Find It

Find It

Hi There!

You may wonder what you

are being asked to find.......

Worry not Find It is the name

of a die cut company, new to

us but some of you may be

familiar with them.

We thought we'd give them a

whirl this week and here is

Jane Castle to start us off:

"Well time is marching on at a pace

 and if you have not made all of your 

Christmas cards yet here's a 

fairly quick idea that can be 

changed with a different centre piece

 so as to not get boring in the making.

To begin with I did all of the die cutting

 using a fab set from Find-It Media 

called 'Christmas Card Set'.

This set is great value for money,

cuts and embosses beautifully and

 some elements can be used all year round. 

Below I've added a photo of a piece

 I cut, embossed and then stamped whilst

 the card was still in the die. 

This leaves a very fine clean edge all the way 

round rather than cutting after stamping.

Whoops, back to the job in hand!

Next I stamped the crate image from a 

Craft Emotions stamp set onto white card

 and kraft card. The kraft card was then

 cut so as to form the outside of the crate.

Both images were heat embossed with clear 

embossing powder. Colour was added using 

Distress Markers and Jelly Roll pens.

The card blank had DI in old paper added 

to the edges and then using the same ink 

stamped the zig-zag lines from Jofy 07. 

These were then brushed with Perfect Pearls.

A tag was stamped using Jofy 47 stamp set

 and this was attached to the crate with some

 ribbon before fixing to the card.

A little Treasure Gold was rubbed onto the 

die cut mounts after lightly sanding. 

The gorgeous holly die-cuts were then

 slightly shaped and curled as I prefer things 

not completely flat.

Stickles were added to the berries and 

Pewter Liquid Pearls added to the crate

 to enhance the nails.

It's a long while since I made any traditional 

red/green Christmas cards and they do have 

that magical feel to them, I wonder if it will catch on!!

Enjoy your Christmas card making X"

Items Used:

Find-it Media Dies

Craft Emotions Stamps

Jofy Christmas Stamps

Distress Markers

Distress Inks

Ranger Perfect Pearls

Ranger Liquid Pearls

Jelly-Roll Pens

Core-Color Card

Kraft Card

Treasure Gold

Stickles

Many thanks Jane, a super

project to start us off

At the rate I'm going it doesn't

look like I shall be sending any

cards this year! Better get 

my skates on......

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Iconic

Iconic

Hallo Everyone!

Another fine day for

planning a project or

even making one.....

I came across an article

in an arty mag about

Icons and was attracted

by their strong colours

and images, which

inspired me to approach

the Design Team.........

Craftyfield was the first

to take on the challenge

and here she is:

When I think Diptychs or Triptychs I am 

reminded of Byzantine icons, painted on

 wood, with rich colours and a lot of gold...

I set out to emulate these icons, 

minus the religious connotations, in this project.

 First I prepared the wood with a light

 sanding and 2 coats of Gesso.

 I stamped an "old" image on the left

 and a contemporary image on the right, 

maybe these 2 are from the same family

 across the ages...

The right side has been sanded smoother

 for a less aged look.

 I used acrylic paints to colour the images.

I applied a coat of red acrylic paint (DecoArt)

 and some gilding wax through a stencil 

for the outside of the diptych.

 Next I applied some crackle paint on 

both front and back panels, although 

for some reason there wasn't a lot of 

crackle this side (the red side). 

Maybe I spent to long going back

 and forth with the brush?

I followed this with a raw umber glaze

 to show up the cracks, buffing with a 

dry cloth before the glaze had time 

to dry on top of the crackle layer.

This gives an aged look effortlessly.

I applied Treasure gold all around the panels,

 front and back and finished by stamping 

and embossing in gold a quote 

(also from HP1008). 

The wood wasn't smooth enough for a

 perfect stamping but since I was

 making an old icon I figured the writing

 might have rubbed off."

Supplies:

Hinged wooden icon:

Gesso:

PaperArtsy stamps:

Brilliance ink:

DecoArt and PaperArtsy Fresco paints:

Layering stencil: 

Gilding wax:

Crackle medium:

Treasure gold:

Thank you Craftyfield, a

great start to this week's

theme.  I love those rich,

bold colours too.....

Of course, if you felt like a

change of stamps, take a

look here or here

I think those hinged frames

would lend themselves to

this treatment too ..........

Hmmm, that's got me thinking

Haha!  Watch out world!!

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

For the Boys

For the Boys

Hallo Everyone!

All ready for half-term?

It does vary throughout the

country - however, in this

little corner of our green 

and pleasant land the

holiday starts after school

today - Yayyy!!!

Here's an idea from

Jane Castle to enjoy if

the weather causes everyone

to be housebound - or even

if the weather is good .......

"Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. 

Today it's my turn to make a 'gift for the boys' 

and I began with an inexpensive 

wooden box, available from The Craft Barn,

 some paint, Seth Apter stamps

 and a few other bits.

 The finished box I'm thrilled with but 

there were times when I wasn't so sure!

I started by giving the inside a coat of 

Fresco Chalk paint in Mushroom, 

then when fully dry cut some dark red 

felt and lined the base and lid.

Then I painted the outside in Space Cadet

The 4 sides were then painted with a 

crackle medium and then once dry 

given a coat of the mushroom paint. 

The edges of the lid were lightly sanded

in places

I then applied some grunge paste through

 a stencil to the top of the lid.

When the paste was dry I made a wash

 of 1 part mushroom, 1 part space cadet 

and 1 part water to go over the top of the lid.

Whilst this was drying I stamped my image 

for the top and the opening part of the lid. 

For this I used Archival Watering Can and

 one of Seth Apter's new set of stamps ESA05

 and stamped onto a sheet of waxed

 tissue paper.

Once the ink was dry I brushed some water

 around the stamped image and tore the

 paper as this helps when appyling the tissue 

paper to the box.

I also stamped an edging to go around 

the base of the box using 2 of the stamps

 from the same set. 

(Great set of stamps--- so versatile)

These were then added to the box using

 a matt glaze but could also be attached

 with a collage medium.

I left these over night to allow them to 

fully dry before cutting through 

the tissue with a craft knife to 

allow the lid to open.

At this point I wasn't completely happy

 with the image on the top. I sat gazing at this 

for some time thinking of various options, 

one being to skim over the top with a thin layer

 of Grunge Paste and start again!

I added the border around the bottom of 

the box whilst I made my decission. 

I knew I still wanted to use the same stamp 

for the lid so I thought I'd try stamping 

another image but using Potting Soil ink

 this time.

When tearing the tissue paper this time 

I made sure it was smaller than the 

original one on the box.

I made a hole in the side of the lid to 

thread my string through and added some 

mushroom and space cadet paint to 

2 screw head brads.

Treasure Gold wax in Olive Bronze was added 

to the edges and now I not only like 

the finished pencil box -  

I don't want to part with it!

I plan to give it to a chap I work with 

who comes from an arty family, 

he makes wonderful things from metal

 and wood. 

He does some sketches of his ideas first

 but can never find his drawing pencils 

or charcoal.

So thought I would buy him some lead and charcoal 

pencils and pop them inside for his birthday.

Might have to make one for myself too!!"

Items Used

Wooden Pencil Box

PaperArtsy Rubber Stamps

PaperArtsy Stencil

Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paints

Americana Weathered Wood Crackle Medium

PaperArtsy Grunge Paste

Waxed Tissue Paper

Archival Ink

PaperArtsy Matt glaze

Treasure Gold Wax

Brads

That is a super pencil box

Jane, Thank you.  Your

colleague will be a

happy chappie to receive

this - not so sure I would

put charcoal in it though

.....I know you said pencils

but I am lethal with charcoal

in any form..........!

Now a word to the wise Everyone

I know the Design Team all

chose to use this new set:

This new set is also available:

Indeed it might be worth checking

out all the Seth Apter stamp sets

"Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Oxidised

Oxidised

Hallo Everyone!

Hope you are having a 

good day - I'm rushing

about getting nowhere

so I feel at least one of

us should be having a

good time..............

Here is Jane Castle with

an ingenious way of

saying "thank you" ....

"For my project today using the new 

Distress Oxide ink pads I would like to share 

with you a present I've made for a 

very dear friend of ours.

 Every time he visits and has a cup of tea 

he makes very complimentary comments 

about our blend of tea 

( a mix of 3 different types we blend ourselves) 

so I felt it was time to give him a bag of his own 

but wanted it to be more than just a bag

As I tend not to throw anything away 

that 'might be useful' I raided my stash 

and found an empty cardboard inner 

from a ball of wool -- perfect!

I cut a piece of white card 7cm deep 

but longer than I needed to cover the tube. 

Then cut a tag from the some card using

 the middle size die from BoBunny 

nested tag dies. 

Both of these pieces of card were then coloured 

by swiping them through 2 colours 

of Distress Oxide ink that had been 

placed on the craft sheet and sprayed with water.

I continued doing this and adding more water 

to the card when needed until I achieved 

the effect I was after. 

I used my heat gun to dry between layers 

so as not to end up with a muddy colour. 

The lovely chalky effect builds up with the 

addition of spritzed water, leaving for a few seconds

 and then dabbing with some kitchen paper.

Once these were completely dry I masked 

off the stencil and added Grunge paste through 

the word tea onto the tag using the 

wonderful stencil by Scrapcosy from PaperArtsy. 

The centre of the card for covering the tube 

was stamped using the main image from 

PaperArtsy ESC03 in Vintage Photo and then 

heat embossed with clear EP.

Using the same stencil I then added some 

of the hessian effect to both pieces. 

Then using the sprig of flowers stamp from 

the same set I inked the stamp with Vintage Photo, 

wiped the flowers of ink with kitchen paper 

and then added some Fossilized Amber ink to the stamp 

using a sponge so as not to contaminate

 my new ink pad. This was then stamped onto 

the card each side of the main image.

The sprigs of flowers were spritzed with water 

and left for about 12secs before dabbing with kitchen paper.

The centre image was lightly rubbed with 

some Treasure Gold before trimming 

to the correct size. 

This was then attached to the cardboard tube 

with extra strong doublesided tape.

The Grunge Paste tea on the tag had the 

clean stencil replaced and was coloured 

using Fossilized Amber and Vintage Photo.

A cellophane bag was filled with the tea mix and tied 

at the top using the tag and some stripped down hairy string!

This was then placed inside the tube.

Well that makes a bag of tea look a little bit 

more interesting for a gift I think.

 Lets hope our friend likes it."

Items Used

Distress Oxide Ink Pads 

(in Broken China, Vintage Photo and Fossilized Amber)

 Smooth Card

PaperArtsy PS051 Stencil

PaperArtsy Stamp Set ESC03

Nested Tag Dies

 Grunge Paste

Treasure Gold in Renaissance

Extra Strong Double Sided Tape

Empty Shetland wool cardboard tube

Hairy String

And a Bag of Tea!

Well, that has improved my day

thank you so much Jane

That really is a lovely present

and I'm sure your friend will

be thrilled to bits with it

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx