A shrine with bottles for Countryview Crafts

Hello dear visitors and welcome.
Today I am sharing my second project created for the Country View Crafts Challenge Blog, where this month our theme is Inspired By Bottles.

Well, as you can see, - bottles don't exactly take centre stage in this project, but they are there and I just felt like doing something totally different for a change....

I'm not one that usually goes in for assemblage types projects, I have never owned any of the Tim Holtz configuration boxes for instance, - but I did have rather a large collection of little bottles and other bits and pieces collected over the years, so I thought it was about time they found a home...

I'm sorry there are no step by step photos, but I'll show you some details and talk you briefly through my process.

I built the shrine or whatever you want to call it, from scratch out of foam board, - easy to cut yet thick enough to make it easy to glue together. After it was constructed, I covered it with strips of tissue paper and then painted it with Paper Artsy Fresco Finish paint and distressed it with some Decoart Antiquing Cream.  Here in the middle section you can see the two little bottles.

The tiny little book of secret wishes was also made from scratch out of old book pages, a bit of lace coloured to tone in with the rest of the project, a string of little pearls and some tiny roses.

The bottom section has some elements from nature, tiny pine cones, some pebbles and you can perhaps also see how I made a little pedestal by adhering two bits of foam board, one slightly smaller than the second. The background to each of the sections has some scraps of paper from my stash.

The top section is like a little loft, with some bits of fabric, a broken doll and a tiny little basket. I could of course weave a whole story about the girl portrayed in the middle section and how perhaps she reflects on the relics of her childhood, - but I leave that to your own imagination.

Here finally you can see a section of the roof, I gave it texture with the help of some modelling paste and my fingers. I probably should have spent more time on it, - I could have done a better job, - but I ran out of time (and inclination to be honest).

Lastly, a close up of the sides, with the inevitable crackle, created with Decoart Crackle Glaze, to give it all that vintage feel.

Well that's it. I think this whole project was probably at least in part inspired by the many hours spent playing with my two little grand daughters over Christmas, who as part of their Christmas presents receives a wonderful  old dollhouse.

Here we are, nearly at the end of the month, but if you have time still, do come and play along in our challenge and take a look at some of the other amazing projects created during this month by the team. All you need to do is click HERE.

Thank you for visiting like always, and happy creating!!

Guest designer for Anything But Cute

Hello all, and I am super excited to be featured over on the Anything But Cute challenge blog as Spotlight Designer! Thank you Pamellia for inviting me!

What I am sharing is a project  that includes many of my favourite  techniques, - the cover of a new kind of visual journal/mini book that my lovely daughter gave me as a Christmas present.

This piece was inspired by the amazing work of my wonderful friend Heather Jacobs, she does the most incredible journals and scrapbook pages! If you don't know her, check her out!

Anyway, the book itself comes from Heartfelt Creations, it is about 6 x 9" big, 3.5" wide, and comes with 5 double pages and numerous fold-outs and inserts, - I know already it will take me ages to complete...

What I want to share with you today, is how I created the cover, using multiple layers and altering several scrapbook papers and embellishments from my stash. I have put together a very detailed tutorial on how I altered all the different elements on the cover, so here I'll show you just a few picks, but of course I'm hoping you will take a look over on the ABC blog there also.

Here you can see some of the altered elements that became part of the page

Here is a quick look look at some details:

Like I said, if you want to know more about how all of this came together, just visit Anything But Cute

Thank you so much for being  here today and happy crafting and creating!!

Love, love, love for Calico Craftparts

Hello everyone and thanks for dropping in here again. Another sneak peek I'm afraid to say, this time for the Calico Craft Parts Blog.

It's the first of my Valentines projects, - no doubt there will be more to come....

If you want to see more of how this came together, just click HERE.

Thank you so much for dropping by today and I do apologize for not having been around to visit many of you these last few days, but I have been terribly busy with both my day job and DT pieces, however, I do hope to do better this coming week and catch up with at least some of you....

An experiment, project for Shimmerz

Hi all and thanks for coming by!
Today I am sharing a project on the Shimmerz blog, so just a sneak peek here I'm afraid to say....

I've called it an experiment, as it's the first time I used Shimmerz product on black gesso. If you want to see more, - just click HERE

Thanks for dropping by and of course I would love it if you took a look.

Have a great creative week,

A little gift

Hello all, hope your week is going well.
I needed a thank you gift for a friend and to just make a card seemed boring, so I made a tag in a bag instead....

I love making these kind of projects, and this one was fun to do. I started with the tag (size 8 manila)

The background was created with some Fresco paints from Paper Artsy, rolled on with a brayer. I then used a Seth Apter stencil and archival in for some background texture, a Tim Holtz stencil and Ranger texture paste for the flower and then added more colour with Distress inks.

Some coloured cheese cloth and a butterfly (cut from an old G45 paper) added some more texture at the bottom.

Some more butterflies and a word from the Tim Holtz larger word stickers as further embellishments and some verdigris embossing powder melted here and there for further texture.

A little crown charm, altered with some paints on top of a ribbon, died to match the rest (with Distress Spray Stains), finishes it all off.

I made the bag from a piece of Manila card, coloured in pretty much the same way and then added some embellishments from my little box of scraps to add more interest.

A piece of corrugated card, coloured with Distress sprays and some left over paper scraps.

A scrap of Dusty Attic chip board, a little clock sticker (G 45 again), some more cheese cloth and a rusted up pen nib.

The pen nib was altered with some Distress paint and while the paint was still wet I sprinkled on some embossing powder.

Well, that's it for today, thanks for visiting and until next time....

Sharing a little Sunshine

Hello all and thanks for dropping by!
Here in the UK we have had many, many dark and dull days, - as I was working on the project I am sharing with you today, my thoughts went back to brighter and sunnier days, - so hence the title of this post....

Now there is a little story behind this project: My kind and lovely daughter gave me an amazing present for Christmas, not just one, but three of the new Heartfelt Creations Flipfold albums, plus all of the inserts that come with them, because she knew that I like to make little books. If you have not seen these yet, do check them out!

Well I was super excited, but before allowing myself to start on one I felt I really had to finish another one that I had started ages and ages ago from scratch. I posted a first installment, way back in September 2014 (that's how bad I am in finishing certain projects...) If you want to see the first installment, click here.
Well, what you see above is the finished project, with all the tags and photos in place.
Below I will show you some more of the pages, but you will find all the details in the original post.

Here is the spine, it's about 1.5 inches wide and the complete book has 6 double pages plus numerous tags and photo mats (not showing those).

Close up of the front cover

Inside front cover

First double page with pocket and tags.

Further double pages below.

Well, that's it. I am glad I have finally finished this project and can now start with a clear conscience on using one of the new ones. Not sure yet whether I will turn it into another mini book or more into a journal, - maybe it will become more of a hybrid project, i.e some journalling and some more traditional mini book play with paper, tags and photos.....  Off to start on another "project" that's been waiting for a long time, - a massive craft room clear out. There may well be a give away coming soon, - stay tuned....

Meanwhile, thanks for visiting like always

Follow your Heart, - a journal page for Shimmerz

Hello all and thanks for dropping in.
Today I am sharing a journal spread over on the Shimmerz blog, so like usual, I am just showing a little sneak peek here....

I have a tutorial there and step by step photos, - hope you'll take the time to have a look. All you need to do is click here.

Thank you for dropping by today and have a wonderful weekend!

Times Flies

Hello everyone and welcome. I am sharing a large tag card today created for the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge blog where the theme this month is Time Flies.

As I was in Australia when the challenge went live and I had forgotten to schedule it (duh) I could not post it then, so I am sharing it today, and boy, time certainly does fly!! I can't believe we are nearly half way through January already.....

I used a size 12 tag as the base and added some texture with the help of a Tim Holtz layering stencil and some clear texture paste. I crinkled it up a bit for some more texture and then coloured with Distress Spray stains  in Brushed Pewter, Antique Linen and Iced Spruce. 

I also did some background stamping with the help of a text and crackle stamp.

Next I worked on the central panel made from some corrugated card.

I tore the bottom edge, added some gesso and texture sand paste (Decoart) and when that had dried added some patches of colour with the help of some Black Soot and Vintage Photo Distress Ink Sprays.

On to the embellishments:

I die cut and embossed  a variety of dies, the Tim Holtz Layered wings, some snowflakes and an element from the Spellbinders Iron Accents die and coloured them with Iced Spruce Distress Ink. I also added some  Vintage Platinum Distress Glitter Dust to the wings.

The focal point was a clock cut from one of my papers I designed for the C'est Magnifique Christmas collection. I added some crackle with a crackle stamp to it.

Now all I needed to do was layer it all up together, and finally mount the tag on some dark green card.

The sentiment was created with the help of some letter stickers from my stash.

Our January Guest Designer and Sponsor is Mixed Media Artist Cheryl Boglioli of Cheryl Boglioli Designs!!
Cheryl is a mixed-media artist on the leading edge of new products and techniques within the various disciplines of the ever-growing market. As a full-time Artist with an intuitive painting style and passion for teaching, you can find her Living the Art Life ™, traveling and teaching workshops at independent stores and events nationwide in the US with her renovated 1970 vintage trailer, Glinda. If you see her along the way, she even gives tours and appearances with Glinda. See more of Cheryl and her adventures at www.cherylboglioli.com.

To find out more about our challenge, all you need to do is click HERE  and meanwhile, thanks for visiting like always!