Christmas Craft Challenge - Second to last....

Just before Christmas Bltzy had their sale and I did a little spending... kind of a Christmas present for me or the studio. I really love my Tim Holtz Distress Inks from Ranger and have been waiting for some good prices to extend my range. I've also been needing (not wanting) to get some Distress Ink Refills. Some of my favourites were starting to look a little dry, so I've been looking around for a while, so when I saw them on Blitzy I jumped at the change to stock up on the ones I needed as well as some for as many of my Distress Inks as possible... including the new ones I was buying.

New Distress Ink colours...

Awesome Distress Ink refills - YAY!!! 

Updated my Distress Ink swatches so I can see what all the colours look like. The original post when I set up my swatches is HERE. If you don't have something like this, then I suggest you take the time to create it. It's a huge time saver, not to mention saves you buying colours that you already have!!!

And then I found some stamps...

I've always wanted some Tim Holtz stamps but they are just so expensive here in New Zealand and really hard to get. I found these Wendy Vecchi stamp sets for Stampers Anonymous and had already ordered these and then a week later Blitzy had their big sale and they had some Tim Holtz stamps from Stampers Anonymous so I bought some of these as well.

These first four sets are from Wendy Vecchi for Stampers Anonymous.

And these next ones are from the Tim Holtz range from Stampers Anonymous. Some of the stamps in the Classics series are from other designers.

I can't wait to use all my new purchases. Definitely some projects in the mix for some up-coming major events in the planning for this year! Will let you know what I think of them after I've done some testing.

Art Journal Pages and Albert Einstein oh my!

Like many good art journal pages this one started without a plan in place... it also finished without one but that's just how I roll. The only thing I knew I wanted to do was try out my new Golden glazing fluid and maybe some Golden paint and my FW acrylic inks.
I had a page in my art journal which I thought might be a suitable starting point. I had been doing some stenciling with molding paste and had wiped off the stencil onto a page in my art journal, as you do, so was starting with a page that already had a little texture in place to catch the glazing fluid.
From there... the experimenting continued somewhat aimlessly until I got to the point where I decided I was done, having done so much in between that I really couldn't tell you step by step what I had done in what particular order.
I do know it include the following...

• Tinted glazing fluid
• More molding paste with stencils
• Indian ink drawing with an eye dropper and dripping
• Dripped and then scratched liquid inks
• Distress inks
• Misting with Dylusions and Lindy's Stamp Gang mists
• Decoupaging torn pieces of book pages from an Asian print novel
• A lot of drying with a heat tool... which also caused the molding paste to puff up a little giving extra dimension
• And some alphabet stickers to include a quote from Albert Einstein

Part way through I was definitely thinking... what the hell am I doing as this looks "Fugly" but by the end I was definitely in love with it. Now I can't wait to do some more experimenting!

The quote by Albert Einstein...
"All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree."
I chose this quote because when I had finished creating this page it looked like a forest of trees to me... so fresh and full of life!

Retail Therapy... and I blame Donna Downey!!

