Crafts-Too Summer Days 2

I had a Marianne lighthouse die to play with this month from Crafts-Too and decided to use it as part of the ‘having fun in the sun’ twist for the summer days challenge. I am not good with being in or on the sea and yet it draws me in and I love being near it. In fact I love being on it for a short while and lighthouses are certainly an attraction for me. So I made this seascape hanging.

I have to say it looks better irlife and irlight, the photography doesn’t really do it justice,

I started with the Tim Holtz cabinet die cut in greyboard for a strong base and painted it with acrylic paint. When dry I stippled modelling paste over the bottom to represent the rough seas around the lighthouse and I adhered the lighthouse with the paste to see how it would be placed. Again when dry I painted in the sea and sky using acrylic paints, dripping different colour blues and sea green into the spaces, then adhered the second lighthouse I had made over the top, gluing some sand around the bottom of it.

I then added the boat – can you guess what it is? I’ve altered it quite a bit with alcohol inks, treasure gold and paint.

I dry-brushed the rough waves with white acrylic paint to make them look more like white tops.

The hanging piece is some corrugated packaging cut down and painted with gesso and sand to give it that shabby textured effect

I added some TH paper, given a coat of white wash (thinned white acrylic paint) with distressed the edges.

I assembled the pieces …….

… and coated the shell collection with some gesso and sand too to blend it all together.

But it just didn’t look right once I had taken all the photos – re-think time.

In the end I added some CI stamped seagulls and some painted ones in the background as I felt the sky area needed more attention.

I’m happier with it now but still thinks it needs something else?

I hope the visitors on the passenger ferry have a lovely visit on their trip around the harbour.

Oh and I nearly forgot, did you guess the boat is a peel-off? Sure you did.

I hope you have had some wonderful exciting summer days and fun in the sun.

Do come and join us at Crafts-Too Challenges we would love to see what projects you are making that link to this theme.

I am entering this into the Summer Vacation challenge at Inspiration Journal. and the Artistic Stamper's Postcards, travel and holidays challenges.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Famous Quotes 2 for Country View Challenges

This is my second piece for the CVC challenge and was inspired by the PaperArtsy day I attended a few weeks ago.

I have used a size 10 tag, metal card, fresco finish paints and Lynne Perrella stamps and the quote comes from HP10004EZ hot pick set.

The background was made using butternut, honey dew, eggplant, mermaid and guacamole opaque paints, blending them together with a piece of foam. I stamped the feathers from the LPC007 collection in coffee archival then heat dried them and knocked them back with more of the same colour paints. When it was dry I scraped metallic glaze over it with an old credit card.

The focal part of the tag is a piece of the metal card, embossed and painted with FF paints with treasure gold colours added to the raised parts. I stamped this lovely small image onto card I had already coloured up with DIs and a pedestal I found in my bits box.

I used downloaded butterflies to add more interest…..

….. and I bunched flowers together and overlapped them onto the quote to bring everything together.

I think this quote comes from one by Abraham Lincoln who said “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time”. So true.

The trouble is the days seem to go two or three at a time.

Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by to see what I have been making.

hugs {brenda} x0x

PaperArtsy Day

I was lucky enough to attend a PaperArtsy day with Leandra a few weeks ago with Chris (my sister) and met up with some old friends and blogging buddies – Gillian. Michelle, Lin, Karen, Neil and Helen and also met irl Susan (owner of Country View Crafts) and fellow DT member for CVC, Gabrielle. It was a hot but prolific day making lots of technique samples for teaching the PA products. We covered the range of Fresco Finish paints and glazes, crackle glaze, metal paper, the bumping technique, paint resist, blending paints, layering the paints, sprays, painting on fabric, grunge paste and treasure gold and not only did we use all these products to go with these techniques we also used Jofy, Lin Brown, Lynne Perella and Eclectica stamps. What a great time we had.

I have already posted some projects made with some of the samples from that day.

Thanks for looking.

Have a great day.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Crafts-Too Summer Days 1

Thanks for joining me today with my DT sample for the second challenge at Crafts-Too Challenge You. With all the wonderful weather we’ve had in the UK it seems apt to have a Summer Days project and the twist for the next fortnight is ‘Fun in the Sun’.

I decided to go shabby chic for this week as I have used rather a lot of ‘hot’ colours recently.

The image comes from the Graphics Fairy and this lovely girl has been collecting flowers from the garden. I love it when the fruits of the hard work in the garden can be seen and I can go out and cut fresh blooms to have indoors.

I collected together some embellishments and couldn't resist putting this heart and skeleton leaf together. (The heart is from a pack of place labels for a wedding).

The border paper is from G45 and I added some fabric tape from Crafts-Too.

I painted the gauze fabric with white acrylic and a tiny bit of walnut stain DI and used flowers from my box that I collect together. You can just see part of a metal corner also painted white.

The Tim Holtz distressed doily was die was cut in white card and edged with walnut stain and I added a piece of paper measuring tape and a ticket (does anyone recognise it, I can't find it in my supplies and I don't know where it's from and it's really bugging me lol).

There are so many things we enjoy when the weather is sunny.

We would love to see your projects linked to this theme at C2CU for the next fortnight so come on over and join in the fun.

Thanks for visiting and taking a look at my card.

Have a fun week.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Famous Quotes at Country View Challenges

There is a new challenge starting at CVC today and we are looking to see quotes of some sort used on your project. I managed to get some more Artistic Outpost stamps recently and I have used these two lovely ladies from the Generation Redux plate and my quote comes from the Paperboy set.

The background to the focal image was made with the wrinkle free technique and distress inks with some of the small stamps from the Generation Redux collection. I watercoloured the ladies with DIs too.

I had picked up the 6x6 prima Engravers Collection paper pad and thought this black and white text fitted perfectly with some Docrafts printed kraft card.

I had a few things laying around that hadn’t been used on other projects that fitted well and so the collage began to come together.

I love this quote, it reminds me that in our everyday lives we can be the ‘hero’, be it to our family or friends or other people we meet and help along the way.

I will enter this into the Artistic Outpost referral theme for August.

I hope you are having a good week.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Birthday Tag

I didn’t get to make my hubbie a birthday card this year and he’d had his present a little while ago – a garden camera for capturing stills and video of the wildlife in the garden, so instead I decided to put together a vintage tag for him.

Background is spritz and flick and then I’ve added lots of little bits and pieces many of which were just laying around my desk or in little plastic boxes (you know the bits you save just in case lol). The one tiny heart was punched from an oddment of card given Tim's rusted enamel treatment.

A strip of paper from a workshop card I am in the process of designing, a small oddment of tissue wrap, the film strip left over from I don’t know where. Part of one of the District Market tags I was keeping, the crown stamped when I made my take on Tim’s July tag and a tab I cut from the tiny tabs and tags last week.

The strip of patterned paper was inked, covered with multi medium and dipped in rock candy dry glitter.

The frame cut from corrugated card some while ago as was the sentiment, the vintage photo from Tim’s paper stash again left from another project and mounted on a vial label.

The key and nib from my supplies. Some remnant rubs and chit-chat stickers.

Phew just got it made in time.

Happy Birthday Ken.

I’ll be back again tomorrow with my make for the new challenge at Country View Challenges and again on Friday for the start of the second challenge at Crafts-Too Challenge You (C2CU), what a busy week.

Enjoy the rest of the week. I am off to Lanzarote tomorrow with all the family for two weeks in the hot sun.

Thanks for visiting and sharing in my projects.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Cabinet Card for Tim’s Tag July 2013

This is my representation for Tim’s tag this month and it really challenged me. I think my creative thought processes are slowing down as I spent two weeks on both playing and creating till I am now happy with this version.

I love the brayered background, but this is my third go at it. I think I have mastered it as I have started a tag too and this layer went on first time. Here I have used the cabinet die and layered over the cabinet die frame made with the small cabinet card movers and shapers die.

I considered all the elements in Tim’s tag, the theme, the techniques, the colours, the materials, the design etc., etc. and included them in my creative processes.

I also used the small easel die to ensure it stood up well and I used greyboard for all the elements so that it is sturdy.

Here you can see the baked porcelain on the frame, the red and blue which is synonymous of both the Union Jack and American flag and therefore the close links between our two countries. The stars stamped alongside the tissue tape, the ‘thank you’ sentiment for all people who serve our country both here and abroad and also for Tim who provides constant inspiration in my now totally creative life, the stencil clip depicting number one for that’s what he is and the Union Jack stamps to represent our wonderful country.

But having taken the photos (many more than are here) I really felt something was missing and I added two more things to it.

The crown, although slightly larger than I wanted, but again as a representation of Tim but more-so a thank you for our hard working Queen and family and a congratulatory symbol for the birth of our new royal baby George Alexander Louis born to Prince William and Kate on Monday 22nd July.

The other addition is the gold (Treasure Gold) added to the metal pieces and around the edge of the cabinet card.

Here you can see the glorious mix of red, white and blue.

Thanks Tim for another awesome tag, now I am looking forward to seeing the one for August and meeting you too. I have been so lucky as not only am I doing the Thursday workshop I have also been given a place on the Wednesday of that week which is the retail day. At last my opportunity to be taught by the king of grunge and then I will definitely have met my goals for this year. 
If you would like to see Tim's tag it is on his blog in all it's glory, or click the link from my sidebar.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. 

hugs {brenda} x0x