TMC 11 Canvas

It’s time for our new challenge over at The Mirror Crack’d, a canvas.

I am lucky to have the most amazing team and they regularly put me to shame and today is not exception. I wish I had half the talent they have, but alas I just keep plugging away. Compared to them my canvas is very basic. However, it was still an effort for me to make it, so if you don’t think you can do this sort of thing, be like me and at least give it a go! You never know, you might surprise yourself.

I started with a 7x 5 canvas because my main focus was going to attempt to be the face, and I didn’t want it lost on a larger one. I cannot draw to save my life so without the help of the fantastic Paperbabe Templates and Stamps I wouldn’t even have managed this, lol.

I started off by applying four shades of Distress paint to the canvas and then spritzing with water to get them to blend into one another. When it was dry I used the ‘short and fringe’ template to draw the basic shape and then painted over it with white titanium paint. Then I used the head and fringe templates to draw the basic head shape and her fringe. I gave everything apart from the hair a layer of Lyra Aquarell crayon in the palest skin tone, working up in tones to give some shading and definition. I have to be honest this was hard on the canvas because of the texture of the canvas and the wax crayons didn’t want to glide to easily over that surface. However, as the colours wipes off quite easily I was able to keep going until I was happy with it. The downside is that it still isn’t permanent even now!

The beauty of the Paperbabe system is that it also comes with stamps for the features. So I next did the eyes. I can see they are ever so slightly skew whiff, but as I used a permanent inkpad they were pretty much there and stopping there, lol. I opted for the plain circle around the iris to do the pupil, but there are many shapes in the stamp set including a lined one that looks very like a natural iris.

Next I tackled the hair. I did a rough wash of pale brown and then just added layer upon layer of Aquarell crayon to give some highlights to the hair.

The lips came next, not my finest hour, lol, and finally the nose… I had a great laugh initially because my nose looked like a moustache! But I finally managed to get a semblance of a nose, minus moustache by persevering with some polychromos pencils for shading.

The sentiment was stamped onto tissue paper with memento inks and then mod podged onto the canvas. I think the sentiment is apt, because you don’t have to be The Mona Lisa to be Awesome!!!

The white stars are texture paste through a stencil and the little gold swirls I used my immense talent, LOL, and drew in myself. I added some highlights in her hair with the gold pen I did the swirls with, and also under the sentiment.

I wish I had the talent to draw and/or paint, but failing that I highly recommend this system as the next best thing. Whilst she may not be the Mona Lisa, compared to my normal attempts that look like a five year old with broken fingers has drawn a stick figure, this is truly a masterpiece, and I am sure that with practice I could get better!

Just to add that I made the mistake of blanking out the coloured background with plain white acrylic paint, and I think I would have had a much more obliging surface if I had gessoed out the background.

At the risk of embarrassing myself I am entering this into:-

2 Creative Chicks – #28 Anything Goes
Altered Eclectics – July: Anything Goes
Craft My Life All Crafts Challenge – June/July: Anything Goes
Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge – July Take A Stamp Anything Goes
Crafty Individuals – July: Face Value
Decorate To Celebrate – #103 Anything Goes
Frilly and Funkie – July Something To Say
Left of Centre Creative Challenges – #85 A Splash of Paint
Rhedd’s Creative Spirit – July Anything Altered Art/Mixed Media Goes
Stamplorations Stencil Sunday and July Mixed Media Challenge – July Anything Goes
That’s Crafty – Wish Upon A Star

ABC M Magnolia

Our challenge today at ABC is M for Magnolia. We would like to see your creations that utitlise either Magnolia stamps, Magnolia Die cuts or Magnolia papers.

I have gone for Magnoila diecuts.

My image is from the fabulous new Flights of Fantasy double CDRom from Crafters Companion which incorporates the amazing artwork of Morgan Fitzsimons. The papers, apart from the pale matting layer are also printed from the same cdrom. I printed my image and then coloured her with copics. I glittered her wings. The peacock and the lace effect frame around the image and beneath my sentiment are all Magnolia DooHickey diecuts. Flowers and stamens are from my stash.

