Just the Ticket

I couldn't wait to try out this new Andy Skinner technique that I've only just come across, think I missed it with being on holiday, but you can see it here. I pretty much copied what he did. I used a mix of treasure and lace DecoArt chalky paint for the base and then a coat of Media white antiquing cream, rubbed back with a babywipe.

I have the industrial set of stamps on pre-order but they haven't hit the UK yet, so had to improvise. I used a couple of the Finn background stamps with black stazon. It came out a bit blockey but I carried on with it.

Next media black gesso and a stencil, love how crisp the images have come out.

And the final touch, the dirty wash mix.

I really love how this turned out and it was so easy to do.

All products are from the DecoArt range.

Precious Collections

Embossed a tag using a TH script texture fade. Painted with DecoArt media medium grey value 3, dried and given a coat of carbon antiquing cream, wiped back, a coat of ultra matte medium varnish, a coat of white antiquing cream, wiped back and another coat of the matte medium to seal. And finally a coat of quin gold.

Painted the idea-ology plaque with DecoArt everlasting chalky paint and wiped back.

DecoArts orange flicker metallic lustre was lightly rubbed over the top to give a rustic shimmer.

Zip teeth were coated in a mix of textured sand paste and ultra matte medium varnish, a coat of paynes grey media paint and finally touched up with quin gold. 

I outlined the zipper with a white posca pen and used white gelato to high-light the texture in the open zip part of the tag. And it still needed some more, so I edge the tag with more white everlasting chalky paint, think it's finished now!

All the paints and mediums are from the fab DecoArt range, check them out here.

Lock & Key

And another quick make been as though I'd prepped a few bits and bobs earlier.

Cracked heart and rustic lock.

All mediums are from DecoArt.

Imagine

Made use of the extra day off and had a play with my DecoArt products to make the above piece. I painted everything with a layer of white crackle paint and then added various shades of washed out blues and greens then added the quin gold and the AS dirty wash.

Close up of the rusted cog and the metal embellishment and the crackle paint.

This is more true to the colours.

Close up of the cracked heart and crackle paint and quin gold.

Embrace Possibilities

I wanted to try out a couple of things and ended up with this plaque. I gave it a couple of coats of black carbon DecoArt chalky paint, then a coat of weathered wood crackle followed by a layer of everlasting chalky paint. I added titanium white media paint to a splodge of white modeling paste. This is one of the things I waned to try out and scraped it through a script stencil across the bottom third. 

Stamped the main Finn image in a mix of archival and versa fine ink directly onto the wood, which came out really well. I stamped the circles onto white paper and cut them out along with the heart and stuck them on.

I added a couple of pieces of tissue tape and hi lighted some of the modeling paste in black shimmer metallic lustre from DecoArt.

I'm entering my plaque into this weeks PaperArtsy challenge as they have a theme of grunge paste but the modeling paste is pretty much the same sort of thing and you don't have to use PA products to enter.

Curiosity

There is a new challenge blog called Stamps and Stencils that has just gone live and their first months theme is anything goes as long as you include a stamp and or a stencil. So I stenciled onto this tag using a range of DecoArt products. I sanded it back and gave it a couple of coats of media ultra matte varnish. 

I added some stamping in timber brown, saddle brown and rusty brown stazon, heat dried it and then gave the tag another couple of coats of media ultra matte varnish. 

Stamped the 3 men from the TH stamp set onto a piece of deli paper in timber brown stazon, cut them out and stuck them on. I coloured the piece of wood with DecoArt vintage chalky paint, followed by a coat of the Andy Skinner dirty wash and a piece of lace. I added a brad and a couple of spinners to the Finn stamped cog image.

Artful Times have a theme this time around called In the style of T!m Holtz, so I'm entering my tag over there too.

Rainbow Tag

Over at Dragons Dream TIO they have a theme this week of a rainbow of colours and you also have to use at least one real stamp. I used the 7 rainbow colours and covered the tag with gelatos and blended them in. I then used my new to me T!m Holtz stamps to make a collage on the tag. Using a white posca pen I high-lighted certain areas.

Close up of the bottom of the tag with the indigo and violet ie pink and purple!!

And a close up of the top half and the white outlining and blended gelatos.

Black & White Tags

For some reason my black soot distress ink has gone a blue/grey over the white chalky paint. Anyhow, not to worry it's a shade of black. I used tissue tape, stamped with Finn stamps and the main image is a silhouetted woman from the Dina set with a few more scribbles. Did a bit of flicking with the black and white DecoArt mister sprays.

Painted the tag white, then a layer of weathered wood crackle and a layer of black chalky paint. White modeling paste through a stencil and then a piece of corrugated painted white and a hint of black on the rises and edges. I added some washi tape that Chris had kindly sent me. Stamped the butterfly on black card and heat embossed in white wow powder.

All mediums and paints are from the DecoArt range.

Silhouetted Women

A second journal page, this time using a mix of my new to me Finn stamps and Dina Wakley silhouetted women, some bubble wrap, lids a credit card and black paint. I outlined the images with a smudgy black pencil.

I'm not sure that it's completely finished yet, but I guess that's the good thing about this book, I can always go back to it.

First Journal Page

I have again been ribbed, this time about a journal, I still don't get the point really, but anyway, under the immense pressure, I caved in. No not really, I found one for a steal of a price whilst I was on holiday and decided if it wasn't for me, it was no great loss. So anyhow, here is my first complete page.

Pink & Black Atc's

We were challenged by Emma to make 2 atc's using just two colours. I was ribbed and ribbed about using pink, so I bit the bullet and went for pink and black. I also wanted to use some of my new to me stamps.

Scrapbook Pages - Holiday 2015

Just to let you know that these pages are all extremely plain and simple, and most photos are just matt and layered and placed on a 12 x 12 piece of card with a few stickers thrown in, but that's just how I wanted them to be as I like the photos to be the main focus. So this is the front page with the abbreviations of the states we visited.

And then our journey from Utah to Wyoming began and we also went through Idaho along the way.

We stopped over at a lovely place called Bucks T-4.

And skied at Big Sky, Montana.

Steep downhill pitch.

The top photo of this page is taken from the highest point we could get to via the tram.

And opposite is another resort owned by a private ski club!!

Then on the way back down to Wyoming, we didn't realise until we went past the sign, that we actually dipped into Yellowstone, so we went back to get a photo!! Below is one of the snow coaches that take visitors around the park in winter.

I've always wanted to see a Bison or it's other name, a buffalo, and as we were coming back through Idaho, we found a whole herd of them in a field. Not quite what I was expected as I wanted to see a wild one, but this was good enough for now!! And when we were back in Utah the deer came on the front of the B&B we were staying in.

Whilst still in Yellowstone I saw a wolf and when we pulled into a layby he was just joining his 3 mates. You probably can't see on the bottom photo, but there are 4 wild wolves there, glad the water was between us!!

Then we stopped off for a ski in Targhee before heading back to Utah.

Next we hit Powder Mountain, except this year, there wasn't much powder, in fact the snow depth was extremely low because in all our years of going we have never ever seen the car in the creek!!

And finally the snow came!! Only 4 x 4's or chains were allowed up the canyon.

And the next day was a blue sky day, so we went to Snowbird.

And so did everyone else, I'm not sure if you can see the queue's at the lift in the top photo.

And we took a trip up the cable car and took a photo of it one the way down.

And finally the full moon rising from out balcony.

Thanks for looking xx

Dream in the Magic

Using one of the 6 x 6 canvas's I brought back from holiday I set to prep-ing using the rust technique that Andy Skinner recently shared

 at CHA. You can see it here.

And this is what I ended up with.

And these are the edges of the canvas using TH steampunk stamp and the dirty wash.

If I do this again next time I will completely cover the canvas first and then add the modeling paste through the stencil, rather than add it then paint it.

Using my new to me Finn stamps I used the PA very rare tissue paper, painted the back, cut it out and used DecoArt matte medium to adhere it to the canvas and ran round the edge with the dirty wash.

And finally added a cracked heart, a wooden cog by Prima and the idea-ology spinners and brad.

All paints and mediums used are from the DecoArt range.