Texture and a Lotus Flower

Hello everyone, I hope 2014 is starting out wonderful for you.

I have another design today using images from Chocolate Baroque's beautiful Serenity and Tranquility A5 sets.

I started by creating texture using a fan design stencil (by Existencil - Expressions) with light molding paste.   After letting it dry I sprayed with Dylusions inks (Cut Grass, London Blue & Turquoise) and rubbed Inka Gold over parts of the raised areas.    I stamped the water Irises from Tranquility on the bottom RH side with Peacock Feathers DI and the vine also from Tranquility at the top LH side with Mowed Lawn DI. 

I stamped the  Lotus flower from Serenity with Cobalt Archival ink, sprayed again with Dylusions and then coloured with Prisma pencils.  I added a little glitter to the water and centers of the flowers.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day,
Shirley

Count the Moments

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well and managed to get some rest after all the festive activities.   It's been extremely cold here but we are warm & cozy inside and it's a nice time for creativity.  I would like to welcome the new followers, thanks for your interest in my blog  :)  

I have a card and an Art Journal page to share today using stamps from Designs by Ryn in one of my favorite colour combinations.

The background is Dylusions Inks and a stencil by Joggles - Star Flower Mask.    I sprayed over the stencil (mask) for the Journal page (below) and then I turned it over to use the ink that was left on it to create this background.   I embossed Compound Leaf with a green glitter powder and stamped Abstract Leaf Set with Cobalt Archival Ink on the background.

Selini the Moth was stamped on another sheet of paper covered with Dylusions inks sprays, coloured a little with Prisma pencils, highlighted with a white Gelly Roll pen, decoupaged and popped up over the background.  I also added glitter which you can see a little better in the close-up below.    The excellent quote is by Impression Obsession - D1379.

Next is a 'New Year' Art Journal page - I was just playing, going with the flow and allowing myself to be messy.   

The background started with Dylusions inks sprayed over Joggles - Star Flower Mask.   I also used TCW Spinning Top stencil with black acrylic paint over top of other acrylic painting and stamping.  I stamped Design by Ryn's Fiddlehead Set with Distress Inks.   The sillouette was created with a self-made stencil using black acrylic paint and doodled over top.  

Thanks for your visit and have a great day,
Shirley

Serenity for 2014

Happy New Year!   I hope 2014 brings you happiness, health, serenity and lots of creative activities.

I have a design today using Chocolate Baroque's new gorgeous Serenity A5 set.

The background is Teal & Turquoise Dylusions ink.  I stencilled a little over top with TCW Pointy Circles and stamped in the background with a beautiful feather image from Peacock Parade.   I embossed with gold UTEE around the edge of the background.

I embossed the Buddha from Serenity with gold directly over the background.   I stamped a second Buddha image with Cobalt Archival ink and embossed a third image with gold powder on separate cardstock.   Next I decoupaged the cobalt Buddha and the gold Lotus chair and layered over the main image.   I embossed the smaller feather images also from Peacock Parade with gold and decoupaged as shown.  All the images were coloured with Prisma and Inktense pencils. 

I'm including a few photos taken after the 48 hour ice storm that hit here the weekend before Christmas.   We are thankful that our electricity was only off for one day as many families went much longer in freezing weather.  Some waited over a week for hydro lines to be repaired.    Sadly there is extensive damage to trees in the Region.  We won't know the extend of damage to our shrubs until the Spring when the snow melts. Our trees are younger and seemed to survive well.  Nature is beautiful and sometimes cruel.

Taken on the third day, still very dark.  The ground is snow & ice covered, the shrubs and trees are ice covered, that's not snow!

Candied Crab Apples covered in ice. 

Taken when the sun was setting, a couple of days after the ice storm.

I would like to thank everyone for all your visits and kind words at my blog during the last year,  I appreciate them very much.   I'm looking forward to the inspiration I gain from visits to your blogs in 2014!

Have a great day
Shirley

Tranquility in a Garden of Meditation

Hello everyone,  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

It's still a busy season so maybe you can use a little break in a tranquil garden.    I created this card using Chocolate Baroque's new gorgeous Tranquility set.    It's one of two new A5 sets, Serenity is the other and they compliment each other very well.  

Also thought I would let you know, Chocolate Baroque's January 2014 sale started on Dec 27th,  there's at least 20% off most items and up to 50% on selected products.   A great sale!

The background was created with Seedless Preserves and Shaded Lilac Distress Inks using an Acrylic block.   I stamped over the background with five different images from Tranquility mainly with Cobalt Archival ink.   The blossoms were stamped with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink.    I coloured over it all with Prisma Pencils and added glitter to highlight which you can see in the photo at the bottom of this post.

Here is a look at both new A5 sets Serenity and Tanquility which are available individually or as a multi-set.  

Thanks for your visit and I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year !
Shirley

Merry Christmas

Hello everyone and for those of you that celebrate - I wish you a very Merry Christmas .  Thank you for all your wonderful visits and comments, I appreciate each and every one.

We've been through a challenging few days here in Ontario, Canada with freezing rain for more than 48 hours.   Driving has been dangerous, we have a thick coating of ice over everything.  Unfortunately older trees suffered and have broken limbs or are completely down.   Hydro has been out all over the province, but we were lucky to have to have it working for periods but then leave us again.  Each time it comes back we are hopeful it will stay.    We took a careful walk and were amazed at the magical ice land that is around us.   Because it was so dark the photos didn't turn out well.  If the sun comes out, I'll try again.

I'm showing the last two Christmas designs for this year which feature Chocolate Baroque's beautiful Big Bold Background - Holly.

The Holly background was stamped with Pine Needles and Evergreen Bough Distress inks.    The sweet robin is from Chocolate Baroque's Christmas Song.   I stamped the bird with red dye ink and the rest with Evergreen Bough DI.  I spritzed a little water before stamping. 

I used the same Holly background below:

I stamped the Holly background with several shades of green memento inks.    Merry Christmas is from the Warm Christmas Greetings clear set.   The poinsettia die is by Spellbinder and the Holly Flourish is by Cheery Lynn.    I used white card stock to create the flower which I coloured with Distress Inks and added lots of glitter.  The center is a button with glitter around the edge and a large rhinestone in the center.

Season's Greetings !
Shirley

Colourful Steampunk Birds (plus Design Team Call)

Hello everyone,  I hope you are doing well, we are dealing with ice rain (all weekend) it's making us nervous. 

Another break from Christmas designs today as I have a couple more cards to show using stamps from the fun Steampunk Birds set by Chocolate Baroque.  The first one features the super cool Rooster, love him !

Also exciting news - Glenda the owner of Chocolate Baroque has an open Design Team call:   If you are interested please visit the Design Team Blog here which provides a link to more information.

The background above started with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink using the Acrylic Block technique.   Next I stamped the cog fragment from Steampunk Butterfly with Dusty Concord DI.   I stamped the grasses from Floral Edges with Seedless Preserves DI.   The Rooster was embossed with copper powder on separate card stock, coloured with Inktense pencils, cut out and attached.    The sentiment is from Birthday Words.

I used the quirky bouncing birds and birdhouse from Steampunk Birds to create the design below.

 

I started by stamping cogs from Punky Flowers with white Colorbox Pigment ink.    I blended green and blue pigment inks over top and then rubbed ink off the cogs for the ghost effect.   Next I blended a little Broken China Distress Ink with TCW Gears stencil at the top for the 'clouds'   The birdhouse, bouncing birds and sentiment from Steampunk Birds were stamped with Cocoa Memento Dye ink and coloured with Prisma pencils.   

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the Season,

Shirley

Gelli Plate Prints, Ornaments and Stars

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well during this busy Season.

I used a Gelli plate print to create the following two Christmas cards.  It's great having them in my stash to use for backgrounds.   I was inspired by Karin's use of Design by Ryn's Patio Stone to create a Christmas Design that you can see here at her blog.    I thought it would be fun to create ornaments for Christmas with it.   I added stars which are also inspired by Karin's design.  

The Gelli plate print actually has star images from a stencil but it's hard to see.   I also used a self made flower stamp when making the print.   I embossed Patio Stone with a blue/silver glitter embossing power on separate card stock, cut them out with a Spellbinder die and sponged with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink.  I added stars painted with alcohol ink and a rhinestone in the center to finish it off.   'Christmas Magic' is from Impression Obsession.  The ornament hangers are also from Impression Obsession's Vintage Ornament die set.

The stars are from a 'cheapo' silver tone garland strand from a Dollar store that I cut apart and was pleased that alcohol ink will cover them. I managed to get 20 stars for a dollar.  It's great fun to get a bargain :)

I had a piece of left-over background so I added a lovely die cut candle from Memory Box to create this quick card below.

 
Can you see stars, a snow covered hill, falling snow and trees in the background above?    I coloured the die cut a little with glitter pens, mica paint, highlighted with a white Gelly Roll pen and added glitter.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the Season!
Shirley

More Beautiful Florals

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well and enjoying this busy time of year. 

I have two more floral designs using the new beautiful Floral clear stamps by Chocolate Baroque.

For the card above, I stamped the Big Bold Background - Wildflower on an orange/yellow sheet of designer paper with brown dye ink.  I also stamped the Peony with the brown ink and coloured both the background and main image with my Prisma pencils.  Joy is from Artistic Expressions.

And below is another design using the gorgeous Magnolia in a different colour combo.

The background was created with Seedless Preserves Distress Inks using the Acrylic Block technique.    All stamping was done with black Versafine Ink.   I coloured the Magnolia with Prisma pencils.  The corner flourishes are from the beautiful Fancy Flourishes clear set which I highlighted with a Gelly Roll pen and turquoise Pencil.

Thanks for your visit and enjoy the Season !
Shirley