Shiney things

Hello everyone, how's today going for you? I'm looking forward to the weekend where I will be playing on much bigger scale. My niece wants her bedroom walls Ombré style with blue white, and I'm going to do it for her. Eeeeek! It's ok though because she has seen a version on You Tube which has a more prominent change in colours. I wish myself good luck!

Moving on to bright and shiny things, Leandra from Paper Artsy says this, about the theme this month on the blog:

Topic 2: Shiny Stuff

Over the next fortnight....it's time to get in touch with your inner magpie! We are exploring metals, mica, beads, wire, jewellery, paint effects, Treasure Gold, in other words, all things shiny, rusty or metallic. Closing date for this challenge is 5pm on the 8/2. There is some fab inspiration on their blog which you can see here. I'm entering this project into the challenge.

As many of you may of gathered I love shiney sparkling things. I love jewellery that sparkles, and will often wear clothes that's have a touch of shine or sparkle on them. However, it doesn't often cross over to my projects. I'm more drawn to messy and grungy. 

I like to experiment with different techniques and materials as Im still learming about different products in their original form, and there is so much to learn!  I sometimes envy those that have had this magic in their lives longer. The know which product is best for a desired effect, and know how to 

think outside the box, to produce really authentic stylised art, their way! Other times I tell myself just 

enjoy the ride for there is no destination just a continual journey.

That journey has led me here today to share my project with you. With shiney on my mind, I saw on Sam's blog the rusty metal stuff she has been creating and a small wall plaque came to mind.

I started with a stencil and grunge paste on a small board. 

I cut some more board to provide a hanging piece, and using a script stencil and grunge paste added some texture.

Now I forgot to take photos sorry I got carried away! However, I painted the boards with black gesso and then gave a coat of quinacrindone gold and when dry rub in Patina Antiquing Cream and let that dry. With a moist cloth I rubbed away the cream which gave a nice aged look to the board.

the butterfly I gave two coats of quinacrindone gold. I also added touched of rust paint and let it dry. I next applied a coat of the Antiquing Cream in Umber and when dry, rub off with a moist cloth. Once both piece were completly dry I buffed them with a dry cloth and then as Leandra's says tickled them with some Treasure Gold in White Fire. I added it to all the texture and the edges.

I used my hole punch to make holes in the cards and attached the bottom card to the top with beads as a spacer. I added two more holes at the top so that I could hang it. 

Ta da! 

Thanks for your visit take care out there. Especially those with snow and very cold weather.

Bye for now Debsxxx

New Monthly Challenge

Welcome to the first challenge held on my blog. I'm so excited about being able to share some DecoArt products with you all, and hope you can regularly take part.

It is a Mixed Media challenge that focuses on the 12 signs of the Zodiac. Each month I will bring you  new inspiration to help your creatively flow.

The rules- I will add these to a separate page for easy reading.

You can use any brands for your projects

Any substrate.  

Your project must follow the theme of the month. 

Please explain in your blog Post what your inspiration was and how it influenced your project. 

State you are entering your project into the challenge and link to the challenge on my blog - 3 challenges in total please. Most importantly this challenge is for my followers only. So please hit the follow link before entering your project to the challenge (if you are not yet following me) and leave me a comment so I know you have visited:)  Thank you.

The winner will be picked by random.org, and sent some DecoArt  goodies and because it's the first challenge I will also throw in some stash. 

Starting Next Month I will be choosing a top 3, one of whom, will be asked to be part of the inspiration for the following month. You will also receive a badge for your blog.

To add your project hit link at the bottom of this post, please ensure that you only link to your project as if I can't find it, you won't be entered. Thank you for helping with this, also please turn of word verication. If you are having problems with spam consider using comment moderation which stops the spam but allows people to quickly leave you a comment. 

Well that's enough waffle so to our first challenge which is,

      

Hope these get you thinking 

First, I was so pleased that the brilliant Sam from Sam21ski agreed to make a project for our opening Post, and the Lovely Mo from So Much To Learn also known as MassofHair agreed to make a project to post next week, ooh exciting! I'm so grateful to both of them for their encouragemet and support. 

