Monday, 27 April 2015

The Fox Pub

Hello fellow bloggers and visitors alike! It's been a busy week of tidying and sorting of my Craft Studio - which was too cold to craft in over winter..., but since the sun is shining (sort of) and it's a little warmer (though I've been awfully chilly today....!) I've been able to get out and have a right good sort.

My other half has built a bar in his 'man-den', which is actually very cool! And my little girl wanted a pub sign for it! So out come the woodworking tools and paints! It's a 3 person operation!



Here you can see Steve cutting out MDF shapes with a new tool. Impressive :-)



Then my daughter and I got the paints out! We have used the IndigoBlu acrylic paints for this job and the Fox is painted using Miss Moneypenny.



























We are pleased with the outcome! I had no idea Steve was actually going to do this so it was fun to have a little play with something different!

We all had a lovely weekend working on an idea together as a family. Hope you like!

Peace & harmony to all!
Maxine, Harriet & Steve (oh and Tod the fox too!)

Thursday, 16 April 2015

Gorjuss 30 Years card




Today I am going to show you a step-by-step using the following products:

Santoro Gorjuss "Little Red" stamp
DoCraft Typography stamps "3" and "0"
Promarker alcohol pens (colours listed below)
Memento ink (Jet Black)
Cosmic Shimmer Ultra Thick Embossing Powder (Pearl)
Sailor 2 in 1 Glue Pen
Distress Ink pads


NUMBERS:
I stamped the numbers 3 and 0 onto a smooth stamping paper, using Memento Black ink, then 'filled in' the numbers using a glue pen. I added the embossing powder and heat with my heat tool.


LITTLE RED:
I stamped up Little Red using the Memento Ink - this works well with Alcohol Markers, though it's best to let the ink dry before colouring in. You can heat-set with a heat tool if required.

COLOURING IN TIME:
Select your colours - choose for face, hair and the clothing. I would do a 'scribble' test on the paper you are using as a guide as the pen cases are not always true to the colour. (I say select them first, it saves time and stops you rummaging through the pen case!)



FACE:
I've picked Ivory, Blush and Dusky Pink.
An all over coat with Ivory, then I next added a line around the edge of the face and neck using Blush. I went back over using the Ivory to blend the colours to give a nice gradient. After that, I used the Dusky Pink to deepen any areas and to give a little colour to her cheeks. Lastly, I went over with Ivory to blend.

HAIR:
Before colouring the hair I coloured the hairband with Poppy.
I used 3 shades for the hair: Henna, Chestnut and Walnut.

The lightest shades are on the bangs and the darkest at back near the neck. I started with the Henna all over, then added Chestnut around the edges and to shade areas, then added Walnut to deepen shades. I then blended all those shaded parts using the Henna.

APPLE:
The apple is fun to colour! I used Poppy, Crimson and Burgundy for the apple, and Marsh Green and Olive Green for the leaf. I then picked Henna for the stalk.



CLOTHES:
The Cloak uses Poppy and Crimson, and I shaded darker in places that I wanted to show movement and shape. The Dress uses Marsh Green and Olive Green. The chisel end is good for large areas! I rarely use it but did use it for the dress!
On the 'frilly lace' I simply applied a couple of dots using Putty, and then used the Blender pen to blend - not too much or it will drag the green out of the dress.
The tights are great fun to colour, using Cool Grey 2, Cool Grey 4, Black and the Blender pens. A tin line around the edges with the light Grey, then the Black on edges for the dark stripes. Then blend using the dark Grey. Use the Blender pen to blend the light grey!

I fussy cut out both Little Red, the apple, plus also the numbers 3 and 0.

Now it's time to make a background!


 I am going to make a 5" x 7" card, so I will cut my background to a little larger than that size. I'm going to use water with Distress Inks colours Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint and Weathered Wood. I pressed the ink pads into my mat - use can use a glass mat, heat resistant mat, or inking mat, preferably one without a texture. Spritz with water and then gently slide your paper through the colours. Cover all the paper - you can let dry inbetween. Add more colour if required.

You can spritz with water to get some effects too. I also edged with Walnut Stain using a piece of cut and foam to add depth.

Once I was happy with the background, I also stamped the apple all over using Peeled Paint distress ink.

Finally - I put together the lot onto my card! The ribbon is velvet and I used Docrafts Xcut Lace Trim punch into paper to create the 'lace'. I glued everything into place, and trimmed everything to size!




I did not have the right colour gems...but not matter! Choose a light shade and colour using the Promarker! (this will work with all alcohol marker pens).

I hope you like this little card! It's been fun to make. It's very simple but all done very cost effectively using your pens and inks!

Tuesday, 14 April 2015

Tri-beauties

Thank you for visiting my blog! I hope all are well.



I've had lots of fun playing with these stamps and felt that I really wanted to showcase them up together in one - and what better way than in a frame for 3 images!

I found this little frame in one of big supermarkets, on sale for a surprising £2!

It was shiny red! Very nice, but did not go with anything in  my house.....what to do? IndigoBlu it of course!!!

Using Goldfinger IndigoBlu cottage acrylic paint, painted onto the frame - as the frame is was shiny, it did not stay put, which was fine as I really wanted to have that red show through! A couple of thin coats did the trick nicely for me.

Once all painted, I roughed over with an emery board, just to distress it slightly and give in the look I desired, which was to have a gold frame with red showing through!!

The same look can be achieved by first painting a frame using the IndigoBlu PostBox Red, or Ruby Slippers Cottage Acrylic paints.

I stamped Becca, Caitlin and Dianne onto a cream stamping card using Versafine Vintage Sepia. Once dry, I added Distress Ink Walnut Stain, lightly with a waterbrush, giving shading to the faces. I distressed very lightly all around the edges.

I'm rather pleased with the effect! I hope you like it too!

Peace to all,

Maxine

Wednesday, 8 April 2015

Off the Edge - An IndigoBlu Blog Challenge

Welcome to my blog! I hope you have all had a lovely Easter.

Today I've gone with a very simple card for the IndigoBlu Off the Edge Blog Challenge.

Using the IndigoBlu Dinkie Flutterbye stamp, I stamped a 10.5cm x 10.5cm piece of IndigoBlu white stamping card using Onyx Black Versafine. I then stamped the "Remember you are Loved" sentiment from the IndigoBlu Bella stamp onto a thin strip of card measuring 10.5cm in length. I edged both of these with black.

I cut a 12cm x 12cm piece of IndigoBlu black card, and then layered all up and onto a 13.5cm x 13.5cm card. I added some little black gems from my stash and voila! Very clean and simple. I was tempted to add colour, but was so struck by the starkness of the stamp on the card, I decided to leave it as it is.

I hope you like it!


Saturday, 4 April 2015

Playing with colour : Aqua Tints

Had a little bit of fun playing with the Crafter's Companion Aqua Tints.

Very different to use from paint! But here is the result of my playing! I think I need a little more practice (and that's not just because it's rather a lot of fun....). Let me know what you think!

I've used the Brights and Beautiful Aqua Tints with IndigoBlu stamps (Mr Darcy; Nature I; Wild Meadow; Here Comes Santa).





Friday, 6 March 2015

Green beauty

Make this gorgeous picture using IndigoBlu stamp Dianne, and Limor Circles. The frame has been stamped using Ragged Edges (from the Limor Webber/IndigoBlu range) and Crackleglaze Background.


The frame has been created using a combination of IndigoBlu paints, IndigoBlu Mask and stamped with black Versafine.

I've also used Distress Inks - Weathered Wood and Peeled Paint.

The paint colours used are Frosty Sky, Vodka Martini and Emerald City (all IndigoBlu English Cottage Acrylic Paints).























I really love this image! It's so big and dramatic, with the flowing hair, which is what inspired me to make the drips of paint flow in the same direction. I wanted to give it an underwater feel, and the Limor Circles helped add to the illusion of bubbles under water.




























I've added some UTEE to this which has given it a lovely shine, with a few bumps, bubbles and crackles - can't say it was intentional, but it sure has a nice effect!



Oh and if you look at that frame, you might recognise it as the cardboard frames you get when you receive your child's school photo!

All in all, I'm really pleased with this image.

I hope you like this as much as I do.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

I would like to enter this into the Craft Stamper March 2015 blog challenge "Anything Goes".

Peace & harmony to you xx

Wednesday, 4 March 2015

Spring Green Bottle

Thank you for stopping by my blog! You may or may not have come from the IndigoBlu Blog Challenge - click here to check it out!

My inspiration challenge for the IndigoBlu Blog Challenge "Spring Greens" is this gorgeous upcycled bottle! But it didn't start out life quite so gorgeous!!!


IndigoBlu products used:
White Gee-Sso Good
Snow White English Cottage Acrylic Paint
Emerald City English Cottage Acrylic Paint
Slap It On
Peony Posey A6 stamp
Peony dinkie stamp
Script A6 stamp
Grand Tour II A5 stamp set

Other:
Versafine Sage Green; Onyx Black; Smokey Grey; Vintage Sepia
Ranger Distress Ink Victorian Velvet; Tattered Rose; Worn Lipstick
Tissue and stamping paper
Ribbon and wire


To start, I painted the clear-glass bottle with the Gee-Sso Good. As it's clear AND also glass, I gave it two coats to ensure coverage. I then gave it a coat of the Snow White Acrylic Paint.

Stamping onto 'nose' tissue I stamped up the Peony Posey, Script and the dragonfly and postage mark from the Grand Tour II set. These I applied to the bottle using Slap It On.

I then stamped the Peony stamp onto smooth stamping paper 3 times (the Peony Posey could be used, I just happened to use the dinkie, as both have the same main flower).  I cut these down to form 3 decreasing flowers, so I was able to layer them. I coloured these in using the distress inks and then glued over the top of my flower on the bottle. I used what ink I had left on my mat coloring in the tissue paper image on the bottle.

Once this was done, I used my Emerald Green Acrylic paint, which I have already diluted in a spray bottle - and gave the bottle a bit of a spritz to add a fresh green zingy-ness!

A little bit of ribbon and wire around the top and a cute decorative bottle!