Ink Sprays, Paint and Stencils

I love having time to get my paints and ink sprays out so my sisters birthday was the perfect excuse. We often get together and swap ideas over a cuppa, its funny how we like similar colours and designs and I wanted to make something personal.

I started with some Dylusion ink sprays that I bought from A Maze of Memories when I visited earlier in the year, I used the ghosting technique, then stenciled Dylusions paint through square, swirl and flower stencils.

The black spots and numbers were stamped using black archival ink once the ink and paint was dry. I doodled around the edge then added a few white lines with a piece of card dragged through white paint.

Dylusions produce colouring sheets and these images were trimmed (and coloured using zig pens) for detail on the front of the card along with a couple of birds that were swapped with a lady I met on my trip to Harrogate.

Two birds chatting!

The final piece mounted on a 7"x7" white card. Vibrant and a little crazy.

Golden Days

Few people celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary so it was a special occasion in our family when Mum and Dad celebrated theirs recently.

This photo was taken a few weeks earlier on a very hot afternoon while we waited for the food to cook on the bbq. We were laughing because they are wearing their scruffy allotment hats, not the sort you would usually wear in public.

The photo is mounted on gold card, the white card is embossed with rose buds and the golden rose voile on the right is stuck on using spray glue it is edged with a sparkly peel-off.

In the bottom corner the golden flowers were cut and embossed using dies from the Marianne Creatables range code LR0294 and LR0295 for the full rose and bud and LR0271 for the swirl which is one of two dies that were in the pack. All available from http://www.amom.co.uk/ A Maze of Memories.

Bunting!

I mentioned a while ago that I treated myself to a very nice sewing machine when I closed the shop (18 months ago, can you believe it!) I'm sure you will smile when I admit to buying many small pretty fabric pieces to use on my sewing projects but I'm saving them for something special!!

Well I decided to make some bunting for mum and dads anniversary, as a first project it went pretty well. Over several evenings I cut a few triangles, pinned them and couldn't wait to sew my first piece.

The fabric came from a scrap pack of off cuts I picked up on my travels. The pieces were random patterns but colour coordinated nicely.

Not sure whether the bunting would be used inside or out I left gaps so it could be looped over nails or tied easily over a banister.

I made paper flower templates then used the templates to cut out felt flowers and used them to personalise the bunting.

The stamps and pretty buttons can be purchased from http://www.amom.co.uk/

Can you believe I forgot to take a photo of the finished bunting!

Next time I visit I'll take a photo it looked lovely draped down the stairs and before the day was over there were several requests for Christmas bunting!

Summer Colours

Wandering through the supermarket I spotted these pretty napkins with little orange and pink flowers. I couldn't resist!

After pulling the layers of napkin apart I used pva to stick the top layer of napkin onto an A4 sheet of card. Once dry I cut the napkin card into strips ready to decorate the front of my greeting cards.

I have a pot of little flower, leaf and plant pot stamps from my early crafting days. Choosing two designs and two ink colours I stamped columns of flowers to alternate between the napkin card strips then chose a large butterfly to finish the design.

Using Bubblegum Pink and Tangerine Dream ink sprays from the Dylusion range I sprayed a piece of A4 card, left it to dry then stamped a few Mosaic butterflies on top.

The butterflies were cut out and gently shaped, they make lovely embellishments and coordinate well with the napkin and stamping.

I think this is a nice design to make into a box of gift cards for someone special or you could make a little batch incase you need a card at short notice. Add a greeting, a few pearls or glitter depending on the occasion.

The Mosaic Butterfly Stamp and Dylusion ink sprays in Tangerine Dream and Bubblegum Pink were from my favourite craft shop http://www.amom.co.uk/ A Maze of Memories in Buckinghamshire.