At Random

At Random

Hallo There!

Saw some canvas bags on the

website and thinking about the

projects that were created with

bags during the last year I just

had to buy a couple.

So glad I did.  I couldn't believe

it when I came across a lovely

idea by Angela Radford and here

 she is to show us what to do:

"Hi all, here today to show you what

 fun I've had with Starlight Textiles Paints.

 Start by masking off the areas where

 you don't want the design and attach

 the stencil to stop it moving.

 Place a piece of card or craft mat inside 

the bag to prevent the colour going through

 to the back.

 I sponged the colour on as I find

 that works better than a brush.

When all the stencilling is complete allow it 

to dry over night and then iron to fix

 the colour. 

You could leave it like this but.....

 I couldn't help it had to do some stitching

 to complete the design and added ribbon

 and little bells. 

Hope you like my sweet little bag.

 Happy crafting, Angela xXx"

Thank you Angela, I for one am

smitten with your sweet little bag!

Now folks, if like me, you don't

have any Textile paints, then you

can use any acrylic paint with 

the addition of a Fabric Painting Medium

I'll let you know how I get on......!

Otherwise you know that Starlight Textile

Paints are available from the Craft Barn

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

PS:  Don't forget the SALE

At Random

At Random

Hi Everyone!

Fed up with the long dark nights?

Well, here's a cheery thought, this

time next month we shall be

having our tea in daylight.  Now

there's something to look forward 

to.

To help us on our way, 

Louise Thomson has brought

abeautiful canvas with her:

"I made a simple canvas using PaperArtsy

stamps and fresco finish paints.

To begin with I simply blobbed some paint

on to my canvas and spread it using a small spatula.

Once dry, I stamped using archival inks and began painting.

When all the pink flowers were painted 

and dry, I added in more stamping

 and painted this. 

There's a shimmer coming from the 

white gold fresco paint which has

 a lovely metallic finish."

Thank you Louise - makes me

feel all smiley inside as I

contemplate summer walks

in the countryside

'Til tomorrow

Mickie xx

PS:  Have you been to the SALE

today?  take a look you might

just find a few surprises!

Christmas Animals

Christmas Animals

Hi Everyone!

In the UK the Robin is a

much used Christmas icon

but if you're in the US you'll

probably substitute it with

a Cardinal Bird.................

or so I'm told

I wonder what birds are

Christmas icons in other

countries?...................

...............anyone?

Bit of a treat for you today - 

a small canvas by

Helen Chilton and it

features Robins............

Die cut the snowflakes out of card and arrange

 on a 6" x 6" canvas board.

Glue on with a wet glue and then seal. 

Trim off the edges.

When it's dry paint over with a good layer

of gesso

Let it dry again and then spritz with some 

Imagination Crafts Silver spray.

Blot back and then add some Starlights -

 I dabbed it on with my fingers.

Get out some Grunge Paste, add a blob of

 Toffee Fresco paint to colour it and

 mix together.

Scrape through the branch stencil directly 

onto your canvas.

 Don't worry if it looks a bit messy.

Use up the rest by scraping through the

 leaf stencils onto card. 

When dry, cut them out.

Using the same DecoArt stencil, 

trace some birds onto grey board.

Cut them out and gesso.

I've then added basic robin colours with 

Fresco paints.

To make them come to life, add details 

with coloured pencils.

 

Do the same to the leaves. 

Add a white dot to the eye.

Stick it all down onto the canvas.

 I then decided to add darker tones to 

the top right of the canvas.

Note the shading and highlighting on the 

branches and birds"

DecoArt Mixed Media Stencil:Canvas

Imagination Crafts Starlight paints:
Imagination Crafts Shake & Gilt: Silver
PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints:
Coloursoft Pencils:
Find It Trading Dies: Precious Marieke -
Grunge Paste:
Greyboard

This is fun Helen

thank you very much

I am going to have to find time to

make this canvas so I'm off to

see what I have to buy.........

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Rice Paper

Rice Paper

Hallo There!

The year seems to be already

picking up speed.................

Here we are almost at the end

of February   

Beginning to wonder if the 

addition of an extra week 

wouldn't be such a bad thing.......................

Really? Yes of course, I'm joking!

Here's Helen Chilton with some

lovely rice paper:

Choose your designs. I've gone for 

one black and white collage design 

and then some coloured images for my focal point

Stick some of the black and white paper 

to the front of your canvas using a decoupage glue

Rub out any air bubbles with your fingers

 Cut out the focal image roughly and stick to card. 

When dry trim to make a tag.

I've used Gelatos as a colouring medium 

and have taken my colours from the dress form image

Rub and blend them with your fingers.

You can also pull out colour with a wet brush.

Add some extra colour to the dress form tag.

Then use a baby wipe to remove colour and make highlights

Finally rub some white Gelato over the back of a stencil 

and rub into the canvas. 

Finish with a brad, stickles and some ribbon.

Materials used:

Rice paper
8x8 canvas
Decoupage glue
Gelatos

Thank you Helen 

Isn't that gorgeous?

Amazing what can be 

achieved with these papers

They're so affordable and

come in so many designs

do give them a go

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Buildings

Buildings

Hi There!!

Here's Hazel Harmer with 

a gorgeous Canvas, set to

make us all feel happy and

smiley

"My canvas is nothing like what it was going to be like, 

it was going to be a snowy winters night - 

all shimmery and glittery, 

but our boiler packed up in the

 middle of November and wasn't fixed 

until December 23rd. 

The first week we had no hot water either and because 

we'd been so cold I decided my canvas had to be summery!

 used the Carabelle Studio house stamp.

 stamped the houses and coloured them with felt tips.

I used a Memory Box stencil and modelling paste 

to stencil the sun in the corner of the canvas.

I gave the canvas a coat of gesso and 

when it had dried I used a sponge to colour 

the sky and greenery with Fresco Finish paint

The sun was coloured with yellow and orange acrylic paint.

These are some of the embellishments I used, 

I coloured some of the dried flowers green and left some white, 

I die cut some leaves but didn't use them. 

I cut the strip of paper because I liked the scalloped edge 

and thought it would make a good fence.

I glued the dried flowers to the canvas and 

attached the houses with a dimentional double sided tape 

then I drew pathways from the doors. 

I used a white pen to turn the strip of paper into a fence. 

The fences are attached to the canvas with a thicker 

double sided tape than I used for the houses. 

The birds were stamped with Stampers Anonymous stamp, 

I had to go over the birds with a black marker as they didn't 

stamp very well on the canvas.

I added a heart shaped balloon and wrote "Home is where the heart is".

Because I used a deep canvas it meant that 

I could carry my design round the edges."

Supplies:

A deep 6 inch square canvas.
Carabelle Studio stamp.
Black Archival ink.
Felt tip pens.
Memory Box stencil
Modelling paste.
Fresco Finish paint.
Stampers Anonymous bird stamp.
Black marker.
White pen.

Thank you Hazel - I'm so glad you didn't

go the winter night route - maybe you 

could give us that one for the next heatwave?

A really super, smiley, proper like canvas

for a winter's day - what a brilliant idea!

'till tomorrow

Mickie xx