For the Girls

For the Girls

Hi There!

So here we are with the 

final project in this strand

and what a project it is....

Here's Jane Castle to

show you what she made:

 

The project I have made does take a little time

 to make but then if you are going to give 

someone a handmade present your 

time is the main part of the gift. 

So grab a cuppa and we will make a start.

One of my main hobbies is gardening 

and I like to save seeds for the next 

growing year. 

A very close friend and neighbour is 

a keen gardener also and we

 always give each other birthday and 

christmas presents, nothing expensive but 

always something with a special thought. 

So I decided to turn this wonderful 

mini house into a seed shed for her.

Using Art-C mini house box kit I gave

 the outsides of each part a coat of white gesso.

The inside of the base, back and 2 sides 

were then covered with some of 

Imagination Crafts Rice paper.

 This was attached using 

Ranger Distress Collage Medium.

The distress medium does make the background

 quite a bit darker as you can see 

in the photo above.

Next I made a start on the seed envalopes. 

For these I used some ordinary brown

 wrapping paper as this helps to keep the 

seeds dry. 

Cutting pieces 10cm x 10.5cm, I then made 

folds so that the finished size would be 6cm x 4cm. 

the corners were cut away so as to 

remove some of the bulk.

In the picture above you can see the various stages, 

the last one has the bottom sealed and 

the top open ready to be filled.

I stamped the labels onto white card using 

black ink and a stamp from JM15. These were then 

lightly coloured using Chalk Cloud blending 

ink before hand writting. 

The envelopes were stamped and heat embossed 

with white powder using various PaperArtsy stamps.

The tag was made from kraft card and also 

heat embossed.

The seed packets were then filled --

and immediately sealed. 

Poppy seeds can go a very long way !!!

At this point I decided to make a sign for 

my shed, so masking off a stencil I 

inked onto a strip of shrink plastic.

This took about an hour to dry and then

 I cut it to shape and punched the holes

 in the top before heating

Now onto decorating the outside,

 the roof had a coat of Granny Smith paint 

before adding Grunge Paste through a Tando mask.

 I added a little Slate paint to the paste 

before applying it to the roof. 

Once dry I lightly sanded and 

added some Treasure Pewter.

The sides and the back were painted in 

Blush paint and then sponged with the 

Chalk Cloud blending ink in Toasted Rose. 

Stamped flowers were added using

 Carabelle Studio 'Zinouk du Jardin'.

Using the same stamp set I made a 

little figure, she was stamped onto

 300gsm card and then cut out. 

Her dress was stamped onto an off cut 

of painted card and stuck on top. 

Colour was added to the figure with 

Distress Markers.

Self adhesive gems for the ear-rings and

 Liquid Pearls for her buttons. 

The spade was stamped from JM 43.

There are holes in the 2 roof pieces so I 

added a ribbon bow and attached the 

'Don't eat the Daisies' tag.

The 'Seed' sign was threaded with some 

silk thread and tied to the decorative edging 

which was painted in China paint.

Zinouk and her spade were stuck on 

with some glue and the seed packets

 popped inside.

As this is a fairly small house/shed

 it's hard to catch the detail of the 

inside on camera.

I have been very impressed with this kit, 

it all went together very nicely.

I might include a battery nightlight to go 

inside for when the seeds have 

been planted.

The bow could be untided and then

 it could hang from a branch on a

 summers evening.

Thinking about it several would look

 very cute!!"

Items Used

Art-C Mini House Box Kit

Brown Parcel Wrapping Paper

Imagination Crafts Rice Paper

Ranger Distress Collage Medium

Shrink Plastic

Brilliance Ink Pads

Tando Creative Mask

PaperArtsy Stencil

PaperArtsy Grunge Paste

PaperArtsy Rubber Stamps

Carabelle Studio Rubber Stamps

Ranger Liquid Pearls

PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paints

Cosmic Shimmers Chalk Cloud Blending Ink

Treasure Pewter

Stampendous Embossing Powder

and some seeds!

Thank you Jane - I can

just see these little houses

dotted about the garden

holding those little battery 

operated night lights!

Another delightful present

don't you think?......

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Paper Mash Up

Paper Mash Up

Hallo There!

Good to see you!  Here is

another idea in this strand

for re-using the paper/card

that might end up in the

re-cycing bin.

Jane Castle has been looking

through her re-cycling.........