That Donna Downey has a lot and I mean A LOT to answer for... good thing she is such a lovely lady and so easy to forgive.
I've always been a fan of Donna's though have never really religiously followed her blog or her YouTube channel. But then I met her in person at Creative Adventures Downunder earlier this year and now I follow her posts and her channel considerably more frequently... I'm even going through all her back videos...
Donna is a huge fan of the Golden brand of products and she explained why during the class we had with her. She also extols their virtues whenever she uses their products in her projects and art journal pages. As a result of this, I set my mind to investing in some Golden Paints when I finally had some money to spend.
Let me say they are very hard to get hold of here in New Zealand. I've finally found somewhere and luckily they have a shop here in Auckland, though it has taken some digging to find where to get them locally.
Gordon Harris, the Art and Graphic Store, has been around a while. I remember as a student, back in the day, buying my art supplies from my local store down in Christchurch. I could spend hours in there looking over papers, pencils, paints and all sorts of artist's paraphernalia. I built up my supply of Caran D'Arche water colour pencils, one at a time there over a period of years. I still use them now and still marvel at the intensity of colour. They have three stores here in Auckland - Albany, Newmarket and Symonds Street as well as stores in Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch (all be it in a new location from the one I used to frequent).
Anyway... I popped in over the weekend, dragging my family and extras on a day of shopping around town, and finally laid my eyes upon the fabled Golden product display. Bonus time - all Golden products were discounted 20%... this is a good sign!
My first dilemma and one I had been contemplating for a while was what colours do I invest in first. I was working to a budget, and the individual paints are quite pricey (as good quality usually is) so it was an important question to be answered. I had also set my mind to getting some glazing fluid... thanks for that Donna Downey... after see the amazing effects Donna had been able to achieve in her art journal using the aforementioned glazing fluid.
I looked over the colour range. I looked for the price labels... couldn't find any... looked to the top of the shelf (easier said that done when you are my height) and found a chart of prices and decided I may need to sell my step children into slavery. The prices ranged from $6.50 to $45.00 odd for a single bottle of paint. Making my budget stretch to more than one colour was looking like being even more of a challenge than I had originally anticipated.
I decided not to panic, clam down, breathe deeply, wander around a little more then go back for another look once my blood pressure had reduced a little.
I had optimistically picked up a basket as I walked in the door of the Newmarket store, so clutched it a little tighter and rounded the display stand to see all the Golden mediums and there in the middle the haloed glazing fluid. I picked up a bottled read the label (to make it look like I knew what I was doing) then placed it in my basket... Donna Downey 1 point.
By now the blood pressure was back down to normal so I carried on around the display heading back to where I had started, ready to make the big decision of what colours to invest in first. As I rounded the corner my attention was momentarily distracted but a large table in the centre of the store with some multi-packs of paint on display including... a Golden starter pack with 10 colours of paint in 30ml bottles and at a discounted price.
I ummed and ahhed and looked at it and decided this was the answer to my dilemma. Instead of me struggling over what colours to get, Golden had done the hard work for me and here ready to use was a selection of colours to get me started and most importantly it was within my budget including allowing me to get the glazing fluid as well.
Before I could change my mind, question my decision or spend any more money I went up to the counter, to the very helpful staff member and made my purchase.
So here they are my Golden purchases which I still put the blame squarely on Donna Downey's shoulders for forcing me (okay encouraging me) to buy.

If I'm being honest I also need to confess that a couple of days earlier I had already had some more retail therapy. At Warehouse Stationery I had picked up the Yellow and Blue packs of Faber Castell Gelatos... also Donna's fault! And then at the Art Supplies store in the Meadowlands Shopping Centre I had bought some eyes droppers for my liquid inks (mainly my Indian Ink) and some FW liquid acrylic ink in White and Pearlescent Green/Yellow.. also Donna's fault.

I am looking forward to creating with all of these products. I've completed one Art Journal page which I will share in another post but I also want to try to experiment with them in my scrap booking... so be sure to watch this space to see what happens when the ink and the paint meets the paper.

Pretty Painted Flowers

I've been playing with my Lindy's Stamp Gang Mists to colour flowers looking for inspiration and experimenting as I do...

And I wanted to share some images of my playing. 

These all started out as plain white flowers... but now they are far from plain or white.

They are all shown in pairs - left picture is without camera flash and right picture is with camera flash. The colours change between flash and no flash but also so does the shimmer and glitter which is why I've done it this way.

All products are Lindy's Stamp Gang unless otherwise stated.

All flowers were misted liberally with water prior to painting. The colours were all either painted on using a water brush or dropped from the end of the tube of the mister.

Three layers of flat white Bree flowers. Painted with Hag's Wart Orange; Crow's Nest Copper and Golden Doubloons. The layers are held together with a gold glitter brad (source unknown) which I also coloured with the Orange dripped on.

I really love the vibrancy of the colours here. They are just stunning. The orange has a mauve/purplish shimmer to it which is just so unexpected (unless you consider that it is from the Haunted Halloween set).

 Paper Rose from I Am Roses. Painted with Cotton Candy Pink inside and Witch's Potion Purple on the petal tips. Finished with Kindy Glitz - Black Opal.

 Paper Rose from I Am Roses. Painted all over with Tiffany's Blue (Now called Tiffany Lou Blue). Tips coloured with Luminere Radiant Rain Colour Concentrate - Sky and Kindy Glitz - Crystal.

I really love this flower, though to be honest neither photo really captures the true colour. It's more of an aqua/teal than it looks in either photo. This is a colour I love and have patterned paper that has been so hard to match, so I will be using this colouring formula again for sure!

Paper Rose from I Am Roses. Painted inside with Witch's Potion Purple and tips with Long John's Silver. 

The Long John's Silver has a brown/coppery base so gives an instant Vintage look to this flower. This is one of the Moon Shadow Mists which I really adore. I will be getting more of these... they just make creating that Vintage look, so much easier!!

Paper Rose from I Am Roses. Painted inside with Don't Eat The Golden Snow and tips with Golden Doubloon.

