Peace, Joy and Warm Christmas Wishes

Hello everyone I hope you are doing well.  

I have a few final Christmas cards to show today featuring products from Tim Holtz, Crafty Individuals, Crealies & IO.   It's a busy time for everyone, so this will be my last post of 2016.

I thank you all for your visits and kind comments this year.  

Seasons Greetings and see you here in the New Year !
Shirleyx

Winter Wonderland

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying the season. 

We had more snow yesterday, we have lots and it's certainly a winter wonderland.

The background of this card started with clear goosebumps and brushos powders (spritzed with water).  I over stamped with images from Chocolate Baroque including the large sentiment.  I also used a dotty stencil and white acrylic paint.   The snowflake die cuts are from Joy Crafts. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Purple and Blue Lady

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well and enjoying the festive season.

I'm taking another break from Christmas designs to show you a new stylized lady that I drew and painted.  I'm still having fun practicing techniques learned from Tamara Laporte's of Willowing Arts courses.

I used mixed media for this page, mainly acrylic paints, but also pens, pencils, neocolour crayons and I collaged tissue under her top. 
 
I also used stencils in the background along with a wooden stamp and acrylic paint.  I love water based media, it's much different using acrylics, but they are great that you can paint over top when dry if you want.

The photo below shows how the newly fallen snow looked a couple of mornings ago, very beautiful.   We love snow and crisp sunny cold days but our winters are a bit long.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley x

Winter Wishes

Happy Weekend!  I hope you are enjoying the festive season.

It's colder than average for this time of year... what happened to our 'above normal' temperatures?   It's minus 8 this morning with a few snow flurries.   It's also that time of year when we don't see the sun too much.   

I have a card to show today that was inspired by the very talented Miranda Degenaars.  It was her beautiful sample cards at the Posthumas shop in Amsterdam many years ago that gave me the 'stamping bug' which has not left since.

I added a bit of Brusho's sprinkled and spritzed before stamping.  The Poinsettia (embossed with silver, coloured with Brushos and fancy cut into layers) and little dot stamp are by Magenta.  The Holly branch & sentiment are by Impression Obsession also embossed with silver.   I added a lilttle silver embossing enamel and splattered white acrylic paint over the flower & background.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.
Shirleyx

Pink Lady

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I'm taking a break from Christmas cards today to show you another face drawing and painting.  I'm a little obsessed with sketching faces lately but I won't bore you by showing everything. 

I created this page using techniques learned in Tamara Laporte's of Willowing Arts, Fabulous faces self study course.    I wasn't following anything, just having fun practicing drawing and painting with mixed media.  I'm a gardener and love flowers and so I like to doodle draw them as well. 

This is a different colour combination for me.   The hair started out with copper acrylic paint and I didn't like how it looked.  The beauty of acrylics is that you can easily go over top when dry :)   So then I decided on Magenta hair with a few copper highlights.  I was a bit 'stumped' as to what colours should surround her, but eventually made the decision on blues and pinks.   The background has a few layers including stenciling.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.
Shirleyx

Peace

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a fabulous weekend.   It's a little cold here but the ground is dry and the sun is starting to shine this morning.

I have a card to show today with no stamping, I think, but maybe I stamped a little with a snowflake and they were watered down eventually. 

I created the background with Goosebumps, Brusho ink powders and Glimmermist.   I also used a star stencil with white Acrylic paint.   Peace (Tim Holtz) and the Reindeer (Impression Obsession) were double & triple die cut, glued together and embossed with clear glitter powder.   The Poinsettias (Crealies) were coloured with distress inks and molded on a foam mat.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirleyx

Gesso Resist with Poinsettias

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.    It's Monday morning here and the sun is starting to shine :)

I've had much more time in my craft 'studio' over the past month as the weather gets colder.   I also left a part-time job to free up precious time and energy for creativity.    I was fortunate to work at a fabulous stamping, paper crafting shop for the past year but it was time to let it go.

I have another Christmas card to show today again using the fun 'Gesso Resist' technique by Eileen Godwin. (links to her tutorials and blog are included in my post here).

I'm joining in at the Allsorts Challenge blog, as the theme is "Anything Christmas". 

I used white acrylic paint as the resist and blended favourite colours of Distress Inks over top.   The Poinsettia stencil is by Tim Holtz and the flower dies are by Crealies, Uno & Set of 3 #13.   The little holly berry spray is by Memory Box.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

More Inspiration from Tamara Laporte

Happy Weekend everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I have another practice page that I drew and painted while following Tamara Laporte's of Willowing Arts self study web course called Fabulous Faces.  I'm having so much fun playing and looking forward to starting Life book 2017 (weekly art journal lessons) on January 1st.  

I hope to keep up the practice to develop my own style.   I am also sketching faces but I won't show everything.

This is a mixed media piece with a simple background with stenciling and painting.   

