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

Surprise Us for New Year at FSC

We have a very special challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges to welcome in 2013.
For the next 2 weeks we want you to surprise us and hopefully you will be surprised by and enjoy the samples on the challenge blog.

In fact this is a very special project for the design team as we are posting out our samples anonymously as a Secret Santa to each other.
I wonder who is gonna get mine?
Hope they like it and I wonder what I will receive in return? Ooooooh so exciting.

So onto my shadow box.

1. Gave it a coat of white gesso to seal the wood and provide a base for more paints and inks.

2. Painted over white acrylic and some Fresco finish Inky Pool and Claudine Hellmuth Altered Orange, with just a tiny touch of black here and there.

3. When dry sanded it down and took some edges back to the wood.

4. Rubbed some Walnut Stain DI into the worn edges and corners using a wet-wipe to take away unwanted ink.

5. Using the wet-wipe rubbed in white acrylic paint to lighten any areas again.

6. I have used the lovely PaperArtsy sewing stamps for this project and stamped one of the text stamps around the frame using walnut stain DI.

7. I created the background using one of the techniques I learned from Andy Skinner but changed it (as you do) to suit my colours. I used the TH sewing themed embossing folders and the dry brushing technique.
I glued some torn stamped tissue paper over the top and added crackle paint around a couple of edges.

8. Stamped embellishments are again Paperartsy using Prismacolor pencils and DI.
9. Sprayed the dress form and label with spray and shine to give more depth and raised them using thick foam pads.

11. Used card covered with black, brown and gold acrylic paint to make the wings and used TH Heart Wings die. When dry I painted them with watered red metallic paint and a coppery rub on.

10. Gathered lots of other bits and pieces together and aged them using a combination of walnut stain, treasure gold, red metallic paint and patina victorian gold.

11. I didn't add too much on the outside as I thought it would detract from the detail of the inside. However I love the half spool with flowers and twined bindwire.

Do pop over and be inspired by our fabulous team and maybe you will come and join us with an entry?

New Years Eve tomorrow and we will be getting ready to have some friends and the family to welcome in 2013.

I wish you all a happy evening and hope that the new year brings you joy, peace, health, hope, love and friendship.

Have fun and be creative.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Challenges to have fun with -

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Live and Love Crafts - Anything but a card

Vintage Stamping Challenges - Pocket full of Posies

Stampin' for the Weekend - Anything Goes

A fun afternoon creating mono prints.

Look what I got for Christmas! 

Today I went shopping, intending to have a look round the sales and just have a 'mooch', but I got bored and I was home within the hour, desperate to experiment with my gelli plate. Wow, it took me back to my college days and teaching days in the classroom, what fun I had.

This photo was taken after I had started clearing up, the stamps and masks were already in a sink of soapy water.

The prints kept building up on the floor as I played.

My most favourite four mono prints

This being my most favourite of all.

My most favourite 'ghost' prints.

My least favourite ones.

But saying that, now I have got them up in the craft room under better light, I have to say I love these too and can see me using them.  I got 23 prints in total, so expect to see some of them in projects over the coming weeks. In fact I received the new Crafty Individuals stamps before I went on holiday and I can see them both going together really well. So more fun to have. 

If you haven't seen the new stamps they are fabulous, so NOT my style, but they are calling me to have a playtime. The new designer is called Alice Palace and her blog can be found here. The stamps can be found on the new CI web site

I think I am going to have alot of thinking time with these lol.

I hope you have had a great Christmas and everything went to plan. Hopefully you have got a day or two to have a bit of a rest before the new year celebrations.

Thanks for all your Christmas wishes and for stopping by again to read my blog, I feel so honoured that you are here.

See you Sunday for the new year challenge for Fashionable Stamping Challenges.

 hugs {brenda} X0X