Merry Christmas Mid Week Paper Craft Party Design Team

I wanted to try something a little bit different for today's theme "Merry Christmas".  It's nice to use designs which are specifically made for Christmas but sometimes you just have to challenge yourself so today I want to show you how you can use a design which isn't for Christmas.  

I'm using #217 cute cat with balloons digi stamp.....okay so you're wondering how this can be turned into a Christmas card...right?  Well here goes - I printed the design onto water colour paper and coloured it in with a selection of watercolour pencils (prisma and faber castell).  Next I added white circles randomly over the card with acrylic paint - I used a pen top dipped into the acrylic.  I also used the presents from #189 presents and gifts 10 in 1 painted those with watercolours and added some gems to add texture and I like sparkles on my gifts.  The tree I made from air-drying clay and embossed it with a rubber stamp before cutting it out with a cookie cutter - let dry over night and then painted with acrylic paint and added glitter.  The banner 'Let it Snow' is #226 Christmas Tags and Sentiments.  Oh and the santa hat is done digitally because I forgot to make one before I'd started editing (hope I'm forgiven for that but it looks pretty cool).

I hope you like my idea of using a non Christmas design and making it Christmasy. 

So as you know I added the digital hat to the cat in the above design well I had a play and did this using Picmonkey which is a free online photo editor.  I didn't get time to print it and add colour to the whole design but hopefully it will have given you another option of adding elements to the digi stamps.   

Hope you've enjoyed reading my post today. 

Please pop over and see what the rest of the design team have been making over on Handmade Harbours Midweek Paper Craft Party.

Anita

Same Elements Different Look & Handmade Monday

It's time for Handmade Monday over on the Handmade Harbour blog.  My post today looks at how you can use the same elements but make each card different and unique.

I don't know about you but I get bored making multiple card that look the same (unless they are for an order).  I also like to give my customers unique cards to buy.  

I made the following using some text paper which I had printed and cut into triangles and mounted onto co-coordinating background paper.  The circles are lengths of quilling paper from my quilling days many moons ago - I have quite a collection.  I like how the tight coils lend themselves to the design of the trees as baubles and tree trunks.

I added a silver snowflake which was cut from a tree garland and the greeting is a rubber stamp from Stampendous.

I made different size coils with the quilling paper and added them in a line to make them look like a tree. 

I've also linked up with the following blogs.

Creative Monday

Art Every Day

Have a wonderful and creative week.

Anita

It's Party Time Over At Handmade Harbour

It's time to get the party started (isn't that a line from a song?).  Anyway, it's that time of the week and we're partying over at Handmade Harbour so lets get our lovely sparkly outfits out and dance the night away..............well okay may be not quite so early.  I don't know about you but I'm so not prepared for Christmas.  I bought a couple of presents while I was out on Monday at the Christmas Market in Manchester so that's a start.  I finish work in a couple of weeks so I'll probably do most of it then.  

Have you started on your Christmas card making yet?  I know some people start theirs in January I think I'd probably forget where I'd put them if I started that early and everyone who knows me will think I'm not well :)

Well here are 2 different cards for the Papercraft Party over at Handmade Harbour.  I hope you like them and feel inspired to create your own cards with Wendy's lovely designs.  If you fancy joining in with the challenge and win yourself some digi stamps and a lovely badge to put on your blog all you have to do is create a card using one of Wendy's designs (not compulsory - although how can you resist some of the free digi stamps to wet your appetite?  

Whatever you decide to do I hope you have a lovely week.

You can find all the Christmas stamps here

If you fancy having a play with digi stamps you can find a couple of free images here

I do hope you'll join in the fun.

Anita

Christmas Is Coming - Handmade Harbour Paper Craft Party

It's time to start thinking about Christmas!! Time to get your list ready for buying presents and cards.  The Christmas market starts this week (15 November) in Manchester and I can't wait I always enjoy browsing the handmade stalls and chatting to the traders and partaking in a glass of warm fruity cider - I'm not a fan of mulled wine.  

I've been busy this week making cards to sell at Emerge 3Rs pop up shop in Manchester so if you're visiting the market you should pop in and see the lovely handmade items on sale there.  You will find some of my cards and jewellery there to.

If you like to make your own cards then why not have a look at Handmade Harbour's digi stamps they are so cute.  Here are some cards I've made using the stamps - you can find them all here in the Christmas album.

I'm off to make my list......

....Anita

Handmade Monday & Art Every Day Month

Oooopppps I lapsed with the #AEDM the last couple of days but in my defense I have been busy making for Emerge 3Rs Pop Up Shop where I'll be selling some of my handmade cards and jewellery.  I've also been making cards for the Handmade Harbour Design Team so it's all go this week.

Here are some of the cards I've made for Emerge 3R.  The trees and abstract pieces are made from air-dry clay.  The design is made with a rubber stamp painted and with black and silver acrylic paint.

This cute robin has also made his way into the shop.  He's a digi stamp from Handmade Harbour and you can find him here #235 Robin with Stocking.  I like the way you can customise the design to make it look different every time you use it as you can see from the 2 cards above.

Pop over to Handmade Monday  Art Every Day Month and Creative Monday to see what other artists have been making.

Anita

Christmas Card Robin with Stocking .......Day 4 of Art Every Day Month

I'm sharing this lovely little chappy with you today.  He's waiting very patiently for Santa to come and fill up his stocking.  Isn't he cute? 

This is a digi-stamp from Handmade Harbour #235 Robin with Stocking you can find him here.  I've painted him with Polychromo pencils and added some glitter to his hat and the branch.  The parcels and text are done on the computer.  I 3D'd the hat with foam pads to give the card some dimension.

Art Every Day Month Challenge can be found here

Anita

Penguin Love Balancing Act.............Midweek Papercraft Party

Okay so it's nearly November just a day to go so I don't feel so guilty in saying the "C" word...............Christmas yay it's nearly here.  I love this time of year (apart from the cold weather and dark nights).  I love all the lights that go up around the cities and towns to make the market areas look festive and bright.  The walk around the Christmas market in Manchester and locally perusing the handmade gifts that are on sale -maybe partaking of some mulled wine or a glass of warm fruit cider.  Have I got you looking forward to Christmas yet?  

If the above hasn't then maybe my little penguin friend here delivering some presents will.

The image is from Handmade Harbour and is a new Digi Stamp #231 Penguin with Presents isn't he cute?  I've also used the #226 Christmas tags and Sentiments and the parcels on the bottom of the card are from #189 Birds and Gifts set of 10 images.  I think he can be used for a number of occasions not just Christmas.

Handmade Harbour 

Take Flight..........and Let The Adventure Begin

How would you like to be part of a creative adventure and make a difference in the lives of children in Haiti?  Well now you can and all you have to do is make a feather and send it of the Yanik over in Quebec Canada. You can read all about the artist collaboration over on Yanik's blog Avoxtar.  You'll have to be quick though if you're in the UK or Europe as there are only 33 days until the exhibition.  I'll be sending mine today so hopefully it will get there in plenty time (post usually takes approx 2 weeks).

For my feather I used some cardboard and painted it with gesso.  I used a butterfly stencil, rubber stamped words and some glitter.  I used acrylic paint as the main colouring medium.  It measures approx 23cm in length and 6cm at the widest point.  It fits at an angle in a a long DL envelope.  I can't wait to see everyone's feathers.  

Here is my feather - Butterfly Explore Life's Journey

I'm also sharing this as part of Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour and Creative Monday 

Pumpkins and Pumpkins

Mention pumpkins and you conjure up an image of carved out evil looking faces with candles burning inside them.  Well mine is a pumpkin but no candles inside and not carved either.  This is done to ATC size (2.5 x 3.5 inches - ATC = artist trading cards). Firstly I sketched out a rough design then I transfered it onto some calico and painted it with Derwent inktense water colour pencils. For the outline I used a grey/black embroidery thread - 2 strands and back-stitched it all around the pencil lines.  For the eyes I've used yellow sequins and beads down the front.  The edges are bound using button-hole/blanket stitch.

Fabric ATC

This one is the original sketch which I have cleaned up and painted with Polychromo pencils.

Original Sketch

Now head on over to Handmade Monday over at the Handmade Harbour blog and see what the other clever artists have been making.

Midweek Paper Party Something Pretty

I can't believe we're already into week 9 of the Paper Party over at Handmade Harbour.  This weeks theme is 'Something Pretty'.  I bought a couple of Daler Rowney sketch books from an art store across from where I work but they have boring black covers on them.  One I've already used to sketch in but the bigger one I want to make into a journal.  Now I have no idea how to journal but at least I can make a start with the cover by making it look pretty and inviting.  To make the front of the journal I've used the #45 butterflies and hearts and #195 flowers in a frame digi stamps.  These are 3 of my favourite things hearts, butterflies and flowers you just can't go wrong with them.  

