Notebook Cover

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you all have something nice planned for the weekend. I shall be travelling down to Bournemouth to attend a few classes with the fabulous Finnabair. I'm very excited and hoping to learn a lot. In case I need to write anything down I shall be taking my mixed media notebook with me. 

This is a book where I write tips, craft recipes and ideas. It has a section where I add some samples  of my mixed media work and another section for colour, product and texture swatches.

The notebook pages are A5 in size. I cut a panel of card to fit the front of the book and gessoed it. Next I used a palette knife to add uneven patches of crackle paste.  Once that had dried I dripped and splashed some watered down black spray and splashed some red spray over the piece of card.

I hand cut a heart shape  from corrugated card, painted it red and randomly stamped and heat embossed in black. The frame was a plain wooden one to which I added texture paste. Once dry I painted it white and added some silver gilding wax.

I arranged the silver cogs (from my stash) and Steampunk embellishments (from Craft Box) and secured them with 3D gel. 

I sprayed the chipboard 'passion' in red and dabbed on some spots of silver gilding wax. I added a cog once it was stuck down. When everything was in place and dry I fixed the piece of card to the front of the notebook and blacked around the edges. 

The notebook has a plastic cover that protects it in my bag when I take it out with me. I finished decorating the notebook by tying some thin ribbons and cord threaded with beads to the top spiral.

I shall show some of the mixed media pages at a later date. I hope you have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing.

Dreamcatcher Canvas

Welcome everyone. I hope you are all enjoying a nice weekend. The weather has turned very cold here in our little corner of Wales so I've been spending my time indoors crafting.

Ever since I got some Snip Art feathers in one of my fabulous Craft Box collections I've wanted to use them for a dreamcatcher.

This is an 8"x 8" (20 x 20 cm) canvas. I first applied a layer of gesso with a palette knife then I added some fluid acrylics in turquoise and teal. The third layer is crackle paste. Once that was dry I used a stencil and texture paste in the bottom left corner. Next came the fun with sprays and pigment powders in teal, blue and brown.

I made my own dreamcatcher. I cut the hoop from thick card, coloured it with Distress Inks and punched holes around it. I used gold embroidery thread to create the web, adding beads as I went along. I left three tails to attach the feathers. 

Behind the dreamcatcher is a heart cut from corrugated card that was painted with brown acrylics and randomly stamped with silver Frantage. I added a few layers of cheesecloth over the top and used paints and pigment powders to dull the bright white.

I finger painted the feathers in pale turquoise and teal acrylics then I added some Frantage. I darkened the edges with Distress Ink. I threaded some beads onto the gold thread before attaching the feathers.

The wooden butterfly was painted and Frantaged before I added a watch cabochon and some gears from Craft Box. The sentiment is also from Craft Box and was heat embossed in white. The heart locket and tiny key are also courtesy of Craft Box.

I really enjoyed putting this canvas together as it had been in my head for quite a while. I hope you've enjoyed looking at it.

I'd like to enter this project in the following challenges:

http://moremixedmediachallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/more-mixed-media-challenge-anything.html x
http://abitmoretimetocraft.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/a-bit-more-time-to-craft-challenge-37.html x
http://alteredeclectics.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/new-year-first-challenge-over-here.html
http://rheddscreativespirit.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/februarys-challenge.html x
http://eclecticellapu.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/yayyyyy-we-are-back-with-our-first.html
http://butterflyspotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/72-butterflies-p-is-for-paper-piercing.html x

Creative Artiste #23 February 2017

Welcome everyone to my February challenge post for
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.

A big Thank You to everyone who entered Challenge #22 in January. Your projects were fabulous and our winner has been announced on the blog. 

Our theme is always
" Anything Mixed Media Goes"

This month we are sponsored by

Scrapmatts and Papertole Australia

As these dark winter months drag on I thought I'd brighten things up with this colourful canvas.

I first primed the canvas with gesso then applied texture paste through a Stamposaurus stencil. Once that was dry I applied yellow and grey paints with a sponge and spritzed with a white DecoArt spray.

The butterflies were ready cut ones that I bought in a mixed bag at a craft show. I spritzed them all with DecoArt sprays and layered them before fixing to the canvas.

The inspirational word tiles are Scrapwords from our sponsor. I dabbed them with black gesso and arranged them on the canvas. Lastly I stamped the Amaze word in the corner with Archival ink.
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. For more inspiration 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:
http://alteredeclectics.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/new-year-first-challenge-over-here.html
http://rheddscreativespirit.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/februarys-challenge.html
http://abitmoretimetocraft.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/a-bit-more-time-to-craft-challenge-37.html x

Crafts Galore Encore February 2017

Welcome everyone. I hope you are all well. I apologise for my lack of presence over the past month but, as well as lots of travelling for demonstrations, I've been plagued by one nasty virus after another. Hopefully, normal service will be resumed shortly.

January seemed like such a long month but, finally, February is here. And that means there is a new challenge on the  

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog. 

Thank you to everyone who joined in with January'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

KennyK Stamps

I was lucky enough to be able to choose this fabulous image from our sponsor.

I started with an 8"x 8" (20 x 20 cm) card base and matted some Kraft card and a paper from Mr Smith's Workshop by Papermania. I distressed the edges of both and rubbed with Distress Ink. I then made a simple dog kennel from another paper and some card.

The image is Col. Macallen. I coloured him with Copics before cutting round him and fixing him on foam pads in front of his kennel.

The idea behind all the X-cut die-cut cogs and the Marianne die-cut clock is that I thought Col. Macallen would make a good watch dog. So, a little play on words there. I rubbed gold wax on the die-cuts before arranging on the card.

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 card into the following challenges: