Groovi Tuesday 7

Hello, thanks for popping in for Groovi Tuesday.

I thought I would show you one of my samples using the brand new lace grids.

This one is George. The rose is from Jayne's Roses, I wanted it all peachy coloured, my favourite!

Lots of work in this, I don't work fast with lace work but I love it.

 Lace work wasnt particularly one of the techniques I was trying to learn when I had the idea for the Groovi system back in September 2014, I just envisioned beautiful line art etched on acrylic plates to make the tracing part achievable, so its lovely to see how everything has blossomed and developed since Clarity launched my lightbulb moment in 2015.

Thanks again for popping in!

Maria x

Mixed Media Monday 3

Good Morning!

Hope you had a great weekend, mine was busy busy busy, but good, sadly I didn't manage a Speed Craft Sunday yesterday, i came home from Shrewsbury, went for a wee (Too much info?) then i made my slimming world gravy still wearing my coat, then went to Pete's mums for pork dinner, then went straight to poker, where I kicked ass and won!

So today then, Mixed Media Monday...

 I absolutely loved the Natural Beauty stencil that Leonie designed.

I used some rather nice sage green texture paste on a canvas, I deliberately left the edges for a tatty look. When the paste was dry I added Aged Parchment ink over the exposed areas and edged with brown archival ink.

Then I added a tough of inca gold and used a gold wink of stella pen in between the lines, you cant see the sparkle in the pics.

I tattied up a couple of chipboard shapes and added some handmade flowers, not too much faffing though, i wanted an uncluttered look for this one.

Hope you like!

Thanks for popping in, i'll be back tomorrow with Groovi Tuesday.

Maria x

Stencil Saturday, a bit of graffiti...

Evening!

Busy day, but I wanted to something with stencils as its Saturday, and I spotted the new challenge over at Country View Challenges, the theme is Letters and/or Numbers.

I managed to work 3 stencils into this one.

I started by blending some yellow ink through the Harlequin stencil, I then bumped it along and added a little orange ink.

Then I roughly rubbed black ink over the new Arty Arrows stencil, sprayed with water and pressed it over the card.

Now for a very very cool stencil, ABC stencil, and some texture paste, you need to do one letter at a tie if you are making up a word, the good news is this paste can be dried with a heat gun in about a minute, I don't do waiting!

When its dry, brush over with black ink, I didn't particularly want the letters black, but a hazy shadow around the letters.

I then sanded the letters back a bit, decide to keep some of the black, and added red ink through the stencil. A little touch of white pen around the letters.

A few red splashes and edge with black sharpie pen to finish off and then bang it on a card!

OK, i'm happy that's done, i can go cook some tea now, thanks for popping in, and don't forget to pop over and have a look at the challenge, you have a whole month to enter.

Maria x

Finish it Friday 9

Good Morning and happy Friday!

The weeks are flying by aren't they, I cant believe its week 9 of FIF, so here it is...

This is what i started with

The motorbike is an older Clarity stamp, paper is from Paperartsy, and iv'e no idea where the embossing folder is from.

I die cut a nice big leafy sprig from an amazon package, If you have any of those and you get to see me in person, can I have them please?

I didn't want to do much to the motorbike, so i just used my sparkle pen with a tiny touch of brown ink.

The book page looks warped in the pic, only because the sparkle and ink is still wet.

That's it, done!

Thanks for popping in.

No idea if i'll manage a Stencil Saturday tomorrow or not, got a very busy day today and Shrewsbury tomorrow, but i'll definitely manage a Speed Craft Sunday.

Groovi Tuesday 6

Hello, thanks for popping in, I appreciate it!

Groovi Tuesday then, I couldn't decide what to show you, so I thought id show you a couple of projects, because I can...

This one was created using Tina's Flower Burst plate and the Bold Straight perforating grid.

And this is one I demonstrated on Hochanda a while ago, I love anything with bunnies/hares, this also incorporates Tina's Doodle plates too.

Plenty of perforating and cutting on this one, the more I do it the more I like it!

Ok thats it for today, hope you can come back soon.

Maria x

Mixed Media Monday 2

Good Morning and welcome to another Mixed Media Monday!

This project was originally going to be a Finish it Friday project, because all the elements came from the reject box, but I decided it could pass as mixed media, so here you go...

I love an opportunity to recycle old packaging, I buy Sizzix Bigz cutting dies specifically to use them on cardboard etc.

I used my Dapper cutting die with the cardboard.

There were a few cogs in the scrap box and the square frame was stamped with screwed up paper and Inca Gold-looks better in the flesh.

I stamped some cogs with archival ink.

Oh look, more cardboard!

I stamped the tags and filled them with more cogs and text.

Bit of brown and teal ink for the cogs and tags, then put it all together!

Hope you like it, thanks for popping in.

Hopefully see you tomorrow for Groovi Tuesday.

Maria x

Speed Craft Sunday 7

Hello, thanks for popping in, hope your Sunday is going well so far.

I have a Groovi class today, only local though, so no motorway trip, yay!

Just time for me to show you this weeks Speed Craft Sunday project.

I stamped the Rose first then stamped the Line Sentiment around to make a frame, a stamping platform is helpful with this.

Then I gently brushed green ink toward the corners through a circle stencil.

I coloured the leaves with waterbased markers blended with a clear sparkle pen. The Rose needed to be white so I just used the clear sparkle pen with the tiniest bit of green ink just to tint slightly.

