Here is my first Christmas make of 2015! I was going to make a card but as the design progressed I decided to make a wall hanging. This was great fun to make, and I used several different techniques and textures. The stamps and dies are from Sheena Douglass' Festive Fancies Perfect Partners range. I used Aqua Tint Inks to colour, gilding wax, Sheena Douglass embossing folders and stencil,black Versafine ink, black embossing powder, heat resistant acetate, metallic gold acrylic paint, Distress Inks Mowed Lawn and Vintage Photo. I began by sponging the Aqua Tints all over a piece of white card. When dry I used brown ink through the stencil, then embossed the panel through a machine. I added gilding wax to the raised pattern and around the edges of the panel, then matted it onto black card with foam pads for extra height and layered it onto cream linen textured card. Next I took 4 layers of copy paper and die cut the trailing ivy leaves. I painted them with Aqua Tints and stamped the ivy leaves onto the die cuts. I then embossed a piece of pearlescent green card in a holly leaf folder. I cut out a couple of the sprigs, added gilding wax and painted the berries. Taking a piece of cardboard I tore the top layer off around the edges to give a distressed look. I then painted it gold. When dry I attached the decorated panel to the gold board. I added the holly and ivy leaves with dimensional glue around the edges of the panel. I stamped the corner images and a sentiment onto acetate in black ink and heat embossed with black powder, then turned the images over and coloured the leaves with Pro markers. I then painted over the coloured leaves with white Gesso to make the colours stand out more. When dry I cut the images out and attached the corners to the gold panel, and the sentiment to the centre of the focal panel. I then put two holes and eyelets at the top of the gold panel and threaded some Bakers Twine through. I think this design works well as a home decor project, or scaled down as a card.
This piece of artwork is another in my series of homages to Tolkein's Middle Earth. In this piece I wanted to create a dark, sinister woodland to represent Mirkwood with a lone hobbit or elven child walking through it. I'm really pleased with the result; although the stamp used for focal character was not necessarily designed to be a hobbit, I think it works really well in this piece. I have used stamps by Sheena Douglass and Creative Expressions; a couple of Sheena Douglass stencils; some dies by Tattered Lace and Spellbinders, Aqua Tints, Distress Inks, Lumier Silks, and gold gilding wax. The main panel started as a piece of white card. I stamped the 'Little Red' image in the centre using black Versafine ink, then heat embossed with clear powder. I then painted the image with Pebeo Drawing Gum to mask it. I stamped some branches up one side and across the top of the panel, heat embossed them then painted them with the gum. Next I covered the whole panel with Aqua Tints from the 'Beautifully Grunge' set, blending each colour into the next. I added a path for my hobbit to walk along. Using a stencil of sunrays I sponged water through it and dried with kitchen paper to create faux bleached rays of light emanating from the lantern. Using Vintage Photo DI I stencilled the forest across the top two thirds of the panel. I then stamped images of branches around the the edges of the panel in black ink and heat embossed them. In the bottom two corners I stamped images of brambles in the same way. I coloured the flowers and leaves of the brambles with Silk paints in dark rich shades. Using the sunrays stencil again I placed it over the faux bleached rays, then slightly offset it and sponged gold Aqua Tint through it. I rubbed the drawing gum off the branches and painted them with Silk paint. Finally it was time to reveal my focal character by removing the drawing gum. I wanted a very muted green for the cloak so I added some black. Using a fine black liner pen I turned 'Little Red's' skirt into breeches and coloured the gap as part of the path. I used Pro-marker pens for the skin, adding grey to give a muted, shaded effect. When all the colouring was finished I added Black Soot DI around the outer edges of the panel to make it even darker and draw the eye in. Using die cuts and black card I cut two leafy corners, several different leaves and pine cones. I added gilding wax to the die cuts and assembled them on to the panel to frame the artwork. I really love this piece of artwork as it enables me to pay my own tribute to my favourite literary classic.
This is a lovely piece of artwork that I made a few months ago in spring colours. I had some new stamps and paints to try out - and this is the result! The stamps are by Crafters Companion from their Textures range, and the paints are Pebeo Dyna paints. I have also used Blue Lagoon and SepiaVersafine ink; clear embossing powder; gold gilding wax and Holly stickles. I started with a thick piece of board and gave it a coat of white Gesso. Then using a sponge I applied the paints, one at a time, randomly over the board. The sponging effect added texture. I used the same technique on four stampboard squares. Next I stamped some tissue paper with one of the corner stamps and some script by Sheena Douglass and left it to dry. I then took a hessian texture stamp and stamped it around the edges of the background board, and heat embossed with clear powder. This is to add more texture. I placed the stampboard pieces together in a square and stamped them with a couple of the images from the stamp sets, then heat embossed them. I added a little gilding wax in places to highlight, and some stickles. I attached torn pieces of the stamped tissue paper on two corners of the background board and across the centre using Decopatch glue varnish. This adheres and seals the tissue, making it translucent so that the colours of the paints underneath can be seen . I then attached the stampboard tiles in the centre of the background panel, equally spaced apart, with strong glue. I then took some buttons and wooden embellishments. I coloured the birds with watered down Dyna paints and edged them with gilding wax. I coloured the watering can and cage with gilding waxes and stickles. Two of the buttons were already patterned, I added blue gilding wax to a textured button, and covered another with tissue( for texture) and added gilding wax. I then attached the buttons down one side of the board and added stickles to the centres. I threaded some bakers twine through the top of the cage and the key, then attached the remaining embellishments to the artwork. I created this piece just for fun but I think it would make a lovely wall hanging.
