Tattered Flowers in a Paper Vase

Posted on 28th February 2013 by perfectly4med

I’ve taken a bit of time out from designing for my college course to make this canvas featuring a paper craft vase and paper craft, die cut, hand coloured and constructed flowers. I’ll be entering it into Tim Holtz’s Tattered Floral Challenge as it is his Tattered Floral die that I used to cut the flowers from 160gsm thin card. The vase is made from the same card to my own design – SVG file available if anyone would like it…

Each flower layer was wrinkle free distressed in first a layer of Fired Brick and Festive Berries both sides, dried and then wrinkle free distressed in a layer of Fired Brick with Ripe Persimmon. They were then dried before being spritzed and flicked with water and left to dry naturally. The centres were punched and then sprayed with Dylusions Granite spray. The flowers were assembled onto florists wire and stuck together with matt multi medium and left to dry over night before being glued into the vase and onto the canvas background.

Here’s the inspiration pic, a vase of flowers in our lounge:

Tulip Cards

Posted on 27th February 2013 by perfectly4med

I’m on another design team! Early in January I was selected to design for ‘The Crafting Cafe’, and they have just launched their challenge blog. For the ‘anything goes’ theme this month, I’ve used the fabulous ‘Tulips 1’ digi stamp from LEJ Designs. I’ve created two cards, the first using ProMarkers to colour, and the second with Distress Reinkers both on a bespoke background created with Distress Stain and kitchen salt:

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Balawat – tangle pattern

Posted on 23rd February 2013 by perfectly4med

The second of four tangle patterns based on centuries old Islamic art. This one is from the carved stone threshold of a pair of massive gates from the palace of Shalmaneser III at Balawat, dating from 858-824 BC. The cross hatching should make the ‘petals’ appear like pine cones, a common feature of a lot of the patterns, particularly the carved ones. The lilies between the pine cones are an example of another regularly repeated motif.

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Nimrud – tangle pattern

Posted on 16th February 2013 by perfectly4med

This is the first of four tangle patterns based on Islamic design, centuries old, gleaned during a visit to the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum. This pattern comes from a carved design from an Assyrian palace at Nimrud, from about 865-860 BC.

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Advertising update…

Posted on 14th February 2013 by perfectly4med

Hi – I have been selected for the beta program of WordPress’ WordAds. This means that should you click on one of the adverts that will now be more prominent on my blog, I will get part of the revenue from the advertisers. I do hope that this won’t interrupt your enjoyment of the blog, as this potential revenue will help my income stream and allow more time for blogging rather than earning! Do let me know if you don’t get on with the ads, as I can feed this back, or turn them off entirely. Ta muchly!

Two Monkeys – tangle pattern

Posted on 9th February 2013 by perfectly4med

So called as it is part of the stone carved facade of the Natural History Museum in London, and is flanked by two monkeys. Alternate the flower designs along the rows and columns. Adding the monkeys is an optional extra!

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Tangle 026

Posted on 6th February 2013 by perfectly4med

I had a play with a broad Signo white pigment pen and a page in my 12×12″ Derwent black page sketchbook… and this is what happened over around three evenings:

I particularly like the ripples – will be doing more of those in the future! The white Signo ink is very opaque, though pens seem to vary in respect of smooth ink flow. I’ve found from experience that if a pen is misbehaving, it’s better to chuck it away. Not necessarily the most cost effective way of managing it, but far less frustrating!

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Just for you…

Posted on 4th February 2013 by perfectly4med

This is a card I made for the WOW! Embossing Powder Design Team blog this month for their theme ‘Romance & Love’. The instructions on how to make it are here.

Warm Wishes – Kraft & Kreme

Posted on 2nd February 2013 by perfectly4med

I’ve been asked to do a guest slot on the Less is More blog today 🙂

This week’s theme is Kraft & Kreme, and as always, a clean and simple design is required. Ok, my design might not be so simple to make, but it’s clean and simple under the definition of lots of white space (i.e. unfilled – kraft card isn’t exactly white!).

I cut a 15cm sq kraft card to shape, keeping the oval offcut from the front. I made a mix of 50:50 WOW! Primary Bark with WOW! Vanilla and triple embossed onto the oval offcut, then whilst still hot swirled it with a metal tool. I used the same mixture to emboss the sentiments (from WOW! Merry & Bright Christmas and WOW! Everyday Sentiments) and hearts (from WOW! Gratitude) – I flexed the clear stamps on the acrylic plate to follow the curve of the card. I outlined with Vintage Photo Distress Marker and shaded with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I’m happy to create a template if anyone requires one 🙂

Intertwine – tangle pattern

Posted on 2nd February 2013 by perfectly4med

The final carved pillar inspired tangle pattern following my trip to the Natural History Museum in London. This one doesn’t make any effort to weave the curved mouldings – it might be good to try if you have the inclination. Please note the offset ends in step 4, which helps the placement of the curves that are ‘underneath’.