Cute

There's a new challenge at DragonsDream Tag It On chosen by the lovely Elizabeth who keeps the DT in line so beautifully and it's Blue and Words. I've had a huge tidy up in my Studio this Easter holiday and found a 'few' things I have never used *hangs head in shame*! 

For my tag this fortnight I used a huge 12x12 Prima stencil that I bought with Helen (fellow teamie) at last year's Ally Pally show and never used! Consider we've just returned from this year's that's pretty embarrassing! The word 'cute' fitted nicely on my tag so I used Clear Embossing Paste to emphasis the letters. When dry I used a few Fresco paints over the top, using a baby wipe to remove most of the paint from the Embossing Paste. 

Then I assembled the elements and that was my tag complete! We are really enjoying seeing your entries and with a guest DT spot open every fortnight it's worth entering!

It's all in the details

It's April and we have a new theme at Country View Challenges and this month is... use kraft card. I love kraft card - it's a fabulous substrate to work with as it is truly versatile so the possibilities are endless! 

I thought I'd make postcards for my projects this month. I love postcards because they are really satisfying to make, and equally satisfying to receive - I hope!!! I used Wendy Vecchi's Translucent Embossing Paste through one of her stencils. When you first use it it is milky white (like in the photo) but, if you leave it for a while, it soon dries clear! 

Then I dry brushed some white paint over the top and used a baby wipe to remove the paint from the Embossing Paste. Then I added some more white paint over some left over kraft card and stamped my 'body' on and the connectors. 

The head was stamped onto smoothy card and paint was added on top. I'd usually paint on the reverse of tissue paper but because this will go through the post I wanted a more substantial surface!

I hope you'll join in with us this month!

Xiexie

For DragonsDream Tag It On this fortnight we are on our penultimate recipe and this time Julie chose the letter X and purple. Oh my! What X to choose?! That's a toughie. But then I remembered my poor daughter who has studied for a Chinese (Mandarin) GCSE as an after school activity for 18 months. She found out in the summer she'd passed so she never has to do it again (she was so thrilled to know it was over as it was really tough!) and when I announced it on Facebook she thanked everyone by saying 'xiéxié' which is Mandarin for thank you! And so the idea for the tag emerged..! Oh! It's pronounced "sheh sheh" by the way!

I used purple Dylusions spray for the background (bright isn't it?!) and an Ellen Vargo stamp for the pattern. The top is my most favourite Wendy Vecchi stencil and her clear embossing paste (magical stuff indeed!)

The figure is a Lynne Perrella stamp which I stamped on to tissue paper and painted with Frescos. Think I made the fishing rod out of the top of her head a little wonky but once it's stuck down...! Hope you'll join in with us - just make sure you include a stamp and a tag and your interpretation of the theme! If you need more inspiration - my team mates have created a really fabulous variety of ideas - why not pop over and see?

Verse

This fortnight at DragonsDream Tag It On the theme is the letter V and Feather. I chose to use the word 'Verse' and a quotation from one of my favourite poets, Shelley, about poetry. It seemed appropriate to have an image of an ink bottle and a quill pen!

I used my most useful Wendy Vecchi striped stencil with her fabulous Clear Embossing Paste (love that stuff!) for the top and bottom of the tag. Just before it was completely dry I added some Gathered Twigs Distress Ink to the tag - where the paste isn't quite dry it adds colour giving the stripes an added effect. I do this quite often since I discovered the effect (all because I was too impatient one day! Happy accidents 'eh?!)

Hope you'll join in with us - just make sure you include a stamp and a tag and your interpretation of the theme! If you need more inspiration - my team mates have created a really fabulous variety of ideas - why not pop over and see?

My Sparkly hanging

For Country View Crafts Challenges this month the theme is Sparkle and Shine. For my second project I have made a wall hanging using some favourite stamps. I started by painting the hanging board black which looked really dramatic! 

The leaves are stencilled and then painted to add a little more interest. I started by stencilling the leaves on in white paint and then with Hey Pesto with a painted accent of Holly. The flowers are stamped onto vintage book paper that was adhered to Clearly for Art to add dimension. The centre of each little flower has Distress Glitter and the larger flowers have clear embossing paste for added shine! The centre of each flower has a rub on number and then I added a Lin Brown sentiment.

I hope you'll join in with us this month, there's a whole month of inspiration on the blog and we look forward to seeing you over there!

Christmas Su - in Journal form!

My second project for Country View Crafts Challenges 'Bah Humbug' theme this month is a page in my journal, well actually it's two pages... The page I showed on the blog are white embossing paste snowflakes in the background and a Victorian Santa keeping an eye on my very favourite stamp - my Phrenology head that I've nicknamed Su (as I think she looks a little like Su Pollard!) I really like the detail in the wreath around Su's neck - I think I'll use that lots and lots this Christmas!

My second page is a Dylusions influenced page with clear embossing paste for the snowflakes. This is what they look like in my journal:

I hope you're joining in with us this month!

