Thursday 24 December 2015

Merry Christmas!

Hey lovelies!

I would like to wish you all a very Merry and peaceful Christmas to you and your families. On a personal note, I am looking forward to enjoying a few rest days to regroup and refresh. It's been a very busy few months for me and December has gone by in a whirlwind. So all that's left to say from me is...


Also don't forget to check out the Prima blog for some fun and festive wishes from the design team!




Warm festive hugs,
xxx

Saturday 12 December 2015

Believe In The Magic - Prima PPP

Hello friends,

I hope you've had a good week. We have a new Prima Product Pick challenge launched today and isn't it a stunner?




This month's PPP palette is one is one of my favourite festive color combinations! Using  fresh greys and aqua pepped up with cherry red is perfect for this season. As is my love for the vintage and slightly kitsch at this time of year I created a Christmas card which sums up the festivites.


I've mixed Royal Menagerie paper with vintage music paper and corrugated card, highlighting areas with gesso, chalk paint, and smatterings of glass glitter.



I chose a vintage Santa image from the Victorian Christmas collection which I "framed" with a Timeless Memories metal frame and then painted with Egg Blue chalk paint to give it an almost patina finish. Lots of gorgeous embellishments include die-cut doilies, Crimson glass glitter, plus Prima berries and flowers.





Prima Products: Garden Fable-Evergreen 580827, A Victorian Christmas - Peace & Holly 583408, A Victorian Christmas - Midnight Kiss 583460, A Victorian Christmas - Christmas Eve 583439, Coy - Magda 581169, Color Bloom - Chrome 582562, A4 Paper Pad - Royal Menagerie 847449, Prima Dies - Crochet Doily 584054, Royal Menagerie - Matilde 58338, Watercolor resist tags-frames 58279, Art Ingredients-Glass Glitter- Crimson Red 962746, Chalkboard Paint - Egg Blue 577216, Art Basics - Heavy Gesso - White (8.5 fl. oz.) 961442, Art Basics - 3D Gloss Gel (8 fl. oz.) 961381, Art Ingredients-Art Sugar: Antique Silver 961787, Timeless Memories - Metal Trinkets - Memoir 579807


 
 Sending you warm wishes 
xxx

Tuesday 8 December 2015

Inspiration Monday #11


Hello everyone!

Just a quick one today as I find five minutes to peek up from the desk of CHA project samples.
This inspiration Monday takes a wintery festive turn this week, thinking I should make the most of the season.

There are certain things I love about Winter (admittedly few!) and these picture encompasses many of them; wood, galvanised metals, chunky logs and lush evergreens. Beautiful!



Personally I love all of those textures together, there is something so rustic and fresh about them.You can almost smell the wood, crisp greenery and hear the crunchy snow underfoot. There is something wonderfully nostalgic about it too.

The neutrel colours mixed with stark white and dark grey draw me in and they are something I like to incorporate into my Christmas projects and gift wrapping. I remember when I was growing up collecting greenery along with twigs to decorate and create with and it was such an enjoyable thing to do, filled with anticipation and something I still enjoy doing nowadays if I get the chance!

Do you have any particular favourite festive textures? Would love to hear them :)


Have a great week
xxx


Saturday 5 December 2015

Autumnal Earth


Hello again lovely readers!,

The creations keep a-coming this week, this time for my December feature on the Mixed Media Place blog. 

Although it is now Winter I was inspired by the rich rust coloured falling leaves of Autumn.  I wanted warm rich colours and thick, heavy, tactile textures evocative of autumnal earth. One of the things I like about that particular time of year is the way leaves peacefully fall down onto the ground below, almost feather like.


I covered the canvas with Heavy Gesso which was extra thick as I'd left the lid off for a few days (bad crafting trait!) so it was extra lumpy which makes for great ultra texture.




Once the gesso was dry I painted over it with Copper Crackle Paste then added glass glitter in areas to replicate grit in the earth. I then blended paints and mica powders around the canvas adding warmth with Prima pink chalk paint.  

To soften the composition I added mica flakes and scrunched up teared up book pages which I adhered to the canvas with 3D Gel so the paper kept it's dimension.



For the leaf, I die cut a piece of sheet copper then I hammered it for create indents then I've covered it with alchohol ink and black Ecoline ink to highlight and create veins on the leaf. Coiled copper wire was also used to create 3D leaf veins.

I hope you enjoyed the journey into autmunal beauty.


Hugs,



Friday 4 December 2015

Prima 12 Days of Christmas: Crackle Paste Ornament

Hello!

I hope your Friday is going well. I've got a fun festive ornament to show you for today's Prima 12 Days of Christmas feature which is showcasing Art Extrgance Crackle Pastes.





