All Purple and Yellow #136

This project starts with cardstock painted in a random manner with Eco-green paints - periwinkle, white and butternut.  Once dry I've applied white paint through a couple of different stencils and the butternut through a text stencil. 

I painted some of the butternut paint onto separate card and once dry stamped the greeting using purple archival ink and the stamp is from Indigoblu.  I ripped the edge to give a wide border and then just caught the border with my purple ink.

I cut out my two dies - both from Crafty Individuals and tinted them using cut n dry foam with my purple archival.

Once the die cuts were stuck down I then added little # accents and a border with my black fineliner pen.

happy crafting

Jane

www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk

Embossed Hearts

You will recognise the same dies from yesterday - and a similar layout too - but this time to mix it up a bit. I've used Acrylic paints onto greyboard.  On the red and gold heart, I've used the same technique as yesterday - painted a red base coat, then added some vaseline before painting the gold top coat and once dry then wipe away as the vaseline acts as a resist.  I've then run it through with an embossing folder.  I wasn't sure how much detail I would get as it's thick grey board - but as you can see it was very detailed - this has been put through a Cuttlebug.  (The folder was one that's no longer available to buy that was in my stash).  I created my mounts the same as yesterday.  As I knew I needed to make quite a few cards in a short space of time, I stuck with the same design layout and created my mounts in the same way so I could cut out having to do lots of measuring. 

In the pink and gold card, I painted in just the pale pink for this heart and then run through with a Love heart embossing folder from Crafts Too.  The next stage required patience!  I lined up the heart over the embossing folder so it would keep firm and flat, then bit by bit I used my Versamark to ink only the raised parts of the design.  Do this a a little at a time with a very light touch, if you rush it you will just ink the lower bits.  Again because it's over paint, even if you use an antistatic bag, you may need to tidy up with a little paintbrush.  I completed it in about 5 stages, so not too long - but worth it! 

As a final detail on this card, I inked up some scrap card with my versamark and embossed it with gold and then punched out four little hearts to add to the corners - that way they match perfectly.

Fed up with hearts yet..... I'm not quite finished!... a few more tomorrow!  :-)

happy crafting
Jane
www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk
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Painted Shabby Chic Hearts

 As I promised yesterday, my cards this week are on a heart and Valentine's theme.  I wanted to make a batch of cards for the shop - but didn't have huge amounts of love themed products to hand, so I based most of my cards around my one set of Nested Heart shaped dies.  These are from X Cut but are now discontinued. 

I started by cutting out a heart out of thick card - I actually used some greyboard - which is the sort of card you usually find at the back of a paper pad - always handy to keep!  I painted my heart using Acrylic paints - I've used colours from Eco-Green and Art Proff -  and allowed to dry.  I then swiped over some vaseline and then painted my second colour over the top.  Once dry, you can then wipe away some of the top coat where the vaseline has acted as a resist.  I allowed my hearts to thoroughly dry and then stamped and embossed over the top with different greeting stamps I had in my stash.  You may find that you need to do a bit of tidying up with a little paintbrush as even though you allow the paint to dry and wipe over the antistatic bag, the nature of the paint means it can cling on with some of your embossing powder - but be patient - its worth the effect!!

As I was making this card in two different colour ways, I measured my two mounts and then cut out two of each.  For the layer that was going immediately under the heart, I just caught the edge of the card with my Versamark pad and added embossing powder to give a lovely metallic shabby chic edge.  For the base mount, I painted the colour that I thought would best match around the edge of the card and allowed to dry (no need to paint the middle as you are covering it up!).  Once everything was dry I then mounted the cards onto a card blank.

I thought I would do two different colour ways as not everyone wants a pink Valentines card - and it was fun to play with the different layers of colour.

More hearts tomorrow..... :-)

happy crafting

Jane
www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk
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Acrylic Paints with Stamps

I'm all out of sync today!  I thought I had a blog project finished today.. only to find out I haven't!  So I've been browsing through old creations to find some that I don't think I've shared with you before (forgive me if I have!).

These were all made using rubber stamps together with Acrylic Paints.  I've used Eco-green paints here - which are a really nice creamy consistency paint to use, and have the big plus of having a wax content so once dry you can buff them to a high shine!.

 This first design is a nice way to start working with Acrylic Paints and stamps - no skills required!!.  I took a good weight cardstock (or use the grey board off the back of your paper pads!) - and using two colours simply paint on.  If you paint one colour first and then use the second colour onto a dry brush and lightly paint over the top you can achieve these whispy lines.  I've then stamped my Pure Elegance Stamp (from Creative Expressions) and some swirls in black ink.  Finally I've added some white gel pen highlights so she stands out from the background.  Then simply mat and layer onto a card.

 This design is using the same stamp again but this time I painted the background in gold and allowed to dry.  Then I have stamped the lady again in black and then painted her in using the eco-green paints.  Again some white gel highlights lift the design and you may need to retrace some of the black outline with a fine-liner pen if it's lost some definition.  The flower is from Marianne Designs. 

I think sometimes crafters are a bit hesitant to work with paints as they feel its more of an artists thing and you need to have skill to use them, but I love working with paint and you can achieve some very effective finishes with very little skill needed... go on give it a go!

happy crafting

Jane

www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk
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All Day Mixed Media Canvas Workshop

Well... what a fun day we had!....  the heatwave couldn't distract us..... even the Wimbledon Final couldn't distract us (alright... we did keep an eye on the score!).... we were in paint/ink/stamp heaven!

We worked onto 12x12 stretched canvas (now in stock - just £5 each).  We worked with a range of acrylic paints, spray inks, texture paste, masks, stamps, stencils and dies to create these fabulous canvases.

We know that a few people would have loved to have come along.. but had prior arrangements.... if you are one of those people, please email/phone us to give us your name as we are arranging a date for this workshop to run again.  It will be an all day workshop - on a Sunday - 10-3pm(ish) £40 including a goody bag worth (£10).  Call on 01953 454976 or mail at aldridgecrafts@googlemail.com.

My Steampunk Canvas

My Butterfly Canvas

Getting painty!

Janet's canvas in progress

Jon's Canvas in progress

Ann's Canvas in progress

Angie's Canvas in progress

Four happy crafters!

Jon's Canvas

Janet's Canvas

Ann's Canvas

Angie's Canvas

If you've never worked onto canvas... go on - give it a tray - it's great fun and has endless possibilities!
happy crafting
Jane
www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk

An Abundance of Love....

I am sticking with the elephant theme this week...  you know what it is like when you get a new set of stamps.. you just want to play!

I started with a Cosmic Shimmer Spritzed background...  this one had been done some time ago in my book ready to be decorated.. I tend to prepare a few pages so they are dry to speed up my creations.  I used the Chocolate Baroque Indian Elephant stamps for this page.  The paisley flower stamp was stamped at the top using Versafine Olympia Green.  I then stamped the elephant and the flourish design underneath him in the same ink.  I stamped the wording from Chocolate Baroque Artistic Affirmations set.

I then started to paint in details on the elephant using Eco-green paint Aged Gold.  I then added highlights through all the stamped designs using White gel and Gold gel pens.  I just loved the detail in the paisley pattern stamp - particularly once it had the white highlights.  As a final touch I drew in a few white gel pen stars in the background and added a few stick on gems here and there to add some sparkle.

This was a really chilled out piece to create .. it was lovely to sit and just pick out the detail with the white pen.

happy crafting!
Jane
Shop for your supplies at www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk

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 :-)

Eco Green Paints - Part One

pic One -background painted, main colour painted over lines ready to be buffed back to reveal the embossing

pic Two - the whole design has been painted in - just needing the white gel pen highlights

Pic Three - the finished piece

I've been playing with the Eco-Green paints this weekend... so look out for some blogs over the next week or so with some hints and tips to get you started with these fab paints.

Today's project is using your paints to 'colour in'. I've started with a piece of greyboard - but you can use your paints on ordinary card, or even mount board. I painted the whole piece with aged gold and allowed to dry thoroughly. Next I have embossed the lady stamp (from UMount) in the usual way - firstly rubbing over with my anti-static mat, then inking up with VersaMark and using a detail black embossing powder. Then heat your powder until ready. You need to make sure your first coat of paint is properly dry before doing this - if you try to rush it, there's a chance that your embossing powder will stick to your background.

Use a small pointed brush to paint in the detail so you have lots of control. I always put a little paint onto a non-stick mat that can then act as a paint palette. The embossing will be a bit of a resist for the paints. You can paint over the edges slightly and then buff back to show the embossing through. Bear in mind that if you put lots of coats of paint over the embossing, it will be trickier to get it to show through - so if you need to build up your colours, paint a coat, rub it back, then paint your next coat and so on. These paints also buff up to a high shine - just use an old towel or tea towel for a good result. Don't be tempted to hurry your paint drying with your heat gun - remember there's embossing underneath and you don't want to overheat the embossing or it'll disperse into your card!

I've used butternut and orchid for the flesh tones and pomegranate and periwickle for the dress colours.

As a final handy hint - a few highlights with a white gel pen can make a big difference. If you compare the before with the after pictures above, you can see how much zing it brings to the finished piece. We stock some fabulous value gel pens for just 50p a pen, available in gold, silver and white and I highly recommend them!

More to come this week on Eco-Green techniques...

happy crafting

Jane