Playtime!.....

oooh new goodies!  Always fab when you get a new collection of supplies to play with!  I'm spending today (and tomorrow if I can get away with it!).. playing and creating the project for our forthcoming All day mixed media workshop which is on Sunday 7th July.  I have the ideas in my head... now to work out if they will transfer to card/canvas and whether we will have enough time to complete the project in the time planned!  It will be interesting as I'm sure my end result will be different as with everything creative things grow as you create.

Here is my new stash....

It contains some fab new wood die cut shapes (new in store and appearing on the website very shortly!).  Some Chocolate Baroque stamps - Indian Elephant.  The Tim holtz Melange tissue paper and a selection of paints and gesso.  I've also put in a couple of spellbinders dies in my craft bag... just in case I need them of course!!


... and if you fancy joining us on our all day workshop - it runs from 10am-3pm on 7th July and costs £40.  Limited spaces available, we will provide refreshments & cake but you bring your own lunch.  Call/email to book in for a fun filled inky, painty creative day!.... can't wait!!!!

..... let the playing commence... my project will be revealed hopefully later this week (if all goes to plan!!)
hope you get a chance to get creative this weekend
Jane :-)

What to do with those die cut letters....

I have a bit of a thing about lettering and fonts.  I think it goes back to my calligraphy days.  I studied calligraphy for four years whilst I was at school as I was lucky enough that my art teacher was the most amazingly talented calligrapher.  So when I got my hands on the Classic alphabet Upper case dies from Memory Box... I just had to have a play. 

I used my journal book as a base and started by spritzing the page with water and placing the 'that special touch' cogs mask on the right hand side.  I then spritzed with Cosmic Shimmer Bronze Blush mister and allow to dry.  I then took a sheet from my dictionary and stuck a few pieces on.  I then placed my cogs stencil back in place and added some more colour using gathered twigs distress ink so some of the cogs design was also over the dictionary wording.  I then cut out the die out of white card and used the waste piece as a stencil.  I used a combination of spritzing the ink through the stencil and also using it with my cut n dry foam with the distress ink to have a few random letters in the background.  I used all my white letters to create a random tumbling letters pattern... being careful not to spell out any unfortunate words!!  I cut out the words 'create' and 'art' from the lower case alphabet.  I kept the 'create' in white and stuck at the bottom of the page.  The 'art' wording i used Indigoblu's flitterglu and then applied gilding flakes before sticking to the top.

This piece is a perfect example that you can create art out of anything!  Just a few letters and some spritzer sprays and look what appears.  It's great fun - I definitely recommend giving it a try!

happy crafting
Jane

Memory Box Border Dies & Misters

This week's project features Memory Box Dies and Cosmic Shimmer Misters.  I started with plain white card and misted it with a heavy layer of Ocean Sunlight and Golden Mint Cosmic Shimmer Misters.  I wanted the colour to have great impact so I really flooded the card with the ink and then left aside to thoroughly dry.

Next I cut out two pieces out of the coloured cardstock using the Memory Box Die - Big Splash Border.  I then cut out my middle panel and mounted it onto black card and stuck the two border pieces either side and then mounted onto my card blank.  Finally I cut out Memory Box Die Fairytale Flower Border out of white card and mounted it as my focal point.

You could create lots of variations on this design using different colour misters and different border dies... endless possibilities!

Happy Crafting!

Jane

Grungy Flower Collage

This is another creation from the bronzy-brown collection from a few week's back (I thought I'd post them mixed between the colourful ones so you didn't have a collection of brown posts!!).  I had such fun creating this page in my art journal. There was lots of stages to this project so I'll list them as a step by step for a change..

