French Bulldog Bag

This is another bag that I did for my friend to give as a gift to a little girl who loves French Bulldogs.

The dog has been painted with acrylic paint and embellished with grosgrain ribbon and wooden stars.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

It's a show stopper.....

I was asked to make this bag as a gift for a friend's niece. The only restrictions were to use the ballerina image and the colours hot pink and black. So this is what I came up with.

I printed the image onto transfer paper and ironed it onto the bag prior to painting with acrylic paint. I then created curtains from tulle fabric and stitched them into place. To finish I added some gold chipboard stars and gold and black polka-dot ribbon. The cork heart was painted with black acrylic paint and then the name stamped and heat embossed with Docrafts Gold Embossing Powder.

The picture above doesn't show the glitter and sparkle, so I took another picture inside in an attempt to show the sparkly bits. Hopefully you can see them.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Mixing things up with Docrafts Woodland Gift Tags and Creativity Magazine Free Gifts!

So I picked up this months Creativity Magazine and as always there were some amazing free gifts in the shape of a set of four double sided wooden postcards and some Wilson Wood stickers. I also happened to get my hands on the new Woodland Gift Tags dies which from the very first moment I saw them I knew that I was going to end up buying them!

I made this little card using one of the postcards and the dies. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

Paint the scene on the wooden postcard with watered down Artiste acrylic paints. Remove the sign post sticker from the free Wilson Wood stickers and cut out the text from another sticker. Mount onto cardstock and arrange the letters as desired. Using the Woodland Gift Tags Die and A4 Premium Textured Cardstock cut several leaves, toadstools and animals. If desired dry brush detail onto the animals using Artiste Acrylic Paints and Brushes. Arrange all of the elements onto the postcard and secure with Stick It Silicone Glue. To finish add 3D Clear Gloss to the mushrooms and acorns.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire

Supplies:
Creativity Magazine
Woodland Gift Tag Dies
A4 Textured Cardstock
Acrylic Paints
Brushes

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create - Anything goes
Dragonfly Dreams - Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp - Create a scene
The Corrosive Challenge - Nature/Animals
Crafty Friends Challenge - Use your dies
Animal Friends Challenge - Anything goes
Crafts & Me - Anything goes
Cut It Up - Die cuts

How Pink???

So did you get to see the Polkadoodles Show on Create & Craft TV this morning? I did and WOW what a show! Anyway, I made a few samples for the show but had a bit of a hiccup with delivery so it was hit and miss as to whether any of my samples would actually appear! As luck would have it they miraculously appeared halfway through the show. This is one of the samples that kept sneaking into view, I'll show you others over the next few days.

Anyway, I created this canvas using the new Work & Play 2 CD from Nikky Hall and have managed to shock myself with the amount of pink I've used!! Now I know a lot of you don't like CD's (I have no idea as to why, they are exactly like using a digi only better value and they don't take up room on your PC) so she has also released the characters as digis for you to be able to buy and download separately (this item is exclusive to Create and Craft TV until 1st April 2014, so if you're desperate for it then might want to order it from them).

I have to say I had lots of fun creating this picture and used it as an excuse to experiment! Now I know you'll be looking at the picture thinking "what experiment?" Well if you look at the background you will see that I have used one of the digital papers, now if you look even closer you will see that the canvas texture shows (click on the picture to be taken to a larger version which you can then zoom in on)! So how did I do it? Well I used a good old fashioned transfer technique which basically means that you print your digi paper as normal and then transfer it onto canvas leaving only the image and not the paper! I have to say it's become a bit of an obsession with me at the moment and you'll be seeing more of this technique in the next few weeks along with a few hints and tips and maybe a tutorial.

Once I'd created the transfer background using the patterned paper, I decided to try and do a secondary transfer with the sentiment. This was fairly successful, although I discovered that I didn't need to cut the paper tight around the text. It would've been better to have left plenty of paper surrounding it as the text lifted slightly in places which meant I had to touch it up!

To hide any shabby areas and add a bit of texture, I added some course modelling paste from my stash and dabbed gold acrylic paint around the edges. In places the transfer wasn't brilliant so I mixed some pale pink acrylic paint into some Maimeri Iridescent Paste and swiped it over this area with my fingers.

I cut out the image and coloured it with my Graph'It markers. I then gave her a little dimension by running my ball tool around the edge before mounting her on the canvas using silicone glue. Once the glue had dried I added some glitter glue to her tutu and hairband.

Next I made the ballet shoes. Now some of you have probably made these for your Barbie or Sindy Dolls when you were kids? They are dead simple and quick to make, but really add to the overall effect. The hardest part is the ribbon as it's a little fiddly and you have to wait for the glue to grab (unless of course you are using a hot glue gun). Again these have been glittered to within an inch of their life!

Finally, I've added some ribbon curls, ribbon flowers, pearl stars and pearls to pull it all together.

I hope you like this little canvas. Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
All Crafts Challenge February/March - Anything but a card
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart - Anything Goes/Spots or Stripes
Craft It Up & Link It Up With Craftin Desert Divas - Brads, Button, Ribbon or Twine
Created With Love - Girly
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Transparent (the tutu is tranparent)
My Craft Spot - Anything Goes
Robyn's Fetish - Anything but a card
Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes
Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Glitter

Mixed Media Wall Hanging

So did you watch the show? What did you think? Surprised that CD crafting isn't quite what some of you thought? Are you converted to CD crafting yet? Did you manage to spot any of my samples and more importantly did you figure out what my sneaky peek was? No??? Good job I'm feeling kind today then and will put you out of your misery!!! But not before I tell about how you can get your hands on some fabulous Studio 12 goodies!

If you pop over to the Studio 12 blog, you will not only find loads of inspirational post and tutorials, but that Nikky is giving away some luscious goodies!

So what did I make?? It is of course a mixed media piece using the new Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 - Gingerbread Twist. I have to say I had great fun making this and you'll definitely be seeing more projects like this from me.

The base is a canvas board (I picked mine up for 25p in a local store) which has been covered with torn papers, texture paste and paints before sticking the sentiment and images into place. I know it's completely different to my normal stuff but I do hope that you like it.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
Allsorts Challenge - Anything but a square
Christmas Stamping All Year Long - Anything but a card
Inspire Me Fridays - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Anything Goes - Make your own background
Everybody Art - Anything goes
Make It Monday - Anything goes