Vintage canvas for Shimmerz

Hi everyone and thanks for dropping in.
Just a preview day today as my full project can be seen on the Shimmerz blog.

Hope you'll take the time to hop over to take a look, but before I sign off, remember, you can order Shimmerz products directly from the Shimmerz Paints Store. If you do, don't forget to mention my name (Astrid Maclean) in the «Instruction to Merchant/seller» part of your order form (just below your name and address). After clicking «add», you'll get a FREE product in the color of your choice. And for people from outside the US, Shimmerz do a really good deal on postage!

Well, have a creative week and thanks so much for visiting today!

Autumnal splendour

Hello everyone and thanks for dropping in today.
My poor old blog has been rather neglected these last few days as my day job has kept me otherwise occupied, but today I have a card to show you:

It's my daughter's birthday in a few days time, so I just had to make a card.
I basically used whatever was flying around on my desk.
The background was made with Brushos, a number of different sprays and some stamping.

The leaves were die cut  with some Spellbinder leaf dies, I used one of my gelli plate prints.
I then added some ribbon, twine and a little metal leaf, mounted it on black and a piece of scrapbook paper and that was pretty much it....

I added some gilding flakes from Indigo Blu around the edges.

The sentiment was stamped with Flitterglu and gilded with the same flakes. As it was getting a bit lost against the background, I added some shadows around the letters.

Here's a final close up of the whole card. Of course I was messy in my usual way and some of the gilding flakes landed up where they were not meant to be, but I quite liked the effect so decided not to worry...

Well, there you have it. Thanks for visiting like always and I hope you will have a creative week.

Save our bees

Hello everyone and like always, thanks for taking the time to drop by!!

Today I would like to show you a journal spread I did, on a topic that's close to my heart.
Here is a link, where you can find out more if you want: Save our bees campaign

Anyway, onto my actual project. I have been having super fun using my gelli plate together with some Decoart Media Acrylic paints. I used mainly Quin. Gold and Cobalt Teal Hue, pulling many prints and playing with various stencils too.

Next came several background layers, deepening the colours with Archival Inks (I found these blend perfectly over the paints), I used Orange Blossom and Forget Me Not by Wendy Vecchi, adding more layers with the help of both stencils and background stamping.

On this side further layers were added with the help of one of the new Paperartsy Halloween stamp sets. The bee is from an Artistic Stamper set, I added more detail to it with pencils.

I tried to create further depth by adding highlights and shadows with the help of a white and a black Stabilo All pencil.

The background on this side was done in the same way, but here I used a variety of background stamps (Carabelle Studios and Indigo Blu).

The focal stamp is a new La Blanche stamp that I fell in love with the moment I saw it.
I stamped her 3 times to add depth to her face and the butterfly, fussy cutting them and layering on top of one another.

A couple of close ups still of the background layers....

Well, that's pretty much it for today. I had not used my Gelli plate for ages, and it was great fun to play with it. Watch out for some more projects using some of my prints in the next few days.....

Thank you for visiting like always and hope you are having a creative week!!

Spooky House for Calico

Hi everyone
My turn again to show a project on the Calico Craft Parts blog, where we are showcasing Halloween projects.
Here's a sneak peek on what's on offer from me today:

I made a wall plaque, for Samhain as we like to call it here in Scotland. To see the rest, just click HERE.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week

Fall Leaves for Shimmerz

Hello everyone and thanks for dropping by today!

Here is a sneak peek of my first project created for Shimmerz Paints.

I hope you'll take the time to hop over to their blog to check out the full project. If you place an order and mention my name you even qualify for a free product!

Oh and for those of you living in the UK, I thought I'd just mention that many of the wonderful Shimmerz paints and sprays are available from the Craftz Boutique

Thank you so much for visiting today and have a super weekend!!

Some childlike fun

Hi everyone and thanks for being here today!
First of all a BIG thank you to all those of you who ordered stamps. Nearly 30 packets went out earlier today, so I am hoping they will arrive safely at their destination. Some of you are still on my "waiting list", just so you know, I have not forgotten you, but as I am busy all week it will have to wait until next Sunday.
On to today's project:

It's my oldest granddaughter's birthday soon, and this is the card I made her.

As some of you know, she lives in Australia, so in her mind her birthday is in Spring of course, while here in the Northern Hemisphere we think of it as Autumn. So on this card I wanted to illustrate both seasons going on right now. Here are some details:

The card itself was made using the accordion Flip 3D dies by Karin Burniston for Sissix, both the album and the frame. For the base I used Kraft card. and for the frame green Core'dinations card. For the Spring side I made a background using various sprays and inks. The butterfly was a little wooden embellishment to which I added some texture etc.

The Autumn side has again an inky background. The sweet little squirrel is made up from two Calico Craft parts, coloured with a mix of paints and Distress Markers. The sunflower was made with a Heartfelt Creations die.

An autumnal cluster made with mostly Sizzix by Tim Holtz dies.

And a flower cluster, the flowers were made with another Heartfelt Creations flower die and coloured with some of my new Shimmerz paints and sprays.

Well, that's it for right now. Making these accordion flip cards are really good fun, I had left mine to gather dust for far too long. Don't be surprised if there are a few more appearing soon.

Thank you for visiting like always and have a fun creative week. Mine will sadly be rather busy with my day job, but such is life....

Massive Bargain Stamp Sale

Hello dear friends and visitors, thanks for dropping in.
A slightly different post today....

I am having a massive clear out of craft stuff, particularly stamps and I am offering surprise bags of stamps.
This is what is on offer: Large Jiffy bag filled with between 20 and 30 stamps (depending a bit on their size), for £5 including postage (UK ONLY). If you are from outside the UK, please email and we can negotiate a price.
There will be a mix of new and inked stamps, backgrounds, swirls, text, focal stamps etc etc. Most of them are premounted, very, very few wood mounted and some good quality polymer stamps. Stamps are from many different companies, but absolutely no cute! (Sorry I don't really do cute).

I also have 2 complete sets (see photos below)  for £7 each including postage.

Darkroom Door Chorus

JOFY 14

Below are some samples of things I made in the past, using some of the stamps that will be included in the surprise bags, just to give you some ideas.

Vintage LO

Booklet made from two envelopes

Tag with pocket.

Card made from large tag.

If you are interested, please email me (astrid.maclean@yahoo.co.uk) and we can take it from there.

Have a fantastic weekend everyone and thanks for dropping by!

Shimmering Mixed Media fun and some news...

Hello all and welcome! Things are getting back to normal after my long absence, and today I have some projects as well as some news to share.

While I was away in Australia, I was contacted by the owner of Shimmerz Paints to ask if I wanted to be part of her design team..... Well, I nearly fell of my chair, - little old me on a team like that. It took me about 5 seconds to decide lol.

So today I am sharing some fun little experiments with their amazing paints and sprays, - mixed media bliss for sure.

Just to be clear, these little cards are not yet DT pieces, I was just having a play to get to know the products, but I thought I would share them with you anyway. My first proper DT piece will be due only in about 10 days time, and of course then I'll share a proper step by step over on their blog.
Meanwhile, here are some close ups of my play time :o)

If you don't know Shimmerz, - they do paints, sprays, coloured texture media, etc etc, both with mica and without. Both the background and the flower were coloured with a mix of their products.

Oh and they blend in with all my favourite Distress inks to perfection too!

I certainly loved creating these, the saying is from the Tim Holtz small talk collection stickers.

Love how the sprays seep into the crackled background. 

The butterfly is a Tim Holtz die cut from the Butterfly Duo.

Well, there you have it, just a little taster here, but if you do decide to check out the paints and make a purchase, mention my name (in the notes to merchant) and Stacey (the owner) will send you a sample for FREE!!!! Check out our Facebook page for more inspiration too, there is masses of inspiration there, give-aways and links to some super videos!

Thanks for visiting today and happy creating!

I am going to enter these into the following challenges:

Mixed Media World Gorgeous Textures

That Craft Place Anything Goes Mixed Media

Back with a bang.....

Hello everyone and welcome! Thank you for dropping in after my long absence from blogging while I was in Australia.

Well finally I am back home and slowly getting back into the swing of things and today I have not one, but two projects due. I am sorry to say I also did not manage to visit many of you during my absence, but from now on I should be properly back and look forward to seeing what you are up to!
This is the second project I am sharing today, the other one can be seen HERE:

This one an altered box holding a set of alphabet stamps as you can see.

To get a full description, more photos and a step by step, please visit A Vintage Journey, where I am sharing a Destination Inspiration post today. Hope to see you there!

Have a great week

Back with some Mixed Media Fun

Hello all! Thanks for dropping in! After my long absence I am back with two posts today, and this is the second one. My other project today one can be seen here and if you want more detail, you can see it at A Vintage Journey here

This post is just a little preview, I am sorry to say

You can see the full project by going to the Calico Craft Parts Blog.

Meanwhile, thanks for dropping in, possibly even for the second time. I'll be back in a couple of days or so with another project and some news to share.

Meanwhile I look forward to visiting all my favourite blogs again and I am sorry I have had so little time to visit you in the last few weeks, - but things should be back to normal now and I will be around again as much as time allows.

Thanks for dropping by like always and happy crafting!