Something Wonderful

Over at Everything Wendy Vecchi the latest challenge is to use Ms V’s rather fabulous Embossing Paste. I absolutely love this stuff. It comes in black and white and metallic now so the possibilities are endless. For this tag I used Peeled Paint Distress Ink and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink onto a tag and then added white Embossing Paste through one of Wendy’s masks. I do have a lovely scraper for this very purpose but couldn’t find it so used one of Tom’s Buzz Lightyear rulers... hope he doesn’t mind!

The colour from the ink below blends in with the Embossing Paste and produces a pastel shade. Very lovely. When dry I laid the stencil back on top of the tag and stamped a background stamp on the petals (using Picked Raspberry again). A bit of doodling, a sentiment and a lovely Blossom Bucket embellishment finished the tag off...

February

For February's calendar page I went a little more romantic and used both Valentine's Day and our 25th 'going out' anniversary as the basis for the page. I can't believe that it's been 25 years! If you missed January's page you could click on the Art Calendar Challenge link above!

The heart was white Studio 490 Embossing Paste through Wendy's heart mask. The paste took on the colour of the sprays underneath - pretty cool 'eh?!

Behind closed doors

Hello! I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas and that the festivities are carrying on today. My mum, dad, sister and her family are coming to us today and we're looking forward to a lot of merriment, cracker pulling and destroying a box of Maltezers or two!

This fortnight’s recipe at Dragonsdream Tag It On has been set by the very talented Blackdragon and is “Behind closed doors" - to include a door, a key and a lock (plus the obligatory use of at least one stamp and for it to be on a tag). The brickwork on the house was made with Embossing Paste as I did here and the holly was the same as I made here. The background is Dylusion sprays with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink through the Dylusions snowflake mask on top. The gold highlights are from Treasure Gold.

What's behind the door? Well, in truth, not an awful lot but my imagination says otherwise!
Again, I hope you're having a truly wonderful Christmas, and if you have time during the next fortnight we'd love it if you joined in with the challenge! Happy Boxing Day!

WOYWW 184

The phenomenon that is What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday is hosted by the gorgeously lovely Julia has entered it's 184th week and my desk is again 'creative'! I think that you can see I've pushed everything to one side to make a small workspace! My double blending tool spinner caught a lot of eyes last week - it's actually two that I have made into one - the other bits make up the kitchen roll holder next to it! The snowman tag in the middle of the desk is this:

The tag was sprayed with Dylusions (London Blue, Vibrant Turquoise, Crushed Grape) then I used Wendy Vecchi's fabulous embossing paste through a Chequered Dots mask and then sprinkled with Dry Glitter for a bit of sparkle. The whole tag was edged in... shock news... Peacock Feathers Distress Ink! Not a hint of Vintage Photo! 

I die cut two snowman One from white card and one from Frosted Film. I cut the frosted film to be just the snowman and then inked the white card with distress inks for the arms, nose and hat. I then added the frosted film over the top and edged with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink. The sentiment was stamped in Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and edged in Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. The snowflake was inked with the same inks. 

The Everything Wendy Vecchi group has a month long challenge to make seasonal projects using Wendy's products and so I am adding this to that! Blimey! If you're still here at the end of all that You've done well! I'm back later today with my next DragonsDream Tag but in the meantime do pop on over to Julia's and see more desks! 

Experimental Christmas Heart

I am having a lovely time experimenting with the new Embossing Pastes by Wendy Vecchi! I have yet to discover all of their secrets but I decided to see what would happen if I put a layer of the White Embossing Paste, a layer of Dry Glitter and a topping of UTEE. The effect is really hard to photograph but ut's pretty cool as the glitter is trapped beneath the UTEE - next time I'll make the Embossing Paste more textured as the effect worked better in those areas (that's what experimenting is all about isn't it?!) I chose to make a heart and used Wendy's mask to put the Embossing Paste through. I added the Dry Glitter and set it aside to dry. 

The background was sprayed with Black Marble and stamped holly leaves in Snow Cap ink. I also stamped a holly leaf on the reverse of some black Core'dinations which I'd sanded the front and then I cut it out. The edges of the holly were edged in Pine Needles Distress Ink. I also cut out some berries from red card and attached them. I then die cut and stamped a banner for the front of the heart. 

To finish the heart I cut it out and gave it three coats of UTEE and then cracked it to give it patina and rubbed brown ink into the surface. I assembled the whole piece and realised I couldn't get the photos to show the Embossing Paste - I really need to learn to take better photos! Any way this will become my Christmas Card for my lovely husband...Thank you as always for stopping by!

Embossing Pastes are fab!

The rather lovely, and beyond generous, Wendy Vecchi drew my name out of a hat and sent me a pot of each of her brand spanking new embossing paste (and a few Blossom Bucket goodies that are, coincidentally very difficult to get in the UK) and I just had to have a go...

I used the white Embossing Paste through Wendy's brickwork stencil - it was genuinely really easy to work with and dried pretty quickly! I sprayed the whole piece with Postbox Red Dylusions Spray and, when dry, sanded it back a little to see what would happen... Embossing Paste seems to take what you throw at it! How great it that? 

Wendy is currently making fabulous snowy scenes by adding Ranger's Rock Candy Glitter to the paste... Looks like a fabulous excuse to carry on experimenting! Huge and heartfelt thanks again Wendy - I LOVE the new pastes!