A little bit of Shabby Chic,my style.....

I stumbled across Elaine's mini challenge out there in blogland....how on earth did I miss her blog...I mean, I am on her design team and I have known her through crafting for quite a while now...a lovely,lovely lady....
So Elaine's Mini Challenge is Shabby Chic and entries must be altered art/mixed media...so here is my entry....

I started off with a wooden tray, a few freebies from a lady who owned a craft shop,she was going to bin them,so I begged them off of her.

For my project I used  one with 4 compartments....

First I  gessoed the whole piece,then painted it with Kaisercraft acrylic paint, I mixed a bit of white with pistachio green. When that dried,I dry brushed white paint over the whole piece,although the photo dosen't pick that up very well.

Next I decorated each compartment with some vintage paper from Graphic45...a Tim Hotlz doll and a few other bits...added lace,beads and flowers to the corners.

To finish I used a couple of screw in rings and found some matching lace in my stash to use to hang it up as you can see below.

Hope you like it...I'm going to hide it from my daughter...once she sees it,she will want it,lol....

You can find Elaine's Mini Challenge HERE.....

Sweet little Tag

I rustled up a little Tag for the challenge over at TAGALONG....
The theme over there this week is Spots & Dots.
The background of my tag was coloured by spritzing acrylic paint over some water colour art card....then inked using sequin waste in 2 different colours and sizes.

I stamped the bird on the branch, leaving enough room for the sentiment, which dosen't seem to be showing up too well in the photograph.

I also stamped a little bit of a floral design to one side and then added the ribbon

Hopefully the photo below will show the verse a bit better...

Do pop over and have a look at the Tagalong Challenge, you can find it HERE

She loved to fish....

Another great challenge over at Artistic Outpost....as always the theme is Anything Goes, but the rules are you must use their stamps.
Well I am a great fan of their stamps and of course I have entered their January Challenge.
My project is an MDF Tag....

I primed the Tag with gesso, then I got a tad messy with some acrylic paints, then set it to one side to dry....in the mean time I stamped the Fisher lady and the sentiment on to cream card, then coloured the images. I stamped and cut out an extra section of the grasses on some spare card that I had painted in a lighter shade of green

I masked the Tag so I could add the grasses in dark green acrylic paint directly on to the tag....then once that area was dry I added the fisher lady. Once she was glued in place I added the extra grasses that I had previously stamped.

The over all effect I wanted was for the grasses to be higher up the lady's leg.

I used a light gold gel pen and high lighted the grasses, also used a few scribbles across the page ( I rubbed the pen marks in to the paint) to give it a light shimmer.

Finally finishing the Tag with the sentiment, button and a few highlights with platinum gilding wax.

You can find this challenge over at Artistic Outpost

Create a Scene

Over at Crafty Individuals they have a great theme for January's challenge...
"Create a Scene"...I have several Crafty Individual stamps, but only a few that I could make a scene with...well, I could use a selection of different stamps,but I chose to go with this set....

This piece of wood had a rubber stamp attached to it, over the years I have removed most of my stamps from the wood, it measures 5.5" x 4.5"

First I gessoed the wood, then painted it in cream acrylic paint. Once dry I then used a selection of acrylic paints for the sea, sand and sky....just swiping the brush across the block.

I put the block aside to dry...

I stamped the row of beach huts and the bathing belle on to some thin cream card, coloured them and then cut them out.

I used one of the verses and randomly stamped around the edge of the block.

I then adhered the images to the block...on reflection I should have put the beach huts slightly lower.

To finish I used an orange glitter pen and scribbled across the sand and while it was still wet I rubbed across it...I just want a light sparkle on the sand...I also did the same, although slightly less, for the sky.

To add the sparkle to the water, I used stardust stickles very sparingly and rubbed that lightly across the water...then I dried that with my heat tool, so the moisture in the glue wouldn't spoil the paint.

Once it was completely dry I lightly went over areas of the water with some platinum gilding wax.

Unfortunately,the light being so bad the sparkle didn't really show up ,so I resorted to laying the piece down flat and used the flash on my camera to light up the sparkle.

You can find the challenge here....Crafty Individuals   

Postcards & Letters Tag

Another week, another challenge over at Tagalong
This week the theme is postcards & Letters.....I have several stamps that I could have used...but a few days ago I was having a sort through my stash and found these in the bottom of my drawer.

To be honest they must be years old...I have no idea who they are made by either as the outer packaging wasn't found.

Anyway, they fitted the theme and I so love the postman cherub....

