Another "boys, boys, boys" project

Hello to you all.  Here as promised is another project I made for this months Claritystamp challenge theme;  in fact this was my original idea using Paperartsy Fresco Finish Acrylics and Crackle Glaze as taught by the inspirational Maria Simms.  I wanted to make a keepsake gift ready for my youngest grandson's second birthday and decided on this doorhanger.

 

Ingredients

MDF doorhanger

Paperartsy fresco finish paints

Paperartsy crackle glaze and satin glaze

Black archival ink

Butterscotch adirondack ink

Mermaid lagoon distress ink

Mixture of green distress and adirondack ink pads

Shrink plastic

Stamps used:  journalling set, wee folk boys, boy and birds, remountable patterns, bubbles, word chains.

 

First job was to give the doorhanger an undercoat of white paint, then I roughly sponged in some sky and painted in the hills. 

 

 

Then I scraped on a very thin layer of crackle glaze, let it dry, and overpainted with a thick layer of cream paint.  now I just had to wait for the magic to happen.  Although its only subtle, this meant that you can see the different colours through the crackle.  

 

 

Now I started to build up the scene using inks and stamping in some texture and details using the fresco finish paints, masking off each section in turn, and then stamping the silhouettes in black archival.

 

 

 

I gently brushed some yellow for the sun, and then very lightly stamped in some bubbles for interest.

 

 

Now for this side, I stamped in the lovely boy and birds.

 

 

I created a similar scene on the other side of the doorhanger, but used different wee folk.

 

I coated the whole piece in satin glaze to protect it.  The finishing touch was to stamp out some appropriate words in black archival onto shrink plastic and stick them into place on each side of the door hanger.

 

 

Well I hope you like it, and maybe it will give you a few more ideas for what you might like to create for this months challenge. 

 

Don't forget to join in, the winner of the £50 Clarity voucher is chosen at random, so this month it could be you.

 

Pop on over to the challenge blog for more inspiration from the rest of the design team.  Hope you will be watching Barbara on the telly with us tomorrow morning.  See you there!  Till next time.  Xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One for the boys...

Hello again.  Thanks to all of you who entered last months Clarity challenge on the theme of "clocks."  This has proved to be quite a tough theme:  maybe a reflection of what a struggle it is for many of us to find enough time for crafting.  This month, we are tackling another theme which can sometimes be difficult:  creating a piece of art for the men in our lives.

Ingredients
Black archival ink pad
Black micron pen
Clear embossing powder
Theuva card
Black card for matting and layering
Jazz man stamp, music stamp set and wordpress stamp set

As I kept it simple this month, I thought I would share with you a bit more of how I go about designing a project from the start.

First, I very often start by stamping out the design roughly onto copy paper.  I might do this several times, until I feel confident and happy with the layout.

Next, I cut Theuva card to size, and dusted with talc.  I then stamped jazz man and clear embossed him.

Of course, with a design so simple, there's no place to hide.  Here are some of the rejects...

Too timid when drawing in the lines.  Tried thicker lines, but didn't like them.

Tried drawing the lines before stamping jazzman.  I concentrated so hard on trying to put his feet in the right place, I cut off his cane.  Barbara:  0   Bin:  2

I drew the lines first again, and disaster!  Can you spot it? 

I realised I had to be brave and stamp jazz man first, and then draw in the lines.  Yay, success at last!  Then I stamped in "Happy Birthday" using both upper and lower case letters from the wordpress set randomly through the stave.

Next job was to add in the notes until I was happy with the balance of the design.

All that was left to do now was to mat onto a piece of black card and the card blank.

I hope you like the finished card.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the projects you come up with for the men in your life;  be it a husband father, son, grandson...  Its up to you.  I have another "boys, boys, boys" project that I've made for one of my grandsons, which I'll blog later in the month.  Don't forget, the winner of the £50 Claritystamp voucher is chosen completely at random, so what have you got to lose?  Go on, give it a go.  If you need more inspiration, pop over to: http://claritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

You'll find the links there to the blogs of all my talented design teamies.  Till next time.  Xxx

Yay!!! Its craft o'clock

Well I don't know where the month of April went.  Its time for a new Claritystamp challenge already.  Thanks to all of you who took part in last months challenge using the fabulous wee folk.

I was so excited when I knew that this the theme for this month was "clocks" and knew straightaway that I wanted to produce a piece of artwork for my blog title.  However, what I was actually going to do was another story altogether....

Ingredients
For the background
A4 and A3 canvas boards
Vintage book pages
Mod Podge
Paperartsy Fresco paints
Distress inks
Clockwork/cogs stencil
Chinese lanterns stencil
Curly wurly stencil
Harlequin stencil
Sunburst stencil
Dotty wave stencil
Grunge paste
Embossing powder (I used a Frantage one)
Letterbox stamp kit
Fine wire

For the embellishments
Madeleine stencil
Fob watch stamps
Pretty petals stamp kit
Funky foliage leaf stamp
Medium lamp post stamp
Sizzix love cogs die
Versamark ink pad
Distress embossing powder
Detail gold embossing powder
Grungepaper
Gelli card
More Paperartsy Fresco paints
Spectrum Noir pencils
Small metal cogs

Glass accents
Ball chain
Glossy Accents

Be warned;  this post could turn out to be longer than "War and Peace."  It certainly took me a long time to finish it!

First job was to cover the A4 canvas board with squares cut from vintage book pages.

 

Next job, add some colour by 'walking' the brayer around the board using the Paperartsy paints.

 

 

Add some extra colour round the edges with Distress Ink.

 

After spending time figuring out the right mix and layout of the stencils, I dragged grunge paste through each of the stencils in turn, and roughly and unevenly sprinkled on some Frantage embossing powder    This had to dry naturally before I could melt the embossing powder.  Once this was done, I sponged some more ink onto the exposed areas of grunge paste.

 

 

There!  Stage 1 complete.  This was when I went a bit crazy and kept coming up with new ideas for how I wanted the finished project to look.

 

Firstly I roughly painted book pages with Paperartsy paint, allowing some of the print to show through.  Then I stamped and embossed the bunting and letters before cutting out.  These were then threaded on fine wire and glued into position.

 

I cut out cogs from gelli card and embossed some using just detail gold powder (2 coats needed for a nice glossy finish).  The rest, where I wanted a rougher and more textured finish, I used distress powder for an uneven base coat, then a second coat of detail gold powder.

 

 

 Next, I stamped a load of large and small fob watches onto gelli card with archival ink and aged them a bit with distress ink before cutting out.  Glossy accents was added to the large watch faces, real glass accents were added to the small watch faces as they fitted perfectly.

 

 

After painting some grungepaper, I pulled grunge paste through the Madeleine stencil.  Once dry, I coloured her with spectrum noir pencils.

 

 

Then I had a messy session making some background papers ready for the flowers.  I tried out a few colour mixes with my Paperartsy paints;  splodging and spritzing them on my craft sheet and picking up the paint with some gelli card.  This was a technique we used at Maria Simms' last workshop;  thanks Maria!  These were then used to stamp the petals for the flowers which were assembled using the fob watches for the centres.

 

 

 

Now it was time to assemble it all together.  You can see some of the details below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally I decided to give Madeleine a necklace, using the rest of the fob watches and the lamp post stamp (I did trim a couple of bits off when cutting these out!), and added a scrap of ball chain to finish.

 

 

Phew!  Are you still there?  If you've made it this far, I hope you like the finished piece and that it will give you a bit of inspiration for your own project.  There's some more great work and ideas from my design teamies.  Looking forward to seeing all your ideas too.  Till next time.  Xxx