I tried for black and white plus one colour, so i can use this as a second entry into the Country View Challenge.

Time spent on this one, including colouring, 20 minutes max.

Stencil Saturday, with a bit of velum.

Good Morning!

Its getting to be quite regular this blogging malarky isn't it.

Saturday then, stencils...

And I spotted a challenge over at CAS on Friday blog using velum on your card, so I thought Id have a go at that too.

Dark pictures again! and the cards are quite nice too.

I used a plate to cut the shape into my cards, i couldn't decide which way i wanted the curve so i did both.

I also cut a copy paper mask too, lay it over the inside of the card and stencilled with purple ink. The stencil is a Clarity New Design Club stencil.

I found a few butterflies cut from velum, added purple ink to the back layer.

I brushed purple in to the front of the card, darker from the curve, getting lighter.

The second example, I also added a velum overlay to mute the stencilling a bit.

 I used Vine Leaf strip stencil for this one.

That's it for today, have a great day.

Maria x

Finish it Friday 8

Hello and Happy Friday!

I have had my usual rummage through the reject box, and I actually found a few bits to use, but my decision was influenced by the challenge over at Country View Challenges, the theme is Black and White plus one.

So this is what I started with, the black and white was easy...

I started with the piece of black card with the Elderleaves stamped in white with splashes, that's been in the box forever! and the large white piece has been there just as long maybe longer, I was doing a pattern building piece with a single corner stamp, but then abandoned it.

I didn't really need to do much to make it work, I just trimmed the black piece so it would fit in the frame, wrapped a piece of twine around, added the Line Sentiment stamps in the corner, and of course added a pop of colour, I am quite liking yellow at the moment.

Done!

Thanks for popping in, have a good weekend.

Maria x

Freshcut Fairies

Good Morning!

I thought I should blog today, seeing as I missed Tuesday.

So I had a browse through my pics and decided to show a couple of die cut cards.

I used the same Leafwing fairy cutting die for both cards.

First one is a bit colourful, with the help of Indian Summer paper, my favourite.

Second one is sparkly!

I used offcuts of black card for both, they were just the right width for the dies.

This is a nice glitter card, no shedding, I hate shedding! Not cheap though.

Hope you like them!

Back to work for me now, busy day.

Thanks for popping in, hope you can come back tomorrow for Finish it Friday.

Maria x

Mixed Media Monday 1

Good Morning!

And welcome to a new feature on my blog, Mixed Media Monday.

I actually love creating mixed media art, especially if i can incorporate some recycling, but my time is usually taken up with general stamping projects and Groovi, so not too much time for mixed media.

So first instalment is a mirror, i do like doing mirrors and clocks because i can give them as presents.

This is one i demonstrated on telly a while ago...

I started with some paste through the Woodland Wildlife stencil.

Then painted over with chalk paints.

Add some Inca Gold to the raised areas, and a few splashes of white paint.

You can also make a spray with Inca Gold, just plash a little around here and there, done!

Hope you like it!

Thanks for popping in, hope you can come back soon, not sure if i will manage a Groovi Tuesday tomorrow as ill be in Evesham.

Maria x

Speed Craft Sunday 6

Afternoon!

Firstly, i wonder if you will notice that i have used the same stamp for this weeks SCS (no not the sofa company) as i did for last weeks? well i only just realised when i was loading photos and spotted last weeks photos lol, but actually i'm not worried because iv'e done very different things with the stamp, so i'm gonna let myself off the hook!

I started the project this morning before i left home for the poker finals...nope i didn't do too well this time, bad cards bad cards and then more bad cards, but its always fun, and it meant i could get home early and crack on with some work.

I stamped the Poppies then covered with masking fluid, i left it to dry while i went out, although it only takes a few minutes to dry i didn't want to rush it and risk ruining it.

I added a few splashes too.

Then when i came home, i used one of Leonie's new stencils and brushed some Apricot ink first, then added Blaze for a bit more depth.

Rub off the masking fluid CAREFULLY, i tore a tiny bit of the card by being heavy handed.

I toyed with the idea of colouring the poppies with very pale apricot, but i worried about a mottled effect where the card was torn, so i decided to just glaze with a clear sparkle pen instead, its nice and sparkly and theres plenty of colour on the outside of the image instead.

Time taken, not including drying time, about 10 minutes.

Hope you like it!

Thank for popping in, please come back tomorrow for the first Mixed Media Monday.

Maria xx

Finish it Friday 7

Hello, its Friday again, doesnt it coma around quickly!

So what does the weekend hold for you?

Ill be working at a steady pace from home on Saturday.Then Sunday i'll be playing poker in the regional finals in Liverpool, wont be as much fun this time because Pete didn't qualify this season.

But before i fast forward through the whole weekend, lets observe Finish it Friday!

So this is what i started with...

Nice bit of Inca Gold through the Poppy stencil on black card, and a couple of diecut frames, i often end up with neat frames because when i die cut the shapes for a project i try to position the dies so that the waste is actually usable, like here.

 I think the pearly card goes really well with the shine from the Inca Gold.

Finished off with a stamped sentiment using Mini Wordchains.

Nice and easy, and a couple less bits in my huge reject pile!

Thanks for popping in, hope you can come back for Speed Craft Sunday and also on Monday i start a new feature on bloggy, Mixed Media Monday!!!!