Mixed Media Valentine

I was lucky enough to receive a subscription to Craft Stamper for Christmas and a project in the March edition really caught my eye when looking for some Valentine inspiration. I haven't copied Tracy's project but have been inspired by the design and by her sketch to make my card.

I made a masterboard by brayering 'Blue Oyster' acrylic paint lightly in patches onto a piece of 300gsm card and then with a dry brush/baby wipe applied patches of 'Mermaid', 'Jade', 'Lime Marmalade' paints and white gesso until I was happy with my background. I then dry brushed it with the Interference paint which gave it a gorgeous opalescent sheen in places. I stamped the background script with Distress ink.

I don't have any mdf shapes so I made my own heart embellishment by die-cutting a heart five times from strong grey card and sandwiched them together. I applied texture paste on top and left it to dry before adding patches of 'Mermaid' and 'Lime Marmalade' paint and then overpainting with 'Park Lane'.

I dry brushed two doilies, one for the outside and one for the inside with 'Mermaid', 'Lime Marmalade' and 'Park Lane' paint. The sentiment was printed using my Dymo Letratag gadget with paint smeared over the top.

I cut a piece of the masterboard to fit my card blank using a dark blue mat. The doily and the sentiment were stuck to the card colouring around the edges with a blue pencil to embed them into the card. Scraps of ribbon, lace and cotton thread were stuck to the doily before placing the heart on top. I finished by making some marks with white gesso and splattering blue paint and white gesso to tie everything together. The piece of the doily that was left over from the front of the card was put on the back for interest and the remaining doily was stuck inside with the other part of the sentiment.

Supplies Used:
Acrylic Paints: Blue Oyster, Jade & Mermaid (PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk); Lime Marmalade & Park Lane (IndigoBlu), Interference Green (DecoArt Fluid)
Stamps: Background Script (Lavinia Stamps)
Inks: Stormy Sky (TH Distress)
Dies: Classic Hearts (Spellbinders)
Snippets: 300gsm card, Thick grey card, White doilies, White gesso, Pearlescent embossing paste, Blue pencil (Derwent Cumberland), Ribbon, Lace, Cotton thread

Tracy's original

I would like to enter this project into the following challenges:

Country View Crafts: February 2018 Anything BUT Cute

Happy Little Stampers: February 2018 Anything Goes With Dies

I seemed to have everything everywhere while making this project but I really enjoyed doing it! Thanks for visiting.

Stef x

New Year, New Challenges, New Job?

So I've been away for a while focusing on family and personal stuff but really want to get back to sharing my crafting and joining in with a few challenges along the way. My thoughts led me to join in with the Mission Inspiration challenge for January on facebook. So two firsts! My first ever art journal page and my first ever entry into the challenge. Each month Mike Deakin sets a series of prompts together with some colour swatches and inspirational words and that takes away the fear of starting with a blank page! I followed the prompts exactly and am reasonably pleased with the results. I just need to spend far less time faffing and trying to decide what to do and just go for it! I hope that this is the first of many art journal pages to come!

Supplies Used:

Paints: Apricot Blush & Townhouse Teal (IndigoBlu Acrylic)

Stencils: Bubbles & Faded Dots (IndigoBlu)

Images: Snowdrops (Carol Ann Clarke for Craftsuprint), Photo from my garden

Music Text: Auld Lang Syne

Stamp: Ivy leaf (Toodles & Binks - free with Craft Stamper Sept 2011)

Ink Pad: Lettuce (Adirondack)

Page Title Font: Annie BTN

Snippets: Stripy patterned paper, White gesso, Black Staedtler triplus fineliner, Derwent Cumberland colouring pencils

Can't wait to see what Mike's got lined up for tomorrow when the February challenge starts!

Thanks for visiting

Stef x