Nature at PanPastel UK

Here is my DT sample for the PanPastel UK challenge this week.

The background was made by covering the tag with text paper, tearing some of it off when dry, then adhering scrumpled peach coloured tissue paper over the top.

I set about applying PanPastels in a variety of ways through masks, with and without embossing ink for it to stick to, stamping with the ink and applying the colour with a sofft tool and just shading areas using a sponge. 

I used pens and paints to highlight and add dimension.

I stamped the ink blots with archival ink

I splattered watered white acrylic paint and used a white pen to highlight areas.

I also shaded the ducks in with pans too.

This was alot of fun. I hope you will share your nature projects with us this week and who knows you might be the lucky recipient of a set of pans if you win, courtesy of 'Your Creativity Store'.

Have fun experimenting and playing this week.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Butterfly collage for Crafty Individuals

I am really back in collage mode at the moment,  think it's something to do with the fact I am having to work on the dining room table and it's easier to have bits of paper and some inks and stamps round me whilst the rest of my supplies are stashed away in boxes. 

I loved putting this one together for Jean at Crafty Individuals. This is such a sweet stamp image with the butterfly and ticket and as you can see I added lots of fairly plain papers and bits to frame it.

The stamp was coloured with watercolour pencils and wet brush. 

The heart was cut from a coffee shop cup sleeve. I had in mind the Lace Love challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show whilst I was making it and added a strip from the Tim Holt 'Decorative Strip' die as well as adding a small piece of real pink lace and a piece from a doiley.

......... and I glued everything straight onto the card itself - no mount!!!!!

I hope you are not too affected by the snow today. It has just stopped here and we have 3 - 4 inches, but I have stayed in the warm and not ventured out at all.

Take care and have a great weekend.

hugs {brenda} xox

Faux riveted metal tag and Catching Snowflakes

My workshop tag for tomorrow, another take on Tim's tag for the faux riveted metal technique. My ladies at The Art of Craft wanted to do a tag and always want to do something for a man, so I combined their requests.

I did the typewriter Tim's way and added a pen nib.

Lots of metal embellishments .......

and die cut gears in turquoise metal sheet.

I hope they like it.

I was so pleased to find that I made the top 5 at Live and Love Crafts with the shadow box I sent out as a Secret Santa. Thanks girls for choosing me.

"All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination. Imagination is the workshop of your mind, capable of turning mind into energy, into accomplishment and wealth."

Napoleon Hill

I hope your week is going well. Have fun if you are going to Sandown Show this week, I don't think I will get there. If you stop by the Art of Craft stand, tell them Brenda sent you lol.

Thanks for visiting today.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Challenges to have fun with -

Crafts and me - Something New (the typewriter die)

Catching Snowflakes

My Grandaughter in the snow on Monday, having made a mini snowman with her sister she then went out on her own to catch snowflakes and look at them with a magnifying lens. I love it when children explore and observe to learn new things.

Here are both of them with the snowman they made.

x0x0x

Trains, planes and automobiles at FSC

Sorry, I am running late with this post which should have gone live yesterday,  I had intended to finish it on Saturday but instead my craft room has been totally gutted and in prep for painting and a total re-organisation.

This is a little wooden tray which I think came from Crafty Individuals  and I used a CI stamp too. With this very masculine theme at FSC I knew I wanted to do a mixed media piece, I found some Monopoly pieces and gathered together metal cogs etc and I also found some charms that fitted the bill too.

I started by making the little box first.

I stamped tissue paper with a range of stamps, then tore it into pieces and glued it to the inside of each compartment, overlapping if need be. When it was dry I stamped the outside edges of the box and then sanded it down in places adding vintage photo DI to age it. I also mixed some PaperArtsy satin glaze with vintage photo, watered it down and coated the tray all over to seal it and to age the stamping more. When that was dry I added all the little elements I had gathered together.

The backing board was covered with lots if strips of paper and hessian and I adhered more bits and pieces, covering them with gesso. As layers dried I sprayed with inks, added white acrylic paint and decorators filler. I finished with more sprays and paint and finally some treasure gold.



Maybe we will see you at Fashionable Stamping Challenges this next fortnight?

Have a great crafty week.

hugs {brenda} x0x

New Year/New Technique at PanPastel UK

I don't make new year resolutions but I have promised myself to learn and experiment with more new techniques, so this was a great way to start that promise. This is my DT piece for the New Year/New Technique challenge at PanPastel UK.

I have been experimenting.

You know there is the glue stick resist technique, well it got me thinking could I use a glue stick with panpastels? So this was my experiment into seeing how the pastel would work with the glue, whether it would stick and stay and I have to say I am so pleased with the outcomes, it creates some great textures.

I rubbed a Pritt stick over the card and then gently rubbed PanPastels into it in different greens.

Can you see the very tactile finish it created with some blank spaces in between. I guess that is where there was less glue in places.

The next layer was made using some Tim Holtz stamps and embossing ink again PPs in greens dabbed over the top, five stamps were used here.

Before moving on I sprayed with colourless fixative.

Next I used white acrylic paint watered down and flicked some over the background and also dripped some down over the stamped areas. I also used a white pen to colour in some of the compass.

The young sailor boy is an image from the Graphics Fairy. The saying came with it.

I hope you like this technique, do let me know if you use it so I can come and see what you have done with it. Hopefully you will enter into the PanPastel challenge this week, you don't have to use PPs to be eligible and you could win a started set of pans from 'Your Creativity Store' who are our regular sponsor.

I hope your weekend is going well. Ken and I just about cleared everything out of the craft room yesterday and took the remaining shelves off the walls, (do you remember the ones that just fell off before Christmas?). I want to get it painted this week and Ken is going to get some new plugs and lights in. I ordered new storage from Ikea which is being delivered next Saturday so hopefully Ken will get it installed next Sunday (while I am at my next Andy Skinner workshop) and I can then spend the week after getting everything put back and organised into new homes. I just have this horrible feeling it won't all go back in lol.

Remember creativity isn't just about succeeding, it is about experimenting and discovering.

Have a creative week.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Challenges to have fun with -
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Embrace the old
Joanna Sheen - New Beginnings
Frilly and Funky - Follow your muse
Timeless Tuesday - Something New

Tim's 12 Tags of 2013 - January

I didn't get to play along with all of Tim's tags last year, although I will go back to the ones I missed and catch up in my own time, but I have promised myself I will try to get this year's tags done in the correct month.

So here is my tag for January.

I've always loved this sentiment

Stamped and stained ribbon.

Flower made with card, distress inks and distress stains.

Supplies -
Pocket watches embossing folder.
Distress inks - Shaded Lilac, Weathered Wood, Peacock Feathers and Walnut Stain.
Distress stains - Tarnished Brass, Antique Bronze, Brushed Pewter and Weathered Wood.
TH Steampunk, Calendar and Fairytale Frenzy sets of stamps. (Artistic License used with the pointed finger. I stamped the one from the Steampunk set which was a bit large, so I scanned it and changed the size to print out and use on my tag).
Film strip ribbon, hinge clip, ribbon, die-cuts, watch parts.

Thanks for the inspiration Tim, I so loved making this.

I will be totally gutting my craft room studio this weekend ready to get it painted and re-designed. It means my PC will be out of action for at least 10 days but I will have the Ipad so I can still stay in touch. Any posts for the next week or so will be scheduled.

Have a great weekend and a fabulous week ahead.

Take care and have fun.

hugs {brenda} x0x


UPDATE   1st Feb 2013

Woo Hoo I have been named one of the winners on Tim's blog for January's 12 tags of 2013. I can't believe it's my name there, what a wonderful surprise. Thanks Tim, Mario and everyone else who works so hard to provide us with all this amazing inspiration.

B x0x

British Bulldog - Crafty Individuals

I am just so enthralled with the gelli prints and new Alice Palace stamps from CI. This card takes another Alice Palace image called British Bulldog and like the previous one I have made the card, journal style (well that's what I call it lol) and added some stamping and masking over the mono print.

A crown and some wings for the bulldog add to the texture and dimension as does the stamped and cut out bunting.

After I had stamped with some bubble wrap I added extra white paint, white pen and black pen doodling round the circles. Again the old credit card came out to paint straight lines in places.

The double layered mono print is very rich in colour and depth, but the additional stamping and masking created different effects yet again.

