Repurposed canvas and bandage dressing

Hi all
I made this fun canvas to join in with the Creative Expressions Mixed Media Challenge day 1 with the theme of 'Bright'.

I took an old canvas I no longer liked and covered it with vintage book pages then a coat of mixed media paint. 

Then added Intense Pigment Stains in Bluebell, Emerald and Citrus Lime, layering up until I liked the colours.

I then used the same products to colour an old field dressing/ bandage and that had been in my stash for years (not useable as no longer sterile due to damaged packaging) and a piece of hessian fabric. I spritzed water to help the bandage and hessian soak up the colours.

Taking the Smashed Glass Andy Skinner stamp, I used my stamp platform and Versafine Jet Black ink to stamp onto a piece of calico. frayed the edges and stuck it down onto the hessian. I had to use red liner tape as wet glue would have seeped through, activated the colours underneath and stained the stamped calico.

 Glass gems and fabric roses gave a pop of red to the canvas. But it needed something else. So I wrapped wire around my spritzer bottle to form loops, then stuck these underneath the focal point of the layered bandage and fabric.

 You can see some of the text through the colours here and below.

 Love how colourful this is.

Thanks for looking.
Suz
x

HOPE - for the Craft Stamper April Challenge

Hi all

Hope is something many of us need right now. It is a very difficult time and our new world and way of living is affecting so many elements of our lives. So I just want to send a little hope out to all of you. Talking of hope - there are GORGEOUS stamps and a stencil to be won this month, seriously, they are beautiful, and I HOPE you will take part! Take a look HERE.

 I used two vintage book pages, Shakespeare don't you know, (sold by the library years ago as falling apart) glued them together as they were very thin. Added a layer or watery gesso so the text would shows though.

 A little more gesso, then some light blue DecoArt paint added with a very watery brush.

 Stamped Andy Skinners 'Memories of India' stamp, firstly in a green, Shabby Shutters colour, then I stamped it some more with a clear Versamark pad and used a very pale pink embossing powder by Creative Expressions to build interest in the background.

 Then I used all the foliage stamps from Jane Gill's Woodware stamp set 'Hare in the Middle' (JGS699), inked with Olive Memento ink and then with Versamark and heat embossed with clear powder. I did this on my stamp platform as I repeatedly stamped each of the images to build the layers.

 You can just make out the pink embossing in the background in the photo below....

 My plan was to use little white flowers to fill all the gaps I'd left in the foliage. So I used an old die set by Susan's Garden called Flower Yarrow as it cuts loads at once - but you could use any small flower die or punch. I added tiny white pearls in the middles and glued down with Cosmic shimmer. I also found this pretty butterfly which I had in my stash - it was in a set from either the Range or Poundland. To make the antennae I just looked around for a slither of card I'd cut when making another project!

 The Hope stamp is another Andy Skinner stamp. I coloured it with the ink used for the foliage.  Once dry I added another little flower to the edge to tie in with the rest of the card.

And that's it for now.
Thanks so much for looking. Please do keep going.... and have hope.
Suz
xxx

See below for links to the stamps I've used:
Memories of India
Hare in the Middle
Hope

Rice Bike canvas for Andy Skinner's Creative Team and Creative Expressions

Here's my first project using Andy's February 2020 releases! So much fun.

First up was the rice paper. I watered down a little of the Quick Grab Glue and it stuck down beautifully with no crinkles (glue applied to canvas and on the back of the paper) stick down and brush from the centre out to release air bubbles.  

 Then my first time using the new structure paste - gorgeous stuff, creamy, easy to use and dries quicker than other pastes I've tried.

I used the new chalk paints - first a wash of the Chestnut.

 Then a gentle dry brush with warm white, several times, layering up to bring out all that fab texure.

 I stamped the Rice Bike stamp onto calico and also onto a vintage book page. Layered up some organza and old bandage from my fabric stash and had a play around with layout.

I tore out and stuck down the stamped vintage book page onto the calico. Added torn paper and a strip of tumble dryer sheet (removed this in the end). I glued down thin strips of paper above and below the bike image. But they seemed a little bare, so they were stamped with the 'Cracked-Up' stamp using the chestnut chalk paint (wash paints off stamps straight away). 

Mini metal cogs, jewellery wire, left over bits of torn fabric and an old clip-on earring to embellish, needed something at the top so I used an old bulldog clip too for a bit of fun!

You can check out the other fab projects on Andy's blog HERE.

Thanks so much for looking.

Suz xxx

Life Without Art Passport Book for the September Craft Stamper Blog Challenge

Hi all
This month sees another fab couple of prizes to be won in the Craft Stamper Monthly Blog Challenge. A gorgeous set of Posca Pens along with a handy case to store them in. Have a look here!
Here's my DT project for the challenge.

I've been getting out my Eileen Hull dies in the last few months, trying to tackle how to use them and different ways to add the paper signatures. I'm also madly into textiles and embroidery too at the minute. No embroidery in this one, but some fun stamping and painting onto calico.

 I used a scrap of thick card from the back of a paper pack for the journal covers and spine.

Vintage book pages from a fab book called "Enquire Within Upon Everything" dated 1861 which belonged to Betty! I started to read some pages while I was working and it's amazing. Don't think I can use any more! According to Wikipedia: Tim Berners-Lee named his precursor of the World Wide Web, ENQUIRE, after this work in 1980.^[7][8] A Forbes article quoted Berners-Lee as saying:^[9]

Back to the project....I stamped one of Andy's new stamps onto a piece of calico.

Stamped it out again to make a mask, which I used to cover up the quote. 

Took another of Andy's stamps and masked off the text inside 

the circles as I just wanted the rings...  

 Stamped it a couple of times over the words.....

 Then started to paint the fabric with DecoArt Fluid Acrylics in Phthalo Turqoise and Quin Gold.

 Then added some Quin Violet around the outside.

 Here's where the book pages come in; I used the leftover paint to 

colour them and glued them to the inside of the journal covers.

 Then I used the diluted quin gold on the spine. I love how it looked, I think I must have had matte medium on my hands from gluing the book pages when I was handling the spine and it acted like a resist, giving a great grungy look!

 More quin gold on the outside of the book cover, that I 

was going to glue the fabric onto, just to base coat it.

 Matte medium to both the cover and the back of the fabric.

 I felt the focal stamp image was getting a little lost so I re-stamped it onto 

tissue paper.....but it wasn't popping enough - so I stamped it again onto painted book 

page that I'd painted white and that worked just right.

 I edged the torn book page with quin gold paint then glued it down with matte medium. The brush I used still had a little blue paint in it, so there are some lovely hints of the colour on the paper.

 I stamped another of Andy's stamps using Titanium White paint around the edges-

paint needs to be washed off straight after to keep the stamps in good condition.

 Then stencilled flowers using crackle paint....

 Once the crackle paint was dry, I added a wash of Cobalt Teal, and a little more quin gold around the tissue paper. A few gems to lift the flowers and the cover was finished. I die cut some recycled pages to create two signatures and now it's ready to use.

Thanks for looking, and if you have any questions just leave me a comment. 

Suz

xxx

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