Rust No.1

Hi everyone! 

    

 Here is the first follow up post to Adventures in Rust....

In that post I featured five rust pieces that I was going to make into creations to feature here.

The first one was the Rust background....

....and here is what I made

I decided to concentrate on the yellow tones in the rust (even though they are eventually covered up)

I started by cutting a heart shape from card and covering it with Decoart Media Crackle Paste. When this was dry I covered it with a wash of Decoart Media Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide acrylic paint. This was then dry brushed with Quinacridone Gold and Burnt Umber. When the heart was dry it was rubbed with a sanding block.

 I used a Found Relatives Photo for the collage and cut the people out and stuck them onto the heart with a ruler from the Salvage stickers set.

 I added a brass flower with some die cut leaves that had been inked with Brushed Corduroy DI and stamped with Jet Black Archival ink using a script stamp

 

A calendar months was added along with a filigree brass decoration

A brass key was added to the collage

Several brass buttons were added

A brass hinge was used as decoration

I added more hinges to the top of the collage 

And there is my finished collage....

The next rust creation will be this one....hope you will come back to see what I made with it....

Thanks so much for being here!

Happy crafting!

Laura xxxx

Autumn at Last

Hi everyone!

Welcome to another Autumn inspired creation!

 This one was actually made last Autumn...but I didn't like it very much and I really had no enthusiasm for writing about it. The photos stayed in a folder on my computer and when Winter arived it seemed wrong to put up an Autumn creation...

I had basically dismissed it as not 'good enough' anyway..but that is something I don't like doing - I really try to not judge my own creations and I have learned to put things on here that I like and don't like - this blog is my creation diary and shows a creative journey and it would be wrong if I left out pieces...so I am sneaking it in now...a year late, but never mind - better late than never. 

It began with a brass hob ring that I found in a cheap store in the Czech Republic. I got out to the Czech Republic each summer to visit my mother in law who lives out there for half the year. There are many cheap shops out there (similar to Poundland in England) where there is a lot of junk but you can find some treasures occasionally....I loved the brass rings and at a cost of basically pennies it seemed a good idea to grab a few.

I basically covered it in layers of paint - Leaving it to dry slightly then rubbing away patches of still damp paint. I repeated this process several times. I used Distress Paint here in Vintage Photo, Antiqued Bronze and Evergreen Bough.

 I applied some Crackle glaze and rubbed some Raw Umber paint into the cracks.

  I made a background for the center of the frame by using Antique Linen DI and Frayed Burlap DI. Dabbed onto a mat, spritzed with water and then swirl the card in the inky pools. 

The card was than stamped with script and flourish stamps using Potting Soil Archival ink and a splatter stencil was used with Vintage Photo DI

I decorated the frame with many things...

First I used several Memory box dies...covered them with Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo DI 

I added real twigs to the decoration too...

I used buttons

I used die cut leaves stained with Ripe Persimmon, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Spiced Marmalade DI. The larger leaves were stamped with a script stamp using Potting Soil Archival ink. Curled rusty wire was added too....

I used an ivory rose that was dabbed with Frayed Burlap DI and an ivory Hemp string bow

I used letter stickers from Tim Holtz salvage stickers set. I attached them to a piece of card after having creased the letters up

A hessian flower was used with a embossed piece of card that was sanded to reveal the colour underneath.

Hope you like it!

Happy Crafting 

Love from Laura 

xxx 

Old Favourites

Hi everyone!

     It is time for another challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges today and the subject this time is....

Old favourites

Time to get out an old, forgotten but favourite stamp....

It was hard to choose one - It is always the same isn't it? We have so many stamps that often some get totally forgotten - So how do you choose one? 

In the end I decided to go for a stamp set that I adored from the moment I first saw it - Old Grist Mill by Artistic Outpost. I have always loved the photo quality images, the peaceful scenes, the gorgeous sentiments....it all makes up a winner of a stamp set for me.

Sadly, I haven't used it as much as I had hoped to. I have used the quotes a few times, but the images haven't had as much use as I had hoped and I figured that that made them perfect for this challenge...They are a firm favourite, but I have left them forgotten for too long.

The last time one of the stamp images was used was nearly a year ago...and in fact the image used here today has never been used before....

I decided to add to the challenge by opting for techniques that I had long forgotten too...the alcohol inks I bought in August 2013 (but had only been used once since then) had been sat on the shelf for too long.....It was time to change that too....

First I got some glossy paper and swirled it into a puddle of Lettuce and Ginger alcohol ink that had been diluted with blending soluction.