I decided it would be fun to upcycle an old bauble with crackle pastes, which were perfect for creating a frosty ice effect. I love hot pink, aqua, brown and teal used together and wanted to




I started out by painted the over the ornament with white crackle, left it todry and I then rubbed over the dry surface with Deep Teal Color Bloom (which I sprayed onto a wet wipe to apply.) Silver Art Ingredients micro beads add interest onto the bauble surface which I adheared with Soft Gel and used brown ink rubbed into the crackle grain to make it more pronounced.



The beautiful Prima flowers bunched together at the top of the ornamaent have been tinted with watercolour pencils and Color Bloom with a sprinkle of micro beads for texture.


Clear crackle paste has transformed the chipboard numbers (ancient Prima from my stash!) to give a cracked ice effect. I attached these to the bauble with Memory Hardware chains and jump rings. The holly leaves also got the crackle treatment with some platinum crackle paint and again I highlighted with watercolor pencils once dry. 




Tip: crackle paste works best when you leave it to dry naturally, created all those fabulous fine cracks whereas drying with heat tools it gives a larger fainter crack.





Texture Paste - White Crackle (8.5 oz.) 961503
Art Extravagance- Texture Paste - Clear Crackle (8.5 fl. oz.) 961541
Art Extravagance- Texture Paste - Platinum Crackle (8.5 fl. oz.) 961527
Art Basics - 3D Gloss Gel (8 fl. oz.) 961381
Art Basics - Heavy Gesso - White (8.5 fl. oz.) 96144
1.5 yard Trim - Posey 583033
Garden Fable- Sprout 580803
A Victorian Christmas - Snowflake 583484
Metals for wood plaque 5 (16 pcs) - 0583514
Royal Menagerie - Diana 583354
Art Ingredients-Mica Powder: Pale Silver 962517
Metals for wood plaque 11 (4 pcs) 583576
Art Ingredients-Art Sugar: Antique Silver 961787
Memory Hardware - Villeneuve Antique Rings 990626
Watercolor Pencils - The Basics 576714
Watercolor Pencils - Scenic Route 576691
Art Ingredients-Micro Beads: Silver 962562
Color Bloom - Deep Teal 580322 



Don't forget to enter your projects here


Have a lovely weekend xx


Tuesday 1 December 2015

Prima 12 Days of Christmas: Festive Evergreen Card

Hello again sweeties.

I'm back today to share with a card I created for the 12 Days of Christmas feature on the  Prima blog which is now in full swing. Today we are featuring fabby watercolour pencils...





It's no secret that I love watercolour and I've been looking forward to creating some festive cards with the Prima watercolour pencils. fresh frosty evergreen boughs holly and ivy.





I started out by painting a square of Memory Hardware leather paper with white heavy gesso then added watercolour effects by highlighting the embossed pattern with pencils when dry. I blended using the watercolour brush set and adding a doily stencil for texture.


The velvet "Snowflake" leaves have also been tinted with the pencils and given some shimmer with silver mica powder mixed with Soft Gel.These leaves are divine, a Christmas craft stash must! I've added lots of luscious textures with stenciling, Memory Hardware beads, assorted flowers and die cut snow flakes with a sprinkle of Art Sugar glitter.







SIIC - Debutante 579364
A Victorian Christmas - Christmas Eve 583439
Alphabet Sticker Sheet - A Victorian Christmas 582371
A Victorian Christmas - Rudolph's Nose 583446
A Victorian Christmas - Snowflake 0583484
Art Ingredients-Iridescent Mica Powder: Green Opal Magic 963521
Art Ingredients-Mica Powder: Pale Silver 962517
Watercolor Brush-Pen Set 580421
Art Basics - 3D Gloss Gel (8 fl. oz.)0961381
Art Basics - Light Paste (8 fl. oz.) 961404
Watercolor Pencils - The Basics 576714
Watercolor Pencils - Earth Tones 0576738
Garden Fable- Everbloom 580766
Memory Hardware - Artisan Parisian Leather Paper 990411
Stencil 6x6: Doily#1 582845
SIIC - A Victorian Christmas 582333
Memory Hardware Glass Pearls 990398
Art Basics - Heavy Gesso - White (8.5 fl. oz.)I 961442
Art Ingredients-Art Sugar: Antique Silver 961787
Art Basics - Soft Matte Gel (8.5 fl. oz.) 961428 


Get entering your creations to win some fabulous prizes! You can choose to make a Prima-based card, tag, or ornament to triple the fun! The rules are simple:

   1. Create ANY Prima-based card, tag, and/or ornament with one of the 12 product challenges.
   2. Upload your project photo (using the inlinkz link provided on the day's post.)
   3. Include which challenge day (1-12) you are entering in your title.(Ex: Sharon- Day 1-Memory Hardware)
   4. You can enter as many times as you wish by December 14th, 2015, at 23:55 ET!
   5. We will pick 12 lucky winners in late December to receive a special Prima prize!






Thanks for stopping by xxx