Festive Mixed Media .......

Happy Tuesday .......

I hope your week is going well.
It's time for a little Mixed Media this evening and another fun Blog Challenge ........ the Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge

It's Anything Goes for December so it's up to what you create ..... a card, a piece of home decor or a gift perhaps for someone special.

I'm still in the festive spirit ....... with a pretty frosty wall hanging to add to the Christmas decorations

It started out as a plain paper mache hanging board which I gave a thin coat of white gesso, then painted with Hickory Smoke and Weathered Wood Distress Paints.
When it was dry I gave it a thin coat of PaperArtsy's Crackle Glaze and let it dry.  Actually I did speed this up a little by drying it with a heat tool.  It was then painted with Snowflake Fresco Finish paint and left to do it's thing .........

I love this effect ...... and it happens so fast so no hanging around!  You can even speed it up further by using a heat tool once the crackle starts to appear.

I brushed around the edges with a little Weather Wood Distress ink and then applied some texture paste to the crackled surface ...... and sprinkled over with fine crystal glitter.

I love the frosty look of the white on white .... perfect for Christmas designs and when the light catches the glitter the sparkles look so pretty!

I painted two MDF baubles using the same crackle technique, spritzed them with Perfect Pearls and added a touch of colour using Distress ink (Stormy Sky)

They were then decorated with MDF snowflakes that had been painted in white, covered with texture paste and lots of glitter, and then attached onto the wall hanging using hot glue

To finish off I added some die cut festive foliage to the the top ...... punched holly leaves, berries and cute mini pine cones, painted and glittered.

Now it's over to you .... what will you create?

As always, the challenge is sponsored by the Happy Little Stampers Store

and the winner receives a $15 discount voucher to spend in the shop

Have fun!

Thanks for popping by ....... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm off to make a start on writing my Christmas cards, then I can hopefully get them in the post tomorrow ....... some of them have a long way to go.

Cheerio until next time ........

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ........

Happy Friday folks .......

On the second day of December ...... it's this month's Take It Make It Challenge over on the Craft Stamper Blog.
This month it's Take a Theme ....... and it's all about

Snow and Ice ....... brrrrrr 

(have you had any yet? We've been lucky so far .... just a little snow on the mountain)

We'd like you to create seasonal makes ..... not necessarily Christmas but more Winter.  Use lots of white product ..... think gesso, embossing paste, white paint.  Embossing powders, shimmery mica and lots of glitter! 

Here's a little something to get you started ........ the last of my Christmas baubles or, the snowball as I'm calling it!

It's from the workshop last weekend ....... and perfect for this months challenge.
These MDF baubles from Calico Craft Parts are great little items to decorate. They make gorgeous Christmas decorations and fabulous little gifts, or as I mentioned yesterday, why not make them into actual gift tags for those really special presents.
I simply added a pretty little kraft tag, stamped to co-ordinate and then attached to the back of the bauble ..... simple!   You could even stamp directly onto the bauble  if you didn't use the embossing paste.

I gave the MDF a thin coat of white gesso then painted the bauble using Hickory Smoke Distress paint.  Next came the Crackle Glaze which I dried using a heat tool, and then finished with a layer of Snowflake Fresco Finish Chalk Paint

A spritz with Perfect Pearls then some texture paste over the top using Tim Holtz Layering Stencils ....... Speckles on the front and the pretty Festive on the reverse

I painted the snowflake with gesso and then using my finger, I added a little white texture paste over the top leaving a rough finish to it to add a bit of texture

Fine crystal glitter gives a really pretty sparkle.

I added a little festive foliage to the top ...... a few berries and some die cut leaves

And then attached the tag to the back.  Now I just need a gift to put it on!

Our challenge sponsor this month is ..... Craft Box

and there's a fab prize for the winner ......

Don't forget we also have our Design Winner too .... chosen by the DT.  You could have your winning project published in the Craft Stamper magazine ..... be a Guest Designer on a future challenge and have a winners profile on the Craft Stamper Blog ... what are you waiting for .... get creating!

