Frosted Designs Challenge - Handmade flowers and re-cycled materials

 We have a new challenge this morning over at the Frosted Designs Blog we would like you to use some re-cycled materials and make some handmade flowers for your project.
I made a small canvas a couple of years ago, and it was long overdue a make-over, I never really liked it anyway ;) so that is my first re-cycled item!!!

 I gave the black canvas a couple of thick coats of white gesso and when it was dry added a scrap of white corrugated card and my second re-cycled item, yep a used tumble drier sheet!!!! Not only does it add loads of texture to a project, but it smalls good as well :)

I gave the whole lot another coat of gesso and left it to dry naturally, using a heat tool would melt the sheet, so please be careful if you try this!
A hint of Shaded Lilac Distress ink was added around the edge and as I wanted my little canvas to have a clean feel to it, decided to use a beautiful little Owl family die from Joanna Sheen, which has a branch, perfect for my hole punch circle flowers. They are one circle with wet glue on it, then five more added in order to create the flower petals, my little one hole punch comes in soooooo handy! All I then did to finish off was to add a few pearls for the flowers centres and Owl eyes and a "Love" sentiment from Kaisercraft.
So that's our new challenge, follow the link HERE or on my sidebar to have a chance of winning a great prize, and check out what my fabulous team mates have created, they are amazing!!!!!

Sunday Stamper's #346 New Moon On Monday - Something New.............

This gorgeous girl is Caitlin one of the new stamps designed by the very talented Kay Halliwell-Sutton at IndigoBlu stamped on to one of their new mixed media papers which will be available soon ;) It had a coat of GeeSo Good before I stamped the image to lighten the paper, then using Lyra Polycolour pencils added colour to her, and the lovely saying by AA Milne.
The page was then added on to a piece of mountboard and a hanger added made from copper wire and hand made glass beads (you know I like a little sparkle!) and she had to have a feather!!!
I am entering this in to Hels Sunday Stampers new stamp, new papers and having my work on display at the trade show, all new to me!!

Elizabeth xxx

IndigoBlu Project

I thought I'd start sharing some of the samples that I've made for IndigoBlu with their fabulous new stamps!!
This gorgeous girl is called "Dianne" after the very lovey Di at HQ. she is a fabulous stamp for colouring, and is also quite easy for fussy cutting out as well, although I have to confess she lost a couple of curles.

 The stamps were released to the trade in the UK last weekend, so should be available to pre-order shortly along with the fantastic new range of papers designed to be used with mixed media, how gorgeous is that butterfly!!!!

This was the booth last weekend looking amazing with beautiful samples from the Design Team, Demonstrators, Kay Halliwell Sutton and Limor Webber, who's artwork is just stunning in the flesh, so much texture. Can't tell you how exciting it was to have my work on display with such an incredible line up of talented artists :)

Have a great weekend and if any of you are around the Knutsford area pop in and say hi to me in the craft shop at Highlegh, where I'll be demoing the full range of IndigoBlu's new stamps.

Elizabeth x

Dragons Dream TIO #185 - Pink and Hearts

This time around, Catherine has chosen the theme of "Pink and Hearts" over at the Dragons Dream TIO.
This is one of the new release stamps from IndigoBlu and is called Tattoo Heart, perfect for this theme :)
My tag background was created by inking around the edges with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and painting over with a thinned down coat of Gesso, makes me think of Strawberry Milkshake!
The Tattoo Heart was stamped over the top in Memento and coloured in lightly using Lyra Polycolour pencils, with just a few gems scattered around the outline to finish it off.
We'd love you to join in with us at the Dragons Dream TIO Challenge just please remember to follow the recipe and include at least one real stamp on your tag.

Elizabeth x

Craft Stampers Take It Make It Challenge 'Take A Technique' : Theme: Stencilling

 A little reminder of our challenge over at the Craft Stamper Magazine Blog where we want to see your stencilling projects. This time I decided to use Distress Inks along with one of my favourite Prima stencils.

