Birds of a Feather

This is a card I have made with my other new gorgeous Visible Image stamps, it is a birthday card for my youngest daughter this month!  The stamps are Behind Every Mask set , I have used Aqua Tints, Distress Inks and Gilding wax to colour, black and white card, die cuts and salt.  I took a piece of white card and painted three colours of Aqua Tints all over the card as a wash, graduating and blending the colours.  While the inks were still wet I sprinkled rock salt over them and spritzed a little water over the salt to make sure it would react with the wet inks.  I left the panel to dry naturally as that  gives the best results, then I rubbed all the salt off to reveal the beautiful patterns on the background panel.  I blended Black Soot DI around the edges of the panel then matted it onto black card.  I blended Wilted Violet around the edges of a white base card and layered the bp onto it.  I then stamped the images onto acetate using black Versafine and heat embossed them with black powder.   I cut the images out, and painted the whites of the eyes with white acrylic paint on the back of the acetate.   Next I die cut some feathers, two from the same card as the bp, two from black card, and gilded the edges with silver wax.  I then attached the stamped images and the feathers to the card with dimensional glue.  I really love this design - I love the vibrant colours, the salt patterns, the feathers and of course the beautiful stamps!  I think this is a brilliant worker card for many different occasions.  

Windy Springtime

This is the card I have made for my husband's birthday this year, it is also my first creation with my new GORGEOUS Visible Image stamps!  These are the first VI stamps  I have bought - but they definately won't be the last!  I also used a new stencil that called out to be partnered with these stamps.  I have used the 'Colours of the Wind' stamps by Visible Image; a couple of leaf stamps from my stash; Aqua Tints; Onyx Black Versafine Ink; Black Soot Distress Ink; Tando Creative mini stencil Flourish; acetate; salt.   To create the background I used yellow and green Aqua Tints as a wash over a piece of white card, blending them together with a wet brush.  While the inks were still wet I sprinkled rock salt all over them, spritzing water on any dry areas and leaving the panel to dry naturally.  I took a piece of heatproof acetate and stamped the leaves and sentiment in black Versafine ink then heat embossed the images with black powder.  I then cut all the images out, keeping very close to the outlines.  When the salt was dry I rubbed it all off the panel to reveal the lovely random patterns it had made in the inks.  I then applied the black DI through the stencil several times across the panel to represent the wind blowing the leaves around.  I blended the DI around the edges of the panel, then matted it onto black card.  On a white base card I sponged some yellow ink around the edges, and layered the panel onto it.  To complete the design I attached all the images that were stamped onto acetate with dimensional glue.  I am delighted with the way this design has turned out, the salt background is so effective, and the stamps give it a bold, dramatic feel.  I think this design is an excellent worker card, good for male and female cards and for many occasions.  

Vintage Travels

This is a card I made for my youngest daughter when she went travelling recently.  I  wanted to create a 'Good Luck on your Travels' card with a vintage theme so I mixed stamps from my stash, some I've had for years and some that  were bought more recently.  The newer additions to my stash are from Crafter's Companion and Sheena Douglass; Time Flies from the Times Gone By collection, and City in the Clouds from the A Little Bit Magical collection.  I used Distress Inks: Mustard Seed, Vintage Photo and Walnut stain, and Vintage Sepia Versafine ink.   To create the background panel I took a piece of white card and blended the DI's all over it.  I gave the panel a quick blast with a heat gun then used water to faux bleach it.  I then stamped the image of a map using the Vintage Sepia ink,  stamped several travel related words randomly over the panel and blended Walnut Stain DI around the edges.  I matted the panel onto dark card and attached it to the base card.  On another piece of white card I stamped several images in Versafine ink and heat embossed them in clear powder.  I used DI to colour the images before cutting them out, and added Glossy Accents to the compass and fobwatch to represent  the glass covers.  When dry I attached all the embellishments to the card with dimensional glue.  I then took a piece of acetate and stamped the word 'Journey' and heat embossed with gold powder before cutting it out and attaching to the card.   I really like this card, it has the vintage feel that I wanted and I like the 'old map' background panel.  

Peacock in the Moonlight

Today I have another entry to the CB colour challenge to share http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/.   This is a design similar to one I have done before but using different stamps and colours, but I love the concept of a bird  with a big moon behind it and the garden bathed in moonlight.  I have used stamps from CB's Poppy Meadow, Tangled Peacock, and  Punky Flowers sets; Pebeo Dyna paints and H2o's; Majestic Blue Versafine ink; die cuts and an embossing folder.   I started with the background panel, and stamped the flowers across the bottom half of the panel in Vesafine ink then heat embossed them with clear powder.  Next I painted them with H2o's to give them a lustrous shimmer.  Then on a piece of black card I stamped and heat embossed the Peacock image as before.  I used Dyna  paints because they are iridescent and change colour depending on the light like real peacock feathers, and the colours I used work best on black card.  I have tried to show this by doubling up the photos using different lights. I then cut the peacock out, and repeated this process with the blossoms on the branch.   Next I took a piece of white Centura Pearl card  and die cut a circle, then I embossed it with clouds in a folder.  I sponged Dyna paints around the edges of the moon to emphasize the texture and add shadows.  I die cut some branches and a leafy swirl from black card, and painted the leaves.  I sponged the paint around the edges of the panel and matted it onto black card, then sponged paint around those edges.   On a piece of contrasting card I stamped an image of a peacock feather with Dyna paint around the edges to create a border then attached the background panel to it.  I then inked around the edges, and attached it to a base card.  Time to assemble the scene.  I attached the moon first, then the branches and Peacock, adding the extra blossoms to the branches.  I added the leafy swirl to one of the corners.   I love this card, and the way the paints seem to make the images 'glow'.  This is a lovely worker card suitable for lots of occasions. 

Blue Inspiration

This is my second entry to the Chocolate Baroque colour challenge #21  http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/.  I find the colours of this challenge so inspiring and so many ideas for projects are running around in my head!  I decided to make a very large tag wall hanging for this entry, about A4 size.  I used the CB Poppy Meadow stamp set again; Distress inks - Wilted Violet, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean; H2o paints; Versafine Majestic Blue ink; stamps from CB Words of Inspiration and Butterfly Thistle; die cuts and an embossing folder.
Starting as usual with the background panel I blended the DI's onto white card.  I then used a small stamp to randomly faux bleach with water, then over stamped the image in blue ink.  Next I stamped another small image in the violet ink randomly over the panel, then blended the ink around the edges of the panel.  I matted the panel onto coordinating card, then edged that with blue ink.  On another piece of white card I stamped a large Poppy image twice in blue Versafine ink and heat embossed in clear powder.  Next I painted the images with the H2o paints, and cut them out when dry.  I stamped two words onto white card and heat embossed as before.  I painted over the words with Peacock Feathers DI and cut around them, then blended violet ink around the edges.  I painted a spare piece of white card with one of the H2o paints and die cut a butterfly from it.  Next I stamped a butterfly onto more white card and heat embossed as before, then painted it with DI's and water before cutting it out.  I then die cut some letters from the same card as the mat for the background panel and edged them with blue ink.  To create the tag I shaped the top of a piece of white card by drawing around a pot and cutting freehand.  I then embossed it in a folder and blended violet ink around the edges.  I attached the tag to some thick card to strengthen it  and shaped the top.   I punched two holes in the top of the tag and threaded some ribbon through.  I attached the panel to the tag with strong glue, then attached the Poppies, butterflies and words with dimensional glue.  I'm really pleased with this project, it's a really pretty piece of Home Decor that could be made to suit any colour scheme.   

Poppies in Salt

This is my first entry to Chocolate Baroque's colour challenge #21.  I absolutely LOVE this colour combo, and I had great fun creating this card.  I bought some new CB stamps with my winner's voucher and this was the perfect opportunity to try them out!  I have used one image from the Poppy Meadow stamp set as the main focus of the piece, and part of another for embellishments.  I also used Aqua Tints, glitters and salt, and a new Tando Creative stencil.  I also used Majestic Blue Versafine ink.  On a piece of white card I created a colour wash with the Aqua Tints, blending the colours into each other.  I then sprinkled salt all over the wet card spritzing with water any areas that seemed to have already dried.  I left the background panel to dry naturally.  When it was dry I rubbed the salt off the panel revealing the beautiful random patterns that had been created.  I then stamped the main focal image twice using the Versafine ink.  I stamped it two more times onto another piece of white card and heat embossed with clear powder.  Next I painted the Poppy seed pods and leaves, then fussy cut them without the fine grasses.  I added glitter (multi, green and purple) to highlight all the images, then attached the seed pod cut outs with dimensional glue as 3D images.  I matted the panel onto black card then layered it onto a white base card.  I stamped part of another image from the set onto white card 3 times and heat embossed as before, then painted, glittered and fussy cut the three small Poppy flowers.  I used two strips of the background panel that I had trimmed off earlier to create a band across the  card near the bottom, matting it onto black card.  I then attached the flowers to the band with dimensional glue.  I love these stamps, they're so delicate and detailed.  I love this card for the mix of the beautiful stamps and the gorgeous patterns from the salt.  This card is great for a special birthday, get well and a lot of other occasions too.

A Cottage Garden Bookcase

This is the largest project I have attempted so far.  I decided to 'upcycle' an old bookcase that originally belonged to my parents, so it's as old as I am!  I had some new Paint Fusion stamps that I had been waiting to play with, and I wanted to coordinate the bookcase with our newly decorated hall and stairs.  This is the second time that I've 'upcycled' this bookcase, and probably the last.  It took a whole weekend to do this project, mainly because there is a lot of drying time involved, and obviously a LOT of painting!  I have used stamps by Sheena Douglass from her Paint Fusion range; acrylic paints;  emulsion paint; PVA glue.  I mixed some green, yellow and white acrylic paints to match the colour used in our hall.  This was my undercoat and I painted the whole bookcase with it.  When that coat was dry, I covered it with PVA glue.  As it dries the glue starts to crack and split, like old painted wood.  When it was almost dry and had formed a 'skin', I painted over the glue with a cream emulsion paint.  The green undercoat shows through the cracks, giving a vintage, shabby-chic look to the piece.  Next I decorated the top of the bookcase using the Paint Fusion technique, a mixture of stamping and folk-art painting.  I stamped the Lilac flowers and leaves, grouping them at the corners, then stamped the Ivy along the edges.  I then painted all the stamped images with acrylic paints.  When everything was dry I gave the whole piece a coat of clear varnish to protect the artwork.  This was the first time I had used these stamps and I am really pleased with the result.  The bookcase looks exactly how I wanted it to, breathing new life into an old favourite.