Thursday 25 April 2013

one layer wonders

Hi Everyone,
I want to say a huge Thank you to the ladies who joined me for my workshop yesterday. They all worked  played very hard yet again, and I promised to show off their creations so here is one of two cards they created in the class:-

Didn't they do well!      

Lots of masking and stamping went on here before the friend letters were coloured.  They look paperpieced with patterned papers, but in fact the letters were coloured individually by the ladies and they drew the  patterns on with different pens.

I love the way they all chose different colours so the cards look completly different.  They were all given a piece of white ribbon, but by the looks of things they had other ideas and coloured them to match.

Next week we are decorating a wooden box using the tissue technique, distress inks and a little heat embossing.  Loads more fun to be had.

Well done once again ladies. Hugs Mo x
  

Wednesday 24 April 2013

WOYWW 203 Messy Mo!

Hi Everyone,
Sping has finally arrived, the birds are building nests in our garden which is always a joy to see and some of the veg I planted weeks ago has finally started to pop up so all is well but, oh dear have just seen  the long term forcast for this weekend coming, back to cold miserable and wet.  To cheer us all up for now though we have a day full of inspiration looking around the desks of the world and see what everyone else is up to.  To join in the fun click here where you will find all the info. courtesy of our host Julia.
Now my desk this week Oh dear!! Messy Mo indeed. This was actually yesterday as I am out all day today and did not want to miss joining in with the desks so I cheated a bit hope you dont mind Julia:)

Not like me at all, messy desk and all unorganised.  I was putting together a couple of cards for a future workshop entitled Clocks and Cogs I bet you guessed that anyway with all these bits of die-cut clocks on the desk.   Apart from the dies I am using two Indigo blu stamps a cogs emboss folder with aluminium tape, metallic distress stains as my metallic distress paints are still en-route and just in the centre you can see a lovely tube of my minds eye washi tape blue collection. You just sort of get a sneak peek an the bottom left hand corner of one of the cards but all will be revealed at a later date when I have finished them.
For those who saw my desk last week, I finished off my April Tag and one or two commented on the heart and card I had on the back, so I have popped a couple of little piccie's  of them
all on here for you to have a better look. 

As usual I will get around as many desks as I can (please bare with me it usually takes me all week!). I will visit at least all who visit me and any one who's woyww number ends in the same as mine. Hope you all have a lovely day.


Crafty Hugs

Mo x


Sunday 21 April 2013

April Tag of 2013

Hi  Everyone
Thank you all for visiting my little blog today.  I
just popped on to show you my finished April Tag, I kept quite close to the colours and layout what Tim did this month.   I used a selection of distress paints, Peeled Paint, Spiced Marmalade, Salty Ocean, Mowed lawn on a craft mat, spritzed with water and swooshed the tag through then held it up so it ran down a little before drying.  I swooshed some vintage ribbon through the colours at the same time, scrunched it up and dryed it.  My metallic distress paints have not made it across the pond yet, so I used Tarnished Brass distress stain over parts of the tag to add to the effect.  This was a bit weak and I think the paint would have given a better finish, but it was ok.  The edges were distressed with a distress tool and coloured with Black soot distress ink.  As per usual I did not have the stamp that Tim used, but I did have a dragonfly set from urban stamps which have 3 different sizes of dragonflies on it. The large one was stamped in the top centre with Black archival and as Tim did I stamped again on acetate with black stayz on, cut out the wings and body and glued on.  All the other smaller stamps are from the Stampers Annonymous Tiny Things stamp set, I love this set its so useful.  I repeated the above process with the smallest dragonfly in the set in the bottom right hand corner.  The ruler is from Stampers Annonymous Attic treasures set, I just stamped it onto black card and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  I photo-copied the Journey dictionary wording and just cut out the part I needed.   The number 4 was cut with my cricut, and the clockface is a craftables die-cut using metal tape on card.  The large cog is also a die cut as is the smaller cog but this time from shrink plastic and coloured with Tarnished Brass distress stain. The metal corner is from Creative Expressions as I had run out of my ideology ones and could not find any in the shops, lastly I used a knib.  All my little bits and pieces were painted with a mix of the same colour paints as earlier.  I attached the clock parts with a spinner which had just had a rub of distress stain as before. I really enjoyed doing this tag and am pleased with the way the colours came out.    


Hope you like it too,

bye bye for now.


Hugs Mo
 

Wednesday 17 April 2013

WOYWW 202

Hello Everyone, and WELCOME to my new follower Julie Ann, glad to have you on board.


Now I dont know where this week has gone, but what I do know is its that wonderful time of the week where we make a dash around the worlds crafty desks to have a peek at what everyone else is up to. If you want to find out more then head over to stamping-ground.blogspot.com .
On my desk this week  I have a couple of  projects for future workshops.  At the moment though I am working on my Tim Holtz Tag for April as I am determined not to leave it until last minute again. I was not going to get the new distress paints as I thought I did not need them as I have a good collection of eco-paints. I then thought why not try them, and I can tell you I am hooked.  The coverage is superb and they are so easy to work with, so now I will have to save up to get more colours.    I am loving the technique that Tim has used for his tag this month using the paint, and I get the feeling you will see more of this in some of my up and coming projects. The corner punch has been used to punch out some metel tape to make a faux metal corner as I don't have any proper ones at the moment, when it is embossed and painted I think it will look quite good.  My cup of tea is no longer as you see, so I had better refill it and have a nosey around a few desks before I have to dash out.  As usual I will visit anyone who visits me and anyone ending in the same number as me. Have a great day.
Hugs Mo x 

Thursday 11 April 2013

Vintage Heart

Hi Everyone,
 
Firstly a big Hello to new follower Sue, welcome aboard on my crafty journey to who knows where :)
 
Recently I purchased a few new goodies including mdf hearts, Indigo Blu stamps and Kroma crackle. Today I finished a heart that I am going to enter in this months Indigo Blu challenge Words & Phrases. 
 
