Followers Give-Away

I would like to say a huge thank you to all my Followers including new people who have jumped aboard lately. Like all bloggers I love recording my artistic makes here and sharing with anyone happy to pop by and take a look. I find it absolutely incredible that I have reached 700 blogger followers and there are 349 of you who follow by email, that really blows my mind. So to celebrate this achievement I am offering up this small gesture of thanks.

Each of these three give-aways contain the same components just different types. There is a scrapbook in a tin, a die, a canvas, a paper pack and a packet of gems in each and three people will be chosen for one each. I will send two to those who blog me a comment below and one to followers who follow me by email and send me an email to enter the giveaway. I will post worldwide.

I deeply appreciate you being part of my artistic journey and the time you take to follow my blog whether you are an actual commenter or a silent reader it is an honour to have you here.

This give-away will be open till midnight on the 13th July when I will count the numbers and use random org to choose the winners. Good luck with your entry and thank you for being here.

hugs Brenda xxx

Coffee time for CVC

My turn to share a project at the Country View Crafts Project Blog and I have made a card for all you coffee lovers out there. Tim's freshly brewed die is one I have wanted for ages but Susan has been waiting for more stock from the USA so our lovely Trace very kindly cut me some to play with.

All the process steps are over at CVC if you would like to see more photos and details.

Thanks for stopping by today and if you are a Starbucks coffee lover like me I think you might like this card.

Look out for a special post coming up later with a give-away.

Have a great week ahead.

hugs Brenda xxxx

Update - copied from CVC

My card today is for all you coffee lovers out there. As soon as I saw the die last January at CHA I knew I would probably buy it, but I didn't order it early enough and Susan was only sent a few instead of the bigger number she normally orders and those went to the lucky people who had got their order in early. However our lovely DT member Trace had been one of those who had managed to get it and she very kindly cut me some so I could have a play whilst I was waiting for mine to come over from America.

Process steps

Distress card with antique linen and pumice stone distress inks.

Blend pumice stone around the edges and blend antique linen through a stencil.

Die-cut the coffee/frappuccino cup in cream card and daub picket fence distress paint over, spritz it with water and heat dry. This gives a nice mottled effect to the cup and lid.

Blend pumice stone around the edges of the cup and lid and walnut stain round the edges of the sleeve.

Take the sleeve button and blend the brand new and gorgeous hickory smoke stain over it, heat dry and blend walnut stain DI over the top. Using the brand new punch from Tim Holtz and a piece of sprayed card from my oddments box I added a lovely pop of green and a link to my favourite coffee house.

Put the coffee cup together and go back to the background - add some remnant rubs.

 

I hadn't got a picture in my head of how this card was going to pan out and just started to gather things to put together - a piece of chevron framework and some bunting made from the green card I had used for the star.

  

As I put it together I also added some rock candy stickles to the lid ...

...and inked the bunting pieces adding them to a piece of coloured bakers twine.

With no metal or dimensional embellishments this card is flat and safe to put in the postbox.

Thanks for stopping by today and if you are a Starbucks coffee lover like me I think you might like this card.

A Visual Journey #25

 Not my normal style and not my cup of tea either but this is what appeared.

As always I gessoed my pages and left them to dry. When I came to start designing I saw my brayer sitting on my desk so I grabbed some distress paints (gathered twigs. barn door and mustard seed) daubed a little of each on my craft mat, spritzed them with water and off we went. But what to add? I grabbed a plastic file box with some very old stamps in and chose the Katzelkraft Cirque 01 set. The colours fitted a circus theme but I needed more layers to provide a more detailed background.

I used masks with paints and distress inks and then a harlequin mask with white acrylic paint.

I blended squeezed lemonade distress ink over and you can see the difference between
 the left and right hand pages

The pages were uneven so the stamp didn't give me a defined image, but there's always a way round things -

- out came the pens and a pencil.

Lastly came the 'embellishing' and I admit to being rather void of ideas, so a simple big top and a quote.

I'm not over enamoured with these pages but my energies have been ploughed into design and workshop ideas recently so I feel mojoless as far as my journal is concerned and that's the first time since I started it.

Sorry I missed last week, but I hope to catch up at some point. For the rest of today, tomorrow and the weekend enjoy whatever you have planned and hopefully some creative time.

hugs Brenda xxxx

 As always if you would like to share the visual journey collection you will find the code to add to you post here -

get the InLinkz code

... and I look forward to sharing in your pages through the linky below.

Thanks for taking the time to share your work with me and each other.

An InLinkz Link-up

Altered Sketchbook Cover

This is a sketchbook purchased at Paperchase for a friend's birthday - Sue loves to paint and has taken watercolour classes and is now learning acrylics. We often meet at Starbucks for a coffee and if I had Tim's coffee cup dies I might well have used them, but sadly I don't, so the next best thing was to use butterflies to change the covers for her. (see photos below).

Using the perspective set of stamps I stamped one butterfly on card and one on watercolour paper....

.... and used Tim's stencil monoprint technique for the background.

The quotes come from the same set.

Simple covers with some additional washi tape and a ribbon to keep the book closed.

Front and back covers .....

I used colours to complement the spine ....

... adding this quote on the inside cover.

I am pleased to say Sue absolutely loved her sketchbook / visual diary and wishes I would make some to sell ....

I might have to do that I think.

Earlier in the year Sue and I both went to Wisley gardens when they had the butterflies emerging, the butterfly house was warm and tropical and had some beautiful specimens flying around. We had a lovely day watching them and photographing them. 

Aren't they beautiful?

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you might be inspired by some butterflies this weekend, who knows we might be able to see some in the garden.

Take care.

hugs Brenda xxxx

Pitted brass birdcage - DecoArt technique - Board 5

This is the penultimate board in the series and has another eroded metallic technique on that I taught at the CVC workshop last week. The inspiration for this one comes from Tim Holtz and his rusted enamel technique from his book Compendium of Curiosities II. I have converted it into what I call pitted brass and I also did a similar one with a silver effect too.

This is the bird cage made for the shabby box that all the participants took home to make.

The one here is exactly the same technique and the ATC has a faux granite effect that I have devised. I am planning a follow up workshop using DecoArt paints and mediums for September and teaching faux paint effects like this one.

The cabinet card has been texturised with my faux sandstone technique - I really have had fun creating all these new effects to use on projects.

The background was dipped in vintage photo, mustard seed and gathered twigs distress inks.

I hope your weekend is going well. I will show a couple of photos here and Face Book later in the week of the Isle of Wight Festival which is where I am today.

Happy Sunday.

hugs Brenda xxx