I seem to be making a habit of squeaking in my Dragons Dream TIO Entry at the very last minute don't I. Tsk Tsk... I really must try harder. Truth be told I made my tag on Sunday but by the time I came to photograph it on Monday morning I'd gone right off it. I realised the tag I'd used was too big so that all my pieces were rattling around a bit. I decided to cut my losses and start again this morning and I'm much happier with it...
Obviously I went for the phrase "On Cloud Nine"
I LOVE the puffer fish balloon. He's one of my all time favourite PaperArtsy stamps. The cutting out was quite a feat though, I can tell you!?
Can't wait for the next challenge now. One of the plus points of being so late with my entry is I've only got to wait until tomorrow!! :oD
Just wanted to share a few pics from Crafting at Ally Pally yesterday. It was such a great day and the stand seemed to be really busy ALL the time. It was so much fun and I feel really lucky to have been there. Apologies as they're not great quality. I managed to forget my camera so these were all taken on my phone AND I had to manoeuvre around the crowds.
Here are the two Alisons (Butterfly and CraftyTrog) at the demo stand. Just look at all the gorgeous products behind them too... Sadly, not NEARLY enough of them came home to live with me (sniff!) but I did manage a fair few ;oD. Butterfly made so many fabulous tags. If you check out her blog over the next few days I'm pretty sure she said she is offering them as a giveaway.
Emma with the makers and takers
Starting to get busy....
Here's Leandra doing her thaing with Bistres (just arrived), Fresco's, Treasure Gold and lots of lovely PaperArtsy stamps...
Decisions, descisions..... It was lovely to hear everybody ooh-ing and aah-ing over the stamps, the new paints and all the great products.
Here's Alison setting up. She made some great tags and she even let me keep a couple (Thanks Alison).
Lots of laughs, lots of art and a bag full of goodies to bring home too (actually it was TWO bags; I went back for gorgeous Bistres and a jar of Golden Tar Gel). Perfect day really.
It was great to meet Jo, Helen, Lin, Claire, Kirsten, Pauline, Julie Ann, Lucy and all the lovely people who asked about my pumpkin (step outs coming as soon as I can sort them out). This week for sure, because I know Mary and Tracey Matthews are champing at the bit to start theirs. Tracey wants to enter hers in a competition. I'm on it Tracey. Don't worry. Hope you got home safely yesterday.
Hope they all had another great day today. I know Alison Hall was going back for more.
Lx
PS. I see Helen couldn't resist going back for more today too. She took some great photographs and you can find them on her blog
It's YEARS since I drew anything, but when my crafty pal Debbie sent me a link for this fantastic tutorial the other day I decided I had to give it a go. I don't have any gelato's so I used pencils for my journal page. I would dearly love to do more journalling but I do struggle a bit with it because it's so freestyle and I'm used to footling about with my colouring and agonising over my placement etc etc etc. I am NO QUITTER, however, so I'm determined to conquer it.
Debbie herself is a great journaller and I really enjoy the way she expresses herself on paper. A few of her pages recently have really caught my imagination and brought home what journalling is really about.
So, here is my journalling fairy. I allowed myself ONE look at the YouTube video and then no more, because I wanted her to be my MY fairy and not a copy of somebody else's. I want to believe I can get to grips with journalling so that was my prompt and I put it in lovely big sparkly (optimistic) letters - BELIEVE! Believe you can and you will.... Maybe!? Still working on the believing bit then :oD
Okay, so let's not talk her about the hair.... oh dear...! Hair is hard...! More work needed on the hair. I've put that on my list.. Good long swishy pencil strokes though. Definitely progress there.
As is my way, I threw myself in at the deep end and I worked straight
on the paper in my journal. I put my paints well out of the way too. NO
painting over things, no altering things, no rubbing out, no measuring,
no stressing... Just draw, colour, let go... (and there, I think, is my
prompt for my next page)
I do love the texture and the sparkle though.... Loving the Dina Wakley daisy stencil too. I just KNEW that was a MUST HAVE item
It's not perfect; I know that. I think that might be kind of the point though. (I'm actually fighting the urge to give you a LONG list of what's wrong with it here....just so YOU know I know, if you see what I mean. Oh so critical! (Taking deep breaths and contemplating a small brandy now as I realise I've got to press the "publish" button in a minute (she said, blinking furiously and wondering if there's a brown paper bag handy, to breath into....))
