Pumpkin Scarecrow & Halloween

Halloween

Hallo everyone!

Hope you've got your pumpkins already

and don't forget the candles

Another spooky project today from

Hazel Harler

who has been busy creating something

specially for us so over to you Hazel:

"I decided to do a journal page for my Halloween piece

 I stencilled the wall with modeling paste onto a 6" x 8" piece of mixed media card 

and then gave it a coat of gesso.

I painted the wall with watered down acrylic paint and spritzed it with water, 

drying the wall between each colour,

 there is also a little brimstone wings Color Bloom on there.

I fastened some chain to the wall with brads and put some jump rings on the end, 

I painted some quinacridone gold paint to make it look like the metal has rusted.

 I stamped the Carabelle Studio images onto white card, 

coloured them with pencils and cut them out. 

The glass dome was stamped onto acetate and cut out, 

I've no idea who made the skeleton stamps, they are from my stash

The knife was drawn by hand.

 I glued all the stamped images to the page and 

used an Impression Obsession stamp with distress ink for the table, 

The mad doctor was stamped with a Stampers Anonymous stamp and coloured with pencil. 

I cut him out so that he could hold the knife.

 I added some gauze, die cut spiders, a Tando pumpkin, some graffiti 

on the walls and acrylic paint blood.

A close up of the skeleton chained to the wall.

A close up of the specimen glass.

 

A close up of the sitting skeleton"

Items used

Modelling Paste & Gesso

Tim Holtz stencils

Decoart paint - lamp black, paynes grey, burnt umber, quinacridone gold.

Color Bloom - brimstone wings on the wall and spider.

Carabelle Studio stamps.

Acetate.

Impression Obsession stamp 

Distress ink.

Archival ink - black.

Stampers Anonymous - time traveller stamp.

Tando pumpkin.

6" x 8" mixed media card.

Chain, brads and jump rings.

Coloured pencils.

Super project Hazel and how nice to

see it as a journalling piece

Thank you very much

Now this has got to be a must do page 

in my journal (that I haven't touched in

a while).. I am so going to enjoy this one.....

See you tomorrow

Mickie xx 

Stamping Master Class Week - Neil Walker

Morning all,

Welcome to day two of our Stamping Master Class week.

It is Neil's turn today and he is 'stamp flipping'!!

Neil says .....

"Stamps are so versatile, there are so many different images and

 styles around I'm sure we all have loads in our crafty stash.

 Every now and again though, I look at a stamp and wish I 

had it facing the other way. (I know, there's no pleasing some

 folks is there?!) so today I thought I'd share how

 I "flip" my stamps 

Begin by stamping your chosen image onto white paper in archival ink

 and cut it out.

Brush a layer of Gesso onto the surface and while wet press your

 stamped image face down. Press down well and leave

 to dry thoroughly.

When dry, spritz with water and gently begin to rub the paper off to

 reveal the image. The keyword is gently! If you rub too hard

 you are liable to rub off the image too. 

If you stamp your image again directly onto the surface you can

 see how you have a mirror image which I think is pretty cool.

I think it's a fun technique to do though I will finish off with a 

few suggestions which hopefully will minimize any frustrations......

Remember that by doing this with a stamp you are reversing

 it so writing will not work.

Also remember that your reversed image is not going to be as

 crisp as the original so I would personally recommend that

 you use them separately as putting them together on one 

project kind of "highlights" the fade making it look shabbier than

 if you used it on it's own.

So, to illustrate my point; I used both images on this card.....

You can see that the image on the left is faded much more than the

 image on the right which is stamped onto the dry gesso.

I've coloured both images with the same Distress Marker and the one

 on the left has not blended as smoothly as the right because

 it reacts differently. The reason being that it is effectively a 

different surface to the gesso as it still has paper residue on it

 which both absorbs color into the fibres causing bleeding and making

 it harder to blend.

So generally not a very successful card. 

However, if we then split the images (Literally, I just sliced the card

 in half!) and use the pieces individually I can make a card

 using the flipped image which I think looks so much better

 because it is no longer competing with the crisper image.

The other piece mounted onto a 10" tag covered in Tim Holtz

 Tissue paper makes a very pretty matching gift tag too.

This is beautiful Neil and a great tutorial, thank you.

If you fancy having a go, here is what you need -

300g Card - Ice White

Gesso

Distress Ink - Vintage Photo

Archival Ink - Jet Black

Tim Holtz Stamps - Runway

Tim Holtz Stamps - Haberdashery

Distress Markers
Double Sided Tape
Kraft Card

Ribbon

Lace 

White paper

I'm loving those Runway Stamps, funny how

until you see something actually used, you don't always

see their full potential!

Ok, well I shall be back tomorrow with our

third tutorial for our 

Stamping Master Class.

See you then,

Jane x

Random Week - Pauline Wheeler

Helloooo,

Happy Saturday everyone, the weekend is here again!

Hope you have lots of good things planned, maybe some crafting??

Well I'm sure you know now that it is random week here 

and today is Pauline's turn.  I picked these flowers by Pauline

as I think they are so lovely.  Anyone who sees me at the shop

will know that I love making flowers but I have not had a go

using these paints before.....something else for my shopping list!

This is how Pauline made them -

Paint thin black card with the paint...

Die cut four flowers from each colour used. I've used Tim Holtz 

Tattered Florals Die. You can use any punch or die that

 has six petals...

From one flower cut out one petal. From another cut out two

 joined together. For the third flower just cut to the centre and 

on the fourth cut a cross in the centre...

Curl all the petals back...

Take the single petal and roll it into a cone and glue down the

 edge.  I use Glossy Accents as it dries really quickly. If the rose

 is to be on a stem roll the cone around the stick...

Repeat making a cone with the two petal piece glue the edge. Add

 glue to the first petal base  and put the stick through the base of

 the second layer...

With the flower that has one petal removed cut out a little semi

 circle, this is for the stem to pass through, and cut off the top

 of one petal and overlap the petals then stick together...

Repeat for the layer with two petals removed.

For the next layer cut the top of the petal, remove a semi circle 

again and just stick together...

Either thread the layers onto the stick or layer them together then

 thread onto the stick, gluing each layer...

Colour the wooden sticks with a marker pen in green and die cut

 some rose leaves. Stick these to the stems.

Repeat for each of the painted flowers.

Aren't they gorgeous??  I think they are so pretty.

 Ok, if you want to have a go, this is what you need -

DecoArt Interference Paints

Glossy Accents

Thin Black Card
Tim Holtz Tattered Floral Die

Wooden Sticks

So what are you waiting for??
(Oh I think Ellie Goulding sings that!)

Make your own flowers for Mothers Day!!

Enjoy the weekend, hope the weather stays nice!

See you tomorrow, its challenge time....
...wonder what it will be this week???


Jane x

Autumn leaves - Neil

Hi, 
A lovely masculine project today: an autumnal card by Neil. Truly stunning colour combination on this, absolutely love this card. 
Neil used die Tim Holtz die cuts and stamps on his card.

Neil:

I began by grabbing a card blank from my pile and blended layers of Distress Ink over. Beginning with Wild Honey then adding Ripe Persimmon, Seedless Preserves and Gathered Twigs to get that lovely seasonal depth of colour. I splashed a few drops of water to leach out some colour.

My gentleman was stamped onto card and I used the same colours to colour him roughly (when I say same colours I actually mean that I used the same foam pad I'd used to do the background and just "scribbled" over him!) I used water and a brush to soften the colours and lighten areas. He was added to the card and shadowed in with charcoal. 

 I cut a selection of the Autumn Gatherings in various colour papers and blended some Distress Ink over them before sticking in place. I used a Distress Marker to add a little bit of extra detail.

I decided it was all a little too bland so I cut the card bit off and matted it onto dark card. I tore the two sides to add interest and used a dark A4 card to create an A5 card.

I haven't popped a sentiment on yet but there is plenty of room to do so so this is perfect for a masculine Birthday, Thank You or even just a Happy Autumn!