Speaking of the Craft Stamper magazine .... there's an article in there this month all about the blog challenge

And guess who did the artwork ....... me!! and my lovely Design Team-mate Shirley ....

A full page spread in this month's Craft Stamper magazine ..... whoo hoo!!
Sorry ... but I'm a little bit excited to be there!!!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day and have a great weekend.  Christmas shopping are we by any chance!

Cheerio until next time

Quick catch up .....

Happy Wednesday .....
I think I made it before midnight!

Where has this week gone ......... it's nearly Thursday already ...... and what happened to November!!! Only 24 days to go before the BIG day that's all ..... help!!

It's all go in the old craft room too.  New Blog Challenges will be getting underway in the next few days.  I've still got Christmas cards to make ..... never mind write and send!  And, I've got a huge class to prep for next weekend.  The ladies are all getting very excited about this one ..... it's the last one of the year and it's going to be a busy one!!  More about that later.

Speaking of workshops we had a lovely one last weekend.  There was only a few of us this week so it was a little more relaxed shall we say ...... quieter too!!! (Sorry if any of my regulars are reading this ..... we did miss you!)

We decorated MDF baubles ........ very festive (there was even mince pies .... yum!!)
Here's a couple of the designs that I made to give them a little inspiration ......

The baubles and all the MDF shapes came from a company called Calico Craft Parts.  They produce fabulous wood shapes and craft items all ready to alter and decorate.

I used the large plain bauble shape as the base and then gave them the crackle treatment ..... a thin coat of white gesso ..... a layer of paint in a dark colour, for this one I used Ground Espresso Distress Paint. A thin layer of PaperArtsy's Crackle Glaze followed by a coat of Snowflake Fresco Finish Chalk Paint.

I love how this works ..... you never get the same results twice.

Once it was all dry I gave it a spritz with Perfect Pearls mist to give a nice shimmer to it and then added a little bit of texture paste over the top through Tim Holtz Speckles stencil.
You can just about see I added some fine crystal glitter over the paste whilst it was still wet for a touch of added sparkle ..... you can never have too much sparkle at this time of year!

I then painted one of the cute little reindeer with a brown paint and added glitter to his antlers before attaching him on to the bauble

I added a die cut sentiment ..... cut 3 times and layered, then the top layer was painted with a red pearlescent paint

Some festive foliage finished everything off ..... a few berries, some die cut and punched leaves and a mini pine cone along with a pretty satin bow.

Here's another version .... you can only have a little look at this one for now ..... all will be revealed later in the week on a Blog Challenge ......

Again .... I used the same techniques .......different shape.

We even decorated the back of the baubles ........ crackled paint again only this time stenciled with texture paste over the whole thing ...... this is so sparkly in real life

This was another option I gave them ..... I made this last year and I still love it.  The mistletoe is my favourite I think

Just look at all the detail you get in some of the shapes .....

These are great for hanging on the tree, but why not use them as gift tags.  Those special presents for the important people in our lives deserve an extra special gift tag!

Speaking of tags .... remember the 12 tags of Christmas with Loll and Friends event from earlier this month ..... you do, well, the winners have been announced today and guess what ...... one of my tags was chose in the Top Tags ....... yeah!! and one got an honorable mention too!!  Thanks guys .... it was a pleasure to be part of the event.

Thanks for popping by ..... especially if it's still Wednesday!!!
I'm off to bed now ..... an early start tomorrow.  I'm off into town with Lauren, lunch out then I've an appointment with the optician.  Nothing major, just a check up.

Cheerio until next time ...... see you in December!

Night night!

Anything goes for the HLS Mixed Media Challenge

Hello there ....... Happy Sunday/Monday

Yes it's that time again when I'm not quite sure what day it is.  It's still Sunday the 6th over here but ..... in Happy Little Stampers land it's now Monday the 7th ......... and it's time for a brand new Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge.  
The theme this month is ......

Anything Goes!

It could be a card, a journal page, a scrapbook layout.  A tag, a piece of home decor or a little gift for someone special maybe ......  the choice is up to you.

We're sponsored by the Happy Little Stampers store

And the challenge winner will receive a fabulous stamp set.

I'm still in the festive spirit for my little inspiration project ....... a nice, easy Christmas bauble decoration or ..... you could even use this as a tag for that gift for someone special

I gave the MDF bauble a quick coat of Gesso (front and back) then I used acrylic paints and a crackle glaze to get that weathered look (I'm loving Crackle Glaze at the moment!) A coat of black, let it dry.  Then the crackle glaze spread thinly over the top ..... let this dry.   Finally a coat of white acrylic paint and watch the crackle do it's stuff ...... magic!

I also added some white texture paste, through a stencil, for a bit more detail on the background and then spritzed the whole lot with Perfect Pearls to give it a nice shimmer.

I then painted a little bunch of MDF mistletoe, added a touch of glitter here and there to give it a frosty look and used Liquid Pearls for the berries

This was then attached onto the front of the bauble using a bit of hot glue.
I added a festive red bow to the top and finished off with a couple of jingle bells

What .... no stamps!!  Can't be ....... check out the back .......

I added more texture paste using another stencil and whilst the paste was wet I sprinkled it with fine crystal glitter

I did leave a space to add my tiny greeting. Well .......... what's a bunch of mistletoe without a kiss!! x

Now it's over to you ..... can't wait to see what you all create this month.  Have fun with the challenge and don't forget to pop over and see what the rest of the DT have created.

Thanks for stopping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day

Cheerio until next time

Ta Dah!!!!!! ......... Tag # 12 .....

Happy Sunday morning ......

You don't hear that very often on here do you!  Sunday is usually the day for a nice lie in for me but not this week.  No .... it's a nice early start 'cos I'm off out for a crafty day with the girls!!
No slaving in the kitchen making Sunday lunch for everyone ...... mine's all done, and the craft bag is packed ...... not sure I've got everything I need but hey .... we're in Jill's craft room today so if I've forgotten anything there's no doubt that it'll be in there somewhere!!!
Now all I need to do before I go is share my final tag for Loll's 12 Tags of Christmas event which comes to a close later today.

As usual, I'm on the last minute ....... but I couldn't miss the final one now could I .... so here it is ....

Another weathered background ....... this is one that didn't quite crackle enough all over when I was doing the last tag, but you know me, I never throw anything away (there's another one lying around on my desk too ready for a future project)

Crackle background, using PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints along with their Crackle Glaze.
Then I stamped the gorgeous Clarity Lone Spruce tree using a green Archival ink onto one side of the tag

I added some torn bits of card to the bottom to create some dimension and gave then a touch of fine crystal glitter

I die cut the fabulous Tim Holtz stag from chipboard ... I actually cut two and glued them together for added depth.
It was then given a coat of paint and finished off with a little Distress Ink around the edges to add some shading (Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain)

I stamped and embossed in white, some pretty snowflakes onto the background and also onto the back of the deer.
Some fine crystal glitter onto the antlers and of course the famous red nose finish him off nicely

Again ......  not wanting to waste anything ..... I came across the words on my desk, already stamped and embossed (left over from a previous tag no doubt!) A touch of Weathered Wood Distress Ink around the edge, matted onto a piece of co-ordinating card and voila! ...... tag is done!

Phew! ........ that's all 12.
Why not pop over to Loll's blog and take a look at all the fabulous tags that have been entered into this year's event.  Or ...... if you've not already joined in the fun there's still a little time left to play along. There's some fab prizes up for grabs too.  Mind you I wouldn't want the job of choosing the winners ....... good luck with that one Jeremy!!!

Thanks again to Loll for hosting this fabulous event and for inviting me to be one of this year's Guest Designers ....... it's been fun!!

Oh well .... must dash .... PJ's and slippers is not the ideal outfit for a day crafting ..... not in someone else's craft room anyway!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy your Sunday.

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx 

PS  ...... almost forgot!  I'm also linking this up to the Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge where the theme is TAG

and also the HLS Christmas Challenge because their theme is also TAGS

Cheerio (again!) xx