I tried to work using lots of loose lines (which is why she's got lots of extra long eyelashes - I got carried away with my flicking :oD. I'm getting used to the fact it's MY journal and I can do whatever I want with it, so I'd say that's a lesson most definitely LEARNED. I don't have to believe in anyone or anything else. I just have to believe in ME. Keep you posted on that one ;oD
Evening everybody. I can't believe it's the last night of releases tonight. The week has gone by in the flashiest of flashes :oD
It's Jo Firth Young's turn to share her amazing Christmas releases with you tonight and they will really knock your socks off.
Here is Leandra's round up video
and here, for the last time this week, is what I made
When all is said I done I love colouring and Jo's stamps really do lend themselves to that so I started off in my happy place with some paints and metallic glaze and kept everything very clean and simple so the images and the colouring would shine.
I've used an acrylic tag again here. I really am addicted to them at
the moment because you can layer them backwards AND forwards. I've put a
layer of Frosting Glaze swirls sponged through a stencil, backed with
some white gauze and then backed again with some textured white paper. I've
layered the images on the front of the tag with some glittered gel medium
coloured with white Fresco Finish paint to form a kind of snowy frame and used black gingham ribbon to keep a sort of modern Nordic look going.
oooOooo
I really loved Jo's twiggy snowman/scarecrow and I wanted to put him on fabric. I painted some strips of fabric with Fresco Paints in Jo's chosen pallette and sewed them to some layers of fabric and Mulberry paper to give my twig man a base I've kept the whole thing very rough like scarecrow clothes and used a variety of stitches to add texture and interest. Believe it or not, it was harder to make everything a little bit wonky than it would have been to make it all straight!? I kept having to tweak things and pull things as I went along. I found some lovely cream sequins for snowflakes and I really like those.
oooOooo
Back to my happy place again. I LOVE this cloche stamp and the string of lights and stars. I've used a fair bit of sparkle here, using a mixture of Spica pens and Metallic Glaze, which adds such a beautiful lustre to everything. You can mix it with the paint or layer it over the top. I really love it.
oooOooo
The twiggy theme running through Jo's stamps this time really appeals to me and it brought to mind a kind of understated Nordic style with natural fibres and neutral shades. I dug out some beautiful Mulberry paper I've been hoarding and some canvas fabric and really enjoyed the looser, more natural styling of these pieces. The Fresco Paints sit so well on fabric. It's something I'll be doing a lot more of. I love the effect.
and here I've used a little embroidery and some beads
Don't forget to go and check out Jo's additional samples and step outs here. You'll be able to take a closer look at all the samples from Jo's wingmen too.
A big thank you to all at PaperArtsy. They are my crafting heroes and I've been geeking out (and freaking out) to be alongside such talent all week. I can honestly say I've enjoyed every single minute (EVEN when I was making my Hot Picks samples at 4am!!?).
They're a great bunch so I hope you'll drop by and support them at Ally Pally next week. They've got some amazing stuff lined up to share with you and all the new products will be available at the PaperArtsy stand.
There's also a chance to win entrance tickets this week, so check out the blogs for your chance to go along.
Have a great weekend everybody. Thanks for dropping by.
It's Darcy's turn to share her newest creations with us tonight. I love her take on some real Christmas favourites and I know you will too. There are also some great year round images in both sets to help you get more bang for your crafty buck.
So, once again, here for you delight and delectation is Leandra's introduction video
Here are some close-ups of what I made
My starting point with this piece was actually the lovely double row of stars. I wanted to have them raining down from the sky...
The "angel" represents earth and sky. I've placed her so she could be falling from the sky OR springing from earth. She is elemental rather than heavenly. I used a mould for her face and then various elements on the stamp set for her body, wings and halo. I love her peaceful expression. She is coloured with a mixture of Fresco paints and Prismacolour Pencils.
For me, Christmas isn't Christmas without a snowman. They are SUCH fun, and this one is no exception.... I love Darcy's interpretation of this much loved Holiday hero
My first thought was to stitch him and then I decided to think around that and how I wanted to create the same texture and interest I would get with, say, quilting, but using a different medium. I stamped our snowman into paper clay and then dry brushed Fresco Paint on to the dried clay to colour him before adding some detail with my Prismacolour pencils. The paint gives a perfect key for the pencils so it's a combination I use a lot.
The snowflake background is paper clay put through my die cutter in an embossing folder, dry brushed with gorgeous shades of blue Fresco Paint and some PaperArtsy Pearl Glaze. I've layered it all onto music paper, some white netting and some corrugated cardboard so it's texture, texture, texture all the way :oD
oooOooo
and now onto the second stamp set...
I saw the lovely tree shape and the baubles and the idea for the star just kind of popped into my head. I'm so pleased with how it turned out and it really wasn't difficult at all, though if you don't like cutting out maybe not one for you, admittedly :oD The sparkly centrepiece will catch the light and give the star some weight so that it hangs nicely.
Nearly everthing I made seems to twinkle in some way. I do like some sparkle to lift the long dark days in the winter. We have a lot of candles in the house as a rule. I love sitting in candle light on a winter's evening watching the flames flicker and I like to have things around that catch the light and sparkle a little. It's very uplifting when light is limited and it makes everything feel cozy.
oooOooo
A lovely clean and simple card to finish. I really like this because I think it illustrates how strong Darcy's beautiful images are in their own right. I've used them pretty much in their simplest form here, embossed in sparkling white, and I love the result. Darcy's sumptuous colour pallette in jewel tones adds to the up to date feel of this card. It was very quick and simple to make so it would be a perfect batch card.
So, that's me for today. Thanks so much for dropping by. I hope I've given you some ideas and inspiration.
I know you will want to feast your eyes further, so here is a link for the PaperArtsy blog. where you can see Darcy's step outs and take a close up look at all of the samples. Hope you enjoy them.
Lx
Thought you got rid of me didn't you... But the fun's not over yet.... Tune in tomorrow for Jo Firth-Young's gorgeous new JOFY releases. They're an absolute knock out and WAIT until you see all the gorgeous samples from everybody. They really will knock your socks off. They did mine...! I've been barefoot all week ;oD
Just a quick reminder that it's Darcy's release night tonight on the PaperArtsy Blog at 7pm. Grab yourself a glass of something lovely and take a stroll through two glorious new festive stamp sets and some rather spiffy samples from Darcy and her Wingmen.
As ever, Leandra has tied it all up in pretty paper on her launch video and there are some step outs for Darcy's makes along with close ups of all the samples.
I am so excited to see what Sara Naumann and her super-talented Wingmen have in store for us tonight. The stamps are so beautiful and I know there are going to be some cracking pieces of art to drool over; so settle back and enjoy the video before you head over to the PaperArtsy blog to see Sara's stepouts and take a closer look at those fantastic samples.
Don't forget to drop by again tomorrow to see what I made for Darcy's latest release. Her stamps are just brilliant. So much fun. I know you're going to love them as much as I did.
Evening everybody. Me AGAIN! You will be sick of the sight of me by the end of the week :oD
When Emma Godfrey asked me to make some samples for her I jumped at the chance. Emma's stamp sets are so well thought out and they're absolutely jam packed with really stylish staples I know you'll want to go back to again and again.
Here are my Halloween makes
You've got to have a pumpkin at Halloween so here's one I made using Emma's stamps and Fresco Paints in Pumpkin Soup, Tinned Peas, Tango and (a tiny touch of) Blueberry to decorate a papier mache pumpkin. I just love the cute spiders and their webs.
and you have to have a spooky clock tower so you know when the witching hour is approaching. Here, I've used the word stamps and cobweb stamp to add detail to the ivy. I ran the "door" through my BigShot with a woodgrain embossing folder to give it a bit more dimension and used a hitch fastener for the door handle. The happy halloween and creepy crawly signs are from the set too.
I love the crackled clock face, if I do say so myself :oD
and here are my Christmas makes
Clean and Simple
I love these simple baubles. I'm definitely going to be making some for my own Christmas tree.
Don't forget to head over to the PaperArsy Blog for Emma's step outs and some more samples from the PaperArtsy gang.
