Wreaths

Wreaths aren't just for Christmas.
Here are two that I've made, the poinsettia one is definitely Christmas, but by not adding a Merry Christmas I could hang it any time.

Here's the Poinsettia one:

I used a wreath from the MDF man, they are lovely to work with and paint easily. The hanging hole is already drilled to make things easier.
I started by painting the wreath gold.  I then cut the poinsettias in 280gsm smooth card using the Blooming Poinsettia die from Memory box.
Using the emboss it clear dabber by ranger (much easier than versamark for larger areas)
I used Frantage aged scarlet for the "flowers" and aged hunter for the leaves. The beauty of using Frantage is it is a mixture of sizes and colours and gives a lovely mottled effect.  The centre was embossed using moonglow embossing powder in dandelion. The moonglow powders are two tone and give a delicate shimmer.
It was finished off with some red pearls.
It can also double as a table centre with a candle in the middle.

Like this (just tuck the ribbon out of the way)

Here's one with a more summery feel:

The base was painted with cream acrylic.  The leaf stamp was carved by me. I took a lovely class at the Stamp Attic with Kate Crane . Kate is a wonderful teacher and we had great fun playing with her hand carved stamps, so I was inspired to have a go.
I stamped it in silver acrylic paint.
The flowers and leaves are by Samaflora (you can order them in any colour and you name the flower and Sam can make it for you).
The leaves have been inked and dipped in UTEE, the flowers have been dipped, glittered or gilded.
The butterflies and trails are punched and die cut.


They are great fun to make and would be fabulous as a present. Do give it a go and if you do make one please leave a comment so I can come over and see it.

Happy creating Lynne x

Marble rolling

Well, Autumn is here and it's conker time.  I used to do conker rolling with paint to create backgrounds when my daughter was small.

A few years ago I did a workshop at he NEC with Marion Emberson and we used versamark reinker and marbles to create a great background.

Here's the one I've just done :

I used WOW embossing powders Nice Ice blue and Princess Pink (the pink has a slightly opaque texture, which works nicely with the translucency of the blue).

Last weekend I went to a demo hosted by Addicted2craft  by Sheena Douglas.  It was fantastic to watch, listen and be able to ask questions.  Sheena showed us her glycerin, embossing folder and heat embossing technique.  This got me thinking about a cheaper way to create the marble rolled background.  I found myself another jar and popped some marbles in (fortunately my daughter, who's now grown up hasn't taken all her belongings away yet, so I didn't have to go out and buy marbles).

Here's the result :

The trails are thicker and the embossed powder isn't as sparkly, but I like the effect.

Thanks to Marion and Sheena for sharing ideas that sparked an idea. x

Book Folded Birdcage

I've just discovered the new to me craft of book folding, it's great fun and adds another dimension to my crafting.

After folding the book (there are lots of tutorials online to get you started) I sprayed the whole book with Glorious Gold from Oak House studio.

Using the Fiskars AdvantEdge ironworks cartridge I cut the bottom border out using gold card.

For my focal point I cut a bird using the Fiskars Fuse bird die with a letterpress plate from self adhesive cork.

Then I added leaf vine ribbon

To decorate I used white flowers from Samaflora.  I chose white as I wanted to have a play spraying and painting them myself.  The small flowers were on wires, which meant I could slide them into a fold and glue them in place.

I have always loved blue poppies (a happy memory from my childhood).

For the hanging loop I used a large bead and a bead cap on wire

The finished decoration

There are a few butterflies in places as I felt the need to add butterflies (one of my favourite embellishments.

Thanks for dropping by Lynne x

Owl Box card

I have a friend who struggles to craft now as she has a problem with here eyes and can no longer see if something is straight.  So we get together and create cards for her. We say designed by Rita and assembled by Lynne.

At the end of last month it was her daughter's Birthday at the end of last month so we made a card together.

With postage costs going up all the time I'm really taken with the box cards that fold flat.  Like all of us we both have lots of things we've kept for that special occasion. We found some lovely Owl toppers from a Dawn Bibby collection.

As the pop ups had a silver edge we opted for silver foil card and embossed it with a small flower folder.

We then added pink gems to the flower centres, silver peel off corners and Happy Birthday peel offs.

The front of the card.

The back of the card.

Thanks for dropping by

Lynne

Mask Storage

I don't know about you, but it's normally spring when I tidy and de-clutter.  The other day I was looking for a particular mask and spent half an hour searching!   At a show I'd seen an envelope book and thought what a good idea and that's as far as I got, until now.

I cut 5"x5" squares from paper I'd gone off that had a white back.  It was a lovely sunny afternoon so I got my Oak House studio sprays out.

Ready to spray :

Spraying in progress :

Not liking to waste ink I had my watercolour pad next to me to blot the excess off the masks, before they were put in a bowl of warm water. I now have a lovely background to work with too.

I have the WRMK envelope board and lots of papers (who can't resist sale stuff?)  I made the envelopes 6"x7", scored at three quarters of an inch from the closed end and cut the top flap off.

I wanted to be able to add to the books, you can never have enough masks, so decided to use book rings.  To do this I needed a hinge, what better material to use than grunge paper. It's flexible and takes ink so well and can be mistaken for leather once inked, embossed and gilded.

This piece was inked in fired brick, vintage photo and frayed burlap and then put through an embossing folder :

Then inka gold was added :

This was then used to create the hinge for my background masks:

inside the album

I made two more albums using the same techniques, one for scene masks and one for my Christmas masks.

I won't spend as much time searching for a mask, now they're organised and I didn't buy anything extra to make them.

I have some 5"x 8" stencils that need a home, so that's my next project.

Thanks for dropping by Lynne

Cheer you up card

I like to send creative cards to people for various occasions.
This one was made as a thinking of you / cheer you up card.

The base was a sprayed background using Oak House Studio, Inks in a bottle.

The tile was stamped using an Oak House Studio stamp Thoresby Square positive. I inked it once and stamped four times in midnight blue, not inking between stamping.  Bronze pearl detail powder was sprinkled on and tapped off. It didn't stick everywhere, the shabby look was what I wanted.
A stamped heart ( a RAK from an ATC swap) was tucked in the corner.

I wanted to add a metal embellishment, first of all I tried a heart charm.

 I wasn't happy with the look so tried a different charm and layering on wood.

I liked this combination, but thought the wood a bit plain, so I painted it with turquoise acrylic ink (Oak House Studio, now do acrylic inks). They colour beautifully, I used one coat so you could still see the grain.

 Then it was matted onto copper pearlescent paper and a craft card.

I was going to add a quote but decided to step away.

Thanks for dropping by

Lynne x

The challenge over at Less is More this week is "I do like to be beside the seaside".
Unfortunately I was to late to enter the challenge, but wanted to share my card with you.

My favourite place to be, is by the sea.  This stamps I used are from Indigo blu and called "Under the sea".

I used flitter-glu, Lancashire rose, morris dance and Yorkshire dales flake along with some micas in shades of blue and green.

Thanks for looking Lynne x