I am entering this into:-

Cards and More – #135 Dots
CD Sunday – Flitter and Flutter
Classy Cards N Such – #91 The Colour Purple
Creative Craft Cottage – #42 Spots or Stripes
Cuttlebug Mania – Sentimental Journey
Die Cuttin’ Divas – #222 Anything Goes
Doodle Pantry – AIMPDC7 Anything Goes
Glitter N Sparkle – #143 Sentimental
Ike’s World – #41 Fantasy
Magnolia-licious Tuesday Challenge – Things With Wings

DV 109 Girly

We are sponsored at Dream Valley by All Dressed Up for our current challenge, Girly. I used Abi Ballerina, one of my favourite ADU digis.

I coloured her with my copics, and I’ve given her red hair, because she put me in mind of my Daughter when she started ballet lessons as an infant, and a teal tutu cos I just love teal. My papers are a combination of a freebie from Create and Craft as part of one of their club member gifts, and Bo Bunny for the stripey pattern. The gems were clear and I coloured them with the darkest of the teal copics. Butterflies are from Joycrafts and Marianne with the little pearl backs having been coloured with the dark teal copic. Flowers from Wild Orchid and the corner decoration is part of an Anja die which I have cut down to just three prongs instead of the 9 or so in the original die.

I am entering this into:-

Addicted to Stamps – #107 Bingo, Middle Line Top to Bottom, Flowers, Stamped Image, Punches/Dies
Chocolate, Coffee and Cards – #93 Use Pearls
Crafty Calendar – June: Fancy Folds
Crafty Catz – #284 Different Coloured Hair
Fab ‘n’ Funky – #264 Gorgeous Girls
Kitty Bee Designs Aloha Friday – #50 Birthday
Kraftin Kimmie Wonderful Wednesday – Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly – Oh so Pretty
Stamping Sensations – June: Dies and Punches
The Paper Shelter – #208 Make It Digital

ABC L for Lace

It’s time for a new challenge at ABC and we would love to see all things lacey as it’s L for Lace. We are sponsored by The Paper Shelter and I have used one of their fabulous images entitled She Is Charming.

I coloured her with my copics. Papers are from Prima and the flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts. The large oval die behind the lace and image is from Spellbinders and sadly I can’t remember what I used for the top right corner! I’ve sent it off to someone now so can’t check.
I am entering this into:-
Aud Sentiments – #133 Bingo, Either top row, Ribbon, Flowers, Markers or Left Hand Side, Ribbon, Patterned Paper, Die Cut (two options in case you don’t think that lace edging counts as ribbon!)
Chocolate Baroque – #11 Colour Challenge
Digi Designs – Use Die Cuts
Doodle Pantry – AIMPDC6 Anything Goes
Everybody Art – #328 Card for a Girl
Fairytale Stampers – #57 Anything Goes
Glitter N Sparkle – #141 Include A Die cut
Southern Girls – Tic, Tac, Toe – Top Line: Lace, Patterned Paper and Roses
Stamping Sensations – June: Dies and Punches

TMC 10 Shadow Box

I can’t believe we are already in June, mostly because we have been having October weather here in the UK. Cold, wet and very windy! Anyhow over at The Mirror Crack’d we have a brand new challenge for you. We would like to see your take on ‘Shadow Box’. Do please pop over to the blog to see the awesome things the team have created.

We are sponsored by the Fabulous Woodware Craft Collection.

I fully intended to take lots of pics with this one, but life has just been too busy and to be honest I forgot until I was nearly finished.

Anyhow my shadow box is really small, it’s only 6” square in total and the aperture is just 4” square, so was actually difficult to stamp inside, and even more difficult to apply texture paste!

