Drip, drip, drop, little Oxide showers...

Hello all!  Just dropping in with some more Oxide backgrounds.  They'll turn into tags soon, but I loved these so much that I thought I'd give them a little airing of their own before they get covered up.

I only took watercolours with me on my recent trip to the Czech Republic, as I knew most of my time would be taken up with doll-making (I'm in the process of writing the post, so you'll see them very soon), so I couldn't resist having just a little play with the Oxides as soon as I got home.

Again, I've been mixing them with regular Distress Inks - this, so far, is what gets me really excited about Oxide possibilities.

I just love the layers you can achieve.  It really gives oceans of depth to a tag.














I find it hard to cover them up at all, hence my sharing them before I've made any decisions about stamping or embellishing.















With these vivid sunset/sunrise colours, I in fact started with a set of Oxide smears (on the left) and a set of Distress smears (on the right) side by side (not always the exact same colour by name).














So one tag started by being dipped in pure Oxides, and the second tag started its journey with pure Distress.














After that, though, I dipped and dived from one side to the other in turn, spritzing with plenty of water as I went...














... sometimes dabbing away excess ink with paper towel, and sometimes being patient enough to wait until the heat tool had dried it all.














Another thing I'm enjoying about the Oxides is how they're encouraging me to step outside my colour comfort zone; and from my quick visits around Craftyblogland, I don't seem to be the only one experimenting with the rainbow!

There are some other rainbows developing in my crafty life at the moment, but more of that another time...








Having said I'm enjoying the rainbow, reaching for my favourite colours still takes me to my happy place.  For this trio, I started with only two tags, and a mixture of blues and browns (plus Iced Spruce), Distress and Oxide, all on the craft mat together...

I smooshed, spritzed and dried over and over again.  The more you keep going, the more you discover.  It's hard to stop!

Sometimes I added extra Oxides to the mix on the mat...
















... sometimes extra Distress...
















... and often just extra water (either on to the mat or directly on to the tags).
















I love the look of rust seeping through cracks that is here in a couple of places.
















The initial two tags are fairly similar in colour intensity, but I only brought the third tag into play as a mop-up, so that's really got the palest shades.













The inks were well-diluted with water by this point, but still capable of so much funky detailing in the layering, spritzing and drying.











It's incredible how you can keep adding ink and/or water drops to such effect, even a long way down the smooshing road.  (As Tim said in his early demos, pure Distress would have turned to mud by now.)

So yes, I'm still loving the Oxide ride... and I haven't even got as far as blending them on to a surface, let alone stamping with them yet.

So much to try, and so little time at present...













My dollshouse dolls should be up next, so I hope you'll pop back to take a look at my efforts.

Oh, and if you missed my springtime shadowbox project as a guest designer over at Calico Craft Parts, do take a look - I think it captures the season quite nicely.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll be round for a visit soon, I hope.

In one drop of water are found all the secrets of the oceans.
Kahlil Gibran

At the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge they'd like us to Splash It On, meaning they'd like us to incorporate water.  Even though I haven't had a chance to move beyond the splashing yet, I wanted to share the fun I've been having.

Springtime Shadowbox

Hello all!  I'm glad you enjoyed the refreshing April Showers guest creation for Frilly and Funkie.  I'm in Guest Designer mode today too, as well as back in a springtime garden... and back at my old stamping ground with Calico Craft Parts.

As you all know, I'm extremely partial to the Craft Parts, so I'm delighted to be offering up a couple of creations this month for the Calico blog.  The first of them is over there today, so I hope this sneak peek will persuade you to hop across and check it out.  You may recognise the birds from my recent ATC, but these are a different size and with a whole lot more going on behind them.  See if you can find the hidden Easter egg!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you all enjoy the Easter weekend, whatever you're up to and whatever the weather hurls at you.

In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.
Mark Twain

If you don't mind hopping to see the full project...

I'd love to share this at Try It On Tuesday where they would like us to Add a Quote
And at Mixed Media World it's Anything Goes with a Twist - the optional twist is to use watercolours... I don't think my very watery acrylics count (always with a water brush!), but it is optional after all
At Altered Eclectics it is their usual Anything Goes as long as it's altered/mixed media - no cards or ATCs
At the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge they're looking for Spring Colour Inspiration
At Rhedd's Creative Spirit they are looking for altered art/mixed media (no cards, tags, papercrafted items) but other than that Anything Goes

April Showers

Hello all!  Firstly, apologies for being a poor blogger again at the moment.  You'll see why over the next few posts - it's been a busy old month or so, and I'm away from home yet again so I had to do lots of making in advance to get ahead of the game.

Also I'm scrambling up the steep learning curve of doll-making, so that's taking lots of time and energy.

But I'm absolutely delighted to be a guest over at Frilly and Funkie today, sharing a project for their new theme, April Showers, hosted by the fabulous Suzz.

It's always a thrill to have something you've made singled out for recognition, and Frilly and Funkie is one of the places I discovered very early on this crafting journey, so it was especially lovely to have my Tiny Greenhouses honoured by their amazing Design Team.










From the moment I learned what the challenge theme was, I had an idea in my head about wanting visible raindrops on whatever I made.

It took a bit of experimentation, but I'm rather pleased with how it all ended up.  I hope you like it too!












