Mixed Media Flowers

Hello everyone, I am back with more projects showcasing the fabulous products that we featured on last month's TV shows on Hochanda.

I have a real mixture for you in this blog post; my first project is a fabric covered coptic bound journal that I made myself. I had already made the journal just prior to receiving the stamps, using a lovely vibrant fabric donated to me by a friend. I decided to add a fabric panel to the front of the journal, and I stamped the floral spray from the Blossom and Grow stamp set using Plum Archival Ink. I painted the image using watered down Golden acrylic paints. The sentiment was from the same stamp set, and makes a brilliant statement for a journal cover.

 A side view showing the Coptic binding before I had added the flower panel:

My second project was created using lots of the Little Birdie products available on the shows. I used a piece of cork for my background, and then painted a large portion with Faded Denim paint, leaving some of the cork showing. I added some of the Crackle Medium and then painted Tattered Lace over the top. I let each coat dry before adding the next. These are all from the Chalk Paint and Crackle Kit.

I stamped several of the foliage images from Blossom and Grow, which I coloured with pencil and cut out. I then combined these with some of the flowers from the Little Birdie Grey Sky range. (Camila and Serenade). I also added a piece of hessian from my stash. To help everything coordinate, I dry brushed the flowers, hessian and seed heads with some of the paint. Once I had adhered everything to the cork background, I placed the background into a small deep frame.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

A Burst of Colour

Hello everyone, I am back to share more of my prickly projects with you today, featuring the stamps from last month's TV shows on Hochanda.

To create my first card, I trimmed two pieces of drawing cartridge slightly smaller than A5 in size. I sprinkled Purple, Lime Green and Turquoise Brushos over one piece of card and spritzed the card with water. I then placed the second piece of card over the first, to create two coloured backgrounds. I left both backgrounds to dry. The second background will be useful for a project at a later date.

I stamped three of the images from the Scrumptious Succulents stamp set onto the background, then covered the images with masks that I had already stamped and cut out. I stamped two more images in between the masked images and then drew a line between all of the images to create a landscape, using a fineliner pen. Using the Square Bubbles stamp, I stamped below the landscape line using second generation stamping. The stamp creates a stone effect, which is perfect for the cacti to stand upon.

I used the same colours of Brusho powders to colour the cacti images, adding a couple of additional colours, (red, orange and yellow). I sprinkled a little bit of each colour onto a large acrylic block, but you could use your craft mat, and added a bit of water to them, so that I could use them like watercolours. More water creates a paler colour, but you can then go over the images with a bit of stronger colour to add shading. You can be as creative as you like with the colours, I had a lot of fun creating a vibrant fantasy collection of cacti. I then painted the little stones in the same colours, being completely random. I added a sentiment from the Blossom and Grow stamp set.

My second project is full of colour too. I wanted to create a lovely sunset, and stamped the tall leafy image from the Blossom and Grow stamp set a couple of times first of all. I masked the images and masked an area for the sun, then coloured the background with Distress Inks. I chose Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, Ripe Persimmon and Fossilized Amber, blending them, and adding a spritz of water.

I stamped some foliage from the Wild Meadow and Silhouette Grasses stamp sets, using Versafine Clair inks. I added the little birds from Landscape Edges and a sentiment from Scrumptious Succulents. I removed the masks and coloured the foliage with Faber Castell watercolour pencils.

I hope that you will be inspired by my projects to try out some of these ideas. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Grow Positive Thoughts

Hello everyone, I have three projects to share with you today using the stunning Captivating Cacti stamp featured on last month's Hochanda TV shows. This super image has been an absolute pleasure to work with, and I hope that my very different projects will give you lots of ideas.

For my first project, I decided to create a little mixed media piece, and used a 6" x 6" canvas as the base for the design. I chose three colours of acrylic paint; mint, magenta and lime green, and mixed them directly into blobs of white gesso, and applied each colour onto the canvas with a large wet brush. Mixing the paint with the gesso cuts out the need for an extra layer of gesso, saving time, and I am all about getting on with the interesting part of creating my project! I was not too precise about this first coat, as it was simply a base for further layers of paint. I dried the layer with a heat gun. I applied the next layer of paint with a baby wipe, and used long strokes, blending the colours into each other, to get a soft effect. I dried the layer again. While I had the paint on my craft mat, I used some to paint a watery wash onto some drawing cartridge to use later.

I stamped the Captivating Cacti image onto drawing cartridge three times, (I also stamped the image once onto the canvas). I coloured parts of the images with Inktense pencils and a water brush.  I added darker colours for shading to create depth and then I cut out the images. I added yellow seed beads to the centre of the smallest piece of flower head, using Glossy Accents as a glue, and let this dry thoroughly. I adhered the cacti image to the canvas, building up the layers. I added some shading to the base of the image on the canvas, to 'ground' the picture, again using Inktense pencils and a water brush.

I stamped a sentiment from the Blossom and Grow stamp set onto the spare piece of drawing cartridge. I masked the words so that I could stamp each word separately, using masking tape before I inked the stamp. I cut each word out and edged the pieces of card with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink, before adding the sentiment to the canvas.

My second project was a much quicker design! I used a piece of kraft card, and stamped the image using Versamark and white embossing powder. I painted the image using Koh-I-Noor paints. The image pops off the background, and the paints work really well on kraft card. I have used the same sentiment, but in one piece this time. This card would make a great pick me up for a friend who is down.

 Finally, I made a little brooch using Soft Form Relief Paste. We often tell you on the blog and on the TV shows how versatile Soft Form Relief Paste can be; how you can use the medium for so many things, that you can sew it onto your bags and mixed media projects, etc. I decided to make a practical demonstration of how this can be done. I coloured some Pearl Soft Form Relief Paste with some purple Brusho powder, and spread it over the main flower head of the image that I have been using throughout this blog post. I then left the paste to cure overnight. Once the paste has set into a film, I peeled it from the stamp, and trimmed around the flower image. I adhered the image to some felt, using some strong double sided tape, then sewed some seed beads to the centre of the flower. I also added a brooch back at this point.

I very carefully dry brushed a tiny amount of paint onto the brooch to add some extra color to the flower, using red and teal tones. If you add too much liquid to the Soft Form Relief paste when it is a film, you will dissolve the film, so a light touch is essential. As you can see, the purple Brusho has coloured the Pearl Soft Form Relief Paste brilliantly. I have used this technique before and you can see my project here.

I will be back later in the month with some more projects for you, but in the meantime, do keep checking back for inspirational projects from my Team Mates. Thanks for stopping by, xx