At Random

At Random

Hi There!

Seems an odd title for January's posts

but they are all chosen at random so

what else could I call it? ..........Haha!

The reason for "At Random" is that with

the JANUARY SALE going strong it

is the ideas for the projects that count

rather than individual projects, after all

a stamp is a stamp is a ...........

Or is it?  You decide!

Craftyfield is going to start us off

with a simple card:

"After all that Christmas crafting and 

lots of relaxing over the Holidays, 

a CAS card is great to 

kickstart my mojo again...

 I selected the Quirky bird to make 

a Get well card. 

I stamped the image with yellow

 Versafine Clair for a no line-colouring 

technique and used watercolour

 pencils and a brush to colour it.

Next, I stamped rain drops all over my bird,

 using the Craft Emotions stamp set

 with a blue Distress ink. 

If your ink, like mine is a bit dark, use

 second or even third generation 

stamping by stamping off on a 

scrap piece of paper.

 With a wet brush I pull the Distress ink

 off the stamped image.

 Then, I give the bird a bit of ground

 to stand on, using watercolour 

pencils and splatters.

Finally I used the printer for the sentiment.

I hope I have encouraged you 

to have a go, this is a very easy

 card to make!"

Thank you Craftyfield for

starting us off with a simple

card.  I'm sure it would bring

a smile to any patient's face!

For all specific products and colours 

have been mentioned here, do 

remember that any product can be

used to achieve a similar result!

Take a look at the SALE to see what

you can find to make a cheery

Get Well Soon card

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Christmas Flora

Christmas Flora

Hello There!

We've made it into December!

Woohoo!  Not long to go now...

Have you opened your Advent

Calendars? How exciting....!

Angela Radford is here today

with a tree ...........

"Hi all. Angela here to show you this really 

quirky Christmas tree card, using Elenazinski 

stamps (PaperArtsy). Hope you like it.

Spread some Distress Oxides onto a craft

 mat and pull a sheet of watercolour card

 through it.

 Dry between applications.

 I couldn't make my mind up about the colours 

so made two backgrounds and used a Kay Carley 

Christmas stencil to decorate the card blank.

Christmas tree and bauble stamps next 

ready to colour and cut out.

Used the holly stamp next to put a little more

 detail to the background using the second 

generation colour by stamping on waste 

paper and then onto the card.

This may look a bit crazy as I have stamped

 all the detail ready to attach the sections 

when coloured.

 By doing it this way you have the fine 

lines of the baubles string and ground lines

 for the trees and only need to cut out the 

main sections. 

I edged the card at this stage too. 

The border stamp is from a set by 

JOFY 06 (PaperArtsy).

Attach the baubles first.

Then add the trees. 

Apply the stickles glitter glue next. 

Layer the finished design onto coloured

 card of your choice and attach it to the 

card blank.

And here is a slight variation in colours.

 Hope you enjoyed watching me make these

 cards and maybe it's given you some inspiration

 for your own. 

Happy crafting, Angela xXx

Products Used:

PaperArtsy Christmas stamps

PaperArtsy Elenazinski stamps

Distress Oxide inks

PaperArtsy Stencil (Kay Carley)

Watercolour card

Card blanks

Stickles glitter glue

Coloured card

Versafine Black Ink

I do love those stamps and you

have used them to their best

Many thanks Angela

'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

Quirky Birds

Quirky Birds

Hi There!

I'm here today with 

Claire Jackson

and no Month Challenge

in sight. haha!

Today Claire is going

to show us how to

get some uninterrupted

crafting time:

"Take a door hanger

and paint it with two layers of 

PaperArtsy snowflake paint, 

drying in between

Build up the background with 

opaque colours first.

 I used blue oyster and china and 

then lightened it with more snowflake

Add translucent colours over the top 

so that your base layer still shows through. 

I went with limelight and southern skies 

and blended with a little snowflake in the centre

Sponge snowflake paint through the 

arrows stencil and dry thoroughly

Replace the stencil so that it does 

not quite match up with the white arrows

 and sponge translucent colours over the top. 

This will give the effect of shadows and depth. 

Add some stamping in paint and when dry 

highlight some areas with a white pen

Add stamping in black and ensure it’s 

completely dry by heat setting it. 

Add more white highlights

Stamp the bird image several times on 

tissue paper and heat set. 

The great thing about tissue paper is that 

you can turn it over and reverse the images 

so that the bird is going in the 

opposite direction. 

Paint the back of the images in white.

Colour the images. 

I used a combination of permanent markers 

for vibrancy and pencil for shading.

 Tear around the images

Cover the hanger in a layer of gel medium 

a section at a time and add the tissue images. 

Cover the tissue with more gel medium and 

gently massage it into the tissue so that it 

becomes transparent

Print out the words, cut out, decorate the edges 

and adhere to the hanger. 

Add shading to the edge of the hanger. 

I used blueberry Gelato and blended 

it with a babywipe

Now there's no excuse for anyone getting 

covered in sparkle unexpectedly when 

they interrupt me in the craft room!"

Materials used:

Wooden door hanger
PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paint: 

snowflake, blue oyster, china, limelight, southern skies
Tim Holtz layered stencil: arrows
PaperArtsy stamps: Seth Apter 01
Versafine: onyx black
Tissue Paper
Collage Medium: matte
Faber-Castell Gelatos: blueberry
Gesso

From Stash:

Sharpie marker and white paint pen
Coloured pencils
Black and white gel pen

Love those quirky birds they're

such fun and thank you Claire

for showing us your really fun

door hanger



'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx