Shine like a Star....

Hello!
I made an art doll as my A Sprinkle Of Imagination DT piece for this week!
Little peek...

I would love it if you popped on over to the ASOI blog here, and let me know what you think of her!
Trish xxx

'Fly' hanging

Hello!
My DT piece this week for Creative Expressions is a small hanging,  a painty background on a wooden substrate, using the fabulous stamps from the Floral Silhouette plate!

As I mentioned last week, I had a little experiment to compare how effective different mediums are when it comes to adhering stamped tissue to a background. This is how it went.....
I created my background first. The VERY important thing to remember is that you can't attempt this technique if your background isn't 100% permanent. Acrylic paint is wonderful, spray inks absolutely not!!!!
For each of the three mediums tested I followed exactly the same pattern. Smear a thin layer of medium onto the background...

Gently press down the stamped tissue on the medium. I used gift tissue stamped with VersaMagic ink as its permanent when heat set. Any permanent ink works! Some people have great results using cosmetic tissue, good old Kleenex. I find it is much trickier to use as it is more fragile and disintegrates easier! Experiment though, you may well find it works wonderfully for you!

Once the tissue is stuck down, smear (CAREFULLY!) another layer of medium over the top...

The medium needs to be smoothed firmly over the image, without wrinkling or tearing it!
I tried three different mediums, this is what they looked like 5 mins after applying...

The Glue N Seal on the left has virtually dried already, looking almost transparent. The Mod Podge in the middle is still a gluey mess, and the Multi Medium on the right is somewhere in between the two others!
Another pic 3 hours later when all the mediums had thoroughly dried...

The Mod Podge is now clearly the most transparent! However, the Glue N Seal is a very close second, and being as how the difference in drying time was over two hours....guess which one I'll be using if I'm in a hurry in future!!!
So..... onto the project!
I created a painty background on the wood using white, red ,yellow and orange paints...

Once totally dried, I added my stamped tissue flower. Another great plus point of using stamped tissue is that you can 'flip' the design. I actually prefer the little bent over leaf to be on the right of this flower, so I stamped the tissue then turned it over before adhering. Easy peasy!

As I'm using a nice chunky bit of wood, I wanted to decorate the edges too. I used washi tape.....

The butterflies were stamped onto painted card, then onto acetate. Cut out, and assembled on top of each other. I cut off the 'feelers' and used black wire instead...

My word uses die cut letters, adhered at the same time as the tissue flower so as to utilise the medium I'd spread about for the tissue to stick to! Covered with Glossy Accents for shine....

My hanger was simply made from twisted wire loops, glued to the back of the wood. I threaded some black suede through the loops so it can be hung up.

Hope you like it!
Love Trish xxx

Boring?!

Hello!
Had a little time to play today, not interested in stretching the old brain cells...purely messing with paint! I made another painty panel.....hence the phrase I used! Me producing painty panels like this may be boring...but it's what I love to do!!!!

The background was actually inspired partly by a car I saw on the school run the morning ...the most gorgeous shade of pale blue, with lots of black trim. I used the blue/black idea, along with some white and pale lime....

Stamping, splattering and stencilling.... as usual!
I added washi tape for my figure to stand on...

I toned down the harsh black and made it a little shabbier by brayering on a smidge of white paint. Image is a favourite Octopode Factory lady...

I've used black ink through my stencil to create the stripy lines, which I think qualifies this panel for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge this week....Stripes!!!
Hope you weren't bored!!!
Trish xxxx

Listen To Your Heart

Hello!
I've been playing with Indian Inks today for A Sprinkle Of Imagination...

That was a little teaser pic...I would love it if you popped on over to the blog here to see the whole thing!
Have a great day everyone!
Trish xxxx

Embrace The Magic

Hello!
My DT piece for Creative Expressions this week features flowers and butterflies again, but in a more grungy style!

My base for this was an old bit of cardboard, I ripped away the top layer at the sides to give more texture, and to stop it looking quite so flat!

I covered the whole thing with white paint, then added my colour. Not too much colour, this is a much more muted scheme from me today! I used yellow and grey paint, and just scraped it on with a palette knife. once that was dry, I added a little black stamping. Not too much, you can maybe spot the plaid stamp, and a teeny bit of the petals from an Aster! I added my flower and butterfly (from the silhouette plate) to the panel. I did this by stamping onto tissue, then adhering with Glue N Seal. I've been playing about with collage mediums this week, just to see how they compare 'invisibility wise' ! Which ones make the tissue look the most invisible! I'll be sharing the results of my experiment next week, so check back!
Anyway.....
Once the tissue was all dry, I added a nice thick coat of Rock Candy Crackle paint. Whilst it was still wet, I sprinkled on some grey glitter to the edges. It sticks well to the wet medium, with no need for additional glue! Once dry, the crackles gave the whole thing a nice textured grungy feel..

To act as a hanger, I put eyelets through the top of the panel, and added twisty wire...

