Turtle Treasures–Crafty Individuals

Many of my friends know that I had 16 amazing days touring three of the Hawaiian islands recently with my husband Ken and two American friends, Joni and Leo (who was born on Oahu). We saw many beautiful places, stunning scenery and amazing natural and wildlife including six turtles resting on a beach.

When I got home I found all the new releases from Crafty Individuals, four fabulous stamps including this one of a turtle (CI-413) and although I had lots to catch up on I just couldn’t stop myself creating a journalling/scrapbook page.

I began with water colour paper and used dylusions inks and some stencils to create the background using the blues I had seen in the Hawaiian seas, then I stamped this fabulous creature off the edge twice. Using the faux bleach technique I used my water brush and removed lots of the colours from the images and re-painted them with vintage photo and black soot distress inks.

I made masks for the two turtles, covered them up and splashed watered-down white acrylic paint to give more of a watery effect and dried it off. Next came one of my photos of a tired turtle on the beach, framing him in Photoshop Elements and using another CI stamp set (CI 272) to stamp and cut out the starfish for some little embellishing. The quote was computer generated.

Happy Memories…..

I hope your week is going well.

Take care.

hugs Brenda xxx

Only Men Allowed 1 - Country View Crafts

One of the very special men in my life was my (step) Dad, I had known him through my teens but my Mum and he married the same year as Ken and I did and he gave me away at our wedding. Sadly we lost him 4 years ago, but I think of him often and have made this special little tribute to him for Father’s day.

I began by die-cutting and stamping and gathering most of the pieces that I thought I would use and then beginning to make up each individual part of the triptych.

The main part of each section was cut in chipboard using the cameo frame die and leaving off one of the rounded edges and I also cut the pediments to adhere to the top.

I cut six pieces of PaperArtsy paper to adhere to the front and back of the frames having painted the edges first with walnut stain distress paint.

I also covered the pediments with walnut stain distress paint and when dry I dipped them in pumice stone and black to give them a grungy feel. They even look a bit rusty too. I also cut three pediments in more PaperArtsy paper to adhere to the back of them.

I edited my photos in photoshop elements 12 and then started putting it all together. You can see I added some other bits that weren’t in my original line up, but Dad loved birds, when he left school he was sent to secretarial school by his mother and learnt to type, he was in the police force for most of his life hence the evidence word band and the pen and ink as he had to write his own reports, the arrow and the chevron diecut behind his photo, it just reminded me of his sergeant stripes for some reason, the compass represents him being in the Navy during the war. I added one small photo of Mum and Dad together at their favourite holiday destination – Swanage in Dorset.

I used hessian at the back to secure the three parts together and tied it up with some hessian ribbon which gives it rather a nice rustic feel to it and I added Tim’s ‘missing you’ sentiment as a tribute to this special man in my life for Father’s Day.

Stamps I used were from Mercantile, Nature Walk and Thankful Silhouettes.

Thanks for stopping by today and welcome to my new followers, it’s lovely to have you join me on my creative journey. I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

hugs Brenda xxx

Tim’s tag for May

Oh my gosh, talk about cutting it fine again for getting my tag completed, but it’s just been manic this week after getting back off holiday last Friday and then we are off early in the morning to Ramsgate and Margate for a wedding and catching up with lots of family.

But here it is, my completed tag, true to Tim’s one, but a little bit me too.

I painted the muse token with picket fence distress paint and rubbed over the highlights with copper treasure gold (note to self get a black one).

I was really pleased the way the ShadowPress folder worked with the black archival ink, I thought it was going to go everywhere, but the raised areas are prominent enough to take the ink without it going over the rest of the plastic.

Love the butterfly over the frame, great idea. I used the Wallflower stash papers for all the elements except the butterfly which came from another Tim set, but this was a small left over piece I could use up.

Thanks Tim for another great tag this month and one I loved doing as I often work with small elements.

All the details can be found on Tim’s blog if you haven’t yet seen them but you only have till Saturday to enter so time to get your skates on and follow in my footsteps.

I had a great class with a group of lovely ladies on Wednesday and we played with (sorry I taught) Ranger Dylusions ink sprays all day, learning new techniques and finishing a double page spread in their new journals before they went home. Thanks for a great day Joan, Judith, Jane and Christine, I will try and blog some pictures next week, but I must go and pack for this early start in the morning.

Have a great weekend and I will be back on Sunday with a project for the new challenge at Country View Crafts. See you then. Oh and don't forget a new challenge also starts at A Vintage Journey tomorrow, the lovely Jenny will be hosting and what a great theme for the next fortnight, you'll love it.

hugs Brenda xxxx

Nautical Blueprint for Country View Crafts

This is my latest project for Country View Crafts using my new Nautical Blueprints stamps. I made this card before I went away on holiday and gave it to the friends we stayed with as a thank you card, we certainly did have some good times together.

I would love it if you could pop over to Country View Crafts Updates blog to see how I made it. These stamps are fabulous.

As this is a sea themed card I thought I would share some of the wonderful coastal photos we took while we were in Hawaii. The islands are all volcanic but they have a variety of white and black sand beaches and much of the coastline is rugged and steep. The colours are vivid and piercing especially when the sun is shining through the water.

A huge thank you to everyone who continued to comment on my scheduled posts while I was away. I am very aware that I have some catching up to do and will be out visiting blogs this week.

