Ink & the Dog – Inkyfingeredcat

House themed mini marvel

20 Jan 202122 Jan 2021 Catherine

Sorry I have been AWOL the last few days… I really need a big crafting session to make lots of things I can then post about when I’m too busy to craft that actual day. The past few days, including Sunday ended up being exactly that … so fortunately this project I finished on Saturday has been delivered to the recipient so I can blog about it now.

So why so busy? Well Sunday actually turned into a proper steps competition with the hubby (I won) plus I got the urge to clean which is a rarity and needs seizing on when it happens. Then back to work Monday and so crafting becomes harder as I never want to clear the desk, make it messy and clear it all again in one night… plus I got all the ironing done so go me, housewife of the year for those two days!

And work… well I’ve had some fabulously productive days but they have been a little on the long side! Next two days will hopefully be a bit shorter so I might, just might get some crafting time in!

Anyways… let’s get to the crafting shall we?

My friend Chris challenged us for this month to make a house themed something that is no bigger than 6″ and when I saw the challenge I knew immediately what I wanted to use… the Art Parts shapes that has been sitting in a box in my craft room at least 3 years if not more!

I got them out immediately and added gesso to each of them… plus a canvas board I was inspired to make a start on too!

Next day I added paint and stamping and stencilling and texture paste and ended up with two little houses.

So then I left them to sit for a week in plain view where I could decide what was needed to finish off.

I decided some definition on edges, a sticker sentiment and some tiny bits of doodling with paint pens. And then done!

Absolutely love both of these… decided to send the big one and keep the small one as a keepsake of the swap for now… it may end up as part of something else eventually, you never know?

Hope you enjoyed this little foray into mixed media and the little houses.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Distress oxide ink, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Ink & the Dog, Masks/Stencils, Spellbinders, Tim Holtz, YouTube video

Lindsay Mason ATC swap… through the window… 120 – 123

09 Mar 201716 Mar 2017 Catherine

I made another three ATC’S for a swap that Lindsay Mason organises… and the theme this month (Feb) is Through the Window.

I actually did mine on video… here is the link.https://youtu.be/RvIuJ4XDE50

However it is a little long as three individual atcs takes time. So here are the pics of the final pieces.

Three very different ATC’S but all featuring windows as per the brief.

Hope you get a chance to watch the process video I made. Sorry it’s so long. Next time will just have to do the whole thing on fast forward and learn to do voice overs.

Getting there with my videoing skills though and enjoying doing them even if the editing gets a little tiresome!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Blonde Moments, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Ink & the Dog, Masks/Stencils, Papermania stamps, Raggy Dolls, Tim Holtz

Raggy Doll Christmas house # 4

16 Dec 201614 Dec 2016 Catherine

Another of my Christmas houses to share today. Of course there is also the coordinating card.

This is the point I got to with the house when I first took pictures… yes nearly but not quite finished. I went for a slightly brighter colour finish for this one including some neon pink paint flicks! I also went for an iridescent medium roof and some clear sequins to decorate. I added word stamping to the house which also tied it in with the card.

The card started life as a piece I had wiped texture paste onto so already pretty cool. I added the paint in patches and also added chalk fresco finish paint to give it some “white” space. Then I started stamping.

I used the big Papermania stamp to add the subtle words and then the word joy from a Paperartsy set. The Christmas lights across the top are from the same set.

Next I added iridescent medium through a stencil and let it dry. I also added the Tim Holtz die cut trees.

Now time to finish off…

Glitter, sequins and a sentiment, inking and mounting and distressing all going on to finish off the card.

Now back to the house.

I made the windows and doors look more integral to the house by adding some shading using the Pitt pens from Faber-Castell. I also added a little more of the iridescent medium rubbed in with my finger to give the house more of a sheen.
One more to share tomorrow… please pop back to see how the final one looks.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Canvas and Mixed Media art, Dylusions, Gelatos, Faber Castell, Hot Picks, Ink & the Dog, Masks/Stencils, Treasure Gold

Wax page in my Paperartsy journal

25 Feb 201624 Feb 2016 Catherine

The third topic this year for Paperartsy blog was wax… wax! Not something I felt confident about. Gelatos were mentioned in Leandra’s blog post introducing the theme though so I started with them and started on this page way back on 9th February!

So these photos show the first stage of play… gelatos scribbled randomly in blocks. Water added with fingers to blend. More colour added and blended. Gesso added randomly with finger and blended.

Later that day I added a stamped border on each page using some Dylusions stamps Karen let me use. I also added more gelatos and more gesso.

Starting to build a nice background. But not exactly wax in my book! Off I went to watch You Tube videos and of course keep my eye on the Paperartsy blog design team contributors.

I love Darcy’s completely fabulous wax poppy picture which showed lots of wax techniques. I also loved a You Tube video someone posted in the Patwits group showing papers being waxed and sewn. These took me down the route I ended up taking.

But first I used some grunge paste mixed with a purple paint through a stencil to provide some texture.

Then I added some shavings of kids wax crayons in splodges and melted them with my heat gun with a piece of paper over the top to stop then from moving about too much.

I must admit this wasn’t really going well. I was struggling to control the wax but I do think it adds some interest to the background.

Next time to do the feature image.

I stamped the mannequin in Watering Can archival and then the text in Seedless Preserves distress ink onto some photocopy paper and tore it into a nice shape. Then I put the piece on a tray and melted a Yankee candle onto the paper until the whole piece was covered. I then set it aside to dry. The benefits of using a scented candle is that it smelt lovely in the craft room as a result! 🙂

I then took the rest of the photocopy paper and tore that as a mount, crinkled it up and inked it with the distress inks (seedless preserve and abandoned coral).

Round the edge I stamped the zip stamp from the same Hot Picks Paperartsy stamps.

I then used my sewing machine to sew these together in my usual scruffy sewing style.

I then added this to the journal with matt medium and left it to dry. I then felt that the title should be in a similar colour to the mounting panel. I stamped that onto the scrap, tore it out and inked it up.

At this point I felt that it needed something else.

I grabbed some teal coloured gilding wax and added in a few random areas. This gave it some more depth and shine and also incorporated another wax!

Decided it needed some more stamping…

The scissors were stamped… and then words!

I grabbed the ink and the Dog buttons plate and stamped words from that in the distress inks randomly which I think really finished the page off nicely. I then edged the pages with Midnight Muse ink and added the topic and month at the bottom.

A really long post showing all the steps so of you got this far… well done! I am trying to show stages as best as I can so people can see how I work when putting together a page. It also helps me document how I got to where I am. Next topic to be tacked is image transfer which is not my best skill… may take some practice!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Ink & the Dog

My Paperartsy challenge journal

29 Jan 201627 Jan 2016 Catherine

My friend Darcy showed her Paperartsy challenge journal on her blog a few weeks ago where she had participated in all the challenges during the year. I thought it was great idea and so started mine for this year a few weeks ago. The first topic of the year was transparent and I made a pin box for the blog. I decided to use that as the basis for the first page in the book.

I started with brayering Haystack and Guacamole over the page.

Next I added some stamping and edged it in Baltic Blue. I love the button stamp in the set of Ink and the Dog stamps for adding a delicate pattern in places.

Next I grabbed some of the denim material left from the original project and a square of canvas which I painted in Haystack and edged and distressed with the other paints.

I then did the stamped image of the girls onto acetate using Stayzon. I then used my sewing machine to add the stitching elements and to fix the acetate down.

Next time to add some embellishments… buttons and twine first.

Then the sentiment and the flower trim. I coloured the trim with distress stains and some of the paint.

Finally I added at the bottom the theme and month/year I’m my handwriting.

Love how this came out and the techniques I had used on the pin box transferred to the journal page.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Brushos, Clare Lloyd, Ellen Vargo, Ink & the Dog, Masks/Stencils, PATWITS circle journal, Treasure Gold

PATWITS circle journal… Clare’s journal

12 Jan 201612 Jan 2016 Catherine

Hi lovely blog readers

Today I get to share with you the journal spread I did for Claire in her circle journal. I was totally inspired by the delicate cover she had done for her journal and wanted to keep some of that delicacy in mine. This is not something I usually achieve so this was an interesting project for me. This is Claire’s gorgeous cover…

I started by adhering some different papers and ephemera and fabric into the journal to provide a textured surface. I also added grunge paste through stencils and then added a layer of gesso over the top to knock back the colour.

I love how the edge in the middle has picked up everyone’s colours from the previous pages though.

Next I added brushos randomly around the page in Gamboge and Scarlet.

They are so vibrant when wet… but hang on what about the delicate look… well I knew that on top of gesso the colours fade and pastelise (is that even a word) as they dry! So this was, for once, a deliberate choice!
I decided I wanted to try a face for Claire’s journal too… so as I am not the best at drawing I grabbed the Paperbabe templates and started sketching. It was about now I realised that a highly textured surface is not the easiest to draw on. I then used more brushos this time as a watercolour pigment to add some colour and shading.

I only used scarlet and light brown to get to this stage. I wanted only the warm colours on the page (although there is still blue from the fabric I used).

Then I set to with stamping. I used a Sepia Archival and a brown felt tip for adding definition to the girl and round the title. I stamped the title on a piece of cardstock separately to be able to cut it up and put it on the page as separate words.

I used a selection of different Paperartsy stamps for the stamping… Ellen Vargo and Clare Lloyd mainly though.

I decided that the grunge paste needed defining a little more and some of the stamping needed pushing back a little. So I used a baby wipe to add a little more gesso in places, and then used treasure gold Ruby on the texture paste areas.

My final touches were some drops of copper acrylic ink which adds a little bit of richness to the page alongside the treasure gold.

This is the final page in the natural light. I love how this turned out. So different from my usual style and so pretty. Hope Claire likes what I created for her.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Art and crafting styles, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Ink & the Dog

Paperartsy blog, transparency topic, pin box

11 Jan 201611 Jan 2016 Catherine

Once again I am over the moon to be invited to design something for the Paperartsy blog. The theme is transparent and I knew immediately that the stamps I wanted to use would be the Buttons plate 4 Ink and the Dog stamps. Vintage type stamps like this I think lend themselves perfectly to being stamped on acetate as if they are old slides etc. But what to actually make?

As the theme of the stamps lends itself to haberdashery I thought about making something for holding pins etc and remembered I had this little note holder that I could repurpose as a pin holder.

I started by looking for what colours I wanted to use and decided on Haystack, Guacamole and Baltic Blue. I started with a rough coat of Haystack and left it to dry.

I then added more paint (both Guacamole and Haystack) using a bit of cut and dry to finish off the base coat. Once that was dry it was time to start stamping. First in ink, and then over stamping the button corner stamp with some guacamole paint. This created some interesting layers of the colour.

The next step was to start adding texture. I added some trims around the edges to soften the box out a little and then reached for grunge paste. I added some of the Guacamole to this to ensure that it blended with what I had already painted and then added it over various parts of the box, especially around the edges.

Then I started on the box topper. I took some denim blue fabric and cut it smaller than the box lid and frayed the edges. I added some paint and some stamping in the paint to that. Then I took a piece of canvas and again paint and stamping in paint onto that. I then used the sewing machine to sew them together. I used different stitch types and kept it loose and scruffy sewing. Next I took the acetate… yes the transparent part of the project. Onto this I stamped the girls image using Stayzon. I cut down the panel and again used the sewing machine to adhere this panel. I love that you can see the layers underneath the girls through the panel.

Then I added the coordinating trim to the front and stuck the whole topper down with some glossy accents. Then I added three buttons to one corner.

I decided the flower trim needed more colour so I added some distress stain in Twisted citron and Fossilised amber that did the trick perfectly.

Now time for the inside. I must admit I am a rubbish sewer. And although the idea of a pin cushion seemed simple in my head… making one was far from it. But I did try. I ended up with a small pincushion in one corner of the box and then the rest of the box became the pin container. The decoration of the inside of the box went through a couple of different iterations I must admit.

I ended up adding paint to the box, adding brayered paint to bookprint (Charlie and the great glass elevator) and adding this in. I also stamped the main image in paint onto the inside lid and added some of the trim to finish it off. I added the denim fabric to the base of the box which I had added a little paint to as well.

Anyway in the end I was happy with how it went and it encourages me to use acetate as a stamping surface more often. It creates such a different look and sewing it rather than glueing works so well.

So please pop over to see the Paperartsy blog and leave me a nice comment (or constructive criticism???).

Happy crafting!

Catherine