Aged Beauty

Hi everyone!

Over at Sandee and amelies Steampunk Challenge this month we are focusing on -

Ravages of Time

 Thinking of peeling wallpapers, rust in all its glorious forms of appearance, peeled paint, crackle, patina, weathered wood,

I love making things with a weather worn aged effect...There are so many paint techniques that can transform card into a tarnished treasure!

    I started this creation with a Paperartsy substrate...they are great! They take so much punishment (I know because several times I have stripped back the layers of a creation to re-do it). This toughness comes in handy for a creation where layers and sanding come into play...

     First I covered it with a coat of gesso as a primer - I wanted to use Quinacridone Gold which is transparent and would loose some of its vividness if painted directly onto the brown surface of the substrate. The white paint makes a good base for the transparent paint to shine...

    When the Quinacridone Gold paint was nearly dry, I patted the substrate with the palm of my hand to remove some paint. I didn't want to wipe the surface with a cloth in case I removed too much - by patting it with my hand, I removed patches of paint and the effect was wonderful - one to remember and worth getting paint covered hands for!!!

      I then covered the substrate with crackle glaze. After leaving it to dry I painted it with a thick layer of  Decoart Phthalo Green-Blue Liquid acrylic paint mixed with some white acrylic paint. This  formed a gorgeous turquoise.

      I covered the substrate with a thick layer of this which formed wonderful crackles - revealing the rusty Quinacridone Gold and also the white patches.

When dry I sanded around the edges revealing the layers of paint and adding to the distressed peeling, aged look. I dry brushed some Raw Umber and Quinacridone Gold around the edges of the substrate.

 

     Now was time to decorate...

   I wanted to focus on time so a clock die cut seemed best....my recipe for creating rust is very simple

Dab on some Evergreen Bough DP

When dry dab on some Vintage Photo DI

Then dab on some Picket Fence DP

Then covered with Quinacridone Gold and sprinkle with Vintage Photo Distress Embossing powder when wet.

This method was used to create both the cogs and the clock surround.

The clock face was made from printed paper which was stamped with my favourite script stamp in Potting Soil Archival ink. A clock was cut out from printed paper and dabbed with Frayed Burlap DI. The clock hands were painted with Antiqued Bronze DP and a bronze screw brad was used to attach them.

    The word TIME was stamped using Evergreen Bough DP. It is stamped onto pattered paper which was then cut out and had twine stuck to the ends. Twine braid was wrapped around the substrate and the word time stuck onto it.

The background was decorated with a script and text stamp - using Potting Soil Archival ink and Picket fence DP. Several stamps  - the numbers, gears and quote were added using tissue paper - the stamp was stamped onto the tissue paper - the image was torn out and stuck to the substrate with Matt multi-medium. 

Hope you like it! Why not come over and check out the wonderful things the rest of the team have made to inspire you!

Happy Crafting!

Laura

XXX

Collage Creation

Hi everyone,

    As you may have seen I started to experiment with a photo collage style canvas...I am just having a play around with some techniques and, although I am so far from mastering this style, I am enjoying playing around with it...

I began with a 1920's style photo that I printed up and after deciding where it would be placed (and drawing a guideline around it, I began to ink and spray, use stencils and paints etc to decorate it..

I did some Distress Stain splats with Peeled Paint and Evergreen Bough...I blotted the ink with tissue afterwards as I wanted the colours for this to be quite muted.

 Then I decided to add some spritzing of Dylusion colours using Dirty Martini and Calypso Teal.

Dot fade stencil was used with Picket Fence DP and Black Soot DI

I then began to use some stamping to add some detail and texture...I used a two different stamps - a script and text and using Jet black Archival ink I dabbed the stamps across the canvas.

I then stamped with Picket Fence DP onto the photograph

I added strips of printed tissue and tissue tape alongside where the photo was placed

A chit chat sticker was used edged with Black Soot DI

I added the photo and then decided to add a large metal flower...I brushed the flower with Gesso and when dry I spritzed it with Dylusion inks before gluing an Art Deco style button into the center.

I added two pearl pins to the flower decoration

Hope you like it!

Happy Crafting

Laura xxx

The song remembers when...

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the new challenge at Our Creative Corner. 

Alison is hosting this challenge and she would like you to create something that is made.....

 With a song in your heart

Create something inspired by and including a song title and/or lyrics. 

We would like to see the words appearing on your creation, and please let 
us know in your post the song which has inspired you

    When I found out the title to this challenge so many songs came into my head. With so many to choose from this should have been really easy! I actually thought I had found the perfect one, but then I hesitated about opening up my life into a creation - All of the songs that came to mind are very much loved, but they are so because they remind me of a time or place in my life, bringing back happy or sad memories.

     I was listening to some favourite songs on my ipod and a song by Trisha Yearwood called 'The song remembers when' came on and I thought "That's the one!"...

     I chose it because it is all about why my favourite songs are so important to me - they take me back to a memory in an instant...as soon as the music starts I can see the memories so very clearly...and so this song always makes me smile...

    

     I decided to start with a clock die cut. I dabbed it with Antique Bronze DP, making sure the card wasn't covered entirely. Then when dry I blended Evergreen Bough DI over it to give a lovely rusty verdigris look.

