Easter Bliss

Friday 11 November 2016

Remembrance Poppies

Today is Remembrance Day in Britain. The First World War officially ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 and we remember those who lost their lives with a two minute silence at 11 am. The poppy has become a well known symbol of remembrance as it was made popular by the poem In Flanders Fields inspired by the sea of red flowers that thrived on some of the worst battlefields of the war. 
For Remembrance Day today I thought I'd show you two cards I've made with one of the loveliest poppy stamps.
The stamp is the Limited Edition 2016 Poppy from Bee Crafty. A donation of £2 will be made to the Royal British Legion for every one of these stamps sold.


This card is 6" x 6" (15 x 15 cm) I stamped the poppy onto watercolour card with black Archival ink and painted it with Brushos. The background border was created with Brushos too.

I coloured the poppy by wetting the image in small areas,  sprinkling on Scarlet and Brilliant Red powders and blending with my brush. 

I used Leaf Green and Emerald Green for the stems. I then stamped the Remember sentiment that comes with the poppy stamp and used a stencil with a Copic pen to create the red raindrops.


This second card is 8"x 8" (20 x 20 cm). I stamped the poppy and the sentiment onto white card and after colouring the poppy I matted and layered them onto red and green card.

I used Copics to colour the poppy.

I used back card for the background and stamped just the poppy head with Versamark and heat embossed in gold.
Towns and cities across Britain will commemorate Remembrance Day with  civic services on Sunday which, as the second Sunday of November, is known as Remembrance Sunday.
Have a lovely Remembrance weekend everyone.

Friday 4 November 2016

Creative Artiste #20 November 2016

Hopefully this post finds you all getting ready for a lovely weekend. And all being well, I am at the craft show at the NEC in the UK having a fabulous time with friends and family.
The first Friday of the month means it's the start of a new challenge at Creative Artiste.  We are a challenge blog for everyone who likes to mix their media. So, as long as you like to use various mediums on your creations we'd love to see you enter the challenge. This is a month long challenge so you have time to create projects and enter up to three times. A full list of the rules is on the challenge blog.
A big Thank You to everyone who entered Challenge #19 in October. Your projects were wonderful and the winner has been announced on the blog. 

Our theme is this month is
"Anything Mixed Media Goes"
and we are sponsored by

Details of the prize are on the challenge blog.

I have done another 12" x 10" (30.5 cm x 25.5 cm) canvas for this month's DT project.

I started with texture paste and a Stamposaurus stencil. When that was dry I painted the canvas in blue and purple acrylic paint, darkening the colours towards the edges, and added splashes of white paint. Once everything was dry I stamped Believe in the corner with a stamp from Bee Crafty.

While shopping one day I spotted a bag of unusual looking potpourri. I thought some of the seeds looked like butterflies. (Probably just my bad eyesight). I sprayed some of the seeds and painted others before arranging on the canvas. 

I added clear half pearls and blue beads in between the 'butterflies'. I made gold wire antenna for the big butterflies and gave them a gold pearl each.

To finish I added Pebeo gold gilding wax to the butterflies.

Please visit the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog to see the wonderful mixed media projects created by our talented team. Remember to have fun and enter your "Anything Mixed Media Goes" creations in the challenge.

I've entered this project into the following challenges:

Tuesday 1 November 2016

Crafts Galore Encore November 2016

I hope you all survived the ghosties and ghouls of Halloween and enjoy the rest of your week. I shall be heading to the NEC later this week for a few fun days visiting the various craft shows and exhibitions. Maybe you're going too?
The first of the month means it's the start of a new challenge on the Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog
Thank you to everyone who joined in with October's challenge. The winners are on the challenge blog's 'winner's page'. This is a month long challenge and you can enter up to three times. A full list of rules are on the challenge blog.

Our theme this month is the popular
"Anything Goes"
and our sponsor is
The Fantasy Art of Nikki Burnette

The team were lucky enough to receive an image each from Nikki Burnette and I made a card with mine.

I created the blue background with Brushos on watercolour paper and fixed it onto an 8"x 8" ( 20cm x 20cm) card blank. I stuck down some string netting across the base before fixing the orange panel which was also created with Brushos.

The image I chose is Mermaid Stamp - Jayna and I coloured it with my Copics. I dusted around the image with a blue Pan Pastel and cut it out with an X-cut scalloped oval die.

I die-cut the anchor from white card using a Spellbinders die. I dabbed it with Pebeo Sand Texture Paste then painted it with dark brown acrylic paint. I added some DecoArt Media Quinacridone Gold and Yellow Iron Oxide, My intention was to give a rusted appearance to the anchor.

I used Sizzix Thinlets dies on card coloured with Brushos to create the plants and finished the card with some real shells.

Now please visit the  Crafts Galore Encore challenge blog to see the wonderful projects and cards created by the rest of the talented team and to enter your "Anything Goes" creations.
I've entered this project into the following challenges:
http://classicdesignteamchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/1st-november-2016-classic-design-team.html x
http://worldwideopendesignteamchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/15th-october-2016-world-wide-open.html DT Favourite
http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/challenge-141-use-die-cuts-or-punches.html x
http://craftycardmakers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/176-explosion-of-colour.html Top Five
http://scrapbookstampsocietychallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/challenge-103-anything-goes-option.html x

Crafts Galore Encore November 2016

I hope you all survived the ghosties and ghouls of Halloween and enjoy the rest of your week. I shall be heading to the NEC later this week for a few fun days visiting the various craft shows and exhibitions. Maybe you're going too?
The first of the month means it's the start of a new challenge on the Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog
Thank you to everyone who joined in with October's challenge. The winners are on the challenge blog's 'winner's page'. This is a month long challenge and you can enter up to three times. A full list of rules are on the challenge blog.

Our theme this month is the popular
"Anything Goes"
and our sponsor is
The Fantasy Art of Nikki Burnette

The team were lucky enough to receive an image each from Nikki Burnette and I made a card with mine.

I created the blue background with Brushos on watercolour paper and fixed it onto an 8"x 8" ( 20cm x 20cm) card blank. I stuck down some string netting across the base before fixing the orange panel which was also created with Brushos.

The image I chose is Mermaid Stamp - Jayna and I coloured it with my Copics. I dusted around the image with a blue Pan Pastel and cut it out with an X-cut scalloped oval die.

I die-cut the anchor from white card using a Spellbinders die. I dabbed it with Pebeo Sand Texture Paste then painted it with dark brown acrylic paint. I added some DecoArt Media Quinacridone Gold and Yellow Iron Oxide, My intention was to give a rusted appearance to the anchor.

I used Sizzix Thinlets dies on card coloured with Brushos to create the plants and finished the card with some real shells.

Now please visit the  Crafts Galore Encore challenge blog to see the wonderful projects and cards created by the rest of the talented team and to enter your "Anything Goes" creations.
I've entered this project into the following challenges:
http://classicdesignteamchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/1st-november-2016-classic-design-team.html
http://worldwideopendesignteamchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/15th-october-2016-world-wide-open.html
http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/challenge-141-use-die-cuts-or-punches.html
http://craftycardmakers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/176-explosion-of-colour.html
http://scrapbookstampsocietychallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/challenge-103-anything-goes-option.html