"Hello Everyone, today I would very much

 like to show you how I started with these .......

and ended up with this:

As I'm one of those people that think 

'That might come in handy' I tend to 

have a few empty packages in store

 so this project was fairly easy to make. 

The outer casing was from a Supermarket 

shelf that had been displaying deoderants.

It measures 25cm wide, 12.5cm deep 

and 13.5cm high at the back. 

I then also added a piece of stiff board

 to the back for the clipboard which 

measures 19cm x 23cm.

I played around with the internal arrangement

 before I cut any boxes to size.

Next a made up a spray paint mix ready

 to add universal colour to all the internal parts

 that were not going to be covered with 

decorative papers.

The mix was roughly 2 parts Mermaid,

1 part Beach hut and 2 parts water. 

I sprayed the insides of all the small inserts 

but didnt worry about the base of the

 outer shell as that would not be seen.

The front and sides were then covered with

 Kaisercraft Basecoat IV Collection Broadwalk.

This paper was also used for the clip board--- 

there was just enough left to cover one of the

 small boxes and the 2 tubes.

The remaining boxes were then covered in 

FabScrapes Hoot & Toot. 

2 of the birds from their Scrapping Goodies 

were used for the embellishments.

The embellishments were then given 2 coats of paint. 

The heart I stippled to give an uneven effect.

Detail was then added

  I love poppy seed heads and dry several 

at this time of year to add to various projects -- 

 for this one I cut the seed pod in half 

and then sprayed.

Fancy Cord/ Bakers Twine was added

 to the front and the seed pod.

Adhesive gems were added for the birds eyes

 and once I'd given the larger leaves 2 coats 

of clear embossing powder the stamped detail had 

almost disappeared so I then re-inked the stamp 

and heated the embossing powder again 

placing the stamp into the molten glaze.

Finally some dried grass from a Stipa flower 

was placed behind the butterfly.

This took 2 sheets of 12x12 papers and a few 

embellishments ---- probably things we all 

have in our stash!

The clipboard is to be used for a reminder 

of birthdays for each month."

Items Used

PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Paints

Kaisercraft 12x12 papers

Fabscraps 12x12 papers

Fabscraps Addictive Scrapping Goodies

Tando Creative Minis

Double Sided Tape

Americana Acrylic Paint

Stampendous Frantage

Distress Oxides

Treasure Gold

Prima Color Bloom

Fancy Cord

I.O. Seth Apter Stamps

A lovely project to keep us busy

now that the evenings are

drawing in.  Many thanks Jane

I had forgotten about making a

spray with the Fresco paints -

so useful for getting colour into

the nooks and crannies

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

On the Case

On the Case

Hi Everyone

Enjoy the weekend won't you?

I am sure you don't need reminding

that it is back to normal next week

Certainly i have enjoyed getting to

and from home in relative ease and

calm - it will be back to planning

my journeys now the schools are

back ..............

Jane Castle is here today with a

great storage idea.........

Well this was a theme that could lead to 

many different crafting projects but

 I decided to make my 12yr old Granddaughter 

a case for her to keep her ear-rings in when

 they are staying at their caravan. 

I wanted to keep it fun and felt these new 

Whimisical Birds from Tando Creative 

really fitted the bill.

I began by giving the larger of the 2 mini

 book boxes in the set a coat of black paint 

both inside and out. 

Then cut a strip 10cm off the top from 

a sheet of Kaisercraft 12x12 paper.

This 10cm strip was then stuck onto a piece 

of white card to give it some extra strength.

 Starting at the end with the wild flowers

 I made the following score lines;

1.5cm score, 2cm score, 1.5cm score,

 1.5cm score, 2.5cm score, 1.5cm score,

 1.5cm score, 2cm score 1.5cm cut.

These score lines were then folded forming 2 areas

 for the ear-rings to sit in.

 Although these measurements worked for

 my box they might need slightly adjusting 

as I'm not sure as to whether these boxes

 match exactly size wise. 

This was then placed inside the book/box 

and the 2 ends glued in place.

Now onto the bird for the top,

 the face and legs were given a coat of Nougat paint 

and the body a coat of Very Berry. 

The eyes were made from circles punched from

 some scrap blue card and then black gems for the centres. 

The beak was cut from some pale yellow felt and 

faux stitching was added using a fine nibbed black pen.