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend,
Shirleyx

Gesso Resist Backgrounds

Hello everyone,

I hope you are doing well.   It was warm with summer temperatures on Friday and by Sunday it was below freezing, snowing and very windy.   It's still cold this week but it will get warmer soon. No wonder a lot of us (including myself) are fighting colds.

I was very intrigued with backgrounds that my talented teamie Eileen Godwin created and showed on a recent Facebook post.  Her tutorial (titled Masterboard backgrounds) can be found on Pinterest Part One here and Part Two here.   It's well worth your time to take a look at her blog if you don't already follow her as she posts lots of gorgeous designs here.

I followed Eileen's video tutorial to create the background.   (I used a stencil with white heavy acrylic paint instead of Gesso) and then blended Distress Inks over top.   I like the 'ghost' effect.    I also sprayed the entire card with Glimmermist when finished.

Design by Ryn Products:  Japanese Anemone stencil and Circle Cluster Set.

Flowers dies are by Crealies (Set of 3 No. 17 and Uno No.17) cut from a piece of Gelli print and the Flourish is by Creative Expressions.

And below is a small card that I made with the left over background.

I also used Design by Ryn's Spiral Branch set to stamp and emboss over the background and very faintly stamped with Water Droplets as well (I stamped with archival ink and then wiped over top to lighten which worked well on the semi glossy side of the paper).  The sentiment is by Impression Obsession.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. blog friends.
Shirleyx

Inspired by Tamara Laporte

Hello everyone,  I hope you are doing well. I have something completely different to show you today and not a Christmas design!

I drew and painted this page while following a self-study mixed media course by Tamara Laporte of Willowing Arts.  The short course, "The Happy Traveller"  is part of her Life Book 2016.  It was up on her web site as a free sampler for a short while, but I see it's gone now.    I've signed up for several courses including the Life Book 2017 which I'm very much looking forward to.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

Playing with Brushos again

Hello and Happy Weekend, I hope all is well.

I was recently playing with Brushos again and created a couple of easy Christmas cards and matching tags.

First I sprayed clear Goosebumps and dried with my heat gun.  Next I embossed the main images with white before sprinkling the Brusho powders and spritzing with water.  I also stamped the flourish in the background after drying.

Chocolate Baroque stamps above:  Winter Birds and Snowflake Flourish

The tags above were created from left over background. 

And below is the 2nd card that is pretty much the same.  These are flat for easy mailing.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by
Shirley

A Wish for Christmas

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend.      The sun is shining here this morning.  

I've been enjoying quality time in my craft room and still in Christmas card mode.   I had a lot of fun creating the card below using Tim Holtz products. 

The background started with Distress Inks on an acrylic plate, spritzed with water and then 'smooshed' the plate onto mixed media card stock.    I added layers using stencils, Distress Inks & gold and white acrylic paints.    I also stamped with a little star cluster by Crealies and spattered white paint over top of it all.

The flowers were coloured with Distress Inks, spritzed with water, crushed, molded and finally I spattered gold paint on them.   I added white Prills to the centers.  I also splattered gold paint onto the 'greens'.  I painted the Wish die cut with gold paint and edged a little with Distress Ink.

Sizzix Tim Holtz Dies:  Holiday Greens, Tattered Poinsettia, Vintage Tidings
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Stencils:  Dot Fade, Holly Bough and Poinsettia
Crealie Stamp:  Stars Bits & Pieces #48

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Triple Quick Poinsettias

Hello everyone and welcome to November.    It's amazing how time flies and suddenly it's dark and chilly in the mornings.

I've seen several Christmas cards on blogs recently featuring beautiful Penny Black watercolour style stamped images.   They inspired me to use a similar style Poinsettia stamp, also by Penny Black, to create these quick cards.
 
Penny Black Stamps:   Winter Glow 2808L (Poinsettia) and 3900H Christmas Flourish (Merry Christmas).  I've had both of these stamps for a long time, they've survived several 'craft stash downsizings'.

I coloured directly onto the stamp with Tom Bow markers, spritzed lightly with water and stamped on water colour paper.  I also added stickles to the flower centers and heated a little silver Frantage power around the background (heated behind the card stock).   The matting is dark blue and dark purple not black as they appear in the photos.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley 

CB Colour Challenge #28

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well. 

After I made this quick card I realized that it matches the colours for the current challenge at Chocolate Baroque's Colour Challenge #28 so I will join in the fun.   These are favorite colours and I'm sure they were stuck in my head after seeing the beautiful samples at the challenge blog.

I used the resist embossing technique for the first time in a long while.   I embossed the tree and words from the fabulous Steampunk Christmas with white powder.     Next I sprinkled Brusho powders, spritzed with water, let them blend and then sprayed a little turquoise Dylusions ink.    I also stamped with a snowflake from Reindeer Landscape in the background.

Below is the beautiful colour sample (created by Miranda) for the current Challenge which ends on November 15th.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Miracle of Christmas

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.

