Sea Critters Play

This week there is a new collection at the Artful Days store & I got to have a play. The MDF shapes has been designed by the wonderful Jules Bell & they are are fab. I think that they work great for both a whimsical fun look as well as a more natural look. As soon as I saw the large tag & crab shape, it took me right back to when my 4 sons were young boys, when one of their favourite activities when at the beach was crabbing, one of my boys Steve (now 40 years old) still love crabbing & his own son is obsessed too 😆😆 Whenever they visit me, they grab a bucket, crab lines & a tin of sandwich meat & they would disappear for hours 😆😆
Anyway, back to what I made with my AD goodies, everything used on my 3 pieces can be purchased in the Artful Days online store, it is UK based but ships worldwide.

I’d like to enter my tag into the Tag Your It challenge

That tag is such a great size, I love it & the crab is so sweet. Artful Days has also added to the Stamperia range, by now stocking the Acrylic Paints, to go alongside the rice papers already stocked. The paints are lovely to use, really thick & creamy, yet blendable. So they are suitable for wet on wet techniques too.

The natural moss, mixed in with the synthetic moss creates a lovely sea bed.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing what I did with the MDF pieces, as much as I enjoyed creating them. 

Please leave me a comment, to let me know that you have visited me & I will return the visit.

Stay safe & happy crafting 

🌴  Jane  🌴

Background Play

 I really had fun creating this background yesterday, I was completely absorbed in the making of it.
When I started all I knew was that I wanted to use heat embossing, no plans or prompts, just play & see where it took me.

Working in my handmade journal, I chose my stamp dabbed WOW embossing ink & pressed on to my page, I had to do this 4 times to fill the pages. Next, I placed my book on a sheet of paper & sprinkled WOW embossing powder over the entire stamped page, I used Crusty Copper then tapped the excess on to the paper & poured it back into the pot!

I then decided to just spray mist some shimmer inks until I got the effect I wanted.
Sadly, the photos don’t show the shimmer very well, but I managed to capture the blends. I always dry each spraying before changing colour.

Purple & Gold looks so extravagant ...

It's July the 15th, which means that there is a new challenge started over on the BleedingArt blog & what a line up of inspiration the Design Team have created for you all. Please join us this month, remember it's always 'Anything Goes' so you have free reign to create whatever you like. However, we say NO to scrapbook LO's, should these be entered, they will not be considered in the judging process!

This month I decided to alter a no longer needed iPhone box, it was just the right size to turn it into a collector's box, you know, all of those little treasures you accumulate in life, but never know what to do with them. My box contains little things such as, a tiny green plastic ring that my 30 something son have me as a toddler & a tiny pebble that my grandson had given me, because he said it looked like a shoe lol ..... Sentimental treasures that mean nothing to anyone else, but they are precious to me 😊

So, I started by removing any stickers & labels from the iphone box, then I roughed up all of the shiney surfaces with a strong energy board, but it can be done with a sanding block or sandpaper also. I do this to give some grip for the products that I will be applying to transform the box.

The next step was to coat the box with gesso, allowing it to dry completely. I wanted to give the idea of texture without actually using products to produce the effect. So, I painted the lid of the box with a nice purple acrylic paint, when dry I dry brushed some good metallic paint, quite randomly, to break up the plain colour & adhered a piece of string netting! By doing this, I have myself another colour to play with,  when it came to adding embellishments & there are lots of them! 

The next step was to gather a mixture of embellishments to dress my box lid, after a happy rummage through my various wellies boxes, I chose some resins, a few cogs, a bottle cap, some cognac coloured faux gems, some gauze & some yummy metal shapes. I placed them on the lid, which always takes me a while to get the look that I want. When, I was happy with my look, I began gluing them in place, I like to use a gel medium for this, because I know that it has a very strong bond.

Some of the pieces I painted before glueing them down, because of where they would be hard to get too, when other things were placed on top. The lovely metal pieces & the string net, I left unpainted, because I like the contrast between metal & coloured.

The big element in the middle of the box, is from a larger resin that I broke in half, it's the lower half of the Zuri Phoenix. It's good to play with your available embellishments etc. to see if they can be adapted to fit your projects, because I am making a conscious effort to use what I have, instead of keep buying all of the time. I know it's the same for most crafters, but I am rapidly running out of storage space 😉 

Ok, so all of my embellishments are glued in place, once everything was completely dry, it is good to pick it up & look at it from all angles, by doing this you can see if you need a dab of paint anywhere or other little finishing touches. Sometimes, just the tiniest dab of paint can make everything work together.

I finished it off by adding the word ‘Memories’ & adding a few of those cognac coloured gems & I was finally done.

Thank you for visiting me today, please leave a comment so that I know you have been & or become a follower, I always do my best to return visits.

Many thanks

Jane 🌴

Steampunk Hop ...Yay!

Today's the day & it's a great day for a Steampunk hop!

A hop chocka block full of amazing mixed media creations by talented artists & amazingly generous sponsors who are donating fantastic prizes & we all love prizes right!!
All you have to do to be in with a chance at grabbing some of them, is to follow the hop & comment on what you see. The hop is not just on Blogger, the links will also take you to Instagram & YouTube too. 

Hopefully, this hop will 'wet your appetites' for this style of craft, seeing what the artist's have created to showcase & inspire you to give Steampunk a try for yourself, assuming you aren't already enjoying this genre art of coarse!?

We have gang of very talented Mixed Media Artists taking part in the hop showing you a variety of styles & designs, if you think that Steampunk is limited in its design, then you will be very surprised at what you see during this exciting line up. If you want to do the hop from in order from beginning to end, then you simply click on the 1st link below & follow the links through, leaving comments on each blog as you work your way through. You have 3 days to get your comments on all of the artists blogs to entered into the draw for a prize from one of the fantastic sponsors, listed further down this post!

Any comments on my blog, will go into a separate drawing for a prize (Prize TBC) 

Please remember, you need to leave somewhere in your comments, where or how we can contact you to inform you if your a prize winner. If we can't contact you, no prize!

Please join us & invite your friends, most of all have as much fun as we will & good luck in the prize draws

It's Oddly Appealing - https://www.itsoddlyappealing.com/2020/06/steampunk-man.html

Ink Stained Roni - https://inkstainswithroni.blogspot.com/2020/06/creatively-curious-steampunk-blog-hop.html

Electric Pandemonium- https://electricpandemonium13.blogspot.com/2020/06/steampunk-blog-hop.html

Crafts From The Fairy Den - https://craftsfromthefairyden.blogspot.com/2020/05/steampunk-blog-hop.html

Chaitali Dekhtawala - https://mycreativecolorpalette.blogspot.com/2020/06/its-time-to-fly-canvas-steampunk-layout.html

Nellys Artistic Creations - https://youtu.be/-O-0TGJi9U8 *Arrived from here*

Jane Austin - https://islandcreativity.blogspot.com/2020/06/steampunk-hop-yay.html *You are Here*

Priya Mishra - http://quillingbypriya.blogspot.com/2020/06/dragon-steampunk-blog-hop.html *Next link*

Archana Sehgal - https://youtu.be/4hn9zesZRK4

Bhavani Balaji - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBzf2GOfCe10TZqgzGpcIQg

Cassandra - Scrap Savvy Creations - https://scrapsavvycreations.blogspot.com/2020/06/steampunk-blog-hop.html (if posting on IG can tag me at @scrapsavvy )

Shraddha - https://youtu.be/JJJrIYNsIL4uA

Amy Love's Designs - https://amylovesdesigns.blogspot.com

Kanika Jain- http://youtube.com/c/HandmadeByKanika

Empire of the Cat - https://empireofthecat.com/blog/2020/06/19/the-curious-case-of-the-time-travelling-cat-steampunk-blog-hop

Shwetha's Art - https://www.youtube.com/c/ShwethasArt / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGMiHfy6V4o

Sonika Agarwal - https://youtu.be/5iUVNmnF6Q8

In Search of my Creative Side - https://insearchofmycreativeside.blogspot.com/2020/06/steampunk-blog-hop.html

The Journey is the Start - https://thejourneyisthestarthere.blogspot.com/2020/06/steampunk-blog-hop.html

Crea-Red- https://youtu.be/aRVAjouXzQI

Orquide'art - http://orquideart.canalblog.com/

Juli Loves Paper - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j00nRK-X33E

Kim Slade-Fuller https://angeldreamcrafts.blogspot.com/2020/06/steampunk-blog-hop.html

Leslie Lineberry: http://www.artfordinner.gallery/blog/2020/6/focus-on-time-travel

Linda Simpson: https://lindasimpsoncraftypieceofheaven.blogspot.com/2020/06/steampunk-blog-hop.html

Jessica Larios - https://youtu.be/LN8ikGhbCc8

Riddhi Jani - https://youtu.be/Zx8nDVUloTA

Lynne Joncas https://scrappysquirrelsnest.blogspot.com/2020/06/steampunk-blog-hopgypsy-time-machine.html

Zoe Bateman http://zazzcreative.blogspot.com/2020/06/steampunk-blog-hop.html

Pooja sharma https://youtu.be/CFDE7c6rtnI

Nicole Palos - http://fiveluckyclovers.blogspot.com/

A Vintage Girl https://candyscraps.typepad.com/scraps/2020/05/steampunk-blog-hop.html

WOW! What a line up, did you visit them all?

