Everything Eleanor Again!

I love this stamp set - oooh! I think I must have said this before......ha!  This card is for a friend's birthday and she likes her flowers!  I used an old, but not tried for years technique for this card, inspired by Splitcoast Stampers - inking with markers.  I didn't manage to produce anything I could give away when I first tried this, but something must have gone right this time!  I used Aqua Markers for the inking, and was very pleased with the effect, especially when using a blender pen to soften the lines a little.  A few stamps around the edge with the splodge stamp from SU French Foliage set just to frame the design and job done!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed looking.

Mixed Media Mirror

I have wanted to do a mixed media piece for a long time and when I saw a very plain pine mirror at the carboot - for 50p I just had to have it!  I knew it had to have a crackle effect base, so that's where I started!  Painted the base coat a lovely dark pink, acrylic paint, then applied a coat of crackle medium specially designed for use with acrylic paint.  Waiting for this to dry sufficiently is always a problem as I am so impatient! Once dry (about 30 mins) I then applied another coat of acrylic paint, this time in cream.  This part is always great as you can see the paint crackle before your very eyes!!  I then gave the whole thing a couple of days to settle down and harden before I did a little light sanding all over just to roughen the finish a bit.  In retrospect I think I prefer the finish you get just using ordinary household emulsion paint and pva glue for the crackle as you get a smoother matt finish.  Then it was on to the exciting stuff - I used Sheena Douglass ivy stamp for the leaves, then hand painted them with Pebeo Acrylic paints.  After that it was simply a matter of applying a little extra decoration here and there, so I tore strips of some papers I already had, inked the edges with Tim Holtz Spun Sugar and the middles with Antique Linen as they were just too white!  Applied with a little watered down pva glue for a good smooth finish.  After that it was just a large flower to be added  and a few butterflies and there you have it - finished!

I had so much fun doing this, and it doesn't look too bad for a 50p bootsale mirror!

I hope you enjoy looking at this as much as I enjoyed decorating it!

Everything Eleanor Card

I was thrilled earlier this week when my new SU goodies arrived, so I decided to make this card for Julie's birthday.  I stamped the flowers in Rich Razzlebury, then cut them out and gave the stamens a bit of glitz with a Sakura glitter pen.  When they were dry, I used versamark and ultra thick embossing powder to give them a really shiny finish  The paper is from the festival of prints SU pad. The "stalk" is stamped in Lucky Limeade.Finished off with Rich Razzlebury ribbon.   I love this set and have been eying it up for a long time - now it's mine!!!
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed looking!

Zentangle Cards

I really enjoyed making this zentangle fish card and colouring it!  I like all the circles and only wish I had a circle card blank to mount it on....maybe I should get some!










This owl really makes me smile - it was easier to draw than I imagined it would be, and I even surprised myself when it was finished! Again, I think it would have been nicer on a circular card blank.

I loved drawing this one!  It just seemed to flow, when it came to mounting it, the Stamping Up pumpkin pie ink and card just seemed the obvious choice.




Thank you for stopping by, I hope you've enjoyed looking!

Wedding Card

Here is the wedding card I made for my friend's son's wedding.  I tried to keep it fairly simple, but as usual, I seem to have problems knowing when to stop!  Again, the Silhouette Cameo was used to it's full extent, cutting out the fabulous lattice hearts I used here. I kept the colours simple, cream and white, which I think gives it a crisp, clean look.
Hope you enjoy and thank you for stopping by.

Zentangle!

Zentangle...who would have thought I could actually draw!! I am having so much fun doing this and it is so relaxing! Many thanks to Suzanne McNeil for her books of inspiration!

I've done loads of small practice pieces, this art form is so relaxing.

More of the same - this time in colour! Although the original colour of Zentangle was just to be black and white, I thought a bit of colour would add a different slant!  I used Derwent Inktense water colour pencils as they give a lovely rich finish.  

Hope you enjoy, thanks for stopping by!

Painting with bleach!

This is a technique I really enjoy.  I made a square mask, this one has a 53mm aperture, but you can make it any size to suit your stamps or projects.  I have a selection of stamp freebies from magazines, as they are all 53 mm square, that's what I cut! The rest of the project is really easy, lay the mask onto your card blank and secure with low tack tape then simply ink the middle aperture in any water based colour of your choice. Stamp your design in black archival, or stayzon ink. If you don't use a permanent ink here, the bleach will take out the lines and spoil your design.  Using ordinary household bleach (I watered mine down a little as it seemed too thick to paint with) "paint" out the part of the design you want to be white. (Actually, the bleach doesn't make the area true white, it just leaves a slight tinge.)  In this case I chose her face and just picked out some highlights in the feather. The rest of the card is up to you! I mounted the smaller card and layered onto a larger background to give this card to my sister in law for her birthday.

Here are a few of the smaller cards I have made using the same technique, they are very quick to make, which is quite satisfying.  You can just do one layer, directly onto your card blank which makes it cheaper for posting! These ones are about 3.5 inch square.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these cards, thank you for looking!





  Any questions about this technique, please message me, I'll be glad to help!