Getting Christmassy for a Vintage Journey

Hello! 

A rare post at the moment and I was close to the wire getting this one done! It is my turn over at A Vintage Journey to use this months selection of product, substrate, colour and technique. Do head over for all the details.

Nikki

xxx

Rusty Christmas Greetings

Tonight I am over at PaperArtsy sharing this project - the theme is rust and I have used Scrapcosy Christmas stamps to create a reverse canvas.

It's all rusty and patina tones for this Christmas hanging!

Nikki

Mini Book for A Vintage Journey

Hi everyone, back with a couple of blog posts this week after a quiet period here! Not had much crafting time of late after starting a new job. Hoping I get into a better routine soon and manage to find more time for creating and blogging.

Today we have a new challenge at A Vintage Journey - hosted by the lovely lady that is Anne Redfern from Redanne! Our theme is Mini Marvels and Anne is looking for projects that are miniature - less that 4 inches.

I have created a mini book - which is 3 inches square. One thing I have done over the last month is attend a Seth Apter workshop - Book of Moments - where we altered book covers to create a book. Despite me not yet finishing that project it certainly inspired me to create this.

I started with some greyboard and cut two pieces 3 x 3 inches square. I also cut some kraft card 1inch x 3inches (or a fraction under) and scored at 1/2 an inch. I joined these together.

For my pages I took some cardstock and my distress inks. Firstly tea die to give that aged look and then a little ink splodging and stencilling. The edges were distressed and more ink added.

I stamped several quotes from Alison Bomber / PaperArtsy stamp sets - selecting some of my favourites from Music and Silence (EAB03)  and Darkness and Light (EAB02). I heat embossed for added impact.

 For the front I took Seth Apter / Spellbinders Pathways die and stippled various paints over it.

I added a previously created star and a Tim Holtz Quote chip. For the back I used just the Pathways die.

I added some patterned paper to the insides and the backs of my distressed / stamped pages. I will add to these later! 

There is heaps more miniature inspiration at A Vintage Journey today - plus the chance to win a prize from Southern Ridge Trading Co. or to be one of our Pinworthies this month.

I would like to enter the Mini Album Makers November Challenge.

I am back on Monday with a PaperArtsy project - see you then!

Nikki 

xxx

Getting the glitter out!

I am over at PaperArtsy with this glittery Christmas card featuring some of the newly released Christmas stamps by Kay Carley.

I have used glitter in 3 different ways and also thrown in some gilding flakes....

Nikki 

xxx

Forever Autumn - That's Crafty Challenge

The new challenge at That's Crafty is Forever Autumn. As always there is a chance to win £20 to spend in the store so do play along! All the details can be found here.

I decided to use one of the That's Crafty Dinky MDF uprights - a crackle background with some of the That's Crafty greyboard leaves. I sponged the leaves with various colours of paint before stamping one of the fabulous new quotes from Alison Bomber / PaperArtsy - The Autumn Edition.

It's one of those busy 24 hours at Addicted to Art! 3 posts in 24 hours. Yesterday I posted my final design for the That's Crafty DT project blog - my Christmas shadow box:

Details here.

and earlier today my tag for Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey - well two actually!

Details here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nikki

xxx

It's Tag Friday at AVJ

Hello! It is time for Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey. It only happens a few times a year when we have a 5th Friday in the month and we do love our Anything Goes Tag Projects! 

I decided to create some Christmas themed tags and make them into Christmas cards.

This first tag started with a distress ink background before adding versamark through Tim Holtz Snowflakes layering stencil. I then added Mica powder to highlight the flakes and sealed with spray fixative. I die cut some Tim Holtz snowflakes (Bigz - Layering Snowflakes) added silver paint and sprinkled some embossing powder on top and heated.

Tag two was a bit more of an experiment! I started with clear embossing paste through That's Crafty Dinky snowflake stencil. Once dry I used green and red distress paints to create the mottled (messy?) background. I created some splatters on my craft mat with white gesso and lay the now dry tag into it.

The tree is a Tim Holtz die cut I was given (don't know what it is called!). I added copper paint followed by White embossing powder.

The little Happy Christmas tag at the bottom (see top photo) was engraved by me!! My sister engraves and personalises tags, key rings etc and has all the kit to engrave metal - so I got to play!! You can find her shop here if you are interested:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SuzyHackettUK

Nikki 

xxx

Hochanda Christmas Shadow Box

Hello. Today is my regular slot over at That's Crafty where I am sharing how I created this Christmas shadow box for the recent Hochanda shows. 

Today is also a farewell as I am sad to leave the That's Crafty team. A new job means I need to cut down my other commitments for a while. 

So I may be a little quieter for while - but hopefully I will strike a good balance and keep my crafting and blogging alive!

Nikki

xxx

Happy Birthday to me....

It's true - but just a coincidence that I am sharing this birthday card today over at That's Crafty!

I am blending Distress Oxides to create an ombre effect....

