Compendium of Curiosities 3 - Challenge 3

Hi all,

Challenge number three is the faux tea roses from page 65 of the Compendium of Curiosities.  Ive made flowers using several different methods and this is one of the easiest so far.  The lovely thing about this technique is you can make little tiny ones all the way up to big fat blowsy ones.  Well I set about making the flowers in blue as per the instructions of my daughter Caitlin as she decided that the finished project would be hers!

I used one of the large papier-mâché letters from Hobbycraft and embossed several sheets of white card using the Tim Holtz Riveted Metal texture fade then paper pieced them over the surface of the large letter.  I filled any gaps in the paper piecing with texture sand and allowed some of the sand to go over the surface to give more texture to the edges.  I then gessoed over the whole thing and allowed it to dry completely.

I painted the whole thing using a wash of paynes grey acrylic paint, then deco art quinacridone gold, this stuff is like liquid rust,  allowing the piece to dry between coats.  The next layer was a wash of deco art traditions blue green light again allowing this to dry.  Once this was dry I dabbled with neat  quinacridone gold and paynes grey to give more depth around the edges. Once this was dry a little dry brushing with gesso and I was a happy bunny!

The texture sand around the edges has given a lovely eroded look to some of the piece and the embossing shows really well with the dry brushed gesso.

The roses needed some foliage so I used the Tim Holtz die Garden Greens but trimmed all the leaves to make lots of thorns, these were cut out of textured silver foiled card along with some of the leaves from the tattered pinecone die.  Once I had attached the 'twigs' I placed the roses amongst them.  I also added a few metal leaves amongst the roses for a little more texture.

I think this has been my favourite challenge so far as I'm really getting into antiquing and rust at the moment, thanks again Linda for setting up these challenges, and thanks also to Inspiration Emporium for sponsoring the challenge.

Lyn

Compendium of curiosities challenge - challenge number 2

Hi all

Challenge number 2 is distress glitter, page 56 of the compendium .  Now,  as lots of people seem to be saying glitter is not really my thing, but distress glitter is a very soft glittery sparkle not all out in your face, so I must admit a liking for it.  However as I don't use it often I don't have many colours so I decided that the easiest way to do this would be to use inked or coloured card stock and rock candy distress glitter and then to ink over the top of it.  So here we go,

The MDF owl on a branch is from Pronty.  I covered the owl with paper from DCWVs' Teen Prints paper stack and added his chest from the same paper stack.  The eyes are some watch embellishments I found in my stash and I've backed the eyes with some cogs that I cut from black card and lightly rubbed with Pebeo gilding wax in both gold and silver,  I love this wax as its really soft and easy to apply and you can buff it to a lovely metallic shine after its applied.

The branch was covered in brown card that I embossed using the Sheena Douglas embossing folder Wood Panel, I also highlighted the embossing with walnut stain distress ink.  The leaves were covered with green card then I die cut leaves in a darker green using Sue Wilsons die set Fern Trio.  Some of these leaves were then covered in rock candy distress glitter and a little evergreen bough distress ink added to the ends of the leaves for a bit of depth. These were then attached to the twig.

The roses were made from papers in the Docrafts paper pack called Chronology.  I cut various flowers using Tim Holtz tattered florals die and Sue Wilsons classic rose die.  I then made them into 3D flowers and 'sugared' them by dabbing them with glue and scattering rock candy distress glitter on them.  These were then attached to the branch at the tops of the leaves.

A few more cogs scattered amongst the foliage finished off my piece, I may add some ribbon to the back so I can hang it on the wall.  Thanks to The Funkie Junkie Boutique for sponsoring this challenge and to Linda for hosting the series.

Lyn

Sunday Stamper 307 - Pink!

Hi all,

This weeks challenge from Hels Sheridan was to create a piece including pink, not my natural 'go to' colour but I had a go.

I couldn't find a manilla tag so had to go with a kraft card one and the pale pinks seemed to disappear into the background, that is until I remembered that Picket Fence distress ink is opaque.  I swiped the ink over the tag and dried it with a heat gun so I then had a patchy white surface to play on.

The background was done with victorian velvet, spun sugar and picked raspberries distress ink (is is just me but I always want to call it pickled raspberries for some reason!).  I then stamped with picked raspberries using the small harlequin stamp from the Tim Holtz collection Mini Muse.  The sentiment was from the Tim Holtz collection Mini Ornates and stamped in black archival ink.

