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Showing posts with label mixed media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mixed media. Show all posts

Friday, 7 February 2025

Snowdrops

Good Morning everyone

Today Im honoured to say that I have been invited to join the very talented design team at Creative Artiste mixed media so for one project a month I will be playing with alot more mixed media which is always fun.  




So I thought to kick start I would make something very seasonal.  After Christmas when most of the garden is slumbering in sleep and lots of earth and brown on show these dainty little snowdrops pop up to brighten our day with their lovely white and green flowers.  For those of you who are new to my blog you will find that usefully my projects are full of colour so this is very muted for me but I wanted to go with a more realistic look and let the snowdrops be the star.




Approx size:  5x7" (13x18cm)    I started with a piece of stiff card cut from a cat food box.  See the last photo for how i did the background. 

Onto the base layer i added a layer of handmade paper which i tore into a rough oval shape - this i felt gave the effect of a soft frost.  I then tore a piece of brown packing paper - this i used so that the white of my snowdrops would stand out - all the torn edges giving a rustic natural feel.  I then added a piece of hessian ribbon. 

I die cut lots of snowdrops from white card and used green alcohol markers to colour the stems and add a hint of green to the flower head.  I added a little bit of 'crystal' stickles glitter glue to the little piece on the flower heads to add just a little frosty shimmer

Computer printed word 'beautiful', matted onto kraft card, glossy accents added to finish.

To hang i added white eyelets to the top and threaded with green cotton cord with 2 green glass beads.



I added the snowdrops with pinflair glue gel to give dimension.  To make them more realistic I cut the heads off some and glued back on the opposite way so that they aren't all facing the same way.  These snowdrop dies - the little bits in the middle fall out so that they have little gaps in them which i didn't want for this project so after die cutting them i added a little tape to the back to hold those pieces in place. 


The background/ base layer
I tore off some of the top layer to reveal the corrugations, added texture paste through a stencil.  Once paste was dry i added brusho powders in Olive and light brown which have tones of green, brown and purple in them so give a lovely dirt like colour.  I sprinkled on a little copper pixie powder, the mica giving a light shimmer. I used this criss cross effect stencil as i felt it had the effect of lots of dead stems and twigs in the garden like you get over winter. 

I then dry brushed on a thin layer of white chalk paint to soften it and give a frost like effect and edged the panel in white.

Items Used:
Snowdrop die by Alexandra Renke
Brusho Powders 'olive & light brown'
Cosmic shimmer pixie powder 'copper'
Green alcohol markers
Texture paste
Plaid 'folkart' matte paint 'antique white'
Stencil
Handmade paper, packaging paper & Hessian ribbon
Ranger stickles glitter glue 'crystal'
Ranger glossy accents
White eyelets, 2 green beads & cotton cord.


Do hop over to creative artiste mixed media to see what the rest of the DT have created and to join in.  You don't need to make a big mixed media project, it can just be a card or atc as long as you mix your medias.

Thank you for stopping by and i hope you all have a good weekend. Emmax


Id love to enter the following:



 

Thursday, 28 November 2024

Advent calendar

Good Morning everyone

This is a type heavy post so you may want a nice cup of tea, coffee, hot cocoa or even glass of mulled wine😁

Every year i refill advent calendars that i made for my 5 nieces and they love them and get so excited to see what each day contains - sometimes a sweet treat, sometimes something fun, or crafty or even sometimes something educational, this is their Christmas present from me and I think gives me as much pleasure to do as they get from opening them each day in December.

When I saw these mdf advent calendars at 'The works' I thought I would do one for my mum.  Well its been a real mission and issue after issue so Im quite glad to see the back of it to be honest but I know I will enjoy collecting little gifts throughout the year to refill it hopefully for many years to come for my mum. 

Overall size is:  17x17"    The inset scene area is: 12x12"

Now on arrival One side was not attached at the bottom so i glued it back together along with a couple of the drawers that the fronts had fallen off and I took all the drawers out assuming them were all the same size - on putting them back i soon found that wasn't the case and after alot of trial I found out which draw fit which slot and wrote the numbers on both to make easier another time!  A few of the drawers were really tight so i had to sand them, I would have liked to paint the whole drawer inside and out but due to being so tight i didn't want the mdf to swell too much so i have just decorated the front of each draw.