                                                     *******************************************

We have 16 prize sponsors for our Steampunk Hop - we're proud to say these are small businesses run by artists. Let's show them some love!

1) A Vintage Girl (https://www.avintagegirlshop.com/) - $20 prize package

2) Angel Dream Crafts (https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/AngeldreamCraftsKim) - $20 gift certificate (shipping not included)

3) Linda Israel Art (https://lindaisrael.com/art/) - $50 gift certificate (shipping not included)

4) A Matter of Crafts (www.justamatterofcrafts.com) - $20 gift certificate (shipping not included)

5) Expressions Craft (https://www.expressionscraft.com/) - $25 gift certificate (shipping not included)

6) Nellys Artistic Creations (https://www.instagram.com/nellys_artistic_creations/?hl=en) - original artwork (see link for examples of her work)

7) Gecko Galz (https://www.etsy.com/shop/geckogalz) - $25 in digital products

8) Creative Embellishments (https://creativeembellishments.com/) - $50 (shipping not included)

9) Emerald Creek (https://emeraldcreek.co/) - $25 gift certificate

10) Electric Pandemonium (Etsy.com/shop/electricpandemonium) - choose a $45 original artwork piece (shipping not included)

11) Thompson's Craft Supplies (https://thompsonscraftsupplies.com/) £20 (approx $25) (shipping not included)

12) It's Oddly Appealing (https://www.pinterest.com/itsoddlyappealing/its-oddly-appealing/) - original artwork (see link for examples of her work)

13) The Funkie Junkie Boutique (https://www.thefunkiejunkie.com/) - $25 gift certificate

14) Hobbilicious (https://www.hobbilicious.com/) - £15 (approx $19) (UK shipping free)

15) ITD (https://itdcollection.com/) - prize package worth £25

16) Stamperia (https://stamperia.com/) - a pizza box prize pack

To have a chance of winning one of the 16 coveted prizes, leave a comment on this post, along with your email address or social media contact (IG, FB, etc) and what country you're from, from now through Monday, 22 June. Sixteen winners will be picked randomly from all comments left from all of the artist's participating! The winners will be contacted via email/social media so it's important you leave your address/social media contact! Good luck and enjoy the hop!

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Good luck & most of all have fun, you are all very welcome & remember, comments equal prizes 😉

Let's get this Hop started by showing you the piece that I have made ....

I have had this Madhatters kit in my store cupboard forever, taking part in this blog hop made me feel it was the right time to give it an airing! Now I am not one for following instructions on how to put kits together, I like to use them as a starting base & do my own thing with them & that's exactly what I did with this one. 

After priming my pieces & sticking them firmly into place, I gave it a good coating of bronze paint using a brush, when dry I added some more of the paint, using the dabber to give some texture.

For the nail heads & studs I used some good old flatback pearls, I am so pleased that I didn't give them away when I stopped paper crafting. They look odd like this, but once painted over they look fine.

Next, I secured everything where I wanted it to go, then set about adding colour! I know that with steampunk, often the first thing you think of is early industrial steam powered machinery & cogs etc, but Steampunk is actually retro futuristic, think science fantasy & fantasy is colourful right!?

See how those flat back pearls turned out, not bad huh? Just shows in Mixed Media art there is a use for everything & how cute is that opticians glass!?

I love the clock hands by MitForm & that opticians lens found in a junk sale, I love finding unusual bits &bobs

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today & I really hope that you find the time to join in & visit my fellow hoppers, don't forget to comment so that you will be eligible to be entered into the global prize draw.

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Also, every comment left on my blog within 24 hours of this post going live, will go into a prize draw that I am giving away to my personal viewers. that gives you at least 2 chances at winning a prize!

To have a chance of winning one of the 16 coveted prizes, leave a comment on this post, along with your email address or social media contact (IG, FB, etc) and what country you're from, from now through Monday, 22 June. Sixteen winners will be picked randomly from all comments left from all of the artist's participating! The winners will be contacted via email/social media so it's important you leave your address/social media contact! Good luck and enjoy the hop!

Enjoy 

Jane x

I would like to enter this into the following challenges

       https://sandee-and-amelie.blogspot.com/?m=1