Tuesday 27 February 2018

Cog Wall Hanging for Samantha K Gifts

Today I would like to share another piece I have made recently for Samantha K. I absolutely love cogs so was really excited to receive her beautiful cog tags to play with.

I decided to team the mdf tag with a long plaque to create a wall hanging. The first step was to cover them all with black gesso.  


To add a layer of interest behind the cogs I used a clocks background stamp, which I inked with versafine, stamped, and then added Mica Boss to and heated to turn it sticky. 


Next came the really fun part- gilding flakes.

  I always get in such a mess with these but I do love the effect they give so it's worth getting gold fingers for. 


I used Deco Art fluid acrylics to create a rust effect over the top layer of the tag and also the main plaque.


To finish off  I added a piece of chain, and a quote from Sheena Douglasses Time Traveller range of stamps, which I heat embossed. A discarded piece of waste cable from my husbands tool box provided the perfect wire to hang it. 



 If you haven't already then do consider joining the Samantha K Facebook page and sharing your mixed media creations with us there. You can find it here. We would love to see what you are working on. 

Bye for now

Lynda 
x



Saturday 17 February 2018

Mermaid Plaque for Samantha K Gifts

So, a little while ago I hinted that I had some exciting news, and today I am sharing it with you all here. I was recently lucky enough to be selected to join an incredibly talented team of crafters as part of the design team for Samantha K Gifts. Excited was ( and still is!) an understatement! Sam makes the most beautiful and intricate MDF laser cuts that are an absolute delight to work with. 

This week Samantha K has launched some brand new designs and made her debut appearance on Hochanda ( for those not from the UK- this is a craft shopping channel over here) . She totally aced it and the show was pretty much a sell out. Amazing!

Today I am sharing with you my first project I made. I literally squealed with delight when I saw the mermaids in the box and had to play with them first. 


I used the long plaque as my base and applied a coat of gesso to start. 


I knew I wanted lots of texture, so played about with papers and fabrics and glued them to the base once I was happy. 


Next came some texture paste. I used a bubble stencil and an Andy Skinner word stencil with this. 


At the base of the piece I added a generous layer of black texture sand and then played with the layout of my mdf pieces. 


Once I was happy with my placements I sponged on acrylic paint 


Then I glued on my mermaid, bubbles, net and anchor and set to work with spray ink and shimmer sprays- because every mermaid needs some bling right?


I stamped some fish, added some clay shells I made, glass beads as more bubbles and some stones to the sea bed and finished off with gilding wax to highlight the mermaid and other areas. 












I really hope you enjoyed my little tutorial and it's inspired you to treat yourself to some of these exquisite pieces to create with. I will be back with another project very soon!

Lynda
xx

Monday 5 February 2018

Happy Birthday Paula!

Today is my eldest sister Paula's birthday, so I thought I would pop by and share the card I made to celebrate the occasion. 

Paula is not only a very talented teddy bear artist ( you can check out her work on her All Bear website), but she's now embarking on a totally different creative journey and teaching herself to draw, and a lot of her art at the moment is fairy focused. So with that in mind I decided to create a magical card for her using my Lavinia stamps and distress oxide inks. 



The postie has safely delivered it on time so I know I am free to share it. I'm pleased to say she was thrilled with it and tells me it's earned a place in her keepsake box. I am honoured!

Have a great birthday sis!

Love

Lyn
xx

Saturday 3 February 2018

Princess and the Pea- New Release by Julia Spiri

Today I am bringing you the happy news that Julia Spiri has released a brand new colouring page/digi stamp and she's a beauty. I love the traditional fairy tale The Princess and the Pea and so was really happy to colour her up. However, my happiness is a little tinged with sadness, as this is my final project as a member of Julia's design team. I have been with Julia on her journey into the world of digital stamps from the start, and have been so pleased to see her success, but it's time for me to take up some new challenges myself. I have some exciting news to share, but that's for another post so stay tuned!

Julia is hoping to release the colouring book containing this image via Kickstarter and has some great packages on offer.  If you are interested in backing her project then you can find the details here

I coloured the image with Sheena Douglass Sparkle Pens and Zig Watercolour markers. I created a simple layout using fairytale papers and embellishments from my stash. 


Challenges:



Thank you so much for having me on your team Julia. It's been great fun!

xxx

Friday 2 February 2018

Mixed Media Mirror- Creative Artiste February Challenge DT Post

Today I am pleased to be sharing my piece for the February Anything Goes challenge over at Creative Artiste Mixed Media. I had so much fun with this one using a technique I haven't played with in a long time. 

This month we are kindly sponsored by DecoArt


What a prize!!!

I started with a cheap Ikea mirror, which I removed the mirror tile from in order to avoid it getting damaged. I used various cut pieces of embossed card and laser cut elements and set about designing my layout. I wanted something feminine yet a bit steampunk/grungy for this project so chose fitting embossing folders. 


I added some tin foil to add extra texture, and chose a broken necklace to finish the design off with. 

 Once everything was stuck in place ( except the necklace as that was for later) The fun really began. I painted the entire piece in gold, bronze,  red and hints of blue until it was totally covered. Then I added some stamping randomly using Archival ink. 


Then I covered it some more- with a bitumen solution. Yep that's right, as in tarmac! This is a technique I learned quite a while ago from my friend and craft tutor Karen Clare. You can read more about it on her blog Karen's Little Gifts and Cards ( do have a poke around her page- she really is very talented and inspirational) . 

I helped the drying process along with a heat gun because I am impatient and like to get to the magical part. 




With a soft cloth and white spirit I gently lifted away the black solution , and kept going until I was happy with the grungy effect it gave. 






Finally I used Pebeo gilding wax to highlight the texture, and adhered the necklace to the top before gluing the mirror tile back in place.


I really hope you enjoyed reading my tutorial and you feel inspired to have a play yourself and enter this months challenge. 

Challenges I am entering:



Good luck!

Lynda 






Thursday 1 February 2018

February Crafts Galore Encore Challenge DT Post- Fabrika Fantasy

It's February already. Christmas seems long gone and hopefully the dreary weather will soon be gone  and  Spring will be here before we know it. My card today for Crafts Galore Encore's February Anything Goes challenge has certainly made me think of brighter days that's for sure.  

This month we are sponsored by the wonderful  Fabrika Fantasy. I love their mythical images and just had to choose a dragon to work with as they are my favourite. You can find the digi, called Flying Elf here.  



I teamed it with a background digi stamp from Make It Crafty, merging them and adding a sentiment in Craft Artist, and then coloured the card with promarkers and copics.


Challenges:



I do hope you will join us and enter the challenge this month. It's a nice and easy one as anything goes so whatever your craft you can play along. 

Bye for now.

Lynda 
xx