It's a Creative World

Playing with media.

Last month I went to a Media weekend at Art From The Heart.  It was taught by Dyan

 

We arrived on the Friday evening to a pile of paper, textured, ribbed, watercolour, kraft etc. By the end of the weekend I'd made this:

It was a great opportunity to try out all sorts of media and decide what you liked using and what you didn't.  My favourites were the Dylusion Inks and golden acrylic paints. I found I preferred inktense sticks to artbars and pan pastels are so vibrant.

 It's amazing what you can do with stencils when you think outside the box.

We were all asked what our least favourite colour was and then given that colour to play with!

Mine was orange, but with a touch of pink and some gesso I actually found I liked it.

Here's a lemon and lime page:

This is my first attempt at Art Journalling:

A little twee maybe, but it says what I wanted to say.  I don't think it's finished yet.

It's great to dip in and out of and has helped keep my mojo flowing and is a great record of all the techniques we used and media we tried.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Lynne x

 

 

 

a very Vintage style wreath...

Hi all...alix here again!

We really should chat more here at Creative Towers, eh...you've gone and ended up with a Christmas wreath 2 days in a row...but i have to say they couldn't be more different...even though the design is essentially the same.  That really is one of the fabulous things i love about crafting your own...you can stick to a simple design...in this case a repetition of the same embellishment over and over around a ring, and by changing the colours and the materials you get a totally different feel to the finished piece. Eleanor's wreath is simply stunning in a serene, modern, understated and frosty way...and mine is a cosy, nostalgic and warm one.  I love them both!

To create my poinsettia flowers i cut out LOTS of shapes from a paperback book using a Creatables die and my big shot...but you could use a cricut to save time if you are lucky enough to have one!  I laid the flowers out on sheets of copy paper and put them in a large cardboard box before spraying them liberally with Dylusions mica mist sprays in red and green.  While they were drying, I covered a foam wreath base with buff coloured tissue paper, scrumpling as i went and then coated the whole thing in clear Viva Decor Croco glaze.  Then i went to bed...

In the morning...i assembled the poinsettia by layering one large green, two medium sized red and one tiny red flower shape on top of each other and adding them to the wreath base with a selection of beads in the middle, secured with sequin pins.  {Sequin pins are just like regular pins but shorter.}  The poinsettia on the top of the wreath all have a large crystal bead in the middle, and the ones on the side have 3 tiny seed beads.  Trust me...after a few you will want a thimble!! ;0)

I continued adding my poinsettia all the way around, leaving small gaps into which i pushed some large glittery brads that i've had forever and then i tied an oversized bow with some lovely organza ribbon and secured it at the top with another poinsettia flower.  Finally, a scrap of ribbon was pinned to the reverse as a hanging loop.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out, its pearly from the mica spray {sorry my photography skills won't allow me to show this!}, twinkly when the lights shine on the crackled base in the evening and rather opulent because of the luxurious ribbon and faceted beads.  Best this of all...as its all attached by pins...i can simply unpin all the flowers if i want to make something totally different next year!

Let me know what you think...does my wreath stand up next to Eleanors..?  

Finally, a great big HAPPY CHRISTMAS SEASON to you all,

alixxxxx

Mixed Media is Fab...!

Hi folks, Mandy McK here.  Hope it's sunny where you are... I was sunburnt at the Shugborough Country Show on Sunday  (my own fault)... anyway...

Recently, I took a brilliant three week mixed media online course called The She Art Workshop.  I really want to share how good it was.  It's by Christy Tomlinson (click here for her inspirational blog).  Christy also has an online shop called 'The Scarlet Lime'.  that does kits aswell as a variety of amazing online workshops here. 

I love to learn and really enjoy online courses.  Christy's videos are full of tips and all through them she chats about her process and what she's thinking.  I really like the total lack of perfectionism and how she's happy to make mistakes on a project and she just carries on and shows you how she fixes it.  She has a very free and easy style and is entertaining to watch.  On the course I learned to do Christy's Art Girls.  The 6" x 4" canvas below was actually made as a birthday card of sorts for my neice.  It has the Christy style but is a bit less arty as it's a card...

 

Close ups show the textures because there are many layers that go into the background before you even add the girl...

  

 

 

I so enjoyed playing with paint, ink, mists, texture pastes and mediums, not to mention all the stamping, misting and collage that went on.  It really was very liberating!  So, if you're looking for something that is fun and teaches you mixed media techniques in a non-threatening & simple way... why not consider this e-course?  I didn't regret it.  Oh, by the way, my neice did like her unusual card from her Auntie Mandy.  Bless her.

