A gift and some transparency

Hello friends, - today I want to share a little canvas I made for a friend I visited today and whose birthday it was recently.

I love drawing sweet little faces, but this one was a bit of a struggle, because I had created a rather textured background first.

Said background was created on a piece of thick card with the help of acrylic paints, gesso, a brayer and some stencils, - just playing around and having fun.

Here you can see some of the textures and some background stamping which I usually add to this type of background.

I also added a couple of little fussycut butterflies for a little more interest and then I adhered the piece to a prepared canvas that I had coloured with a mix of Distress paints and crayons.

To give the edge of the cnavas a little more interest I added some strips of washi design tape and that was pretty much it.

Now you may wonder, what about the transparency...? Well I am sure most of you will be aware that Europe is implementing  the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which come into action on May 25th. It is somewhat unclear  whether individual bloggers are part of the deal. To be on the safe side, this bit is to let you know that I have created a Privacy Policy which you can see at the relevant page just under the header of my blog.

The data held by Blogger is very limited, and I assure you I do not and never will use your data for anything but sending you notification of a new blogpost, or for clicking through to your blog for a return visit. As stated in the Privacy Policy, all Blogger blogs use cookies, and these can be disabled in your internet settings if you choose.

If you are a follower by email or via bloglovin, you are of course entitled to unsubscribe at any time of your choosing, but I very much hope you will continue to follow my crafting journey here at Astrids Artistic Efforts.

Okay, boring business over, and like always, thanks for you visit and have a wonderful week!

xxxxx

Destination Inspiration at a Vintage Journey

Hello friends, welcome. Today I have a little canvas to share, with a Springtime feel (seeing this is the month Spring is meant to start here in the Northern Hemisphere.)..

If you want to know how I put this together, - there is a full step out with many photos over at A Vintage Journey. Hope you'll take the time to look :o)

Have a super creative week!

xxxx

Texture or embossing paste, - a canvas for A Vintage Journey

Hello everyone and welcome. Today sees the start of our June challenge over on A Vintage Journey and I am the host this month. The theme is simple, use some embossing or texture paste in your project. You can find all the details at A Vintage Journey.

I chose to use a wooden canvas board as my substrate, so that I could layer a variety of paste and play with textures, without the danger of it warping. Below is a description of how I went about it:

I started by covering my board with a thick layer of gesso, scraped on with a palette knife. I then added three different texture pastes: Stamperia Fresco paste, a really thick stucco like paste. I have had it in my stash for ages and it was really thick, which made it very easy to stamp into as you can see at the bottom left and the top right. I also used some Prima Sand paste and some  Decoart crackle paste. Below a close up, the sand paste will start to bubble when you heat it with a heat gun.

Of course it is important to also remember the sides...

Next I gave it all a first layer of colour. I used a mix of paints, Paper Artsy Fresco, Distress paints, crayons and some sprays and played around until I was happy with the result.

As you may have noticed, I also decided to add some more texture through a stencil, I used Grunge Paste for that.

Some more colour and some Decoart Antiquing cream was added to bring out the cracks and textures further.

I also added some background stamping, using a dark brown Faber Castell Big Brush Pen to ink up my stamps

Time for the finishing touches. I had seen this wonderful Tattered Poinsettia flower on Pinterest and wanted to create something similar.

I took a piece of scrapbook paper and stamped the big text stamp from Tim's Papillon set in Cobalt Blue Archival and then cut it with the Tattered Poinsettia die.

I deepened the colour with Distress inks and added some glitter here and there.

And here is the finished flowers, as they say, Poinsettias don't need to be just for Christmas....

The focal point of my piece became this stamp from La Blanche, I stamped it in black Archival on a piece of scrap paper. The other time pieces were fussy cut from a piece of Prima paper and glued behind.

And here is the finished piece. The sentiment was cut from the same paper that the bee was stamped on, an old Prima line.

And here finally a side view still.

Well that's it from me, if you have not been already, please hop over to A Vintage Journey to see all the amazing inspiration my teamies have created and of course we would all love you to join in our challenge!!

Thanks for visiting here like always and have a creative weekend!!

Silver and Gold for Mixed Media Monthly with Indigo Blu

Hello dear visitors and Mixed Media Monthly friends. Happy December first of all!
At Mixed Media Monthly we are being sponsored for the second month by Indigo Blu, and our theme this month is Silver and Gold.

I made a little textured canvas, using some of their papers, stamps and awesome Megaflakes, in gold.

I went on quite a journey with this canvas and it landed up in a very different place from my original idea, but as these are busy times, I will keep my post as short as possible.
I started with one of Indigo Blu's super mixed media ephemera papers  and sanded it down for a shabby effect:

I stamped my stamp in Flitterglue and then used the gold flakes, then tore around the edges and adhered it to my canvas..

Next I added various textures, using Tim Holtz Layering Stencils, going over my paper as shown. I then started to add colour and background stamping to my canvas, and that's where it all started to go wrong really. The delicate image on the paper got completely lost on the background....

So here is where I then changed tack. I stamped the image in the same way again, but this time on black card stock and carefully fussy cut around it. Now at least it was clearly visible. Not the delicate shabby chic canvas I had originally in mind, but at least I had a focal point....
Below are some close ups of the background still.

I  added background stamping using one of my favourite Indigo Blu background stamps.

A couple of large word stickers finished it all off.

I added a tiny bit of detail to my stamped image still with a fine line black pen. The girl is not exactly the subtle delicate lady I had in mind, but at least she can be seen and like me (and you I hope) she is full of happy thoughts!

Hope you will hop over to our challenge blog to see the inspiration pieces my team mates have created, and of course we all hope you will play along with our challenge even though this is going to be a busy month....

Thank you so much for visiting. My earlier project for today can be seen here

My Wish for You Nautical challenge for Countryview Crafts

Hello everyone and for those of you who are here for the second time, hello again.
It being the first of September, several new challenges are starting and at Countryview Crafts the theme, chosen by the lovely Jennie, is "Nautical".
I created a box canvas for my first piece for this challenge:

Now I have to confess, I really struggled with this theme, as really I have no nautical supplies, as it is not a theme that is particularly close to me. I found I did not even have some shells, well other than the rather clumpy one I added in the end.....

So where to start? I rummaged about in my stash and found this little anchor, I also had the little metal embellishment and then I had the netting, a lovely gift from my friend Annie.

Well, I started by adding some random texture using grunge paste to my canvas and when it had dried, painted it with various Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Paints.

I used Ice Blue, Baltic Blue, Mud Splat and a bit of French Roast

After I had the main design set up, it looked very stark so I added Distress Inks in similar colours and did some background stamping to blend it all much more together. I got so caught up in the process that I forgot to take a picture....

I found a lighthouse picture online, printed and then fussy cut it and adhered it to the hill.

Then I arranged my embellishments along the bottom adhering them with gel medium.

I found this lovely quote and generated it on my computer, cut it apart, inked and distressed it and then arranged it in the middle of the canvas.

Now when creating a box canvas, it always is important to cary on the design around the edges too. So I adhered some more netting, some Tissue Tape and did some more background stamping.

I can't say I am totally happy with the final result, I wish I'd had some little shells to add, but time was running short, the weather pretty bad, and sadly there was no time to go to the beach.

Well, there you have it, hope you'll decide to play along with the challenge, all details can be found on the Countryview Challenge Blog, where you can also see the truly stunning pieces my teamies have created.

I decided to dedicate this lovely quote to you, my lovely blogfriends, who always take the time to visit and leave me comments. Thank you for doing so and this is my wish for you!

Fresco Finish	Fresco	Fresco	Fresco
Grunge Paste	Vintage Photo Distress Ink	Walnut Stain Distress Ink	Archival Ink

InLinkz.com

A Very Vintage Christmas at Our Creative Corner

Hello everyone and so lovely to have you visiting here!
Today it is the turn of team B to show our Very Vintage Christmas creations, and here is my make:

But before I tell you how I went about creating it, here are the details of the challenge for those of you who perhaps have not yet seen it:

    For this challenge we are abandoning traditional Christmas colours and are giving Christmas a Vintage tone. No reds, no greens, just neutrals.

     The challenge here is to use a neutral palette....so think about shades of creamy hot chocolate, glistening white snow, rich dark sherry and mince pies, ivory candles, rustic wooden logs, roasting chestnuts and brown paper packages tied up with string!

    This Christmas we want you to make anything you like - Cards, ATC's, Tags, Scrapbooking, journals, Gifts, Altered art......anything you like....but please use only neutral colours from ice white, through to ivory and cream, beige to dark brown and black. You can also use metal embellishments, metal paints and stains.

Please Note - Your creation does NOT have to be 'Vintage style' - We would love to see Christmas creations in any style, but please keep to a neutral colour scheme.

I altered a wooden canvas, though canvas is probably the wrong word, as it is actually a wooden board, but it has the shape of a deep canvas.

I started by adding some texture to the wood with the help of a honey comb texture folder and some texture paste. When dry I covered it all with a layer of Gesso and then added a mixture of Fresco Finish and Distress paints in my favourite neutral tones until I was happy with the result. I also added some background stamping and a few strips of tissue tape.

This was done both to the top and to the sides

Next I cut a couple of Spellbinders nesting dies out of an empty cereal packet. The larger one was treated with a layer of Fresco French Roast, then some Crackle Glaze and finally a mixture of Snowflake and Vanila Fresco paint with a bit of Antique Linen Distress paint into the mix. I cut the smaller die again, this time from smooth stamping paper and stamped a La Blanche Angel stamp in Potting Soil Archival Ink and blended some Vintage Photo around the edges. I glued that to my cereal packet one and then adhered both shapes together to form the vocal image of my canvas. I also edged the larger one with some Treasure Gold Renaissance Gold.

Now for the embellishment: I took an Ideaology crown and couple of wings, painted them in similar colours and when dry, highlighted with Treasure Gold again. I adhered them next and above the vocal image.

I also added a flower cluster painted with similar colours again. After it was glued to the board I tucked a few sprocket gears in between still. Next I covered the central image with a wet baby wipe, took a deep breath and gave the flower cluster a few spritzes with Walnut Ink spray. Once that had dried I highlighted the flowers with a touch of Gesso.

The final step was to add a couple of little wooden snow flakes that I had covered with some Rock Candy Distress Glitter, for a wintery touch and a little stamped Tim Holtz happy Christmas ticket..

And there you have it....

If you would like to see what my teamies have created (and trust me, you will not want to miss that), please click HERE,  and we all very much hope that you will play along with us if you have not yet done so.