New workshop for CVC

Double Trouble

I am calling the next workshop for Country View Crafts "Double Trouble" purely and simply because we will be making two projects this time round.

I love this frame as it is more understated than other projects I do, with less depth and layers but enough for it to still look interesting and I think this simplicity is a great contrast to the recesses and embellishments and allow them to pop out more.

Each of the recesses is made up in the same way but with different designs and embellishments.

The fall foliage thinlits create gorgeous leaves .....

.... that sit on the textured background beautifully.

This has a harvest feel to it as well as a thanksgiving one too.

The shrine is a fun make to finish off the day creating lots of texture .....

... adding Tim Holtz embellishments and die-cuts .......

... and creating a niche with elements that will be perfect for a Halloween display.

There are more details over on the Country View Crafts Project Blog and the workshop is available to book on the Country View Crafts website. Click on the highlighted words and you will be transported over to both places to find out more details.

I thought we were going to have a few warm days this week but today has started cloudy and considerably cooler than I thought, I hope the next few days will be better.

have a great week.

hugs Brenda xxx

New journal Seth Apter style

New Ideas Create Changes

I had a fabulous day on Sunday at a Seth Apter workshop where he focussed on layers for journalling. Those of you who know Seth's work will have seen some of his wonderful art including assemblage, painting, mixed media, amazing book making, collage and journalling and he has also designed a range of products including stamps, stencils and dies which all work together beautifully. I will show you the binder I made next week as part of my CVC project blog contributions but here is the first page in a new journal - Seth Style -working on black.

I just went for it and played with layers of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic paints and only thought to take one proocess photo when I had already completed about 5 or 6 layers and before I added the final one.

I used Seth's stamps and one of Andy Skinner's stencils, cutting out the stamped parts and adding the letter s from a second stamp ......

... I stencilled with the paints to create the clock and used a black pen to draw in the details. The centre is another of Seth's stamps cut to fit in the middle and on which I added some words to complete the message I wanted to convey.

I added additional background stamping and stencilling, splattered with a white posca pen, drew in some dots and details and inked the edges.

I love my first page which will always be a reminder of the fabulous day I had with Seth and with Susan, Nikki and Gabrielle from Country View Crafts.

New ideas and a fresh look at things always gets my creative juices working and stirs my creativity into action, thanks Seth for sharing your amazing art, your expertise and ideas and making it a day to remember.

I hope everybody's week is going well, mine is from a project point of view but I had to say goodbye to a very dear friend on Wednesday who died of cancer whilst we were away in America a few weeks ago. That was soooo hard and so sad.

Take care of yourselves and live life as much as you can.

hugs Brenda xxx

Travel #2 - pages in my travel journal

I have a background for you today which started life with the intention of me making a card but it ended up being a page in my travel album which I want to get completed from our amazing family holiday to California last month.

Process Steps

1. Paint a thin coat of white gesso over your card, then drip paints (I used raw umber, burnt umber, burnt sienna and titan buff) ....

.... and drag across with plastic.

2. Repeat with the same colours going in the opposite direction.

3. Repeat with white gesso to tone it down.

 4. Next brayer over three colours (I chose phthalo turquoise, paynes grey and titanium white).

5. The dip and dry in separate watery washes of burnt umber and titanium white paint.

6. Cut the card to the size you require and use ground espresso distress ink with a blending tool through Andy Skinner's code breaker stencil and cut the clipboard pieces with the Tim Holtz movers and shapers clipboard die.

7. Add photo and embellishments of your choice, you could make that card if you wanted to.

This photo was taken down Main Street in Garden Grove, I've altered it using Photoshop Elements

It now sits in the background using the flaps from the clipboard die to keep it in place.

I also created a montage of group photos with our friends Joni and Leo ......

...... and finishing the pages with tissue tape and distress inks before sticking the two pieces in.

Here's how they look together.