I get a night off tomorrow night :oD but don't miss Sara Neumann's great new offerings. I was blown away by them and I really can't wait to see what Sara's Wingmen have done with them. Hope to see you there.
I'll be back with you for Darcy's release night on Thursday.
It's Emma Godfrey's turn to share her new releases this evening and you are in for a treat (a trick or treat, even ;oD). 7pm is the witching hour. Hope to see you there.
Lx
For those who don't do Halloween there are some great Christmas stamps too AND, may I say, some fabulous samples :oD
Evening folks, it's the second exciting night of new releases at PaperArtsy and I was thrilled to bits to be invited back onto Team Clare for her Halloween and Christmas releases. I couldn't wait to see what Clare was going to give us this time around. She has such great style and is always careful to leave plenty of scope for you to add your own touches to her designs. What can I say? I wasn't disappointed and you won't be either:-
I had such a lovely time with these stamps. It was, quite frankly, difficult to put them down. Here's what I made:-
So much to love... The cool bat stamp is one of my favourites and the stockings work perfectly as cobwebs up the side of the tag. Clever huh!? ;oD
Here's our girl again sporting eyelashes, a beauty spot and cobweb dress. Looks like she's found herself a feline friend too.
I've used a mixture of Copic markers, Fresco Paints and Prismacolour pencils here to get the effects I wanted. She's crying out to be made into an art doll too, don't you think.
I've used the fabulous new PaperArtsy Frosting Glaze to stencil icy swirls onto the back of an acrylic tag and then sponged over with Mermaid Fresco Paint when it was dry. On the front of the tag I layered over some Glass Bead Gel. Then I stamped and heat embossed the Let It Snow sentiment and the snowflakes. I coloured the girl in using a mixture of Copic Markers, Prismacolour Pencils and Fresco Paints in blues and greens and added a bit of good old fashioned glitter glue for some added sparkle.
Head over to the PaperArtsy Blogto see what Clare and my fellow teamies made. There are some really fabulous makes to whet your crafty appetites.
Hello All. I know I've not been around much lately and I do apologise for being a very bad blogger... I have, however, been crafting my fingers to the bone (oh the hardship!?) making samples for the exciting new launch of PaperArtsy stamps, mediums and Fresco Paints.
Oh lucky, lucky me! I've been happy as Larry surrounded by piles of gorgeous stamps and paints, pinching myself on a daily basis to be a part of it all. There are new releases I know you won't want to miss all this week so do check out the PaperArtsy Blog at 7pm each night to see what's coming up for Halloween and Christmas.
First up tonight are the new Hot Picks releases for you to drool over AND some gorgeous new Fresco Paint colours. There are two new great mediums too. All the details are on the blog and in the video, which I've pasted below for you. I was lucky enough to get the Halloween set to play with and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Here is Leandra's video giving all the details about tonight's release
This is what I made
I made a sort of masterboard background for the sample above and I couldn't resist using some PVA glue to make clear drips running down the page. I wanted the texture, but I didn't want to obscure what was underneath the drips. The glue amplifies the colour underneath and makes the drips stand out really well. I used some Tim Holtz Corked Vials, which I filled with a little Fresco Paint in each of the colours in the pallette we used. The colours for both samples are: Brown Shed; Toffee; Caramel; Vanilla; Granny Smith and Teresa Green
I really love the badge shape and all the little details in the collage stamps. I've pulled them all out and left them in black and white to make them stand out and draw your eye towards the skeleton badge and used a little hardware to add the all important finishing touches.
If you want to see the new Hotpicks and a raft of fabulous samples then head on over to the PaperArtsy Blog for a closer look.
....as it's the first night of PaperArtsy's launch week for their new Christmas and Halloween releases. I've been SO lucky and got to play with almost all the stamp sets and believe me when I say you will not want to miss what Leandra and the gang have in store for you over the coming week. There is loads of great stuff scheduled for you each night after 7pm, starting with some really cool new Hot Picks stamp plates and scrumptious new additions to the Fresco Paint range this evening, so do drop by the PaperArtsy Blog and check it out.
Here's a sneaky peak of one of my makes to, hopefully, whet your appetite for what's to come