 I used a mixture of Picked Raspberry, Dried Marigold and Mustard Seed inks applied with Inkylicious brushes. Then added flowers and birds from IndigoBlu's Nature 1 stamp set in Archival ink, love the contrast of colours against black ink.

So pop over to the blog and check out my fabulous team mates artwork, make a little something following the guidelines, and join in by leaving us a direct link back to your blog. You could win a fabulous prize and also have your work published in the Craft Stamper magazine, how cool is that!!!

Good Luck,
Elizabeth x

Time to "Get Messy" at Frosted Designs

The new challenge is open over at the Frosted Designs Blog and it's time to get messy!!! We would love you to get out your paints, gesso, inks etc and get creating!

The papers, stamps, sentiment and flowers are all from the Enchanted collection, such a beautiful kit and I adore the Kaisercraft butterfly stamps!

I cut out sections of the paper and covered it in gesso, then I added the Tim Holtz Chevron stencil to one side of the larger sheet, and applied clear embossing paste through it. When it was dry I then added another thin layer of gesso and inked around the edges of both pieces with Peacock Distress Ink, love that colour.

I distressed all the edges and cut into the tab printed on the larger paper, so that the smaller piece would slot in and be held in place. The butterflies were stamped in Archival ink and a little colour was added using Lyra Polycolour pencils.

To finish off I used one of the fabulous Heidi Swapp sentiments from the kit along with some of the beautiful Petaloo flowers that are also included.

Love getting my hands messy with inks and gesso, which is fabulous for changing the colour of any of your paper stash, or just muting down the colour.

See you over at the Frosted Designs Blog just leave us a direct link back to your project, so we can pay you a visit.

Elizabeth x

Saturday 14th February - It's a Date!!!

I'll be bringing along two of the gorgeous new collections from Kaisercraft "Betsy's Couture" and "Wanderlust" Come and say hello if you are in the area. x

Burleydam Garden Centre
Chester Road
Little Sutton
South Wirral
CH66 1QW

Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge - 'Take A Technique' : Theme: Stencilling

 Our new challenge at the Craft Stampers Magazine's blog is "Take a Technique" with the theme this time being stencilling, all the info can be found HERE

I used Dreamweaver Paste through a TH Chevron stencil then painted over with lots of gesso. I brushed Peacock Feathers Distress ink around the edges blending into the centre, and then spritzed with a mix of Cinderella and Goldfinger metallic paints from IndigoBlu love how these paints keep their colour even when diluted with water.
I stamped around the edge of the canvas with one of the new ink splat stamps that Limor designed for IndigoBlu. Stamped out the butterfly, added some Peacock Feather ink around the edge, and a little pink pencil in the centre of the wings, then fussy cut it out and added to the canvas.

As always we have a fabulous prize up for grabs, so get your stencils out, get stamping and come and join in our challenge!!! You could have your artwork in print in the magazine.

Elizabeth xxx

Dragons Dream TIO #184 Orange and a Letter

This time around over at the Dragons Dream TIO blog Silvia has chosen the theme of "Orange and a Letter" to be incorporated onto your tags.
I love blending distress inks to create my backgrounds, so out came the ripe persimmon, mustard seed and wild honey ink pads to give a graduated background for my new Ingvild Bolme stamps!
I decided to keep things simple and just stamp the Butterflies out in black archival ink, spell out the word "Fly" in the same, then doodle around the edge of the tag with a fine Letraset pen.
We would love you to join us over at the Dragons Dream TIO just please remember to use at least one real stamp on your tag.

Elizabeth xxx

A Touch of Red - IndigoBlu Challenge

The challenge over at the IndigoBlu Blog is "a touch of red"so I thought I'd share a card I've made using another of Kay's new stamps,  Tattoo Heart.

The background has been spritzed with lots of different metallic paints, unfortunately the sheen doesn't show up too well on camera.The heart was stamped over the top in Archival ink and then colour was added using Pilot Gel Markers, blended in using my fingers.

I love distressing the paper around the edges as it gives some texture, but the card still has a "clean" feel to it.

Elizabeth x