At Random

At Random

Hallo There!

Well, here we are at the end

of the month.  In some ways

it feels to have been a very

long month, yet on the other

hand, the weeks have flown

by and we have had some

terrific projects to share with

you, well worry not, we have

yet more terrific projects

for you in February

In the meantime, take a look

at this super cityscape from

Louise Thomson

"I started by making a background

 painting it first with gesso then fresco paints.

 I added paint splatters on top and used 

a kaisercraft stencil with distress ink to 

add the brick effect. 

Paper artsy stamps were added on top

 for a final layer along with washi tape.

Using Sizzix dies I cut out the buildings and

 trees from scraps of bazzil card. 

Each piece was then individually inked

 with distress inks and stuck down.

I repeated the process using the Sizzix vehicle dies. 

I blended a little more blue distress ink around

 the border before mounting on card."

Thank you Louise for giving

us this beautiful Cityscape

This would make an excellent 

picture for a child's room

I could quite happily use it in my

journal too - every picture tells

a story......  What tale would your

picture tell?

'Til tomorrow 

Mickie xx

At Random

At Random

Hi Everyone!

Have you noticed we are

almost out of January?  

For some that is a loud

woohoo!  For me it's a

pessimistic - well that's

one-twelfth of the year

gone already!

No use worrying about it

let's have a cuppa and

relax with Craftyfield's

gorgeous canvas:

 "Whenever I have a bit more crafting 

time, I like to play with medias and

 techniques, especially if I have new stash

 to try...

Maybe after Christmas you have

 new stash too!

I first Gessoed my base card and applied

 a thin coat of gel medium in places,

where I stuck scraps of papers just for

 a short time, then ripping the paper off,

 leaving the ink behind.

I did the same with the Vintage

 image shown above. 

I added a few scraps of papers vertically

 to break up the horizontal writing.

Now for colours: 

I sprayed the card with water and tapped

 a (very small) loaded brush with 

Blue and Turquoise Brushos,

 adding a few sprinkles of mica powder too.

When this was dry I added Grunge Paste

 through Carabelle and Tim Holtz layering stencils.

Having unearthed treasures in my 

scrap box, I create a cluster around the

 center of interest, which will hold 

the focal image. 

A bit of vellum die-cut, a scrap of calico, 

some gel medium and Glitterbitz....
I also applied some 

Silver DecoArt Metallic Lustre 

on top of the stencilled Grunge Paste

 to highlight the texture.

To finish I popped up the Vintage 

image, added some gold wire,

 a small envelope, and

 a handmade flower."

A lovely canvas and a good

tutorial too.  Thank you

Craftyfield

I just love what you can do

with the bits and bobs that seem

to linger among the stash!  

Don't forget the SALE!

'Til tomorrow

Mickie xx

At Random

At Random

Hi Everyone!

How are you all?  I'm

exhausted.........spent a

fair amount of time today

searching for the shed key.

All I wanted to do was to

see if it would be possible

to store some paintings

in there...............aaargh!

Cue Jane Castle to the

rescue .....

"Having sorted a couple of drawers

 out in the craft room I reminded 

myself of a wonderful pack of 

Tando Creatives Whimsical Houses 

so decided to have a play and create 

a wall hanging for my shed and 

back gate keys.

I cut a piece of wood to the required

 size and sanded well before giving

 it a libral coat of chalk ink. 

Having decided on which houses to use

 I then gave them a base coat of 

white gesso and then began painting the 

various parts in bright colours.

Then using various PaperArtsy stamps,

 inks, stencils and grunge paste began to

 decorate each of the pieces.

The piece of wood was then lightly sanded 

again and 2 holes made to screw

 in the cup hooks. 

A Shrink Plastic key was made using 

the stamp from HotPicks 1010 and 

once heated a little Treasure Gold 

was added.

A hole was made in the 2 roofs so

 I could attach some wire for hanging 

and this was done before glueing the

 houses to the wood.

 I then decided I needed some trees, so 

inking 2 leaves from Tando Creatives 

Mini Leaves 2 was the final addition 

to this project.

I'm very pleased with how this turned out

 it's fun, practical and different to anything

 in the shops. 

Have fun creating X"

Thank you Jane - your timely

project is going to save me

so much time spent looking

for the keys!

First I need to visit the SALE

'Til tomorrow

Mickie xx

At Random

At Random

Happy Sunday Everyone!