I've printed the flower image twice and with one of them I've cut away the background and added some textured painted paper.  The flowers are cut out and mounted with foam pads to give some dimension -these were placed just off center onto the printed flowers. The center of the flowers I've added some micro beads to add texture.  The butterflies are cut and mounted onto wire to give them a floaty/flying feeling.  I've used my trusted Inktense water colour pencils to colour them in with.  You can't see it on the photograph but the hearts on the butterflies are highlighted with dimensional magic to give them a raised look.  

So here it is I hope you like what I've made and feel inspired to make your own creations with these lovely and versatile digi stamps from Handmade Harbour. 

I've seen what the other artists have made and I think you won't be disappointed - so I would urge you to pop over to Handmade Harbour for a nosey.

Have fun being creative.

Anita

Shared on the following challenges - 

Crafting By Design 

Paper Pretties

4 Crafty Chicks

Stencils and Texture Paste

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Happy Stampers Festival at PortSunlight - this is a papercrafts/stampers trade/retail show where quite a lot of the well known rubber stamp companies come to sell their products.

One of the things I like about the show is the variety of rubber stamps on offer.  However, it seems the stencil is what everyone is into instead of rubber stamps.  There seemed to be stencils on every stall I visited.  Now I've been using stencils in my work for a number of years now so maybe I've been 'on trend' without realising it.  

As most people know I have an affection for butterflies (and elephants) so I bought myself a couple of stencils in different style.  Today I had a play with one of the stencils a pretty butterfly in 2 different sizes.  The one I used fits neatly on an ATC size card (2.5inch x 3.5inch). For my canvas I've used a medium weight calico for 2 of the butterflies and an ATC size board for the other.  The orange/red butterfly is watered down acrylic paint, I then used some light molding paste from Golden (I didn't have any grunge paste) I got the same effect as the grunge paste.   The black and gold butterfly is on card board - ATC size I used the molding paste on this one to - for some reason the paste isn't as smooth as the one on the fabric but I like the difference between the two.

I'm going to try and embroider the butterflies when I have a free moment.  I think they will look pretty cool.

I'm linking this to the Handmade Monday thread over on Handmade Harbour 

Pop over and see what everyone else has been up to this week.

Diwali Cards

Before I can even think of designing/making Christmas cards I have to make Diwali cards to send to friends and family.  In the Gujarat, the festival honours Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth - new businesses are also started at this auspicious time.  Diya's or lamps are lit in every household so that the Goddess Lakshmi will find her way to each house to give her blessings.  Another reason to celebrate is the return of Lord Ram and his wife Sita from an exile of 14 years.  You can read more about Diwali here.  

These are my cards for 2013.  I drew the initial design and then coloured it in with Aquarelle Faber Castell water colour pencils.  Then manipulated them with a software program to create different effects.

This is the original design

These are the 2 images I created with the software

I'm showing these off for Handmade Monday over on the Handmade Harbour blog.  Why not pop over and see what the other crafters have been up to.

Till next time keep crafting.

Anita

Faces, Fimo and Slide Mounts

It's been a busy few days so haven't had time to update the blog.  So this ones going to be bit of a long one :)

Firstly, the 29 Faces Art Challenge finishes today.  I've had a great time trying to draw faces.  It's been quite a journey but a great experience.  Looking back at the faces from the 29 days I'd say there was some improvement in my faces..........obviously still a long way to go but as they say practice makes perfect. 

26, 27, 28 and 29

I want to share this face with you (#21) I'm really pleased with the way she came out and hence I have made her into a greetings card - I took a photograph of the original piece and altered it a little with an online editing software.  The original is painted with Faber Castell Polychromo pencils.  The orange and large green hearts are digi stamps from Handmade Harbour.

#21

In a previous post I shared some air dry fimo clay items I'd made hearts, elephant, key and a couple of mutilated gingerbread men.  Well today I finished making up the gingerbread men.  I painted them with acrylic paint and added some wire and beads.  These are for trading on ATCsforALL.

#Twisted Christmas

Finally I went to the Happy Stampers Festival at Portsunlight.  The village hall is where a collection of Rubber Stamp companies come to sell their stamps and do demos on how to use certain products.  I ended up buying a couple of unmounted stamps, a couple of stencils (these seem to be favour of the month), some modge podge sticks which are used with a glue gun and can be melted straight into molds and a few other little bits.  