Then I wanted to add some texture so sprinkled with Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress embossing powders and a little Verdigris embossing powder.

I did the same with some ivy die cuts as well.

     I prepared some corrugated card by tearing sections of the surface paper to reveal the texture underneath. I brushed with Gesso very roughly and then added some streaks of Distress paint in Evergreen Bough, Antique Bronze and Picket Fence.

 When this was dry I covered it with Walnut stain DS and wiped away the excess with a tissue - where the paints haven't covered it gives a lovely distressed effect.

   The center of the clock was covered with Antique Linen DS and stamped with a music stamp in Potting Soil Archival ink. So now I had the main parts of the creation and I needed some embellishments...

       One of the challenge requirements is to feature lyrics and/or the title from the song. I did both because the line I chose includes the title! I picked the line - " Even if the whole world has forgotten, the song remembers when" because, to me, this is a perfect description of the power of words and music....that even if the memory seems as if it is gone, a song will bring it back to you. I stamped these words in Potting Soil Archival ink onto ivory card and cut the words out. I then blended Walnut Stain Distress ink around the edges of the words and stuck them onto the collage.

   I chose two photographs from TH Salvage stickers collection and then found in the same collection some tickets and other bits and pieces....

I added some calendar tissue tape in places as it fits in with memories and time and I began to construct the collage. I added a few roses made with tattered florals die and a delicate die cut covered with Copper embossing powder.

 
















A spinner seemed the perfect addition as the clock looked strange without hands - I found that it added a connection to the word 'when' which I had chosen to put on the rusty heart - but had seemed a bit disconnected as a result. So that worked out well!!!

  At this point I thought it was done but I wasn't very happy with it ....and I couldn't figure out why. It all looked 'nice', but wasn't 'right'...I left it and thought for a while and suddenly decided it needed another background. I got some plain cardboard and dry brushed with gesso, applying more in some areas. I stamped a music stamp and a script stamp in Potting Soil Archival ink. I added some strips of calendar tissue tape and then I covered everything with Walnut Stain DI and wiped the surface clean. It looked a little too clean after that, so I softened the effect with some Vintage Photo DI blended around the edges.

Then I stuck the collage on to this, added some ivory eyelets and attached some twine to hang it up.

    So there it is - my song from the heart...and it is a song that is definitely worth listening to! If you have a few minutes to spare, here it is...........

The hero of the story

Hi everyone!

   Today I will share with you a very nervous walk into the world of Journaling. I LOVE Journaling pages, but I never felt that I could do it. I did try it once and I created a very awful looking journal page and I just put it aside thinking "that isn't for me". I decided to stick to tags and altered items and lots and lots of flowers.

    Even though I love doing all that I kept seeing other people's Journal pages and just wishing that I could do something even slightly as wonderful.....Hey....I'd be thrilled to create just one that is bearable to look at!!!

     I had seen some pages that had sparked some ideas and decided one day to just try it again...and follow one of my favourite bloggers advice to me which was not to get too caught up with 'techniques' - stick with basics and just have fun.....and that is what I did...

     And....I quite like how this turned out. Occasionally I look at it and the perfectionist in me cringes at the crooked placement of a stamp or too much gold or too much paint splatter....Perhaps it is too grungey and messy?.....but the fun that I had makes me like it - because on this piece I really didn't let myself think. I just collected a few Distress stains, sprays and stamps and had them there in front of me and just flew with any idea that came into my head....never really stopping to think "Shall I do that next?, What is the plan here....?"....and so this is what happens when I don't think!

I got a double page from a book and covered the middle of it with Gesso. I marked out where the photo from the TH Salvage Stickers would go and cut an aperture out with a craft knife that was slightly larger so it would have a text frame.

I applied texture paste with the TH Burlap stencil around the pages and dried with a heat gun.

After applying the Gesso I decorated the page with some torn strips of a book page and some Tim Holtz Script tissue tape from the Hobgoblin set, and the travel tape.

   I then applied some lace strips to the page and when they were glued I began to colour the pages.

First I sprayed the entire page with Dylusions Melted Chocolate and dabbed with a tissue afterwards. This removed the colour from the gesso but the lace and texture paste absorbed the colour. I then dabbed the pages with Brushed Corduroy DI to add a warm brown colour, adding Walnut Stain around the edges.

     I then began to add some stamped images using Coffee and Jet Black Archival ink. I used several stamps from the Haberdashery set and two quotes which gives the title of the journal page. The title looked too vivid when stamped, so I lightly brushed across the archival ink with a dry brush to add some streaks and blend it in slightly.

 The other stamps came from a Paperartsy set called Letters.

I then began to splatter some paint...I splattered some Picket Fence DP with a brush and dried it with a heat gun to create bubbles - I love the grungey look that paint splatter has when you heat it too much.

Then I sprayed the entire page with a very fine mist of Adirondack Espresso ink.

 I added a pearl button....

 a grapevine heart...

                                                            a brass wire heart

and a pen nib that had been covered with Classic Gold treasure gold

.....and then I decided that more gold was needed on the page so I began to apply Treasure Gold to highlight the lace and parts of the pages.

And there is my Journal pages - I do hope you like it!