Mache Book Box

Today's project is another of the 'shoe box' projects brought along by one of my crafting pals when we met up in Grimsby earlier this year.  Debbie provided each of us with a set of two mache book boxes to alter as we wished. 

Here's the front of my finished book

 the inside

the back

I used the smaller book first and started off covering it with a layer of white gesso.  I then applied Paper Artsy Fresco chalk paints over then rubbed a little Silver Treasure Gold paste over the top.  The image on the front is from a set by Crafty Individuals added using gel medium, with more medium over the top to seal and secure the image.  I applied a thin coat of Stardust Stickles all over, except on the image.

I added Platinum Stickles around the edge of image then attached a scrap of lace down the left side and attached a metal key found in my stash.  I made a closure using two pieces of lace and a couple of large gems, attached to front and back of the box.

On the back I used some Crafty Individuals stamps and Stazon Black ink before applying the metal scissors embellie.

Inside I used another of the CI images and a small wooden clock charm, which I covered with the Treasure Gold.  More scraps of lace, Stickles and lots of gems.

It was a fun project to complete - thank you Debbie.

I still have the larger book box which is still a WiP, I'll share once I've completed it.

Happy Anniversary

Today my lovely Niece and her Husband celebrate their Wedding Anniversary.  They really are a lovely couple.

I made this card for them to wish them many congratulations and many years of happiness to come.

I wanted a simple but elegant design for their card and selected the Dina Wakely Media Stamp Set 'Clearly Collaged Hearts' to use.

The heart images were stamped using SU! Raspberry Ripple Ink, on to a square of white card cut using a set of Crealies stitched squares dies. 

I wrapped some SU! fine linen thread around the top layer and tied in a bow on the front before attaching over a larger piece of SU! Real Read cardstock before attaching to the 6 x 6 base card.

Thanks for visiting today, hope you liked my project.

Feel Better Soon

A lovely crafting pal of mine recently underwent surgery and I wanted to make a Get Well card for her.  I know her favourite colours are in the aqua, pale turquoise shades, so used these colours on her card.

I stamped this wonderful large flower from the SU! Best Thoughts stamp set using SU! Bermuda Bay ink, overstamped at the bottom using a stamp from the Dare 2B Artsy Totally Tracy TT16014 Textures set, using SU! Baja Breeze ink.  The sentiment is from the SU! Sassy Salutations stamp set, using the Bermuda Bay ink.

I then cut the stamped layer using a Crealies stitched rectangles die set, added the stamped layer onto a piece of Bermuda Bay cardstock using the next size up of the stitched rectangle die set.  I attached the layers to a C6 deckle edge base card. 

Finally I added some gems from my stash and a touch of clear Wink of Stella pen in the centre of the flowers.

I hope she is continuing along her healing journey, she is often in my thoughts.

My Brain

In my last post I shared one of the journal pages I completed recently, today I'm sharing the facing page, which I also created soon after I started the small Moleskin journal.

For this page I again used Dylusions Paints, applied over a page 'primed' by a think coat of white gesso.  The colours were applied using an old credit card to give a more 'scrappy' and interesting layer. 

I then used a Paper Artsy stamp set JOFY38 for the bubble flowers and grasses image from the PA ELB25 stamp set.  Images tamped onto the page using Stazon Black ink and then painted over with Dylusions paints.

Once the paint was dry, I added highlights with a white Signo Pen and re-drew the squiggles on the flowers (something like the stamp image !) as the paint had obscured the stamped image in parts.  Using the Pitt Pen I added lots of bubbles and highlights on the grasses using the Signo pen. 

I sealed the page with a light spray of Spray and Shine before adding the words which were stamped from the Dylusions Ugh! People stamp set.  I cut out the words I wanted from different stamps and attached with gel medium.

This is often how my brain feels ha ha !  anyone else identify with this or am I on my own !

Have a great day.

I've Been Trying Some Journal Pages

I've mentioned recently, I do find it's lots of fun to play with inks and paints so thought I'd start to do some journal pages rather than making backgrounds.  I bought a set of three small Moleskin journals which I believe are a dinky A6 size.  I reasoned that a smaller page wouldn't be quite so daunting and an ulterior motive was that I'd signed up to a journal 'round robin' which is using this size, so thought I'd start to practice designs I might use for the challenge before actually creating my page to then send on to the next person in the challenge.