These photos really don't show the stunning gold shimmer of this flower. The Golden Doubloon has the brown Vintage base as well so looks aged without any hard work. (It has what I would call a "Dirty Gold" look rather than a shiny New Gold look.)

Paper Rose from I Am Roses. Painted inside with Cotton Candy Pink and tips with Jolly Roger Red.

Love this flower too. Yes I know there isn't a flower I don't like... don't get technical with me. I like this because it has a very natural look to the Vintaging. It looks a little like a beautiful pink rose that is a day or two past it's prime having perhaps fallen off the rose bush and is now starting to wilt a little.

Paper Rose from I Am Roses. Painted inside with Hag's Wart Orange and tips with Witches Brew Purple.

I love this flower because it is so out there and bright and almost garish (a bit like me). I love it's moodiness and unexpected colouring - purple and orange, both from the Haunted Halloween Set. Might have to use this colour combination very soon me thinks!!

Paper Rose from I Am Roses. This was painted by my four year old granddaughter Sonia-Marie with Tiffany's Blue (Now called Tiffany Lou Blue) and Cotton Candy Pink under supervision by Nana.

I love this flower because Sonia-Marie did it, and let's be honest I think everything she does is adorable, but doubly so if it is crafting with Nana!!

I've really enjoyed experimenting today, even though it may look like I didn't really achieve a lot. I don't have projects for any of these, so they will be going into my stash of flowers for the time being, but I will definitely be using them on projects at some stage.

Layout - Dance

Project 2 - Dance Layout

I took these photos of my granddaughter Sonia-Marie dancing in the new dancing dress I bought her in mid-January of this year. She has always loved music and dancing and as a former dancer teacher I want to encourage her love of dance (and music and crafting and reading...). I found this outfit in K-Mart and just couldn't resist. As soon as we got it home she put it on and began dancing around in our (messy) lounge. She loves the pretty flowing skirt and the way it moves when she twirls around.
I just have to add... I really love the sports function on my Canon camera, especially for moments like this!!!

I started with a base of Bazzill White Cardstock. I placed a Butterfly Stencil from KaiserCraft in the bottom right corner and misted the area with Tattered Angels Mists - Abominable Snowman, Pink Poodle and Trunk Bay. LOVE... this colour combination and how delicate it looks with this stencil!!!

I cut some Teresa Collins patterned paper Posh: Butterfly Script and Posh: Posh Butterflies to size then distressed the edges with a edge distresser. I layered these onto the cardstock so as to highlight my lovely misted butterfly.
I added the photos which I had cropped tightly and then sanded to focus solely on my granddaughter. I overlapped them slightly so they would fit on the page better as well as adding a movement and flow across the page to better fit the theme of the layout.

I love this Dusty Attic chipboard scroll border and knew I wanted to add this to the page. I painted it with Tim Holtz Paint Dauber - Picket Fence, then covered this with a mixture of Making Memories Pink Lipstick paint and Reeves Iridescent Medium. I finished this off with a coat of Iridescent Medium on its own to give it a real sparkle (though it doesn't show that well when photographed).
I adhered the chipboard scroll in place with Ranger Glossy Accents along the left hand side of the layout.
I added some handwritten journaling with a black journaling pen then adhered some white glittered flowers I received in a swap from Gail in Australia. (A girl can not have enough bling or glitter in her life... especially a little "big" girl.) I added a self adhesive clear rhinestones into the centre of each flower.
To finish off the layout I added a title using Making Memories Mini Shimmer Alphas - Blue Metro.

Close up of the painted chipboard.

Close up of glittered flowers (they are just so cute!!!)

Altered Box

My first creation for the Prima Manufacturing Design Team Application.


Project 1 - Altered Box

I picked up this box at the local Warehouse. It was marked down from $25.00 to $7.00 (give or take a bit). Apart from the great price, there was just something about the potential of this box that I fell in love with.
After I pulled the box apart, I started by white washing the box inside and out to add to it's already aged look. I even added white wash to the wire netting in the lid... easier said than done.
I then added some Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Vintage Paper and Walnut Ink, just around the edges to add some warmth to the aging and make it just look for worn from use.
When I lifted the lid, it was a little ugly looking with some really out of place square dowel holding the wire netting in place. I couldn't remove it, so chose instead to disguise it with some cream lace. You can see this a little in one of the later pictures.

I painted some Dusty Attic chipboard scrolls (2 pairs) with KaiserCraft Vintage White acrylic paint. One pair I attached to the back of the box as above. The other pair I took to with my knife and cut each into a couple of pieces so I could rearrange them slightly.

I adhered a KaiserCraft ecru mini doily onto one corner (see the final picture in this series for a closer look) and added the chipboard scroll pieces in place on top of the box. Then I added a selection of roses from I Am Roses and KaiserCraft after winding their stems around a bamboo skewer and then spreading the curls. To lift the flower clusters a little, I added some leaves for a hint of colour.
As an aside, I have added all my metal charms into the tray and drawers and you can see these through the wire in the lid.

After reassembling the box completely I added a single leaf and rose to cover some less than vintage looking screws holding the handle together. I also added some small clusters of KaiserCraft mini roses to the front of the box and drawer.
When I bought the box, it had the two loops of jute on the lid and drawer though nothing to hold them together. I cut a piece of dowel about 2 inches long and sanded the ends. I then altered it with Tim Holtz Distress Inks so it better suited the colour scheme. (Above I have used the dowel to hold the lid up). I hold it closed by twisting the two loops and slipping the dowel through the loop ends like a toggle to hold them closed.

Close up of the smaller flower cluster, right front corner. You can see the coiled stems in more detail here.

Close up of the flower cluster on the left hand side together with part of the scrolls on the back. You can just see the doily underneath the flower cluster.

Christmas Craft Challenge - Day 6

Day 6... Secret Santa Swap... Part 1

I love Christmas time (in case you hadn't noticed...)

I love it because I love giving gifts...

I also love receiving gifts especially when they are scrap booking and crafting related...

I don't usually get much (read anything) scrap booking or crafting related from my family for Christmas or birthdays... so I really, really, REALLY love a swap like this when I know I am definitely getting something scrapping or crafting related from someone who knows what are the really useful and cool things that someone like me will like... 

This year I was given my friend Jude to buy and create a present for. I knew she liked vintage, shabby chic styles so I knew I would have to do some shopping as I really didn't have much in my stash or my store that would fit the bill. 

I have to confess that after my shopping excursions for Jude's gift, I now have a bit more vintage style stuff in my stash as I bought a few things for myself as well along the way.

Here are some pictures of the altered box as well as the goodies I included inside...

This was a plain paper mache box from Spotlight. I painted it white with Gesso. I scrunched up patterned tissue paper, then smoothed it out so that it still had a little texture to it, then I adhered the tissue paper using Elmer's glue. The tissue paper also lines the inside of the box as well. Around the edge of the lid and the bottom of the base, I adhered a single stripe of washi tape in a coordinating script pattern.

On the lid I also added a little clear paint with a crystalline glitter in it to highlight the larger stars, though it's probably too subtle to show in the photograph. I also added a wired ribbon bow I made as well as some white paper roses, carnations and small flowers which I spritzed with gold Glimmer Mist.

All the goodies packed inside the altered box. 

 This was what was included inside... stick pins inside a decorated petal-fold envelope, laces, doilies, wooden butterfly buttons, paper flowers, glitter coated flower stems (because we make a lot of flowers as swaps), bag of ribbon slides and charms, some vintage style printed tickets and a bottle of My Huey's mist in white.

The doilies... from KaiserCraft in the packet and some that I hand made myself... proof I have learnt to crochet... as long as it's a round thing!! 

Close up of the stick pins and some plain fancy pins.

 I covered some recycled cardboard in some leftover tissue that matched the box and then wrapped the laces around them. One for whites, the other for ivories and creams.

The paper flowers I enclosed... roses, carnations and mini flowers in white and pink. If you like these I will soon be adding some to my stock so be sure to look up my website for these and many other styles, sizes and colours.

Water Colours - Using my Collection - A Review

I've always liked water colours when they don't look pale and overly washed out. (I can see some of you rolling your eyes saying yes we know you like bright colours!!)
Even as a teenager I loved them. I started collecting water colour pencils one at a time because the ones I wanted were so expensive. I used them for various creations and school projects and then I stored them carefully away in a plastic bag for a decade or two (but who's counting).
I've watched various tutorials on You Tube and television about how you can use water colour in your scrapping and paper crafting and I just knew I had to give it a go again. 
In my usual OCD way I also invested in some more water colour products because one can never have enough options (or so I keep telling myself).
So I ended up with water colour pencils, crayons, paints and paper. 
And finally (because laptop wasn't working and I had no excuse NOT to) I did some experimenting with my stash.
Being an analytical OCD type personality, I had to do it right and experiment with different papers as well as the different water colour products so I could see what worked best with what.
I had a selection of different papers - sketch, drawing, water colour and from an art journaling book. As I had four colour mediums, I cut each piece of paper in quarters.
I coloured a small sample of each colour of each product onto each piece of paper, then used my zig water brush to diffuse the colour. I then left each piece of paper to dry naturally.

