3 in a row!

Happy Wednesday to you!

Crikey!! Blogging three days on the trot ....... anyone would think I've nothing to do ....... like that's ever going to happen! 

I'm still trying to get my head around Kroma Crackle.  It's the first time I've actually used it straight onto card, I've only really put it onto MDF, so it's a bit of a learning curve for me.  Fun though, however I'm not the most patient of crafters, I don't like waiting for things to set, or dry so, I've been trying out Kay's technique of using Flitter Glu underneath the Crackle, then blasting it with a heat gun until it cracks.
It's a lot quicker doing it this way, and the effect you get is totally different from leaving it to dry natrually.

I've been painting bits of cardstock using the Indigo Blu English Cottage Acrylic Paints, then added the Kroma Crackle over the top.

I've added some of the paint to the crackle ..... and then used Kay's heat technique ......

I've also tried adding mica powders .......  on some I've added it straight to the crackle and on others, I've sealed the crackle with Slap It On then dusted the mica over the top ......

I've now got a desk (and the airing cupboard) full of pieces of crackled cardstock, in various stages of drying.  I'm going to try using them with my dies and punches so watch this space for the results.

Today's also my day over on the IndigoBlu DT Blog.  Have you seen our new look Blog page yet?  If you fancy a bit of festive inspiration pop over and take a look at today's post.

I know, I know ...... we're back to the 'C' word again and we haven't even had Halloween!  But ...... 9 weeks today and we'll all be tucking into Christmas dinner, eating far too much, downing the Christmas spirit and finding out what Santa has left for us. Can't wait!

I must confess I am trying to get into the spirit of things ...... there's a Christmas event on this evening down at the local garden centre ....... a preview of all their festive goodies, and I'm sorry to say I shall be there (what an exciting life I lead!)   I'll be buying more decorations for the tree no doubt, it just wouldn't be the same if I didn't have at least one new decoration to hang now would it! 

Oh well, better get the old craft room tidy I suppose.  I'm hoping to tackle my Timmie Tag tomorrow with a bit of luck, and maybe the odd Blog Challenge too.

Thanks for popping by.  Have a lovely evening and I'll see you again soon.

Cheerio for now

Linda 

xx

Bloomin' Great! - new Forever 21 Blog challenge

Morning all,

And a very happy Sunday.  I don't say that very often on here, weekend posts are a bit few and far between from me.   Today is different though, it's the start of the new Indigo Blu Forever 21 Blog Challenge.  This months theme is ............. FLOWERS.  So, get out all those lovely Indigo Blu floral stamps that you all have in your stash, and away you go.

Before I show you my DT creation for this month,  CONGRATULATIONS to (drumroll)............

 Number 12  .........  KERRY

Well done Kerry, enjoy your prize. Thanks to everyone that took part, there were some fabulous creations once again.  I can't wait to see what you all come up with this month.

Here's mine ........

There's just one or two flowers on there!

I've painted one of the MDF folk hearts with Black Gee-So Good then covered one side with a good layer of Kroma Crackle, that's been mixed with a little pink acrylic paint.  I left this to dry for a good couple of days, then covered it with Slap-it-on Matte.

 I love how no two projects are going to be the same using the Crackle, you never know how it's going to turn out. This time I got quite large cracks towards the centre, see how the black shows through.

Once everything was dry, I brushed some silver metalic paint around the edges to give a bit of a contrast.

For my main floral image I chose the beautiful rose from the Clockworks stamp set, (love this). I added in a couple the smalller trailing rose from the same set along with a small flower from another fabulous Indigo Blu stamp set - Live Laugh Love.  It was difficult to choose which floral images to use as there's so many within the Indigo Blu range - Kay loves flowers.

I coloured a piece of white cardstock using pink shades of Pan Pastels, with a touch of pale blue in there and Kay's technique of doing lots of circles of colour all over ......

Doesn't look much at this stage, but bear with me.

I then stamped my flowers randomly all over the card, using a Black Versafine ink ......

Can you can see where I'm going with this now?  It's a quick and easy way to colour lots of images, and you get a bit of shading in there too.  I did the same thing with some green shades and stamped the leaves

Next job is to cut out all the flowers.  This takes a bit of time but I must admit I do like a bit of fussy cutting now and then.  Many moons ago, when I first started crafting (I can just about remember that far back!) decoupage was one of the first techniques I tried.  I do think most crafters give it a go at some point.

Once all your flowers and leaves are cut out, it's time for the fun part - flower arranging!  Now I'm not a florist, I'm more of a 'pop it down and see how it looks' kinda gal.  You just need to play around with the flowers without sticking them in place, until you're happy with the arrangement.  Once everything is on place, carefully glue each individual flower - I used a hot glue gun for this.  You can still get a bit of dimension without having to wait too long for the glue to dry.
You can see I've also added layers to some of the flowers for a bit more depth ........

And I've covered the leaves with a bit of Glossy Accents to give them a shine.

The sentiment is from the Bloomin' Great stamp set, stamped and cut out using one of the circle Nestabilities dies.  It's been layered onto a circle covered with the Mega Flakes to highlight it, layered again onto black and then it's been attached to a cocktail stick, painted with Black Gee-So Good and then glued into place with hot glue.

A pretty ribobn bow, and some white rafia string to hang it with, add the finishing touches.

Hope you like it, and that it's inspired you to enter.  There's another fabulous prize up for grabs so come on, get your Indigo Blu stamps out and create something with a FLORAL theme.

Thanks for popping by today.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  It's been lovely here so far, I hope it's nice where you are.

I'm off to spend the day tidying the old craft room.  You can't actually put anything else in there at the moment, every surface is covered in STUFF!! Even my chair!!!  I need to get in there and put everything away, then I can start with a clean workspace tomorrow - well, I can hope can't I.

Have a lovely day.  Cheerio for now, and Good luck in the challenge.

Linda

xx