The body was stencilled using a sponge and 

Cosmic Shimmers Chalk Blending Ink. 

The feathers on the top of his head had 

Enamel Accents applied.

The legs had Enamel Accents for nail varnish

 and the stripes were added using a Sakura Pen.

Finally the wings were given a coat of Wisteria paint, 

then stamped in Archival Watering Can 

and heat embossed with clear powder.

Before attaching the wings I added some 

Treasure Pewter to the edges.

Using the same stencil and Blending Ink 

I added some decoration to the corners of the lid. 

The blending ink dries a lot lighter on the black

 background but you could always give it a 

second coat if you wanted it to completely match. 

The centres had some Enamel Accents added 

and to finish I rubbed the edges of the book with

 the Treasure Pewter.

The ear-rings my Grandaughter likes to wear 

are quite small but I decided to pop a few pairs 

of mine in just to check it worked ok !

I think she will be spending less time searching

 around for lost ear-rings and more time belly boarding 

on the beach.

Items used

Mini Book Boxes

Kaisercraft Wildflower 12x12 paper Spring

Tando Creative Whimiscal Birds set 2

PaperArtsy Srapcosy Stencil PS050

Cosmic Shimmers Chalk Blending Ink 

Toasted Rose

Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paint 

Little Black Dress, Nougat, Wisteria & Very Berry

Archival Watering Can Ink

Detail Clear Embossing Powder

Treasure Pewter

Ranger Wendy Vecchi Enamel Accents 

Catus Flower & Garden Patina

Ranger Enamel Accents Classic Cherry

Sakura Stardust Pen Purple

PaperArtsy Eclectica EEV06 stamp set

From Stash - 

pale yellow felt, blue card and 2 tiny black gems

Expect your Granddaughter loves

 her box.  She could save rings in

it too.  Thank you Jane

Those boxes lend themselves to all

manner of uses don't they?...........

Such fun!

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Undercover

Undercover

Hi Everyone

Are you familiar with the

Cover-a-Card stamps? 

 

I guess we might just be

speaking to the converted

however, if you haven't seen

these before you might 

join the converted by the

end of the week.............

Today we have Jane Castle

with us:

"For my project today I decided to make 

a variation of a toddlers bithday card 

as I thought it might be fun to have 

something to hang on the wall of a 

nursery or playroom.

I began by giving my heart base a coat of

 Titanium White paint on both the front and back.

Then once dry made 2 holes at the top ready 

for hanging. 

Next I built up layers of blue and white paint

 using pieces of Cut & Dry foam.

Once I was happy with my background 

I stamped the Birthday Words in Versa-Mark ink 

and heat embossed with white embossing powder.

 I then cut a piece of white card the same 

shape as the heart and stamped Happy Birthday 

on it before attaching to the back. 

This was done so that the finished piece 

could then have a written message on.

The image was then die cut from various 

odds and ends of patterned card and felt.

 I was amazed at how well the tiny steel 

parts of this creature cut the felt, 

but really like the difference in texture 

to using all card. 

I built up the image first before attaching it

 to the heart as I wasn't quite sure 

of the positioning.

Next onto the 3 balloons --- these are from the 

Tando Mini series. 

They were coloured by dabbing ink straight from 

the ink pads and then heat embossed using 

clear embossing powder.

The ribbon was threaded through the holes before 

assembling the gator and balloons. 

His hands/paws were glued in position after 

attaching the balloon strings.

I have to say I had lots of fun putting 

this together and even now give a little smile

 when I look at the finished piece."

Items Used

Impression Obsession Cover a Card Stamp Birthday Words 

Impression Obsession Die 422-N Patchwork Gator

Tando Creative Large Heart

Tando Creative Mini Balloons

Deco-Art Titanium White Acrylic Paint

PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Lake Wanaka Paint

Stampendous Detail White & Detail Clear Embossing Powder

Brilliance Pearlescent Thyme Ink

Brilliance Rocket Red Ink

Versa-Magic Mango Madness Ink

From Craft-Room Stash:

Off cuts of patterned card

Off cuts of felt

Sewing thread for balloons

Length of ribbon

Thank you Jane - that is a

really nice idea; a card you

can hang on the wall.

Wouldn't mind receiving one

of those myself - it would make

me smile every time I looked

at it too!

'Til tomorrow

Mickie xx