Star Light, Star Bright - A Vintage Journey

Hello Friends

The first Friday of the month means a new challenge at A Vintage Journey  The lovely Julia is our host this month.  Here is what Julia has to say:

'This month we are asking you to create with STARS.  Fill up the dark winter sky with them or use one big one as your central focus.  Stencil them, stamp them, emboss them or die cut them.  Make a card, make a star box, make a canvas, create a journal page - remembering to create in the vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journalling, industrial or steampunk styles.'

I usually make a 'light up' home decor piece at Christmas time and the Star theme fitted my plan perfectly.

I used a Tim Holtz Vignette Box, his Merry Moose (I love him!!), one of Tim's  Woodland trees and a few other Tim products to create my winter scene...

I started by creating a fake 'wall' at the back of the vignette so that my lights could fit behind.  The wall was created with a really old Tim Holtz paper pad - one page had resist stars on and I simply added some Distress Ink to the starry background.  I punched some holes, through some of the stars for the lights to show through.  I used the same paper for the insides of the vignette.

The top, sides and floor of the vignette were coated with Ranger Distress Grip Paste.  I die cut Merry Moose, some trees and small deer, coloured them and added them to the vignette along with one of Tim's Woodland Trees, coloured green.

I added a lot of Tim's Greenery to the top of the vignette and added a Ideaology sentiment.to the front.  The back of the vignette was covered with some snowflake design paper from my stash.  I used the same paper to create a battery pack holder.

It was difficult to get the night time view but here it is lit up, it does look better in real life.

 I hope you will join in our Star Light, Star Bright challenge this month, it would be lovely to see you there!

Do please check out my teamies projects too, over at A Vintage Journey  there are some real beauties over there.

As always, thanks for your visit.  Hugs, Anne xx

Rusty and Crusty for A Vintage Journey

Hello Friends

It is time for a new challenge over at A Vintage Journey where the lovely Autumn  is our host. Autumn has chosen Rusty and Crusty as her theme - I just love that title!   Here is what Autumn has to say about the challenge:

Many of us love rust and enjoy looking for new ways to get that authentic look of rusty peeling metal.  For this challenge, include some rust in your vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journalling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk project, whether it be the real thing, a faux technique or just a rust colour on your project.

I love rust!  When Seth Apter / Kim Evans brought out the Baked Textures Embossing Powders and I knew that Rust was one of the Textures I was thrilled - another way to produce a rusty result!  Autumn's challenge theme was very timely as, after taking a couple of classes with Seth recently I fell in love with his monoprint technique and I used it to create my rusty background.

In the class we all received a set of stamps and I chose ESA 08 by Seth Apter for Paper Artsy which you can see in the above photo.

 To create the background I used two pieces of watercolour paper and Seth's paints, Mahogony, Buff, Green Patina and Smoked Paprika.  I layered the colours one by one onto the first sheet and pressed the first sheet onto the second. I repeated the steps until I had the background I was happy with.  I was going for a rusty/patina look.

I also used the background stamp, with some of the Mahogany paint to create some further texture on the background.  If you use paint on your stamps make sure you wash the stamp immediately.

I stamped the main image onto plain white card with Black Archival Ink and gave it a good coat of Distress Matte Medium in Vintage, to tone down the white and make it look more vintage.

I used the keyhole stamp onto some watercolour paper, I coloured it with a coat of Mahogany paint, then some embossing ink before applying two coats of Baked Texture - Chunky Rust to get a lovely rusty and crusty look.

I wanted the key element of the design to stand out more so I embossed a key from my stash, using Emerald Creek's Allure Embossing Powder in Oil Rubbed Bronze.  I wrapped it with some Tim Holtz thread to give it some texture.

Overall, seeing it here, I think there is something missing, I may go back and add some rub ons or a bit more stamping..... not sure - the wonders of photography on grey days here in the UK at the moment!

I hope you will join in Autumn's challenge HERE.  You could be in with the chance of being one of our Pinworthies.  Please pop over too, if you have time, to see what my talented team-mates have made, you won't be disappointed!

Thanks so much for your visit, I always appreciate them!

Hugs, Anne xxx

Tag Friday at a Vintage Journey

Hello Friends

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

There are five Fridays in December so that means it is Tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey.  I had a set of ice skates left over from another project so I used them, together with one of Alison Bomber's wonderful sentiment stamps, to create a simple wintry tag.

I made the tag to attach to a Christmas gift so I don't have any step outs but I can tell you briefly how I made it.  First up I used some of Anna Marie Design Christmas papers for the base of the tag, adding some white embossing around all of the edges.

The skates were cut from white matboard, grunged up a little with some Distress Ink and laced up with some brown embroidery cotton.  I applied two layers of silver embossing powder to the skate blades and heat embossed each layer.

