The Earth Laughs in Flowers - AALL & Create

Hello Friends

I am not really enjoying the heat here at the moment but it is wonderful to see all the beautiful flowers in our garden, they inspired me to create a mixed media board featuring AALL & Create stamp set #149 by Tracy Evans and stencil #51 by Autour de Mwa

I started gessoing a media board measuring 6" x 8.1/2".

I stamped Tracy's Checkered Nature stamp in the middle and added a little random stamping to each side.  I drew in two further flower stems using a black marker pen.  I also stamped several more flowers and fussy cut them.

I applied a wash of watercolour ink over the board, in blue and green, let it dry and then applied texture paste through the Batik stencil.

I used watercolours again to colour the front and back of the flowers.

After layering up the flowers (two on each), I added some Glossy Accents to the flower centres.  Finally I used gesso to apply some splatters in white and black.

You can find a list of worldwide stockists for the stamp and stencil I used HERE.

Thanks so much for your visit, I really appreciate it!

Hugs, Anne xx

Cogs and Gears Notebook for AALL & Create

Hello Friends

My GDT project for AALL & Create this week is a sticky note holder using Olga Heldwein's fabulous stamp set (Flowers & Gears #195 and Steam Cogs Stencil #71). Olga's beautiful stamp set appeals to both masculine and feminine tastes with gorgeous flowers and also cogs and gears.  

I started by creating a background, directly onto mixed media board, using several colours of Distress Oxides (I wanted rusty tones) before stamping the beautiful cogs and gears in brown Archival Ink.  I then die cut the Notebook using Eileen Hull's new Notebook die.

I stamped a few more cogs onto lightly gessoed Kraft card and coloured these with Quinacridone Gold acrylic paint before fussy cutting them.  The gessoed card gave a nice texture.

I added some metal cogs and gears from my stash to the fussy cut ones and glued these to the front

of the finished notebook.

I used AALL & Create stencil #71 on the inside cover of the notebook and then created two pockets to hold post it notes, again stamping cogs onto the pockets.

Finally, I added an elastic closure to the notebook and some charms from my stash.

You can find a list of worldwide stockists for the stamps and stencils I used along with the full range of stamps, stencils and new dies HERE.

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

Hugs, Anne xx

Kinetic Twist and Pop Up Card for AALL & Create

Hello Friends

My GDT project this week for AALL & Create is a kinetic card using two beautiful stamp sets by Bipasha BK (AALL & Create Nos. 197 and 207).

I love cards that are a bit different and this one has a lovely surprise inside, a twist and pop up!

I started by brayering some piece of heavy card with acrylic paints.  I found an excellent video HERE which not only shows how to create the card, it also gives a set of free downloadable templates.  It is small, quite compact really, but great if you just want to try it out.

After printing off the template I applied this to my brayered pages and cut out my final pieces.

Next, I stamped the images from Bipasha's stamp sets, and then coloured in a few elements and assembled the card following the video instructions.

To finish off I made a 'belly band' for the card with some left over brayered card.

II hope you will give this type of card a go, it would be fun for children, in particular, to open up.

The stamp sets that I used are available from AALL & Create, where you will also find a full list of worldwide stockists.

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

Cheers,  Anne  xx

Stacked ATC for AALL & Create

Hello Friends

My Guest Designer piece for AALL & Create this week is a stacked ATC, I really love creating these as they give a 'kind of'' 3D effect when they are constructed.

I used two sets of stamps by Tracy Evans, #70 (Quirky Blossoms) and #210 (Background Mash Up) along with Stencil #52 by Autour de Mwa (Quadrilaterals).  You can find a full list of worldwide stockists HERE.

If you have not seen a Stacked ATC before, they are literally three pieces of acetate with a chipboard back and once you have added your design, they can be screwed together and they make a nice sized free-standing ornament.

I stamped the flower onto one of the acrylic pieces, worked out where my sentiment would go and then stamped that onto a second acrylic piece.  I used black Stazon Ink to do the stamping.

I turned the stamped flower over and painted on the reverse side with acrylic paint (in this case Dina Wakley).  I also stamped some of the flower stems along the bottom of the ATC to give the impression of grass, and coloured these in the same way as the flower.

For the final base layer, I painted this with acrylic paint, stamped lightly with Tracy's background stamp before applying a little more paint through the stencil.  Once everything is dry, I simply put the layers together and attached the screws that come with the stack.

Here is a final view (apologies for the glare, it is difficult to photograph shiny acrylic!  Some of you may remember the seahorse one I did a few months back.

Just before I go I hope you might be able to catch the very talented Tracy Evans on Hochanda (Sky 673, Freesat 817, Freeview 85) (in the UK) on Friday 9 August at 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm and again on Saturday 10 August at 9:00 am, 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm.  If you are not in the UK you can watch all of the shows live (at the appropriate time for your country) on Rewind at www.hochanda.com.  The shows are usually available for a couple of weeks on Rewind.  You might even catch a little glimpse of this Stacked ATC, if I am lucky enough to have it shown.

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

Hugs, Anne xxx