One layer thank you card no:1

My lovely ladies at the Art of Craft loved the workshop I did making one layer cards. This design used a focal B Line stamp, a text stamp, a border stamp and a sentiment stamp.

We stamped the main image on the card and on rough paper to make a mask and that was all it needed to put this one together.

We tried a wide border using a Tim Holtz stamp and used two colours of distress ink….

… and distressed the edges to give it a more vintage look.

The second card was made in exactly the same way ……

… using a different border stamp.

So where has this week gone? There's just not enough time to get everything done at the moment. I seem to be teaching 2 - 3 workshops and am so sorry I am still not getting round your blogs.

I hope you have had a good week and wish you a lovely weekend whatever you have planned.

hugs Brenda xxx

Cardinals Burlap Panel (1 of 4)

Saturday saw me leaving the house early to travel down to Southampton for my first time teaching at Pickwell Farm. If you like fresh from the ground produce and to ‘pick your own’ this is a great place to go. Alongside that it has an amazing craft section organised and run by Carolyn, she not only sells a wide range of craft items, she runs workshops herself and also invites others to teach there too. It is packed with so many goodies you would be amazed if you haven’t visited there.

Today I am sharing one of the four burlap panels I designed and also some photos from Saturday too.

To start we covered all four panels in the same way but using different papers and masks to achieve different looks.

Everyone soon got busy creating and learning or re-visiting techniques.

We used coredinations papers, sanding, inking and painting to get some lovely textured effects.

Pam loves inking everything like me and soon got down to gathering all her greenery and blending both green and brown distress inks over the pieces.

Anne said she was very new to these products and techniques, but looked a real natural to me.

We added an altered muse token, glittery stars and used a black pen to get the more realistic markings on the birds.

It was also lovely to meet up with Von (on the left) as I haven’t see her for ages, at lunch time we mooched in the shop and had a good catch up.

As always it was amazing to see everyone's different versions at the end.

They did a brilliant job and they all looked so different.

Thank you Carolyn for having me and I’m already looking forward to my next visit in January when I will be teaching a vintage tag book.

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.

hugs Brenda xxx

Lynne Perrella Journal Pages

It's a fabulous week for me as I have the wonderful Jennie from Live the Dream staying for a few days and we are off to see Chris - My Corner of Heaven today.  We've shopped, done a workshop and crafted till late at night, what more could we want? (Photos to follow later)

I am sharing a double page spread from my journal using these fabulous Lynne Perella stamps

Lots of gorgeous Dylusions sprays ......

........ a white posca pen for highlighting and doodling ......

.... and some faux bleaching. I also used  gesso in the early stages to give me a whitish area where I knew the face was going to go at the top. Those who attended my Dylusions workshop earlier in the year will recognise this design.

Right off to get ready for our visit today, I hope your week is going well and if you are near Southampton then maybe I will see you Saturday at Pickwell Farm where I will be teaching and sharing four mini Christmassy burlap panels (details on my sidebar). I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek at what I have been creating. Sorry I haven't visited you lately, workshops seem to have taken over my life at the moment, which is lovely, but I am missing seeing all your wonderful creations.
I will be back   .......   very soon.

hugs Brenda xxx

Memories Box Workshop at Country View Crafts

Good morning everyone, I thought it would be fun to share some of the photos from the Memories Box workshop that we held on Thursday in Flitwick, Bedfordshire. If you pop over to the Country View Crafts Project Blog you will see quite a few of the project and the wonderful group of ladies who came for the day.

This is my sample made for the workshop, constructing the whole thing from card, mountboard and papers.

We had a fabulous group of lovely ladies and we hire this amazing venue which has so much space and is very light and airy – perfect for a days crafting.

We provide plenty of refreshments during the day.

Susan (CVC owner) comes along as well and Chris popped in to see how we were doing.

People come along way too, Carshalton and Basingstoke as well as Bedford, Milton Keynes and near Luton.

Thank you Sandra Lyn, Sue, Henrietta, Catherine, Diane, Jane, Lynda, Nikki and Chris for a fabulous day.

I am now looking forward to the next one on the 27th November when we will be making a Winter Wonderland Shadow Box. Details can be found on my side-bar and on Country View Crafts shop website.

Maybe I will see you there.

Happy Sunday.

hugs Brenda xxxx

Distress Spray Stains at Country View Crafts

Did you know that Susan has the brand new distress spray stains in the shop? I have been having a play and made another Christmas card using the sprays for the background.

All the process steps can be found at Country View Crafts project blog today. It would be lovely if you could pop over and take a look.

I hope your week is going well.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

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Whispers in the wind Journal Page for Crafty Individuals

There is a new challenge at Crafty Individuals chosen by Gio and is called Halloween Madness or Christmas Frenzy, so plenty of opportunity to get into holiday mode.

Imagine it is All Hallows Eve, the time for wandering souls to mingle on earth, a time when the spiritual and physical worlds are closest together and spectres can be seen roaming the countryside. It’s a moody, haunting evening on All Hallows Eve with an ominous, forbidding sky and the darkened, creepy silhouette of a ruined abbey. The black trees stand against the last light before it disappears to a deep inky black where only the glint of the moon peeking from behind the rooftop will light the way for ghosts and ghouls.

I have used stamp sets – 227, 259, 361, 209 and 116 plus a background stamp I used for the sky from my other supplies.

I began by stamping the abbey, masking it and adding the trees. To get the feel of a scene I used a black pen to draw in and outline areas which made the stamps meld together more.

The sky was created by using brushed pewter distress paint with the back ground stamp, heat drying it so that it became a resist and which gives this quite eerie glowing effect. I masked the ground and dipped the top part in a mix of weathered wood and stormy sky distress inks and when dry I masked off that part and dipped the ground area in frayed burlap, forest moss and crushed olive and when it was dry I dipped it again in walnut stain.

To get the gloomy look I blended pumice stone over everything starting darker at the edges, I painted in the moon and a bit of sky with scattered straw and then blended walnut stain round the edges.

To finish off I added just the quote which is on the Crafty Individuals stamps but I typed and printed it off in a different font and size so that it fitted in more with my scene and of course the raven from set 361. I’ve added it to a journal where I keep pieces with quotes added to them.

I hope you will pop over to see some fabulous projects over on the blog. If you join in you must use at least one product from the CI shop and once you have linked up you get a 25% discount code to use for new goodies, now that's a bonus for sure.

I hope you have a good week. It has suddenly changed to Autumn here and it's pouring of rain, but what a wonderful summer we've had.

Take care.

hugs Brenda xxx