There's a treat for you today,

Helen Chilton popped in with

a delightful canvas  to remind

us all of beach days and

holidays to come......

"I love this fish bones stencil by Crafters Workshop:

To start off with I'm using a sprayed book page

 as my background and then some 

Sea Green Infusions.

Once you've sprinkled the powder, spritz and blot.

Here's the result.

After that I added coloured Grunge Paste 

stencilling over the top. 

Then I doodled some outlines in black

 and white to make it pop."

Thanks Helen, reminds me of that

canvas we did a couple of years

ago - how quick the time passes

I think I might adapt this to make

a triptych using the other two

fish on the stencil.

'Til tomorrow

Mickie xx

PS Everyone, don't forget to look

in the SALE

At Random

At Random

Hallo Everyone!

I'm sure you have all guessed that

"At Random" indicates we have a

SALE!  Yay!  Who doesn't like a

bargain?.................  

More stamps have been added and

some alterables.  It's a good time 

to stock up on the basics too......

Nothing basic about our project 

for today.  Claire Jackson has

made a beautiful canvas for us:

"I started by spreading gesso on

 the canvas to create some 

background texture. 

I used a DecoArt stencil and PaperArtsy

 grunge paste to add the hills across 

the centre.

 Using a palette knife I scraped some

 DecoArt crackle paste on the edges and

 corners and used a heat tool 

so that it bubbled. 

Then the whole canvas was given

 a coat of gesso.

I painted in the background with

 PaperArtsy fresco finish chalk paint. 

I started off with a paint brush but 

used fingers, paper towel and cotton buds

 to get even more texture onto the canvas 

and gradually built up layers of colour. 

To finish I added a little bit of stamping

 in black archival ink.

I painted the Tando whimsical bird pieces,

 assembled them and stuck them to

 the canvas. 

The set makes 6 birds so I have plenty

 of parts left over.

It would make a great picture for 

a child’s bedroom. 

I think it should be entitled 

‘Look at Me!’ 

What do you think?"

Thank you for a lovely project

Claire.  I do agree that it would

be good for a child's bedroom

Think I might even hang it in

the kitchen and call it

'What!?  Another one?"

'Til tomorrow 

Mickie xx

At Random

At Random

Hi There!

It's another squally, dull day

here on the coast.  How exciting

you may imagine.  No, just a

day to spend indoors by the fire.

Perhaps do a little crafting.

Here's Angela Radford with a

great idea to take your mind

off the weather:

'Hi all, here today to show you how 

I had fun with Starlight paints. 

First painted all over with one colour 

then embossed and added more colours

 with a dry brush.

You can see here how much these colours shine, 

love them.

Cut out some Kim Dellow stamped images.

 Then mount and glue them in position. 

I've also used some Tim Holtz dies here too.

Finally just an extra photograph 

showing the butterfly . 

I mounted the book pages onto card so 

the wings could be shaped to stand out.

 Happy crafting, Angela xXx"

Thank you Angela.  Love that

background

Think I'm going to be spending some time

making a few backgrounds and doing some

fussy cutting

I'm not the greatest fussy cutter but at 

least you can do whilst watching the TV

.................hmmm........perhaps that is

why I'm not the greatest fussy cutter ....!

'Til tomorrow 

Mickie xx

PS:  Have you checked out the

SALE today?

At Random

At Random

Hallo There!

It is always nice to meet up

with an old friend and today

is a bit of an exception as

not one, but two old friends!

The one is Hazel Harler and

the other is Crafty Individuals

who have got together to

make a beautiful project

 which could also double

as a very acceptable 

greeting card:

"Hi everyone, I have a decorated

 notebook to share with you today.

I covered a notebook with a sheet of

 Imagination Crafts rice paper.

Fresco Finish paints were lightly 

brayered over the cover.

I stamped some gold Imagination Starlight

 paint with a Seth Apter stamp, then I 

glued a torn piece of a gelli print and some

 gold thread to the front of the notebook.

The next thing I did was to brayer the 

paints onto a piece of white card and then

 I stamped the Crafty Individuals image

 with black Archival ink.

I coloured the image with pencils, cut it out 

and glued it to the cover, and then

embellished the cover with lace, buttons,

 rub ons and some word stickers."

Thank you Hazel for a beautiful

design.

A combination of Crafty Individuals

and Seth Apter stamps......WoW!

Who would have thought it......

possible? ........ probable?

The January Sale continues - don't

forget to take a look at the

Crafty Individuals stamps on

offer.........!!

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx