My little crafting world....


Hi all
I'm a complete craft addict! I have a small business called Surrey Crafts teaching craft workshops from my studio in Esher, Surrey and at venues around the country. I teach mixed media, decorative painting, card making and papercrafts, jewellery making and creative embroidery classes. If you'd like to find out more just leave a comment, or take a look at my other social media pages:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/surrey.crafts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/surreycrafts/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/surreycrafts/
Crafty hugs & stuff
Suz

xx

Sunday 14 April 2019

HIDDEN - my DT project for Andy Skinner

Hi all

I was feeling pretty reflective when I made this just over a week ago after hearing some bad news....and the weekend that followed made this keep resonating in my head....we are all dealing with so many things that we keep hidden. I hope you have the strength to cope with yours, or even get help to do so.

I've also included a bit of upcycling and altering which always makes me happy - not throwing something away to add to landfill!

Here's the project and how I made it.....
I gathered loads of bits together from various Andy Skinner kits....
Used modelling paste through Andy's Sunburst stencil... 
 Chucked on a bit of Crackle paint.....
 Used Heavy Gel Medium to stick on the tape runner and elements.....
 Added the sequins and lace.....
 Painted with DecoArt Gesso and then Titan Buff......
 Next came the grungy colours...…
Metallic gold on the roller bit from inside the tape runner, which had 
melted beautifully into this flower like shape when I put the heat gun to it!
 More layers of the grungy colours (pic below of colours used) and then all edged with some of my fav Prussian Blue Hue...and of course a bit of Metallic Lustre!
Stamped out words from Andy's Word Up stamp set...
Added some rusty wire in the shape of a flower, the blown light bulb and a large paper clip I had rusted at home (there re loads of tutorials on how to do this on youtube).
Here's a close up of how I stuck the wire flower into part of the tape runner.....
A few more close ups.....


 Here you can see the heart, gem (coated underneath with glitter!) grunged words and the paperclips I put the words in and attached to more rusty wire....
 Thanks for looking.
Suz

Friday 12 April 2019

Made for Each Other - Craft Stamper Inspiration Post

Hi all
There's my project for the Craft Stamper 'Inspiration' post  this week.  It's the 2nd week of the monthly challenge. click HERE to have a look, some fab Tim Holtz dies to be won! This was a fun card to make, using Illusionary Artist stamps designed by France Papillion. Perfect for the wedding anniversary of two nature lovers I know.

First the two images were stamped onto white card using a watermark ink pad 
and clear embossing powder. 
 Then I grabbed my good old Gelli Arts plate and smooshed blues and green Oxide inks onto it, spritzed it with water and then swooshed the card through. 

You can then wipe the inks back off the embossing.
To raise the image from the background I used two water based markers, went around the images then softened the colours with a brush dipped in water to blend them out into the background.
 
France's stamp set also has this lovely dropped heart image.....I stamped it with an Archival ink.

 Then again went around with the brush marker to give the image depth.
The final step before layering the card up was to bring the hearts to life a little more, by outlining with a Micron pen, drawing in the hanging line, shading with Quinacridone Violet and highlighting with a white Posca Pen.
Thanks for looking, I hope you like it - and give the Craft Stamper competition a go if you can! 
Suz
xxx