This is my second inspirational piece for the current challenge at Country View Crafts where the new challenge called 'Travel' has been chosen by the fabulous Jennie. I am so happy to get some more pages filled in my travel journal which can be found Here. I hope you will be able to join us on our travels this month.

hugs Brenda xxx

Create inside a frame at AVJ

Wow it's the first Friday of the month and it just so happens that it's September - hey who stole the rest of the year away and especially the summer?
Anyway, it goes without saying that there's the most amazing post over at A Vintage Journey today with lots of inspiration to tempt you to join our new challenge called 'Create inside a frame'. Go read the details and hopefully you will join us.

I used a small 15 x 15 cm balsa wood type frame that is only £1 from the Range and although it is only little it took me days to get it to a point where I am now happy with it.

Process steps

1. Cut card to size to fit inside the frame.

2. Give the card a coat of gesso to seal it and when dry apply white modeling paste tinted with burnt umber through a stencil. Dry for a 30 secs to a minute (depending on thickness of paste) then spritz an embossing folder with water and press into it. Let it dry

3. Take a piece of card and emboss whth the same embossing folder. Scrape over some texture sand paste and dry. then give three separate layers - burnt umber, paynes grey and dripped raw umber. This will be cut up to form the frame.

4. I then played with lots of colours and layers both dry brushing and spritzing until I had something that looked quite Moroccan in style. To seal it and enhance the colours I gave it a coat of gloss varnish.

5. Take the frame, mix some black and white gesso and paint the frame with the grey that you've made. Then add washes of the same colours and some dry brushing that was used on the textured card.

6. Dry the frame and give it a coat of transparent crackle glaze.

7. Take the embossed card - drip titanium white and titan buff paints through the textures, dry and then dry brush with burnt umber.

8. Sand the edges, blend ground espresso distress inks around them and then spritz ground espresso on the mat with water and dip and dry the card. 

9. Take a couple of moulds, I used resin plaster for them, and paint with viridian, blue green light, transparent yellow iron oxide, titan buff, burnt umber and raw umber paints and also both paint and rub in champagne, iced espresso and lavish green metallic lustres.

10.  Collect together other embellishments and alter them using rusty and painty techniques so they fit in with the style you are creating.

11. Assemble and give everything a thin coat of matte varnish.

Rather different again for me isn't it but I love the way it turned out.

Have fun with the 'create inside a frame' challenge, I hope you will be able to join us over there and be in with a chance of winning a fabulous DecoArt prize.

Have a fabulous weekend.

hugs Brenda xxx

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Travel theme at CVC challenges

How did it get to September so quickly? Really the 1st of September? Oh my gosh it's as if it's time that's travelling and so much faster than when I was younger!!!!

But anyway here is my DT project for the new challenge at Country View Challenges which is all about 'Travel'. This is a large 8 x 8 card and you can see I'm in light colours mode even though I have vintaged it with the browns and kraft paper.

Process steps

1. Swipe salty ocean, stormy sky and weathered wood distress inks on your craft mat and dip the card in several times drying between each dip.

2. Take the Tim Holtz thinlits globe die, cut it from card and dip it into broken china, tea dye and shabby shutters distress paints that have been swiped on your craft mat and spritzed with water. Heat dry.

3. Blend stormy sky and antique linen over and flick with water and dry. The dip in a little watery ground espresso and dry to create the mottled effects.

4. Create a backing for it using more distress inks and cut and glue together.

5. Take a piece of card and use faded jeans, forest moss and a very small touch of fossilized amber distress inks with the dip and dry technique, creating lots of inky layers and use as a panel.

6. Stamp and cut Tim's aeroplane dip into stormy sky, weathered wood and salty ocean distress inks and cut out. Also cut round the found relatives photo and ink the edges of both using a brown distress ink.

7. Take a background die, I used Sizzix card front arrows and a mop up tag and inked the edges.

8. The travel word is an elementary flash card and the world made from Tim's adventure block works dies.

9. Put the card together adding any other embellishments that help to balance the collage and composition.

I hope you will be able to join us whilst thinking about your Summer travels perhaps and of course if you join in you stand a chance of winning that £20 voucher from Susan at CVC.

Thanks for stopping by here at Bumblebees and Butterflies - I hope you have time to pop over and see what the rest of the team have been creating too.

Have a great month.

hugs Brenda xxx