I started off with gesso and then painted with a couple of shades of dylusions. I did have  lovely underwater weed stencil but it was way too big to fit in the tiny centre so I created my own, several times, from a Magnolia Doohickey die and some thickish card. I made my own colours of texture paste by mixing distress stain and the paste. Getting the texture paste spread in such a small area was difficult, my tools were all too large and then I remembered all the old credit/debit cards I had kept in case they might be useful! They make excellent spreaders, particularly in small tight spaces.

I also added some along the bottom edge of the frame part of the box. When it was all dry I stamped inside and all around the edges with a combination of Designs by Ryn stamps and Sheena Douglass stamps. Again this was difficult in the tight space I had to just press down with my fingers as there was no space for a stamp block, or at least not one that had tack and peel to hold the stamps in place. Also I should have stamped prior to adding the paste, not after.

My turtles are from Susana Love’s Stamps. I coloured them both nice and bright to stand out from the otherwise sea blue/green of the rest of the project. I also glazed them to give the look of being under the water, and then stuck them in with lots of dimensional glue so that they were proud of the background weeds and stamping.

The shells were in a jar I had been saving for something special. They are a lovely blue cloudy porcelain.

This is my idea of Summer heaven, being anywhere near the ocean!

I’m entering this into:-

2 Creative Chicks – #27 Anything Goes
Altered Eclectics – June: Anything Goes
Berry71Bleu – June: Stamp It Up
Craft My Life – June/July: Anything Goes
Craft Stamper – June: Texture
Eclectic Ellapu – June: Pink – Anything Goes
Mixed Media Mojo – June: Summer (I didn’t use the twist)
Our Creative Corner – June: What Makes you Smile (the ocean)
Rhedd’s Creative Spirit – June: Anything Goes
Stamps and Stencils – June: Small Is Beautiful
The Artistic Stamper – June: Summer is on it’s way

CCM 140 Stitching Faux or Real

Our challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers today is stitching. Your stitching can be real, or faux.

I used to embroider a lot on cards, but just got out of the habit. I had forgotten how relaxing it is to sit with the tv on in the background embroidering on a piece of card!

I cut a pretty mat out of one of the latest Heartfelt Creations paper pads called Peacock Paisley and pricked the butterfly pattern into the side of it. I then stitched it with 6 strand variegated cotton from a matching colour family.

I matted it onto some toning paper from the same pad.

I added glitter in turquoise and blue to the swirly parts of the feathers, and little gems in the eyes of the feathers. I also used a sakura stardust pen to highlight the flower, and added an orange gem to that. A couple of gems finished off the butterfly and finall I added a small sentiment from the same pad.

I am entering this into:-

A Gem of a Challenge – #145 Flowers
Crafty Catz – #281 Springtime
Crafting When We Can – #95 Bling it Up
Fairytale Challenge – #118 Feathers and Wings
Little Claire’s Monthly Challenge – #57 Outdoors
Moving Along With the Times – Texture (Embossing and Stitching are both textural)
One Stitch at a Time – #238 Anything Goes with Flowers
Stamping Sensations – May: Flower Power
The Paper Players – #247 Tic, Tac, Toe Middle Row top to bottom, Blue, Embossing, Patterned Paper

ABC K For Kritters

Our challenge to you at ABC for the next two weeks is Kritters. We are sponsored by Sherri Baldy, and I have used one of her cute images for my card.

I coloured her in with copics. My papers are from Nitwit Designs, and the little cat buttons I have had in my stash since Adam was a lad!

I am entering her into:-

Crafting With Attitude – #5 Anything Goes/Spring Fever
Crafting From the Heart – #62 Anything Goes

Crafty Creations – #290 All Creatures Great and Small

Crafty Gals Corner – #21 Critters

Cute Card Thursday – #275 Too Cute

Fun With Shapes and More – #183 Pets

My Besties International – #11 Always Anything Goes

My Time to Craft – #294 Domestic Animals

Send a Smile for Kids – Anything Goes for Kids

Simply Papercraft – #5 Anything Goes

Suzy Bee’s Bloomin’ Challenge – #82 Anything Goes With a Twist Bright and colourful