It's Only Natural

This month, the Creative Expressions DT have had masks and texture past to get our inky little mitts on. For my card this week, I've used Gold Pearl Texture paste and the Distressed dots mask. I even remembered to take pictures as I went along.

I applied the paste in a rough line across my card.

Randomly stamped the crackle background with the stamp in my hand rather than on a block.

I embossed my base with the Celtic Flower folder

I sewed my layers together for added texture.

The flowers are cut with Rose Creations in Twistwrap and the flourishes from Floral Flourish

Finally, I added a greeting from Word Art

Thanks for looking!

Three of a Kind

Hydrangeas are one of my favourite plants - I'm a bit of a hydrangea nerd/spotter so at the moment, with them all being in bloom, my spotting is in overdrive! So when this mask came out, I had to have it and as you can see I've made not one, but three for this weeks post.

 For this first one, I masked off the areas I wanted in the different colours and added the sparkle texture paste through the mask onto white and black card. When the first colour of paste was dry, I went back, re aligning the mask and applying the second colour.

This card uses the 'waste' paste; when I removed the mask after applying the paste for the first card (above) I placed the mask onto a clean sheet of card and just rubbed the residual paste through onto the clean card. Once this had dried, I just went back with my second colour of texture paste, allowed that to dry, and then added some distress ink for more definition.

For my third card, I started with distress ink through the mask, dried it with my heat tool, then repositioned the mask and added clear texture paste. Whilst the paste was still wet, I sprinkled over Micro Beads and allowed it to dry. Once dry, the colours take on a lovely dreamy pastel tone.

Thanks for stopping by, and don't be afraid to leave me a comment.

More Bags

A while ago, I saw a pattern for the  Sew Together Bag by Sew Demented on Pintrest, and made a prototype from scraps with a view to making a prettier version for Moll.

My prototype - nothing particularly special, but it made me familiar with the pattern and how it goes together.

This is  the version I made for Moll - patchwork outer and the Tanya Whelan fabrics to co-ordinate with the other bags.

Then I found the steroid version, inspired by the Sew Demented version, longer and wider with an extra pocket - how could I resist. This one is by Ripstitcher. So I made this one to keep my sewing kit in.

That's the workhorse version, but I've now made one for Moll and one for me in prettier fabric

Wrap it up

So, as promised, this is the first batch of bags I've made for my daughter to take to uni. Rather than make them all from the same fabric, I decided to go more eclectic and just stick to the same range by Tanya Whelan.

TFL

Crimson and Clover

I've used another of my favorite masks for my card this week - Flower and Butterfly, teamed with Swoosh. If you have your eye on postage costs, this is a great card to have a go at, even though I have matted the topper onto a base card, it would be easy to recreate as a single layer card. This is one of the many advantages of using masks in my opinion; it's so easy to create a multi layered, dimensional card without having to traditionally mat and layer.

I used a variety of Distress inks through the Swoosh mask onto white card, then used sparkle texture paste in midnight through the Flower and Butterfly mask

I added a greeting directly onto the card front using the Wildflower Art set by Wendy Vecchi

TFL

What's old is new again.

For the last few weeks, as well as my card making, and knitting, I've had the sewing machine out - it really is all taking over the house! The last time I had the overlocker up and running was at least 10 years ago, but a bit of a spray with WD40 and she was back in action. The reason for the sewing is that I wanted to make some storage containers for Moll to take to Uni with her - I know what you're thinking and yes, I am deluded if I think there's a hope in hell of her being tidy whilst she's away, but let it not be said that I didn't try. When I first thought of making them, she was frantically studying, so the sewing stayed on the back burner, in the meantime, The Great British Sewing Bee came back for a new series and I realised how much I missed sewing clothes as well as soft furnishings. So by the time the exam rush came to an end, I was raring to go, so much so that I've lost count of what I've made, BUT here is the first item I've got around to photographing - more to follow though.

The fabric was given to me by my Great Aunty Alice who was a prolific dressmaker and fabric hoarder - that'll be where I get the fabric hoarding from then! She gave it to me in the early 1990's, but she'd bought it in the 1950's. The pattern I used was a vintage pattern from the 1940's/50's and has a real Bette Davis look.

Lovely mother of pearl buttons

TFL

A Forest

As if I ever need an excuse to get my masks out, this month the Creative Expressions DT are having fun with masks and texture paste.

For this week, I've used the Jacobs Coat technique and the Birch mask for my background.

I also used the leafy mask with copper sparkle texture paste.

Daisy, Daisy

This month, we're playing with texture paste - glittery mainly, as Creative Expressions have brought out some lovely new colours, as well as some now masks from That Special Touch. My first project for July also uses Chalk paint and Crackle medium

I stippled on some blue paint as a base, directly onto an MDF blank

You can force dry the paint using a heat gun

I painted on the crackle glaze in one direction. I left it to dry a little, but got a bit impatient so went over the semi dry crackle with White Chalk paint.

Because the crackle wasn't fully dry, I got areas of really big crackles, around the edges where the glaze was dry, the crackles are smaller. I love the extra distressed look this technique gives.

After the chalk paint was fully dry, I used my stencil and applied the glitter texture paste, selecting the areas I wanted for each colour, allowing each colour to fully dry before changing colour.