I covered the front of each draw with various snippets of Christmas papers - ideal for all the little scraps so they come from a variety of papers, i just made sure they were all in shades of red and greens.  I cut around the handle notch in the top of each drawer and then inked all the edges with white gesso and coated with glossy mod podge to seal and help keep it fresh and clean each year.  




The back removes from the middle inset area, so i added a fabulous paper that came in a 12x12 paper pad from the works and is a lovely snowy tree scene which i thought was ideal background for my snow scene.  I added a set of cheap fairy lights i had from poundland around the square - the micro ones would work better but I didn't have any so these had to do! 

 I gave it a coat of mod podge.  To the bottom of inset i added texture paste with foam balls and faux snow flakes included, coated with white gesso.  

From my stash collected over the years I added a large wire brush tree and some smaller brush trees.  To the big one i added these little fairy little buttons and some faux snow and glitter. 

I paint some wooden snowflakes with white gesso, added a little glitter glue and adhered them to the back panel.

I added a little white fence to the back, leaving a space so it looks like you are going into a park or similar.  I added a little black plastic lamppost which id added a little texture paste 'snow' and a little sledge - the kids have run off into the park to explore the winter wonderland😀

I added faux foliage, real medium and small pine cones and some red berries to frame the scene.  I used red beads for the berries in different finishes so they catch the lights. 


This shows where i wrote the numbers for each drawer on the bottom of the drawer and in the slots so that makes it easier to replace them in the future

Now another big issue was that after decorating the drawers and putting them back in, I really struggled to get them out with the handle notches and the fronts pulled clean off the drawers and realised that my mum who has bad arthritis in her fingers would really struggle so I decided to add little handles to make it much easier to pull them out so she can hopefully manage for many years to come.  

 I only decided this after i had die cut and added the numerals to the middle of each drawer so i punched 1" circles from more scraps of paper to cover up the numerals and add my handles. I then used smaller numeral dies to die cut the numbers again from white and add - these are alot smaller than the original numbers.  Where the numbers didn't stand out very clearly on the busier papers i went around them with a black find liner pen.

These little handles were an ebay find, they are on very long brads which were long enough for the 5mm mdf front, however for longevity and as some of the draws are so tight i also added a good blob of pinflair glue gel behind the metal piece on the front to really hold them in place.  Of course if you don't have a dust allergy and are able to use an electric sander you could easily sand all the drawers to make it so much easier.

Showing it all lit up.  I gave the whole advent a coat of white gesso and then white pearl dora paints which are really shimmery.  On the top of the advent i added a little texture paste and more of the dora paints for a snowy effect.  The whole unit was varnished so will keep it dust and dirt free over the years. 


This is how it looked before i decided it needed extra handles on the drawers.  Having now filled the little drawers with goodies I know i made the right decision as so much easier to get them in and out so my mum can use them with ease.  

I am glad I preserved with this - at one point i was ready to put it on the fire!!!  But its taken so much longer and been way more stressful than it should have been.   I certainly wouldn't buy another one of this style. 

Hopefully mum loves it!

Id love to enter the following:




 

Thursday, 24 October 2024

Witches supplies coffin box

Good Morning everyone

Last year I bought a couple of  wood coffin shaped boxes, Ive turned this first one into a witches portal and hidden supplies cupboard

Details of how i added shelves further down post.  Once shelves added i covered it all with black gesso.  In the shallow lid side i added green and gold dora cadence paint which really shimmers in the light to give the effect of the witch coming through a portal.  I then added one of Tim Holtz paper dolls which fitted perfectly.

Using items in my stash collected over the years i built up a collection on the shelves of various little bottles and potions, a little caldron and pumpkin, skulls, bones and a little spell book

On the top shelf i had some printed digi images of bottles which i added right at the back to help make it seem deeper than it is and then added a real small bottle with some black beads in.  A bone and little skull bead and then a little book i made up last year which i use kraft card for the cover and a little twine

On the middle shelf - in the back i added a piece of die cut spider web and die cut spider - both of which id added a little dora paint to highlight. Tim Holtz chat sticker reads 'calls answered day and night'
  Tim holtz candle and little pumpkin - the pumpkin i had also added a little orange dora paint too. A plastic ant on top of the pumpkin. 

 A small bottle Id added red alcohol ink too an the poured in a little white paint - from this uncorked bottle springs a ghost - this is chipboard painted with white gesso and a little diamond stickles glitter glue added. 

At the front another small bottle which i coloured inside with blue alcohol ink and then filled up with some cheap glossy accents i bought years ago which had a horrid finish so has just been languishing in the back of the cupboard but using in like this it makes a great mystery potion! 

and the bottom shelf - a little plastic cauldron filled with neon yellow and green paints. A little chipboard cat which i painted with blue gesso putting it on thick to added texture and then highlighted with black dora paint.  I added a strip of card behind its eyes coloured with the same neon paint.  The cats favourite sleeping spot, curled up nice and warm by the cauldron.

All my family have black cats and here in the UK they are still mostly seen as a good thing. (a black cat crossing your path is considered good luck, especially if it runs across your path. In parts of England, a bride who receives a black cat as a wedding gift is said to have good luck in her marriage)  - just as well as my old cat collects waifs and strays so we have 6 black cats that visit daily as well as my own black cat😺

Tim Holtz chat sticker in the back reads 'wool of bat and tongue of dog' 

The Cadence 'dora' paint really glows behind the witch.  These paints used to be called 'starlight' by imagination crafts.

I highlighted all the edges with the gold paint.




This shows how i added shelves.  I took some stiff card from cat food boxes, cut to the depth & length needed and just scored some tabs each add to glue into place and then covered with black gesso. 

The outside.  I added texture paste through stencils on the top, a shattered one which i think is a bit spider web like and a grungy one that contains a few numbers and letters.  Covered all in black gesso, added a few patches of green & red acrylic and highlighted with silver, black and gold dora paint.  

I added a plastic bat and a little tim holtz sticker to the bottom which i covered in glossy accents.

Items Used:
Coffin box from 'The works'
Tim Holtz Ideology range - pumpkin, candle, bone
Tim Holtz paper dolls & chat stickers
Spider & Web die
skull, cauldron, bat, mini bottles all ebay finds
Chipboard cat & ghost - the works
Cadence dora paints

Thank you for stopping by once again.  Next week is half term so i will be crafting with my nieces and also have a cousin and her family coming down to Cornwall so will be lovely to catch up with them. I hope you have a good weekend and don't forget the clocks fall back an hour so then it will be dark and wintry.  Hugs Emmax


Id love to enter the following:

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Thursday, 18 July 2024

Sun, Sea, Sand #2

Good Morning everyone

Mid way though July so time for another sun, sea, sand inspired make at We Love Stamping
or you can always go with the anything goes option as long as some stamping is involved 

This time ive just gone with the sea


Ive used this lovely printed acetate from Stamperia for my card front, so it gives a lovely glossy finish with its sea print.

I stamped the aall&create whale scene onto white card with greeny blue ombre ink pad and die cut into spellbinders labels 4 shape.  I added stencilling to the background with pale oxide inks & stamped some bubbles.

I stamped the whale again onto more white card this time with a dark blue ink, watercoloured with pink and peach distress inks so that it contrasts with all the green//blue, cut out just the whale and decoupaged onto the base image with glue gel.

I stamped some shells with the same pink, peach & lilac inks, cut out and arranged onto the card front along with some real shells ive collected over the years.  Stamped sentiment and some stickles glitter glue details to finish.




This is really thick weight acetate so I just used it as the card front and used plain white card for the back, i scored a flap at the top of the white card to which i attached the acetate.  I rounded the corners with my corner chomper which easily cuts through the thick acetate & 300gsm cardstock together - the rounded corners pick up on the rounded edge of the die cut

This months prizes that you could win 


Items Used:
aall&create stamp 'sea life'
Chocolate baroque stamp set 'seashell collage'
Visible image stamp set 'swim deep'
Lavinia stencil
Stamperia acetate - clear prints (SBA415) 'Vagabond in Japan'
Distress Inks ' picked raspberry, shaded lilac, 
Kailiedacolor ombre inkpad 'Caribbean sea'


Thank you for popping by once again.  Its scary how fast the weeks are passing and that next week the schools break up.  Emmax

Id love to enter:
https://inkspirationalchallenges.blogspot.com/2024/07/inkspirational-challenge-320-designers.html  - Ive used stamps from aall&create, chocolate baroque & visible image