I love Alison Bomber's fabulous sentiment stamps and I used one from her winter sentiment collection Paper Artsy EAB05.

To finish off I dyed some seam binding with Ground Espresso Distress Stain and I added some Tim Holtz Idea-olgy jingle bells to the skates.

So there we have it, a quick and easy wintry gift tag.  Please do have a look at what my talented team mates have made over at A Vintage Journey, you won't be disappointed!

We will soon be into the New Year so I would like to take the opportunity to wish you all the very best for 2018, I hope it is a good year for you!

Hugs, Anne xx

A Vintage Journey - Destination Inspiration

Hello Everyone

Just a quick post to say that I am first up this month over at A Vintage Journey with a Destination Inspiration post.  Here's a sneak peek....

If you have the time, I hope you will pop over and have a look - and if you can, please join in our Mini Marvels challenge this month!

Thanks for looking, hope to see you again soon!

Hugs, Anne xx

Watercolour for A Vintage Journey

Hello Friends!

It is time for a new challenge at A Vintage Journey and our talented Amanda is hosting a Watercolour Wonder Challenge.  Here is what Amanda has to say:

'There is so much versatility in Watercolour, making it possible to create art that can be gentle, washy and light, or bold, full of colour with definite lines, and it comes in a variety of guises; pens, tubes, sticks, inks, markers.  So for the challenge we would like your project to include some form of watercolouring or watercolour techniques and be in keeping with our favoured styles; vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journalling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk'

Amanda's challenge gave me a much needed push to get out my watercolour inks, my new watery wash stamps, Oxide inks and used lots of painty washes to create a colourful scene inside an inexpensive recessed frame.

The frame looks much darker in real life but it was difficult to photograph with the glass front!

The frame was painted with DecoArt Cobalt Teal Hue before adding a coat of DecoArt Crackle Paint.

Once the crackle was dry, a very watery wash of DecoArt Phthalo Blue, mixed with Titanium White was applied to the frame.  Once dry, the frame was lightly sanded to give a more 'distressed' look.  I later applied a little Quin Gold paint to add to the aged look.

The background was stamped using my Darkroom Door Watery Washes stamp set.  Distress Oxide and Distress Ink were applied to my craft sheet and watered down slightly.  The ink was picked up and applied to watercolour paper.

Some chippies (a gift from my lovely friend Sandy) were painted in hues of green and blue.  The seahorse and starfish were hand drawn onto watercolour paper.  I applied drawing gum where the 'spines' of the seahorse would be and then Ecoline inks were diluted with water and then applied the seahorse.

A view of the finished picture before I added it to the frame.  I gave the seahorse a coat of  Clear Rock Candy Distress Paint, it reacted with the inks as you can see, but I was happy with the result. Real sand and a few glass pebbles were added along with some clay elements.

While I had my inks out, I used the drawing gum to draw some freehand flowers and used the Tanzanite colour to watercolour them....

I was quite pleased with the way they turned out and I added a quote from our hugely talented DT member Alison's wonderful new stamp set, stamped with Wilted Violet Distress Oxide.

We hope you will join in Amanda's challenge at A Vintage Journey where our Sponsor for the month is Craft Obsessions who are offering a £20 voucher to spend in their wonderful on-line store!

Do please go over to visit A Vintage Journey, if you can, to see the amazing projects created by the Design Team.  Thanks so much for your visit, I always appreciate your comments!

I was really pleased to see that Country View Crafts blog challenge is 'Blues and Greens' for August so I would like to enter their challenge with my sealife frame.

I would also like to join in That's Crafty challenge which is Anything But Cards, with my sealife frame.

Keep on Crafting!

Hugs,  Anne xxx

All Squared Up for A Vintage Journey

Hello Friends

It is time for a new challenge over at A Vintage Journey and this month the talented Tracy is our host.  Here is what Tracy has to say:

Whether a frame, embellishments, or die cuts, drawn squares, doodles or windows, lets see where inspiration takes you, lets get all squared up and show how creative those right angles can look!  Show us your squared up pieces in a vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journalling; industrial; timeworn or steampunk style.

I have only used these Seth Apter square dies once before, HERE, so I wanted to give them another airing!  I used a square wooden seed pot that I found in a sale, to create a timeworn tea light holder.

I have a few photo step by steps to share with you.

I started with a bargain square shaped seed planter.

I die cut four sets of square shapes using Seth Apter's Robo Square die set and some heavy black cardstock.

The squares were coated randomly with DecoArt Media Texture Sand Paste.

The shapes were all coloured with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic paints in Paynes Grey, Diarylide Yellow, Quinacridone Gold and Cobalt Teal Hue - all quite randomly.

