Mini Grid Collages

 I decided to try and kick start some creativity this week by creating a grid of 6 little collages.  I was recently inspired by Angela (@Felix the Crafty Cat) to make my own collage papers.    It's been fun and quite addictive - I'm already planning my next lot of collages! 

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Resist Stenciling Cards

Despite being gardening crazy at the moment I managed to get some crafty time in and I turned a couple of backgrounds into birthday cards.  It was a continuation of my 'playing' with the Distress Micro Glaze resist technique. I can't seem to resist resist at the moment!

The top card has some gold embossing paste thinly stenciled on top of the resist stenciling so it's slightly translucent.  It's a little easier to see in the close up shot further down the post. 

The one below used just two colours of spray, pink and a honey gold but when sprayed on top of each other they made a very pleasing deeper burgundy.

I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Jigsaw Pieces and WOYWW

While having a sort out in my studio I came across these jigsaw pieces that I had painted and printed last year but not got round to using.

They were part of an idea for my 'midnight garden' project which is why I've added them to the black sketchbook page - I like the idea of all the tiny little aspects of the garden that we often miss making up the whole picture. The jigsaw pieces seemed to be perfect for this. I'm not sure how I'm going to take this further but the foundations are there and I will work on it later in the summer - I have Spring projects to complete first!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Autumn and Halloween

Well here's a rare photo of my desk - I'm in the middle of making some autumn gift tags and as I'm making 3 there seems to be loads more mess on the table than usual.  I have been using foil and die-cut leaves - I feel they look promising but to be honest anything can happen!  They will either be finished by next week or the whole lot will be dumped in a box and never seen again!!

I've also just finished a birthday card...

...and a couple of Halloween cards.  They are all using the same three colours and the same Physalis/Chinese Lanterns die, but hopefully the birthday one (above) doesn't look too Halloweeny!

I'm finding this little church die very versatile and have used it in previous posts here and here for Christmas cards.

...and finally a Trick or Treat bag for my sister - I always try and have some more grown-up sweets for her when she brings my nephews round Trick or Treating !

I'm linking up with Julia over at What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday, why not pop over and see what other people have on their desks today.

Glitter Card Cards and WOYWW

I've tried to keep the arty crafty momentum going this week and ended up with  a few Christmas cards - it's not even November yet, so I'm feeling pretty smug that I've made a start already!  I've used black glitter card by Dovecraft - it's amazing stuff and doesn't shed any glitter even though it's extremely sparkly - ideal for me as I obsessively hate stray glitter!  

The church card was going to be a Halloween card but it somehow ended up looking more Christmassy - probably helped by the addition of 'snow'!

I am linking up with Julia over at What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - pop over if you'd like to see what other people have been up to on their desks this week.

Finishing Up Before Autumn

I have been busy getting the house decorated for Autumn and arty crafty stuff has had to take a back seat.  This is my mantle piece and my method of decorating is anything orange/brown or autumny gets chucked on it!

Although busy changing over from summer to autumn I did get a chance to finish a tag that had been hanging around - it had been left half done when I had no idea what to do to it next!  I used Ranger black Enamel Accents on some of the die cuts and I really like the hard glossy effect of it - I wasn't sure how shiny it would turn out to be but it's certainly better than I expected.

I'm linking up with Julia over at What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday.

Black Tags and Flowers

I have been using this Heartfelt Creations flower stamp and die set throughout January - my idea being to try out an item of 'forgotten stash' each month with a view to keeping it or moving it on. I think this is definitely a keeper as I haven't stopped using it yet!  My other projects using this set can be seen here and here. 
  

I used Distress Stickles, stamens, Perfect Pearls for the flower centres, silver metallic leaf for the background, silver gilding wax for the black leaves and flowers and I used text stamps on some of the petals.

I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW to see what others have on their desks this week.

January's Forgotten Stash

Continuing on from my last post about using forgotten stash each month, I am still using the Heartfelt Creations flower stamp set and matching die, and making cards and tags with gusto!  The previous post can be seen here.

Here are a couple of cards using texture paste backgrounds and some Distress Stickles to highlight the petals.

Halloween Jewellry and Paper Artsy

I was delighted to be asked back to do another demo for Paper Artsy -

the theme being wearable art.

  I just love the Tim Holtz Poinsettia die and I've been thinking for a while that it's much too nice to keep just for Christmas, so I decided to give it a Halloween twist and make a necklace and cuff.   

I stamped the petals in gold using some Paper Artsy stamps, edged them with Glossy Accents and black glitter, and then assembled the flowers.  I then used a hot glue gun and added leafy ribbon or beaded wires between the petal layers.  Before fully cool, the hot glue allowed the petals and wires to be arranged at the right angle to give a good 3D effect.

If you would like to see more details about how they were made please pop over to the Paper Artsy blog here.

NIGHT MOTHS AND EMBROIDERY

For WOYWW my desk has been busy this week! I have been having great fun trying out a new technique I learnt about from the incredibly talented Morag over at Paper Rainbow.  It involves Citra Solv cleaner and National Geographic magazines, and the process dissolves the ink leaving beautiful background papers.  For anyone interested I found this tutorial here particularly helpful.   The backgrounds on this weeks index cards for ICAD are all from my first attempt at this technique and they led me to work with darker colours and a night time feel - I ended up with a wonderful mix of highly patterned papers and more subtle ones like these - you never know what you are going to get!  I introduced blue as I adore this peacock shade but very rarely use it - I thought the black really enhanced the vividness of it.  I used some pieces of real wings from my old antique collection and I matched them with some brilliant blue embroidery thread  and black lace.

Some close-up details

I love the darkness of this one with the delicate blue spots - so perfect for my theme! 

I used some of the Victorian butterfly wing jewelry I've collected over the years to photograph with the index cards, including a brooch that fell apart when I picked it up - strangely I was thrilled, as I would never have pulled apart a perfectly good piece of jewelry but I love the old, broken look of it and I know I'll put it to good use in the future!

A BIRTHDAY MOSAIC

I had a lovely birthday last week - we had a family day out and I was thoroughly spoilt.   I decided to make a photo mosaic to remember the day - my sister did a theme of red and gold and even the birthday cake, which was a delicious home-made raspberry and chocolate Torte, blended in beautifully with the colours!  The photo of the room is taken in the house where Charles Dickens was born, which is one of the places we visited on my day out (it's in Portsmouth!)

I am linking this to Mosaic Monday over at the Little Red House.