It's a rainy cool day here and I hope to get into my craft room for a while :)   I have another Christmas card to show that features the same background shown in a previous post that I created with Acrylic inks.   I also used Sweet Juliet 'flower' die set by Heartfelt Creations (it's discontinued) and Star Flourish by Creative Expressions.  The text is by Impression Obsession.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend,
Shirley

Christmas 'Tag Cards' with Crealies

Hello creative people, I hope you are doing well today.  Don't fall off your chair because I've posted two days in a row.

I had the pleasure to Guest Design for Crealies again.  I created a couple of cards using one of the new gorgeous tag die sets, along with other beautiful dies and stamps.  These designs were shown at the Crealies blog yesterday.

I used  Tag & Label die set - No 7 to create a lovely shaped card.    I scored and folded navy card stock and taped (with removable tape) the left cutting side of the one of the larger dies slightly over the fold so that I ended up with a lovely shaped folded card.

I used the beautiful Christmas Angel of Light by Chocolate Baroque as the main image:  

I left the inside panel blank to write Christmas Greetings.

The angel on the front tag panel was stamped with a navy blue dye ink and coloured with Distress Inks using my craft mat, a brush and water.   I also stamped with Bits & Pieces stamp No.37 above and below the angel.

I used Uno No 13 and Set of 3 No 13 die sets to create the layered Poinsettias.   I die cut them from white card stock, coloured the layers with Distress Inks using a finger dauber and molded the backs with a stylus on a foam mat.  I also added glitter here and there.

I created a second card (below) with the same tag die set along with other dies and stamps.  The Bits & Pieces stamps are fantastic for creating backgrounds, I have many of them :)

I used the same technique to create the folded card above.  I coloured the background  with Distress Inks and water on my craft mat and stamped it with Bits & Pieces stamp No.37  and Bits & Pieces stamp No 48.
 
Uno No 13 and Set of 3 No 13 die sets were used again to create the layered Poinsettias and I also stamped them with Bits & Pieces stamp No 53 to create 'texture' (difficult to see in the photograph).    I used Duo Die 31 and Duo Die 31A to create the leaves.

And below are pictures of the Crealie Dies used:

 
   
  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

Doodle Drawings

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians.     We are enjoying sunshine, beautiful autumn colours and a very crispy morning with frost today.  The chilly morning seems quite strange after months of extreme heat.

One of my sisters requested a couple of 4 x 6 inch doodle drawings.  These are very quick and simple doodles but she likes them a lot and wants to frame them.  

  

I use pigment pens that I use for zentangle doodles and coloured with Inktense pencils. 

I'm sorry that I haven't been around to your blogs much lately, I'm still very busy.  I'm hoping to find more time for creativity this fall.

Have a great day,
Shirley

Make a Wish

Hello and welcome to October !

I spent time this weekend in my craft room while it's raining out :)    I could have have been making Fall themed cards as I love this season but I'm still into Christmas designs.

I also spent two days going through all my stash and have piled up a large collection to give away.   I've been overwhelmed by too much 'stuff' around me and have trouble focusing.  I've heard others saying the same thing.  I'm keeping what I think I will use, it still seems like too much, but I feel better.   It was a stressful summer for many reasons so it seems I needed this time to clear my space and my mind.  

We sometimes buy things that we are excited about and think we will use, but it ends up sitting on a shelf or in a drawer never seeing the light of day.   While going through everything, I came across a dozen bottles of Liquitex Acrylic ink that I bought over a year ago.   I was able to 'play' with them while at a stamping event in the Netherlands and rushed out to buy them when I got home.   They have sat on my shelf as I tend to reach for Distress Inks or Dylusions sprays when creating backgrounds.

Today I pulled out the acrylic inks for a play.     I created several pieces of backgrounds, only one sheet went into the recycle bin.   I used one piece for the card below:

I dropped the the acrylic ink on glossy card stock and spritzed with water, which creates a lovely effect.  They can be added in layers after drying without blending since they are acrylic.

I over stamped using Designs by Ryn's Snowflake Set and Patio Stone  (also available in the unmounted Textures set).    The other circles are from IndigoBlu - Limor Circles.    I also used a stencil with white acrylic ink to create tiny circles.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

Christmas in Pinks and Orange

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying Fall.  I'm so happy that it's here after a long hot, humid and dry summer.   Suddenly one day it's fall and ahhhhhh it feels so good.    I'm still quite busy and have not had much time in my craft room or for blogging.

I have more Christmas cards to show.  I worked on these one afternoon when it was over 100 outside and I could not be out.  

I created one large 'non traditional' background and then cut it down to create easy, flat cards.   I used various stamps in the background and die cuts.  I've showed a couple of these cards in a previous post, but have grouped the flat designs below.    These cards are easier for mailing vs the dimensional designs with flowers.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley