Anyone know Where Spring Is?

Hi Everyone

As we head into Easter weekend any one know where Spring is? It's absolutely freezing here in the north west of England. So much so I have made my own little piece of Spring with this clean & simple card.

This card started with a gelli print using the 4" circle the fact that it turned out looking a bit like a meadow scene is pure luck, that wasn't what I was trying to achieve. 

I have added some of the AALL & Create stamps designed by the talented Tracy Evans. The centre 3 have been stamped onto book paper and cut out paper pieced over the stamped images.

I have drawn around the circle with a fine liner pen to mimic the scribbles Tracy has added to the stalks.

The sentiment is from Alison Bombers Spring Edition stamps by Paperartsy. 

Thanks for stopping by and I would like to wish you all a happy Easter 

Love

Amanda X

I'm Back at That's Crafty Blog

Hi Everyone

As you will have seen from the title of this post I am back at That's Crafty Blog and have resumed my weekly Tuesday posts following a couple of months off due to work commitments. 

For my post today I have used one of the That's Crafty MDF ATC Chunkies which are from the recently launched MDF Chunkies range (others sizes available)

For all the details just pop over HERE

Thanks for stopping by

Love

Amanda X

Wasting the Sunshine

Hi Everyone

It's a lovely sunny day here today and today I had to weigh up my available options, go out in the first sunny day in ages or play with Seth Apter baked textures that have been sitting on my desk for weeks unopened, the baked textures won!!

I had an idea using them along side one of the new Stencil Girl stencils, Halo Radiant,

 designed by Pam Carriker. To create my piece meant loads of masking, making a stencil out of the stencil and lots of scrummy Baked textures, I used them all on this project other than the rust. 

All was created on a gelli print and mounted onto a That's Crafty MDF 8" x 8"which I created a frame around using one of the 8" x 8" That's Crafty stencils 'Random Rectangles'.

Stamps are Seth Apter Paperartsy, Tim Holtz and AALL & create designed by Tracy Evans.

Stamped sentiment is from Alison Bombers stamps for Paperartsy EAB08.

This was very fiddly to make but I quite like how it turned out even if it isn't what I first had in mind!

Before I go I would just like to tell you that I will be back on the That's Crafty Blog  next week returning to my usual Tuesday spot so I hope that you will pop over.

Have a great what's left of the day

Love

Amanda X

Hugs

Hi Everyone

A clean & simple card from me that uses this fabulous dog stamp from Joggles coloured with Prismacolor pencils. I have sat him on top of the die cut Hugs which has been lightly coloured with vintage photo distress ink. I have then just punched out a heart and added cotton so I could hang it from his tail. 

Short and sweet from me today but thanks for stopping by

Love

Amanda X

Happy Mothers Day

Hi 

and Happy Mothers Day to all the Mums out there.  I've just said goodbye to my Mum after spoiling her rotten and making a delicious roast beef Sunday lunch even if I do say so myself but I have to confess that my Mum made the Yorkshire puddings because hers are so the best. 

I haven't been around craft land for a couple of weeks due to current work commitments and my free time has been virtually non existent and I thought I was going to have to, dare I say, buy a card!!!! I couldn't bring myself to that thought so managed to put a card together using a background that I had in my collection.

Stamps are mostly Tracy Scott Paperartsy except the butterfly which is Stampendous Laurel Burch,

I have die cut the word mum. There is also a little colouring with sparkle pens to add a little touch of bling for my Mum who likes a touch of sparkle which sadly doesn't show up.

I can't wait to get back into my craft room for serious play but at least I managed enough time so I didn't end up buying a card!!

Thanks for stopping by and I will see you all soon

Love

Amanda X

Find your inner peace

Hi Everyone

Hope that you are having a lovely Sunday. I am still feeling the effects of this bad cold and lacking the crafty motivation to start a new project due to this shocking cold I have at the moment. I thought I would finish another journal page that has been hanging around. I have many pages lying around that I have just used to get rid of surplus paints etc from other projects and this is one of those mop up pages.

Again this is in my small Dylusions journal.

As is with many of my pages there is lots of stamping and stencilling. The Buddha stencil I have just bought and I love it. The Chinese writing stamps are amongst some the of the very first stamps that I purchased I got them in a little gift pack, the Ginkgo stencil is from Clarity. 

There is gold pen around the Buddha and gold gilding around the edges of the page which you can't really see.

this close up shows a bit more of the background details.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for stopping by

Love

Amanda X

If You Ever.......

Hi Everyone

Well today I am feeling really sorry for myself as I am absolutely full of a bad cold which is really annoying on my weekend off!!! All the arty things I wanted to do today just haven't happened because I just haven't got the energy. I have however managed to finish a journal spread in my small Dylusions journal that has been hanging around for weeks.

There are many layers on these pages and most of them I cannot remember but lots of left over paints, Golden fluid acrylics which I recently bought, lots of layered stencilling and white and black pen work. The birds are rubber stamps from Octopode Factory, again trying to use stamps I haven't inked for ages. 

I typed out my journalling words on my type writer "If you ever find paradise, never turn your back on it"

Hope you have a better weekend than me!!!!

Love

Amanda X

We are all mad here!!

Hi Everyone

I'm enjoying a lazy Sunday playing in my craftroom, I have spent all morning ironing so I think I deserve it!!

I've been playing some more in my art journal, something I am trying to do much more of this year. Infact I'm trying to do anything arty other than make cards as I have a mountain of those collecting dust in large plastic boxes with no idea really what to do with them!!! In another attempt to create art on something different I have been captured by all the art that is currently being created on Rolodex cards and displayed within the Rolodex spinner so I am waiting for Amazon to deliver mine today so I can join in with what appears to be this current trend, watch this space for those. Meanwhile back to todays art journal page in my small Dylusions journal..

I currently subscribe to Badass Stamps to receive a members only stamp set each month and I have used this months set along with stamps from SinCity, Dylusions & Deep Red to complete my page.

Hand have been stencilled on using archival black ink. 

Enjoy your Sunday I'm off to play some more

Thanks for stopping by

Love

Amanda X

In My Own Defence........

Hi Everyone

I was mooching about on the internet recently and came across this stamp, and I got some others, that are from Joggles and available at just over half price at The Craftbarn, I just love anything that's a little bit quirky. Add it together with a set of stamps that I purchased from Facebook and I made this quick fun card. 

I have stencilled using a stencil I cut myself on the cameo silhouette (I really must do more of them) and the main sentiment is from Indigoblu.

main image coloured with coloured pencils.

thanks for stopping by

Love

Amanda X

An unfinished page

Hi Everyone

Happy Sunday to you all, hope you are having a good one. 

I'm feeling a little under the weather today and I'm hoping this flu bug doing the rounds hasn't set its sights on me, especially as I am having a week off work this coming week.  Rather than feeling sorry for myself I dragged myself into my craftroom for a little play, that always helps doesn't it?

Rather than start something new, ideas's weren't very forthcoming, I returned to finish an art journal page that has laid unfinished for months.

Working in my small Dylusions journal I had the background already done which was just paint cleaned off my brayer.  I built up the background with different stencils and the Frida image is a Lost Coast stamp stamped onto a scrap of gelli print. 

After I cut out and stuck on the Frida image I highlighted her with stencilled dots and then I went around the image adding tiny pieces of torn Dina Wakley washi tape. 

I stamped and cut out the fish from one of my subscriber stamp sets of Badass Stamps to put a little more context to the Frida quote I chose to use.

Then typed the quote out on my old typewriter.

Thanks for stopping by

Love

Amanda X

PaperArtsy - New Stamps by Alison Bomber

Hi Everyone

I am delighted to have been asked by Alison Bomber to be her 'Wingman' for this, her 3rd release of quote stamps for PaperArtsy and Alison has chosen another fabulous collection of quotes for her latest 3 sets of stamps. I have been lucky enough to be able to team these up with some of Tracey Scotts new January released stamps. I think this also shows how versatile Alison's choice of quotes are.

I'd like to share with you some sneak peeks but to see them all just pop over to the PaperArtsy Blog.

You can see all my projects in full over on the PaperArtsy Blog. 

If you haven't already been over to the PaperArtsy blog be sure to check out Alison's Launch post which my post follows. We both have very different styles which I think just endorses how versatile Alison's choice of quotes are.

thanks for stopping by

Love

Amanda X

My First Foray into Acrylic Pouring

Hi Everyone

Hope that you are having a lovely weekend. I am about to see the arrival of my family to celebrate my Mums birthday so before I start preparing everything for that I thought I would share with you my first attempts at acrylic poring. 

I have long been an admirer of the effects achieved with this genre of art, it was time to have a go!!!

Please do not attempt this at home if you don't like mess, or maybe that was just me!!!!

I have watched loads of video's on YouTube so armed with that knowledge I set about my first canvas. At this point everything I thought I knew and understood just disappeared so I just ended up doing what I usually do when trying to learn something, I just went for it. 

I prepared each acrylic paint colour I was using in a plastic shot glass by mixing the paint with acrylic flow medium, if there is a science to this it escaped me and I just mixed to a mixture I was happy with, I did this with each colour. I then to each colour added several drops of 100% silicone liquid, this is what creates the cells. I originally was going to do a dirty pour, adding all colours to one cup, but decided to add the paint one colour at a time and played with the swipe technique, lightly swiping the paint into each other. I then rolled the paint around the canvas and then added heat with my heatgun to increase the cell production.  I then stopped, which isn't easy to do lol. 

Here you can see how the cells form, which I think looks fab!

I ended up not completely covering the sides as I would have lost the pattern on the canvas but I quite like the poured look on the edges. I need to try and understand how much paint I actually need for a project.

You can just see that I have knocked nails into the back of the canvas to keep the canvas off the surface, this will be removed when it's fully dried. I think that will take several days if not a week, I've just got to leave well alone.

I still have loads and loads to learn and I am sure this effect I have achieved is more look than technique but as a first attempt I am really pleased with it. 

thanks for stopping by

Love

Amanda X