Dreamer...

HI Everyone 

Hope you are all doing good and you are having a great week 😊.  

As today is Thursday I'm over on That's Crafty's Blog sharing my weekly Guest designer project.  

Here's a sneak peak of my creativity this time using one of StencilGirl products© stencils ' 'Angel Circle designed by Kate Thompson. 

 'Dreamer' (as I have called her) and I would love for you to join us over there.

 You're just one click (here) away 

Hopefully we'll see you soon ..... 

Amanda

x

Forever Autumn - Guest Designer at That's Crafty

Hi Everyone and Welcome

I have some happy news to share with you today as well as a little creativity.

First the news : I have happily accepted a very kind invite to be a Guest Designer for That's Crafty! It was such a surprise to be asked and I am honoured to have been given this wonderful opportunity. Thanks so much Laura 😊

Now for the Creativity.... Today sees the start of a new challenge at That's Crafty and the theme this time is 
'Forever Autumn'-
 We would like for your creations to have an Autumnal feel to them.

I love the rich, warming colours of Autumn and the rustle of fallen leaves underfoot both of which provided inspiration for my 'Forever Autumn' tag

I don't have many process shots but I will take you on a tour around the tag.

The large tag which I did remember to photograph before I added all the extras is a That's Crafty MDF Tag. This one is a #10 but there are a range of sizes available that can be found here. They really are excellent quality, take mediums very well and are great value for money. I have used one of these tags in a previous project which can be seen here. 

The background was created using distress inks (Fossilised Amber, Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey , Mustard Seed...), Distress Resist spray, Wrinkle Free Distress technique, Iced Spruce distress paint and a brayer.

I love the effect of the Distress Resist spray and the brayer paint over the inks gives a kind of misty feel like we often get during Autumn .

There's some script stamping too - I used Tim Holtz Ledger Script with Coffee Archival ink. 

The small tag is a #8 Tim Holtz tag cut from mountboard, crackled with Deco Art crackle paint and coloured with a combination of Tim Holtz Distress paints ( Rusty Hinge, Fossilised Amber ) and DecoArt media fluids ( Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Transparent Yellow Oxide, Quinacridone Gold)

The Leaf is a That's Crafty greyboard leaf covered with a Distress Resist sprayed Wrinkle Free background. The same distress inks were used as for the large tag background with the addition of a couple more (Forest Moss, Gathered Twigs, Fired Brick). The leaf is embellished with a piece of Tim Holtz Ideology. The frame is a That's Crafty MDF Atc frame covered with Tim Holtz designer tape . The back panel that is purposely offset slightly from the frame is a piece of 'brayering off' palette paper 

and to the top left corner of this there's a sprinkling of mineral powder

Here's a close up of those fabulous speckles of white created by the Distress Resist spray ....

The broken twigs are from the gatherings of  recent 'wood walks'. They are bound with coarse fibres and add a 'natural' element to the tag. One sits at the top of the small tag

and the other, the larger one, sits above the sentiment

The large base tag is decorated with an old rusty can pull - again a 'find' when I've been 'stepping' out this summer. I always set out 'hands free' and almost always come home 'hands full'!  I can't resist a bit of 'Street Swag/ Boardwalk Booty' as I call it!  Sure you'll be seeing some feature in my future artwork.

The tag has great dimension with all the layers and chunky materials used

and I hope it makes you think of the Autumn/Fall season.

Full details of the challenge can be found over at That's Crafty challenge blog along with a gallery of inspirational projects made by the talented ladies on their design team.

I would like to enter my 'Forever Autumn' tag into the following challenges:
Stamps and Stencils- 'Its been a while'
Creative Artiste #42 Challenge : 'Anything Mixed Media Goes'

I'll be back tomorrow with a sneak peak of a project I have made for my GD weekly post so hopefully I will see you then and be able to tempt you over to That's Crafty's blog to see my project in full. 

Thanks for stopping by today. I really do appreciate you taking the time to visit, follow and comment.  

Hope you all have a lovely day 

Take care 

Amanda

x

How Can You Resist? - A Vintage Journey August 2018 Challenge

Hello Everyone and Welcome

Today we launch our new challenge over at A Vintage Journey and I will be your host this time with the challenge theme  

'How Can you Resist?

'There are many different products in mixed media that you can use to do a 'resist technique'- gesso, distress micro glaze, wax, embossing powders etc. We would like you to use at least one resist technique on your vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journalling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk project '.
I have created a mixed media canvas in shades of blue for my host challenge



As I will be sharing details of how I made this canvas over at AVJ on Friday !7th August I have just a brief account of the creativity and a few photos to share with you today.

