiting Artist - Week 3

Sorry I am late posting with this piece - but I don't anticipate getting my PC back until Friday (at least Friday and that's if the power pack solves the problem - please keep your fingers crossed for me).

This week at Gingersnap Creations to continue the shopping theme, the Random Redhead Challenge is 'Bags and Tags', so I haven't used any paper, glue and just a little stamping and and some paint. I have used fabrics only to create a collage on a tote bag and used a needle and thread and the sewing machine to make it.

The bag came from Hobby Craft for about £1.00 and I have used offcuts of fabrics.

The flowers are crotched string, fabrics cut with the tattered florasls die and vintage buttons for the middles.

This large flower has been made with black tulle, burgundy velvet petals again cut with the tattered florals die and another vintage button.

The butterfly was a Creatables die which I had to finish off with scissors and I stamped them with acrylic paint.

The main image came from the internet and was printed onto Claudine Hellmuth's sticky-back canvas.

Woo - got my second post finished for today. I hope you enjoy.

Now I can get to my emails and some commenting.

Have a good evening and thanks for coming to see me.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -

Play Date Cafe - Blueberry, cream and dusky pink.

Stampavie and more - Butterflies

Flourishes - Circle and square (background fabrics are square and the buttons are the circles)

Cheerful Stamp Pad - Things with wings

Shabby Chic Bottle

Hi |Everyone

I still haven't got my main PC back so today I have had to load PhotoShop Elements and start again with this post (the original is sitting in Windows Live Writer on the hard disk of the other machine).

Anyway today it is the next challenge for Divas by Design and for this next fortnight we want you to show us anything but a card.

I have wanted to alter a bottle for ages and so I had a go. Can you recognise the bottle (only if you like coffee!!!!!)? I will tell you at the end of the post.

The photos show the changes made. You can see I have used paint - and I used the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish acrylic paint - lace, ribbon, net, string, buttons, beads, a key, a link from a belt and a metal butterfly with some chain.

The bottle painted with 2 layers of paint and crackle glaze between them. All by PaperArtsy.

The top was painted with the PaperArtsy gold paint.

Did you guess the bottle? It is one that had Gingerbread syrup in it that I love in coffee. The same as you can get in Costas.

So show us what you are making at the moment that isn't a card for your chance to win a prize from Crafty pad and we will come and leave you some love.

Before I finish I had a fabulous morning meeting up with another blogging friend. Irene lives very close to me and is sister in law to Shirley who I met up with a few weeks ago. She is encouraging me to start some classes so I am definitely going to set something up. Thanks Irene for your support and advice.

Take care everyone and thanks for stopping by to see what I am up to.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Hello and apologies

Hi Everyone

Just a very quick post to apologise if I haven't got round to leaving you a comment recently but Wednesday night my computer wouldn't shut down properly, so I had to press the on/off button to close it and then Thursday it just wouldn't start up. A friend has been looking at it for me and he thinks it might just be the powerpack so we are awaiting a new one from Dell, but until it is sorted I cannot get to my draft posts on windows writer or to any of my photos, favourites/bookmarked web sites etc, etc. I am on the laptop, but I hadn't loaded anything on it and I haven't got all my favourites sorted so it will take me a while to find everything I need. Please bear with me, I will hopefully get round to everyone soon.

Just to let you know as well, we had the most fabulous weekend at the Isle of Wight Festival except yesterday when it rained and rained and rained, and coupled with a driving wind, in the end it became unbearable so we caught an early ferry home. We only missed the last few acts but even so it was a bit disappointing. However Friday night we saw Kings of Leon who were tremendous and just all I hoped they would be, for me they were the highlight of the weekend. I usually find one group I hadn't heard of that I like and this year there were two - Hurts and Two Door Cinema Club. My other favourites were - The Courteeners, Seasick Steve, Stornaway and Jeff Beck.

I hope to be back up and running with my blogs soon, but will be late with my next Gingersnap Creations one as that is sitting on the other computer - I so wish I had loaded it into draft on Blogger - but I didn't!!!!!

Take care and have a good week.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Textures 3 and very shabby chic

Yay it's Friday and I am posting this early before we leave to get the ferry for the Isle of Wight festival. I am all packed and ready to go.

This is another in my texture series of tags. I layered Gesso thinly over the surface and using a La Blanche stamp, just placed it down in the gesso carefully. You do need to make sure you clean it up straight away before the gesso dries.  I then misted over it with Glimmer Mist and let it dry. I also laid a piece of net fabric in the gesso down the side and when dry I inked it with spun sugar DI and again left it to dry. After I used a stampede yellow ink pad and did the direct to paper technique over the textures and around the edges.


I wanted this one to look very shabby chic and I was also inspired by the challenge at walnut Sugar Creek Hollow which is to use vintage lace, paper flowers and bling but also to use a vintage, shabby chic or primitive style.

This first photo I just remembered to take before I embellished further so that you can see the textures.

The second on the right here shows you them in close up and in more detail.

Next you can see my flower. I used smooth watercolour paper with DIs and water to get the colours and shapes to the petals.  I used the tattered florals die to cut them out first. Although you can’t see it the petals were painted with stickles to give some extra bling.
The leaves were die cut using text paper and inked with walnut stain.


Here is my lace and bling with additional elements. The Eiffel Tower is a chip board shape bought from the Craft Barn on Sunday. I painted it with Crown household paint and over stamped it with a tiny flourish. I also covered it in distress stickles – these are great because you can heat dry them – that saves a bit of time. The lemon shabby ribbon I bought from CandC.

































So here is the tag showing everything together. I really liked the colours and the finished look. I hope you do too.

Right I'm off to get the ferry and I really hope it doesn’t rain although the forecast doesn't look good especially for Sunday - but hey ho it's the music we are going for.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my work with me. Enjoy your weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox