Cottage in blue

Another card using the Clarity stamp of a cottage. I do like to try to use stamps in many different ways to get as much value from it as possible. I really like this picture with the blue hues. With a moon made by using a cut out from a post-it note as a mask and the effect of putting clouds in front of it gives the picture great atmosphere I feel.

Seahorse Encaustic Card

Two layers of encaustic work were used to create this card. The background card was spread with blue, purple and red wax and then a random pattern applied with screwed up paper whilst the wax was kept warm on a hot plate. The picture was created by covering the glossy card with blue wax and again whilst keeping the wax warm a silhouette stamp of two seahorses was applied so that it lifted some of the wax off to leave an imprint. The pattern around the seahorses was made in the same way, applying the back and tail part of the large seahorse on the stamp. The two were matted together on white card and all applied to a blue A5 size card. Suitable coloured fibres down the spine then completed the look.

A Reflection on Cottages

Clarity stamps rule. You just cannot achieve ths effect with a solid rubber stamp as it is impossible to line it up properly. Having watched many demonstrations by Barbara Gray on how to do this, I think I have finally mastered the technique (Not as well as her, of course, but with a lot more practice I will get there).
I think, if I remember rightly, that this was done with Adirondack inks and very gently coloured in with the same inks using a damp brush so as not to make the outline shapes run.

Tree Card

Another craft item I make a lot of use of are Gimmer Mists. They make such beautiful backgrounds with just a hint of a shimmer. Here an A4 piece of white card was spritzed with 3 or 4 colours to give an uneven coverage allowing some of the white still to show through. The tree is from Elusive Images Design a Tree where you have the "naked" tree and add the foliage and flowers as you see fit. The sentiment was stamped (also an EI stamp) onto an off cut of the spritzed card and after this was attached to some silver mirror card and a knotted pale green ribbon added, it was raised up on foam pads to give some extra texture to the completed card.

Purple Card

For this card I used my other favoutite brand of stamps - Clarity. They may be a bit expensive but they are worth every penny.The base card is a piece of A4 purple card folded to make A5. This was stamped on the front and back with two sizes of "Leafy Swirl" stamp and left to dry. A piece of A6 silk coated white card had alcohol inks applied in various colours and then a small amount of gold mixative added for some subtle glitz. The front panel was brayered with ink from a Big and Juicy pad and then it was splashed with water to lift spots of the ink to add a bit of texture to an otherwise flat background. The image was stamped in Black Stazon and when dry white highlights were added using a white Sakura pen. Out came the Nesties (what would I do without them) to cut the front panel and a black surround. Everything was layered onto the purple card and a white insert was added which had borders stamped with the "Leafy Swirl" stamp.

Flower Card

A more unusual card for me, this one. The backing paper is made from kitchen towel that was used to mop up after I was preparing a whole load of background cards with glimmer mists. Hence the colours are all mixed and run together. This, when dry was attached to a white backing card using Modge Podge. The flowers are made from gold UTEE which was melted and poured onto a non-stick mat before impressing a lovely daisy stamp (Judikins - Carol's cube if I remember rightly). The top and bottom flowers, when cool, were rubbed over with red wax to give a hint of red, the middle one was left au naturel. These were then mounted onto the layered card with a length of pink/blue glittery ribbon. The word "flower" was made from coated chipboard letters, coloured with alcohol inks and gold swirls added with a gold pen. I have to say that the colours are more vivid than shown in the photograph. I obviously need to practice taking pictures!

And a totally different look on this one

This one varied the base card colour by using black instead of white, and seen in the flesh, the waxes are metallic and pearlised which give a totally different look to what is effectively the same subject matter but it makes it into a night picture with a moon.

Contrasting Encaustic Art

It is amazing what a difference colour makes. This is nearly the same scene as I posted this morning but just by varying the colour of the wax you get a very different effect.

Encaustic Art for a Change

My other love, apart from my partner Keith and papercrafting, is Encasutic Art. There is something very satisfying about taking a piece of glossy coated card, some coloured waxes and a small iron and within minutes coming out with a work of art. Now, I cannot draw or paint to save my life but with this equipment I can create something and feel good about it. This particular piece is A4 in size - start small on A6 and work up. I have ventured as far as A3 but have not yet taken the bull by the horns to try the next size up.

More boxes

Following on from my other post this morning, here are some more of the boxes.

Sunday - nearly a week since my last entry

Well, I don't know where this week went. Three days of having the quality auditors in at work made it go quite fast, I suppose. No time for crafting though as I was worn out by the time I got home. I made up for it this morning by completing the embellishment of some gift boxes that I have been making. There are a variety of emballishments from my own polymer clay ones, the patterns made with rubber stamps and then cut out with small cookie cutters. Then there stamped and coloured acetate butterflies, butterflies on card stamped and coloured with Promarkers and various flowers cut with Nesties which were coloured with inks ans layerd with silicone glue for that 3D effect. All the boxes started out as flat sheets of card which were decorated with stamps, and with glimmer mists and screens.

Another canvas board project

Well, here we are, Monday again. That's it. No crafting for me today. Off to work I go. Still, I thought I would steal time to up-load another project. This is very similar to the previous one with the background being painted at the same time. Whilst the stamps are different, they are still by Elusive Images. No foiling this time but I have used the seed beads again as they give a nice bit of texture and shine.

The crafting I like

Paper crafting is the basis of my crafting likes. I am also getting into Mixed Media projects. I love rubber stamping and find that more and more I am erring towards two stamp manufacturers - Elusive Images and Clarity Stamps. They may not be the cheapest but to me they are the best. Here is an example of one of my projects. This is on canvas board with acrylic paint for the background, Elusive Images stamps for the trees and sentiment and then it is set off with gold foiling and seed beads.

That Sunday Feeling

The morning after the day before. Yesterday was my first craft fair this year. I have been a bit slow to get going. It was at Abergavenny on a pretty good day, weather wise, and it was the day of the Carnival and some big cycle race or other. I didn't take too much notice of the latter as it definitely is not my thing. There were a lot of people around but according to some of the regulars it was a moderate day for takings. At least I made a profit so more than covered the costs. Not bad for the first one of the year. I never thought, I should have taken my camera so the I could post a picture of my stall. It was nice and colourful which is a good thing. I will take a picture next time to show you all.