Craft Barn Q&L - Mountain

I guess most of us have songs that bring to mind specific events.  I can remember EXACTLY where I was when I first heard The Joshua Tree - in the bath in my boyfriend's flat in Yeovil!  The perfection of Bono's voice and the soaring music made me come running into the lounge, dripping everywhere!  March 1987.  It's still one of my favourite albums, and when I saw 'Mountain' was one of the words, I knew the song I would be choosing for this Craft Barn Challenge (which I am only making by the skin of my teeth!).  I saw U2 at Wembley, in August '93, the night Salman Rushdie came on stage.  Possibly not the best gig I have ever been to, but that doesn't change how much I love The Joshua Tree.  Hearing this song took me right back to Yeovil, and that flat.

I have climbed the highest mountain,

I have run through the fields

Only to be with you

Only to be with you

 

 

So, as usual, I started with my Centura Pearl card, A3.  I created the mountains by scraping grunge paste and texture sand over a mask torn from card.  Whilst searching for those, I also found some texture glass, unopened.  Hmm....  Oh yes!  It has that distinctive ammonia smell, but once you get past that, it's lovely!  When dry it allows movement of paint nicely.  So I set that aside to dry - for about 2 hours!!  I spread it on quite thick.  This will be used through stencils more in the future, methinks.

 

 

 

 

The lyrics have been stamped onto card that has been coloured using Distress Inks, mixed with interference red Perfect Pearls spray.  Had to be bling somewhere!  Having stamped the words, I tore them out and edged each with more DI.

 

 

 

 

Paint - lots of colours, mainly PaperArtsy Fresco Finish, but with some added iridescent white, to give the mountain tops a bit of a shimmer. Plenty of dry brushing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I had assembled it, I added a frame using film edge stamps, which gives it closure - unlike my love of that song, and that album.

 

 

Hope you like!

 

Resources

 

 

Paint and Ink

PaperArtsy Fresco finish: Snowflake, Pea Coat, South Pacific, Hyde Park, Guacamole, Limelight, Mudsplat, Seaweed  (said there was a lot!!)

Winsor & Newton: Iridescent White

Distress ink: Tea Dye, Tumbled Glass, Wild Honey, Iced Spruce

Archival Ink: Jet Black, Potting Soil

Brilliance: Pearlescent Ivy

 

Stamps

KaiserCraft: Cursive Script Alphabet, Film Edges

 

Bling and Other Stuff

PaperArtsy: Grunge Paste

DecoArt: Texture Sand, Texture Glass

Perfect Pearls Mist: Interference Red

Q&L: Fame - Life's been good

Hi there!  The challenge this fortnight was Unique and/or Fame.  I was struggling, then the good old iPod did it again...  Life's been Good by the Eagles (or Joe Walsh), and yes, I have seen them a couple of times!  I'll be able to stick all my old ticket stubs into the book at the end of this!  So here is the verse:

It's tough to handle this fortune and fame

Everybody's so different, I haven't changed

It's a difficult one to illustrate, this, so I didn't!  I went for abstract.

My A3 substrate this time was watercolour paper.  Because I wanted to move the acrylic about on the paper, I gave it a coating of Matt Medium (which I managed to squirt all over my trousers, my T-shirt, the floor, before I got it on the paper...), and then used the Eclectica limited edition Paper Artsy paints in blocks, with a smidge of Nougat, for graduation. 

My Kate Crane/Kathryn Wheel stamps turned up yesterday, so I used two half circles on the lower edge, and outlined them in white. 

In keeping with the fame theme, I stamped stars in metallic Brilliance around the edge, leaving a gap for the words.

Added the words, and details of the song/band, and hey presto!

Hope you like!

Resources

Substrate
Winsor and Newton Cotman Water colour paper

Paint and Ink
PaperArtsy: Tikka, Chartreuse, Chutney, Nougat
Distress Ink: Black Soot
Brilliance: Mineral

Stamps
Hero Arts: Life of the Party Stars

Bling and other stuff
Edding 751 creative: White Marker
Pitt Calligraphy pens: Black
Winsor and Newton: Acrylic Matt Medium

May - Kathryn Wheel Calendar Challenge

In an effort NOT to be late for the Kathryn Wheel challenge for May, here we go!!