Here you can see where I have added treasure gold to the metal crown, the image and wings.

Hope you are having a crafty week. 

hugs {brenda} x0x

Challenges to have fun with -

Art Journal Journey - Crowns

Try It On Tuesday - New Stash (stamp)

Creative Craft Challenges - New Beginnings (stamp and style)

Sunday Stamper - Things that fly (well he could, potentially!!!)

Anything Goes at PanPastel UK

Hi Bloggers, it's  the first Sunday of 2013 so welcome to the first PanPastel challenge of the year and for your pleasure it is an 'anything goes' theme which always goes down well.

Those who follow me know that I have been experimenting more with the journalling style lately and I have also been using prints I made after Christmas with my new gelli plate. This is another of those and I have added PPs over the top to create more dimension using masks and also used PPs over some gesso layered through a mask. I used the white gesso to stamp the circles as well.

The stamp is from Crafty Individuals and called Party Puffin, isn't he just fabulous? I am making this into a cover for a new diary.

I hope you will join us again this year, there are lots of fabulous challenges in the pipe-line and there is a trial set of the pans for the winner supplied by our fabulous sponsor Berni at Your Creativity Store.

We are welcoming two new members to the team Tracie from the UK and Terry from the Netherlands, I am sure you are gonna love their work so please pop over and say hello.

Hope your week 1 went well and that you are finding lots of crafty time.

Take care and have fun.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Challenges to have fun with -
Art Journal Journey - Crowns (Thank you Susi for telling me about this one)

Crowned Bunnies - Crafty Individuals

I told you last Thursday I was desperate to play with the new CI stamps and gelli plate prints and here is my first sample combining them both. Jean has already published it on the Crafty Individuals blog.

The background started off as a 'ghost' print from the gelli plate, that is a second pull from the plate, much lighter in colour and often with bits missing. But it wasn't quite enough so I started to spray with Dylusions but they are much too strong, I thought I had ruined it but managed to save it by spraying with water so the colour could bleed and I blotted some of it out too. This meant my paper was soaked, but that's ok, I just used a heat gun and an iron with greaseproof paper to dry it out and keep it flat. It then had much more depth to it as the acrylic paint acts as a mask and the colour of the sprays only come through the gaps. To create more dimension I stamped some circles over the top and used a credit card to get some straight lines too.

The photo above shows a sample of the print straight from the gelli plate and how it looks on the card once I had spent time adding to it.

The bunnies were stamped with cobalt archival ink, coloured with Aquatone sticks and blended with water. The bunting was cut from canvas sheet, coloured with Caran D'Ache crayons and blended with water.

The card itself is made from corrugated cardboard and painted round the edges.

Another one coming soon and I have just finished my PanPastel DT piece for Sunday which includes another of these fabulous stamps.

Everything is back to normal now, I have just got to clear a few more bits of Christmas wrapping etc from the spare bedroom and tidy up and the house is totally sorted for the new year.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Challenges to have fun with -
Bloggers Challenge - Celebrate (Birthday)
Simon Says Stamp - Something New

Fleur de Lys UPA RAQ - The Paris Issue

Happy New Year Everyone - I hope it is everything you want it to be.

Today at Unruly PaperArts sees the start of a month inspired by a wonderful city and we travel to the City of Light to be inspired by the beautiful and stylish Paris of today and yesteryear.

To start us off I have made a small frame with a Fleur de Lys theme.

The frame was painted with two coats of emulsion and when dry covered with a mix of Fresco Finish metallic glaze and cranberry Adirondack ink and later rubbed over and painted with ripe persimmon. To make it look older it was sanded in places and inked over with walnut stain.

The backing board was covered with music paper then clear embossed twice and inked over with dried marigold, picked raspberry and cranberry.

I stamped a Fleur de Lys on green coredinations paper and cut out mounting the metal charm in the middle of it.

The embellishment on the backing board is a spellbinders fleur de lys accents.

Well having had the family, friends and neighbours in last night to celebrate and see in the new year, Ken and I spent the day clearing up and then getting all the decorations down and put away. Now I can focus on getting some serious time in my little craft room. I hope you had a good evening too and are ready now to have fun exploring new techniques, styles and ideas over the next 12 months.

hugs {brenda} x0x