I bought this pencil set though the book delivery people who leave books in your office for people to buy. The set comes with coloured pencils, drawings pencils, water colour pencils, charcoal pencils and metallic pencils.

Result using the water colour pencils from the pencil set.

L - R journal book paper, sketch paper, drawing paper, water colour paper (lightest weight to heaviest weight paper) 

I was a little disappointed in how wishy-washy the end result was but then they were relatively cheap. Conclusion: buy the best quality you can afford, the results are worth it.

Water colour paint set

Result using the water colour paints.

L - R journal book paper, sketch paper, drawing paper, water colour paper (lightest weight to heaviest weight paper)

I was really impressed with the intensity of the colours of the paints. I thought they might be the most washed out of all, but they weren't. The paint set was NZD$14.00 from Warehouse Stationery which I thought was very reasonable. If you are just wanting to do a little experimenting then this would be a good, value for money investment. 

 

Water colour crayons

Result using the water colour pencils from the crayon set.

L - R journal book paper, sketch paper, drawing paper, water colour paper (lightest weight to heaviest weight paper)

I have had these a while. I bought them and then never touched them. To be honest I really wasn't sure if they would work or not, I mean crayons usually repel water, don't they??

They really do work and they work really well. This pack contains 36 different colours of crayons. There is a nice range of colours which will allow for a good selection of toning of colours.

I tried these both direct to paper and from the crayon and both methods worked well. If you had a larger background area you were colouring then I would suggest the direct to paper method, where you colour the area with the crayon directly onto the paper. If you were only colouring small areas, then colouring from the crayon would be much easier to control as you are taking the colour from the crayon to the paper.

These were considerably more expensive than the paints - costing about NZ $55 - 60 (from memory). If you are interested in these please let me know as I am able to buy these from my supplier and will certainly be sure to offer a very reasonable price to my blog readers.

Coloured pencils by Caran d'ache of Switzerland.

I bought these pencils 20+ years ago and back then each pencil cost from memory NZ $7 - $10. I have googled them and the can be bought from overseas in packs of up to 80 pencils. I'm not sure if you can still get them here in New Zealand - maybe if you search specialist art equipment shops.

I did see one price listed as up to USD $350.00 for a set, so this is definitely an investment that should not be taken lightly.

Result using the water colour pencils from the individual pencils.

L - R journal book paper, sketch paper, drawing paper, water colour paper (lightest weight to heaviest weight paper) 

The colour selection is amazing and I don't have every colour. I found these to be the most versatile medium and having looked at the brochure for them, there is still a number of techniques that I have yet to try. 

For more information including a link to the brochure of techniques look at the Caran d'ache website.

Once I had finished my colour swatches (for lack of a better name), I stamped a few images and coloured them in to get an idea for finished projects. I cut the water colour paper a size that would fit onto a normal card blank so I could use them at a later date.

Image stamped with Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black. These were from a set of stamps that I received free with a card making magazine.

This was coloured using my water colour pencils. I was able to get some quite subtle shading and blending of colour, though being a perfectionist, I think this still needs a great deal of work yet. I was able to achieve a range of intensity from very pale to quite strong which was good to see (as I appreciate that not everyone agrees with me about intensity of colour).

Stamp from KaiserCraft.

I coloured this image using the water colour paints. The photo looks a little darker than the finished product looks in reality though I have to confess that the colour is perhaps a little too intense given that each petal has a word in it and these are a little hard to see.

This was another craft magazine freebie. As cute as I think it is, it was really difficult to colour as the image is so small (only about 2" tall) so the small areas like the Christmas baubles and lights were harder to colour than I expected. Maybe with a little practice I might feel differently.

This was coloured with the water colour crayons using the colour from the crayon to the paper. Love the colours, even if my colour selection itself is a bit suspect (I was experimenting okay!!). I do like the blending I was able to get especially in the heart in the background. And the stamp was another freebie.

My final experiment was to test if I had any black pens that were water proof as an alternative to stamping an image with waterproof ink. I got this idea from watching an episode of Scrapbook Soup on satellite television. One of the two show hosts, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, is a huge proponent of water colouring and is one of the reasons I finally got my act together to try my water colours. You can see Julie's creations on her blog at Balzer Designs.  

I wasn't sure if I had pens I could use that wouldn't bleed when the water colour was added. I tried a number of pens and found that both the Slick Writer by American Crafts and the Zig Writer by Zig Memory System did not bleed when spritzed with water or coloured with water colour paint.