Mothering Sunday

Mothering Sunday

Happy Mother's Day!

I was thinking about Mothering 

Sunday - its origins and customs,

when it dawned on me that I

haven't seen a Simnel Cake for a

long while.  Do any of you bake

them for Mothering Sunday? 

Can they even still be bought?

 Craftyfield has popped in with

 a lovely bright card to share

with you:

"Gelatos are great for adding colour quickly

 to a project. Here I used them dry as this

 is my favourite technique with them.

I simply scribbled the colours over

 the stencil, held in place with masking 

tape and rubbed a dry baby wipe over. 

A brush will work equally well for this.

If you want clean colours, use a clean 

piece of wipe everytime you change

 colours, especially when working with 

complementary colours which together 

make greys... (Blue/Orange; Yellow/Violet, 

Red/Green).

For a quicker background, you can

 create a stripe with masking tape,

 instead of doing the whole card 

front as I did. 

Or stencil just 2 corners, or inside a 

heart stencil... the possibilities are endless.

If you are doing the whole card front 

with a small stencil like I did, be 

mindful of the pattern repeat. 

The one I used for instance had a 

vertical repeat, but I couldn't find 

a way to join the design horizontally! 

No matter... the joint will be mostly

 hidden by the focal image.

Over to you, have a play 

with these sticks, they are great fun!"

You'll find Gelatos here:

Or you could use Distress Crayons

They are fun to use too and

come in the Distress colours so

can be matched to your project.

They can be found here:

Thank you Craftyfield - love that

background

I know that in other countries, 

Mother's Day falls at different times

of the year.  Also, there are other

customs - do please share what

you do in your country

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Joseph's Coat

Joseph's Coat

Hallo There!

Hasn't it been a great week?

Well, it has been for me.  I

am up to date with the household

chores, shopping etc so I can

devote the entire weekend to

crafting...........!  Yayyy!!

Enough hysteria, here is

Craftyfield with more for her

Fauxdori Book 

"After making my Fauxdori book I couldn't

 wait to use it, especially the Gelli print 

which actually was a fail... 

It needed more colour on top and I thought 

this would be an ideal base for Gelatos. 

I find them versatile and I like to use them

 in different ways.

On the left of the page where I had lots 

of untouched paper I applied the Gelatos on 

top of the stencil 

(Carabelle Studio: Weft Fabric and Numbers) 

and rubbed with a slightly damp wipe. 

This is the "positive" application method.

 I then stamped my flowers (Honey Doo crafts Lilies) 

with Archival inks (Archival Mini Ink Pad Set 4) 

before stencilling (DecoArt Inspiration) 

the words with black Gesso. 

This is so I know the position of the main

 elements before adding more colours 

and stencilling.

On the right, where I have mostly acrylic paint, 

I rubbed some Gelatos and spread with my fingers.

I laid the stencil (Imagination Crafts Drop Screen)

 on top and with a damp wipe removed the colour, 

the acrylic under layer making it easy. 

The "negative" method of applying Gelatos with stencils! 

I added more colour, here and there with and 

without the stencil for a cohesive look

Finally I coloured 2 of the flowers with the pink Gelato, 

which was my initial idea, but in the end I left the 

main one alone as it is just too beautiful to be messed with!"

Supplies:

Gelatos:
DecoArt paints:
Stencils: 
Stamps:

This is a lovely addition to the

Fauxdori Craftyfield.  

Thank you very much and I look 

forward to more.........!

So glad I have the weekend free......

I do like making books, can you tell?

All thanks to Kathy Byrne's classes at

 The Craft Barn

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Joseph's Coat

Joseph's Coat

Hi There!

Always good to see you!

Are you enjoying this technique 

as much as I am?   I don't know

what I was thinking when I set

the theme!   Just glad it came

to mind.................

Here is Claire Jackson to take

you through her bright and

cheerful canvas:

"The Joseph’s Coat technique usually involves layering

 ink using a resist to reveal an image. 

I decided to try it with paint and masking.

First I painted a canvas board with three 

shades of pink Fresco Finish paint. 

I’m sure I have mentioned previously that this 

is my favourite craft paint because it dries very quickly 

and is great for stamping and drawing on.

Next I added stencilling with the same 

three shades of pink.

Using a stencil with a smaller design I added 

complementary colours. 

It’s important that the paint is completely 

dry before the next step.

 I stamped the Tracy Scott designs on masking

 paper (you could use sticky notes) and 

cut them out, leaving a small border, before placing 

them on the canvas.

I made sure the masks were properly stuck 

down to prevent paint seeping under the edges.

 I then covered the whole canvas with shades of 

green and turquoise, before adding extra stencilling

When the masks are removed you reveal 

the colours beneath.

 Next I stamped the images directly onto the

 canvas with Archival ink. 

I stamped the foreground flowers first 

and replaced the masks as I went along 

to create depth.

When all the pink areas had been over-stamped 

I removed the masks.

I added white highlights with paint pen 

and gel markers.

 To finish off I added watercolour pencil to 

the images, a few more highlights and some

 blue gelatos around the edges.

Here is a detail of the flowers"

Materials:

Canvas board

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish chalk paint

PaperArtsy Tracy Scott stamps

Archival Ink: jet black

White pens

Gelatos

This has worked out so well

I can see how relaxing it

must be to do this. Thank 

you Claire

Lovely to see that canvas coming

together wasn't it?  Not a hint of

black paint too!

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Van Gogh

Van Gogh

Hallo Everyone!

This week we shall mostly

be doing painting!............

Ha ha! Oh no we are not,

well not really.

Van Gogh is this week's muse

and here is Craftyfield :

 "My inspiration for this "painting" is 

Van Gogh's Cottage paintings. 

I tried to emulate the colours and the 

effect of the brushstokes, but without

 oils paint, brushes or the need for an 

accurate drawing...

I stamped my cottage with Versafine ink

 on Linen card.

 For the sky I mixed the blue Gelato

 with the white Distress crayon, 

and as you can see not a problem!

After applying different shades of green

 on the trees and bushes I smear them

 with a silicone tipped tool.

 For the smallest details I take the paint

 directly from the Gelato onto the silicone tip.

On top of the greens I add some yellow

 for lighter areas and paint the branches 

and chimney.

The thatched roof and woodwork have

 been "painted" with the Distress crayons. 

The next step is to paint in the walls 

(with a mix of grey and white),

 the grass and the final bush, which I

 had left till the end to avoid smearing

 green where I didn't want it!

To mount my painting, I created a small 

frame with a rectangle die within a 

larger label die.

This technique works well with softer 

wax crayons, but if you don't have Gelatos 

or Distress crayons, you can use

 Faber Castell oil pastels instead."

Supplies:

Cottage Stamp:
Distress crayons:
Gelatos:
Linen card:
Core'dination cardstock:

Thank you Craftyfield, I find

this picture so relaxing to

look at and thank you too,

for reminding me to get the

Gelatos out..............!

Well I think you will all agree

that Craftyfield has got us off

to a good start.  Be sure to

check in every day to see

the entire quartet of Van Gogh

inspired projects

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

About Town

About Town

Hi There!

From the first moment I saw the new

Tim Holtz Cityscapes dies they

reminded me of a Neil Diamond song:

Summer in the City

Everytime I see them the song comes

into my head and I cannot shake it off!!

For those of you who have no idea what

I am talking about - worry not!  We'll 

just get on!

Here is Helen Chilton:

"I've been playing around with this Cityscape die

 to create a pop -up card.

Place the die about halfway down a sheet of A4 card.

Roll through your die cutting machine 

but not all the way - you want to cut out

 the buildings but not the base. 

Roll back when you think you've gone far enough.

 Don't worry if it's not cut far enough down - 

just lay the die back down and try again.

You then get this pop-up effect.

Score the card along the base line 

of the buildings so it stands up.

Colour with Gelatos. 

Die cut two more skylines and 

colour in pink and yellow Gelatos.

Add black stamping randomly using the 

Kaisercraft Dictionary Meanings stamp.

Then layer up with a black skyline on top.

Stamp on the white border and layer 

onto pink and blue card."

Materials used:

Tim Holtz Thinlits die Cityscape - Skyline
KaiserCraft Texture stamps: Dictionary Meanings, Stains
Gelatos

Yep.  Definitely hot in the city tonight

Helen. Ooops! Think that's another song!!

Many thanks

Think I'll just pop down to the beach

to cool off!!  Oh dear!  Feel another song

in there somewhere...............

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx