Christmas Animals

Christmas Animals

Hallo There!

.......and we've reached the

end of another busy week!

Time for you to put your 

feet up and relax with a cup

of something warm and

cheery before you have to

hit the treadmill once more

...................!

Here's Jane Castle with the

final Christmas Animal for

this week...:

"Hi Everyone, for my Christmas Animal 

I chose the Stag, such an elegant creature 

and one that has become more readily

 visible in our neck of the woods during 

the past 10 years.

To begin with I coloured some of the

 Creative Expressions Pop-ems deer using

 ink straight from the coffee bean ink pad.

These were then put to one side while I

 created a scene on my card blank.

The sentiment was stamped at the bottom

 righthand corner and the sky was coloured

 with DI and a blending tool.

Next I placed 2 blobs of paint on my craft mat

 and gradually blended graduating colours to 

be sponged through my 

Tim Holtz Woodland Layering Stencil.

Adding slightly different shades as I went.

I love how the Zinc paint gives that

 subtle shimmer. 

Gradually the scene starts to build.

With christmas cards I like to make 

several in one sitting.

Then using the same sponge and paints 

I added some snowey hills to ground my trees

Using a Quickie Glue pen I added some 

glitter to the trees and the ground. 

Stickles could also be used for this.

All thats left is to add my Stag.

Although the coffee bean ink pad isn't a 

pearlescent one it still has a slight sparkle

 and texture.

Really liked using the Pop-ems,

 good selection of sizes and different poses. 

Plus once the deers have been used

 you are left with a pretty comprehensive 

stencil ------ bonus!!!"

Materials Used

Woodware Christmas stamp

Distress Inks

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil

Brilliance Ink Pads

Creative Expressions Pop-ems

DecoArt Metallic Paint

Fresco Finish Chalk Paint

Quickie Glue pen

Glitter

Super cards Jane

Thank you very much

You look to have had a

lot of fun making these

So, that was the week of

Christmas Animals.

Such fun showcasing another

side of Christmas icons

'Till tomorrow 

Mickie xx

Iconic

Iconic

Hallo Everyone!

Brrr! It's getting a bit

chilly here - how's the

temperature with you?

Don't get me wrong, 

after all it is getting on

for winter - I'll just

have to get another 

woolly out..........or

maybe............the

knitting needles! 

Here's Helen Chilton

who is using lovely

warm and bright colours!

"Wooden icon - lovely and bright. 

The Zinsky stamps work really well on this.

Start by gessoing and then painting

 in Fresco Finish Blue Oyster.

I've then stencilled in white with the 

Tim Holtz mosaic design stencil.

You can then add another colour on top

 (in this case Zesty Zing) and the

 colour will stay true.

Stamp your designs in a very light colour

 - I used Archival Shadow Grey.

The white paint comes out again, 

this time to block in the images.

Then you can stamp again in black 

over the top....

... and paint the flowers in bright 

colours over the white.

Add shadow and white dots to make it 'pop'.

I wasn't quite happy with the stencilling 

so drew round some of the pattern in a

 fine black pen. It just gave it a

 bit more definition.

Finish with some text."

Products used:

PaperArtsy Zinsky Art 
PaperArtsy Eclectica 
Wooden Icon:
PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paint: Zesty Zing, Limelight, 

Captain Peacock, Cherry Red, Bougainvillea, Tango,

 Blue Oyster, Snowflake
White paint pen

Tim Holz Layering Stencil:

Sure to bring a smile to

anyone's face!  Thank you Helen

Love those Zinsky stamps

and the Zinnies too!  

So good to find some fun

in this very serious world

'Till Tomorrow

Mickie xx

Joseph's Coat

Joseph's Coat

Hi There!

Thought it might be fun to

re-visit an old technique ....

...... very old.......I remember

doing this in Primary School!

Here's Helen Chilton to start

us off..............

"Rub the Distress inks onto a panel of glossy card.

Stencil the mosaic pattern over the top 

with VersaMark...

... and then emboss in clear

Rub over a dark coloured inkpad - 

I used Black Soot.

Buff over with a cloth to remove ink 

from embossing.

 I don't think I let the ink 'cure' for long enough 

as it came out quite pale so I ....

....then rubbed over with Chipped Sapphire 

and left it for a bit longer.

Rub some Picked Raspberry and Carved Pumpkin 

onto a small piece of glossy.

Lay over and clear emboss the fish fossil

Rub over blue and black until black and blue(!) 

and then buff up.

I then added some definition with a black pen

 as it was annoying me!

Add more black pen to the background and

 layer up on card. I added some messy ribbon 

and fibres - I like a bit of a mess!"

Materials used:

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: 
The Crafters Workshop template: 
Distress Ink pads and Versamark Pads:
Stamp and Stuff Detail embossing powder: 

Lovely bright start to the week

Helen, thank you very much.

Just when you think you have all

the layering stencils you will ever

need; somebody uses one you haven't

got!   Always the way

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Holiday Album

Holiday Album

Hi There!

The time has come to get those

photos off the digital devices

and into something we can all

pass round and at the same

time show off our creativity!

Angela Radford is starting us

off with her altered book:

" Hi all Angela here to show you how I've 

started my new holiday album.

 I found this old book amongst my collection 

and decided it was just the thing.

This is one lovely old book.

I started by removing some of the pages 

and then glueing some together to 

strengthen them ready for use. 

This type of book has stitched pages 

which means it will not fall apart when 

the pages are removed

You may wish to cut away more or less pages

 depending on how dimensional 

your art work will be.

Now we can start to journal.

 I began with some Tim Holtz stencils 

and Grunge paste.

 I love this one as it reminds me of the sea. 

More stencilling.

At this stage I started to add some of my

 found and collected ephemera.

Then painted over this with Gesso.

Started adding colour using Distress Oxide reinkers. 

Just three drops at the top left.....

Spray with water and move the book around 

so that the inks spreads.

Everything looks a bit messy at this stage

 but trust me it gets better!

At this stage I replaced the stencils to add 

more colour using the Distress Inks.

Here I've added some text stamping and dots.

Outline smudge and blend around those

 images you want to stand out

 with a black alcohol pen.

And complete the pages by adding more images.

 My focal image was a beer mat that I found

 and I liked it so much just had to include it 

as it reminded me of our days by the sea. 

I hope to maybe show you some more pages 

in the future but that's all for now. 

Happy crafting, Angela xXx

Materials used:

Tim Holtz Stencils

Grunge paste

Distress Oxide Reinkers

Distress Ink Pad

Versafine Ink Pad

Thank you Angela, I love the book

so far.........  Looking forward to 

more pages!

I love to use one thing to 

make another don't you?

As for ring pulls - I predict

these may well become a

crafting must have, so get

collecting Everyone!  

I find the ones you see in

the road are very good as

they get flattened by the

cards running over them

and don't add so much

bulk to your project......

or you could take a hammer

to the one you've just pulled 

off that can of fizz........!!

'Til tomorrow

Mickie xx