Friday 17 June 2016

Shabby crackle card and thrilling news

Well I'm only just under the wire getting this card made and ready for posting today and I needed some help pulling it out of the hat. I was bereft of ideas until I saw my friend Anne's gorgeous shabby album on her blog and I knew I wanted to go pink and pastelly (is that a word or have I just made that up?), so really into my shabby mood I decided to use some Wendy Vecchi embellishments and some very beautiful flowers from Anna Marie Designs. I also had seen the cards produced for the Frilly and Funkie Pastels and Pearls challenge and it strengthened my resolve to create a shabby card for this piece and enter it.


So I got to work.
The background card was in my off-cuts box left over I think from an infusions play session.


Add some stamping, I used a music score but it could easily be a text stamp .....


.... use a stencil and add DecoArt white texture paste and leave to dry naturally.


Take embellishments and have fun arranging them. Don't you just love the postmark disc and the little dove cote?


The crackles give texture and interest to the background and you can see a small white doily die cut shape (which is actually a wedding place marker from Hobby Craft) and a Tim Holtz stamped element tucked behind the beautiful shabby flowers.


Some printed hessian (left over from a Finnabair workshop I attended a few years ago), torn fabric to make a shabby ribbon bow, a couple of foliage die cuts (left from another project) in cream card, a tiny tag blended with antique linen and picked raspberry distress inks with a small pearl added and a word die-cut in brown card to make it stand out all added to the shabby appeal.


So I am off now to enter this into the Frilly and Funkie challenge and would like to thank the four frilly team members for their inspiration. This also fits with the Crackle challenge at Country View Crafts and is a reminder that you can enter a project up until the end of the month.


Before I go I have some more incredible and thrilling news to share with you. This year I have been so incredibly lucky and doors have been opening for me to do new and exciting things. The list includes being asked to join the amazing Andy Skinner on the DecoArt international design team and be part of a very talented group of people using the mixed media line of paints and mediums. Then Andy asked me to teach at Mixology this coming November, what an honour and again what a privilege to be involved teaching seventy participants at the retreat. At the same time I was asked by DecoArt if I would like to do a project for the Craft Stamper magazine for later in the year - but of course I would ..... another honour and compliment and having submitted my project the wonderful Trish Latimer has now asked if I would like to be on the Craft Stamper Design Team too. The badge is securely added to the side bar just so I can believe it as I have to keep pinching myself and checking I'm not dreaming......... Thank you Trish I am so pleased and proud to be joining more very talented artists from around the world and hope I can do you all justice in what I create.

Well after all of that I hope you have a great day and a wonderful weekend whatever you have planned - for me with additional responsibilities that means more crafting. Am I complaining of course not, I love it.

Thanks for sharing my creative journey with me.

hugs Brenda xxxx