Flaming June

Hello everyone!

Here we are halfway through the year already! Where does the time go?!

   It isn't exactly summer yet - while I type this it is raining outside, yet again!....but never mind! - over at Our Creative Corner we are in a 'Flaming' mood....taking inspiration from the painting 'Flaming June' and our thoughts are on the bright warm orange tones used in this wonderful painting.....

         Julia chose this challenge for us and she would like you to use the picture as inspiration and create a project which features rich orange tones as the main colour of your work. You may use other details from the image if you wish.

      I don't use the colour orange much in my work - not that I don't like it - I love using orange inks for the Autumn and Halloween work, but it isn't my colour of choice usually - so it was a treat to be encouraged by our lovely Julia to go out of my comfort zone and work with a brighter colour than usual.

     This month I decided to make a tag - one of my favourite things to make. And I began by stencilling some leaves with Picket Fence DP.

I then did some wrinkle free distress using Tea Dye, Spiced Marmalade and Scattered Straw DI's.


  After drying this I stenciled using Rusty Hinge DI - using a letters stencil and a splatter stencil

Then I stamped some script and flourish stamps with Potting Soil Archival ink.

The frame was covered in crackle paste and when dry it was dabbed with Chocolate Pudding and French Roast Fresco Paint before having some White fire treasure gold rubbed over it.

The flowers were originally painted turquoise which I thought would give a nice contrast to the orange, but instead it became too much of a distraction, so I covered the flowers with gesso and then when that was dry I covered them with Spiced Marmalade DS.

While wet I sprinkled them with clear embossing powder and melted it giving the flowers an enameled effect.

The center of the frame was covered in a mix of Spiced Marmalade and Rusty Hinge DI and stamped with a script stamp in Potting Soil Archival ink

A photo was cut into a matching oval and attached to the center of the frame

 A quote from an Artistic Outpost set was used on an extra piece of card used to mop up the original wrinkle free distress ink leftovers.

I attached it to the tag so it didn't lay flat.

An ornate brass button is attached to the top of the tag along with was curled rusty wire

        We would love to see your orange themed creations over at Our Creative Corner this month! Come along and dive in!....You could be our winner and find yourself in the warmth of the Top Talent Spotlight! You could be one of our wonderful Top 3 and even find yourself the lucky winner of a prize donated by Tando Creative who are kindly sponsoring us this month!

Thank you so much for being here!

Christmas Inspiration

     I had to make these tags this week...I was totally inspired by my sister-in-law Alison (butterfly) who is a Guest Designer for PaperArtsy at the moment.

     I adored the tags she made - I have always been inspired by her work, and I loved how detailed the step-by-step was. I have been very fortunate in that I have been taught a few techniques by her and I can tell you she isn't just an amazing artist, she is a superb teacher too!

      I didn't have the arches that she used, but I decided to make a version of the tags using the same techniques. I have always felt that this kind of layering was too complicated to attempt and I always found it a bit intimidating. I was amazed when I saw the instructions how simple it was - and how effective a background it can be.....and it is lovely just experimenting with it all....

     I wanted to do a Christmas theme - because I am so caught up in Christmas already!!!

   I cut some tags from mount board to make a sturdy base, but I worked on card - to be stuck onto the mount board afterwards.

     I had the Harlequin stencil and dabbed Blood Orange and French Roast Fresco onto the tag. I then placed the second tag on top to get a reverse print. I adore this effect and will do this more often!

I then blended Fired Brick and Peeled Paint DI over the card......
  
Love the spritz and flick....such an effective technique yet so simple to do....

     Then to add the stamps...feeling a bit nervous, I felt sure I would ruin it by layering - but Alison's instructions gave me confidence to go for it. I used Picket Fence DP and used several Christmas stamps. The paint doesn't show up very brightly but I liked the faded white, barely there images. It is lovely that you can still see the background, yet the detail from the stamps is there....

     To add some contrast I used Potting Soil Archival ink and used several more Christmas stamps this time adding words and flourishes.

      I finished the stamping with my usual favourite script stamp which I seem addicted to!...

 
......and a bit of Vintage Photo DI around the edges of the tag just to add a bit more of a shabby look.

     Because I didn't have the arches, I decided to use some more Christmas stamps to decorate the tag. I covered some card with Antique Linen DI and edged it with Frayed Burlap DI. I then stamped some Christmas words in Potting Soil Archival ink and then layered the card on white card.

     I used some Christmas die cuts coloured with Distress inks, buttons and twine to add a lovely rustic festive decoration.

    The tags were finished off with loops of twine to hang them up.....

     And now I just have to wait until Christmas before I put them up on show!

   

                   Thanks so much for being here - Hope to see you again soon!

                 

I would like to enter this in the following challenge -

PaperArtsy


 

Frosty Autumn

Hello everyone!