 This one really is bling city...  The month and year are die cut, and then glued on.  Then, I started off with a wash of purple and then overpainted with some Byzantium (full of mica) and a bit of Alchemy (iridescent loveliness...).  When dry, I stamped some dots, some scripts and the ticket label outlines.

I die cut the tickets, distressing the edges of the weekdays, and stamping the weekends with the same ticket label as in the background, adding the numbers in blingy Brilliance ink.  The final touch was to add a group photo (happy boating men!) from Deviant Scrap (thanks for the link, Kate!!)

All glued down with redline tape!

Hope you like!

Resources

Paint and ink
Rico: purple
Stewart Gill Byzantium: Cerisanctum
Stewart Gill Alchemy: White Mist
Brilliance: Pearlescent Lavender, Galaxy Gold
Distress Ink: Seedless Preserves
Archival Ink: Deep Purple, Hydrangea

Stamps
Wendy Vecchi Studio 490: All About Art LCS011
Stampers Anonymous: Apothecary CMS138
ClarityStamp: Numbers set

Dies
Sizzix Alterations strip die: Ticket strip 656620, Inside Out 657827

Bling and other stuff
Cosmic shimmer dries clear

Craft Barn Q&L - Flower

I don't know who is picking the words, but I do want to thank them!  I am digging out some fantastic albums albeit on the new fangled i-thingie...So this time, on the Q&L Challenge, we had a choice of Flower or Travel - I had a great one for Travelling - but I am not allowed to conjugate, apparently (thank the lord...), so I went for Flower, and came up with Children's Crusade, by Sting.

The children of England would never be slaves

They're trapped on the wire and dying in waves

The flower of England face down in the mud

And stained in the blood of a whole generation

 

Midnight in Soho, Nineteen eighty four

Fixing in doorways, opium slaves

Poppies for young men, such bitter trade

All of those young lives betrayed

All for a Children's Crusade

 

I also thought it was quite apt because this year is the centenary of the start of the First World War. 

So, I am still going for A3.  The background is a variety of Distress Stains, aiming for the darkness of the battlefields, highlighting the edge of trenches.  It fades down to green with the graves in the foreground.

 

Over on the right I have my Soho bar, and a few syringes lying in the doorway.

 

 

 

I also made up a decoupaged poppy, to link the two scenes.  I used Viva Precious Metal paint in Crimson, and it is pretty heavy in the mica stakes!

 

I wanted the writing to be in white, but I am going to have to try even MORE ranges of so called markers.  I ended up using sharpies, as they worked fine on the Distress Stain.  Didn't have a white one. That will have to be rectified!!

 

Hope you like!

 

 

 

Resources

 

Substrate

Centura Pearl

 

Inks and Paints

Distress Stain: Vintage Photo, Black Soot, Frayed Burlap, Weathered Wood, Picket Fence, Old Paper

Archival Ink: Jet Black

Brilliance: Starlite Black

Viva Precious Metal Colour: Crimson

Liquitex Basics: Mars Black, Titanium White

 

Stamps

Papermania: Build a poppy

Craft: Art Nouveau numbers

 

Bling and other stuff

Sakura Pens

Sharpies

Q&L Craft Barn Challenge - Road

The challenge from the Craft Barn this time was Road - this one wasn't at all difficult!  As anyone who reads my Facebook page would know, I am mad, verging on hysterical, about delAmtri, and Justin Currie in particular.  So, it had to be:

Be my downfall, be my great regret, be the one girl that I'll never forget

Be my undoing, be my slow road to ruin tonight

Be My Downfall is possibly one of my favourite songs ever.  But don't get me started...



So, back to several old faithfuls on this.  I started off with my brushos - incredibly intense watercolour pigment, which I blotted off to get a sunset sort of a feeling.  Then out with the lovely Clarity masks, London and rooftops.  If you look closely you'll see a few too many London Eyes in there!!



