Housey Housey for That's Crafty

I have a new video on my YouTube channel today, showing how to make this little house charm to use on a journal page.

Carol Xx

Back to Black at That's Crafty

Back to Black is the theme on the That's Crafty Challenge Blog this week.
I have a journal page to share.

My project started with a piece of black gessoed card that I had used for mopping up stencils from my Gelli Plate, this gave me a lovely muted background of colours which I cut to size, to fit in my 5 x 7 journal.

I added more detail with a lovely Kim Dellow Stencil from Paperartsy

I then added colour to the stenciled area by keeping the Big stencil in place and layered others over it to add color through. I used a selection of from the Dinky range by That's Crafty for this.

I then replaced the big stencil and used it as a template to add white highlights with a pen to the stenciled area.

I am now horribly stuck as to what to do next, so I am going away to think.......

Two day's later and I am back with my finished page.

I found a lovely collage image and title from a music sheet in my bit box which gave me an idea for a theme.

I stamped the book  ring from the That's crafty Textures stamp set 2 onto text paper and added this to the top right of the page, added some drippy images using the same stamp set and Art Alchemy metallique gold rush paint to stamp with. Over this I used DecoArt crackle glaze mixed with  Dioxazine Purple pushed through the dinky stencil 081.

I used my finger to rub paint over this when dry to highlight the crackle.

I added a bit of black stencilling and stitching and a couple of random bits that I found in my collage box. Finishing it all by rubbing on odd colours of Distress crayons here and there just to give it a bit more of a moody look.

I must admit this was one of those projects that I really did  not like at one stage and it nearly went in the bit torn in half in a huff. But I am glad I persevered with it as I now really like the way it all came together.

Carol xx

Sunday Postcard Art

The theme this week on Sunday Postcard Art is Icons.

To see details of the challenge please do pop over to the challenge blog to have a look.

My make has lots of collage and paint on it.

Thank you for your visit today, Carol xx

Friday the 13th Part 2

The new challenge this week at That's Crafty is Friday the 13th Part 2.

As Halloween is fast approaching I have made a little bag for Trick and Treat Goodies.

It was just a plain canvas bag that I have altered using DecoArt Multi Surface Satin Paints and a selection of the That's Crafty Dinky Stencils.

Full details of the challenge and how to enter can be seen on the That's Crafty Blog.

Have a spooky day, Carol xx

That's Crafty New Stamp Release and a Video

That's Crafty have a release of their first stamps today, they are designed by Donna Gray and I have used the Set "Bentley" on one of That's Crafty's ATC storage boxes.

I don't actually use this for ATC's as I don't make them anymore. I use it to keep the DecoArt Media paints in that I use when I am Demoing with them, it is just big enough to hold a nice little selection of colours and keeps them nice and tidy on my Demo desk.

If you want to see the whole thing from start to finish I have a video on my YouTube channel

Hope you have a lovely day, Carol x

Affirmation Stones

I have been in my craft room today finishing up so projects that  I needed to get done, and browsing on facebook I saw some affirmation stones on the Mini Marvels page  done by Angie Coomber and I fancied doing some of these aswell as I just happened to have some stones on my desk (as you do)

I did not read up on them at all I just went for it and covered my stones in some text from an old book using Decoart Multi Medium.

I then stamped my heart directly onto the surface, added some dots using Americana Writers in black and white and let these dry. I gessoed my heart too.

When dry I spritzed the stones with Media sprays, sprayed with water while they were still wet and dabbed with a paper towel, this coloured the white dots in a random way which I quite liked.

I took the lid off my red media mister and used a paint brush to pick up the colour straight from the bottle and painted my hearts.

I then took them into the garden and gave them a spray of triple thick gloss spray.

I finally added my little stamped words.

All my products used are by DecoArt.

I enjoyed dong these, thank you for the inspiration Angie.

Carol xx

Steampunk Pocket Watch

I saw SanDee and Amelie's challenge blog the other day and it reminded me I had not done anything steampunky for ages and I fancied a bit of a change of so I dragged out my resin and some cast pocket watch's I had brought a couple of months ago and put away as they were bright silver and a bit nasty looking.

But with some DecoArt gold media paint and a couple of colours of Antiquing cream they now look old and so much better, amazing the difference a bit of paint can make to just about anything really !!.

I layered up some watch parts and a new little heart that I filled the recess on with red resin before I used it. 

Details of the challenge can be seen here.

Have a great day, Carol xx

On The Peg Penelope

I thought I would share the make I have in the June Issue of Craft Stamper Magazine, which is out to buy now.

I dismantled my peg and painted it using bright colours, dry brushing and a variety of stencils to build up my background. Once this was dry I directly stamped my background and used coloured pencils and a white pen to add detail to it. I reassembled my peg.

I stamped my images and quote and then coloured these with my pencils, cut out and glued them down.

I poked a hole in the bottom of the peg and wrapped wire up and around it, adding beads as I went holding them in place with a dot of glossy accents, securing it at the top of the peg.

I added the photo clip to the top of the peg and layered the flowers around it as shown, I added some coils of wire as I thought it needed a bit of balance.

I used the following stamps

Penelope 

Concentric Squares Block 

Happy Happy 

Carol’s Flower (small)

I used Stencils from the Dinky Range at That's Crafty

My paints are from DecoArt 

Thanks for stopping by 

Carol xx

Just Be Happy

I used

Cheshire Cat

Be happy Set

Ink Splats

This week for Visible image I have a card to share with you, those who know me will know I am a bit of a sucker for anything Alice in Wonderland related so I am the proud owner of the Cheshire cat and I have used him on my card today.

All my stamping is directly onto my card with a hand drawn border added round the sides.

I coloured my cat using water colour crayons and blending to achieve the look I wanted.

I then masked this and my quote off and used the ink splats stamps with similar colours of paint to add the colour to the background.

This is my last post for Visible image and I would like to thank Helen and Mark for having me on the team.

Have a lovely day, Carol xx

Birds on a Wire

I used the following stamps

Crow Line
Kate's Doodles Cube
Circled Circle
Barcode Text #2

Woo Hoo it's is Wednesday again and that can only mean it is time for a new challenge on the Stampotique Designers Blog.

This week Kristen has chosen the theme of a TV show or Movie inspired project.

I have a film that has a particular memory for me from when I was young and being a little bit bad.
When I was younger we lived in a house that had a large glass door on the living room and you could sit on the stairs and watch TV through the door. I used to creep downstairs when I was supposed to be in bed, sit on the stairs and watch TV.
One night Alfred Hitchcock's film "The Birds" was on, I was only about 8 and I remember it scared me so much that I screamed and gave the game away and I had nightmares for ages afterwards.
I have used the film as the inspiration for my Tag.

My Background is done using my Gelli Plate and DecoArt Media paints before adding details with stamping and Gesso.

My birds on a wire are stamped directly onto my tag with black archival ink, my quote was stamped onto the margin of a book page and then stuck in place. Adding some Crackle Paint through a stencil that I coloured with Media Paint.
Finishing with a couple of wiggly lines of machine stitching.

Full details of the Challenge this week, how to enter and the randomly drawn prize of a $30 gift voucher to spend on rubber at Stampotique Originals can been seen HERE.

Enjoy the challenge this week.

I hope you have a lovely day, Carol xx

Prompt Tags

I used

Little Friends
Kate's Doodles Cube

The latest challenge for Stampotique has been chosen by Kathi with the theme of "crack me up"
she has asked us to use crackle on our make and to give it a humorous theme.

I am in the process of making a tag book, this is intended to give me a bit of an prompt book for stamps and techniques that I love to use.

I have added a tag using the challenge this week as a prompt to use crackle on my projects. I mixed my DecoArt media Crackle paint with some fluid media acrylic to colour it before applying trough a stencil as the last step on my tag.

These are some tags that came on some clothes, they are lovely heavy grey card so I gave them a couple of coats of Gesso as a base, it is the direct stamping onto the gesso that gave my main image the worn look that it has in the photo, I was not sure about this at first as on the plain white tag it looked just badly stamped, but once I added in my colours and other stamping I liked the worn look of the image. Adding a smudge of colour to the dresses with my colouring pencils just seemed to finish it off.

Full details of the Challenge this week, how to enter and the prize can been seen HERE.

Enjoy the challenge this week.

I hope you have a lovely day, Carol xx

My Inkognito Heart

I used

Heart Inkognito

Flower Inkognito set

ink splats

I have a journal page to share today using stamps by Invisible Image.

The basic painty base was done with my Gelli Plate.

I stamped my image and quote in black and then embossed them with clear embossing powder as I thought this would keep them nice and dense on the page but also as I wanted to be able to wipe other mediums of them easily.

I stamped the splatter in red and black on my page, I then added lots of other layers over the top of this, drips with spray paints, crackle diamonds with DecoArt Crackle paint coloured with Media paint, (one of my favorite things to do at the moment) and then splatters of gold paint to finish it all off. Wiping any splatters off the heart and image as I went.

I bordered the whole page using the border stamp from the flower set and black ink.

The washi tape is simply to hold my page in where it got so wet it fell out of my book.

The full range of stamps from Visible image can be seen on the website HERE.

Have a good day, Carol xx

One Little Flower

I used

Carol's Flower - Large

Living is not enough

This week for the Stampotique challenge  Arwen has challenged us to use only nature in our makes, no Humans or Animals.

Now I did not realise how hard this would be, I kept thinking " add a bee or a butterfly" but I couldn't !!