I'll be sharing my early attempts in the coming days and, once the RR journal is complete, I'll be able to share the two page spread I added to it - wouldn't want to spoil anything by revealing my pages before the others have done theirs.

I'm sharing a page today which was inspired by the fact that I had some of the practice drawings of faces I'd made when I was making my three wooden spoon dollies.  It seemed a shame to throw the face away so thought I'd add it to a journal page.   Do you think it works ?

The background was created with Dylusions Paints, colours toned down by a final thin coat of white.  I then stamped images from the Paper Artsy Ecclectica ELB25 stamp set designed by Lin Brown - the same set I used on spoon dolly number 3.

I used gel medium to stick the face onto the stamped images before painting the images with the Dylusions Paints.  I also applied a coat of the gel medium over the top of the drawn face to seal it.  Once the page was dry I gave it a light spray of 'Spray and Shine' to seal everything.

I think there are some quick fun and quirky sentiments in the Dylusions Ugh! People stamp set.  I wanted to create my own wording so stamped a few and picked out words from the full sentiments to create something appropriate for my page.  I hope it worked !

As a finishing touch, I used a Black Pitt Pen and white gesso applied with a very small brush, to add hightlights and define some parts of the images.

Let me know what you think of my page by leaving me a comment if you have time.  Thanks for visiting today.

Have a great day.

A Switch in Style for a Change

I do enjoy getting inky and painty, but sometimes I feel more like creating something pretty.  Today's project is the card which I made for my pal Linda who celebrated her Birthday recently. 

Linda is also my local SU! demonstrator so I decided to honour our friendship by using mostly SU! products to create her card.

I stamped up lots of flowers in different sizes and colours using the Polka Dot Pieces stamp set and  SU! scalloped edge punches in 1 1/4" and 1 3/4" to match the flower stamps.

SU! ink colours used were : Baja Breeze, Strawberry Slush, Island Indigo, Crushed Curry, Blushing Bride, Pistachio Pudding and Pear Pizzaz.

After stamping and punching out all the flowers I layered them up to create the appearance of a bouquet on the front of the 6 x 6 scalloped edge base card.  For the sentiment I used the Rubbernecker Freehand Phrase #900 stamp set, the drawn circle stamped with Island Indio ink and the sentiment stamped with Stawberry Slush ink.  This was then cut out using a nestie circle die as I don't have the right size of SU! punch - at the moment !

I hope you enjoyed today's project, thanks for dropping by here today.

A Card for a Special Man

Today I'm sharing the card I made for my Husband when he celebrated his Birthday recently, enjoy !

I watched an inspirational video recently by Kim Dellow, in which she was demonstrating how to create a faux screen print effect using acrylic paints and an old credit card to apply colour, then overstamped.  I wanted to have a go - of course - and the background of the card was my first attempt.

Well, it didn't turn out anything like I thought it would !  Surprised ?  Nah, but it is my own take on it and I was quite happy with the finished piece.  I used Paper Artsy Fresco chalk paints in Mermaid, Toad Hall, Squid Ink and Snowflake (over the top of the other colours to tone down the colour a little but still let a certain amount show through.

I then used a large sequin waste design Artistic Stamper stamp to apply more of the white paint.  Once dry on top of the background I stamped with Onyx Black Versafine ink using a Kaiserkraft wood grain stamp on the left and part of a Craft Stamper freebie stamp to add a little detail down the edge of the right hand side.

I used an offcut left from cutting out the main background, which contained a little of the paint, using this as a strip across the background.  Using an image from the Paper Artsy B6 Buttons 6 stamp set and the black versafine ink I stamped the main image.  I then used Distress Ink to age  the image, adding colour around the edges.  The image was then layered over cardstock in colours to pick out those in the background.

The sentiment is from the SU! Sassy Salutations stamp set and edged using an Aubergine ProMarker.

Hubby was impressed by my card so I think I can chalk that up as a success don't you ?

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you've enjoyed your visit.