A glitter thing

I've definitely got a glitter thing on the go at the moment . I've been using the Imagination Sparkle Medium which comes already mixed in a paste and can go straight through your stencil as well as the Cosmic Shimmer Clear Texture Paste through the stencil and then pouring glitter onto the images once the stencil is lifted.

I love the way you can combine different colours and then matching the glitter with my coloured card stock. It really sings on a black background.  I've added a few black pearls to the one below to break up the space.

PaperArtsy Chatsworth Paper Collection

So anyone who follows the PaperArtsy blog will now know that they have (hooray) released some new papers.  I loved their Thorndon papers which are now sadly discontinued.  They were such good quality and these are certainly on a par. They go beautifully, not only with Lin Brown's range of stencils, stamps and new Fresco Limited edition paints but also the rest of the PA range.

Once again, I've been so lucky to have a play. I can HIGHLY recommend them.

The set of ATCs below uses a combination  of PaperArtsy stencils (old and new) and I used one of the many PA script stamps on the paper as background.  You can see that this paper echoes the diamond stencil.

The paper below echoes one of Lin's new stencils

I used Lin's ELB04  plate and the new Fresco colours to stamp up some flowers on black card and used on of the quotes from ELB05 as well as some lace from my stash.

Twinkly stuff

Just recently I bought some Sparkle Medium from Imagination Crafts.  It looked gorgeous put through stencils on their stand and it certainly lived up to it when I had a go at home. I used 2 different colours of Sparkle Medium put through their bay leaf stencil.  It gives a lovely two-tone effect.

PaperArtsy Guest Designer Week 4 Part 1

I'm back on PaperArtsy today for my final week as part of the guest designer team.  Just by chance it's PaperArtsy's 10th anniversary this month so there lots of extra happenings and giveaways on the blog as well as specials over on the shop website.  Don't miss Monster Monday if you're a fan of PA products.  Bargains to be had every Monday evening and they sell out very fast.

My first offering is an extension of a project I did last month, the shrink plastic bracelet which you can see here.  I thought it would be fun to have a box to keep it in.

If you want to see the full instructions, hop over to the PA blog here.

Guest Designer Paper Artsy Blog

Yep - don't fall over like I nearly did. For the next four months I will be joining some well known artists from the mixed media/stamping world as guest designer.  Thanks to Gillian and Leandra for asking me.  I've virtually lived on the PA website and blog recently, they have so many wonderful products and  I know I'm going to enjoy myself.

My first piece up tonight is made using one of the small hanging boards.  Hop over here for the intro and here to see the full project.

Happiness is reflective....

Sue Carrington is the inspiration for the challenge this week over on the PaperArtsy blog.  She has created the most gorgeous canvas using PA products - it's really worth a look just to see the techniques she's used even if you don't take part. It certainly inspired me to have a go!

This is a much larger area than I usually work on and I have no idea what made me grab this 8 x 10 canvas but I seem to have managed to fill it.

I stencilled using Golden Fibre Paste (Grunge Paste is on my wish list!) then painted the whole canvas with white acrylic and Fresco Cinnamon mixed together for an off white shade.  Once dry, I added Tinned Peas, Guacamole and Pumpkin Soup (sounds like a strange meal!) I made sure each layer was dry before adding the next shade in order to avoid grunging up the colours. I added some stencilling and added the "bump" technique.  (Sue's is WAY neater than my version).  Some stamping was added with a random word stamp.

At this point I went off in my own direction as I couldn't use any of the stamps Sue used.  I've had this wonderful oriental gent for years.  He's about 18 cm/7 inches high and a lovely detailed stamp.  The dies are all Memory Box and the quote is a years old label from my stash.

I edged the whole canvas with Hyde Park and added some gold Liquid Leaf gently across the top to add some highlights.  You can just see the effect here.

I really enjoyed making this, but I haven't quite decided whether it's a complete mess or it works.

InLinkz.com

#3UP

A couple of weeks ago I wouldn't have had a clue what that meant but having met up with all my blogging friends at Ally Pally I finally got sucked into Twitter and we've been chatting ever since.  Then this tag suddenly appeared  - #3UP. No one knew what it was but apparently it was a good thing to use and a few days later it became clear that the #3UPers were entered into a draw to receive a mystery parcel containing 3 items which we had to incorporate into a project.  Today's the first day and they are appearing all this week on the Paper Artsy blog.  You can see mine here along with the 2 other #3UPers chosen today.

Of course, I forgot to take photos of my 3 items. Item 1: two 4 x 4 pieces of greyboard; item 2:  a square metal embellishment (above); item 3: two Vintaj metal discs.  Really the whole thing was an experiment in textures and paints.  I used a Crafter's Workshop harlequin stencil and put Golden Fibre Paste through it on the outside and then covered it in various Fresco paints. The words come from a Lynne Perella plate which I used throughout.

The shell stamp is from the LP plate as above.

Two more of the images from the same plate coloured to match.  I used another stencil here for the background.  The two Vintaj metal discs were stamped and coloured with the shell stamp and used to hide the brads that hold the hinge in place.

Thanks to the guys at PA for letting me take part - it was great fun!

InLinkz.com

She went forth...

I've been playing with my stash from the Ally Pally show.  Most of the products used here are from PaperArtsy including the hanging itself.  The main image was stamped on Crackly Tissue and coloured on both the reverse and the front with Fresco Acrylic Paints.  The hanging has some stencilling on the left hand side and was then painted with more Fresco paints. The shells were stamped on card coloured with Distress Inks.  Both the main image, shells and words are covered in beeswax.  I had right fun adhering the main image to the hanging.  I ended up using a mixture of all sorts of glues/glazes and beeswax lol.  

The words just popped into my head and seemed appropriate.  I thought afterwards I should have used the stamp that came with the plate and it would then have said "She went TRUE NORTH with the wind in her sales." lol

InLinkz.com

Just playing..

It's still feezing here so I'm quite happy to hibernate with my craft stuff.  My Hobbycraft had some Tim Holtz dies on sale (yes really!) So I snapped up a couple including the hanging sign.  I couldn't find it any cheaper - even on the internet.

 The tag is was cut out from one of my inky backgrounds.  I put Golden's Micaceous Iron Oxide through the leaf stencil (similar to Viva Ferro).

Here's a close up on the flower. The leaves are Memory box covered in platinum UTEE.  The seam binding was dyed to match. The flower was cut from a thick felt with a Spellbinders die. I also lightly brushed the leaf  with Versamark and embossed it with some platinum UTEE as well as running the UTEE round the edges.

Follow your (He)art

I really enjoyed making this tag... it just came together.  It's a slightly strange colour combo, not one I would normally use and I'm not sure it would be everyone's thing but as the sentiment says "always follow your ART."  The actual stamp is an Andy Skinner and it should say "always follow your HEart" so I cut off the "h" and "e" and now I have a stamp I like much better lol.  I'm also entering for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge which is Water as there was a lot of spraying and spritzing in creating the backgrounds.

Here's a close up of the flower.  Not sure why it looks so blue...