Friday 30 May 2014

Week 10 - The Craft Barn Quotes & Lyrics Challenge

We've arrived at week 10 of the Craft Barn Quotes and Lyrics Challenge and the prompts this time are the words passion and music.

I bought a Gelli Plate a couple of weeks ago and thought it was about time I peeled off the packaging and covered it (as well as me!) in ink. I have used a couple of the resulting prints for this week's challenge but I haven't got much idea what colours of Paperartsy Fresco paints I used  - I just kept adding colours. I do know there were a lot of bottles to put away when I'd finished!

I'm using a postcard format for this year's challenge and here is my quote for "passion".


Postcard Recipe
Card/Paper
Anna Marie Designs High White 300gsm
Xerox Colortech +
Copier paper 90gsm
Ink/Paint
PaperArtsy Fresco paint
Archival Ink - Coffee
Distress Ink - Vintage Photo
Stamp/Stencil
Finger stamps - Deep Red Clingstamps - "Point the Way" (SKU 3X404408)
Alphabet - Hero Arts Signature Lowercase Letters LL931
Stencil - That Special Touch "Honeycomb"
Other
Computer generated words - "Addict" font

I have never been interested in art journalling and this weeks offering has answered my "why not" question - I really don't like my handwriting on the projects I do! My perfectionism kicking in - sadly nothing I make is perfect in my eyes!

I've chosen "Don't Stop the Music" by Lionel Ritchie for my lyric this week. It's a good few years since this stamp saw the light of day but it seemed to fit the bill.
 
 

Postcard Recipe
Card/Paper
Anna Marie Designs High White 300gsm
Xerox Colortech +
Black card
Ink/Paint
PaperArtsy Fresco paint
Archival Ink -Jet Black
Distress Ink - Vintage Photo
Stamp/Stencil
Lovers - maker unknown
Heart - foam stamp
Stencil - Crafters Workshop - TCW202s Mini Harlequin 
Other
Treble clef die - Marianne Creatables LRO167

Thursday 22 May 2014

Better Late Than Never!


Way back in the mists of time, at the beginning of January to be precise, I had yet another birthday and here finally are the beatiful hand crafted cards I received.
 
The first one came from an old work colleague, Lynn.
 


All the rest of the cards came from my lovely buddies at Cardmarking Paradise and this first one is from Sara who owns and runs the website. She has used one of her own templates to create the card and you can find it on the website 

Sara

 Glennis

Annie

Christa

Heike

Hilda

Jill

Marion

 Sheel

 Pam (Nanna)

 Linda

All so very different from one another. All so beautiful.
Thank you so much.

 







Friday 16 May 2014

Week 9 - The Craft Barn Quotes & Lyrics Challenge


The given words for week 9 of the Craft Barn's Quotes and Lyrics Challenge were "fame" and "unique."

In football parlance, it proved to be a game of two halves! For my lyric postcard  I chose "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News and the first chorus. (It's a bit long so I just used the first two lines) 

You don't need money, don't take fame
Don't need no credit card to ride this train
It's strong and it's sudden and it's cruel sometimes
But it might just save your life
That's the power of love
That's the power of love


What was in my head didn't all together transfer to the card. I wanted to blur the credit card word, Hello magazine logo and money into the background as  "you don't need money........." but it looked too stark after painting over with Nougat Fresco so I then went over it again with a mix of Nougat and Mud splat. By now it was  looking very messy but I didn't have time to re-do it so I've had to go with it. I have to say it looks a lot better on the scan than it does in real life!


Postcard Recipe 
Card/Paper  
Anna Marie Designs white card
Copier paper & card
Inks/Paints
PaperArtsy Fresco's - Very Berry, Dolly Mix, Nougat Mud Splat, Stain Glaze
Claudiine Hellmuth - Matte Multi-Medium
Copics
Other
Images downloaded from internet
Gold pen
Words computer generated - Tropical script BTN Bamboo font

I was really happy with my second postcard for a quote containing the word "unique". It all went according to plan and I didn't even get an inky finger mark on it just as I was finishing which is often the case.


Postcard Recipe
Card/Paper 
Anna Marie Designs white card
Copier card
Inks
Distress Inks - Broken China, Worn Lipstick, Frayed Burlap, Mowed Lawn, Barn Door, Tumbled Glass
Memento Tuexdo Black
Copics
Stamps
Jasmine - Stampotique
Butterfly - Crafty Individuals
Other
Words computer generated - Asenine Wide



Saturday 3 May 2014

Week 8 - The Craft Barn Quotes & Lyrics Challenge

Firstly, thank you to those who have visited this blog to look at my projects over the past months and to those who have left comments - they're very much appreciated. I do try to get round to some of the other challenge participant's blogs but time seems to always be at a premium. So I'm sorry if I haven't visited yours yet.
 
We're now onto week 8 of the Craft Barn "Quotes and Lyrics" challenge - the year seems to be racing along! You can find the challenge details here. The words for this week's challenge are "hurt" and "knowledge".

As in the previous weeks I have made two postcard size pieces - one lyric and one quote. I envisage that these could (but will not) be sent in the post and therefore the finished article needs to be flat. My scanner has dulled the colours on both my cards but they are more vibrant in real life.

I added an "s" to hurt which is permissible within the rules and used a favourite song of mine, "Everybody Hurts" by REM. A simple Distress Ink background with added stencilling and stamping. The girls were stamped and cut out.  
  
Postcard Recipe
Card
Base card - Anna Marie Designs Super Smooth Printer Card 300gsm
Xerox Color tech +
Inks
Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Shaded Lilac, Old Paper
Versafine Onyx Black
Stamps/Stencil
Background swirl - Crafty Individuals CI 182
Girls - Crafty Individuals CI 283
Dots - Stamp Addicts
Copic/Promarkers
Mini Harlequin - Crafter's Workshop stencil
Other
Words - computer generated - Century Gothic font
Black Zig drawing pen

My first card was pretty basic but my second was much more time consuming. Last weekend I went  to Lin Brown's Artful Canvas workshop at It's Crafting Time. It was a fabulous day and Lin is such a lovely tutor. I haven't quite finished my canvas so cannot show it yet but I thought, for my postcard, I would use the bumping technique we learnt to keep it fresh in my mind. I'm sure some of you will have seen Leandra and Lin demonstrating this at shows and they make it look so easy! If you haven't, its using a stencil to lay down the first coat of paint and moving the stencil just a fraction and then painting with another colour which gives you just a small shadow effect. It's not as easy as it looks - well, not for me anyway.

I covered my base card with a book page and painted matte medium over the top, applied translucent paint, then stencilled on some white dots before painting over the top. I stencilled the leaves before adding more dots. My quote by Bertrund Russell is not showing very clearly but it reads "There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge". I think I can vouch for that by the amount of time I surf the net!


Postcard Recipe
Card/Paper
White base card
Book page
Black card
Paints
Claudine Hellmuth Studio matte multi medium 
Black Eco-Friendly acrylic paint
PaperArtsy Fresco paints - Snowflake, Pumpkin Soup, Smoked Paprika, London Bus, Toad Hall
Stencils
Crafter's Workshop Mini - Microbial
PaperArtsy Lin Brown design PS002
Other
Words computer generated - Typewriter font