Dreaming about Spring

Hello dear bloggers, I hope you are all doing well.    I'm still not in blogland much but again thought I would show a few things that I've worked on recently.

This first abstract mixed media painting is from a LB2018 Lesson (with Laura Horn), I followed her techniques, but my painting is not like hers, I went my own way.

Next is another whimsical (or stylized) girl using inks (her face has some acrylic):

And finally a couple of cards that I created using Distress Inks, stencils and stamps in the background along with paper flowers that I molded with a stylus.  I used rolled roses in the center of the larger flowers.  So much fun :)

Well again that's enough for one post !

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

Serena

Hello everyone, I hope you've enjoyed your weekend.  Here it's turned cool and wet, once the house is clean I'm going to play in my craft cave :)

You may have seen this card on Facebook already, I used a favorite stamp by Chocolate Baroque - Serena and added embellishment die cuts by Crealies Flower 13 along with the set of 3 that match  that seem to be discontinued and Creative Expressions (branches).   I thought maybe I went a little overboard on the branches, but couldn't pull them off once they were glued, so I added some white paint to break up the blob of brown.

I started with Tom Bow water colour markers on the image and and then used Prisma pencils on her hair.  I didn't  like how green it was turning out so I used a white Wink of Stella marker and white dots with an acrylic pen which softened the colour to a lighter shade and created a different effect.

I've changed computers and no longer have the free copy of Picasa for adding soft edges and words to my photos.   Does anyone know of a free and SAFE to download software for photo editing or know where I can still find Picasa?  I've seen some links but don't trust them.    I had a trial of Photoshop but it's way too complicated for what I want/need.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day
Shirley

Christmas in Pink & Blue

Hello everyone I hope you are doing well.

I have a couple of Christmas cards to show today.     Lots of Distress Inks, stencilling, stamping in the background and use of some Dies by Crealies, Creative Expressions and more ....

Have a great weekend,
Shirley :)

Hello from my new Craft 'Cave'

Hello creative people, I've finally found some time for a little creativity and a blog post :)   However, life is still not back to 'normal'.

We've moved into our new home but it's not finished yet, lots of unfinished 'things'.   I won't bore you with details but it's been an unsettled and exhausting month.   The entire summer was unsettled but we did have many good times enjoying the walking & cycling trails in a town up north while we waited for our home to be finished.

So here we are living in a small quiet town, close to water.  The people are very friendly, we feel like we are 'home'.

I've found it difficult to be creative when exhausted but I wanted to make thank you cards for a couple of people who work for the builder and have helped us a lot.

I used inky/painted backgrounds and Crealie (flowers)  & Memory Box (flourish) die cuts.

By the way, my craft room is pretty much the same size as I've had previously, it has lots of natural light during the day, even though it's downstairs.  I'm very pleased with my 'craft cave' as my husband calls it.

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

Abstract Backgrounds & Spam

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.  Sorry that you may see this post twice in your reading list, I was having trouble and had to delete the first one, updating was not working.  I'm having one of those days with blogger :)

I created these two cards using an abstract page back in the winter with one of the Life book 2017 lessons.   I decided to go my own way with the finished piece(s) and used them for card backgrounds.   The die cut flowers are by Crealies.

I posted some information yesterday about Spam that I'm getting on blog. "They" are cutting & pasting your comments to appear like a blogger.  I've since deleted the post as I talked about turning off comments completely.   A kind follower was able to contact me with advice that I will follow and see how it goes.  Thank you Annie for going through a lot of trouble to get the message to me :)

I now have comment moderator turned on.

 
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley 

Best Wishes with Crealies

Hello creative people, I hope you are doing well.  

Life here is very busy and I'm still taking a break from blogging, however I've had the pleasure to Guest Design again for the wonderful Crealies company.   I'm showing a couple of cards today that I designed using their beautiful dies and little stamps.  These were shown at the Crealies Blog yesterday.

The background was created with Distress Inks (China, Blueprint & Raspberry) and water on an acrylic plate.   I over stamped using the little hearts with Raspberry DI with Bits & Pieces stamp #50.  Using the circle stencil CLMM20 (which is temporarily out of stock) I added more contrast with first Blueprint DI and then white acrylic paint.

I coloured the flowers with the same Distress Inks and stamped the circles Bits & Pieces stamp #53 before molding them (using a stylus and foam mat) to create dimension.

The card has the lovely shape using theXXL Tag No. 7.   I folded the card stock before cutting and placed the edge of the die just past the fold to make a card in the die shape.

I also created a little gift tag to match.

I used the following Crealies  products to create the card above.

Crealies Dies/stansen:

Set of 3 No. 17

Uno No. 17

Crea-Nest-Lies XXL Labels & Tags No. 7 (smaller tags)

Crea-Nest-Lies Extreme Labels & Tags No. 7

English Text Dies No. 8

Duo Dies No. 34

Duo Dies No. 34A

  

Crealies Stamps/stempels:  

Bits & Pieces No. 50

Bits & Pieces No. 53

    

   

For my second card below, I used a mixed media piece (with collage) for the background.  It has many layers including tissue, texture paste, Neocolour crayons, white and black acrylic paint. I like to 'decorate' mixed media backgrounds using die cut flowers, leaves and shapes.  I coloured the flowers with co-ordinating Distress Inks and spritzed the entire card with Gold Glimmermist.

I used the following Crealies products to create the card above:

Crealies Dies/Stansen:

Duo Dies No. 31

Duo Dies No. 31A

Set of 3 No. 17

Uno No. 17

Decorette No.11

 

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed my designs for Crealies.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

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

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

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

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