Bird Silhouette

 

I love the Bird Silhouette Bigz die but have hardly used it! I had a little play time over the Christmas break and came up with this - not what I first intended... my background started far less grungy but I just can't help myself adding layers until I have gone too far! 

I randomly collaged some scraps of paper onto card and die cut the bird before adding some ink and paint. I also cut the two little birds.

I would like to enter:

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Time Flies

The Artistic Stamper - Anything Goes
We Love to Create - Anything Goes (Mixed Medium)

See you soon

Nikki

xxx

Crackled bottles

Hello for the second time today. If you missed my Distressed Pop Art earlier today you can find it here. It's a new year and a new month and the start of a new challenge at Country View Crafts. The theme is chosen by Brenda and she is asking us to be inspired by bottles.

I love adding crackles to bottles and have made a few of these wall hangings featuring bottles and flowers. Any little glass bottle -  add some matt medium, let it dry, add crackle paint. Sometimes I also colour them with alcohol inks or archival inks - but these I just left plain.

My background is MDF with a base coat of gesso and then various colours added using a brayer to get the shabby look. I use Paper Artsy or Cosmic shimmer paints usually. Less is more when brayering and, depending how you have added your base coat of gesso, the brayering technique will pick up the texture of the brush strokes. For this pink one the brush strokes were vertical.

On this one I had stippled the base coat to give a more random texture.

Once I am happy with the background and the bottles are dry I add 

chit chat stickers and glue it all together.

Do hop over to the CVC Challenge blog where there is lots more 'bottle' inspiration today.

Nikki

xxxx

Distressed Pop Art

 2016! Happy New Year

Two posts in one day for me must mean the first of the month and some new challenges. First up we have a new theme at A Vintage Journey - Vintage Travel and Luggage.

I have been meaning to do something like this for a while - using an Andy Warhol style but with a slightly more vintage feel.

I took a shadow box - this one is 20cm x 20cm inside and cut 9 squares. I stamped my selected images (archival ink) and then coloured each one with a different distress ink. A little flicking of water, distressing of edges and some vintage photo ink was added.

The frame was white originally. I added some neutral coloured household paint and when dry began dry brushing various darker tones. Once dry I added a watery wash of a couple of Deco Art translucent paints.

I added some lightly coloured (vintage photo) chit chat stickers to the little ornate frame and filled it with glossy accents.

I took some time arranging my images and colours in the box and gave some extra dimension with foam pads. I have taken my photos before adding the glass to the frame to avoid reflections!

Do stop by a A Vintage Journey if you haven't already where there is some wonderful inspiration this month. 

I'll be back later with the launch of this month's challenge at Country View Crafts.

Nikki

xxx

Wendy Vecchi art parts

Hi everyone - I am sharing a shadow box today I created using Wendy Vecchi art parts, lots of paint and splattering and texture paste!

I started with the background - a piece of card to fit the back of the shadow box. I did some random stamping, added texture paste through a stencil, used distressed paints and marbled them, splattered some white paint and distressed the edges. There was no plan at this point - I was actually at a crop and someone asked me how to make a painty background so I was doing a bit of a demo.

I took some different art parts and began painting again. I like to add one colour, heat dry and then add another - so building up layers which creates depth. I added some remnant rubs and chit chat stickers.

I took a  shadow box and added texture sand paste through a stencil and once dry added paint and a little treasure gold to highlight.

(Sorry about the reflections from the glass - lesson learned!)

I would like to enter the following:

We love to Create - Anything Goes 

That Craft Place - Anything Goes 

Thats Crafty - Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting today.

See you next time.

Nikki

xxx

Extreme Masking on an ATC !!!

Hi everyone... so we enter Christmas week, I hope you are all looking forward to Christmas day and have lovely things planned. (If not - as it isn't great for everyone - it is just a day and normality will soon return!!)

Over at A Vintage Journey it is time for one of our Destination Inspiration posts, where 4 people each chose either a colour, a substrate, a technique or a product. Now sometimes when they come together they are a bit of challenge and this one was for me!

Love the technique and love ATC's - but it is quite a small surface to do this technique on!!! Anyway you can see how I came up with this over a A Vintage Journey today.

I would like to enter my starry ATC into
Our Creative Corner - Wish upon a star
Simon Says Stamp - Winter Wonderland

Merry Christmas

Nikki

xxx

Say it with a snowman

A week till Christmas - are you ready? I'm not!

Here are a couple of cards I made using Tim Holtz Distress Glaze - for the details do pay a visit to the Country View Crafts project blog. 

I hadn't had chance to play with the glaze before now and it didn't go well the first time - but once I worked it out all was well.

I would like to enter
Take it Make it - anything goes seasonal

Nikki xxx

Giving and Receiving - it's AVJ Secret Santa!

Hello! Over at A Vintage Journey it is our annual Secret Santa - where we are each given the name of one of the design team to make a gift for, and then we receive one from someone else. I heard a few weeks a go, I was making for Astrid Maclean. At first I was stumped, didn't know what to make.

 Then I thought about Astrid's style and what she likes - 2 things came to mind - lots of texture and making books. So I decided to take my lead from Astrid - I went on her blog and downloaded and then got photos printed of some her designs for A Vintage Journey this year.

So I made her a book celebrating Astrid Maclean at A Vintage Journey in 2015. The photos on the pages are Astrid's work - not mine - and I have created and designed my pages to reflect her designs.

Here are the photos of all the pages.... please keep reading to the end to see what I received from Anne Redfern - it is amazing!

As I was finishing my creation for Astrid a couple of weeks ago the postman knocked on the door. Amongst the usual brown envelopes was a very neatly wrapped parcel. After initial curiosity I saw the postmark and guessed who it was from and that is must be my surprise Secret Santa gift. It still brings a smile to my face when I think about it. 

Earlier in the year I had the pleasure of meeting Anne for the first time and she had an amazing bag made from Tim Holtz fabric. I loved it. When I opened my gift I was so touched to find this gorgeous make up bag!

I confess this brought I tear to my eye - that Anne would have made me something so beautiful. 

Do hop over to Anne's blog for more details.

THANK YOU ANNE xxxxx

 It has been a difficult year, losing my mum. The team at A Vintage Journey have been wonderfully supportive and many sent me wonderfully crafted birthday cards for my 50th in September - a complete surprise. Anne's gift just added to this wonderful feeling. When life is tough, the kindness of others really makes a huge difference. Thank you all.

Nikki xxx