CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA #126

Welcome back to another challenge at Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge where we love to see at least 3 different mediums on your projects.  

I've created a canvas this week as it's been a while since I did one.  I just really wanted to have a little play and I love how this turned out.

My starting point was some lovely rice paper with the image of the garden gate on it by Studio Light.  I loved the idea of going through that gate and exploring.  I created my background with some new paints I've recently bought from Paper Artsy and they are fast becoming my favourites to use.  I only used a few colours here as I only have 3 so far - I used Steel Grey and Seaglass. I added some texture paste with a stencil and then did some stamping and stencilling using products by Alison Bomber and Tracy Evans. 

I added some extra texture and interest by using some scraps of book pages and ephemera for the butterfly which is one of Tim Holtz's Ideaology butterflies.  I fixed it to some netting. I then found these two Tim Holtz paper dolls and they just reminded me of my grandchildren who are 7 and 3 and just love being out doors exploring so the words I found from Tim's quote books were just perfect.  

I created the circles with the top of the paint pot of Snowflake also by Paper Artsy.  I love how this turned out and it has pride of place on my wall.  

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES #189 - ONE OR MORE BUTTERFLIES

Welcome back to another challenge at Moving Along With the Times and we are on butterflies this month. I'm back in my usual happy place of mixed media for this one.

I am currently working on a large tag book on the theme of butterflies so thought I would share one of my tags.  

It has background stamping with stamps by Alison Bomber and Tracy Evans.  I've added some stamped linen and attached a Tim Holtz Ideaology Butterfly to the material.  There is extra stamping from Creative Expressions set Butterfly Walk by Sam Poole.  I cut out the words No Regret for the top tag from an old dictionary.  

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES - #188 - SPRING

Welcome back to Moving Along With The Times and our challenge of Spring.  There are so many ways of interpreting Spring and I look forward to seeing what you all come up with.

I've used Alison Bomber's gorgeous Apple Blossom stamp set again as I do love to see my apple trees in blossom.  They are very young trees and so far we've only managed a few apples of them but I live in  hope! 

I used some watercolour paper for my background and added some subtle Distress Oxide in Speckled Egg and Spun Sugur.  I added some extra background stamping from the same set - stamped off in Versafine Morning Mist to keep it subtle.  I stamped and cut out the main apple blossom stamp and coloured it in with Distress Inks in Spun Sugar and Peeled Paint. I stamped the lovely birds nest ephemera stamp in Versafine Verdant to give a contrast to all the subtle colours.

PEARLY SPARKLES - #118 SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW

Welcome back to our challenge at Pearly Sparkles this month and it's my choice of Something Old Something New.  I'm sure lots of us received new goodies over the Christmas period - maybe even some we haven't used yet so now is your chance.

I recently purchased some new dies from Lou Collins Textures - the set is called Clipboard Coverings Vol II.  I don't really go for dies unless they are Tim Holtz but I really loved this clipboard set and all its little embellishments like the paper clip, the bulldog clip and the actual clipboard.  It also has two great add on dies that give a stitched edge and as I don't do sewing that's great for me.

I've created my little clipboard to go into my journal. I'll use it as a tuck spot to add some journaling behind.   The old part is the stamp set from Alison Bomber EAB46 Apple Blossom.  

After cutting out the clipboard with the die I used some Paper Artsy paint in Sea Glass and Snowflake to add some interest.  I also cut out the inner which gives the frayed edges.  This was a gel press paper I had which had been made with an old stencil and a new stencil - the new one was from 13 arts called Back in Time Dress Circle and one of the stamps from Apple Blossom.  I then stamped an extra flower stamp and added it to the surface keeping the colours soft and muted with some Prismacolor pencils.  I added a little tag with one of the paper paperclips and some netting and a number.  The butterfly was cut from some new decoupage paper from Lou Collins.

CREATIVE ARTISTE - #123

Welcome back after our Christmas break to Creative Artiste  Mixed Media. Please note that we are a mixed media challenge so we do want to see lots of different mediums on your projects.

 I hope you got lots of lovely new crafty pieces to play with over the Christmas.  But if you didn't here's an idea for recycling all those pieces of cardboard packaging you may have had come through the door over the festive period.  The cover of my little Treasure Book has been made out of some old Amazon cardboard packaging.  It has been covered both on the outside and the inside with some material which I have stamped.  For the edges I used some of Tim Holtz material washi tape.  Throughout the book I have used a combination of stamps by Tim Holtz, Alison Bomber and Tracy Evans. 