I added a road for the bus, and then realised that the 'tail-lights have gone out of sight' so, didn't need it!

I stamped out my letters using various fonts, and added some handwriting, including the attribution.  It needed a frame, and the Dyanne Reavely circles reminded me of the tail lights, so went with those.

Hope you like!


Resources

Paint and ink
Brusho colours - whoops - tidied them away!
Distress Ink: Chipped sapphire, Black soot, Walnut stain
Archival: Hydrangea, Red Geranium
Brilliance: Mineral
Big and Juicy: Waterfall

Stamps
ClarityStamp: Letterbox alphabet
Stampotique - Amy Wilson Alphabet
Dylusions: Around The Edge DYR34421
Hero Arts: Printers Type lower case
Artemio: Helvetica/Ariel? Upper case

Bling and other stuff
Cosmic Shimmer Mist: Pearl, Astral Mystery, Bronze Blush
ClarityStamp: ClarityMask - London, Rooftops
Copper marker pen
Black fine liner

Twilight Framed!

Following on from my post last week, I have now joined the two parts together, canvas and frame.  I am really pleased with this.

 Standard wooden box frame from The Range, just what I needed!  Removed the glass, and painted - with just a little bling, and it's perfect!

I mixed up black acrylic with my favourite glittery paint, Galactica, and smoothed it on, with a piece of cut & dry. I like this method of application for three reasons - 1) I am really not very good with a brush, 2) it's nice and even, 3) no brush marks, and 4) I am way too impatient.  OK, that's 4 reasons!! Then I stamped dandelion clocks lightly around the edge in black, silver and gold.

Having painted up the frame, I saw that the mdf pieces needed a similar treatment.

While I had some paint left over, I also dabbed it on my fantastic gold leaf braid I had bought.  As gold I knew it was the right shape (it matched the stamping and stencilling on the canvas) but it was just too bright.  Taken down a bit with black paint, it was so much better!

Then, it was just a case of adding the canvas to the frame, and adding the leaves.  Another creation that needs to be in light to get the full effect of the shimmer, but it does look really good!


Hope you like!

Resources
Substrate: Box Frame
Paint and Ink
Liquitex Basics: Mars Black
Stewart Gill Galactica: Rainbow
Brilliance: Starlight Black, Starlight Silver, Galaxy Gold

Stamps
IndigoBlu: Wild Meadow WM1

Bling and other stuff
Gold leaf braid
Silicon Glue

S is for...Craft Barn Challenge

Well, it's December!  Where did THAT go?!?  This fortnight the letter set by the Craft Barn Challenge is S.  So small a page, so many different things to get on there!!

I decided on S is for: Skyline, Smoke, Sisters, Shimmer, Stamp (of course!!), Stencil, and Stars.  Will my tag be big enough??!

I started by cutting a base of Centura Pearl, which would fold out.  I laid down a roof tops mask - oops, stencil, and then London skyline stencil, and smudged a little distress ink to give me a sunset.  I laid down the other half of both of those stencils to provide a dark outline.

I added tiny drops of stickles to be stars, almost shooting stars in the sky.



On a separate piece of card, I stamped my sisters in versafine, and painted over with Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints.  Definite Shimmer, or Shine!  This is attached to the front flap.

In my usual way, I added my definitions to the tag, which has the letter added, and it slides down between the base page and the picture.  This time I had to use BOTH sides of the tag!!

Hope you like!


Resources

Paint and Ink
Distress inks: Black Soot, Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire, Weathered Wood, Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick
Versafine: Vintage Sepia
Brilliance: Mineral, Lightening Black

Stamps and Masks
ClarityMasks: Rooftops, London skyline
Darkroom Door: Friends Collage Stamp DDCS001
Amy Wilson: Alpha stamps

Bling and other stuff
Stickles: Star dust
Cosmic Shimmer Watercolour paints: lots of them!!

