Guest Artist at Creative Carte Blanche

Hello Friends

I am super excited and very honoured to have been asked by the wonderful Hels Sheridan to be Guest Artist today at Creative Carte Blanche!  I have been a huge fan of all of the talented designers at CCB since they were involved in the challenge blog Compendium of Curiosities several years ago.  They gave me lots of encouragement and I am grateful to them for that.

In actual fact it was Hels and another dear friend Kath Stewart who got me involved in

crafting/blogging so I have a lot to thank these ladies for!

Since the theme this month at Creative Carte Blanche is 'Love Is In The Air', I created a love themed card in a paper block style (that I learned in a class with Hels a few years back), adding a large grungy heart, a handmade flower and Hels' trademark harlequin pattern as an accent.

I started by choosing some pieces of Ephemera from Tim Holtz Idea-ology collection and used Ranger Glue 'N' Seal to glue them in place on a 6" x 6" piece of grey board.

I applied a layer of Distress Collage Medium - Crazing and allowed it to dry naturally.  Next I applied a coat of the Vintage Collage Medium.  Once dry I applied Distress Crayon around each piece of Ephemera and smudged it to blend it in.

I stencilled the harlequin pattern using Ranger black Texture Paste.  I drew an outline around a hand cut heart with black Distress Crayon.

The heart was painted with DecoArt Media Crackle Paint and when dry, this was painted with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic in Pyrole Red.

I applied a layer of Antiquing Cream in Raw Umber, let this dry and wiped it away with a damp cloth.  The Raw Umber is less harsh than black and it fills the cracks in nicely.

To finish off  I added the words (a Tim Holtz stamp) and also a hand made flower.   Here is another look at the finished project.

If you have not joined in at Creative Carte Blanche with your love themed project, there is still time to do so HERE.

Thank you again to Hels and the team at Creative Carte Blanche for having me as their Guest today!  If you do have the time, please pop over there and leave the team some love....

I am joining in Emerald Creek's challenge this month which is - 'Rock the Red'

Thanks to you too, for visiting, I hope to see you again soon.

Hugs, Anne xxx

Clearsnap ColorBox Blends for Eileen Hull

Hello Friends

During the month of February, Eileen Hull's Inspiration team are sharing projects made with Eileen's range of inks- ColorBox Blends by Clearsnap.  I need to say up front that, at the moment, these inks are not available in the UK, but hopefully they will be soon.

ColorBox Blends come in a range of 16 colours, they are produced in sponge top dispensers that are so easy to use.  They can be used for paper, card, fabric, wood, clay and more!  The dispensers hold 10 times the amount of ink of a normal ink pad. You just need to heat set them for permanence. 

I used three colours of ColorBox Blends - Bay, which is a soft teal colour, Nutmeg and Stop, which is a pretty amazing red!  I used the inks in four different ways.

I die cut the elements I wanted to use - Eileen Hull's Bag, Caddy die (Sizzix 657123) and Eileen Hull's Flower, Pansy die (Sizzix 661109).  I cut the flower three times, to give a nice big flower.

I decanted some of the ink (Bay) into a spritzer bottle and added water in a ratio of 50:50 and spritzed the caddy all over (coverage is excellent) and heat dried the pieces.

I used a third colour of ColourBox Blend (Nutmeg) to stamp here and there using a script stamp by IndigoBlu.  I didn't use a stamp block, as I wanted a more random look.

I coloured the flower direct to card, colouring both sides.  Once dry, I scrunched them up and fastened the petals with a pearl brad.

To colour the ribbon, I dabbed the ink on my glass mat, added some water and dragged the ribbon through and then heat set the colour.

To finish off I stamped the words Bloom and Grow with Nutmeg and added them to the caddy.

Another look at the finished caddy.

If you would like to see how my Teamie, Tracy used the inks you can see her post here.

Thanks for your visit today, I really appreciate that and any comments you leave.

Take care and hope to see you again soon!

Hugs, Anne xx

Words That Are Special at A Vintage Journey

Hello Friends

The challenge this month at A Vintage Journey is 'Words That Are Special' and it is being hosted by the talented Jennie.  Here's what Jennie has to say about the challenge:

'We often use words for cardmaking, scrapbooking, journalling, layering backgrounds, stamping, collage, in mixed media work, on our tags.... In fact words are often an integral part of our design processes for many of our projects.  This month, show us words that are important or special to you, and how you incorporate them in your vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journalling, industrial or steampunk art.'

My favourite stamp from Tim Holtz is the sentiment one I used on my card, it is a sentiment I keep up in my craft room as a daily reminder to be grateful for all those little things in life that make life  special!

I started off with a piece of watercolour card and I stencilled with clear texture paste and Tim's Floral stencil.  I didn't take many process photos due to the poor light but I will explain some of the process.

Once the texture paste was dry I brayed several colours of Distress Paint over the card - Broken China, Cracked Pistachio and Scattered Straw, drying between each colour.  I used Broken China and Picket Fence Distress Paint to splatter over the card.  I love the way the texture paste resisted most of the Distress paint but gives some nice texture.

The florals and butterflies were die cut and added.

Finally I added the sentiment, stamped in black Versafine and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I added some of Tim's Idea-ology string to finish off my simple card.

I hope you will join is at  A Vintage Journey and share with us, words that are special to you.

Our sponsor this month is Country View Crafts who are offering a £20 voucher for one randomly chosen individual.

Thanks for your visit.  Hugs, Anne xx