This is my first entry to the Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge #23 http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/. We have some lovely colours to play with again, and I couldn't wait to get stuck in! For this card I have used stamps from Punky Flowers, Punky Hearts and Steampunk Butterfly; Aqua Tints; Dusty Concord and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink; pink acrylic paint. I started with a piece of white card and stamped a lovely Deco style flower twice, then heat embossed the images in black. As I wanted to make them the focal images I used drawing gum to mask the flowers and let it dry. I used Aqua Tints to create a wash as a base for the background, then used a wet sponge randomly to remove some colour and add texture. I then stamped a solid flower several times with DI. On the top third of the panel I stamped a hearts background image, first in pink acrylic ( second generation) then in DI ( second and third generation). Next I added some pink paint to the solid flowers as highlights, and stamped some Gothic style corners to the top of the card. Having finished the background I rubbed the drawing gum off the first images ready to paint. I used the tints and the acrylic paint to colour them. I stamped a border from the Peacock Parade set onto some acetate and heat embossed it with Midnight Sapphire Obsidian powder. Then I stamped a butterfly onto white card and heat embossed with black powder. I painted it with tints and cut it out. I blended DI around the edges of the panel, stamped a sentiment, then attached the panel onto a black base card. I attached the butterfly with dimensional glue to complete the design. I really enjoyed creating this card, I love these colours and the stamps. I think this lovely design will suit several occasions, and could be adapted for a male card too.
This is a similar post to yesterdays in that I've created a wall plaque and matching card, but this time I have chosen a Fairy theme for Jessie. I created the plaque first and then the card. For this project I have used stamps from Sheena Douglass' 'A Little Bit Sketchy' collection and Crafter's Companion Textures collection; Lavinia Stamps fairy; acrylic paints; H2O's; Brilliance Inks; gold Aqua Tint; As before I up-cycled a Christmas heart by sanding it lightly, painting it in white Gesso then in pink acrylic. I stamped several different sizes of fairies onto the plaque using Brilliance inks, and a couple of dandelion images. On a piece of white card I stamped a fairy and toadstools, then heat embossed them. I painted them with pearlescent acrylics and H2O's then cut them out. Next I die cut a fairy from purple cardstock, painted her hair and parts of her wings and added glitter. I added glitter to the other fairy, die cut some foliage from Kraft card and added glitter. I used air drying clay and some moulds to make the letters and butterflies, painted them pink and gold and added glitter. I then sprayed all the pieces with varnish before assembling the artwork, attaching the embellishments with dimensional glue. For the card I used glitter card for the focal panel, stamping some fairies and dandelions in Brilliance inks onto it. I die cut the fairy out of purple cardstock and added glitter. I also die cut the sentiment and letters, then attached them all to the panel. I matted the panel onto purple card, then layered it onto the base card which I had already stamped with a dandelion border. These projects have been a delight to create, and they can be easily adapted for either boys or girls of any age.
I have two great nieces with birthdays in May, so I wanted to create something special for them and to personalise them. I decided on a wall plaque and matching card for each of them. Sophia is really into Princess' at the moment, so the theme was easy. I have used stamps from Sheena Douglass' 'A little Bit Magical' collection; acrylic paints; H20 paints; Distress Inks; Brilliance Inks; Gold Aqua Tint; Pro Markers; air drying lightweight clay and a mould and various dies. To create the plaque I started with a wooden Christmas heart which was in my stash, and sanded it lightly to provide a key for the paint. I gave it a coat of white Gesso on both sides, then two coats of pink acrylic. When that was dry I sponged some pearlescent purple acrylic all over the front. On a piece of white card I stamped several images in black Versafine ink and heat embossed in black powder; a Princess, toadstools, brick walls and a butterfly. I painted the Princess and the butterfly with H2O's and pearlescent acrylic paints, using Pro Markers on the face and hair. The bricks were coloured with Pro Markers as well. I painted the toadstools with acrylics, then stamped some Ivy leaves in green Distress Ink. I then cut all the images out and added glitter to some of them. I used part of a border die to create a coronet for the Princess and attached it to her head. I took some clay and pressed it into an alphabet mould then left it to dry, painting it with pink acrylic and gold Aqua Tint afterwards. I added Crystal Lacquer to the leaves, painted a wooden floral embellishment and added glitter. When all the parts were dry I gave everything a coat of spray varnish to make it durable, and attached all the images to the plaque with dimensional glue. I used several of the same images to create the card, adding some die cut letters, number and sentiment. I think these stamps are perfect for creating Fairy tail themed projects - and the design works for both home décor and cards alike.