The square block was painted first with Indigo Blu's Artists Matt Acrylic Paint in Leather Corset and let it dry before stippling over with  Imagination Craft's Texture Patina paint.  I wanted to leave quite a lot of the gorgeous brown colour showing underneath.

Here is a view from the top with a night light inside.  There were a couple of squares left over, so I made a little lid to go on top.

Finally I added some square feet made from beads and painted in Leather Corset.

So, do you feel inspired to join us at A Vintage Journey for Tracy's 'All Squared Up' challenge?  I hope you are!

Our sponsor this month is Tando Creative who are offering a package of MDF and mini shapes to one lucky winner.

If you would like to see what my talented teamies have made for the challenge, you can check them out HERE.

I would like to join in That's Crafty's Anything Goes Challenge.

As always, thanks for looking, I hope to see you again soon!

Hugs, Anne xx

Eileen Hull - Heartfelt Creations Journal die

Hello and Happy Mother's Day to all you UK Mums today!

Today I am sharing another journal that I made with Eileen Hull's fabulous new Journal die, by Sizzix,  which is due out very soon now!  You can Pre-order it now in the UK from Country View Crafts HERE.

As I love anything to do with the sea, I used Andy Skinner's Fossil stencil, Andy's Mega Crackle Technique and lots of DecoArt products to create the Journal cover.

This is how the journal starts off, this one was cut with Sizzix |Mat Board which is similar to Mount Board, it is very sturdy and will take a lot of wet products without warping.

I used Andy's Mega Crackle Technique to get to this stage (do dry naturally after each stage).
1) Cover the piece with Gesso or Paint (I used a mix of black, green and blue paint)
2)  Apply a coat of DecoArt Weathered Wood Crackle Medium
3) Apply a coat of DecoArt Crackle Paint
4)  Apply a coat of DecoArt Ultra Matte Varnish
 I applied a wash of DecoArt Paint in very watered down Prussian Blue

I stencilled in black and once it was dry I stencilled again with DecoArt Modelling Paste.

At this point I was not happy with the black showing through and I gave the whole thing a coat of thinned down white Gesso.  It did cover up some of the crackles but I wasn't too unhappy about that, it still had a nice 'rough' surface.

Next, I applied a wash of my favourite colour of DecoArt paint - Cobalt Teal Hue randomly over the base and Quinacridone Gold (again watered down) for the stencilled fossil area.

I love the colours now!  Next, I over-stamped the journal using Cobalt Teal Hue and a bubble stamp from IndigoBlu.  The sentiment is also from the same IndigoBlu set - Under the Sea.  I added lots of splatters in blue and white paint.  To finish off I added one of the closures that comes with the die, and some hand dyed ribbon.

I love to finish off my journals with a matching hinge clip and charm.  The clip and the seahorse were embossed with Stampendous embossing powder and I strung some tiny shells with elasticated jewellery thread.

I created three signatures for the inside, in the style of a junk journal, using up papers from my 'left over' box.

I hope you like my sea themed, Andy Skinner inspired Journal!

If you would like to see another of my Journals, there is another one being shown by Susan from Country View Crafts HERE.  It is one that I have not shown before and it is quite different to the one I am showing here today.

I am so thrilled that Susan at Country View Crafts has Eileen Hull's fabulous new HeARTfelt  Journal die on Pre Order too, at a fantastic price!

And last, but not least, Eileen Hull has created a Journal too, this is being featured over on the A Vintage Journey blog.  If you do have time, I hope you will have a look, it is a real beauty!

Thanks for you visit, hope to see you soon.
Hugs, Anne xx

Destination Inspiration at A Vintage Journey

Hello everyone!

It is my turn at A Vintage Journey to provide some inspiration , using the contents

of our Travel Bag.  It is always good fun to see what the team come up with!

If you have time I hope you will go over there to see what I created, here is a 

little peek.....

The lovely Amanda has also kicked off a new challenge - Stencil It and you can 

find details of that over there too!

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

Hugs, Anne xx

Monochromatic for A Vintage Journey

Hello Everyone!

It is time for a new challenge at A Vintage Journey and this month the talented Tracy has

chosen Monochromatic as her theme.

In Tracy's own words 'I love monochromatic themes in artwork, I love the balanced look

it gives to a design.  If you ever struggle with knowing what colours to use, this should

be right up your street - one colour alone or hues of one colour (plus black and/or white) - simple!

Our sponsor this month is the Funkie Junkie who have a $25 gift voucher for one
lucky person!

Monochromatic is not something I do very often, as I usually love to use lots of colour. I have been wanting to ink up my Tim Holtz Sideshow set of stamps, so I created a trio of simple black and white cards with just a touch of red on each.  

I just love how dramatic the black and white look!

I gathered the items I wanted to use - Tim Holtz Sideshow stamps, Tim's Torn Notebook die,
and Tim's Thinlits - Handwritten Celebrate and Love sets.

I am not going to take you through step by step, I think you can see how I used the items.
The images were stamped in Ranger Black Archival Ink.

I think this one might just be my favourite... I love that wheel...

On each of the cards, the red was done in Festive Berries Distress Ink Marker Pen
and highlighted with Glossy Accents, fussy cut from a separate
sheet of card and then attached.

I hope you like my set of fairly clean and simple cards - they were incredibly
easy to do, all completed in under an hour.  I think they will be useful for
lots of different occasions.

Thanks so much for looking, I hope you will check out what my teammates have done
over at A Vintage Journey - you won't be disappointed!

I hope to see you again soon.  Hugs, Anne xx

Industrial - for Vintage Journey

Hello Everyone

The talented Tracy's 'Industrial' theme at A Vintage Journey was perfect for me as I needed a birthday card for my Brother who has retired from the Navy.

Here is what Tracy had to say....
Use your foil tape, or metallic card stocks with your texture fades/embossing folders
to create an Industrial creation of your own.  Whether it's a background or bloom or anything,
don't limit your paint colour to black - the Industrious technique looks great
with all colours of paint.

To create the background I used a piece of cream card and Tim's Spritz and Flick technique with Tea Dye Distress Stain and when it was dry I added some splatters with Ground Espresso Distress Paint.

To create the industrious layers I used Ranger's foil sheets adhered to some black cardstock and these were passed through two different Texture Fade embossing folders (by Tim Holtz) and then I applied Tim's Industrious Technique (as used by Tim for his January tag) which you can see demonstrated by Tim here.  I just love the way the red has turned out - I used Festive Berries Distress Paint.

For the 'birthday' sentiment I used Tim's Alphanumeric die set, cut from black card and backed onto an offcut from the base card.  The 'wishes' is one of Tim's chitchat stickers.

This really was a quick an easy card to make.  I mounted it onto black card and then onto a cream card base, edged with Tea Dye Distress Ink.

We hope you will join in this month at A Vintage Journey, as usual there is a £20 voucher from Countryview Crafts for one randomly drawn individual and the Creative Guides will choose

their top three projects to receive a Pinworthy Badge.

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

  Hugs, Anne xx

Secret Santa at A Vintage Journey

Hello Everyone

We decided to have a Secret Santa again this year at A Vintage Journey, it was such fun last year and who doesn't like to get a lovely surprise at Christmas?!

I was so lucky to receive my gift from my lovely friend and talented teamie, Julia of Create With Me.  Julia made me a mini book which is gorgeous and a beautifully decorated box (one of Eileen Hull's Artist Trading Block dies) to keep it in!  I absolutely love it.

The little book is adorable and is packed with Tim Holtz goodness!  How clever and thoughtful of Julia to combine two of my favourite Designers, Tim Holtz and Eileen Hull too!

I cannot believe how much Julia packed into this beautiful little book, I will treasure it always and it will take pride of place amongst my Christmas decorations!  Thank you so much Julia!

The recipient for my gift is my wonderful teamie Nikki of Addicted to Art.  I wanted to make something for Nikki that was a little different to my usual papercraft projects.  As I have a lovely stash of Tim Holtz fabric and I saw a pattern in a magazine, I knew I wanted to make one of these make up purses for Nikki as her Secret Santa gift.  I really enjoyed doing some sewing again and thanks to Nikki, I will be doing a lot more! I am pleased to say that Nikki loved her gift, I hope you will too!

This is my favourite of all of Tim's Eclectic Element fabrics, it is wonderful quality and so easy to use, either for hand or machine sewing.  I used a bit of each to make this purse.

The clasp at the top is sewn on by hand with a linen thread in a coordinating colour and using a back stitch.  This was the trickiest part but I was not keen to glue the fabric in place.

I lined the inside with some soft cream fabric that had a thin batting already fused to it, which saved me from trying to sew through three layers of fabric.  I also lined around the inside with some gorgeous lace to hide the hand stitching around the top.  There is a way to do it without the stitches showing but I have not mastered that technique yet.

To finish off I added a couple of Idea-ology typed tokens, hanging from one of Tim's Idea-ology swivel clasps.

Christmas really is THE most wonderful time of year, a time for sharing with family and friends, I have really enjoyed doing Secret Santa again with my teamies at A Vintage Journey and I hope you have enjoyed seeing our gifts.

It would be lovely to see you join in our current 'Vintage Christmas' challenge, details of which you can find HERE.

As always, thanks for looking, I hope to see you again soon.

Hugs, Anne xx