Firstly I gave the heart a coat of gesso and a coat of acrylic paint. The Indigo Blu Elizabeth Bennett stamp was stamped directly onto the Heart with archival coffee and coloured again with acrylic paints.
 
I used the Kroma crackle around the edges of the heart and used distress stains to age a little.  
 
The wording was from the Indigo Blu Hocus Pocus stamp set which is one of their originals and one of my favorites. 
 
 
I used various flowers and trinkets from my stash to decorate.  The metal trinkets around the edge were part of an old chain belt that I took apart. They did not have pink gems on, I have added these for a bit of bling.
 
My photography skills are not the best and it looks a little more Peach on the photo than it is in the flesh, also the metal trinkets look quite dark, they are actually much more of a brass colour in real life.
 
I quite like the finished result, I am not normally a crafter that does people or faces, but I really like this very 'Beautiful' Elizabeth Bennett image.

Click on the images for a closer look
Hugs Mo x

Tuesday 9 April 2013

Workshop Gallery

Hello Everyone,
Just a very quick post as I promised to pop on and show off some of the lovely creations that the ladies have done on some recent workshops at High Legh.



 




Flitter Glu & Gilding Flakes 3/4/13


 
I think everyone had good fun Thank you ladies some lovely work.
Hugs
Mo x


Wednesday 3 April 2013

WOYWW 200 My Crafty Space

Hi Everyone,

Where has this week gone? One minute we were all looking forward to Easter, and before we know it all the chocolate eggs have been eaten and we are looking forward to Summer and warmer weather mmm! least said about the weather the better! So swiftly moving on, here we are Wednesday again the day we all have a snoop around each others desks courtesy of our lovely host Julia, visit here to find out how to join in the fun.

 On my desk I am still working on my hearts for my stall my crackle ones are still in the process but scroll down for a closer view of a couple of the others. You can also see some mini wooden bunting. As promised last week, the next photo gives you a wider view of my craft room.  Above the desk you can see my inspiration board where I have a couple of projects made and given to me by fellow blog friends amongst some of my own favourites. The photo to the left of this is me and Tim Holtz taken on a workshop last year.The plastic drawer tower and small drawer set on top hold my embellishments, glues, cards/envelopes, punches etc.  The tall wooden drawer unit next to that holds all my various card sectioned into colours and in the case of white, weight and texture.  I was very lucky to have acquired this unit off my Dad who used it in his office for his accounts for as long as I can remember.  Dad was a joiner by trade and I am not sure if he actually made this unit, but it is quite possible.  The pigeon holes above the unit hold all my big z dies and embossing folders, you can see my cuttlebug and Big Shot not far away.  The white folders on the top shelf are my copies of Craft Stamper from 2010-present and all the stamps that go with them are stamped on the front of the folder, so I can see at a glance what is in each folder. My other stamps are in the copper folders on the next shelf down. The shelves below that are wooden boxes/mirrors etc to be used in future workshops.


The next photo takes us a bit further around. All those really useful boxes in the centre are holding ribbons,mountboard pieces, canvases, paper flowers, leaves and beads, workshop cards and envelopes, and stationery items. The top 2 shelves to the left are various maps and books belonging to my DH below that my radio cricut and a couple of printers trays awaiting altering.
You just get a glimpse of my sewing machine which is another story of what I am up to at the moment (read more about this here).

 This little heart was first painted with eco paints. Texture paste through a mask and then the sea and the beach were heat embossed using vintage frantage embossing powder.  The sentiment is stamped on shrink plastic. 
The Beside the Sea heart was stamped and coloured with eco paints and the Home is wherre the heart is heart  has been given a wash with 2 eco paint colours, stamped trees and wooden houses.  The path and flower borders were hand painted.  Both sentiments are stamped on shrink plastic.

Right enough from me I have over stayed my welcome I am sure with my not so short post SORRY JULIA! but hope you enjoyed a good nosey into my little world. I am off now to have a mooch around a few other desks before my weekly workshops (flitter glu and gilding flakes today) and when I return I will catch up with as many more as I can. I will visit all who leave a comment with me and I will leave a comment with you too. Have a great day.  
Hugs Mo x




 

Tuesday 2 April 2013

'Pretty' BIG Shoes

Hello fellow bloggers,

Firstly let me welcome Jill, Oksana, Joanna and Lisa who have all joined me on my journey this week,  how honoured I am to have you on board and following me on my crafty journey.

Last week I was a very lucky girl and was presented with a tin of lovely new inktense pencils at the show at the NEC by my lovely friend Anne.  Whilst there,  we were watching a demo of the inktense range and I was very interested in the fact that they could be used on fabric and remained permenant.  With this at the back of my mind I was mooching around the shops this week and came across these plain deck shoes for under a fiver.
BINGO! I thought  these would be perfect to alter and create a fun pair of summer deck shoes so out came a set of stamps and my inktense pencils.
A couple of hours later and this was the result, I really like the colours and owls of course are just me!. As you can see I do not have dainty feet, but I think the pattern and the colours make the big size 8 'boats' look as pretty as shoes this size can look.


Today I have picked up a book with ideas for making bags, so you can guess what I want to do  next,  to make a matching bag for the shoes.
 By coincidence, the new tv programme has started tonight The Great British sewing Bee (read more about this on their blog  here ) this has inspired me to get out my sewing machine and get on with it.  It is quite a while since I have made anything on my machine, buts its out on the desk now so watch this space in the future to see how the bag, and possibly other projects are coming along.
Hugs
Mo x