I haven't done any tag art for a while, so I chose it to create my second entry to the Chocolate Baroque Colour challenge #22. This is another Steampunk piece, but with an underwater twist. I have used stamps from CB Steampunk Funky Fish and Steampunk Sea World sets; Distress Inks Twisted Citron, Fossilised Amber, Rusty Hinge, Squeezed Lemonade; Pebeo Iridescent Gold Dyna paint; Tando Creative tag, and Flourish stencil. I started by painting the tag with a coat of white gesso. I then blended the green and yellow DI's onto the tag and let them dry. I stamped two seahorses in black ink and heat embossed them with black powder. On a piece of white card I did the same with a galleon and a group of sand, rocks and seaweed images. I then painted all the images with DI's, mixing in a little gold Dyna paint to add some shimmer in places. I cut out the images from the card. Next I stamped some bubbles onto the tag, and added ink through a stencil at the top to represent the wind. I attached the two card images to the tag with dimensional glue. I added some lovely fibres to complete the artwork. I've doubled up the photos again to show the different looks with and without a flash. I really enjoyed doing some tag art again, I shall definitely be doing more soon!
This is a lovely little canvass I've made for the Chocolate Baroque colour challenge #22 http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/. I love these colours and at first I was tempted to go down the Autumn route, but I thought I'd do something different this time. As you may have guessed I'm a Steampunk fan and have quite a few stamps and dies in that genre. For this artwork I have used stamps from the CB sets Punky Flowers and Steampunk Butterfly; various cog dies; DI's Twisted Citron, Fossilised Amber, and Rusty Hinge; acrylic paints in green, yellow ochre, lemon yellow; Dyna paint Iridescent gold; black Versafine ink; gilding waxes; sunburst stencil, Tando creative cogs stencil. I started by giving the canvass a coat of white gesso, when dry I stamped the lamp flowers directly onto it in black ink and heat embossed with black powder. I then painted the image with Pebeo Drawing Gum and let it dry, to mask the image. I used the acrylic paints to create a background like glowing lamplight . When that was dry I applied gold paint through the stencil, then when that was dry I added DI through the cog stencil. I used a corner stamp at the top of the canvass and heat embossed as before. I then stamped some cogs along the bottom and heat embossed them. I painted them with acrylics, mixing gold paint with a couple of the colours to create a metallic sheen on some of them. While that was drying I took some white card, stamped the butterfly and heat embossed it as before. I did the same with some flower images. I then cut them all out and painted them with DI's, mixing some gold paint in as highlights. I painted some more pieces of card with the DI's then die cut cogs in various sizes out of them. I added gilding waxes to some of the cogs to give them a metallic look. Next I rubbed off the drawing gum and painted the images with DI's, and added Glossy Accents to the lamps to make them look like bulbs. I added the painted die cut cogs, flowers and butterfly with dimensional glue, and blended black DI around the edges of the canvass. I'm really pleased with this artwork and I loved creating it. I have doubled up on photos, with and without a flash, to emphasize the metallic sheen.