I then used the Rivited Metal set texture fade to emboss a piece of the Tim Holtz idea-ology metal  sheet which I cut along some of the embossed lines to give two small sections.  To grunge up the metal I swiped it with black soot distress ink and dripped a little black alcohol ink to give a few spots,  and then attached them to the tag.  The flowers were from Hobbycraft but they were white so I decided to spray them with Apple Blossom Radiant Rain shimmering mist from Luminarte.  This gave a lovely variegated colour to the flowers and also my hand!! (I think I missed the flowers)

I then cut some leaves using Sue Wilson's Faux Quilled Leaves die by Creative Expressions and separated them into small sprays.  The flowers and leaves were then grouped over the metal to soften the edges. Loops of pink string were also added.

To finish the tag I dyed a piece of white seam binding with spun sugar distress ink and added this with some black seam binding and more pink string to the top of the tag.

Lyn

P.S. I am pleased to report that the ink finally came off my hand, it only lasted 5 days!

12 Tags of 2014 - May

Hi all,

Another day, another challenge, this time Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014.  This month the technique was a tiled tag and to incorporate some of the treasures we collect along the way.  I'm sure these treasures are only for looking at not actually to USE!, but no! Tim wants us to use them and actually open the packets....oh the will power!

So, here we go....

The base tag was coloured using weathered wood, peacock feathers, and broken china distress stains using the wrinkle free technique.  I then rubbed picket fence distress stain over the top to calm down the colours a bit, I also splatted the picket fence to give some nice white splats but then covered them up with the focal elements, oh well it did look good but ...

The various tiles were cut from one of the sheets in the French Industrial paper stash, these were distressed around the edges and inked with combinations of peacock feathers, spun sugar and a little walnut stain distress ink.  The buttons, cotton reel, dress form, needle and pins were all cut using dies and variously inked, stamped and embossed as above.

The scissors were originally brass coloured but a bit too dark for the tag so a little silver pebeo gilding wax was added making them look suitably shabby. The thread was a freebie from some magazine and was green and white stripes, so out with the peacock feather distress ink and voila! green thread (also green fingers..no, nothing to do with the garden!).  A little teal seam binding and more green thread finished off the tag and was held in place with a Tim Holtz wire pin, safety pin to us Brits.

All works of art need a title so a cute little "Tres Chic" stamp finished my tag.

Hope you like it.

Lyn

P.S. Yes I know I only used two embellishments from my stash, what can
 I say "they are my precious-es"

Sunday Stamper Week 306

Hi all,

Now that the Easter holidays, university finance applications, end of financial year, and a humungous pile of ironing are out of the way I can get down to some serious crafting.  This is my latest effort for Hels Sheridans Sunday stamper challenge.

I have had this sentiment stamp for a while now and just love the things it says,  the best one being 'drink wine' of course!  It is from the IndigoBlu set called Enjoy life and here it is.

The background was done using the Tim Holtz marbled stains technique using faded jeans, broken china and peacock feathers distress stains.  I love peacock feathers, my absolute fav colour in all things, in fact I find it difficult to not buy clothes if they are anything like this colour, at least most of my wardrobe matches!  Peacock feather and chipped sapphire distress inks were used around the edges to frame the piece.

I then stamped a swirling musical stave from Joy crafts clear stamp set "Dance to the Music" in peacock feathers across the bottom of the card.  The die cut stave is from Joy Crafts too although I had to chop a little off the length so my sentiment would fit down the side of the card.

Some fabric flowers that I have had kicking around the craft room for ages were layered up and attached with sparkly brads.   Some skeleton leaves were cut from textured mirri card using the
Sue Wilson Faux Quilled Leaves dies from Creative Expressions and inserted among flowers.

I then matted the whole thing onto black card to give a nice border, I think I may use this as my Mothers Birthday card for the 31st of May.   We are going to have a family gathering to celebrate, does anybody have any ear plugs?

Lyn

Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge - challenge no.1

Having finished Creative Chemistry 102 I was at a loss for inspiration and along comes CC3C - so, here we go!

Here is my entry for challenge number one:

I started by making the background using the paint marbling technique and adding the clouds using the cloud mask from Clarity Stamp and chipped sapphire distress ink.  The edges were stamped with the crackle stamp from the Sheena Douglass stamp set Ageing Beautifully and the chemical symbols stamp from IndigoBlus' Weird Science Series.

The balloon ship was stamped onto the background using ranger archival ink. A second image was stamped onto white card and coloured with pro markers and distressed with walnut stain distress ink. The stamp is from a Chocolate Baroque set called Steampunkery.  This image was then decoupaged over the image on the background.

The strange and unusual plants are from the Chocolate Baroque set Punky Flowers, stamped and coloured as before and the light bulbs were triple embossed.  These were then mounted on the background and two metal birds were added.

The sentiment, pointing hand and compass are from the Tim Holtz set called Warehouse District from Stampers Anonymous.

Thanks to Linda for starting this challenge series.and to Inspiration Emporium and The Funkie Junkie Boutique for sponsoring challenge number one.

Lyn Coogan