Preparing for DLP 2015!

Inspired by the gorgeous makes by Miscanthus Crafts (Clare Lloyd) for the Documented Life Project 2014 I have decided to take part this year. Looks like Catherine is too - check out her cheerful cover here. 

It starts on 1st January but I was itching to get started and in particular, get going with the new fabulous stamps I got for Christmas from my (not-so) Secret Santa. Thanks Stamping Grandma! 

Working on the outer and inner covers, here's what I've done. I have chosen to use the small size Dylusions journal. Looks like the DT will be using the large size but as I already have a large one I didn't fancy another just for this work. Plus, whilst I adore my big journal, sometimes it's just too big! For me, this year the DLP is to keep me crafting - a smaller page is FAR more likely to get filled rather than me putting it off and never getting round to it.

The front:

The back: 

The inner cover:

Looking forward to Thursday now to get started...

Ombre tag technique

'Ombre' seems to be everywhere at the moment - cakes, hair, crafting! So for my recent meet up with craft pals (our once a year 'Craftathon') I chose the ombre technique as my make-and-take contribution. We had a hefty amount of crafting to fit into the day, so here's the tutorial for those that didn't get to finish off.....and anyone else that fancies having a go. I first learnt the technique from Craft Stamper magazine.

So this is the kind of thing you'll be producing.

You can choose any three (or more) Distress Inks of a similar colour palette. I chose yellows as they blended well with the manilla tag I used as a base.

I used:

• Scattered Straw
• Mustard Seed
• Wild Honey
• ...but you can of course use any inks as close or separate on the colour spectrum to achieve the particular effect you are after. 

STEP 1: Decide where you want the darkest portion to be (in this case the bottom of the tag) and apply the lightest colour in circular motions, fading out as you get to the opposite end from where you started. I used Scattered Straw.

I chose not to take colour right to the end, but that was because of using yellow as already mentioned. 

STEP 2: Take the next darkest colour (Mustard Seed in this case) and starting again from the same area which will be darkest on the finished tag, swipe in straight strokes about two thirds of the way along the tag. 

STEP 3: Take your final colour which is the darkest hue (Wild Honey here) and again in straight strokes from that same starting point apply ink to about one third along the tag. 

You now have a blocky, almost stripey effect. Don't worry, there's one more step. 

STEP 4: Pick up your lightest colour again (Scattered Straw for this project) and go over the whole tag in circular motions to blend it fully. 

Once you are happy with the blend you can go back in with the darker colours if you would like to. I put a little more Wild Honey on this one.

STEP 5: Lastly when it is completely dry (naturally or with a heat tool) you can stamp or heat emboss a focal design to finish the look. I used opaque white as I like the contrast it gives. 

For other ombre inspirations take a look at what comes up with an 'ombre art' search on Pinterest.

Distress Techniques Book

A couple of weeks ago I spent a lovely day at Art From The Heart with pal Catherine on the 'Distress Techniques' workshop run by the amazingly talented Kaz Hall. What a day!

I have about 7 pads of distress ink and know there's lots you can do with them as a medium but don't really do that much with them....so an ideal workshop to attend :)

We made this lovely tag book using a different technique on each one. On the reverse I've stuck the instructions Kaz gave us which outlines how to achieve each effect - good for future reference.

I do get rather over-excited at workshops as I only get to attend a couple a year. So I'm very grateful to Sandra who was sitting opposite and noticed that the example tag book was in 'threes' so said she was only changing colour combo every three tags. Genius. Mine may have been a bit all over the place if she hadn't said that.

So, onto the book. Here's the finished article. I added the charm and links when I got home, plus finished off the last set of heat embossed tags as we didn't get that far in the class.

**Disclaimer: I have no idea why some of the photos are in random orientations and I can't seem to fix it!**

THE FULL BOOK AND COVER:

THE INK TECHNIQUE TAGS:

THE DISTRESS PAINT TAGS:

PLAYING WITH THE STAINS:

AND FINALLY INKS AND HEAT EMBOSSING:

(the green one has distress embossing powders, the others use translucent lilac shimmer embossing powders)

(a close up - tag was inked, then embossed with the lilac shimmer but you could also use clear, then inked around the edge on top once dry)

Smash book from gelli prints

As promised from the last post, here are the photos of the finished smash book - just asking to be filled. The front cover on once stamping and embellishments were added. The bottom layer is a yellow and green acrylic with gold 'Golden' paint to give a sheen:

 

Inside front cover:

 

 

Gelli printing experiments!

This Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending a workshop at Art From the Heart on gelli printing, run by the very talented Kate Crane.

It's a while since I've been on any kind of workshop and although I haven't got a gelli plate I wanted to do something that would fit with my current favourite branch of crafting....art journalling. And what can I say - it was ace!

Working in a pair with craft pal Catherine, we got to grips with how things worked and got a bunch of good (and not so good) prints.... but what a great learning experience. After lunch we turned our faves into an item of our choice. I created a smash book.

So, now for the onslaught of photos. You have been warned!

Ready to go:

First prints - using sail boat blue toned down with another colour I can't quite recall.

Adding a second layer to two of those first prints.

Going for a striking one layer look on textured card:

This one I love!

 

 

Cogs on top of trees - honest!



And then I cut down and mounted one as a cover.... added stamping and embellishments. Really trasnforms it.... oh dear....can't insert the image. Well, more on this later folks!

A few projects...

Here's a selection of the projects I have been working on recently. I was so taken with the canvas techniques I was introduced to at Craftathon and intrigued by the world of Art Journalling a la Kate Crane that actual cards have taken a bit of a back seat.

So this is what has been on my workdesk....

A butterfly inspired canvas:

A fairy canvas

A card using an acrylic block as the 'stamp' - just stamp on distress ink direct to the block, spritz with water and stamp (as featured in Craft Stamper magazine). It took a few attempts!

(Oh dear, can't get it landscape....it is a landscape card!)

Again inspired by Craft Stamper - experimenting with acrylic paints:

Craftathon 2012.....and a new direction!

This afternoon I got back from "Craftathon 2012" where I met up with some CMLI pals for the weekend. What a great trip and I got to try out a whole bunch of techniques I've never tried before. Thanks to Kathy, Cherry and Clare for being patient whilst cries of "I'm stuck, what do I do now" were uttered from my direction.

Here's the canvas panel I made using distress inks, gesso and loads of 'found' objects. I am itching to have a go at another panel so will probably be purchasing some supplies very shortly. This is a new direction I'd love to go in....

We also made charms using shrink plastic. It's totally scary the way it shrivels up under the heat gun and I just know if I had tried this on my own at home I would have thought I'd done it completely wrong rather than needing to heat it MORE!

Kathy has a full run down on the weekend on her blog.