So here is Sam's fantastic project. 

                 

                                                                                            

                                         Freydoon Rassouli

            And now a journal Page I've been giving sneak peeks to over the last few weeks 

                                                      and another Video coming soon! 

        

So good luck in the Draw, closing Date15 th Feb. The winner will be announced with the New Challenge on 20th Feb. Have fun!

Bye for now Debs xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

Stamp stamp stamp!

Evening peeps, welcome to my Sunday evening. It's nice that you have taken the time to visit me. We are all so busy, so finding time to visit others can be difficult. I hope you enjoy my journal page. I feel quite excited when I look at it, which Is something I don't often experience when I look at my art. Yet get a lot looking at all your wonderful creations.

Yesterday I used a Julie Nutting Doll blank side up once she had been cut out. I really liked the idea and so thought I'd play with it again. 

I am going to enter the page into the Craft Stamper Challenge. On their blog they say this

'Take A Stamp'

 So.....get stamping and entering! You will be amazed at the prize on offer for one lucky randomly drawn winner..... Brace Yourself.... See for yourself here

I cut one out and stamped over the White with Black Archival using the eye from IndigoBlu stamp plate Take time

For my back ground I used Dina Wakley Acrylics on my 6x6 Gelli Plate. I was using my small Dyan Reavery journal which I bought for another project but I love it so much, I cannot stop using it :).

I toned it down using Chalk Fresco Acrylic from Paper Artsy; this has become my favourite white paint and my go to bottle sits on my desk permanently. I used a Brayer as Demoed by Leandra a while back as I love this technique and find myself using it more and more.

I also used a Lin Brown Stencil to create some circles. I sprayed shimmer yellow and purple.

I stamped a border and some dangles using Black Archival with some of my own stamps made from fun foam and hand carved.

Next came my doll, I thought about how to present her and came up with this.

I then added some flowers from a Darcy 09 plate, again in Black Archival. I chose to leave it uncoloured.

To balance the page I used another smaller Tag. Both Tags had been painted with DecoArt blackboard paint. They had a nice Matt finish.

I added some flower die cuts the bottom flower from Paper Artsy and the other from a packet of mixed  flowers.

I stamped a flower spray from JOFY 14 and coloured it white. I repeated the theme of the other Tag.

I added my sentiment and some bubbles to tie the page together, and I kept them black and white to add balance.

Some shots from different angles, I love these and will be printing some off.

Here is the full Page

Take care out there! See you soon

Debsxx

Couldn't think of a title

Evening everyone, thank you for your visit. Phew! This week has been so busy, and has gone so fast, I've only just started started to slow down.  I planned to play all afternoon but only manged a couple of hours as I felt so tired. Hopefully I get some time tomorrow.

I was tempted by the Craft Stamper challenge this week. On the blog it say this

Take A Stamp An 'Anything Goes' Challenge, but your entry MUST include stamping!  All the details, and lots of eye candy from the DT can be found HERE!

And the new That's Crafty challenge looks like fun. On their blog they say this

Our theme for this challenge is 'Tick Tock' and we would like to see anything relating to time please. This Challenge will run until 7.55am on Friday 29th January 2015. See the details HERE!

So with these in mind I sat in the craftroom with a coffee and the let the ideas grow. I chose to start with a large #10 Manila tag which I had used last week to clean my stencil.

I tore some Damask tissue paper and Chatsworth  from Paper Artsy and stuck it to my tag 

I sprayed greens and blues from Lyndy stamp gang spray paints and when dry used distress 

stain sprays in the gaps. And as with so much of my art lately a quick spray of DecoArts spray acrylics in White.

I stencilled some clocks randomly to add another layer using Archival Ink in Potting Shed. 

Next some text in the same Ink. 