Neil used:

Stamps - Time Travelers

Distress Inks - Wild Honey, Ripe Persimmon, Seedless Preserves and Gathered Twigs

Die - Autumn Gatherings

Black Archival ink

Glue

Distress marker - Peeled Paint

See you tomorrow

Izzy

Halloween week - Neil

Hi, 
Neil's turn today with an altered Tando Creative coffin with cobweb. 
Love all the work on here: the colours, the stamping, the layering and the crackle. It all falls into place.... 
What do you think? Let us know in a comment below... 

I started off with the Tando Creative Layered Coffin with Cobweb. I've done a couple of preparation steps for you to make it easier if you want to create your own. 

The first job is to create a hinged lid so the coffin can be closed

Take one of the solid large pieces and the frame with the cobweb and place them side by side. Join them together using Tissue tape as shown. 

I use this tape because it is thin but strong, it doesn't bulk up the side so it's easy to close.

Close it carefully and put more tissue tape on the sides wrapping it all round. This gives you a good strong hinge.

Take one of the smaller inside sections and use texture paste to cover it. (I've used a Crackle Texture) Set aside to dry.  

Lastly, use one of the frames to create a template for stamping onto out of white card. Draw inside so you can see where to position your images.

Ok. Now we are ready to put everything together! (No photos for the following steps)

Take all the outer frame pieces and the top piece that you hinged and glue everything together. Paint everything black.

Choose your images for stamping. I used The Chemist plate from Tim Holtz.

Stamp the main image onto the card using the lines you drew in as a guide for placement. Mask it off and add the bottles to the bottom areas, masking off if needed to layer up. Mask the main image and stamp the background.

Colour with with Markers and I then used glossy accents to add shine to the "glass" elements. When you are happy glue it to the base and glue that to the rest of the coffin.

Stamp and cut out the sentiment "What's your Poison Sir?" onto card and cut out.

So, the inside of your coffin ends up like this 

Now to finish the outside.......

Take the smaller spider on a thread from the Tando Creative grab bag of spiders (really creepy these!) Paint it black and cover with a single layer of UTEE. Stick a gem onto it and cover everything with another layer of clear UTEE and you end up with this 

To finish the lid, use Black Soot Distress Ink to highlight the texture piece and glue that onto the main lid. Use glossy accents or clear UTEE to add shine to the black edges of the top. (I used UTEE but it is kind of fiddly so glossy accents would be easier)

Glue the spider to the top and you end up with this deliciously creppy, gorgeously textured piece. 

Tando Creative Layered coffin and Spiders grab bag

DecoArt Texture Paste

Americana black paint

Glossy Accents

Black Archival ink

Tim Holtz - The Chemist stamps

Tim Holtz - Tissue Tape

Tim Holtz - Distress Markers

Tim Holtz - Black Soot Distress Ink

Self adhesive gems

Clear UTEE and Versafine embossing ink

Matte Multi Medium

See you soon, 

Izzy

Saturday Savers - Ho Ho Ho - Neil

Hi, 
A lovely upcycling project from Neil for you today. Christmas is coming up but not too close yet, 
so you still have time to make a few of those. Great fun, and if like us, you keep the bags you are given, then you have plenty to work with. 
If you'd rather make your own, you can always use one of our recycled craft carrier bag

A very quick and simple recycling from me today. 

I'm sure I'm not the only one who can't bear to throw out gift bags. 

I have them all packed away ready to re use. However, I have been known to give it back to to original giver on occasion so now I try to add a little extra to them, just in case!

I've had this beautiful white bag for a while now and thought it would be perfect to change to a Christmas bag

 I began by stamping an ATC using Tim's ATC stamp. Simply coloured with Distress Ink and matted onto card.

 I worked out where it was going and marked it before using Grunge Paste and Tando Creative's snowflake mask to add some texture.

 That was not Christmassy enough so I added some Dry Stickles

 Then, a spritz of Dylusions to add some extra colour and one lovely Christmas bag, ready for a gift.

I think that this a great and easy way of jazzing up a bag. If your bag is patterned you can still do the same kind of thing. I just often use some Gesso or paint to tone down the pattern.

Neil used:

Stamps - Tim Holtz Holiday Collections

ATC - White

Archival ink - Cobalt

Grunge Paste

Dry Stickles

Tando Creative - Snowflake Mask

Dylusions - London Blue

See you tomorrow

Izzy