The final touch was some chit chat stickers to give my piece a name....

Yellow isn't normally my thing, but I rather like it with grey I think!
love Trish xx

Pretty in pink...

Hello!
If you have read a few of my posts, you'll know that one of my favourite things is to challenge myself with colour schemes... I like nothing better than attempting to get out of my colour comfort zones! Colour challenges out there in Blogland are a very good thing, in my book, and I was sad to see my favourite challenge finish earlier in the year. However..... I got a nice surprise this past week, the challenge is back! And not only is it back, its now a Mixed Media colour challenge! How completely fabulous!!!!! I know there are loads of mixed media peeps reading this...so go and look and join in too!

 

The current challenge is Light Pink, Silver and Black.... I made this....

As I was clearly feeling over excited at the whole thing, I decided to do a little step by step to show you how I made it...... brace yourselves, there are a *few* pics.....
Firstly, I covered a chipboard sheet with gesso...

As gesso is nice and thick, you can scrape lines and dab it with a sponge before you dry..this leaves a fab texture to work on....

Next, I smeared on my pink paint. This colour is called 'poodleskirt pink' - how cool is that!!

I then brayered over a little more gesso just to tone down the pink and make it a little more shabby...

Stamping next, done with Archival ink and using unmounted stamps. This means you can just stamp a little of the design in random places..

I printed with pink paint and bottle tops...a bit subtle, but adds more depth and interest...

Next came the stencilling. I wanted silver texture paste to scrape through the stencil, so coloured my own. I used PaperArtsy grunge paste and silver acrylic paint (this works with any brand of texture paste though!)

My stencil is a fairly delicate one, so I used it in numerous places on my background...

This texture paste can be dried with a heat tool, so once that was done I added a few more details using black and silver paint. Lines and dots....

The last thing was to add black paint splats, and also some silver metallic paint splats too!

Don't forget to edge your piece....

My image is a favourite from Stampotique, and the tiny words are Remnant Rub ons.Love these!

So there you have it.....shiny and a little girly, but grungy too!
Hope you like it....don't forget to go and check out the challenge!
Trish xxxx

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T x

Wishing Star Tree

Hello!
For my DT project over at Calico Crafts today I've made a Wishing Star Tree..... here is a little teaser pic..

I would love it if you popped on over to the Calico blog to see the whole thing!
Have a fabulous week everyone, I'm hoping for lots of play time in the studio as real life seems to be a little less frantic for the next few days! (maybe I shouldn't say that, famous last words eh?!!)
Trish xxxx

A Bottle full of Wishes!

Hello!
I've made a painty canvas to share with you all today for A Sprinkle Of Imagination... here is a little look...

There are a lot more pictures, and an explanation of how I created it over on the ASOI blog right now, I'd love it if you went to take a look!
Trish xxxx

Blue Sweetie...

Hello!
It's the halfway mark over at the A Little Bit Crafty challenge this month... the challenge is to create 'something sweet'!
I've made a painty panel (shock horror!!), but one that uses only a little paint. Perfect to get those of you that don't use paint all that often off to a messy start!

I started off by embossing one side of the kraft panel with a dotty embossing folder. Yes, you do need to squish up the cardstock to get it to go through the machine! We were never aiming for perfectly smooth, however, so a little crumpling can only add to the texture and interest of the piece!
I then added the pale blue paint. Easy peasy, just scraped on randomly with a palette knife!

 I dried this off, then did the sewing around the edges and on the background. Next comes the ivory paint. I waited to do this because I wanted to soften the stitching, blue over the stitching would be too much, but a little ivory works well...

The ivory is also perfect to highlight the raised dotty areas..

My figure is stamped onto an old book page, then a chit chat sticker added to finish...

Simple, quick and a nice way to get into paint!
Love Trish xxx

Take it, Make It challenge Three!

Hello!
Its that time again folks...the new Craft Stamper Blog Challenge has been announced!!
This time the featured technique is all about embossing powder.... and the fabulously colourful backgrounds you can create with it!
The technique is featured on page 30-31 of the July 2013 issue of the magazine, with a gorgeous project by Birgit Koopsen, its really worth a look!
My project is this small panel...

Every last little bit of colour on this is embossing powder..... and I had a great time playing trying to achieve the effect! The base was very simply covered with a mixture of blue and green powder, and I kept on adding sprinkles here and there and melting the powder until I had a look I liked! I also added tiny dots of white powder to get the splattery look I love!

The red dots and the black lines are created by using a stencil... sponge versamark through the stencil then add the powder on top! Very easy but soooooo effective!

Even the edges are embossing powder. The sponged look is achieved by gently rubbing away some of the loose powder before melting, to give a softer and more blurred look..

I added a Stampers Anonymous figure, and a phrase cut out of a book to finish...

This is such a cool technique to try, why not hop on over to the Challenge post to see all the details, and join in! Not only could you win three great stamps from Indigo Blu, you could end up published in the magazine!!!
Good Luck!