Thanks for dropping by and taking a peek at my card and my photos.

Maybe I will also see you at Country View Crafts Update blog as well.

hugs Brenda

More Finn Journal pages

My pages today show eldest granddaughter Becca, so I thought I would do a quick catch-up for those who supported Becca and I when she was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and was in hospital for most of the autumn 2012 up until the beginning of December. Thank you to you all who sent cards and good wishes, you know who you are and Becca and I were so pleased to to have that support.  She had two six hour operations and some of her intestines taken out at that time and had to wait a year to see what the next steps would be. Since then she has had another operation and has made a remarkable recovery and we are so pleased with the progress she has made. She is now at 6th form college and doing well with her studies and will hopefully be learning to drive soon. Oh my gosh where do the years go?

So onto the project.

The base of the pages are kraft card, covered with text paper and gesso.

Cut and torn strips of card, canvas and tissue tape etc. were added and then gesso through some masks.

Next I added lace, tapes and trims and glued in the photos.

I added staples, gems and embellishments …..

….. and cut more small pieces and scraps and tucked into places.

I stamped with archival and then splattered with tea …..

… and walnut crystal ink.

I used a soft pencil to add lines around the photos etc. and added chit-chat stickers and some of my own journaling words.

Although this is a scheduled post I will be home today from my holiday, I will let you know what we did and saw sometime soon.

Have a great weekend.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Using re-inkers for a journal page background

Just a short post from me today.

When I did the journalling workshop in Wales I taught this technique to the group. I think it creates a gorgeous background.

I used watercolour paper and then stuck the finished piece into my large Dylusions Journal.

Draw some blobs and circles using distress re-inkers, I used wild honey, tumbled glass and aged mahogany and the end of a paintbrush. Spray with water and let the colours run and merge together then blot off.

Spray Dylusions white linen through a mask and heat dry immediately as the white absorbs the colours of the inks underneath. Mine did but you can just see a part of the pattern to the left of the word ‘dressform’.

Draw black circles on the background with a drawing pen.

Stamp an image on card and paint with distress inks then adhere it to the background.

Add your journalling around the circle.

(I saw this on the web sometime ago and didn’t keep a link – if you know who I can credit for the technique please let me know and I will update this).

Have a great week.

hugs Brenda xx

Believe – Positivity Journal

When Astrid came to stay I told her about my little positivity journal – it was she who had inspired it – and while we were out shopping together I bought a couple of new stamps, this gorgeous long birdcage is one of them and it wasn't long before I had a play.

Background – distress paints peeled paint, broken china and picket fence daubed onto the page and spritzed with water then dried. Next I sprayed with some goosebumps (haven’t used that for ages) dried it with a heatgun and then sprayed with white linen dylusions ink and spritzed with water, this gave a fabulous mottled effect when dry.

To create more depth I used Dyan Reaveley's basic backgrounds alphabet stamp with cornflower blue archival

and then my favourite Tim latticework stencil with broken china DI.

Now I needed some contrast so I used another new stamp

– handwritten script by inkylicious to give some more depth and added a few scraps of tissue tape.

The bird cage was stamped onto some card on which I’d used the wrinkle free technique and added some distress paints over it and I drew some white pen lines to add highlights. This was cut out edged with walnut stain and adhered to the page along with some left over trellis framework die-cut piece.

To finish I added the quote, some small remnant rubs which I distressed with my new Prima distressing tool and then some black soot marker and DI around the focal image to create shadow and help it stand out more on the page.

I am really quite pleased the way this turned out, the goosebumps created real texture and then the masks and text stamps created depth and interest over the mottled colours.

I shall enjoy doing more of these pages when I get home as they don’t take too long but they keep you focussed and involved allowing Mr Mojo to do his job.

I didn’t get to create a Creative Guide project this week for the new challenge ‘All about Him’ chosen by Anne, but I hope you will be able to pop over to ‘A Vintage Journey’ see what the other amazing Creative Guides have made for you and to get some wonderful inspiration for cards and items for the men in our lives.

Have a wonderful weekend whatever you have planned.

hugs Brenda xxx

Small Practice Journal Cover

Having started my new practice journal – which really is just for playing in and having fun on a small scale – I decided it needed a decent cover on it.

So there are no mistakes in my journal – as I said 'just for fun'.

I began by covering a piece of card with printed tissue paper and blending some clear gel through a mask.

When dry I added some distress stains and wiped it over gently with a baby wipe to remove any stains from the structure gel.

Next I blended DI through the mask to begin to get the layered look.

And I stamped over that with picket fence distress paint which added even more interest.

I wanted to add some dimension and as the tissue paper had lovely roses on it I thought I would stick to the flower theme. The leaves were daubed with peeled paint distress paint and then several different coloured distress stains

I edged the leaves with walnut stain DI.

.

I had these hand made flowers in my drawer so I coloured them up a bit and added a small bought flower to make it an odd number…..

…. and found some odd letters to make my quote – the original said ‘There are no mistakes only lessons’, but I didn't want to add the last bit.

So there it is finished. I rather like the brighter colours and the depth created by the layers of inking etc..

I found this little quote about keeping notes and it fits me exactly only I don’t think my brain can even retain information for three minutes lol.

  Now to get down to some more little playtimes for the inside pages.

Hope things are all well with you.

hugs Brenda xx