Christmas Baubles using Inkylicious Stamp

Keeping in a theme of stamping of which I love to do as well as paint with inks and create fantasy themed projects, Christmas was in my mind. So hunting through all my stamps I came across a tiny cabin in the woods themed, just the perfect stamp I was looking for to create a scene in a bauble. I stamped it out on printable acetate then added some white for snow using a white gel pen as well as using a gold glitter gel pen that I bought from Inkylicious, as well as purchasing the log cabin stamp from them too. The bauble I bought from Hobbycraft store clear and about 6 cm in size.
I got some foils strands in white by do crafts from the Range and cut this up into tiny bits to place in the bottom of the bauble to act like snow, I love this stuff it always seems more magical than just glitter. I drew around the inside of the bauble so that it would fit inside. These baubles you can open in half so I added some foil to one side of the acetate then some to the other and closed them adding a little pva glue to secure. I like the way these fit together they are not loose so you could just tie ribbon through the loop as shown, I then added a red bow to keep in a traditional festive theme.
Printable acetate is perfect for these easy crafts, but I would suggest that you use Stazon ink for stamping, just as an experiment I tried other inks and they did not work well at all. You can also use the acetate in your printer just make sure you have the rough side of the acetate to print on and you will have perfect images. I made 6 of these pretty baubles in all some stamped some printed all ready for my Christmas tree this year. I have a small stock of them to make some for my family to place on their own trees. This project is a little fiddly but worth the effort just allow time for the inks to dry on the acetate and ensure that you buy printable.

Happy crafting all

Holly

Fun Time for Halloween

Halloween I just love it. Every year I make a work colleague something
for her birthday that is on 30th she now has 3 of my projects. But this one I am showing first was for a friends granddaughter who was a little bit scared of ghosts etc. We thought it be good to make her a halloween in a box card that she could have fun with and might encourage her to not be so scared of the up coming Halloween. This was the end result. I started making the normal basic card. I cut out some pumpkins and ghosts and witches shoes. The witch legs I just cut some strips and using pro markers coloured them as stockings then added the shoes. Placing them upside down as if the witch was diving into the box, her skirt is made from patterned tissue paper folded into pleats and trimmed to points for the bar where the ghosts are sitting I designed this in my cricut machine as well as the leaves bar so that i was able to place the items exactly. Then added the ghosts and leaves. The outside of the box I drew on spiders webs by using a white gel pen and brushed over with my fingers a rub on in silver giving it a misty look. I added pumpkins to the flaps and a big boo sign at the base. This all folds flat and is able to go into the post. To finally complete it i cut some very thin strips of card and rolled them round a skewer stick tight as you can get it the card twists then add them to pumpkins and witches skirt. such a fun fun project to make and easy even if you do not have a cricut machine.

Happy Crafting

Holly

A little bit of Alice in Wonderland

I have a wonderful friend called Jo who is mad on Alice in
Wonderland. So I got thinking how I could make her a nice gift in this theme. I started making just the top hat and a stand. I added some organza wide fabric for hat band and made a tag that I stamped. Then made some simple hat pins using some beads I had stored, this got me started on sorting out some of my craft room..lol. Then I decided to make a tea cup out of pattened paper and sat a cut out of the white rabbit and the queen of hearts in, using some reindeer moss and a paper lace. This project was growing by the day every evening returning home from work I spent a couple of hours adding more bits. I found some images from a book I had and cut them out of alice and the mad hatter. Using a mini playing card...err sorry it was not the Queen of hearts typical when you need one so adapted it to resemble a card character. Adding some pretty paper flowers and more tiny beads and reindeer moss to a 7x7 board that I covered in green patterned paper. The hatters hat  used some tissue patterned paper. Finally to complete the project I used a tiny tinted bottle with a label on it saying drink me, you can just about see this in the bottom right of the photo next to Alice. Although, this project took me some time I certainly enjoyed making it and Jo was delighted with it, she now had it situated in her craft room.
Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did making it.

Happy crafting

Holly

Watercolours

 

I thought I  would show some of my recent watercolours. Not sure where this is meant to be somewhere in my head that I would enjoy sitting and admire the view.