So I have a journal page with flowers. I used it on my Gelli plate first of all to make my background.
I then stamped it in gesso on the page, then finally stamped it onto another Gelli Plate background before cutting out the flowers and adding sticking them in place.

I added a few more dribs and drabs with paint and pencils before adding my quote because in the end all I did need for this page was one little flower.

Full details of the Challenge this week, how to enter and the prize can been seen HERE.

Enjoy the challenge this week.

I hope you have a lovely day, Carol xx

A Foxy Tin

I used the following stamps
Foxy
Word Collage
Kate's Doodles Cube
Oodles of Doodles

It's Wednesday so that means it's time for a new challenge at the Stampotique Blog. 

This week Valerie has chosen the theme of "what's old is new again" and has asked us to recycle or re-purpose and older item.

I have recycled a small tin that used to hold mints.

I went for a journal theme on my tin.

I first gave it a coat of chalk paint to cover the paint on the tin but also to give my paint a bit of tooth.

I then dry brushed  my 3 colours of paint onto the lid and sides of the tin, added my background stamping with black archival ink. Then used a Dinky stencil to add gesso to the lid.

I stamped Foxy onto white paper and coloured him with pencils before cutting him out and sticking him down.

I then dragged some lines onto the top of the tin using blue paint and an old store card. Finally adding a word from the Word Collage stamp to the top right of the tin lid.

I sealed it with a coat of DecoArt Satin Varnish.

Full details of the Challenge this week, how to enter and the prize can been seen HERE.

Enjoy the challenge this week.

I hope you have a lovely day, Carol xx

Corners of your Mind Journal Page

I have a journal page this week for Visible Image.

I used the following stamps

Learn to Fly Again

Corners of Your Mind

Flower Inkognito

I brought this stencil about 2 years ago I have never used it until now, I never felt I had the right images or quote to get the idea over that I had when I brought it. But this quote is exactly what I was thinking of when I got the stencil and the birds fit perfectly behind the image, together they give the feeling of daydream and whimsy that I was always thinking off.

My background is built up layers of washi tape and paint, applied through stencils and with bottle lids. My main stencil had simply been applied with black paint, then masked off too add the deeper purple and white dots inside the face area.

I added my quote and then stamped the border with the long stamp from the Flower Inkognito set.

I added my flying birds and a few dropped feathers using the Learn to fly again set.

enjoy your day, Carol xx

We all need Magic

A quick tag to share using the Unicorn Magic set by Visible Image.

A quick dry brushed background using DecoArt Paints, adding yellow stars with a Dinky stencil from That's Crafty.

I stamped my unicorn and quote in black ink finishing it all off with some machine stitching and a bit of ribbon.

Have a Happy Day, Carol xx

Luck of the Irish

I used the following stamps

Penelope
Pencil Circles
Hat Cube
Kate's Doodles Cube
Vic
Every Dog Text
Circled Circle

Jackie is our hostess for the theme this week on the Stampotique Challenge Blog.

She has chosen St Patrick's day and wants us to show the luck of the Irish in our projects, a four leaf clover, lucky rainbows, or anything that makes you think of Ireland.

I have used a hat that is typically Irish shaped, I have coloured it green, my washi tape also have four leaf clovers and rainbows on it.

Full details of the Challenge this week, how to enter and the prize can been seen HERE.

Enjoy the challenge this week.

Happy crafting, Carol xx

Release your Flying Monkey's

I used the following stamps

Brick Wall

Visometry Set 3

Oz Flying Monkey Set

all the stamps can be found  HERE on the visible image website.

This is actually a background that I prepped ages ago for a class, I always have a pile of basic painty backgrounds sitting around either from trying things out or from showing techniques in classes.

This is a loose leaf page approx 19 x 27 cm.

This is done with just black paint and white tinting base from the the Deco art media range. I used a stencil and a chunky hand cut lino stamp that I did ages ago to use with paint. 

On the finished page I have now actually filled in the stamped swirl with gesso as I wanted to stamp the small image from the Visometry Set 3  on my background as I thought it would go well with my image. I just added gesso over the swirl, filled it in with colour and then stamped my image over it, easy peasy.

I thought was is a bit of a moody background so I have used the Flying Monkey from the Oz set of stamps on it as he does look a grumpy little thing and I thought he would suit the page. I coloured him using my Polychromos and Caran D'Ache pencils

I wanted him to sit on washi so I used some white tape and stamped the Brick Wall stamp on it with red paint, added this to the page and sticking down Mr Monkey so he was sitting on it.

I finished off my page by adding the small monkey's from the set buzzing around his head, and one of my favorite things at the moment, Decoart crackle paint mixed with media paint and applied through a stencil, I do love the way this looks.

Happy Crafting

Carol Xx