foray into foamboard

Well this piece is hugely inspired by the talent that is Andy Skinner , some playtime and some foamboard...wow what cool stuff that is ! This piece was created a while ago and has benn patiently awaiting blogging ...so here it is :

I got so carried away that I am afraid there are no step x step photos! I used some mdf for the base but after seeing Andy Skinner's demos from CHA had to try foam board and see what it was like so the raised pieces top and bottom are foamboard...love how it takes the layers of paints and gives great dimension. i made various embossed and crackled pieces and plenty of rusty gears as well as crackling a wooden heart and using various decoart paints and products to create this piece .

I love the look of the embossed panel with various painty techniques and then the antiquing cream and matte sealer... think that is my favourite piece of this whole piece...

I loved how well the wooden heart was altered with simple layers of products to create something that was more pleasing, well to my eye at least!

I even used the  paints to antique up some shiny screw like embellishments and tone them into this project. There were plenty of painty layers on the foam board too...

Well hope you like my dabbling playtime, still plenty more to learn and play with but I think I am fairly happy with the results for start!

So that's it for today, hopefully with internet issues remedied I will be round to catch up on some long overdue blog visits really soon .x

keep those fingers inky and painty!

trace x 

All you need is love for A Vintage Journey .

Well it has been a while since my lovely team mates gave me some time out but today I am back to join my fellow creative guides over at A Vintage Journey to celebrate A Vintage Journey's 1st birthday! So the theme for this challenge is Anything Tim. I mean it would be rude not to join in the fun ! There are some exciting change afoot over at A Vintage Journey, so make sure you pop across here to see my team mates gorgeous makes and also the exciting changes afoot. So here is my make :

I am so loving playing with collage style pieces and layering pieces, coupled with of course plenty of distress, idea-ology and general tim Holtz goodness. This piece just created itself with lots of layers and I even managed to do a little stitching with my new machine..thanks to Anne for all your help! I so love the found relative cards and this picture was my starting point. I used lots of ephemera from the packs, plenty of idea-ology and a heart made using crackle paste and some decoart paints. I covered a piece of mountboard with some vintage music paper, layers of picket fence distress stains and some distress ink.  (sorry got a bit carried away and there are no step by steps x)

I scuffed and distressed the found relative card and added some walnut stain distress ink. the heart was die cut and layered with crackle paint and brushed over layers of paint. The ephemera pieces were scuffed up and the edges inked and layered up.

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I added stitching round the photo, and scuffed up a bit to remove some.

I added the key with the word memory on to fit in with the overall theme of the piece.

I added one of the new small talk sets...all you need is love and some more idea-ology.

Well hope you like my make, it is great to be back and hope you will find time to pop across and see all the other pieces and some of the exciting new changes that are coming up.

whatever you are up to hope you find some you time x keep those fingers inky and those hearts full!  trace x 

My family have my heart

So here is the result of some more play time... I wanted to play with some more of my decoart goodies but mix them with some of my yummy idea-ology bits and bobs. So with some help from my father in law who cut me some wooden house blanks....here are the results of my painty playtime.

I have had such a good time playing with painty layers to create a distressed finish...I hope ... I edged each house in tissues tape and covered in a wash of matte varnish and quin gold and paynes grey to create a dirty wash...thanks Andy skinner for this idea !!!.. My father in law cut these houses from some sketches that I had drawn...lucky me and I have had a lot of fun decorating these.

The houses are free standing but could have a piece added to hang on the wall... For this house I covered the blank shape in paper and then varnish and painty layers using decoart and distress. I edged with tissue tape. The roof had an Andy Skinner stamp ( wood effect) stamped over roof and inked. I added a chit chat sticker, inked and sealed and a rusty heart... I know can't stop making these!

I tried to make each house different but so that they had a similar feel so they could be stood alone or in a group.

This house was decorated with layers of paint rubbed on with fingertips and also with a baby wipe to add and remove areas of colour for a distressed feel.

 I added one of the new typed tokens and die cut a heart which was stamped, painted, covered in crackle glaze and had paint rubbed in cracks.

Finally a taller house with a wonky bottom...again painted to give distressed feel and sealed with dirty wash.

 Hope that this shows how the tissue tape looks around the sides...

I completed with another handmade rusty heart and chit chat sticker..

I hope you like the results of my painty , inky and distressing playtime!

keep those fingers inky

and those hearts full!

trace x 

find your voice

Well this piece was made a couple of weeks ago with some more hot glue gun playing inspired by Vivian Keh. I know these piece is only small but I am so pleased with it...funny that ..this was just a test piece and yet somehow it makes me smile!?

So here is my make :

I have had such fun playing with my hot glue gun and almost need some more refills! But I love the texture and naturalness almost of the way this happens..So I started by glueing various die cut pieces to my small piece of mountboard and then gesso and then on with the hot glue..when dry I made my own sprays using distress re-inkers and just played until happy...it kind of just evolved itself.

To complete I added some ink to the edges and a few little flowers and mini cogs and sentiment from Donna Downey...and some rusty wire to hang it up and voila!

short and sweet from me today!

keep those fingers inky!

Trace  x