Nikki

xxx

Fly Away

Today we have a new challenge at That's Crafty and we invite you to Fly Away - a project with birds, butterflies etc. 

I have made this relatively simple 4x4 inch card with a Distress Oxide background with a little sponged paint here and there! 

Nikki

x

Eeek - first Christmas Cards!

Quite early for me but I have made 2 Christmas cards! All the details are over at That's Crafty this morning.

Nikki x

New Stamp Release - PaperArtsy by Alison Bomber

Hello! 

Very happy to be sharing some some projects tonight over at PaperArtsy using NEW stamps from Alison Bomber (Words and Pictures).

There are three new fabulous sets:

EAB03 - Music and Silence

EAB04 - The Autumn Edition

EAB05 - The Winter Edition

I have quite a long post over at PaperArtsy - so I will just post the photos here tonight!

EAB05 - The Winter Edition

EAB05 - The Winter Edition

EAB04 - The Autumn Edition

EAB03 - Music and Silence

EAB03 - Music and Silence

EAB04 - The Autumn Edition

Nikki xxx

Wildflowers and Oxides

Time for my weekly post over at That's Crafty today and I am playing with Distress Oxides and the wonderful Wildflower stamps and dies (Tim Holtz) - a real go to item these days!
Joining in with Simon Says Stamp challenge this week - Stamp It

Nikki

x

Altered Notebook Version 2 - New Challenge at That's Crafty

Hello again. It's been a busy 24 hours here at Addicted to Art. I am back with Version 2 of my altered notebooks - this time for the new challenge at That's Crafty - Rustica - use rust techniques in your project.

Version 1 can be found here -  a little more feminine.

And talking of Altered Art and challenges the new challenge at A Vintage Journey is Altered Art and I have used Andy Skinner techniques to alter a coffee tin. Again if you missed it earlier today - here is the link.

So back to the Rusty Altered book!

Like the first book I began with a coat of black gesso and sealed the surface with varnish. I painted a piece of card with black chalk paint and embossed before sanding to reveal the white areas. I used washes of paint to colour adding Quinacridone gold at the edge to give that rusty effect.

For my embellishments I die cut Seth Apter's Steering Wheel and cut it in half and adhered to his Pathways die. I sponged paint in yellows/reds/brown and black to create the rusty tones. The cog and corner nuts are That's Crafty greyboard embellishments which were treated in the same way and a little PaperArtsy Green Patina added for some contrast.

For the back and spine I took That's Crafty Alphabet stencil and sponged white chalk paint through. Once dry I added a 'dirty wash' - Paynes Grey and Quinacridone Gold.

I would like to enter Frilly and Funkie latest challenge - A Little Rusty.
Once again thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

Nikki

x

Altered Art for at A Vintage Journey

Today we have a new challenge at A Vintage Journey, hosted by the uber talented Alison of Words and Pictures - I am sure she needs no introduction! Our theme for the next 5 weeks is Altered Art.

We'd like you to get creative with recycled objects in a vintage; shabby, mixed media; art journalling; industrial, timeworn or steampunk style, . Turn something unloved and unwanted into a work of art. Try some repurposing - make something new out of something old, or incorporate an unwanted object into your artwork. Think tin cans and jars, old bottles, toothbrushes - the more inventive the better. 

Be warned this is a long post for me - lots of photos!

I decided to alter a tin that used to hold my favourite coffee - and started by giving it a coat of sealer.

I then added some black paint... I knew most of this would be covered but I wasn't sure at this point how perfectly I could achieve my patchwork effect over the curved surface so better to be safe than sorry!

To create my patchwork around the can I measured the height and circumference ( pi x the diameter or just use a tape measure!). So I needed to cover a surface of 23.2 x 12 cm.

I drew this out on some grid paper so I could plan where different colours were going to go - making sure the 2 ends were different as they would meet.

 I was mostly using Andy Skinner techniques and, of course, the idea developed after recently attending one of Andy's workshops. If you missed my Fishy project you can see it here:

I began on my different techniques.

Some I could do as an A5 piece - others I needed to cut to actual size as I was using Andy Skinner's technique or adding hair product around the edges.

These pieces are coated in a base colour, some hair product added to the edges and a second colour over the top. Once dry - scraping away the hair product reveals that chipped paint look. On many of the pieces I added some additional stamping.

Here they are all complete:

Now the difficult bit! Adhering to the tin in the correct order and hoping I had the correct amount of space. You can see some tiny gaps in places so it isn't perfect..

Once all the pieces were secured I coated the entire tin with varnish just to make sure. I took some That's Crafty greyboard cogs and added a little sand texture paste, some paynes grey, a little raw sienna in places and finally quin gold.

and a few close ups:

Eeeek I was a couple of mm out!

I hope you like my altered tin! I am back in a few hours with another Altered Notebook so do pop back. In the meantime there is lots more Altered Art inspiration over at A Vintage Journey.

I would like to enter Frilly and Funkie latest challenge - A Little Rusty.

Nikki

x