All you'll need is ....

Well I have to say it hasn't been the start to the year I'd envisaged, by now I would have been to the gym a 3 times a week, planned our meals weekly, dragged my husband into the study to start de-cluttering (we have different working styles, I like clean spaces and no clutter, he likes to be surrounded by piles of what appear to be waste paper). 

But no it wasn't to be the planned for January, that month of new starts, reflection, cleaning the decks, planning, setting goals in motion hasn't happened Instead the past two weeks have been sort of on standstill as I tackle my tooth abscess. It's finally going down (fourth lot of antibiotics) my face is almost back to normal as in not looking like I have a grapefruit trying to push its way out from the inside.  I'm still in some pain and achy, but no where near as bad as it was, thanks to everyone who has sent best wishes, social media is fantastic when you are cooped up in your personal pain riddled insular world.

Anyway enough of the maudlin. 

The past couple of days I've actually felt like I needed to do something, I'm not very good at standing or even sitting not doing anything, the mind starts churning, ideas pop in and the fingers are itching to "create".

The theme at the moment at PaperArtsy is hearts (ummm, I wonder why as we hurtle towards February)) and this is my contribution using a empty grapefruit tin, PaperArtsy paint, some card, Grunge Paste, embossing powder, rusty wire , ribbon and string. Yes I know I sound like Lesley Judd but as a kid I loved Blue Peter especially when they did craft!

The tin was painted with Little Black Dress all over and then I stippled Grunge Paste that had been mixed with Cherry Red. Over this I stippled Burnt Orange, Garnet, Plum, Chartreuse (just a little bit) in various places. Lots of water was spritzed and paints allowed to drip to soften.  I then went to town adding texture and contrast used a variety of embossing powder.  I used some WOW powders, Frantage and Distress to get the effect and colour I wanted.  I just lightly sprinkle pinches of powder onto the tin, have the heat gun very high up until it starts to stick and then move in closer to melt.

The hearts were stamped using Emma's new stamps EEG13 and EEG15.on a master board using the same colours (and lots of background stamps) on the tin. I really love the circles, that squiggly graphic really appeals to me.

I couldn't decide whether too stamp in white or black, I'm glad I went with the white, it looks good and I think it makes the hearts stand out more than the black. I used some rusty wire for the stems attached with some staples.

In the can is some flower arranging foam so that I can stick the wires into it,  Finally some ribbon and string around the can for more texture, I wasn't sure whether to add this last element as it would cover up the can, but it works.

 

So there we go, and in true Blue Peter style "I'm sure anybody would love to receive such a beautiful gift on Valentines Day"

Hugs

Jo

XX

Sara Naumann inspired or how many stamps can you get on a page!

Ive always loved Sara Naumann's Eclectica range from PaperArtsy and when she posted this great idea for using the stamps with photo's on the PaperArtsy blog this week I had to give it a go.

I've got quite a few of my photo's already printed, some I've altered using online programmes such as Pixlr, Instagram or Hipstamatic, they all give great filters, borders, sizes and effects.  It can be quite addictive!

 

So the instructions from Sara were really simple and you can read them and watch a great video here.  I thought about creating a book, but I'm really enjoying using my 12x12 scrapbook album for creating and storing so a 12x12 (well 11x11" so it fits in the book!) it was.

I started with the photo and the tissue paper.  Rather than stamping all the stamps in black I went with ones that I wanted to frame the photo in black and the others in Pale Ochre and Monarch Orange Archival.  In hindsight I still find the black to prominent and I wish I'd gone with my gut instinct and used Watering Can for a more softer look - I can always try again cant I!

Picking up the colours from the photo I used London Bus, Tango and then Cheesecake Fresco (in that order) paints on the soft yellow card stock.  I used an old credit card to scrap the paint onto give that shabby look. 

Using Sienna Archival Ink I added more of the Eclectica stamps.  The Sienna looks really bright when wet, but once dried it faded to this lovely soft terracotta colour.  I edged the card in Rusty Hinge Distress Stain and stuck it onto some really old paper (I love that I'm starting to use up my paper for this scrapbook) edged in Rusty Hinge. 

Stuck the central panel on with foam squares just to raise it up a bit and then around the edges I melted some WOW  Gold Satin Pearl embossing powder and some Fran tage ochre colour fragments to add a different texture and tone.

The tag was cut from spare card, inked with Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo Distress stain and then the music stamp and  the reflections stamp added.  Some hemp string added for yet another texture.

Really pleased with how this turned out and it's definitely a technique I'll try again with more of many photo's.  I do wonder whether the middle layer of card stock needed some black stamping to mirror the stamping on the image, but I worry whether it would be too much and distract from the central panel, but at the same time it might anchor it all. We'll see I may add in later after I've lived with it a bit. 

Hugs

Jo

xx