Crafts Galore Encore July 2017

Hello everybody. Today I have a card in a popular colourway. Red, white and blue are the colours of the flags for three of the countries I have lived in and still have family in. Can you guess which counties they are?

I have made this card for our July challenge on the  

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog. 

Thank you to everyone who joined in with June'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 every month is the popular
"Anything Goes"

Our sponsor this month is:

OddballArtCo
who are offering 3 digis from their Etsy store to the winner.

My card is 7"x 7" (18cm x 18cm).

I started by adding red and blue DecoArt sprays to a white piece of card and matting it onto blue card before fixing it to my card blank.

I chose to work with an old Oddball Art image I had. The actual image is called Chloe and has been revamped so the current version has different hair. I coloured her in with my Copics and fussy cut her out before adding to my card front with foam pads.

I used a Memory Box die to cut the heart border from card I'd sprayed red and matted it onto blue card. I added some of the cut out hearts around the image and finished off with a seam binding bow I'd dyed red.

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.

BTW, the three countries are England, France and the USA. Were you right?

I've entered this project into the following challenges:
http://cutitupchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/challenge-125-patriotic-red-white-and.html Winner!
http://creataliciouschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/challenge-118-anything-goes-with.html x
https://oddballstamps.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/oddball-art-challenge-june-17-spread.html x

Urban Chic Graffiti

The weather here in the UK has been gloriously sunny and hot this past week. Personally I love the hotter weather and constant sunshine although I do understand that some people suffer in the heat. But like all good things the wonderful weather is about to change and the rain is starting to roll in.

Last Saturday I was in Bournemouth, a beachside town in the south of England, attending a workshop with Mark Gould. It was a very hot day but we were tucked in a lovely cool room at the Atelier shop and Mark was teaching us different techniques to create a graffiti based wall hanging.

I won't tell you the techniques that Mark taught us, you will have to take his workshop to learn the secrets, but we used a 10"x 10" (25cm x 25cm) wooden base, an image transfer technique and lots of DecoArt products.

As soon as I saw this image I knew I wanted to use it. There is something about Audrey Hepburn that has always appealed to me. This type of black and white image is called 'a threshold' image and is available from Andy Skinner's website under his Products tab along with some other iconic images.

As you can clearly see we used stencils to create a textured background. I chose the wall stencil as the project is based on wall art. We also got to use some products that I'd not used before so it was great to have a play with new mediums. 

We also used small stencils to mimic graffiti and, lastly, some word stencils. I chose images I thought went with the glamorous, iconic picture. The stencils are from DecoArt and That's Crafty.

I can highly recommend Mark's workshops. His style is what he describes as " Industrial Grunge meets Shabby Chic" and he has several different classes to chose from. You can find Mark on Facebook where he advertises his workshops.

Applied Creativity in 3 Acts

Hello everyone, I'm back to tell you about the amazing time I had at the Applied Creativity in 3 Acts retreat last weekend. The event was smoothly run by Art Workshops - thanks to Sue and her fabulous team. - It was a very busy weekend with a total of 18 hours of tutored crafting over the two days by the three best mixed media teachers. Anna Dabrowska (aka Finnabair), France Papillon and Marta Lapkowska. I learnt so much from them and had a wonderful time. So many new techniques and friends.

These are the projects that I had so much fun making. Obviously I can't give you details of how they were made but I can recommend you take the classes if you get the chance. The sessions were all three hours long and all three tutors taught two different projects. 

First up on Saturday morning was Marta's class.

A dimensional vintage plaque that I painted in soft colours. 

After lunch was France Papillon's class. 

This was supposed to be half an eggshell but mine ended up as more of a shallow dish. (I blame the air conditioning) but I still love the result.

On Saturday evening I had Finnabair's first class.

A stencilled and embellished mixed media notebook. 

After a much needed rest we started on Sunday with the second of Anna's classes.

This project is on MDF and we got to work with Anna's brand new Art Alchemy Impasto paints from Prima.

In the afternoon was Marta's second class.

A hexagonal block of wood decorated with layers, stencilling and flowers.

The last class of the weekend was with France on Sunday evening.

This project is on a 9" (23 cm) piece of wood and we got to use France's first stencil. I added the metal embellishments from my stash.

I couldn't pick a favourite project as all were so fantastic. The tutors were amazing and I'm very grateful to my lovely husband for the most wonderful birthday present he's bought me in 35 years. Certainly better than the tumble dryer and the ironing board! No joke!

Do look out for Art Workshops retreats and classes. They are available through Artist Trading Post as well as many of the fabulous products we used over the weekend.

Now it's back to reality for me. I'm demoing at The Range in Cwmdu for Docrafts on Saturday. Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Creative Artiste #27 June 2017

Happy Friday everyone. I hope you all have a nice weekend planned. I shall be heading to Coventry, again, for a fabulous crafty weekend at the Applied Creativity in 3 Acts retreat. The tutors are Finnabair, France Papillon, and Marta Lapkowska. It will be a busy, fun filled weekend and I can't wait. This is my Christmas and Birthday present from my lovely hubby,

But before I head off  to Coventry there is today's business which is my June 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 #26 in May. 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 being sponsored by our very own  Judy  who is offering this prize to our winner.

The design team were asked to use stamps and dies on our projects.

This is an 8" x 8" (20 cm x 20 cm) canvas. I started by painting blocks of colours using DecoArt Early Spring Green and Cool Blue acrylic paints. Plus Docraft's Artiste Buttermilk and Blanc.

I used black Archival ink and various stamps from Docrafts all over the canvas. I then dry brushed white gesso over the top. I splattered some black ink and watered white acrylic paint all over and brushed Chipped Sapphire DI around the edges.

I made the flower with a Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die and card I'd coloured with Squeezed Lemonade and Scattered Straw Distress Inks. The fern fronds are also a Tim Holtz die.

The butterfly is from the Tim Holtz Butterfly Duo set. I used Chipped Sapphire DI on the embossing folder and spritzed it with water before embossing the butterfly.

This is a month long challenge so you have time to create mixed media 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.
Have a lovely weekend everyone, whatever you have planned. I'm sure I shall. I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

I've entered this project into the following challenges:
http://alteredeclectics.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/new-challenge-for-june.html
http://rheddscreativespirit.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/june-challenge-at-rhedds.html x
https://mixedmediamc.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/mixed-media-monthly-challenge-37-year.html Ch#36 Put a Stamp On It x

Craft Galore Encore June 2017

June is finally here and has brought some nice Summer weather - and a few storms - to those of us here in the UK. I hope your weather is being kind to you. I've had a wonderful week but have been busy packing today for a very special weekend. More about that on Friday ....

Welcome to our June challenge on the  

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog. 

Thank you to everyone who joined in with May'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 every month is the popular
"Anything Goes"

Our sponsor this month is:

Sparkle N Sprinkle
who are offering a prize of a choice of three digis to the lucky winner.

I have  made an 8" x 8" (20cm x 20cm) card.

I matted and layered brown card and a text paper onto the card base. I coloured seam binding with Antique Linen Distress Ink  and stamped it with a tape measure stamp before fixing it to the card. I randomly coloured plain card with Distress Inks in Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade and Picked Raspberry then cut it into diamond shapes. I added the diamonds to the card.

I chose the Sewing Machine digital image from Sparkle N Sprinkle and coloured it with Polychromos. I matted it onto brown card,

I cut out a dress mannequin image from the internet. I coloured some cotton threads and wound them around wooden bobbins.

I finished the card with a computer generated sentiment and a pair of antique scissors embellishment I received from Craft Box.

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: