Anything But Cute - Challenge #3 - Summer Romance

Hi Everyone

I would like to firstly apologise if I have not visited your blog during this last week, we are away at the moment, internet connections are poor and I really wanted to spend some quality time with family so I have been away from the keyboard!  Normal service will resume tomorrow!

Over at Anything But Cute Challenge Blog the theme for this month is Summer Romance with a romantic and or beach/sea theme, and as many of you know I love anything sea themed so I just had to join in.  There is a mood board for inspiration:

A while back a lovely young blog friend sent me some fabulous seaside Prima goodies and I have been saving them to make something special and they fitted right in with this challenge.

I used a 5" x 5" deep canvas as my base and after covering it with gesso I applied some DecoArt Media Texture Sand Paste which I had coloured with some DecoArt Cobalt Teal Hue
Media Fluid Paint.  

I applied quite a thick coat of the paste and ran my finger across to create the illusion of moving water (well in my mind that is what I intended!).  I added some coloured sand to a line across the bottom and also painted some DecoArt Titan Buff Media Fluid to a another line to represent sand.  It does not show in the photo but the coloured sand has a real 'sparkle' to it.

I gathered together all the bits and pieces that I wanted to add to the canvas, the beautiful Prima resin pieces (which I gently coloured with more DecoArt paints in the colours shown on the mood board), some Tim Holtz leaves from the Pinecone die set and some spools for feet.  These were coloured in the DecoArt Cobalt Teal Hue Media Fluid mixed with some Titan White Media Fluid Acrylic to tone the colour down slightly.

The finished canvas again, I added some of my beloved seed beads for water bubbles and some strands of twisted card 'reeds' for the seahorse to cling too.  The Tim Holtz Discoveries word band is attached with some bakers twine.

I am entering this into Anything But Cute - Challenge #3 - Summer Romance Challenge.

Thanks for looking, I hope to catch up with you all very soon.

Hugs, Anne xxx

Let's Get Scrappy for Our Creative Corner

Not sure where February went but as it is the 1st day of March it is time for a new challenge over at Our Creative Corner.

Our Sponsor this month is Tando and their products will be spotlighted throughout the month.

The wonderfully talented Linda (of the Funkie Junkie) is challenging us to 'Let's Get Scrappy' by using scraps and left-overs from previous projects, pieces of paper, scraps of ribbon, embellishments made and never used.  Sounds like such fun doesn't it?  Who does not keep their scraps and bits?

I am hanging my head in shame because when I was tidying my craft room at the end of last year, I threw away tons of scraps - literally.....  But, I did have to make lots of man cards during January and February so I had some bits left from that, enough to make this little 6 inch square canvas.  Click on any of the photos for a closer view.

Last year I had the pleasure of attending a Finnabair class and earlier this month I did a weekend class with Hels Sheridan and both of these hugely talented ladies used a very similar technique of paper blocking.

I had lots of bits of Prima Engraver papers left over and I cut them up and trimmed these to fit my canvas.  It was so easy because the papers were collage style and very easy to cut into blocks.  I went around each of the paper pieces with Pumice Stone Distress Ink. Once I glued these to my canvas with Ranger Glue and Seal, I went around each square with a charcoal pencil to give some definition between the shapes.  

Next I took some Wendy Vecchi Black Embossing Paste and a diamond stencil and added some to the top right of the canvas.  I dabbed some Picket Fence Distress Paint onto my craft sheet, watered it down slightly and then 'flicked' this over the whole of the canvas.  You might just be able to see the effect in the above photo.

I added some gauze, some metal leaves which had previously been painted with Distress Paint.  The flower is cut from some leftover card from Hels' class and I used Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral die.  I stamped the petals with an Indigo Blue script stamp and then made the flower up.

To finish off I added a Tim Holtz Idea-ology metal frame and the sentiment is one of my first ever stamps, a real favourite, by the wonderful Wendy Vecchi.

So there we have it, bits of papers from Prima, left over card from a class, a bit of gauze and some left over leaves from  previous projects and a stamped sentiment left over from another project.  I have to admit this was much more fun than I was expecting it to be!  

I hope you will get your crafty bits and pieces out and join in the fun over at Our Creative Corner.  Our sponsor this month is Tando Creative and there will be a prize for one randomly chosen individual.

Thanks for looking!  Big hugs,  Anne xx

Prima Doll and ICADs

As ever, thank you for the lovely comments on my altered clock for Our Creative Corner, I really appreciate that you take the time to look and comment!

Today I have used my new Prima Doll stamp and Prima tag and watch embellishment to make this:

Click on any photo for a better view.

I made the hanging to fit in with Hels Sunday Stampers, which is to 'make a hanging' and also  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the challenge is to 'stamp on anything other than plain paper'  It is not often that I can work out how to create something for more than one challenge at a time!

I started out with a hanging from Paper Artsy, they are a lovely size and very lightweight box shaped so ideal for painting.  The tag is a gorgeous Prima one which comes in a pack of 48, already lightly decorated with beautiful script.  I coated the hanging base with gesso, then modelling paste through various of Tim's new stencils and then Fresco Finish paint in Mocha Mousse.  I then covered the whole of the embossed base with the Prima tag, with the top part cut off.  I used the same Tim Holtz stencils and used Peacock Feathers DI through the mask and then Weathered Wood through the burlap stencil.  Love how these stencils layer up!

You can see the stencilling better here.  I also took an Indigo Blu script stamp and used the fabulous new Wendy Vecchi Archival ink in Cornflower Blue and stamped randomly over the tag.  I added a Tattered Floral flower (painted with Broken China DI and overstamped, in part, with WV Archival in Cornflower Blue).  The ribbon was ruched to give the doll something to stand on.  The doll herself is coloured with various shades of Distress Ink, fussy cut and raised with glue dots.

To finish off I added one of Finnabair's fabulous mini time pieces.  Inside the watch, which has a removable front I used a Tim Rub on and a chit chat word.

I made a little 'glass' front from thick acetate, added some chain and use a Tim metal tag holder which I poked through the top of the hanging and added more of the ribbon to finish off.  The watch and chain are removable to use as a handbag charm.

The 'time' wording is a Tim stamp which I stamped in Coffee Archival ink.

I know I keep saying it but I love how Tim's products can be used in both grungy and more feminine ways....





Now on to the ICADs, this was a swap organised by the very talented Astrid of Astrid's Artistic Efforts.  I have already shown one that I made and sent which you can see HERE.  This is the second one I sent, which has now been received and Laura seemed to like it.

I received the most wonderful ICADs from two very talented ladies, Joan and Elly.

In order of receipt, this is the one from the lovely Joan, who also kindly enclosed a second ICAD and also some beautiful napkins to use in my crafting.  I love this set of stamps that Joan used, it is now on my wish list:

The second is from the talented Elly who sent this amazing steampunk creation, the holder feels and looks  like real leather and contains some wonderful embellishments:

How lucky was I to get two such fabulous creations by two amazing crafters!  It has been the most wonderful swap, thanks so much to Astrid for organising it.

Finally, I got a lovely thank you from Dianne for sending her an ICAD.  She sent me this beautiful ATC, the butterfly has been stitched by hand and is gorgeous.  Thanks again Dianne for the lovely thought.

Apologies for the long post, I had a lot to pack in, hopefully you have not all been bored!  Take care, hope you all get lots of crafty time.  Big hugs,  Anne xx