Punky Pistol

Hi and welcome to my blog today  :)   I've got a really fun project to share with you that I made recently.  I went to a local Steampunk event with friends and we decided to go 'armed' lol!  My friend bought us a plastic toy water pistol each to 'steampunk' and we both had a lot of fun doing it! 

I have used black gesso, silver, gold and copper paints and gilding waxes, dies from my stash, texture paste, black and Kraft card, liquid pearls, acetate, glow paint and metallic markers.

I began by painting the water pistol with a couple of coats of black gesso.

I had quite a few cogs, keys and so on already die cut, but I decided to cut a few more smaller ones as they would be more useful.  I wanted the gun to have an old, worn distressed look so I needed to age the pieces I would put on it.  I added texture paste to some of the pieces before using the waxes on them.  I added a mixture of white and teal Aquatints to the parts where the texture paste was to create a verdigris effect.

I then took a piece of black card and embossed it in a folder from my stash.  I painted it with a pearly slate colour and added silver gilding wax, to give it a sheet metal look.  

I used waxes, paints and pens to add metallic parts and a distressed metal effect.  I then began attaching the pieces using a glue gun.  I stamped some images onto acetate and cut around them before adding them.  I coloured the light bulbs with a coat of glow paint and a coat of acrylic.  I wanted the bulbs to glow in the dark!  
  

I then cut the embossed panel into pieces then attached it to the handle.  I wanted it to look like several pieces of sheet metal had been used to make the handle.  I used the waste circles from some of the cogs to create rivets, holding the sheet metal pieces together.  

 I added Pewter liquid pearls to create tiny spikes in a few places and that was my gun finished!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself creating this project, and I received a lot of compliments on it at the event too.  It certainly doesn't look like a plastic water pistol any more lol!
Thank you for popping by today, I hope you've enjoyed this post and will visit here again soon  :)
  

Our Lady of the Woods

Hello and welcome to my blog  :)  Today I'm sharing one of my fairy samples from the Chocolate Baroque tv shows.  I have used stamps from the Fantasy Castles and March Fairy sets; Aztec Paints, Distress Inks, watercolour inks, glitter and a stencil from my stash.

As soon as I saw this fairy stamp she made me think of Lady Galadriel and Lorien.  As you will know if you've visited my blog before I am a HUGE Tolkein and Middle Earth fan!  I have already created a couple of pieces of artwork with a Middle Earth theme and this one will make a lovely addition.  So this card is my own version of Galadriel walking through Lorien.  I started by stamping a castle and some florals then masking them.

I washed over the card with Aztec paints, giving the background a lovely sheen.  I then placed a tree stencil over the top and inked through with DI.  When it was all dry I removed the masking fluid.

I coloured the castle and flowers with watercolour inks, and added a little glitter.  You HAVE to have glitter with fairies and fantasy - don't you lol?!

I blended DI around the edges of the panel and matted it onto black card.  I placed stamped copy paper images around the edges of the base card to decide where to put them.  I stamped the fairy and painted her.  I removed the wings and coloured her with alcohol pens and Aztec paints, then added glitter.

I stamped several images around the edges of the base card with DIs.  I then attached the panel to the card, and added the lady in 3D.  

I'm really pleased with this card, it's just how I wanted it to turn out!  This design has managed to capture the ethereal feel that I wanted, like a magical misty forest.I hope Galadriel would approve!  
Thank you for visiting my blog today, I hope you've enjoyed this post and that you'll pop by again soon  :)

Patchwork Garden

Hello and welcome to my blog  :)  I'm sharing another of my tv samples for Chocolate Baroque today, featuring their beautiful Patchwork Butterfly stamp set with a sentiment from the Words of Love set.  I have also used Mica powders, black embossing powder, pearl paints, and liquid pearls.

I created the background panel by stamping the silhouette floral panel onto black card with Versamark ink, then I brushed Mica powders over the image.  I fixed the powders with hairspray.  

I cut the panel out leaving a small border of black card.  I then attached it to a white base card.

I stamped a swirl in black ink then embossed it in clear powder.  I added dots with liquid pearls around the swirl.  I then stamped a sentiment onto black card, brushed it with Mica powders, then cut it out leaving a small border again.  I then attached it to the card.