Enjoy the Summer,

Mandy McK

 

It's a sign

No, really it is....

Hiya Claireliz here.

One of my friends is expecting a baby, in fact her baby is due to arrive today (I said it was a sign lol). She asked me where she could get a sign made for her baby's room, she wanted one with the wooden letters, but we couldn't buy one with the spelling of the name she wanted & to buy the individual wooden letters & alter them would have cost a bit too much, so she decided to leave it at that, I on the other hand refused to be beaten so I went online shopping & found these little beauties...

 

Plain, ready assembled sturdy boxes, at which point I thought "building blocks" so I sprayed them all with Juneberry Wine Glimmer Mist, then using my Sizzix & a scalloped square Quickutz Cookie Cutter die I cut 64 scalloped squares from Prima Fairy Fauna paper (one for each face of the boxes)...

 

The pink looked a bit dark at this point but I had to go on & have faith, so I did, my next move was to glue all the scalloped squares to the boxes...

 

which started to look a bit better at this point ...phew!

Her baby will be called Kourtney. I had some large chipboard letters that I'd never used but didn't have an "o" so I used the "q" & cut the curly bit off...

 

as you can see the colours were all wrong so I covered them in the paper they are sat on by gluing them face down then cutting around them...

 

I then stuck them to the boxes & coated with Matte Mod Podge & hey presto!

 

as each box is 3inches the whole thing is 2 foot long, so it's a bit tricky to photograph, so here are another couple of photos of the finished thing...

 
 

and a bit more of a close up...

 

I hope she likes them as she doesn't know I've made them & have had to be sneaky about finding our her nursery colour scheme.

Well, that's all from me for now, thanks for taking the time to stop in & see us here at Its A Creative World, it's always a pleasure to see you.

Take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Crafting Apron

I have been told by my husband that NOTHING else is to go into our loft or the ceilings will collapse.  I really am a hoarder so have been busy going through all the "Treasure" in the loft.  I have cleared several empty card board boxes, saved incase whatever was in them broke whilst in warranty.  Some have been up there a long time.

I came across a piece of unbleached calico and as I am a very messy person decided to make myself a craft apron.

I got out some masks and my mica sprays.

 

I have ironed it to set the sprays but am not sure washable it will be.  I'm not planning to wash it as think it will be a nice record of my crafting journey.

Close up of Clock

 

Close up of cogs and gears

 
you can see where I hadn't made sure all the little bits had been removed. (Next time I will read the instructions about preparing the masks for the first use.)

I decided that blotting the masks on the apron might make a nice effect

 
To be honest it loooks a bit of a mess, but after wearing it a few times there will be more sploges on it.  I was going to stamp as well but like the effect as it is.

I did make another one for a friend, but forgot to photograph it before I posted it.  I didn't blot the masks on the apron for hers.

We will be wearing them next week as we were lucky and got tickets for one of Tim Holtz  Artsycraft classes.  It's two classes one with Tim and the other with Lin and Leandra.

I am really looking forward to it.

I hope to share what I made at the classes with you soon.

I shall keep decluttering the loft, one to make space for more stuff and two because of finding things I'd forgotten I had.

Lynne x

Butterflies all around

 

I've had this cut and emboss butterfly set from Cuttlebug now for quite some time. You get one cutting die and four embossing folders. I do love it, but have to admit to not using it as much as I should. This is primarily because I have a couple of (smaller) butterfly dies that sit on my desk, so it's just so easy to grab them and go. However, punches are just not as versatile in the kinds of material they can cut. I have a Big Shot with a multi purpose platform that I use for my cutting and embossing, and I love using the dies that can cut thicker materials and fabrics.

I challenged myself to see how many different 'looks' I could create with this die, plus some other basic materials. I stopped at sixteen, but there are way more things I could have cut (including shrink plastic, cork, vellum and so on).

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

And here's a layout I created a while ago on which I layered butterflies cut from both felt and acetate. I fixed them to the page with staples and added some stickles to the outer edge of the acetate butterflies.

 
 

I hope you're feeling inspired to have a play with your own dies and different materials. Bonus for me is that I now have a bunch of butterflies all ready to go onto projects, some are good as they are and others will be jazzed up with Stickles, beads, bling etc.

xxx's

Suzanne

 

Shaker Card

In my previous post I used salt to create a different effect on a sprayed background.   The salt absorbed some of the colour from the sprays and looked really pretty.  I wanted to use it, so decided to make a shaker card.

 

 

It's a Valentines card but in a different colourway.  (Because of the colour of the salt)

I used a Fiskars Everywhere punch, it takes a little bit of practice to get the apertures lined up.

Line the back of the apertures with acetate

 
For the middle section I stamped an image on some sprayed cardstock

 
Build up around the other two apertures with 3D foam

 

(Excuse the reflection from the acetate)

Add the salt or glitter, sequins etc. and put some backing paper or another layer of acetate on top to hold everything in place.  (I prefered to use some more sprayed paper.)

 

If you're not using a tri-fold card you need to cover the whole back with another piece of card or patterned paper.

I shall be giving this to someone special on Valentines day.

Lynne x

 

Creating Backgrounds

For Christmas I was given a fabulous collage stamp.  I really enjoy creating my own backgrounds to stamp on and like trying new techniques.

Mica sprays are one of my favourite sprays to use.

 
When I've dyed fabric I've added salt to give it more texture / pattern. I wondered what would happen if I added sea salt (you need to use chunks not grains) to the wet spray

 
This is the result I got.  You also end up with some pretty coloured salt.  (I will be using that in a future post)

I stamped onto the sprayed salted background

 
and this was the result.  The salt resisted the ink!  (You need to make sure you clean your stamp well after trying this as the salt may corrode the rubber if you don't)

 
Here's a closer view.

 
Above is what the stamped image should look like.  This background was created using shaving foam marbling . I added beadazzles to the centre of the flowers for added glitz.  

 You could say I had a "Happy Accident" whilst playing with the stamp and backgrounds.  Do try this yourself, it really does give a beautiful effect.

 

Lynne x

Held in Trust

Hi everyone – Dolly here with an interesting idea for an album cover.

It isn’t a new idea and it was inspired by a blog post a long time ago by Glenda at Artylicious

from her store Graphicus

 

 Glenda had made a Halloween project but as soon as I saw the gates I knew I had to have them. It took me a while to use them, but I have made them into a cover for a National Trust Book.

Nij and I love visiting National Trust properties (to be honest I think the fact we are members makes us feel quite grown up!)

I wanted to make an album to record some of the places we visit.

I made the book 10” x 7” and used the Bind it all to bind the two sides. It is a gatefold album to the pages open from both sides.

The gates were perfect to look like gates to one of the properties.

I inked them black and then sprayed them with Cinder Glimmer Mist and they really do look like wrought iron. It hasn’t come over well in the pictures, but I promise they do.

I printed a picture of the Roman Temple at Stourhead on canvas, making sure it was really faded out and then mounted it on thick card for the cover. I then sliced it down the middle and stuck on the two gates. I added some distressed looking brads to make the handles and hinges.

 

 

The title was just cut from black card on the Craft Robo.

When the gates open there is the same picture, not cut in half, on the front page so it really does look like you have gone into the gates.

 

The two flaps also have desaturated pictures of Stourhead and an opening bit of journalling explaining what the album is. I am a big believer in an opening statement for themed books.

All I have to do now is fill it with pages about the beautiful places we have visited.

 

 

It started with a hat box

Hiya Claire here with a hat box that I've been altering

It started out looking like this...

So I removed the string & got some old book pages, which I covered with Antique Linen Distress ink then I ripped them into sqaures & inked the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink, by this point my fingers were very inky. I then covered the hat box with the sqaures of book pages...

I used bull clips to hold the foldy bit over the edge in place whilst the glue dried...

When the glue had dried I used my Tattered Rose Distress Ink to swipe around the box adding a bit more colour, then a quick spritz of Antique Gold Cosmic Shimmer Mist, allowed it to dry & gave it a quick coat of Mod Podge to seal it...

The flowers were easy but messy to make, the flowers were cut from really thin cotton using a Tim Holtz Alterations Die, then I coated each side with Gesso & waited (not so patiently) for it to dry...

I wanted to make purple & pink flowers, the pink ones were inked with Tattered Rose Distress Ink, with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink around the edge & a spritz of Antique Gold Cosmic shimmer Mist & the Purple ones were inked with Milled Lavender Distress Ink with Dusty Concorde Distress Ink around the edges & a spritz of purple Cosmic Shimmer Mist

Then I layered the flowers & added some pearls, I also made some vines & leaves by painting the fabric with Ranger Willow Green paint & inking the edges with Peeled paint Distress Ink, then cut the vines into strips &  twisted them a bit, the leaves were just cut by hand...

Then all that was left to do was attach them to the box with Glossy Accents...

So now my only question is... what do I put in it?

Hope you like this project & I'll see you soon take care

Claire

xx