Winter

Second and last of the serviette/napkin layouts. This time the deer is cut from the serviette

The snowflakes are cut from a Tim Holtz Sizzix Bigz. It does come with a matching embossing folder but for the life of me I can't find it.

The wording was cut on the Scan n Cut. Both white and blue words were the same size so I just raised the white one a bit and it gave a snowy look.

I added doily's and lots of soft glitter to finish it off. I think it worker really well.

Well that's it from me for a few days. Off to spend Christmas with my lovely family. Have a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year. xxx

Robin layout with serviette

So I've got a new hobby, as if I need another one lol, but I have started collecting Serviettes and believe me, Christmas is completely the wrong time to start this. There are so many beautiful serviettes out there at the moment.
One of my favourite places to go for these is Tesco where I can pick up a pack for £1.50 and of course once I had bought some I needed to play. This is one of the winter layouts I did for Scrapping Your Family in December.

Of course its the Robin that has been cut from the serviette. I found that sticking the top layer onto a thin cardboard using gel medium and leaving to dry, meant that I could put the robin on sticky foam pads and it was strong enough to work with.

I think you can just see the beautiful glittered effect made using Glamour Dust

and adding the gems dropping from the branches made it look really wintry.
Here's some more detail

Will definitely be experimenting some more and I have got one more layout to share using another serviette but I'll save that for later. xx

Live Beautifully.....

I have had a chance to finish one of my many journal pages today. Loving the colours

The background is made using Distress Oxides, blended together using baby wipes.

The flowers are made using paper scraps and a hydrangea confetti punch, some gem flowers and some baby pearls and gems.

Some are raised from the paper and some flat to make it more interesting.

The final touch is wording added by using a stencil and Prima Modelling Paste. The magic happens as the Distress Oxides from the background seep through the paste colouring it to match the background. Loved watching it happen. xx

Decorated Bottle

At the last Mixed media Class I made two examples for everyone to choose from and all of them chose this one

This is a water bottle from Poundland and once decorated can be used on the table for water or indeed any drink.
Here are a few pictures of the other sides

Because I wanted to show everyone how the kit contents would look after the process I used one side of the bottle to add at least one of every element from the kit so that it could be used as a guide. This next picture shows this

Everyone had a fantastic time and the resulting bottle looked amazing. Here is a bit of the detail

As part of the kit I gave everyone a small glass bud vase to complete at home. Here is mine finished at home.

I have added some more detail to the second example so I will show that another day. Don't forget, if you would like to come along to a Mixed Media class follow the Ladiesthatcraft Facebook Page, sign up to receive notifications from this page or look down the right of this blog page as 2018 classes are added regularly. Beginner or experienced, it doesn't matter. You will have a great time and learn so much. xx

Three Mixed Media Cards

And finally for this round of Pretty Gets Gritty I made three mixed media cards using the kit I was sent and a few ribbons from a previous kit

The middle one I made again for my mums birthday and she was so please with it she is going to put it in a 3d frame. Result xx

Three Hearts Wall Hanging

So easy to make with these beautiful MDF words. This is mainly because they are slightly thicker than the ones I normally buy and I was made up when Lynette Jasper sent them to me to use.

Here are a few detail pictures 

If you watched Hochanda today you would have seen them hanging from the window behind the set. Love the detail in these. xx

Sparkle

Really loved making this canvas for Pretty Gets Gritty DT. I've been dying to use the reverse of a canvas and this worked so well.
The new kits are being demonstrated by the lovely Lynette Jasper on Hochanda on Sunday 19th November so don't forget to tune in.

I tried for ages to photograph the canvas to capture the BLING and sparkle created by the glitter but to no avail. Lets just say its a dazzler. xxx

Pretty Gets Gritty

Last month I was lucky enough to join the Pretty Gets Gritty Design Team working with Lynette Jasper and a fantastically creative Design Team.

The kit I received was amazing and I had great fun using it. Lynette went live on Hochanda on 7th and 8th October with three different kits and they were a great success.

Here are the three projects I made for the show.

All were mixed media with varying degrees of grungyness. The first piece and the easiest to do was the simple black and cream frame

The black background was made using the black gems and pinheads in the Ebony kit along with papers and flowers which were to die for.

The second was a mixed media round canvas using an assortment of flowers from several kits. The larger red flowers are actually the peony taken apart and turned upside down to give a more open look and the background was made using one of the stencils on the show.

The last piece was a another board canvas again using the stencils as a background and softer colours.

As with most of my mixed media pieces I like to use a photograph of other image. I just cant get away from the scrapbooker in me lol. 

If you want to see the shows and see what was in the kits follow this link to Hochanda

Looking forward to receiving my next kit. xx

Ballerina

Like me most people have loads of stamps. I often have stamps that I would never normally use but they may have been bought specifically for a card class or similar so I wanted to show that you can mix cute with mixed media and make it work.

 

I did the background first and had no idea how to finish it off and then I found this adorable stamp set and I was able to finish my page. (The little bunny is my favourite). x

Masking Tape

Simple this time. To add masking tape to a page.

This was a face that I had in my stash, not drawn by me I hasten to add (I'm not that good at faces) but painted first then masking tape and then sprays. Worked really well x.

Beginning to Journal

For about 6 months now I  have been teaching a group of ladies at my home. Well I suppose teaching is the wrong word more like sharing ideas and overcoming fears to help them to let themselves go and enjoy a bit of Art Journaling. And we have had so much fun, loads of laughs and of course, plenty of messy fingers. What I thought might just be a few sessions has turned into a regular monthly meet up to craft, share ideas and learn from each other.

Over the next few days I will share some of the pages I have done for these sessions. They are meant as inspiration and all of them without exception taught a new technique or used a product new to some people or were just a learning curve adding say stamping or paper piecing and realising that there is no wrong way just the fun way.

The faces in the bottom right hand corner were drawn by me and reduced by scanning and printing. Homework that night was to draw a face lol x

Work in Progress

I've started playing with some new stamps designed by "Nicole". They are great to use and so easy to colour in or paint.

More work to do but coming along nicely. x

I'm back....

Its been ages since I posted on any of my Blogs mainly due to family health issues but I think at last everything is moving in the right direction. One of the good things is that in the last month I have become a great aunt to a beautiful baby girl called Belle. I'm sure she will appear on many of my projects in the years to come lol.

So what to share, well this piece was made as a colour sample canvas for one of my classes. The hope was that it would allow them to choose a colour combination for their own work.

I am still itching to add some white but I think it is better this way so that I can see how the colours work for future projects.
Here is a bit more detail including a picture just to show how it looks.

It was so much fun being able to work on a larger canvas. It's definately something I will do again.

The class project was a box. The one on the right is the finished box and the one on the left was done as an example in class.

Looking forward to the next one. Something a bit different next time xx

Spread Your Wings

I'm finding that I am getting less and less time to create for myself so I have started making more tags. It means I have time to completely finish something instead of keep coming back when I have a moment and they are great to use in journals, on projects and to send out to my crafty friends.

At the minute I am experimenting with paper straws and trying to make use of all of the lovely paints I have sitting on the side.

The background is made from tags and texture paste

and the butterfly is acetate painted with Finnabairs Art Alchemy paints. Enjoyed making this one. x

Fabric Journal published

So excited today to see my Fabric Journal in the new issue of Mixed Up Mag. There are step by step instructions, a video and intro from me this time

and some amazing artists all sharing their inspiration, step by step projects and videos to draw you into the wonderful world of Mixed media.
Here is a sneak peek of my journal

Here are the links you need to follow or subscribe to this wonderful bi monthly magazine.
MAGAZINE WEBSITE https://www.mixedupmag.com/
TO BUY THE ISSUE go to: https://pocketmags.com/mixed-up-mag#587ca8599f3ab
I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I do. xx

Something from nothing

I love working in white. It is often the only way I can plan a layout or card before adding colour to make the finished article.

I needed a metallic finish to a layout for one of my classes so I decided to make the background using white tags, cogs and string.

As you can see from the picture, I dusted off my ribbler and corrugated some royal blue and light blue paper to add even more texture. So this was my starting point.
And then when it was all stuck down I slowly added more and more ink until I got what I wanted. Here are a few layouts showing the process.

 

I originally put the string around the centre of the page intending to hang the photos from it but later changed my mind.

You can see the finished layout on www.ladiesthatcraft.blogspot.co.uk  xx