I never really seem to practice enough with watercolour paints as when I am in the mood I really enjoy using them. I think now there is more about that we can use such as inks. I found aqua inks a great way to learn the colours and becoming more fluid with the paints. I am also learning how to use wet in wet, its so relaxing and enjoyable just let it flow, easier said than done actually. I am the worst person ever for not letting go, I just see its looking ok and then I freeze for fear of messing the whole thing and having to start over. Oh the joys. But here is one I did as a practice really I never meant for it to be completed, starting with the sky then it evolved into some summer meadow. But I hope you enjoy seeing it.

 

The next painting is my favourite to do but much

more is needed to perfect such a scene. I can see lots wrong with it so this now allows me to improve on these. I mounted these both up and put them onto cards, these will be for family only for I know they will be a keep sake.

 

I have found since learning to paint how much I enjoy looking at the sky and observing colours. Even trees taking in their shapes and leaves colours etc. I love to go out in the car in the summer and admire the countryside when possible so much to see and witness. Before I hardly noticed clouds and trees, now a sunset is the best time of my day and early morning mists.

What ever you doing today enjoy look around you and take in the view you will be surprised at what you will see.

 

Happy painting

 

Holly

 

 

A little bit of watercolours

 

I started this card off using watercolour paper and

messing with some fluid washes of watercolour paints.

once dry I used Sheena Douglas stencil and used my watercolour sponge to add a darker green. Using some stamps for bushes and twigs as well as some drawn by myself to add a woodland effect.

The Faerie is a stamp from Crafters companion. Using watercolour card this time to cut out and raise I used watercolour paints and inks to colour her.

Please excuse the marking on the photo I used as these are normally available to see on my Facebook page for my artwork and available cards and gifts throughout the year.

I truly enjoyed making this card and it seems to have thrown me back into doing watercolours again. I have produced a few so will post them at some point soon.

 

Happy Crafting

 

Holly

 

Mix Media Mermaid

Thought I would post one of my recent canvases. I used the Prima doll mermaid stamp, love this stamp it's quite large but great for mix media. I used a canvas board for this project, for the background I used lots of bits and pieces such as papers lace and tissue paper to get some textures also added some modelling paste and a lovely stencil by creative expressions. It has a nice post mark and text. I added some buttons to give effect of bubbles as well as adding some beads. I gesso over in white then used Artiste spritzing inks of blue and sea green in various places and used a brush to pull out the inks before they were dry. Then using a brush in the ink made the effects of weeds in the water. Then inked some old bits of jewellery using alcohol inks these work great to die parts of beading or anything similar like shells. The mermaid doll for her tail I punched out some hearts different sizes and cut them in half then painfully added them one by one but the effect was just what I wanted. Added some beads to her hair and coloured her in using water based inks. The jelly fish are made from acetate and used a very thin coating of Dyna paint using the blue and pink colours with a touch of the green. The Octopus is also painted using Dyna paints and added some white gel pen to represent tentacles. The corners I added some metal ones from Santoro these were gesso over then used bronze wax and Dyna paint to change the look of them slightly.

I have added a closer photo above of the textures and embellishments I used on the canvas quite pleased how it all turned out but I think more room for improvements.

Happy crafting all

Holly

Book Cover

 

I have been really busy over past months, hence lack of posting here. Christmas seems to take lots of my time as well as running a craft group on Facebook. So finally I have been able to create another inky mess. Using Inkylicious stamps and Aqua watercolour pens.

I started with the Aquamarine shade and lots of water to give the background a simple wash leaving some areas white. Then adding Teal to create a darker blue with slight watered down slate. The edges are darkened using distress inks weathered wood shade and building up the shade. Not able to see on the photo maybe but used sparkle pens to add a hint of sparkle. Used a white pen to outline some of the blue areas.

The book page is part of a swap making 12 in all and all with the same design. Was quite a task the theme of the books Winter Wonderland.

 

Happy crafting

Holly

Inks and Masking Gum

I thought I would have a try at drawing using Pebeo masking gum. I used watercolour paper for this experiment as I was going to be using really watered down inks and to dampen the paper, did not want a crumpled effect that could happen with plain card. Drawing using just a watercolour brush and using slight amount of gum, I drew in the flowers and stems. After gum was dry (doesn't take long actually) I started with going over the whole area with plain water. Then using varied coloured inks let it bleed into the water.  I used Spectrum noir Aqua Tint inks, the pastel shades to begin with then built up using the Landscape shades. Once the area was dry I then flicked clear water from my brush creating blobs of water on the paper around the base this gave the effect of tiny flowers that I then made more clearer using my white gel pen. The edges I used distress inks first was vintage photo then to darken further I used stormy sky. Using the dandelion seed stamp and make a wish stamp from Inkylicious.  I need more practice with drawing with gum and flowers, although I quite enjoyed doing this sort of art. Next time I am going to try it with actual watercolour paints. Last thought I am not sure if it was the watercolour paper or that I had left the gum on longer than I should have, for when removing the gum it took a little more effort that I thought it would. So might be worth noting if you venture in this design. I have added a link below for the gum I used and where you can get the Aqua tint inks. So on that note have fun creating and experimenting.

