Tropically Funky Fish Tank

Happy New Year everyone!   Here is my first crafting project of 2015 and my first entry for the Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge 6, http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/.  I had the idea of creating a piece of artwork incorporating a tropical fish tank as soon as I saw these stamps before Christmas, I asked Father Christmas for them and he listened!  The stamps used are from the Steampunk Sea World and Funky Fish sets.  Distress inks used are Peacock Feathers, Mustard Seed, Squeezed Lemonade, Worn Lipstick, and Lettuce Adirondak ink.  The paints used are Viridian and Cobalt Blue acrylics, and Pearl White, Metalic Bronze, and Metalic Gold Lumiere.  I started by creating the smaller background panel using smooth white card, onto which I blended the blue and yellow DIs.  I spritzed some water onto my hand and flicked it randomly all over the panel, then blotted the drops with a tissue(faux bleaching).  I took an image of cogs (CB Steampunk Butterfly) and stamped it along the edges of the panel using the Lettuce ink, to represent gravel and sand in the bottom of the fish tank.  I faux bleached parts of the cogs to add interest and highlights.  I then stamped the cogs and seaweed group centrally in the bottom third of the panel.  I faux bleached the image to remove some of the colour  then painted it using the DIs.  I also stamped the bubble machine and some additional bubbles in the same way, and faux bleached the bubbles.  I added glitter highlights to the cogs, seaweed and bubbles.  Next I took a brayer and loaded it with blue ink; then I scrumpled a piece of copy paper, flattened it back out and rolled the inky brayer over the paper which both reduces the amount of ink and picks up the texture onto the brayer.  I then rolled the brayer once over the background panel transferring the pattern and giving the effect of rippling water.  I repeated this process over the whole panel.  When dry I added Glossy Accents glaze to the bubbles.  I stamped the bubble machine (without bubbles), some fish and shrimps and the galleon onto white card in clear Versamark ink and heat embossed with embossing powder - Midnight Teal Obsidian.  I coloured the images using a mixture of DIs and paints, then cut them out.  I then attached them using dimensional glue, a 3D effect.  I left the image of cogs and seaweed flat on the panel to give perspective as if they are at the back of the fish tank.  I applied all the other images in 3D so they appear nearer the front of the tank.  I wrapped a sheet of acetate around the panel, scoring a fold line 2cm from the edge of the panel and fixing it to the back, creating a dome at the front.  Then I matted the panel onto black card, and cut out a lid for the tank from the same card.  I rubbed gilding wax around the edges of the lid to create highlights.  The larger background panel is made from a piece of cardboard cut to make a frame  around the fish tank.  I painted it with acrylic paints and when dry I placed a stencil over the corners and spritzed with gold glimmer mist to create a pattern, then attached the fish tank.   I  die cut some cogs out of black card and added glitter highlights, then attached them to the finished artwork.  I am really happy with the way this project turned out, and it was a great way to christen my new stamps! 

Smaug's Lair

This dramatic card is one that I made for a friend's birthday recently.  We are all huge fans of Tolkein's Middle Earth tales, and I wanted to make another tribute to his work.  My inspiration is from 'The Hobbit', when Smaug the dragon is awakened from his slumber in the Lonely Mountain.  There is even a pile of gold under him!  The stamps and embossing folder used are from Sheena Douglass; Ancient Arches stamp and embossing folder, and Once there were Dragons stamp set.  Distress Inks Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Walnut; gold gilding wax; gold and bronze pearlescent paints; gold Rox.  I started with an 8" square white card and blended walnut DI around the edges.  I took a piece of smooth white card and stamped the ancient arches image with onyx black Versafine ink, then heat embossed it with clear powder.  I also stamped and embossed the dragon and the sentiment in the same way and set them aside for later.  I trimmed the stamped panel to size and blended distress inks onto the card, starting with the lightest colour first and graduating the colours to finish with the darkest.  Next I took a piece of dark brown card and embossed it using the Ancient Arches embossing folder in a machine.  I rubbed gold gilding wax gently over the raised image, then buffed it with a soft cloth.  I trimmed the embossed panel to size and then both panels were matted  onto contrasting card and layered onto the base card.  I painted the dragon in bronze and gold, and the flames with the same inks as before.  When dry I cut them out and shaped them with a ball tool.  I die cut the sentiment, embossed the panel then blended DI around the edges.  I then layered the sentiment panel onto the card front with dimensional glue, and attached the dragon and flames in the same way.  I am really pleased with this design. it's pretty much just as I wanted it to be.  The second design in my 'Homage To Middle Earth' series.   

Vintage Christmas

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These are the Christmas cards I made for 2014.  They were all made using papers and card printed from the Crafter's Companion Vintage Christmas CD Rom, and coordinating embossing folders.  I started with white 7" square cards and blended a little Distress ink around the edges.  I cut the backing papers to fit the front of the cards and leave a small border, and edged the papers with ink.   I used a Quickie Glue pen to add glitter highlights.  I printed some card with the patterns that coordinate with the embossing folders then embossed them through a machine.  On one of the cards I embossed a piece of kraft card and added glitter highlights to that as well.  All the panels were die cut, and the printed ones had gilding wax added to the raised images.  Distress Ink was blended around the edges.  I cut ribbons from other pieces of backing papers, and wrapped them around the panels. The toppers, focal embellishments and sentiment panels were printed and cut out, glittered  and added to the card fronts.  I love the vintage old fashioned  feel to this set, it reminds me of my gran's old Christmas decorations!  I was very behind with my Christmas cards this year and using this set from Crafter's Companion enabled me to get them all done in time! 

Contemporary Christmas Canvass

This is another entry to the Chocolate Baroque challenge  http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/, a canvass this time.   The stamps used are from CB Christmas Flourish set; the inks used are Brilliance Pearlescent Jade and Purple and Versafine Blue Lagoon.  I made the colours for the background by mixing acrylic paints titanium white, phthalo blue and rose madder. I also used texture paste, sparkle paste, Starry Night stickles;Treasure Silver gilding wax; Midnight Teal Obsidian embossing powder; ribbons; papers from the Artylicious CD Rom; gems.  The canvass was already coated with gesso, so I added some texture paste through a stencil and left it to dry.  I mixed some pink paint and started in  a top corner, adding more red to deepen the shade and blue to graduate into purple, making it really dark  as it gets to the other side.  When the canvass was dry I mixed some more paint and stamped a corner image in the top and bottom corners on one side.  I then stamped a tree image 3 times along the bottom of the canvass in Jade ink and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder to help define them and add texture.  I rubbed silver gilding wax over the texture paste  area, then added Cosmic Shimmer Silver Pearl sparkle paste through the same stencil.  While that was drying I stamped the large holly swirl image from the set onto heat resistant acetate, using Versafine ink and then heat embossed it with coloured powder.  I added stickles to the berries on all the holly swirl images, and tiny gems on top.  I put larger gems on the tree tops, and cut out the embossed image from the acetate.  I stamped some Christmas text randomly over the canvass in jade ink, then I wrapped strips of ribbon, lace and fibre around the canvass, securing them with double sided tape.  Next I used dimensional glue to attach the acetate topper to the ribbons.  I die cut some flowers of various sizes out of papers from the Season's Greetings CD rom, edged the petals with purple ink, then layered them up.  I attached the flowers to the canvass with dimensional glue and added gems to their centres.  A Christmas canvass in contemporary colours that I really enjoyed making!    

Summer Thistles

This is a card I've made for the latest Chocolate Baroque challenge  http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/  using their chosen colour pallet. The stamps used are from the CB Thistle Butterfly set.  I have used Distress Inks Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, and Dusty Concord; Versafine ink Blue Lagoon; Cosmic Shimmer mister spray Purple Violet; H2O paints  Luv-u-Pink, Moonbeams, Mediterranean Blue, Courageous Rose, and Twilight; Starry night Stickles, white acrylic paint and a white watercolour pencil.  I took some smooth white card and blended the DIs, then I sprayed it with the Cosmic Shimmer mist.  When it was dry I stamped the large image from the set centrally on the panel using Versafine ink.  I then stamped the smaller thistle image several times along the bottom of the panel.  I used a brush and some water to faux bleach the stamped images, then coloured them with H2O paints.  They give the images a lovely pearlescent sheen.  The thistle stamens looked a bit dull so I added dots of Moonbeams paint and Stickles.  I drew around the outline of the images with a white watercolour pencil, and added white dots to the butterflies with acrylic paint to make them pop.   I stamped a separate butterfly on white card, heat embossed and coloured it as before.  Then I cut it out and shaped it.  I layered the panel onto some purple card and attached the butterfly with dimensional glue.  It reminds me of a hot, hazy, summers evening, and I think this design is a good worker card.     

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My First Advent Calendar

This is a lovely project that I recently made for my youngest grandson, who was a year old in October.  I have never made an Advent Calendar before, I love decorating MDF and wooden home decor products so I thought I'd have a go.  I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, and my grandson loves it!  The Advent Calendar is from Hobbycraft, as are the papers used to decorate the drawers,and the wooden numbers.   I have used acrylic paints - blue, red, silver and white; Brilliance inks sky blue and rocket red; assorted stamps from Crafters Companion, Sheena Douglass, Inky Doodles and some free stamps that came with a magazine.  I also used snowflake dies from Xcut and Memory Box with pearlescent papers.  I used Pro Markers to colour some images and silver gilding wax to finish off the drawers.  So to begin with I painted the whole thing with a couple of coats of white Gesso, to seal the MDF and give a smooth base to work on.  I then painted the house white and  the roof blue.  I painted the chimney red and put 'cement' seams on in white paint, giving the impression of bricks.  I painted the drawers white and blue alternately.  Next I cut the Christmas papers to fit the front of the drawers.  I stuck them on with Pinflair Book Binder glue, and painted the handles with silver acrylic paint.  I edged the drawers with silver gilding wax.  Lastly I put the wooden numbers on to the drawers.  I stamped some reindeer images onto smooth white card using blue ink and heat embossed them with clear powder, then cut them out.  I did the same with the other images, colouring the gingerbread men and Father Christmas images with Pro markers.  I stamped some border images onto the back of the house in blue and red Brilliance ink.  I die cut several snowflake shapes of various sizes out of glitter and pearlescent papers.  I then added all the stamped images and snowflakes to decorate and embellish the house.  I absolutely loved making this project, and I will certainly be making more!

Good News!

I have been lucky enough to make the top three in the Chocolate Baroque Challenge!!  I am so excited!  My winning entry is the 'Gothic Tag', which I entered for challenge number 4.  I am having difficulty loading the badge onto my blog, so this post will have to do for now.  I have been away for a few weeks but I have several projects to add so watch this space!!