I used a couple of Distress Oxides for the 'shades of blue' and 3 different products for the resist techniques

which were Gesso, an old favourite

Remnant Rubs - another old favourite .

and Tim Holtz distress resist spray (a definite new favourite)

I love the speckles of white the distress resist spray creates!

As you will have noticed I also added some stamping and texture paste stencilling

and of course a few of my much loved paint splatters

The focal feature was the sum of a few parts: a Seth Apter woodchip altered with inks and gesso, a square of ink/ resisted card, a crackle paint die cut and a glossy watercoloured butterfly.

All stacked on top of one another to add layers and dimension.
Both butterfly and woodchip were embellished with Tim Holtz Ideology.

My 'Shades of Blue' mixed media Canvas

I hope I have offered some creative inspiration for our 'How Can you Resist? Challenge .
If you haven't already be sure to stop by A Vintage Journey to see some of my fellow Creative Guides fabulous projects.

We hope you will join us in this challenge as we are looking forward to seeing your 'Resist' projects.
There will be 3 Pinworthy winners chosen at the end of the challenge and each winner will be awarded a pinworthy badge for their blog and have their work pinned to our pinterest board .

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
Craft Stamper Timi Challenge, August: Anything Goes.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I always appreciate you taking time to visit, follow and comment .
I wish you all a lovely weekend
Take care and keep on the happy side
Amanda
x

Rust It! - A Vintage Journey April 2018 Challenge

Hello Everyone and Welcome

Its good to be here again to introduce our new challenge that starts today over at A Vintage Journey. Lovely Autumn is our host this time and her chosen challenge is

'Rusty and Crusty!'

'Many of us love rust and enjoy looking for new ways to get tat authentic look of crusty peeling metal. For this challenge include some rust in your vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk project, whether it be the real thing, a faux technique or just a rust colour on your project.'

I have been in my 'happy place' using texture paste, paints and those fabulous baked textures to create an 'art panel' rich in texture, dimension, colour and rusty tones. 

Much like my last project I neglected the camera during the creativity so not many process shots to share but quite a few close ups.

  The background panel is a wooden plaque primed with gesso and roughly covered with the dregs of a pot of crackle paste. For the colour I used Tim Holtz distress stains and distress paints along with some DecoArt media fluids-- mainly rich warm tones. I couldn't resist sprinkling a few of Seth Apter/Emerald Creeks Baked Texture EP's around either. Patina Oxide, Ancient Amber, Deep Sea. Dirty Sand and of course Chunky Rust were all part of the creativity recipe.

The cracks from the paste aren't that visible probably due to all the layers of paint and stains

but it does create some great texture which the baked texture EP's loved melting into and on top of .

To create the rusty edges I used Rust it' paint by Pinflair .

along with a couple of DecoArt Media fluids

and yes you guessed it some Chunky Rust Baked Texture EP

which adds lighter rusty tones to the darker 'Rust It' paint aswell as some texture. 

The smaller panel is mdf covered with Sand paste /Grunge paste and painted with 'Rust it'.

I 'baked' again too using the same blend of flavours I had used so far - just look at them -whats not to love and that's even before they have seen heat!!! 

And when they have....

You can't fail to be impressed.

They really are so unique unlike any other EP's I have used previously

just what the creative world has been waiting for. To find out more about them be sure to click here, 

The centre circle is covered with an image from an old technical drawing book, lightly inked with distress ink and then triple embossed with Vintage Beeswax which gives a fabulous encaustic appearance. There are also sprinkles of Patina Oxide, Chunky Rust and Ancient Amber embedded into the melted beeswax.

For the finishing touch I added a few pieces of Metal hardware painted with rust it to embellish .

I hope I have offered some creative inspiration with my 'Rusty Crusty' project. If you haven't already be sure to stop by A Vintage Journey to view my fellow Creative guides inspirational projects.

We really hope you will be able to join in with this challenge as we always look forward to seeing your creativity and we appreciate that you share it with us .

Who knows you could be chosen as one of our 3 Pinworthy winners who receive a Pinworthy badge to display on their blog and have your art pinned to our Pinterest Pinworthy Board.

I would like to enter this into the following challenge:
Creative Artiste #37th Challenge : Anything Mixed Media Goes 

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today and stay with me till the end , for all your kind words and support and for all the follows . All are very much appreciated .

See you again soon

Take care

and 

keep on the happy side

Amanda

x

Winter Wonderland- A Vintage Journey December 2017

Hi Everyone and Welcome

Happy December to you all! According to the calendar The Christmas countdown and Winter season both start today and so does our new Challenge over at A Vintage Journey. Lovely Sandy will be your host this time with the challenge "Winter Wonderland'. 