#Portsunlight buys

I made these mount slide art pieces today using the rubber stamps I bought yesterday.  The mounts are a sizzix die.  I've painted them with Derwent inktense water colour pencils added some fabric flowers and butterfly also painted with the inktense pencils.

 slide mount art

Well I think I'm up to date. 

Hope you have a wonderful week creating some art.

Anita

Handmade Harbour Mid-Week Paper Craft Party - Happy Hearts

Oh the weeks are flying by.  Here I am running late with my card for the Handmade Harbour design team challenge.  I'm on the last minute this week as I'd been preparing for a textile workshop and had a craft fair on Saturday which I'd booked months ago.

This weeks theme is Happy Days (the title reminds me of the Fonz does anyone remember watching Happy Days?  I used to love it.  Anyway I'm going off topic.  So I've been wanting to use the heart stamps but the opportunity hasn't arisen until now.  I love hearts and I think this stamp fits in perfectly if you are using to make wedding cards, gift tags or invites.  The stamp is very versatile and as the hearts make me 'happy' I thought I would use it for the challenge.

I've used Koh-i-noor water colours to paint the heart, added some tiny pale blue heart buttons and then added some buttons onto wire and attached them to the back of the heart to make them look like they are shooting out of the heart.  The tiny hearts are punched from some background paper I had painted. The background lined paper is some scrapbook paper which I've added some ink with inkpads and a touch of silver glitter to finish it off.

If you would like to see some more of the design teams cards why not pop on over to the Mid-week paper craft party and join in the fun.  

Happy Crafting 

Anita

Witches, Spelling, Potions and CAKE

So this weeks theme for the Handmade Harbour Design Team challenge is "smile or laugh".

As I couldn't decide which stamps to use I asked Wendy to choose a couple for me..........so she sent me over "The Young Witch with Spelling Book", "One Cake A Day" and "Save Water Drink Wine".  3 very different stamps I'm leaving the 'wine' stamp for another day.

I've used the Young Witch and the "Witch or Wizard Potions on a Shelf" for the first card. I made the witch's hat just little bit bigger than my original print out so it looks like she's playing at being a witch.  Then I added the potion bottles to the base of the card,  added some words correct and mis-spelt.  Some punched out silver stars to finish off.  There's a slight gold shimmer to the edge of the card I used some watered down gold acrylic paint.

With this card I used "Witch or Wizard Potions on a Shelf".  The celebration glasses is actually just one rubber stamp that I have stamped twice with black Stazon.  I've added a few 'squiggles' in the glasses to look like earth worms (that was my intention anyway).  The edges of the card has been coloured with inkpads in a direct to paper technique (simply just rubbed the ink pads along the edges until I was happy with the colour.  Over that I have used a slightly darker shade to stamp on some 'bubbles'.  To finish off I've added some glitter to the bubbles coming out of the glasses.

Finally to my 3rd card..........well what can I say I really think this is a 'smile' card.  I LOVE cake, making, baking and eating it so it seemed apt to make this one to.  I've kept this one simple because I wanted the main focus to be the ladies trying to look innocent while eating cake.  On the main picture I've used frosted glitter as the icing on the cake - it's been cut out and mounted onto foam pads to give it some dimension and texture.  I also printed and cut out some smaller cakes but cut out 'chunks' to look as if they had been bitten into.  

You can find all the above stamps over in the Handmade Harbour shop.

If you like to create things with paper then why not join in the fun with the weekly Papercraft Party  and if you use one of Handmade harbours digi stamps in your design you could even win yourself a prize.

I hope you've enjoyed my process into the world of digi-stamps.

Until next time keep crafting and creating.

Anita

   

HANDMADE HARBOUR DESIGN TEAM

I'm excited to announce that I have been accepted onto the Handmade Harbour Design Team.  Application was announced a few weeks ago on Handmade Harbour and I tentatively sent in my application and got accepted.  We were told not to say anything until the official announcement - today - yay!!!! 

There are 12 of members including Wendy who is the owner of Handmade Harbour.  Why not pop on over and see who is on the design team - there is a diverse selection of artists from different parts of the world.  

There will be a weekly challenge post over on the Handmade Harbour blog to which members of the DT will contribute by creating something using the digi-stamps which Wendy designs. Oh and did I mention you could even be in with a chance to win a prize just by entering the challenge?  

So pop on over to Handmade Harbour and meet the new design team and while you're there you might as well pop into the shop and have a look at all the lovely digi-stamps that are available - I'd suggest getting yourself a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits or cake as you could be there sometime. 

Happy Crafting 
Anita