You can find the challenge HERE

My Tagalong Challenge Entry.....

I made another Tag....loved the background I created using the pinks and red acrylic paints and seeing as I have some card left I've used some for this tag.
This time though the Tag is for the challenge over at Tagalong Challenge where the theme is Washi Tape"...such a good theme too.

I used my Harlequin style stamp to give the tag a bit more of a background...then added 3 vertical strips of Washi Tape and then added 2 shorter musical strips horizontally on the top right of the tag...I tore the edges rather than cut with scissors

I fussy cut my cherub and rose....added some lace, ribbon and sticky back pearls.

A closer view of the Washi Tape.

You can find the challenge here at Tagalong Challenge

Make a Tag

Make a Tag...that's the theme of the January Challenge over at Lost Coast Designs....so I did,lol.

I had fun making this Tag too...Just before christmas  I created some backgrounds on some large pieces of card. All different shades, some blue,green and yellow, and others orange and green, but this colour was my very favourite.

I used 3 different acrylic paints in differing shades of pinks and red...also a couple blobs of cream acrylic...swiped it all over using an old bank card.

For this particular Tag, I added some cream corrugated card that I swiped with Pickled Raspberry Distress ink...I also used the same ink around the edge of the Tag.

Then I used the "Swimsuit Girl", which is one of Lost Coast Designs own stamps, a requirement for their challenge is you must use their stamps.

I then added some string type mesh and scrim before adding the drift wood and shell.

The sentiment,which is part of the stamp I used on a scrap of my background card, cut it with a circle punch so I could use it as the centre of the flower.

I painted the hat in pickled raspberry ink and also shaded the girls skin slightly....

You can find the challenge here at....

Lost Coast Design Challenge

Please be aware you must use their stamps to be eligible for their challenges.

Recycled Tag....

I've had a clear out in my craft room this afternoon, halfway through I remembered I'd not made my Tag for Mandy's challenge.
I missed a few in the later part of 2014, so I am determined to make sure I don't miss as many in 2015
Here's my Tag.....cut from a complimentary christmas card sent by Butlins,lol....

I went over the image lightly with gesso, then set aside to dry. Once dry I stamped over the whole tag using a selection of images.

I trimmed about  an inch off the bottom of the Tag, making it 5" long.

 I stamped  the image on to thin cream card, coloured and then fussy cut it.

I found some sport ticket images in my stash which I trimmed and added to the tag.

To finish I added the stamped image, the tickets and the little forgotten memories sentiment.

The edges of the labels and tag has been distressed using Frayed Burlap distress ink.

Mandys challenge ends on the 7th January, so still time to enter.

The theme is anything goes,you can find her challenge here....Tagalong Challenge

Design Team Project

Happy New Year Everyone...I hope you have a wonderful 2015.

Over at Rhedd's Towers we have a new design team, also a change to our rules & challenges.
I'm really excited to have the new teamies on board, as well as keeping Sammy Jean on as admin.
We will now be featuring one of our teamies to blog mid month with a tutorial on how they made it,or some other technique they would like to share with you.
Do pop over and have a look at the new challenge, which you can find here Rhedd's Creative Spirit Challenge
The design team have created some wonderful projects for your inspiration.

For my design team project I altered a bottle. They were room fragrances, you know the type with the oil and sticks, in fact I bought 2 as they were so nice,they lasted 18months would you believe and the fragrance lasted until the very end....they were quite expensive, but as it turned out,well worth the money and I ended up with 2 bottles to play with.
The bottles are such a fabulous shape so I altered one as my first project for 2015.

This is what I started with, although as I progressed I replaced some items.

The image of this gorgeous lady was printed on to image transfer paper, which I then ironed on to muslin....you'll see in the photo below how lovely this turned out, it has a canvas effect...something I didn't expect.

I padded the back of the image with another layer of muslin and some white felt, I wanted to keep the image fairly flat. Then I pulled a few threads around the image to distress it a little.

I started to cover the middle of the bottle with hessian, some linen and some lace before adding the image. 

For the embellishing, I added the flower, beads and ribbons, securing them in place with hot melt glue....then I added a beautiful stick pin that had been sent to me in a swap some time ago.

I had originally planned to use a glass stopper for the top, but it just didn't look right, I needed it to be a bit more dramatic, so I found a cream porcelain drawer knob that I had in my stash and it fitted just perfectly.

I would love to see you over on the challenge blog....you can find it here Rhedd's Creative Spirit Challenge