Proud as a Peacock

A little story to make you smile for which my daughter will probably never forgive me!!

Some 5 years ago on a sunny Boxing Day morning, a peacock walked up my drive and adopted me. Yes, I say adopted me as he is most certainly ‘the boss’. 

A few weeks later my daughter Melanie arrived from the UK in search of sunshine. She arrived in Cape Town after a 12 hour flight and then had a 5 hour drive to where we live. On arrival she was greeted by myself and my ‘new friend’ and exclaimed “Oh look Mum a penguin!” Education is a wonderful and expensive thing. Let’s hope it was ‘jet lag’. We named him, very imaginatively, Pete.

Just recently I was in the UK for 2 months and when I returned Pete had grown a new set of tail feathers and strutted very proudly into my office demanding food with menaces - no change there then.

To progress, when I saw this Creative Expressions Art Nouveau Peacock set amongst my ‘home work’ on my return I was delighted and determined to express his grandeur.

So, I cut out 2 gold squares using the Spellbinders Grand Squares, folded a quarter inch on one of them and joined them at the back with double sided tape to create my card base. 

For the background, I die cut a smaller square from purple card stock. This I spritzed with Cosmic Shimmer sprays: Blue Lime and Ancient Copper and left it to dry. 

Meanwhile I cut out a smaller purple square and another gold square.  Using Versamark and Cosmic Shimmer gold embossing powder I stamped the peacocks, patterns and sentiment. 

Now comes the part I enjoy most, which is to paint them. This time with Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Drawing Ink: Peacock Teal, Blue Blush, Lime Burst and Meadow Lush (from the Persian and Garden sets) and left to dry.

Persian

Garden

Going back to the now dry spritzed purple backing sheet. I stamped it with Versamark using the feathers from the peacock set and embossed them with Cosmic Shimmer Lapis Pearl.

This small piece of old gold ribbon I found in a draw (when I was supposed to be tidying up) and it works perfectly with a couple of Chinese coins and a bit of gold twine. Fixed to the back of the top layer and using a little mounting tape to raise it I was finished. 

What do you think? I think Pete would be proud!

Enjoy playing around with your versions and let us know how you get on.

Linda

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The Joy of Grand Nesties!

Here is a demonstration of how quickly you can create an amazing background of mounts and frames using the Spellbinders Grand Nesties. 

In this case I have used the Grand Circles.

Cut 4 sizes of circles, graduating them as you go and alternating the size and colour to suit your ‘art work’. 

Then cut 2 of the largest circle to use as the card base. A smaller circle underneath which you cannot see forms the wedge to keep the card open.

I chose blue vellum to alternate with and match my Agapanthus flower. 

Although it is not very easy to see in this photograph, I have used the Creative Expressions Floral Embossing folder to give some texture to one or two of my alternating colours.

I stamped and embossed my Agapanthus and then painted it with Cosmic Shimmer Dazzle Paint Ocean Breeze 

and for the stalk Cosmic Shimmer drawing ink Meadow Green from the Garden Collection. 

Then I fixed and lifted each layer with mounting tape for a 3D effect.

I stamped my sentiment ("The poetry of the earth never dies", from British Wild Flowers by Creative Expressions) 

and die cut it using a Spellbinders tag die.

I matted and layered by circles, taking care to leave enough space to insert my sentiment tag but not so much that it wouldn’t stay up.

One simple velvet bow made it look very old fashioned almost Victorian?

Enjoy

Linda

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Messing with Masks

Recently we have been messing with masks! In this case, two Touch Of Mica Masks - Basket Weave

and Ivy

To create this card, take two sheets of the Coredinations Whitewash card stock - I chose one with a pink core, and one with a tan core. Cut a square of the tan core sheet and emboss in your die cutting machine with the Basket Weave mask.

Cut a larger square (7.5 inches square) of the pink whitewash card. Place your Ivy mask on the card, leaving a two inch border of card free so that it won't be embossed. Run through your machine. Your mask may not have covered the full height of your card. If this is the case, run through the machine again, making sure that you tape your mask in place so that it does not cover your existing embossing. (Ideally you need a Grand Calibur or similar size machine to emboss this large size card).

With a spare scrap of the tan card, emboss the ivy mask leaving an un-embossed panel at the bottom.
Stamp your sentiment from the Creative Expressions Thoughtful Sentiments set

 onto this panel.

Stamp four fans from the Creative Expressions Oriental stamp set onto tan card, and emboss in white.

Using Cosmic Shimmer drawing inks, paint in the wings.

Cut out the four fans. Take some of the drawing inks and drip onto your craft sheet. Dip a length of the American Seam Binding (or you could use Vintage Ribbon) into the ink to colour. Dry with a heat tool.

Assemble the card, using the four fans to create two butterflies. Bend the fans to give them some shape and attach using Pinflair glue to give them some lift.

Use some pearl swirls to create Butterfly tails and the pearly glue to create antennae. Tie a bow with the coloured seam binding and embellish with Creative Expressions hat pins and a pearly brad.

Dot Cosmic Shimmer pearly glue around the edge of the card to finish it off.  Make sure put your card aside for at least an hour to let the pearly glue dry!

Mel xxxx Pin It Now!

Tree Reflection - Misty Reflection

To wake in the morning and watch the sunrise over a misty lake is everyone’s dream.

I painted this scene using a graphic image from our collection called Tree Reflection

This is a demonstration of how all is not always what it appears to be. 

It could have been sunset or the brilliance of a summer afternoon. With Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Drawing Inks in many beautiful colours the choice can depend on your mood. 

Why not place a silver moon and reflections of Silver Sheen and Pearl Shine?

My colours for the project were:

Sunrise Yellow   

Rich Gold

Silver Sheen (good Mist)

Ancient Copper

Black Night (reinforces you line drawing and detail)

Chestnut Brown

Lime Blush

Blue Blush

Denim

Evergreen

Pearl Shine

Meadow Lush

Have fun and set your artist free!

Linda xxx

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Geisha Girl with Fan

I painted a picture of a geisha girl for my daughter Melanie’s birthday, which she loved. 

We decided maybe you would like it too. So, I have created a digi-stamp of her which I then ‘painted’ with the wonderful new range of Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Drawing Inks. They are so much more than drawing inks. I love them because they are always ready, dry quickly and are so versatile.

Think of this image as painting by numbers but without the numbers!  You can lose the lines as I have or keep them as your guide.

For a soft dreamy effect paint wet into wet, for harder lines just wait a few moments to continue. Mixing colours on your craft sheet is fun or you can paint directly onto your card. The little brushes are so delicate that they do not rough the surface. It was huge fun and very satisfying to do a little painting. The beautiful colours that I chose        to use are listed below. A little tip, although the inks will not spill if knocked over try to remember to pull the brush out away from your picture or you may get ‘splatter pattern’.

Cosmic Skin                  DenimCosmic Blush               Chestnut Brown

Pearl Shine                   Ancient Copper

Crimson Flame             Silver Sheen

Purple Velvet                Sunshine Yellow

Black Night                   Rich Gold

There are lots more fabulous colours for you to choose from.

Enjoy playing and let us know how it goes.

Linda xxx

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Crooked Picture Frame

Digi-stamps are a really economical way of increasing your stamp library and are as versatile as regular stamps - if not more so.

I made this card by printing out the Birch Tree Scene digital stamp and painted the background with Creative Expressions Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Inks.  The frame was cut from some beautiful copper card using Spellbinders Nestabilities Lattice Rectangles and then mounted onto a blue background which was embossed using the Creative Expressions Bark Embossing Folder.

You can change the colours to create a completely different mood or time of day.

We would love to see how your imagination has used the image.

Linda xxx

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