Once this was dry I added more clocks in Black Archival . The stamps are 1D08 

from Paper Artsy and Take Time from IndigoBlu

That was my background! I needed something to stand out as a feature.  I rummaged in my scrap basket and found some card that had been sprayed when I was just playing. On this I stamped a doll from Julie Nutting and then turned it round. I used some Plum Fesco Acrylic around the edges of the tag to warm it up a bit. 

I used the clock stamp with cream versamarc on the doll stuck her down and then on the same paper wrote my sentiment in a white pen.

My finished tag

Thank for popping in. Don't forget to come back on Tuesday for start of the new challenge I'm hosting once a month.

Take care for now 

Debsxxx

Altered Calendar challenge with Darcy

Evening everyone, I hope all of you are doing okay, and that you enjoyed your Sunday. This morning I went swimming, 360mtr which is 20 lengths at my  local pool. I Then cut my OH's hair before I had time to play; but once I played I enjoyed myself so much, thanks for the challenge Darcy.

Darcy has started a new 'just for fun challenge' using a calendar which you alter to the prompts each month. You can read all about here.

Here is the first month of my calendar 

You had to leave some of original picture showing, add crackle and paper. Like Darcy I started with a thin layer of Matt Medium. 

I set about blocking in some of the picture with black Gesso

I sprayed DecoArt Media spray in Red and Shimmer mister  Yellow letting it drip. On the black the colours aren't  as vibrant but this what I hoped to achieve as I didn't want it taking over.

I loved how the spray caught the face which I had whitened with Translcent white Media Fluids also from DecoArt. I then used  Hansa Yellow and Quinacridone Gold, which I applied with my finger rubbing the colours in here and there. 

I needed to add some crackle so applied Weathered Wood in several areas and dried it with a heat tool.

I wanted to keep the same colour theme and so thought I'd experiment by spraying the Media sprays randomly over the glaze I was amazed how fantastic this turned out.

Next I added some book script to the skirt and painted it in Plum Fresco Paint from Paper Artsy . I didn't like how it looked so added some rough lines by using Grunge Paste also from Paper Artsy Once dry I gave the skirt another coat of the Plum. 

I used a Fude Pen which Dina Wakley recommends to add some details. 

And here is my finished piece.

I really enjoyed creating this page and I hope you like it too. Thanks for your visit.

Take care Debsxxx

...falling is just another way to fly.

Hi everyone, thank you for coming to see what i've been up to this week. On Sunday I got to play,! so, using the new products from DecoArt, which I was lucky enough to recieve * I decided to do a tag to enter the that's Crafty blog challenge.

On their blog it reads

'Our theme for this challenge is 'Blue is the Colour', so we would like to see the colour blue somewhere on your projects please. This Challenge will run until 7.55am on Friday 16th January 2015.'

And Elizabeth at dragon's dream TIO (tag  it on ) challenge blog says

I've chosen the first theme of the New Year of Turquoise and Bling, and as always at least one real stamp on your tags.

So I gathered my paints starting with turquoise and Colbot blue hue, and squirted some on my 6x6 Gelli Plate. I love this size as its so easy to use on tags and smaller creations.

I then used a damask mask and white acrylic 

Once this was dry I added a coat of one step crackle glaze and heat dried it. You do get a much better result if you let it dry naturally but it was fine for what I wanted.

I then painted the swirls in silver acrylic and when dry used Wendy Vecchi's crackle paste in a bird stencil and then one from Lin Brown at Paper Artsy. 

I rubbed antiquing cream in burnt umber into all the cracks and once dry rubbed clean just leaving the cracks more accentuated.

Around the edge I applied rust paint which when dries gives a real rust look.

I applied treasure gold to the crackle paste to give it a metallic look.

Next came a sentiment which is a quote by Emilie Autumn.

I added a little definition to the crackle past and words and added the bling to make it sparkle.

 * the paints, crackle glaze and Antiquing Cream were from DecoArt given to me through the Out Reach Bloggers Programme.  However, any opinions are my own :) x

Thank you so much for your visit. Please take care out there,  I know the weather is getting really bad in some areas. So looks after your selves! 

See you all soon 

Debsxx