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!

Finally back and some blogger news

Hello everyone and thanks so much for popping in.
I have just returned from quite a long blogging break, so it's good to get back into the swing of things.....

Like many of you I decided to join Wanderlust 2016. A year long event of art classes and exploration, and this is the project I created after watching the first video. If you don't know about Wanderlust, do check it out here.

I will not share the techniques with you in detail, as that would not be fair to Kasia, but this spread was very much inspired by her prompt and great example.

Unlike Kasia I used Paper Artsy Fresco paints for my background, and used a mini brayer, a brush and my fingers to blend my colours.
Kasia shares a great technique of scratching into the paints, using part of the Prima Distress tool and rubbing alcohol (surgical spirit). I've owned this tool for years and had never even discovered that particular part of the tool. I found the technique works really well with Fresco paints.

Here is a close up of some of the scratches, I kept them quite thin, but like the texture it creates.

Kasia suggests using chipboard pieces as focal points, - a great way to use up some of those chippies that many of us have flying around in our stash.
Below some close ups of how I coloured them after having covered them with gesso.

A mix of Fresco and Golden fluid acrylics paints and Lindy's Stampgang spray with some Treasure Gold in Pewter highlights.

I also used stencilling and background stamping to add more interest to my background.

I used a Tim Holtz stencil and Watering can Archival to stencil with.

Kasia suggests to choose just one word to express how you are feeling at the moment. I chose Explore for that's what I hope to do while following along with Wanderlust....

And then of course the challenge of using your own handwriting on your page. I always need to take a deep breath before doing that, and also found out that really I need to invest in some better pens.....

Well, that's pretty much in as far as the journal page is concerned......

Now as to the blogger news, - some of you may have heard this already, - I found out about it a couple of days ago from my lovely and talented friend Alison/Butterfly.

As Alison says:

Apparently it's in order to make life better for everybody... Don't you hate it when they "improve" things?! "New and improved" is my least favourite proclamation to see on a much-loved product.


Here's the announcement they made on Blogger Buzz:

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer

There's not much we can do, other than alert everyone that if you signed up to follow Blogger blogs without a Google account, you'll need to get a Google account and re-follow with that if you would like to stay connected (and/or sign up to Follow By Email so that you get notifications in your probably already overloaded inbox).

It's hard to know what the impact will be. Many of us are Blogger bloggers, and so we have Google accounts anyway, so maybe it won't make much difference - we'll see. I lost about 30 followers in one fair sweep already a couple of weeks ago, maybe they were trying things out then already, - who knows.

In any case, to those of you who are still following, - thank you so much for being here and of course for visiting today!!

Inspired by Bottles for Country View Craft

Hello all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Wow, can you believe it, it's 2016!
Well, apart from anything else, it's time for a new challenge over at Country View Crafts.
To ring in the new year Brenda has chosen the theme "Inspired by Bottles"
I decided to take the theme literally. I have so often been inspired by some of the amazing altered bottles I have seen on Pinterest for instance, that I decided to alter one myself.

I made a fairly similar one a while back and thought I would repeat the process and refine it somewhat on the way. I have a few step by step photos....

I purchased this vintage look bottle in my local super market, and though I quite it as it is, I thought it would be perfect for altering as it has a good flat surface on both sides.

I used Decoart Chalky Finish paints for the base and top layer of my bottle. I started with a layer of Gesso, then added some texture paste in random places and when everything was dry I gave it a coat of brown.

Next followed two different types of crackle medium, both by Decoart, Americana Weathered Wood, and Americana Decor Crackle Medium. Each of these gives a slightly different crackle effect. By applying it thicker in some places and thinner in others, some areas are smoother than others. The colour of the bottle was achieved by giving it a top coat of Americana Chalky Finish Paint in the colour Vintage. I warmed it up a bit with Quin. Gold fluid acrylics and some Umber Antiquing cream.

Here is a close up of the crackle, but I wanted some different textures too so added bits of cheese cloth and embossing powders to certain areas also.

Now for the decoration, - I decided to use a bottle stamp to decorate one of the sides of my bottle, this one is from Graphics 45. I fussy cut it and then coloured with Distress Inks.

Here is a closer look at the colouring, I forgot to take a picture before adhering it to the bottle.

Below you can see what it looks like after I finished my bottle with some other embellishments (lace, some chain, some pearl string and a flower) I adhered everything with a hot glue gun

Here is the one side

And here the other side. This side was decorated with a rice paper vintage label that I happened to have in my stash.

Well, that's it for now, I will have another project later today for Mixed Media Monthly, but meanwhile, don't forget to visit the Countryview Crafts Challenge blog and see some incredible bottle inspired makes from my team mates. Plenty of inspiration. Of course we all hope you will play along with our first challenge of the year. You will find all the details on the blog!

Thank you for you visit, - I really hope you are enjoying the festive season and will find some time to relax too! Happy New Year to you all!!!