I stamped the image of the bridge using Jet Black Archival ink

I also coloured some more glossy paper with Lettuce and Ginger Alcohol ink, sometimes dabbing the ink with the felt covered blending tool and sometimes swirling the paper in ink. I then stamped images of the leaves and flowers on these pieces of paper using different coloured archival inks

I swiped some Frayed Burlap Distress paint across some card in straight lines to create a wood effect. I then cut it into strips and stuck it to mount board that had been painted with Raw Umber Acrylic Paint. I left gaps so it looked like wooden planks.

A hole punch was used to make four tiny circles of card. These were painted with Antiqued Bronze Distress paint and sprinkled with Vintage Photo Distress embossing powder. I then pressed an old plastic credit card into the embossing powder to make it look like a rusted screw head.

   I stamped one of the quotes onto card that had been covered with Old Paper Distress ink

 The other quote was stamped onto card that was covered with Lettuce Alcohol ink

The flowers and leaves were arranged at the sides of the picture with a button on each side.

And there it is - finally I have used the image of the old bridge and used some alcohol inks again!!!

I do hope you will come over to see what the rest of the team at Fashionable Stamping Challenges have made to inspire you this time...

Remember we are a stamping challenge so please feature a stamped focal image on your creation.

  

You could be the winner of $20 to spend at Flonzcraft Stamps! And of course you could be picked as one of our Catwalk Spotlights!

Hope to see you there!

Happy Crafting!

Laura xxx




I am sharing this over at 'Show us your AO art' this month

It's all an act

Hello everyone!

Over at Sandee and amelie's steampunk challenge the challenge this month is -

Raise the curtains

This month we challenge you to create Steampunk projects in which curtains play the main role.  

Your project can be anything that has to do with curtains (maybe being raised or pulled aside, revealing....well, whatever you can think of). I am sure you will once again surprise us all with your marvelous and imaginative projects!

When I saw this challenge my thoughts immediately were about making a theater...a Steampunk theatre of course!!!....

I constructed a theatre out of balsa wood and embossed card - here is how I made it...

I used a die cut as a template to cut out the balsa wood front. This was then covered with some embossed card.

I constructed the roof out of two pieces of balsa wood which were then covered with embossed card

The back was cut to size and all of it was attached to the base which was a much thicker piece of balsa wood to give it support. All of it was painted with Gesso, then covered with Burnt Umber Decoart Fluid Acrylic paint. It already had a bit of a tarnished bronze look already but I wanted to emphasize that, so I then rubbed it over with Iced Espresso Metallic Lustre. I thought this might be a huge mistake at first as the metallic effect was too bright....but another coat or Burnt Umber paint toned down the metallic effect really well and I ended up with the tarnished metal effect I had wanted....Happy accidents!

I stuck some buttons, a metal rose and an ornate corner onto the theatre

The background for the theater started off as a piece of card that had been swirled in Distress paints - I have absolutely no memory of what colours were used, but looking at it I would guess -Weathered Wood, Vintage Photo and Picket Fence Distress Paints. At the time this piece of card was made it had obviously not been 'right' for the project I had in mind and so had been put into the "Not useable at this time" box....I had found it and thought it was perfect for this creation.

I stamped it with Artistic Outpost stamps from French Flight and Industrial Backgrounds

Now onto the curtains...

I used some of my favourite material remnants that I had used for my dolls house - I knew it was perfect for this project. It is a printed velvet with a very subtle pattern. A two toned silky-soft velvet, it varies in shades from a gorgeous mink brown to a beautiful pale grey blue depending on which angle you look at it. Whatever way you view it there is always a hint of gold from the back of the material....absolutely stunning!

I had a very thin piece of brass tube that was cut to fit the width of the theatre and I sewed the curtain tops so that the tube could be inserted. Once they were sewn I attached the curtains and slotted the tube into the theatre

Pieces of rusty wire were twisted into loops with pliers to hold the curtains open

These were inserted into the walls of the theatre

The performance is about to start....

I used the image of the three men from the French Flight Artistic Outpost stamp set. I stamped them with Frayed Burlap DI and painted them with Tattered Rose DI mixed with water. I added detail to hair with marker pens. I stamped the bodies with Black Soot DI and painted parts with water to add a shading effect.

The actors were then stuck onto a piece of balsa wood painted with Decoart Carbon Black Acrylic paint so that they can be moved along the stage...

 

I do hope you like my Steampunk Theatre...Come on over to Sandee and amelie's Steampunk Challenge to see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you for this challenge....we would love it if you joined in!

Happy Crafting!

Love from Laura xxx

I am linking this creation to Artistic Outpost this month