Snowy animals Christmas

These are three cards made with Chris Dark on her Christmas Club at The Craft Barn.  They are done using the same techniques but different stamps.  Kraft card edged with white brilliance ink and gessoed in the central area.  Stamp in archival and paint with distress inks. Frantage sprinkled on top lightly and heated.  Tiny stars and snowflake punched shapes a bit of lace and few crystal gems finish them off.

I love the sheep best - hope you like them, and thanks for looking.

Anne :)

Shabby Chic Altered Jam Jar

I made this recently for a swap on Chic Swaps made from the Heart on Facebook.  I actually used a peanut butter jar as I liked the shape.

 This is not a great pic but I can't retake this shot as I have already sent the jar to the recipient.  Some of the other views are clearer and also there is a video here on my youTube channel.   I started by covering the glass jar with torn pieces of white mulberry paper using matt medium, and then adding torn pieces of a white handmade very fine Japanese paper which has gold and silver flecks again using matt medium.  When this was dry I applied the white rose fabric heart which  is the background for the main image and flowers etc.

I used a spellbinders matt and also cut out a matt using some gold fabric thread paper which was stuck onto paper so it could go through the grand caliber.  These are the next layer onto which the fairy/angel girl image is matted.  She is an image from Astrid's Artistic Efforts here.  I have used 2 pieces and some glue gel to give a bit of definition and she is covered with Glossy Accents. The believe is from a book of Tim Holtz word stickers.   The roses were next and they have been sprayed with Perfect Pearls mist and some have distress ink on them.

The leaves are plastic but look like frosted glass luckily.

The words around the jar are stamped in black archival onto Paper Artsy Crackly tissue paper and glued on using matt medium, and the gold birds are stamped and embossed in Gold EP onto the tissue paper and applied in the same way.  If you tear the paper you can hardly see the join.  The wings are stamped onto tissue as well and another card layer of wings is on top.  They are embossed in cosmic shimmer EP.  The gold lock and key were silver so I used a gold rub on cream to change them slightly.

There is a gold metal birdcage with flowers on the side and a pair of charms I made hanging on the pink and white ribbon.  I added 2 stickpins I made to match.

The lid was gessoed and painted pink using Paper Artsy Fresco Finish acrylic paint and a flower shape cut out from a lacy tablecloth is on top of that.  The braid was stuck on using my glue gun to keep it all secure.

More roses are sitting on the centre and a handmade lacy butterfly made using Fiona Jennings technique here  on youTube. 

Underneath the lid I stuck 2 pretty spellbinder circles and butterfly with a tiny bling gem in the middle.

It is fun to make something other than a card!  I hope you like it and any comments always very appreciated.

Anne :)

this is link to the you tube video of this project

Ladies Diary mini cabinet

I found this treasure in a charity shop a few weeks ago, plain brown and very dusty, but at £4.50 an absolute bargain.  After wiping off the dust I took the door off and painted everything with gesso.  I wanted to have a background colour for the crackle that matched the papers so I mixed Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Snowflake and Claret to get a nice shade of light burgundy.  I used this for the next layer.  I then applied Paper Artsy Crackle Glaze and dried it with my heat gun carefully. Snowflake was the top layer and it is so great watching the cracks appear.  In a few places I wasn't happy with the result so I painted over all 3 layers to get a better look.  Fortunately, I had mixed plenty of the first colour to be able to do this.  You can speed it up by using the heat tool as long as you are careful and don't get too close.  When it was dry I used Distress Inks Victorian Velvet and Aged Mahogany on the edges.

 This is just with the crackle paint.

This is the top shelf inside.  Just has some flowers and  leaves along with the cut out.  I cut out all the pieces I thought I would use and edged them with the same Distress Inks as before.

This is the middle shelf and has a crochet doily and an old thread spool covered with a strip of the paper. Also the 2 cut outs.

The bottom shelf has another old thread spool with a strip of paper, a cut out and 2 crochet doilies with a metal heart charm.

Left side with 3 shelves as below.

Cut out at back, punched out lady on button, rose on 'spool top' (thanks to Cindy).

Another cut out, spellbinders fancy label, flowers and punched butterfly.

Two cut outs plus paper and crochet doilies, heart from old necklace, clock charm on punched background paper.

Right side as below.

Top shelf punched lady in frame charm, crochet doily, cut out behind, and butterfly.

Middle shelf has a little book I made out of the papers.  Pictures below.

I used Tim Holtz Tissue Tape to bind.

Bottom shelf has another cut out rose and butterfly.

Close up of top piece showing fussy cut clock and flowers, bird charm and more flowers.

Close up of top view showing flowers and lace cut from old tablecloth.

Close up of door showing fussy cut lady and banner.

I really enjoyed making this - especially as I am going to keep it!  Everything else I have made recently has been for swaps and although I really like doing swaps, it's nice to have something I have made.  Thanks for coming by and looking and any comments always very appreciated.

Anne :)

This is the video of the project.

Mixed media lady

This is a canvas I made at a workshop taught by Lina Mcdermott at her home recently.  I am relatively new to acrylics but really like the challenge of new media.  The background is gesso and acrylic paint with torn paper to give texture.  A bit of stamping and stencilling with paint and gesso, going over the edges and down the sides of the canvas completes the background.

The figure is drawn onto white card and stuck on using matt medium.  Her skirt is torn paper pieces and bodice is a book page.  Hair is done using smaller book print pieces and everything is adhered using matt medium.  Her skin is painted in acrylic and her face is drawn on using pencil.  A tiny paintbrush was used to finish painting her features.  The colour isn't so good in the photo as usual.

It's nice to have something a bit more permanent than a card, although I love making cards too.  I hope you like her and thanks for coming by, and of course, any comments very appreciated.

Anne :)