Fabric Book

Hello everyone, it's not often that I write a post these days without my DT hat on, as life tends to be very hectic and I do not have much time for any extra crafting. However, this post is one of those times, and I have a project to show you that I made at a recent class taught by the lovely Lin Brown at It's Crafting Time run by the equally fabulous Nina.

We made a fabric covered book, with hand stitched binding, using Donna Downey stamps, Paper Artsy paints, and Luminarte Silk Acrylic glazes. It was a very full on day, with lots of concentration needed. I was not feeling very well on the day, and it was a real struggle to make the book, which I have actually finished at home. I am so glad that I went, because it is such a beautiful project, and I always learn so much from Lin. She is a very generous teacher with her tips and suggestions.

The book is lined with some lovely floral fabric which is painted, and the gold outlining shows through the paint:

Here is the back cover, showing the lovely Donna Downey birdcage, which was appliqued onto the cover:

Some of the lining fabric also forms the spine, and you will see that I have picked the colour out in my flowers on the front cover:

The dimensional flower has been stamped and gathered, and the lace and trim has also been painted. I would really love to make some more of these books as gifts now, because they are so pretty, and feel lovely to hold. I am a bit of a notebook collector, and love to buy pretty books. Now, I can make my own. I'm sure that it won't stop me buying more though!

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Colours of Autumn

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all keeping dry and warm in the changeable weather that we are having at the moment. It really feels like Autumn now, doesn't it?

I have some projects using the Autumn Poppy stamp set to show you today. I created a background using my gelli plate, covering the plate with Adirondack Ink using a brayer and then stamping some of the images around the edge to create a frame, before I took a print. I then stamped some of the mushroom images onto adhesive labels, and coloured them with a mixture of Distress markers and pencils. I cut the images out, arranged them onto the background, and then added some grey shading with a pencil.

For my next two cards, I stamped a sentiment taken from the Amazing Birthday stamp set onto a piece of smooth watercolour paper, and then added some images from the same stamp set as before. I coloured the images with Distress markers and a water brush. 

I made the backgrounds using leaves from my garden. This is a technique taught to me by my dear crafty friend Elaine and is a reminder of happy times spent together. In a nutshell, you choose an ink colour which you apply in patches to a pale coloured piece of card, using a brush. You then take your leaf, and using a complimentary colour, and pounce around the edge of the leaf using the ink and a brush. You then move the leaf slightly and apply the ink again. Keep doing this until you have filled the original leaf shape up. Move to another area of the background and start the process again. I have explained the process very quickly and Elaine has a tutorial on her blog which shows the process in much better detail.

These cards will serve as great store cupboard cards for when I need a card in a hurry. They will suit both men and women, so are really versatile. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Mushroom Tag

Hi folks, it's time for a new challenge over on the Chocolate Baroque challenge blog. So hop over to take a look at all of the information and the inspiration provided by the rest of the Design Team.

I have made a tag as my little piece of inspiration. I started with a large white tag, and stamped a mushroom image at the bottom. I covered the image with a mask, and used some Milled Lavender Distress Paint through a stencil over parts of the background. I dried the paint before applying several shades of Adirondack Ink to the background.

I stamped a large leaf using currant Adirondack ink, and pulled some of the colour over the image, using a water brush. I coloured the mushrooms using Distress Inks and a water brush, adding extra shading with some pencils. Finally, I stamped a fairy using black Speedball Block printing Ink.

The colour swatch for the challenge uses an original piece of artwork from Lesley:

You can use any paints, pens, pencils or inks that you like, just as long as you stick to the colours in the swatch with the addition of black, white and neutral including skin tones. So, I hope that you will join in the challenge, there is the chance of winning a £15 prize if you use current Chocolate Baroque stamps.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Haunted House

Hello everyone, I have a Halloween make for you today, using a combination of old and new stamps from Chocolate Baroque.

I started off by making a crackled background using this technique, with Distress stains and Perfect Pearls. I then stamped and embossed a tree from the Design a Tree multi-buy stamp set and the ruined building from the Things that go Bump stamp set, using archival ink and clear embossing powder. I added a couple of birds and some bats from the Nevermore stamp set and some cobweb edging from the Book of Spells stamp set, all using Speedball black block printing ink. (This ink is great, because it gives great coverage over more difficult surfaces, and is a really deep black. Another bonus, being water soluble, your stamps and brayer clean up really easily!) I painted the windows in the ruin using yellow Speedball ink and a water brush.

I added a little bit of Pumice Stone Distress Ink underneath the tree and the ruin to 'ground' the images. Finally, I matted the background onto a black card blank.

Thanks for stopping by, xx