I stamped and embossed a butterfly onto black card, then painted it with pearl paints and cut it out. 

I repeated the process with a second butterfly, then attached both of them to the card.

This is one of my favourite of all my samples for these stamps!  I love using the Mica powders and I think they really showcase the background panel.  The liquid pearls really accentuate the lovely swirl as well.  I'm so pleased with the way this card has turned out, and I think this design would suit a lot of occasions.  
Thank you for visiting my blog today, I hope you've enjoyed this post and you'll come back soon  :) 

Butterfly Kisses

Hi there, welcome to my blog  :)  Today I am sharing one of my recent tv samples created with beautiful Chocolate Baroque stamps.  I have used the Butterfly Blush, Just Butterflies, Patchwork Butterfly and Tangled Peacock sets, the Butterfly stencils; Distress Inks, Mica powders, white gel pen, Versamark ink.

I created the background panel by blending Distress inks onto a piece of white card.  I then used DI through the stencil to position the butterflies.  I dotted around the three large butterflies with a white gel pen.

Next I stamped the large silhouette butterfly that matches the stencilled ones onto white card with Versamark ink then brushed Mica powders over the ink.  I then inked up a stamp from the Tangled Peacock set and kiss stamped the butterfly, removing some of the Mica powders to reveal the pattern.  I repeated this technique twice, once on white card and once on black.  I used hairspray to fix the powders then cut the butterflies out.  

I took a white base card and stamped one of the butterflies from the Just Butterflies set around the edges of the card with DI and blended some ink as well.  

I stamped the Irish Blessing from the Patchwork Butterfly set with DI onto the background panel, then matted and layered it onto the base card.  

I shaped the butterflies and attached them to the card then added some gems to the bodies.

I love this card, it turned out even better than I thought it would!  The colours work really well together and the design is a great worker card for lots of occasions.  
Thank you for visiting my blog today, I hope you like this post and will pop in again soon  :)  

Rustic Spring Tag

Hello and welcome to my blog  :)  I'm sharing a piece of tag art with you today which I created as the third of my GDT posts on the Chocolate Baroque DT blog.  I love painting in the folk art style, and this stamp is perfect.  I have used stamps from the Breath of Spring set; Pebeo Deco acrylic paints, black Versafine ink, Distress ink, gold gilding wax and embossing powder.

I decided to practice on a piece of scrap card first.  I stamped the large floral image in black ink, and dried it thoroughly.  I then chose my colours.  I decided to use a technique in folk art called dotting, as well as comma strokes and long strokes.  Dotting is done using a ball tool dipped into paint, and dotted onto card.  I started with pink for the petals, then sepia for the centres.  These Pebeo paints are great for folk art as they are runnier than normal acrylics.  

The dotting technique doesn't show all the tiny details but I think it really works with this stamp. 

I wanted to make the tag quite rustic so I created a crackle background using PVA glue and paint. I painted the tag with a dark coloured acrylic - in this case purple - then dried it with a heat gun.  I painted a coat of PVA glue on top then partially dried that.  I used some left over emulsion paint over the top then used the heat gun again.  As the paint dries it reacts with the glue and cracks appear, giving the effect of old dried cracked paint.  The colour from the first coat shows through the cracks.

As usual I stamped and cut the images out of copy paper and arranged my composition before stamping onto the tag in black ink.  

I then painted the image using the dotting technique.  I chose to paint the flowers blue this time.  I put a dot at the end of the petal with a medium ball tool and dragged the paint a little to create a petal shape. I used sepia for the centres again, and dotted around the outside of the flower as well.  Then I painted the foliage with a mid green, added shading with a darker tone, and dotted around the bottom of the flowers.  

I blended DI around the edges of the tag then embossed some swirly foliage in gold at the top and bottom of the tag. 

  

I blended gold gilding wax around the edges of the tag.

I added a blue ribbon from my stash, to compliment the flowers.  I then stamped the sentiment and embossed it in gold.  

I'm very pleased with this piece.  The stamp wasn't designed for folk art but it has worked  really well.  It is such a beautiful stamp in it's own right, and I wanted to use it in a different way.  I think this is a lovely gift or keepsake to give to anyone, or a beautiful piece of home decor for yourself!

Thank you for popping in today, I hope that you've enjoyed this post and to see you here again soon  :)