Autumn Shrine

Hi everyone, I'm back briefly tonight linking my latest project for www.artfuldays.co.uk and linking across to Julie Bell's blog here.

I've created my Autumn Shrine using this month's fabulous products inside the October Goodie box. Just look at all of this deliciousness! It's so exciting receiving these boxes each month, each beautifully wrapped and each one based on a theme! There are at least 18 little packs of goodies in each box - more than you get in more expensive but similar items currently on sale and featured on Hochanda.TV. Julie's boxes retail at £21.99 which includes p & p. I honestly don't know how she does it. The value for money is evident here:

Added to this wonderful selection, Julie always includes the most delicious papers: this month's are the brand new Prima Abermoon papers and notecards. You saw them first here folks! 

I've used one of the papers and one of the notecards inside the niche in my shrine. But, for a step-by-step explanation of how I put all the elements together, you need to pop over to Julie's blog here. And if you are tempted to buy this month's Goodie box or would like to take out a 3-month or 12- month subscription, you can pop over to the website here. 

I would love to read your views about my Autumn Shrine or what you think of Julie's Goodie boxes. I expect you've seen quite a few of my samples by now. All feedback is very welcome, including why you would or wouldn't buy one of the Goodie boxes! Thankyou for popping by. Until next time....

Hi everyone,
I'm back again tonight to link up with a project I made for Artful Days, using some of the gorgeous products in the October Goodie Box: Changing Seasons. And what can be more perfect than a Pumpkin!! You can read through my step-by-step info explaining how I created it over on the Artful Days blog here.

Almost all of the products you can see are in this month's Goodie Box. Each box is crammed full of wonderful papers, cards, tags, ribbon, paper/silk flowers and a variety of metal and resin embellishments: perfect for a Mixed Media project like this. I started by collecting a variety of products from the box, that I intended to use.

 I have added a few buttons and the die-cut foliage scrolls from my own stash. Here's a close-up of the pretty embellishments, don't you just love the sheaves of corn?

I do hope you like what I've made here and will pop over to Julie Bell's blog to see  how I put it all together. These wonderful Goodie boxes are available from: www.artfuldays.co.uk -  But, you need to hurry, this Autumn box is selling fast. For more ideas and inspiration have a look at  the projects made by Katie Lamb and Julie Bell, also featured on the blog. Until next time...

Pearly Stars/ PaperArtsy blog challenge

Hi everyone. Thankyou for popping by. Perhaps you've hopped over from the paperartsy blog here, as this post links with the Paperartsy blog tonight. I've had great fun seeking out all my pearlescent stash to create these Pearly Stars for the new theme: Pearlescent.

The stamped images are from Tracy Scott's new Christmas stamp sets, designed for PaperArtsy and  can be bought Here. They are simply drawn images and can be painted, doodled in or stamped over different media, so are pretty flexible. They are perfect for art journaling! 

I started with a layer of gesso as I intended to use PaperArtsy Fresco paints for the backgrounds. The pearlescent part would come later! 

I used DecoArt Tinting base to help produce light and darker areas as a foundation layer.

I then used a darker shade to add a little depth.

I then used the colours I had already used, plus an even darker shade, Baltic Blue, to add some stencilling. Don't you just love that 'Jade'? That's from one of Tracy's limited edition sets. 

For a final layer, and to introduce some white areas, I used a new Stencil PSO70. They are such pretty snowflakes, I think that will be well used this year! I painted the reverse of each star with Baltic Blue. 

The remaining two stars were painted with reds, pinks and oranges as a complete contrast to the blue. I was originally going to place complementary stamped images on top of the stars but, in the end, opted to keep with the tone on tone. So far, I have only used chalk paint so I now needed to search out some pearlescent paints for my stamped images. I could have added pearl glaze to the Frescos but I'd recently bought some pearlescent paints so I decided to try them out. 

I used Lustres paints by Colourcraft CSA Ltd. These are very pearlescent but it is difficult to show this in a photo. I used three colours for both colour families, just swooshing across some Smoothy PaperArtsy 240gms card. They blend beautifully. 

Hopefully, this will give you a better impression of the gorgeous sheen on this card. There are silvery streaks appearing here and there. Delicious. Using almost all of the images from the two sets: ETS12 and ETS13, I stamped with black Archival across the pearlised sheets. I had made several copies in both colour ways. 

Now I just needed to cut them out! It didn't take too long actually, so I was able to assemble them on each star fairly quickly. 

Once they were glued and layered, I was able to add even more pearlescent products on top.to create some dimension on the spots inside some of the stars and circles, I mixed some modelling paste 

(Golden) with some pearlescent 'Silkies'. I'm not sure who produced these as I've had them for some time, but they are Acrylic Glazes. I'm pretty sure Finnabair was using them at some point. These produced some lovely shimmery little domes over the spots! I also used Ranger's Liquid pearls to add little beads of colour here and there. Now, apart from a little doodling, they were pretty much complete. 

I used some Tim Holtz chain links to connect them, one to the other, and Hey Presto, they were ready to hang. I do hope you like this Christmas wall-hanging and have been inspired to search out your pearlescent stash and take  part in this fortnight's challenge. Thankyou so much for popping by! Until next time, happy crafting! 

Children's Christmas Cards:Glitter!

Hi everyone,
I'm linking this post to tonight's PaperArtsy blog post on the new theme of 'Glitter'. You can pop over here. All the cards I've made for this particular blog challenge are intentionally simple, with my own little Grandfairies in mind! They are also full of glitter!

The stamps I've used to create all of these are made by Paperartsy, available here, and designed by 'Elenazinski Art', sets: ZA17 and ZA19, although I also pinched a couple of images from two earlier sets. I've explained this over on the PA blog. The first ones I made were these cute pop-up cards. These boxes are very easy to make. I found the instruction for these on the SCOR-IT-ALL website, but I'm pretty sure you can buy them ready made. The Zinski images are perfect for this type of card. I love these totem images! 

Copic markers were great for colouring in these images, and they are easy to cut out. Add a bit of glitter and they are ready to be glued to the painted lolly sticks (bought cheaply from 'The Works'), and they were ready to be assembled. 

These are cleverly constructed to lie flat for posting. I just have to find envelopes to fit now! An even more simple card to make was using the funny reindeer face that reminds me of a clown.

I used various dies to create these cards. The bauble is a Spellbinders die as is the inner, glittery ring/circle die. The holly is from  a Tim Holtz Christmas die: Holiday Lampost from his Alterations sets by Sizzix. I've added a bit of glitter to the top attachment and on the reindeer face along with some 'Flower Soft' by Katy Sue designs, on his nose. I've used Crafty Njotions foil applied with Indigo Blu flitter glue on the inner ring. I've finished it all off by adding Ranger's stickles in Christmas red to create the berries on the holly, and a couple of red gems on his eyes.  Oh and I added some Christmas words with a white gel pen. So easy. 

Using ready made papers produces quick cards as I only had to colour in the images and add a border with my gel pens. However, as my dear Crafty friend, Linda Regan, well knows, I do find it hard to use any of the beautiful papers we both love to buy. My favourite papers are by Crafty Individuals and Pion papers, which I think are Swedish. I buy the Pion papers from WhichCraft. These are the ones I used on these cards. 

These images are so cute. This is just one card made with the Pion papers. You can see the others I made over on the PA blog. I'm not sure if you are ready to start on your Christmas cards yet, but if you are, this fortnight's challenge theme on: Glitter, should definitely get you in the mood. Until next time...Thankyou so much for stopping by!