N is for... Craft Barn Challenge

 

This week's letter in the Craft Barn Challenge is N.  Today being an auspicious day, that is, Newcastle beat Chelsea 2-0, my mind went immediately to Newcastle.  However, it isn't in my dictionary.  But... Northeast is, and, of course, Newcastle is in the Northeast.  Hence my photo of the Angel of the North, being a good representation of the land of my junior school days.  Even tho she wasn't there when I was at school; she came many years after I left, but I still love her!

 

 

As well as N being for Northeast, it is also for Numbers, and because that had a fantastically long definition (too long for the space I wanted to fill) I chose Numeric, which gave me a chance to use this lovely embossing folder.

 

So what did I do?  First, the bingo card:  I coated one side of the embossing folder with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, and pushed it through the Big Shot Pro with my usual Centura Pearl cardstock.  When it had dried, I tapped 3 different colours of Brilliance lightly over the top.

On the other leaf, I half embossed the circles (which looked a bit compass-y to me), and painted a layer of South Pacific over it.  When that was dry, I dry brushed some gold lightly, in a north-easterly direction, milud.     I painted up the compass in the same colour gold, and added a rhinestone at the 'wrong end', and glued it to point to the north east of course.   My photo of the angel was distressed around the edge, and some more of the gold paint dry brushed along the scuffed edge.

There you go!  Hope you like!

 

Resources

 

Paint and Ink

Distress Ink:  Peacock Feathers

Brilliance: Lightening Black, Starlite Black, Coffee Bean

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish: South Pacific

Stewart Gill MetaMica: Bright Gold

 

Bling and Other stuff

Sizzix Embossing Folders: Bingo and Grungy Circles

Stampin' Up: Self adhesive gem

Tando Creative: small compass

Build me up Buttercup - Hels Sunday Stamper

Hi all!  This week, Hels' Challenge was Build Me Up Buttercup - all about layers.  I did the layers, but stuck with the buttercup idea as well.

Not sure it comes out well on the photo, but there is the main door hanger, which was covered with coated cardstock, and then acetate above that.

So a bit more detail:  I've got back into alcohol inks as a background, so on the glossy cardstock I created a meadow and sky sort of background.  I scraped translucent paste through a flower mask.  As the paste dried it pulled through a little of the ink behind (not much, as in this heat the alcohl ink dries REALLY quickly!!)




I stamped the buttercup twice onto cardstock, and then on to some dried out babywipes!  Someone at work decided to rip into the packet of babywipes, rather than go in through the top, the normal way.  They dried out and were about to be stuck in the bin, but no...  I think I had three stuck togther, and they were a bit like a piece of felt!  Dripped on gold and green alcohol ink and left it to dry.  The cardstock I used detail clear embossing powder over gold ink, then coloured them in with promarkers.

I cut the acetate to size, and dabbed a bit more gold (and pearl) alcohol ink mixative on the back side of it.  I mounted it up on foam squares, which I then had to cover (oh dear, more bling!) with some lovely prima flowers and butterflies.  I had a gilding flakes butterfly left over from the IndigoBlu challenge last week, and if THAT wasn't bling-y enough, a couple of squirts of mica sprays, just to tie it alltogether.  Suspect I may have been a bit heavy handed on that one, but hey, does it shimmer in the sunlight!  And that was the effect I was going for!!

Hope you like!

Resources

Substrate - Stamps Away Door Hanger

Paint and Ink
Adirondack - Alchol inks, various colours
Brilliance ink - Pearlescent Ivy, Galaxy Gold
Promarkers - various

Stamps
PaperArty Hotpicks - HP1009 Happiness
IndigoBlu - Wild Meadow WM1

Bling and other stuff
Dreamweaver Embossing paste - translucent
Prima Sunrise Sunset flower stencil
Prima flowers and butterflies, mainly Engraver range, I think...
Stampendous embossing powder - detal clear
Acetate from stash
IndigoBlu Megaflakes - Lancashire tart
Cosmic Shimmer Shimmer mist - tarnished gold, bronze blush

Follow the Dream - Hels Sunday Stamper Challenge

Hi all, got a busy week this week (pesky work getting in the way!!), so I have got my act together and made my entry for Hels' challenge straight away.

There's a bit of a story to this one... I started work almost exactly 32 years ago (how can that be??!). I started off in a bank back in the good old days, when we worked for a service industry, and the manager knew everyone.  I really enjoyed it, and I could see a career path, which allowed for the fact that I was married to someone else in the bank. (Keeping up??!) Now, said husband was a surfer, so we spent as many weekends as possible down in Cornwall, me watching, and him surfing.  I loved Cornwall so much, my dream was to be Admin Manager of Penzance branch.  So this piece represents my Dream back then; a split screen Vee-Dub, living down near Lamorna, with crocosmia all over the place!

Ok, that's the explanation!  Here's the recipe!  Started off with the Stamps Away Camper van.  I painted all the pieces up with acrylics.  The headlamps were covered with silver dabber, then a coating of glossy accents.

The label was painted up with Distress Stains, and then oversprayed with mica to give the shimmer I remember in the sy and over the fields.  The stamps around the edge are there to give the impression of crocosmia - I haven't found a stamp for crocosmia yet!!  Because I wanted to have the stems in green and the tops in orange, I used Distress Markers. Why haven't we got the seasonal specials in the markers yet??  Then I would have used the Ripe Persimmon - would have been a much truer colour.


The sentiment may strike a chord with any of my school chums who may be looking at this - shall we Follow the Gleam, girls??  Paraphrasing the Sunny Hill motto, I stamped all three words in Brilliance, but embossed the Dream word to make it pop a little more.

Glued it all together, and hey presto, I am 32 years younger!!  (If only...)  Hope you like.






Materials

Substrates: StampsAway Medium label shape and Camper Van

Paints and Inks
DecoArt Americana: Soft Blue, Lamp Black
PaperArtsy Fresco Finish: South Pacific, Nougat
Adirondack Paint Dabber: Silver
Distress Stain:Shaded Lilac, Weathered Wood, Bundled Sage, Chipped Sapphire, Picket Fence
Distress Marker:Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Dried Marigold, Pine Needles
Distress Ink: Ripe Persimmon
Brilliance: Galaxy Gold, Peacock

Stamps
Darkroom Door: Discover DDRS090
ClarityStamp: Wild Poppies, Bullrushes, Hedgerow Flowers
Hero Arts: Happy Upper Case Alpha LL243

Bling and Other Stuff
Stampendous Embossing Powder: Detail Gold
Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Mist: Antique Green

That Special Touch Mica Mist: Warm Gold, Azure

Double Embossing - EWV MAC #10

The current challenge for the Everything Wendy Vecchi Group was double embossing, in line with Wendy's tutorials.

I started by inking up the heart stamp with two colours of Brilliance.  Because Brilliance isn't a permanent ink, I immediately embossed with detail clear powder.  Then used a versamark pen to fill in all the blank areas in the heart and embossed again with the clear powder.

I inked up the rest of the tag with distress ink, and then stamped the brick wall.  The heart resisted the ink from the bricks, tho it looks like I missed wiping a little off, because when I added the gorgeous blue/gold embossing powder, a little bit did stick and then melted on the heart. Rats.

I flicked a bit of water over the distress to create freckles.

I love Wendy's 'Pillow Ticking' stamp - as a kid we had pillows with this lining!  I love it even more now I realise I can use it to create a criss cross pattern!  How great!  Unfortunately, the two colours I chose are too similar, but it would be really cool with really different colours.

I coloured up the baker's twine with distress stain, and added a Hope tag from my stash...think it is an Idea-ology one.  Finished off with the dotty ribbon through the hole!

Materials

Inks
Distress Stain: Victorian Velvet, Peacock Feathers
Distress Ink: Salty Ocean, Faded Jeans, Squeezed Lemonade, Victorian Velvet
Brilliance: Galaxy Gold, Rocket Red
Versamarker pen

Stamps
Studio  490: Love to Make art (SCS029), Art Fit For a Queen (LCS040), Graffiti Art (LCS095)

Bling and other stuff
American Crafts: Ribbon and Baker's Twine
Stampendous Embossing Powder: Detail Clear, Golden Ocean
Hope tag from stash