Inky Backgrounds

Happy Tuesday everyone.  Today is all about creating backgrounds with spray and acrylic inks.  For these backgrounds I've used glossy photo paper.  I have a whole stash of them which came with my printer. Normally I would use alcohol inks on them but thought I would have a play with the inks from Oak House Studio.  
You don't have to have photographic paper in fact it's probably better if you can use the glossy paper for encaustic wax.  Why?  well the photographic paper is designed for the ink to dry quickly and ebbed itself into the paper when you print on it and the encaustic from what I can remember isn't as porous and so has a slow drying time.  Having said that I'm pretty pleased with how these backgrounds have turned out.

I haven't done a tutorial for these as there really is no right or wrong way of making these.  I started off by spraying plain water to the paper, then added the spray inks and then sprinkled/splodged/flicked the acrylic ink with an old paint brush.  Carry on adding plain water or the spray inks until you are happy with how the paints have merged and then either leave them to dry or use a heat gun.

Pop back again to see how I use these in one of my projects. 

Well I'll be back tomorrow - until then happy crafting

Anita

Pink, Apple Green and Dark Green

This post brings me up to date with the Summer of Colour 4 challenge which is being run by Kristin over on Twinkle Twinkle Like A Star 

The colours for this week is Pink, Apple Green and a splash, splosh dash or Dark Green.  I really like this colour combination and is one of my favourites.  The image I used was from Paint My Photo.  I really liked the shape of the fallen palm leaf.  I hadn't started this as an abstract but that is exactly what it has turned into if a little bit alien.  I have it sitting on my wall as I write this and I keep looking at it wondering where and how my mind was working whilst I worked this painting.  I guess sometimes you just have to let the unconscious mind take over.

Colours for week 4 Pink, Apple Green and Dark Green

This is the image I used a Fallen Palm Leaf by Andrea Muller 

 

Here is my version of the fallen palm leaf.

Flutterby, Butterfly

So it'a a bank holiday weekend over here in the UK which means a lovely long weekend to play with all your crafty items without feeling guilty about not doing the more tedious jobs around the house.  

These butterflies were stenciled onto fabric a few weeks ago but I've not had time to do anything with them.  So with the long weekend I decided that this was the perfect time to finish them and to catch up on some movies I've been meaning to watch.  

Here they are my textile butterflies with lots of sequins and beads.  I can't decide which one I like the best.  I'm drawn to both as they have different aspects that I like.  Which one do you prefer?

I'm including this in the Handmade Monday blog over on Handmade Harbour.  Why not pop on over and see what the other lovely crafters have been up to.

Happy Crafting 

Anita

Christmas Card Designs for 2012

New designs for Christmas 2012.

Jewellery Party

Last week has been pretty busy as I prepare for a jewellery party this Thursday.   I've made some sparkly earrings with fuchsia pink Swarovski Elements Crystals and a lovely pair with White Opal Crystal Briolettes.


I've also been busy making some more greetings cards which can be adapted to suit any occasion.  I like to let the customer choose the card and message.  Sometimes you can find the card that you like but the message isn't the one that you want.  


I'm pleased to say that the snow has disappeared but it seems to have gone really cold again.   

Here are the earrings

This one is a rubber stamped image which has been painted using Pro-Markers. They are more on the pastel side than my normal brights.  I've stamped the ribbon with a small flower stamp.  I've added glitter and glossy accents to the card to give it some texture.

 This is a single rose stamp.  I have cut out 2 of the images and raised them with foam pads to give a 3D effect.  I made one a few weeks ago with yellow roses.  I thought these would make great Mothers Day cards.

I'd not added the glitter and glossy accents to these when I took the photograph.

If you would like to see more creative work by some very talented artist then pop on over to Wendy's blog at 1stUniqueGifts for her Handmade Monday post.  

I would love to hear your thoughts on my work so please leave a message in the comments box.

Have a great week 

Anita

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

You Lift Me Up

Just a quick post today showing one of my cards with a sassy corset.  The corset is a rubber stamp design by Pink Cat Studio - Lingerie set.  I've painted it with my favourite Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils and added some jewels to the front.  The tiny flower stamp is also part of the set and makes for a great border and as we all know you can never have enough bling I've added the tiniest of gems to the centres.  I like this set of stamps as they are sassy and quirky and make me smile.

Handmade Monday #40

I missed last weeks Handmade Monday because I was very poorly I spent 3 days in bed.  I'm slowly getting better still have fits of coughing.  My niece told me I sounded like a trumpet when blowing my nose - I'd say more like a fog horn lololol.  
So my contribution to this weeks handmade Monday is a scarf I knitted for said cheeky niece :).  It's made with Indie wool and done in garter stitch over 15 stitches on 51/2 needles.  I've added some dangly bits to each end and sewn some buttons along the bottom at the request of my niece (she chose the buttons) - she's a creative little thing 6 going on 16.

As you can see it's quite funky and colourful.

Thank you for popping over to read my post and if you would like to see other creative peoples work why not pop on over to Wendy's blog to see what everyone else has been up to.  

Please do leave a comment it's always nice to hear what you think.

Anita 

Cupcake Cookie Tags

A few months ago I was commissioned to make some tags for a bride who was having cookies made for her guests.  The spec was that they were to be vintage style & colours.  The tags were attached to the cookies which were then put into containers on the tables.  I don't have any photos of them insitu but here are the pictures I took before I sent them off - 

This is the lovely email I received from the couple -


Anita 
Well, what can I say. Amazing, amazing, amazing......

The cakes and cookies went down a storm and the guests absolutely loved their name tags on the cookies. It was such a special and personal touch.

I cannot thank you enough for your help.

Carla & Mark.