Spring has finally sprung in our garden! So I took inspiration from the fresh colours on display whilst gardening at the weekend. I have used stamps, dies and stencils from Chocolate Baroque, Aqua Tints and Distress Inks to create this card. Starting with a piece of white card I dabbed the Aqua Tints (2 x green, yellow) randomly all over the card, spritzed it with water to ensure it is all wet, and sprinkled salt over it. On another piece of white card I stamped some images from the 'Fluttering Hearts' set in black ink and heat embossed them in black powder. I then painted all the images with Aqua Tints and DI's (Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron and Picked Rasberry). I added some extra interest with a white pen and some glitter, then cut them all out. The background panel was dry by now so I rubbed the salt off revealing beautiful random patterns that look like bursts of colour, resembling the way the garden is bursting into bloom. I took a Tando Creative stencil - leaves - and applied two green DI's through it. I noticed that all the ferns in our garden were unfurling their leaves so I wanted to re-create this with the stencil, placing them along the bottom of the panel. Further up I used another Tando stencil (Flourish) and applied Fossilized Amber DI through it. The sun was shining in our garden so I used another stencil ( sunburst) to bring that to the piece, using Iridescent Gold Dyna paint. I painted some spare white card with each of the Aqua Tints, then die cut several sets of Crealies flower dies and some foliage out of the card. I applied DI's to the edges of all the die cuts then layered the flowers up and added pearls to the flower centres. I then took some Kraft card and put it through a basket weave embossing folder. I added Picked Rasberry DI around the edges, and also around the edges of the background panel. I matted the bp onto the Kraft card and layered them onto the base card. I attached all the embellishments in 3D with dimensional glue to create my Spring design. I am really pleased with this card, it encapsulates all the elements of our Spring garden in a contemporary design.
I love mixed media art and I love Steampunk too, so I decided to mix the two and create a canvass. It also gave me an excuse to use some new stamps and some old favourites! I decided to make this canvass to compliment another one that I made recently (Lady Steampunk) using similar products.
I have used a new Sheena Douglass stamp 'Cogs' from her Torn collection plus stamps from her 'High Voltage' set; Pebeo Dyna Paints; H2o paints; Versafine black onyx ink; gold and silver gilding wax; dies; MDF and metal embellishments; a light bulb and acetate. The Dyna paints are iridescent, so I have included photos taken in different light settings to try and show this. I took a square canvass and gave it a coat of black gesso. When that was dry I sponged the Dyna paints randomly all over and set the canvass aside. I painted some MDF cogs, then die cut some cogs in various sizes out of scrap card, painted some and gilded others with the waxes. I added some gold, silver and copper paints to all the embellishments to give them a rusted distressed look. I also die cut a Steampunk butterfly and added gold and silver waxes. Next I stamped several images onto acetate in black ink and heat embossed them with black powder. Then I cut them out and painted them on the reverse side, except for the torn cogs image which I left clear. I painted the coil image with copper Dyna paint to resemble copper wire, and the anchor points at each end were coloured with gilding wax giving them a brassy look. The stamped light bulbs were painted with a bright yellow and the bases with copper. When the paint was all dry I painted over everything with white gesso to make the colours show through. One of the cogs that I die cut has four holes in the middle, which meant that I had four embossed discs of card. I added gilding wax and used them as faux rivets at each corner of the canvass. I also used a couple of washers 'borrowed' from Hubby's shed, adding paint as before. Next I stamped the torn image again and a 'High Voltage' sign onto Kraft card in black ink and heat embossed with black powder. I cut the sign out and painted it, then I cut just the torn edges from the main image and painted them to match the background. I then added silver and gold gilding wax to a small metal clock embellishment and attached it to one of the cogs. Time to assemble all the pieces. I put some crumpled tissue onto the canvass in the place I wanted the clear acetate cogs to go, and applied Decopatch to the canvass, attached the tissue and coated it on top with Decopatch again. This will enable the colours of the canvass to show through the tissue in a diffused way, and to make the clear cogs pop. I attached the acetate image with dimensional glue, then shaped the card torn edges and attached them over the acetate ones to create the effect of the actual canvass being torn. Once that image was in place I could build the artwork around it. I wanted it to look like the cogs were falling through the tear so I arranged them starting with the smallest cogs first, using various sizes of die cut and MDF cogs to add interest and texture. I love using 3D elements in my work, and different textures. Once I had arranged and attached all the cogs I added the acetate coil, putting the anchor points a little closer together so that the coil is raised. I attached the two stamped light bulbs either side of the coil to create the effect that they were lit up by the current and placed the sign underneath the coil. To complete the piece I attached the butterfly and a real light bulb. I'm really pleased with the result, and it looks great with the 'Lady Steampunk' canvass.
