Mother's Day the Sequel

Mother's Day the Sequel

Hi There!

Yes, I'll admit.  I had a brainstorm

(before anyone goes all pc on me

that is a technical term) and for all

I had created some articles specifically

for Mother's Day; I omitted to post

them...............Duh!

You don't have to be crazy to

live my life but it does help.....

As you will see, each card lends

itself to more than one

occasion all that is required is

to change the greeting 

I have three such projects for you;

the first is from Hazel Harler

and it goes like this:

 "For the background I placed a stencil 

on some white card and sprinkled it with

 Cosmic Shimmer Pixie dust and then

 sprayed it with water. 

I dried the card with a heat gun and 

stamped the Paperartsy Hot Picks flower 

and coloured it with a felt tip pen. 

I then edged the card with a black pen and

 added the ribbon then adhered the 

decorated card to a card blank.

I stamped a butterfly onto card 

that I'd coloured with Pixie dust, cut it out 

and adhered it to the card and then

 finished with the sentiment and some sequins."

-0-

The next card is from Jane Castle and it

goes like this:

"Here is a fairly quick and easy card to help

 with any ideas if you are struggling with 

what to make.

"For my base card I used a linen textured card 

and cut a paper heart template to work my

 Gelatos off to form my outline.

Then using the blending tool worked around

 the heart before removing the template

and added buttons following the 

shape of the heart.  There's lots of

lovely buttons on the Craft Barn website

if you need to stock up

Some I added thread to for added interest. 

Then using the same 3 colours of Gelatos

 coloured a piece of card and added a die 

cut Mum, a couple of Tim Holtz die cut wild 

flowers at the bottom and finally some 

Ranger Liquid Pearls to enhance the 

shape on the outside."

-0-

and finally, here is a card from

Claire Jackson

My card uses water soluble pastels 

(Gelatos or Distress Crayons) and

 embossing folders.

First I scribbled on two pieces of card

 and blended the colours with a damp 

baby wipe.

Then I coloured an embossing folder using 

the lighter colour first. I did both sides 

and then spritzed lightly with water. 

I put my coloured card pieces back

 to back in the folder so that I could emboss

 both at the same time, ending up with 

one side embossed and one side debossed.

There was still some colour on the folder

 so I spritzed again and ran two 

pieces of white card through.

Using a different folder I embossed and

 die cut some flowers.

 I had enough pieces for two cards

Thank you Hazel, Jane and Claire

for a lovely set of cards

Some good techniques here too

and I really liked the tip from

Claire on using two pieces of

card in an embossing folder.

There's always something to 

be learned isn't there?

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Easter Egg

Easter Egg

Hello Everyone!

How are you all?  Hope you

are enjoying fine springlike

weather - it is snowing here

as I write!  Don't know about

Easter; it's beginning to 

look a lot like Christmas......

Claire Jackson is here with

a beautiful reminder of the

season..........

"Today I’m sharing an idea for an 

Easter or spring time gift. 

I started with a plain cotton bag and

 masked off a central square with tape 

and a homemade mask of a 

hare in the middle.

 I then painted the sky and grass

 with fabric paint.

When the paint was completely dry 

I stamped a variety of PaperArtsy flowers

 in Archival Ink and coloured them with 

more fabric paint. 

I added a little shading to the hare 

and stamped a border.

If you’re like me you have umpteen reusable

 bags in different places so that you 

never get caught out when you’re shopping."

This is just beautiful Claire

thank you very much for sharing

If you'd like to decorate a bag

then do take a look here

They're currently on offer.....

I have a lot of bags too, unfortunately

they don't seem to make it out to

the car very often................!!

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Boxing Clever

Boxing Clever

Hi Everyone!

Haha!  No we are not taking up

bloodsports............... we are 

revisiting an old topic with a

twist or two

Next Sunday is Mothering Sunday

and in case you are wondering

what to do aside from chocs and

flowers here is Claire Jackson to

the rescue with a beautiful little

present .......

"I started by painting a small wooden

 trinket box with shades of green 

and blue chalk paint on the outside 

and pearlescent paint on the inside. 

I then stamped the flowers and leaves 

around the sides and a border flourish

 around the top.

The leaves were coloured with alcohol markers

 and white gel pen, before I added Glossy Accents

 to the leaves and stems and

 Enamel Accents on the flowers.