 

Holly 

 

Gum

http://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/shop-by-brand-c2159/pebeo-paints-c6007/pebeo-drawing-gum-masking-fluid-45ml-p26259

 

Aqua Tint Inks

http://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/papercraft-c2141/colouring-c5/spectrum-noir-c1423/spectrum-noir-aquatints-c6549

Inkylicious Stamp set
http://www.inkylicious.co.uk/make-a-wish-a7-dandelion-stamp-set/prod_719.html

 

A little bit Guns n Roses with added steampunk

I decided to venture into this project after my Christmas shadow box themed on A Night Before Christmas. Another shadow box I know but I really enjoy making these and I can be very creative with them for you can add depth to the scenes. This one I think I went slightly overboard but kept me busy for hours. I decided to use black card for my box and covers, then covering it with a few layers of tissue paper giving me some nice textures. I then used Dylusions spray ink, teal colour giving a slight covering, then used a brush and some water to give it a wash all over the area. Once dry I was able to add some bronze and blue wax to give it a rustic effect. I found some nice wings from colouring pages and inked them up and added more wax and shine to both. Then found a top hat shape this I covered with some Tim Holtz tissue paper and added more bronze wax. For the hat band I just folded up some spare paper then inked it and used brads to fix to the hat. the Skull was a MDF shape I found at Ally Pally off the MDF man who normally has a stand there. Some fantastic shaped were to be had this year. I then did the same with the skull added tissue paper to give textures its a little hard to see in the photo. I wanted to add some teeth rather than have a gap so managed to design  some on my graphics programme then cut them out using the cricut machine. The cogs are using black card they are layered to give more thickness, then I just rubbed over with the bronze buff it wax. The clock hands are from the Tim Holtz clock die as is the part of the clock that you can see. Total fun was had making this box. For the front cover I kept with the theme and added clocks with cogs and some skull charms as you can see from the photo below. I also covered the front card the same as the box using all the same textures and colours.

Fun fun fun....whatever your making enjoy it be adventurous too!

Holly

 

                                                  





 

Shadow box Card using Inkylicious stamps

For this card I used a piece of 12x12 white card stock of 280gsm. To make the box score at 1/2.. 1.. 11/2.. 2 inches all the way around, you need to also score at 2 1/2 and 9 1/2 only 2 lines down top and bottom sides only. Cut out the corners 16 tiny squares all around then cut down the 4 score marks top and bottom. Now fold in the sides of your box and glue down the 4 tabs glue into place to give the box more firmness. I cover the edges of my boxes but you can find alternative ways of making a shadow box, its just this style suits me best. I cut a piece of watercolour paper to size of the inside of the box roughly this is around 6 3/4 x 6 3/4 inch. But you can adjust the size to your liking. For the background I used a base of aqua tint inks by spectrum noir for this project just to give me ideas of how to get the scene. Normally I would just used distress inks to make my scenes. I used the following colours to produce the scene in inks, wild honey, scattered straw, spun sugar, peeled paint, stormy sky, I used archival ink for the stamping using coffee and cornflower blue. Using Inkylicious stamps for all the scene, I loved the tiny rabbits that I got from them at Ally pally they suited the scene well and added extra life in the scene. The Ivy I used from a template as well as the garden gate and flowers from my Cricut machine.

I normally make a cover for the box using A4 card cut to size the box is about 8x8 inches square so A4 card is ok to use. Just score @ 1/2 inch on the longer side on each piece of card one for the back one for the front this gives added strength to the box back. Then place over the front and glue the scored part to the edge of one side of the box then do the same for the back cover but glue the back cover down on the whole of the box. I leave a slight edge so the box looks a bit like a book with a cover, but the design is totally your own. Hope this all makes some sense to people and you might try this project out at some point in time.

Happy crafting

Holly