There are 5 individual signatures within the book and they have all been made with old book papers, scrapbook papers, gel press stampings that I have had lying around in my stash.  There are pockets with hand made ephemera pieces, stamping on some of the pages, tags for journaling, space on the pages for journaling, lace, buttons, flowers, all sorts of interesting pieces.  Each signature is bound but they are all separate from one another and from the cover.  That way they are easier for you to get to if you want to use a particular piece.  I've used twine to close the book together with a dangle and a dried flower.

I'm really enjoying making my own books at the moment and a lot of them go on my Etsy store.  You will probably see a lot more of them over the forthcoming months on my blog.

PEARLY SPARKLES - HEARTS #116

Our challenge this month at Pearly Sparkles is Hearts.  I've gone away from the traditional colours for this card and it is actually going to be for hubby.  My background was made with some Distress Oxides in Hickory Smoke and Fossilized Amber and Faded Jeans .  I added some extra stamping using Alison Bombers grasses stamp and also some texture paste.  I created the tag using a very old stamp from Tim Holtz - I spotted it being used on Stampers Anonymous You Tube video and remembered I had the same stamp from about 20 years ago!  I kept the same colours.  

I layered the tag onto some old book pages - as this card is for hubby the pages I used have a significance as one of his favourite places in the world is Rome, especially Piazza Navona which you can just see peeking out. The love word is also an old Tim Holtz one, possible from the same set as the heart.

I'm adding this into the following:

The paper players - love is in the air 

We love 2 create - AG 

We love Stamping - Hearts 

Crafts Galore Encore - AG 

Allsorts - create your own background 

SSS - Wednesday - AG 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - MAKE YOUR MARK #501

Welcome back to our Make Your Mark challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.

I created the background on my tag by smooshing some Tim Holtz Distress inks on to the tag and adding extra stamping from stamps by Alison Bomber.  The butterfly is from Sara Neumann from Paper Artsy and I coloured it in with Prismacolour Pencils.  They give a lovely vibrant colour.

I added a metal pen nib to the butterfly and some words from Tim Holtz idealogy.

INSPIRATION STATION - #77

Welcome back to another challenge at Inspiration Station.  I adore Autumn as it's my favourite season and I just got so excited when I saw our image as inspiration this month.  Am I allowed to say I absolutely loved how my card turned out?

I created the background with Distress Inks in Rusty Hinge, Evergreen Bough and Scattered Straw on watercolour paper.  I created an horizon line with a felt marker and stamped the trees from Tracy Evans new set On the Wild Side.  I created a type of water image underneath them using a touch of black soot over the orange colours.  I stamped a faint image of the trees as a reflection.  The large Autumn sentiment is an old one of Tracy's and the words are from Alison Bomber. 

I'm adding this into the following:

Four Seasons Challenge - Fall/Autumn 

Just Add Ink - one layer stamping 

Creative Fingers - AG 

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA - #117

Welcome back to another Creative Artiste Challenge where Anything Goes as long as you use at least 3 different mediums on your project.  I really enjoyed creating this piece and it was just a lovely hour of playtime.

I started off with some packaging from a well know delivery firm lol which had the corrugated inner to the cardstock.  I used some Tim Holtz Distress Ink direct from the bottle in Walnut Stain to age the piece and then added some strips of gesso just to lighten it a bit.  I dug out some piece of fabric from my little fabric stash and stamped on them.  The wording stamp on the top left is a very old stamp I can't remember from where.  The flowers are from Alison Bomber.

I love watching Alison's videos and she has inspired me to add real flowers to my pieces.  The little fluffy things I have no idea what they are but they were up on our mountain on a dog walk and I just knew I had to pick a few.  I've also added a dried flower I had from when I went on a make your own paper course.  

The various ephemera pieces are from my little stash of pieces I've made - also inspired by Alison.  It's nice to have a few to hand and makes creating collages a little easier.  The quote is from Tim Holtz.  I added some circles with a bottle top and some gesso.  To make the piece sturdier I added it to some extra cardboard painted with brown acrylic paint and added strips of white gesso to mirror the strips of the cardboard.  I even used a few brads!!

Here are a few close up's also

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Mix it Up - AG Mixed Media 

Crafts Galore Encore - AG 

Paper Rocks Scissors - AG 

Simply Ellibelle - Wed - AG 

Ellibelle - I spy - Vintage 

Outlawz - Not a Card 

Tic Tac Toe - Foliage - Layers Flowers 

LOVE TO CRAFT - JULY #87

Welcome back to another Love to Craft challenge where we love to see all your projects on our Anything Goes challenge.  What will inspire you over the next few months?

I've been inspired by Alison Bomber of W0rdsandp1ctures.  I started off my card by playing with the gel press and a stencil with some Tim Holtz Distress Paints.  I think you can just about see the very soft image I eventually got after a couple of takes from the press.

I added some of Alison's gorgeous stamps from Paper Artsy Pressed Grasses Edition EAB40.  I think these are some of my favourite stamps of hers so far.  I found in my drawer an old Ranger Archival Ink called Seafarer which I didn't even know I had and I just adore this blue.  I'm going to definitely see if it's still a current colour in case it runs out of ink soon.  I used this colour and Versafine Morning Mist for the background stamping.  I then used a stamp by Sara Nauman ESN62 also for Paper Artsy.  This is a new designer for me and I loved this set with the gorgeous butterflies. I stamped the butterfly first then reinked it and cut out the butterfly and added it with some dimensionals. I cut the wings very gently to give them a bit of movement which doesn't really show up on the card. 

I'm adding this into the following

We Love Stamping = Nature 

Inkspirational - Stencilled background 

Creative Fingers - AG 

Just us Girls - Stencils 

Simply Ellibelle - from the garden 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #494

Welcome back to another Any Occasion challenge at ATSM.  It's been a while since I've created one of these style of cards where you mask off the middle and stamp around the edges.  

I used a variety of stamps from Tracy Evan's Boutique Designs and some extra foliage from Alison Bomber.  I used some new Posca pencils to colour in. Oops - I don't mean Posca pencils sorry - I meant Prismacolor pencils.  I do like the vibrant colours they give.  I used to Versafine ink colours in similar colours of pink and green to create the sentiment. 

THE MALE ROOM #196 - MIXED MEDIA

It's time for another challenge at The Male Room and we want to see your Mixed Media cards this month.  This challenge is just perfect for me as I do love a bit of mixed media and regulars to my blog will know this is one of my favourite ways of playing with our hobby.

I started off by using a gel press to create my background and some Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Salvaged Patina and Victorian Velvet.  Once it was dry I white embossed one of Alison Bomber's stamp sets EAB30 for Paper Artsy Stamps and the William Shakespeare words from that set.  Why Shakespeare?  Well that will become clear when I tell you about the sentiment!

I also added some extra texture with some texture paste through a small leaf stencil by Creative Expressions.

The leaves are Tim Holtz Thinlets called Leaf Fragments. They were in my stash as the result of another play with the gel press and some Pixie Powder from Cosmic Shimmer.  

I stamped a tree from Lavinia Stamps on the far left and attached the leaves. The sentiment is a quote from Shakespeare - it comes from a little pack of cards I found recently which I had bought about 20 years ago for hubby as he loves Shakespeare.  Each card has a quote and information on where that quote was used.  I think this one really suited the leaves falling off the trees. It is taken from Shakespeare's King Lear.

I'm adding this into the following

Unicorn Challenge Blog - Male Cards 

Simply Ellibelle - AG 

Paper Funday - AG - twist of weather - wind 

Simply Ellibelle - I Spy - no DP

Simon Says Stamp - favourite technique - mixed media especially using texture paste 

INSPIRATION STATION #69

Welcome to our first challenge of 2025 with Inspiration Station.  How wonderful is this image ?  I received some wonderful new watercolours by Winsor and Newton for Christmas and just really wanted to try and reproduce the image using them.  

I used watercolour paper for my background and mixed a few of the colours to get what I wanted.  I wanted to try a Bokeh technique and used white paint to create the background.  The foliage stamps are by Alison Bomber and the bird is a very old one from Kaisercraft. 

I look forward to seeing how you are inspired by our image. 

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Triple B - Bird 

Let's Create - Sentiment 

Stamping Sensations - Hand Coloured 

Pink Gem - AG 

We Love2Create- AG 

Word Art Wednesday - AG 

2craftycritter - 

Crafty Animals