Card Craft
The Big Dome Card (for Creative Expressions)

NB-140731July’s a five Wednesday month – so you get a bonus card using this month’s stencil – once again a card made using the That Special Touch Art Deco Elements Mask. I’ve used several elements from the stencil to create this sparkling card, in combination with three of the Cosmic Shimmer Sparkling Texture Paste colours. It could just as well be a home decor piece as well 🙂

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Card Craft
Brusho Paint Crystals are go!

Ever since I came across the name ‘Brusho’ and saw what Eileen Goodwin had done with them, I just had to have a play! For the unfamiliar, Brusho paints are water-soluble crystals of glorious colour which can be sprinkled onto a wet surface, or scattered dry and then spritzed, or indeed just mixed with water to make a watercolour paint. These are three cards I made this evening, on my first journey with the starter kit. The quotes are courtesy of Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous. For the first two, I stamped over and embossed with white embossing powder. For the last, I tried the faux batik approach, which I was less happy with, in part due to the wrinkled watercolour paper I was using – but that sort of goes with the sentiment of the card! And I love the effect, definitely on my to-play-with-more list!

Card Craft
Card Candi Flowers (for Craftwork Cards)

Collection_ws

It was a special Craftathon Champion Deal for Craftwork Cards yesterday on Create and Craft, and I was asked as part of their design team to come up with new ways of using Candi as the deal included over 5000 pieces of delicious Candi. In a fit of enthusiasm, I also filmed a tutorial video that’s also on their YouTube channel.

Here are the close up of the step-by-step cards that Julie was showing on TV:

PinchRose_w

The Pinch Petal Rose

PinchTwist_w

The Pinch & Twist Flower

Propeller_w

The Propeller Flower

RollUp_w

The Roll Up Daisy

Shuttlecock_w

The Shuttlecock Flower

StarofDavid_w

The Star of David Flower

 

Card Craft
Rich Plum Elements (for Creative Expressions)

Rich Plum Elements I’m still working with the That Special Touch Art Deco Elements stencil for this week’s project. I’ve used the Cosmic Shimmer Rich Plum Sparkling Texture Paste, with the Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Plum Pearlescent PVA for the Watts-dots and finally mounted it all on Rich Plum card stock. Gorgeous, even though I do say so myself! Continue reading

Design Team Projects
Christmas Comes Early (for Craftwork Cards)

It’s another of my design team posts over at Craftwork Cards Blog today. Here’s a clickable gallery of the makes, and instructions are over at their blog.

 

Card Craft
Simply Stenciled Card (for Creative Expressions)

Simply Stenciled

I’m still playing with the stencils/masks from That Special Touch for my card this week – it’s the 6×6″ Art Deco Elements again. I wanted to make a classic white on kraft colour combo, and after a bit of trial and error, discovered that the Perfect Medium pad isn’t soft enough to get into the finer bits of the stencil. That’s where a piece of Cut ‘n’ Dry foam came in handy. I’ve also made a video of the process – I’m a bit rusty on the commentary side of things, my apologies. I’d love to know if you find the ‘live’ demonstration helpful.

And for the British spelling purists, this is also a stencilled card.

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3D Projects
St Nicholas Collection/House Shadow Box (for Jones Crafts)

Christmas for crafters starts soon enough, but for distributors and sample makers, it starts even earlier! This is the first of many I have been working on to be published – and is a little late as well. I blame the drying time… Anyway, enough of that, here’s Kaisercraft’s St Nicholas Collection of papers and stickers, their wooden snowflakes and laser cut tree, and House Shadow Box in a festive assemblage:

House Shadow Box

It’s a cracking set of double sided papers, some of which are designed to be backgrounds, others are vintage postcards and quotes ideal for cutting up and making into boxes, mounts and individual items for layouts. Others form great backgrounds for shadow boxes. The House itself is 30cm square with the roof on top and is pre-cut MDF which is easy to assemble. Here’s a gallery of close ups:

Other things you might need: Cosmic Shimmer Crystal PVA, Glossy Accents, Walnut Stain/Fired Brick/Peeled Paint Distress Inks to colour edges, Kaisercolor Raw Umber acrylic paint, Cosmic Shimmer Specialist Acrylic Glue, and Cosmic Shimmer Polished Silk Glitters for the tree. Oh, and lots of patience for all the cutting out!

Altered Art
Dainty Daisy Sparkling Plaque (for Creative Expressions)

Dainty Daisy Plaque

This 12×12″ canvas board plaque demonstrates the versatility of several Cosmic Shimmer products as well as the That Special Touch masks. Built up in layers, this is the perfect cool blue summer home decor piece to showcase your creativity with texture and bling!

For a full photo tutorial, click here.

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About me
New Art Journaling Session Announced @The Studio

FB-ArtJournalI’m starting to plan more sessions and workshops in The Studio, and will be trialling a monthly Art Journaling Session from 7:30pm to 10pm on the first Monday evening of each month. It’s a time set aside for you to work on a visual journal, which might be a record of your day, or your experiments in artwork or sketching, a means to express yourself in a private way, or something to show off and share.

I have a number of Stampington Art Journal magazines and art journal reference books for inspiration, as well as a few of my own journals. As a taster, the first session in August will be free (but please still book so I know you’re coming) so that you can chat more about what art journaling is about and what might happen during the session. After that, each session will be £5 to attend, and will include use of some materials as well as refreshments.

Please book via the Workshops page (tab at the top, or click here). And do email or comment below if you have any queries.