I always enjoy my layers, so way back in the invisible distance there is some dipped and spritzed paint and ink, over which I scraped a thin layer of the PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze.
















Next step, once the glaze was dry, was a coat of Snowflake Fresco paint...














... and then some more dipping into droplets of Stormy Sky Distress Ink and Faded Jeans Distress Oxide.

I love the ink droplets over the crackle texture - already a slightly rainy sky, wouldn't you say?











Around the foot of the tag, I blended on some Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn inks, and then spritzed with some water to create even more showery droplets within the layers.













At this point, I mounted the tag on some sturdy cardboard to give it strength and stability for what's to come.














The fabulous Calico Craft Parts provided my central image - a lovely MDF wood field full of flowers.













I don't seem to have a picture of it "naked", but regulars will know what how it started out (and if you need a reminder, you can get the idea if you hop over to my Three Little Birds where you can at least see a "before" of that Calico Craft Part).















As I did for that ATC, I applied a coat of gesso first of all, and then used DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics to paint the flowers, grasses and butterflies.














Since many of the Fluid Acrylics are translucent, you can build up layers of colour and create some really lovely effects.














Can never resist a bit of white spatter...















My sentiment - one of my favourites - is stamped in Leaf Green and Olive Archival inks.  I apply one and then add touches of the second before stamping.

We're still looking for that showery feeling, so I clear embossed the sentiment.










You get that lovely glossy dimensionality - like a film of water just sitting on the lettering.

For extra watery effect, I also clear-embossed the inky shading right around the edges of the tag.











And then it was time for the raindrops.  I settled on Glossy Accents and did some practising on a separate sheet of card to find out the best way to form a nice teardrop shape.

When they go on, of course, there's a slight cloudiness to the gel, but you just have to be patient and let them dry fully.












And yes, I know that raindrops aren't really that shape when they're falling, but we're allowed a little artistic licence, aren't we?

If I were making this again, I would spread my drops a little less regularly.  I was concentrating so much on the shaping, that I didn't even realise I was doing the spacing so evenly.












But I do like the effect, even if you have to wave the tag around a bit in certain lights to catch sight of the droplets - I do seem to like to set myself photographic challenges.  You can always feel them with your fingertips if you're in doubt!










I dyed some seam binding with Wild Honey and Picked Raspberry Distress Stains which gave me colour tones that blended nicely with the flowers and butterflies below.










And there you have your April Showers on a tag.

Thanks so much to Cec and the Frilly and Funkie Designers for having me along for the ride - I had a lovely time getting wet and watery! - and I hope it will inspire you to come and splash about in the April Showers at Frilly and Funkie too.

There's a clue in the last couple of posts about where I'll be bobbing up next as a guest, and there's another exciting project in the offing, not to mention those Tudor Tavern dolls.  I hope you'll hop by again soon... but, for now, happy crafting all!

For after all, the best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain. 
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Three Little Birds

Hello all!  It's time for a new challenge at A Vintage Journey.  Our host this month is the lovely Annie, and she would like you to conjure up The Magic of Three.  There's lots of amazing inspiration from my fabulous team-mates, and here's my offering to get you started.

I've kept things very simple really.  You can see my main "three" straight away... the trio of birds trilling away together on this ATC.  There are also three words to go with them.  And at least three layers in the background!

The whole thing is constructed using Calico Craft Parts - one of their sturdy ATC blanks and this delightful Songbird Trio on Spring Branch.  (That's actually what it's called.)

The medium-sized version is exactly the right size for an ATC.










I started with a coat of DecoArt Americana WhiteWash and then applied a rough coat of gesso.

Over that rough texture I added some PaperArtsy Fresco paint in Sky (well, of course), with some touches of a couple of other blues for depth.












And over that, I put a layer of the Media Crackle Glaze and once it was fully crackled and dry, I used Antiquing Cream and Media Fluid paints to highlight the cracks...














... as well as to darken the edges, drawing the eye inward.  And of course adding some white paint splatter.   See?  At least three layers...















I used a little bit of gesso and then Snowflake Fresco paint to highlight areas of the birds' wings and breasts.














The fantastic texture in the Craft Parts makes it really easy to make them look good!













I also gave the leaves a coat of gesso on the surface first, to allow the greens which followed to show to their full advantage.

I forget now, but there's Green Gold and Sap Green involved from the DecoArt Media Fluids, and I think some Hey Pesto and Hyde Park from the Frescos.










The branches themselves have been left entirely "naked".  Bare Craft Parts also look good!

I'm always amazed at the delicate cutting possible with these fabulous MDF shapes.












And I really love the dimension you get both with the ATC blanks and using Craft Parts generally.  It's a lovely way to add a touch of permanence and solidity to the ATC format.

And finally, of course, there are those ChitChat stickers...














... three of them, adding the Words component, and another little bit of threesome magic.

So that's my simple ATC for you, celebrating the Magic of Three.






I hope you'll check out the inspiration offered up for you by my fabulous travelling companions over at A Vintage Journey, and we hope you'll come and play along this month.

You might get selected as one of our Pinworthy projects, or be our lucky randomly-generated winner, with a fabulous prize on offer for April from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies.  Happy crafting all!

Rise up this mornin’,
Smiled with the risin’ sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin’ sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin’, “This is my message to you-ou-ou:”

“Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.” 
Singin’: “Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”
Three Little Birds by Bob Marley