Secret Garden

What an exciting day! Today is my first post for Dragons Dream Tag It On Design Team and the theme is Secret Garden.  I loved that story as a child and always wondered what it would be like to play in a garden that no one else knows about! So I indulged that idea by making a hidden garden behind a forest of trees. 

The trees and fence are Tim Holtz dies treated with various Distress Inks and Stains. The fence  was treated to a little Snowflake Fresco Finish Paint before I sanded it down and then added Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The hanging sign is a stamp from PaperArtsy's Hot Pick 1005 set. I stamped it on a little kraft card, distressed the edges, inked them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then added small eyelets and a little wire.

The tag itself was inked with blues and greens Distress Inks and then flicked with water to give the sky a more realistic feel! I then used a garden stamp from PaperArtsy's Hot Pick 1005 set - in the novel the garden starts off somewhat wild and so I wanted to reflect that. There are also some Studio 490 wild flowers stamped in the background with Old Paper Distress Ink to give the impression of depth.The birds are a Tim Holtz stamp (I think we all have that one!) and the sentiment is another Studio 490 stamp - it is slightly off centre so that it's not visible when the tag is closed. I added an ideaology bird and jump ring to some ribbon dyed with Tumbled Glass Distress Stain.Thank you for stopping by on this auspicious day! Thank you again to the DT for including me in their team - I think it will be good fun!

ps - It's my birthday tomorrow - I may have a little candy on offer...! Worth popping back to see!

The Easter Bunny

The new theme at Crafty Boots this fortnight is Easter. Knowing this was coming up I decided to invest some pennies on Tim's Easter Elements die. So once I had bought it, put it somewhere safe and found it again I thought I had better use it! I wanted to make something a little more cartoony than my normal style and so I started by cutting out two Cabinet Cards from thick cardboard. I used the same piece of cardboard for everything here as I wanted the dimension.

I added PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints (Sky, Snowflake and Guacamole) with Cut and Dry Foam to create a background. I added the Snowflake paint last to create clouds. This is the advantage of using the foam as it can create soft, subtle effects - I used the same piece of foam for the blue (Sky) and white (Snowflake) paints that way the blue mixes with the white making the white softer and less harsh. Then I die cut the rabbit and painted it with Irish Cream paint and Gold over the top. The ribbon around its neck was painted in Orchid and then Moonlight. I die cut two fences and covered them with Snowflake paint. 

The bird was painted with Beach Hut (I love this colour!) and then stamped with part of a map stamp in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The ticket was inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, spritzed with water, spritzed with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist and a sentiment stamped in Coffee Archival ink. The butterflies began life with Orchid and Moonlight paints on cardboard, the butterflies stamped over the top in Jet Black Archival Ink and then cut out. 

Everything was then sanded and Vintage Photo Distress Ink added to the edges and then put together. The ticket was given a Memo Pin to hold it up! I hope that this inspires you to create an Easter themed project and I am looking forward to seeing what you make!

Edit - To answer a question via Twitter - when I refer to 'painting' in this post I mean I applied the paint with Cut and Dry foam - the coverage is better and avoids brush marks. It also means you can vary the pressure you use to put the paint on the cardboard shape, so on the bow, for example, I could just have the lighter Moonlight paint as a light covering allowing the stronger Orchid shade to come through at the edges. I use a sponging, dabbing motion when using the foam, I rarely swipe the paint on. Hope that answers any questions - if you have more, please let me know and I am happy to answer them!

Happy Mother's Day

I am very lucky. I have a lovely Mum. She's so incredibly supportive and really very, very lovely. We don't see each other as often as we'd like as we now live quite far away but we email, text and phone when we have news (however small!) and somehow the distance doesn't seem a problem! So I thought I'd make her something a little different by way of a Mother's Day card. I used the larger of the two Matchbook dies and cut out a grungepaper matchbook.

I then covered both sides with Vintage Photo Distress Stain and dried. The outside I covered with a rough layer of clear embossing powder and rubbed Black Soot Distress Ink into the pits left and a little in areas on the inside to create a more 'worn' look. I made a grungepaper flower (painted with Orchid paint), sanded and edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The leaves were painted with Limelight paint. 

For the papers on the inside I used some PaperArtsy papers (Rum and Raison), scuffed the edges and added Vintage Photo Distress Ink to them. The middle page I turned round so there was contrast between the pages. 

I used two off cuts of fences from other projects (I really don't waste anything!), painted them with Snowflake Fresco Finish paint, die cut two little birds and painted them with Beach Hut and Orchid paints. 

The grungepaper Butterfly was painted with Moonlight and Orchid paints using a mask. I sanded the butterfly and added a sentiment printed on my computer before lightly covering the whole piece with clear embossing powder. The large ticket was inked the same way as the cover but I added the sentiment before embossing. A little flower finishes it off. I hope Mum likes her alternative to a card. I loved making it and think I might be persuaded to make a few more...! If you are a Mum, whether you spend today with your child or not, Happy Mother's Day x