Playing with Inks

Hi everyone!

     The blog has slowed down a bit again - The kids are on their school holidays still and although I can get a little bit of crafts done here and there, I am struggling to do one of my usual creations....

     A parcel arrived yesterday...I decided that the time had come to learn about alcohol inks. I have never used them before but have been watching some demo videos online and thought that it looked a lot of fun! 

      So I spent an evening shopping online for alcohol inks, felt pads, mixatives and blending solution....and I must admit a few other things as well.

      When they arrived I HAD to play - Just for a little while! Kids went to bounce on the trampoline with Daddy and I got to learning about alcohol inks....has anyone else ever experienced the 'make it look easy' phenomenon? The demo videos make it look so easy that you feel like you could do it blindfolded and standing on your head, yet when the same items are in your own hands it suddenly becomes the trickiest thing ever?!

     I stupidly forgot to buy some glossy card. I know it can cover metal but I only really had tiny metal embellishments and I really wanted to see what the alcohol inks could do....a stack of white tiles that I use to make coasters with serviettes seemed ideal....so I used the whole pile of them! I won't bore you with the long explanations of how I did these creations and what went wrong and what went right and how many ended up in the bin and how many times I swore and threatened to chuck the whole lot in the bin....I will just say that after a while it suddenly became easier and actually I had a lot of fun....so much so that I couldn't stop!!!

     For all I know I was doing it all totally wrong, but I really like the effects I (eventually) got :o) None of these tiles started out with any kind of plan...I was just totally playing - trying different colour combinations, watching what happened and then finding some way to decorate them.....

      For those who want to know the inks I used -

               Pool, Stream, Denim, Lettuce, Cranberry, Red pepper, Espresso, Ginger and Meadow. I also used Silver, Gold and Pearl.

    

 

            

    Thank you for being here! I am so sorry I am not getting around to people's blogs as much as I should....I will try to do some visiting as soon as possible.....

         See you soon!

       

      

 

Shall I set the Scene?

   Hi everyone!

     At Try it on Tuesday the challenge is to Create a Scene....this can be any scene you like - Landscape, City, Seascape....

      I have chosen the sea....one of my favourite places to be and this scene comes to you from my childhood memories....the walk down to the beach from our home was through some dark woodland and as you got to the end of the path, you could finally see the bright sunshine and the wonderful seaside beyond the fences (and an ice cream shop to your left - sadly not in view in this scene ;o)

   Welcome to a glimpse of my childhood memories....

      I selected an embossed edge card and chose some seaside colours from my collection of Distress Inks....Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans and Scattered Straw. However, before using these I decided to apply some Snowflake Fresco paints to form the clouds and waves....

     It was a bit tricky working with white paint on white card but fun too....I just decided to not fuss over it too much and just smoosh it on!!!

     I then selected Pumpkin Soup Fresco Paint and painted the sun...softening the edges with Vanilla Fresco paint.

     I applied the Distress inks working in bands of colour, and wiped with a baby wipe to remove the ink from the acrylic paint. I then blended Vintage Photo DI around the edges of the card to give it a vintage look

        I decorated it with some stamps in Coffee Archival ink -

Compass

 Postage stamp 

 ....and Script

The sea was enhanced using Clear Rock Candy Distress glitter glue. I applied this quite roughly, heavier in some areas, to give it that sparkle that the sun creates on the water and add texture...

     Some brown card was dabbed with Mocha Mousse Fresco paint to give it a rustic wood bark texture and I stuck it on the card with pieces of twine to make the fences.

  Some twisted string handles from gift bags were used, and of course I had to add some shells.

Copper eyelets were added to the top of the picture and two pieces of twine were twisted and tied around the top to make a hanger.

          So that is my 'Scene' for you today - Hope you like my childhood memories!

  It would be lovely to see you over at Try it on Tuesday - Why not have a go at making a scene! ;o)

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

                        

    I would like to enter this in the following challenges -

Frilly and Funkie -  By the seaside
Anything but a card - Summer Fun
Crafts 4 eternity - #137 Summer Sun
Make My Monday - Add some dimension - 3D elements


 

Wings of Love

Hi everyone!

     I am not finding much time to do crafts at the moment. The kids are on holiday and on the first day of the holidays they had already announced they were bored! So I have been trying to find entertaining things for them to do and so my craft solitude time has come to a stop.

     However, after seeing SanDee and Amelie's challenge for a Steampunk matchbox creation I HAD to find some time! I had ideas galore halfway through reading about it!

    I don't really make many Steampunk items - so I really love how this takes me out of my comfort zone and challenges me....



       First thing I had to do was find a matchbox. I was sure I had seen one somewhere and I didn't have the patience to wait until I had time to go shopping...rummaging through craft drawers I did find one! And got to work.

     I painted it with several coats of Nougat Fresco Paint and then covered the top and bottom edge with DecoArt crackle glaze...I am still learning how to use this - it is a bit hit and miss for me at the moment, but I am slowly learning! I then covered the cracks with French Roast Fresco Paint and Black Soot DI.

   I dabbed Black Soot DI over some embossed card and covered with Tarnished Brass DS and smooshed with a babywipe....I didn't like how it looked so I covered it with White Fire Treasure Gold.

    I tore the card in places (after working out where to leave crackle effect revealed) and stuck the card onto the box.

I cut a heart from card and covered with Nougat paint and applied the crackle and French Roast.

    The wings were cut out from card, covered with Hobgoblin Tissue tape and the edges were inked with Black Soot. I then covered them with a medium layer of Rock Candy Clear Glitter glue...This is one of my most recent purchases - I LOVE it!

    I assembled the wings and heart on the matchbox and added the word LOVE from Tim Holtz Chit chat stickers. A little dab of Black Soot DI added a lovely shabby look. I have a collection of real watch parts (sooo tiny!) and using tweezers and Glossy accents glue I arranged a selection of the metal bits and pieces around the heart.

    The drawer of the box was covered in the same metal embossed card and I attached a dolls house door knob to it and stuck metal watch parts around it. The inside of the box (yes, the drawer does open) was covered in cogs patterned paper.

  
     And that is how I made a Steampunk matchbox - Why not head over to SanDee & amelie's Steampunk challenge and see the gorgeous creations over there and make one yourself?

         Thanks so much for visiting - I'd love to know you were here so please leave a comment. Your comments mean so much to me and I love reading them.

         Hope to see you again soon!

       

I would like to enter this in the following challenge -

  SanDee & amelie's Steampunk Challenges - Matchbox Steampunk
  Crafting with Dragonflies - Alter something
  Left of Center - Use metal



 

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