     
 Last month I was thrilled to be chosen as the winner of the Left of Center challenge 'Use something metal'. The creation I entered in the challenge was the 'Wings of Love' altered matchbox. As the winner I was asked to make something as Guest Designer for Left of Center challenges for their new challenge which is -

No Designer Papers

I am still caught up in the Autumn mood here and I can't wait for those beautiful frosty days! So I would like to share with you a very Autumnal tag with a subtle frosty tinge that I made this challenge.......

      I wanted to use the Tim Holtz Clockwork stencil and decided just to have a mess around with some Autumn colours.

    I applied Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs and Antique Linen to the mat and spritzed with water. Then after doing a bit of wrinkle free distress I had a gorgeous pale brown speckled card. I decided to keep it quite pale because I was going to add more detail as I went along.

      Then I used the Clockwork stencil dabbing Vintage Photo around it.

   I dabbed a text stamp with Potting Soil archival ink and applied it randomly around the tag.

     Then I stamped some leaf shapes onto a piece of card using Gathered Twigs, Fired Brick and Rusty Hinge DI and then cut them out. Then I stamped on these leaf shapes with my favourite script stamp in Potting Soil Archival Ink

      On the tag I stamped some of the same leaf shapes in Gathered Twigs DI. I then used a hedgerow stamp and but did this with the Potting Soil Archival ink for a more vibrant effect.. After this I dabbed some Walnut Stain around the edge of the tag to give it a very grungy look. I thought it then looked a bit 'flat' and too dark....so to give it a further grungy look I spritzed the tag very lightly with White Dylusions spray - which is my new crafting best friend - the effects it gives are amazing!

      I curled some rusty wire and draped it along the tag, attaching the leaves which had been given a coating of Rock Candy Glitter glue.

      The label was cut from mount board and covered with Vintage Photo DI. The word Autumn was a Chit-Chat sticker, again inked with Vintage Photo.......

     .......and two copper screw style brads attached it to the tag.

           The tag was finished off with raffia and twine

            I hope you will pop over to the 'Left of Center' challenge to have a look at the wonderful DT work over there and perhaps you can enter too - you might be the winner and be Guest Designer for them too!

        Thanks so much to all of you for all your lovely comments and thanks so much for popping in to see what I have made...



              See you all soon!

 

Words, glorious words!

    Words Words Words!........

     .......that is where we go today with Alison who brings us a fantastic challenge here on 'Our Creative Corner' for the month of August......

       I'll let Alison explain it to you properly so if you want to know more, hop on over to 'Our Creative Corner' and she will lead you to some fun and fantastic creativity. I know you will have an amazing time!

    So where did I go with words?....Well, this creation actually started off as just a bit of playing. This isn't how I usually work - For most of my creations I begin after I have an idea/plan...I didn't have any ideas for this challenge when this began .....I sat down intending to just have a bit of a messy play with some Distress Inks as I hadn't done that in a while. This began as just a sheet of card and three ink colours - Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint and Tea Dye. I was just having some fun....just a bit of arty playtime....

      So there I was with my wrinkle free distress effect card....and I really liked it....and all my new birthday stamps were begging to be used.....I had the Tim Holtz face stamp that had been on my wish list for sooooo long - I HAD to use it....I knew that I needed to make something with words for this challenge....and ideas began to pop up......words flowing?....flowing hair?....paint some hair?...words IN the hair?.....and so I began to make the 'Words' creation...


      I stamped the face with Coffee Archival ink on tissue paper, then painted the back of it with Vintage Lace paint. I stuck it to the card and then using three Fresco Paints - Bora Bora, Hey Pesto and Pumpkin Soup I began to paint some hair. After this was dry I stamped some quotes with Antique Linen DP.

I used the harlequin stencil and blended some tumbled glass DI through it.

    Then I used the 'Art is' stencil in the corner of the card and blended some Vintage Photo DI over it. A Tim Holtz butterfly stamp was stamped in Antique Linen in two opposite corners, and one set had Vintage Photo DP stamped over the top to give a layered shadow effect.

.

     To add to the words theme, I stamped some script stamp using Coffee Archival ink randomly across the page. I outlined the face and hair with my 'not often used' white gel pen - (Note to self - This is a nice effect so use this pen more!) and I created my own tissue tape using Micropore tape covered in Bora Bora and Hey Pesto paint and stamped with a PaperArtsy mini text stamp in Coffee archival ink. I placed the tape at the corners of one side of the card.

     I used die cut flowers, covered with Tumbled Glass DI and edged with Vintage Photo DI. These flowers had copper brads in the centres and the leaves were blended with Peeled Paint DI and edged with Vintage Photo DI.

     I finished this creation with a two lengths of rusty wire that were twisted and the looped to create a hanger. A grapevine heart was attached to one end of the wire and a Celtic style patterned button was added to the heart with an extra twirl of rusty wire. I then blended some Vintage Photo DI around the entire card to add a bold edging

.........and that is my 'Words, Words, Words' hanging.

I can't wait to see all the 'Words' creations over at Our Creative Corner - We all hope you will come and play along with us this month!

   

I would like to enter this in the following challenge -

Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Script/Books/Pages/Print