Category: Art and crafting styles

Today I have the three coins I made for the UK stampers forum swap this month.

I kept them similar to the ones I made for the swap I host in terms of the theme of words to live by… and they had gelli printed bookprint as the background.

This time I added so.e white posca pen to define the stencilled pattern on each coin once I had adhered them.

Then added some stamping onto each using the leaves from Petal Palette and some inking using vintage photo round the edge.

Then I had a hunt in my box of scraps and found some quotes I had printed ages ago but they worked perfectly for these I thought…

I thought these made lovely coins and really loved the colour scheme I chose with those paints on the gelli prints.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Well the coin group started off on another theme on the 1st January… words to live by. I thought it would be good to see positive words and phrases … it’s going to be interesting seeing everyone’s response and interpretation.

I was a little late making mine as I usually make mine just before the month starts but just didn’t get a chance over the festive season.

But here they are…

My word is Grow… I chose this word a couple of years ago and this year it rang true when I was thinking of this challenge. So grow it is…

I gelli printed some bookprint with a few colours of Paperartsy fresco finish paints and used a stencil to get some pattern in the background. Then I used an old but favourite stampin up stamp to get the tree onto the bookprint.

Next I adhered these to the wooden coins I have a stash of and used sandpaper to ensure a nice smooth edge. I edged them with black and the used my white posca pen to make the trees white with lots of white blossom.

I decided they needed more colour so out came pink paint to add pink blossom. I did this using the end of a plastic paintbrush to add the tiny dots.

Next I used the same pink paint to paint some edges of the book paper and stamped grow onto it using black ink. I cut these out and adhered them onto the coins adding black to the edge to frame the sentiment.

Love how these came out! Hope the recipients in the swaps like them too.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Another circle journal page, this time for Claire and I fancied playing with texture… lots and lots of texture.

I started with some gesso to provide a sketchy backdrop. I loved the kraft cardstock that the journal was made from so wanted to preserve that for the edge of the pages.

Once that was dry I added texture paste through a stencil and left it to dry.

Next I added some more texture using the glass bead gel and again left that to dry.

Then I added colour using the distress stains in twisted citron, cracked pistachio and peacock feathers. I then added some strips of papers and some twine. I also added some other stamping in the background to add some different areas of colour.

I also added the cute wooden birds which I added colour to using the oxide and some clear embossing powder to add shine.

I wanted to add some darker colour so I added some Inktense and some splashes of black ink in places to add a different contrast.

Then created the focal point of the stamped element and the sentiments for the titles with embossing and inking.

Super happy with the way this came out and how different it is from my previous pages using these colours… it’s amazing how the colours can lend themselves to these different pages.

And if you are interested I made a video of the process… here it is.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I was still in the zone thinking about tropical stuff (My theme for this month’s ATC swap) and had played with glimmer paste onto a piece of glossy cardstock I had added some mop up of distress oxide to…

And figured this was a good starting point for a postcard.

Once the glimmer paste was dry I added more oxides to give the background more colour.

Then I trimmed it down. I felt it needed another layer and so took another piece of the glossy cardstock and did the same technique but with more ink and deeper colours so it would contrast the top layer. Once that was dry I sewed them together to add another type of texture.

At this point there was no stamping… and that is pretty much the only criteria of the swap… so out came my trusty Lawn Fawn aloha set. I stamped and embossed on the oxide background I had made on watercolour card in perfect pineapple colours. And then the sentiment onto black cardstock strip. I adhered the strip down and added a gold staple to add another texture. Then I added the pineapple and added lots of Wink of Stella on top to make it sparkly.

I then cut a piece of mountboard and coated it in black gesso (front and back) and glued the whole piece to that… keeping to the wonky angles.

Finally I added some white enamel accents dots to add some more texture.

I then added some stamping on the other side of the card… I used distress oxides and then embossed them to provide a border.

Super happy with all of this.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

This month I fancied using a big flower embellishment on my tag using some different flowers I have been gifted over the years as extras in swaps. So that meant my background had to work with this bold feature. Decided to do some subtle stamping using a few different SU sets.

I love how it turned out. Gentle and pretty. And that blue ribbon works so well in pulling it all together.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Not blogged for a couple of days as been busy and not had much chance to craft but up early today so thought I would get my post up early for you.

I have another set of christmas cards to share… this time I actually did some drawing… Scary! But actually turned out to be fun.

I stamped some Penny Black images onto cardstock using versafine and then drew a strip behind the image and stamped the sentiments too.

I love these funky 12 days of Christmas images… so cute.

Then I used my micron black pen (#31productchallenge) to add some details to the image and the backgrounds.

Then I got out my Spectrum Noir pencils (yes another #31productchallenge) and coloured in the image and the strip.

Absolutely loved adding colour to these little images.

I then outlined the panels and this finished off the toppers.

I then added wink of Stella to a few parts of the images to add sparkle and shine. I mounted them on Tranquil Tide cardstock and mounted them onto the card blanks. I then edged the mount with glitter glue to add more sparkle.

I adore how these came out, and because the panels were only small it didn’t take too long to colour them in. Might have to assess what other stamps I’ve got that I can apply this technique with.

Entering this into the Anything goes challenge at PennyBFriends Saturday challenge blog

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Made another masterboard to turn into Christmas cards. Started with the large piece of watercolour cardstock and added some strips of masking tape to it. Then added gelatos and Inktense to it with lots of water.

Then stamping with the Inktense and some of the SU inks… then removed the masking tape before adding more stamping.

A pretty weird and wonderful creation!

Cut it up into 12 3.5 inch squares…

And then set to on creating cards…

The first four I started with embossing the beautiful Dasher stamp onto them. I just love this stamp.

Next I grabbed some stampin write markers and my waterbrush and this magnolia Angel to add to another four.

After colouring the images I fussy cut them and then added them to the panels. I then added stickles to the hat fluff and left them to dry.

The final four I added a magazine stamped image and used my wink of Stella pen to add shimmer and blend the ink on the stag head.

All three sets look very different but still obviously from the set given the same background.

I then finished off all of the cards individually. I added some pearl accents to both the Dasher and the stag cards, sentiment stickers and then mounted them onto the 4×4 card blanks.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

One of my circle journal friends son turned 13 last week so I made him a card … I made it as part of my #31productchallenge and it was fun to get something out of the cupboard I have not used for a long time! Derwent ArtBars.

They are a bit like more solid distress crayons or creamier Neocolor crayons as a watercolour pigment stick.

I created a background using them and my finger and a bit of water to blend.

Then I wet a kaisercraft stamp with a spray and swiped with the artbar which created a nice wet ink to stamp with.

Once it was dry I added it to a card front and then added some embellishments (Sam likes his golfing apparently) and some stamping. I then finished off with some doodling with a white pen.

Fun to play with these sticks… might keep them on my desk for some more background making… I’m contemplating a few masterboard makes to get some of the Christmas cards started soon and thinking these might come in handy to use for a change.

Love that this challenge has made me make a different choice from my usual go to supplies. Wonder what else I will discover in my stash this month!

And of course it’s big happy 13th birthday to Sam x

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I made a spooky postcard for the Postcard art swap group.

I used the Tim Holtz tissue wrap in the background with lots of layers of distress oxide and some stamping.

I then added the diecut house I had received in a swap in perfect time for this. I added lots of embossing too to add texture.

I then drew the little ghost in the window and embossed that with white powder. I quite like the cute happy ghost.

Hope that the recipient also liked my take on this month’s theme.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hi there.

I’ve joined another design team, this time for a challenge blog called Back to Basics and Beyond where there is a different technique or product type to be tried out every fortnight.

This fortnight we are showcasing stencils and masks and I’ve made this tag card for my contribution.

So how did I make it? Well here are my step by step instructions…

I grabbed some fresco finish paints and painted the tag in chartreuse and then put the stencil over the tag to stencil the outline of the flower in bora bora.

Then I snipped the mask and the debt in apart so I could fill in the flower with the bora bora and jade to provide a blended look. Next I placed the flower mask over the flower and stencilled the dots over the background.

Next I took the coordinating stamp and stamped the flower using prawn paint. I then took a white paint pen and started adding some doodles.

I again added the mask back over it to create the shading of the prawn around the flower. Once again replaced the mask and added some splashes of the prawn paint using my fan brush.

Next I started adding black pen marks too to add contrast. And the love word was a rub on from a Tim Holtz pack.

I also added some pale pink sequins and some island indigo ribbon.

Now to add this as a topper to a card. I decided to repeat the dots stencilling and this time used the prawn to add the dots. Then I raised the tag on foam tape to give it a little dimension.

Jobs a good’un!

Love this arty tag and the stencil and mask combo did all the hardwork for me!

Looking forward to seeing what the rest of the design team made and please do pop along to see them and join in the challenge too.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Happy crafting!