Here's what Sandy says :

'For the month of December let's think of the season as well as the holiday with Winter Wonderland. As the song goes, sleigh bells ring, snow is glistening! Let's see some snow, snowmen, bare trees would be nice or some snow covered pines in the meadow. Whatever Winter Wonderland means to you in your vintage, shabby, mixed media; art journalling; industrial or steampunk style'.

I bought a Kaisercraft advent calender a fair few years ago now and had all good intentions to make it ready for the following Christmas but yes, you guessed it - that never happpened! So I saw Sandy's challenge as an ideal opportunity to finally unearth it from the undergrowth (my stash) and rectify my unfinished business of yesteryear. I constructed and altered the calender with paints, mediums and papers and created a Snowy Winter wonderland scene in the central window box . 

I got so caught up in the creative process that I didn't get any process shots but hopefully the photos I do have, will, with a little narration speak for themselves .

Kaisercraft make a few different styles of this sort of advent calender. I had trouble sourcing any on their website but I did find this link that shows you a few of the different styles available on the market. They all come flat packed so you have to 'self construct'- that is assemble the calender structure itself and each one of the 24 boxes. Believe me there were times when I thought I was going to 'self destruct' during this process when things weren't going as smoothly as I planned and I knew I had a deadline to meet but I carried on regardless in the hope that it would come together in the end - I think it did! 

The main Calender structure 

This was primed with gesso and painted on all sides (inside and out) with white acrylic paint. The outside walls of the structure were then painted with silver acrylic paint 

and crackled with White Deco Art crackle paint . Once the cracks start to form they reveal the colour of the paint beneath - in this case silver. 

The boxes

These were each adhered together before being primed and painted with white acrylic paint. I then selected 3 different papers that I thought would compliment the colours and tones in the focal paper - the 'winter forest 'that would set the scene for my Winter Wonderland. Only one of the papers is from a Christmas collection pad- the type print from Tim Holtz Christmas paper pad ,2017 release , the other two are from 'Engraver' paper pad by Prima Marketing. 

I cut them to size (8 of each paper) and adhered them to the front of each box, trimming around each of the box front indents by hand.

The Winter Wonderland 

I came across this fabulous 12x12 scrapbook paper of a wintry forest by Kaisercraft and knew it would be be perfect for my project.

I measured, cut and adhered the main panel in place and then because I'd cut from the middle of the 12x12 I was able to use the remaining edges of the paper for the sides and top of the window box ensuring I lined them up well to achieve a continual flow of the forest.

The base of the window box is covered with Tim Holtz Grit Paste and DecoArt Snowtex, sprinkled while wet with a little Distress Stickles glitter- just to achieve the odd twinkle and glisten here and there. 

The 2 gates are mdf, primed with gesso, painted with Tim Holtz Ground Espresso distress paint, DecoArt Paynes grey media fluid paint

and finished off with a touch of snow!L

Looks like someone's managed to snag a selfie ...

Meet Buster and his best pal Jake who have enjoyed a fun filled day cross-country skiing in the Winter Wonderland - ok Jake skied, Buster ran! 

Either way it was one of those 'Remember the Now' kinda days

Snow buddies forever!

My 'Winter Wonderland' project!

I'm not sure at present whether I will use this as an Advent Calender or as a storage unit, so have held back on adding numbers to the drawers until I have decided?? I'll keep you posted :) .

I hope I have offered some creative inspiration and that you will look to joining in Sandy's challenge. Be sure to stop by A Vintage Journey to see the gallery of wonderfully inspiring 'Winter Wonderland' projects created by some of our very talented Creative Guides.

As always at the end of the challenge there will be one lucky winner chosen by Random. Org who will receive our Sponsors Prize who this time is 

Andy Skinner

The Creative Guides will also choose 3 Pinworthy Winners who will not only win a Pinworthy badge to display on their blog but will also be invited to join us as a Guest Designer for a future challenge.

I would like to enter this project into the following Challenges:

CountryView Challenges: December 2017 Christmas

Creative Artiste Challenge #33 Mixed media 'Anything Goes'

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #43 'Believe' 

(Create a Mixed Media holiday project with your interpretation of our inspirational photo) 

The 'colour tones' and the 'glisten' in the photo were my inspiration

Emerald Creek Dares - Happy Holidays, Anything Goes 

Thank you so much for stopping by today, for your follows and for always being so kind and generous with your comments. It always makes my heart happy to know my creativity is appreciated. 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend

Take care

and 

keep on the happy side

Amanda

xxx