Summer Of Colour 5 Week 4

The heart theme continues and this weeks colours lend themselves very nicely to it - 2 reds and 1 metallic.  I chose to use a primary red and cadmium red deep hue with gold accents.  The heart was cut made using some oriental text paper onto which I stenciled some gold flowers and added some red gems to the center.  I've stamped some random abstract designs around the edges of the canvas and added some red stars to finish off.  I may come back to this one at a later date as I feel it's still unfinished but for this project it serves it's purpose.

Want to see what other artists have created using this weeks colours?  Then head on over to TwinkleTwinkleLikeAStar's blog.

Catching Up - Photo Heavy

It's been a busy week with lots of new artwork made for trade, to sell and collaborations.  Those of you who have been following me for some time will know my passion for challenges especially if they are art related.  Why do I join these challenges and put myself through the stress of coming up with something that would be acceptable?  Well it's mostly to stretch myself and see if I can make something outside of my comfort zone.

So my latest challenge started last week on Twinkle Twinkle Like A Star (also see my previous post) called Summer of Colour 4.  I came across this on facebook (as you do) and I knew I had to join.  The colour challenge last week was Aqua, Yellow with a dash of Pink.  

The first photograph shows what I did initially but I wasn't happy with it as it just needed 'something'.  The second photograph is the finished piece.  I'm much happier with that version.  I can't wait to see what this weeks colours are going to be. 

  

1st Version

Finished piece

Finished piece but upside down - I like it this way up or should that be down :)

The other items I made are some Artist Trading Cards for trading in a swap I am hosting at a gallery in Altrincham Manchester UK.  I'm a volunteer there and have been given the grand title of ATC coordinator.  I've found that ATC's are not so widely known in the UK and not something that is known in the art industry - the concept of "trading" art is not understood and 'artists' don't seem to be able to grab the concept.  I think it's a great way of owning an original piece of artwork and the best thing is it is open to everyone and doesn't require lots of expensive tools.

Here are a couple of the ATC's I made this weekend.  The one in the middle I made into a Father's Day card for my dad as they are the perfect size to put onto a card.

And finally I'll leave you with a picture of a canvas I finished this week.  It's not very big and the colour is more minty green than blue/green.  The hearts and 'follow your heart' are both made with air drying clay.

Apologies for the long post but I wanted to do a catch up.  I promise my next post won't be as long.  Hope you've all had a good weekend.

I'm linking this post to Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour and Creative Monday's it's been a while since I participated in any blog hops.

CupCake Greetings Card Tutorial

Well here I am again apologising for the lack of posts.  I've not been in the mood to post about anything recently I'm blaming the weather - it's cold, damp and dark and I don't like the cold one little bit.

Anyway, here I am raring to go and post a tutorial on how to make one of my cupcake cards.  The stamps are from Kanban  - called Fairy Cakes (they don't seem to be on the website - I bought mine from Hobby Craft). I made the card to add to my small collection of greetings cards and posted it on the Kanban facebook page.  One of the members asked if I would show how to make the card - which is quite flattering - and because I'm nice and like to share I made up a simple step by step tutorial.  

Here goes - 

Step 1.  Gather your ingredients, Rubber stamps, ink pads, glossy accent, gems, glue, coloured pencils (colouring medium of your choice), smooth water colour paper or card stock and foam pads.

Start by stamping your image onto your card/watercolour paper (300gsm)

   

Step 2 - Paint your images with your chosen medium.  I've used Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils - I added the colour very roughly then blended it all in with a damp (not wet) paintbrush.

Step 3 - Paint your background let dry and then randomly stamp the background.  I've used 2 different flower stamps from the Fairy Cake stamp collection.  If you don't want to create your own background you can use scrap-book or patterned paper instead.

Step 4 - Before glueing the background to the base card add a line along the edge or mount onto contrasting paper.  Once you've glued down the background glue one of the cupcakes to the middle of the card then add foam pads to the remaining cupcakes and place on either side of the centre cake.  

With the glossy accents - add a pea sized drop to the cupcakes and smooth over with your finger to give a glazed look.  While the glue is still tacky add your gems carefully to the cupcake and the bow.

To finish add glitter to the middle of the background flowers and to the edge of the background.

Here is the finished card - 

This is the original card (before it was personalised) - 

A different design from the same collection - this time I've added foam pads to the bows and made them more dimensional.

This one I made for my niece for her 7th birthday.

I'm sharing this as part of Handmade Monday #53 which is hosted by Wendy from 1stUniqueGifts .  If you've enjoyed reading through my tutorial why not pop on over to Wendy's and have a look at what everyone else has been up to.

Before I sign off I must apologise for the added security on the comments - I've had a couple of spam posts which have led to a not so nice website  so until I feel confident that its not going to happen again I'm going to have to leave the moderations on the comments - I know its a pain but I wouldn't want anyone to click onto that site.

Anita