The border on the top was decorated 

in the same way. 

The centre piece was made from chipboard pieces

 painted and glazed. 

To finish off I put patterned paper

 on the bottom.

The little trinket box even has a small magnet

 to snap the lid shut. 

It would make a lovely gift on its own, 

filled with chocolate or with some jewellery in it."

Thank you Claire, that really is a

lovely box and fun to make I shouldn't

wonder

Have you noticed the links?  I have

linked some of the items in the text

to help you find them easier on the

website

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Random

Random

Happy Friday Everyone!

In case you don't have a 

huge amount of time what

with preparations for the

weekend, shopping and

the like ........ 

I have a gorgeous birthday

card to share with you today

from Claire Jackson ......

"With spring just around the corner, 

I’ve returned to one of my favourite 

PaperArtsy Hot Picks stamps 

for a quick and easy birthday card.

First I stamped the flower and 

masked it off. 

Next I masked the top of the card 

and used Distress Oxide ink and stencils

 to build up the bottom strip. 

I used a damp baby wipe to

 knock the ink back in places.

Keeping the flower mask in place I 

stencilled the top portion of the card with 

a variety of Stampers Anonymous 

Tim Holtz layering stencils.

 I inked a Kaisercraft stamp with black 

Archival ink and pressed parts of it onto 

the card without using a block.

Removing the flower mask I used 

watercolour pencils to add a little shading

 around the flower and to the petals 

and to finish off the sentiment is a 

double die cut layered black over white.

You can vary the colours to make a 

card for almost any occasion."

Thank you Claire for a lovely

card.  Surprising how many

birthdays there are in February ....

Interesting to see what can

be done without using loads of stash!

'Til tomorrow

Mickie xx

Random

Random

Hallo Everyone!

I'm quite enjoying this

week's love fest and I

hope you are too.  Brings

a smile to the face I feel

Claire Jackson has a

gorgeous project to share

with us today:

"I’ve used a Tando tag and minis to 

create a little gift for a loved one. 

The background and minis are decorated

 with PaperArtsy paints and crackle glaze 

with a little Imagination Crafts Starlights

 for shimmer. 

I stamped in Archival Ink and paint.

The heart is a Tando outline mini 

on top of a solid heart

First I covered it in Imagination Crafts 

rusty patina (soot), before scratching 

it back and adding red Enamel Accents and 

more Starlights. 

The centre was filled with Enamel Accents 

taking great care not to get any bubbles.

 I spattered a few drops of Enamel Accents

 onto the tag to tie it together. 

To finish off I added a computer generated 

sentiment and some ribbon.

This would make a great gift for 

Valentine’s Day, a wedding or anniversary."

Thank you Claire and indeed, it would

make a great gift for the occasions

you mention.  I also think it would

make a great gift for someone who

is going through troubled times

Always nice to know that somebody

cares

'Til tomorrow

Mickie xx

Random

Random

Hi Everyone!

Greetings from a wet and

soggy shore

It's blowing a hooley outside

........again!  Raining too. 

Now that's perfect crafting

weather so Claire Jackson has

brought her antidote to the

miserable weather

"An open, line drawing stamp is perfect

 for this technique. I’ve used the 

Woodware Bubble Bloom Felicity stamp. 

First I stamped the flower in 

black Archival ink onto Yupo synthetic paper.

 It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t totally dry as 

the next step is to add alcohol ink.

 I used different tools to drop alcohol ink

 onto the paper, controlling the size of

 the drops (cotton buds, paint brush, pin). 

A tiny drop of blending solution will

 push the ink back to give a paler spot.

To create the sky I gave the paper a wash of 

blending solution and dropped on the blues. 

To create the grass I first used a cotton bud 

and then drew in some grasses with 

alcohol markers.

 I also added alcohol marker around the 

flower and finished off with white gel pen highlights. 

To stop the ink continuing to slowly migrate

 I sealed it with a spray fixative.

I haven’t decided yet where it’s going to 

end up so haven’t added a sentiment...

maybe I’ll leave it as it is.

 What do you think?"

Many thanks Claire - I don't think it

needs a sentiment and would

look lovely in a frame.  It certainly

brightened my day!  

Woodware Stamps are on SALE

do go and check them out

'Til tomorrow

Mickie xx

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