1.  Spritz the blank page generously with water then place That Special Touch cogs border mask to the left side and then spritz randomly with Cosmic Shimmer Bronze Blush Mister.  The water will make it run.
2. Lift your mask, turn over and place down on the right hand side of your page, this transfers the ink on the mask onto the page to give a watery cog pattern.
3. Rip and tear a random shape from a dictionary page, ink up using some Gathered Twigs Distress Ink on cut n dry foam, then stick down at the bottom using a gluestick.
4. Cut four Bella Bouquet (Memory Box Die) shapes from white card - put two aside.  Ink the other two with Vintage Photo Distress Stain and then spritz randomly with your Bronze blush mister - this combination makes for a really good rusty look.
5.  Now for the fiddly bit.  Stick your brown flower over the top of your white flower but slightly out of line so you can just see the white poking out behind... it doesn't need to be precise, just so you have a shadow where possible.  Do this for both flowers and then stick them to the background.  I always use Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue for this job.
6.  Cut out an Isabella and Pippi Butterfly from white card (both Memory Box Dies).  Colour your Pippi die (the top layer) in the same way as the flower - and the body just with the vintage photo so it's a little lighter.  Add a little antique linen distress stain to the isabella butterfly so it isn't glaring white and then assemble into a butterfly.  Then stick to your background and add a little line of dashes with a white gel pen.
7. Finally write the words Spring has Sprung onto white cardstock with a black fineliner pen and outline with a box and tint with the antique linen stain.  Then cut out and stick on!

Hope you like it!

Jane

Steampunk Gentlemen ... with flower!

Time for something a little steampunk!  This is a PaperArtsy stamp I had in my stash and I thought it would work well with the distress inked background.  I started with a Broken China Distress Stain, then worked over the top of a Cog Mask with Weathered wood applied from an ink pad with cut n dry foam.  A little dash here and there of antique linen distress stain gave it just the contrast I wanted.  The stamped design was then stamped using Archival Black ink.  The Greeting is from a Woodware Saluations Set.  I decided it needed something bold to embellish it.  So I cut a Memory Box Madiera Corner out of white cardstock and coloured it with the weathered wood.  I then used some of my favourite old dictionary and stuck it down onto white cardstock then went over it with the antique linen stain, and once dried I cut out the flower using a Spellbinders Spiral Blossom Two die.  It's the first I've used this die, borrowed from my good friend Sarah, and I have to admit I was a little confused on how to roll up the flower... but a bit of time out after googling the die -You Tube came up with a tutorial or two to set me on my way!  I created the flower - then added some Weathered Wood blue ink with my cut n dry foam to add some detail.  Finally after mounting my main image onto black, I assembled my card onto an 8x8" card blank. 

Flowers on a man's card.. yes I know - not traditional... but it is a steampunky flower... so does that make it better?

Jane

Zentangle Tree...

Well my project for this weekend is something a little different.  It involves no stamps, inks, paints, or other crafting materials.  Just a piece of copy paper and a black biro.  I love doing doodle details on my stamped artwork... it's a fun thing to do to add decoration or just fill in a little gap with something.  This art of doodling is known as Zentangling.  I've always accented stamped designs but had a yearning to create something from scratch... so here it is my simple zentangled tree! 

The first drawing was a disaster and was quickly consigned to be filed in the bin!  I started to draw an elaborate tree trunk and network of branches... and even despite the fact that the drawing wasn't up to much, I realised it had nowhere to doodle on!  So my aim was lots of big leaves and little leaves I could do patterns in.  So I kept it simple and drew the tree trunk and a little grass clump either side.  Then started to draw simple leaves.  I started at the middle and gradually worked my way out until it was a shape I liked.  Then let the patterning commence!  I tried to put different shades of patterns.. some quite dark here and there and some with a lighter feel.   Zigzags, squiggles, circles, dots, squares... whatever I could think of.   And my final addition was the little bird - so simple to draw - give it a try - start with a circle for the body, a V for the beak and the legs, and a few lines for the tail.  A squiggle or two for the wings and a dot for an eye.

I was most pleased with the result.  I hope it inspires you to give it a go.. even if you don't feel confident to start from scratch and draw your own- see if you have a good outline stamp you can fill in with doodling - its great fun!  And an ideal craft for on the go.. train journeys, waiting in a waiting room for someone - because all you need is paper and a biro!  If you do have a dabble, please share links to your blog or facebook page in the comments below - I'd love to see your creations!

I've included a closeup pic so you can see that your lines do not need to be perfect to create a good effect!

happy zentangling
Jane
www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk