Floral candles for AALL & Create

Hello Friends

For my Guest designer project his week at AALL & Create I have tried a technique that has

been around for many years but is a new technique to me.

I used Olga Heldwein's fabulous new floral stamp set (#195) which is part of the brand new

release, stamping onto to tissue and applying this to candles.

My results are not 100% perfect but I did learn some things along the way - like, use a smooth candle and not one with ridges on (like the candle on the right).

I started by stamping onto tissue paper with Versafine Clair in Nocturne Black onto some tissue paper.  Once the ink was dry I used watercolour pencils and also oil pastels to colour the gorgeous peony flowers.  I coloured from the back and not the inked side of the tissue.

I used a water brush to 'paint' around the edge of finished design with water and then gently tore the excess paper away.  A rough edge melts much better into the background than a smooth one.

I decided where I wanted the design to be and I placed this on the candle.  I applied gentle heat with my heat tool, doing a small area at a time and I used an old credit card to smooth the image as I went along.  Because there were ridges in the candle I wanted to make sure that the image fully  adhered to the candle.

I did the second candle using a different technique.  I don't have process photos because everything gets quite hot using a heat tool and I needed both hands!  This time I used a smooth candle, prepared the image in the same way as the first one, laid the image onto the candle and then wrapped the whole candle tightly with greaseproof paper (the white one).  Keeping it wrapped tightly I applied the heat with the heat tool.  As the greaseproof paper is white, you can see quite clearly when the image is adhered to the candle and you can move on to another part.

In both cases there was some slight residue of wax on the image and I wiped this off
with a clean piece of kitchen towel and it came away easily.

I wrapped this candle in cellophane and added a bow, I thought it would be a nice way to
present the candle as a gift.

This is the wonderful stamp set  by Olga Heldwein (#195) that I used.  You can find a full list of worldwide stockists of AALL Stamps and Stencils HERE.

Thanks so much for your visit, hope to see you again soon>

Hugs, Anne xx

Mini Flip and Pocket Album for Mini Album Makers

Hello Friends

Today, on the Mini Album Makers Blog I am sharing a little tutorial (based
on an album by one of my favourite journal makers - Anne of Anne's Papercreations).

If you have the time I hope you will pop over there to have a look.  It was so much
fun to create this album from scratch.

 Thanks so much for your visit,

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Hugs, Anne  xxx

Watercolour Notebook Journal for AALL & Create

Hello Friends

For my Guest designer project this week I have created a journal this week, using two AALL & Create stamps by Tracy Evans - #79 and #154, a stencil #61 by Aida Domisiewicz, and using vibrant watercolour colours.

I started by die cutting a Notebook Journal by Eileen Hull (Sizzix 663635) from Mixed Media

Artist Board, the advantage of the board is that it takes a lot of wet products.

I spritzed the board with water and then randomly applied two bright colours of watercolour paint.  I painted both sides of the board.

On the inside of the cover  I used Aida's Circle Chain Stencil and applied Picked Raspberry Distress Ink with a blending tool.

I set the cover aside and used  300gsm stamping card to create two signature covers 

and a pocket for the back of the notebook.  I coloured both sides of the card in the same

way as the cover.

I stamped each of the covers with flowers from Tracy's Sketched and Doodles Moments stamp set.  I coloured the flowers with alcohol markers in toning colours.  The sentiments are from the same stamp set.

I stamped the beautiful Feathered Bloom stamp by Tracy Evans on the cover, it is a wonderful

size for use with this notebook.  I stamped in Black Versafine and then stamped, coloured, fussy cut and applied the small flowers, just to make them 'pop' a bit more.

Finally, I assembled the notebook, adding the back pocket and signatures.  I like to add pockets to the back of my notebooks as it covers up the elastic closure and gives a much neater look.

To finish off I added some charms and a clip from my stash and used some leftover card 

to make a tag to fit in the pocket at the back.  The elastic closure was plain white

elastic that I coloured with the watercolour paints.

I really enjoyed using some bright and different colours (for me) and I love the boldness of the stamping against the bright background.

You can find a full list of worldwide stockists for AALL & Create products HERE.  If you have not already seen it on Facebook, AALL & Create have a new release of stamps today, there are some amazing designs, which will be available for purchase soon!

As always, thanks so much for your visit,

I hope to see you again soon.

Hugs, Anne xxx

Houses for AALL & Create

Hello Friends

For my Guest designer spot at AALL & Create this week I used two stamp sets by

Kaitlin Paltridge to create some cards, my card box is nearly empty!

I used stamp set #191 and #193 to create a New Home card and a couple of mini cards.

For the larger card I masked and stamped both stamps onto a piece of watercolour card.  I kept the backgrounds on all of the cards fairly simple.

I stamped the houses a second time, coloured them and cut out some elements so that I could decoupage them up onto the card.

These stamps are an ideal size to create smaller cards.  This time I stamped directly onto the cards and coloured them directly with watercolour paints.  For the card on the left I also stamped and coloured a second house and decoupaged just the bottom half of the card, to give some dimension.

The stamps I used are available from AALL & Create.  You can find a full list of 

worldwide stockists HERE.

A quicky post today, thanks so much for your visit.

Hugs, Anne xx

Mini Album Makers- Under the sea book

Hello Friends

The first of the month means a new challenge at Mini Album Makers and, as always, the challenge is to create any handmade book.  Enter any form of handmade mini albums, scrapbooks, journals and book arts.  See the full rules here.

I decided to create something a little different this month - a piece of book art with an underwater sea theme.  

I started with a 'book box', this one is by Tando Creative.  In the UK this is available here.  I gave all of the pieces  a coat of gesso before assembling.

Next, I gave the pieces a coat of turquoise paint.

I covered the outside of the book box with some papers by Stamperia.

For the inside box part I coloured a piece of watercolour cardstock.

Next, I gathered together some elements that I thought might look good inside the box.  Me being me, I completely changed my mind on some of the items, as you will see in the finished book...

I decided to add a porthole to the front of the book, this one was created with a die by Tim Holtz.  I aged it a little and added a stamp for the quote.

To finish off the box, I attached some charms to a chain and added them to the box key.

Here is a view of the inside of the box.  The items on the left are from some old papers in my stash.

We really do hope you will join us this month at Mini Album Makers.  Our Sponsor this month is Catherine Moore Character Constructions who are offering a $25 Gift Card.to one lucky winner.

Website: http://www.characterconstructions.com/

Blog: https://naturestudy.typepad.com/catherine_moore/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharacterConstructions

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/catherine_moore/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/catherine_moore/

To see what my incredibly talented teamies have made please visit us at Mini Album Makers.

Thanks so much for your visit, I hope to see you again soon.

Hugs, Anne xx