About Me

My photo
Hi I'm Clare, I live in the South West of England in the seaside town of Torquay. I adore playing with inks, paints and generally getting messy. It is the calm place which fits in between my hectic life whilst working as an outreach support worker, looking after my son, daughter, foster son and hubby. Not forgetting our gorgeous springer spaniel, Suzi.

Sunday 19 February 2017

Infusions experiments and Unexpected backgrounds!

Good evening folks!  A little impromptu blog from me this evening.  I've recently acquired a set of  Paperartsy Infusions and boy oh boy what fun they are.  Now I have used similar products to this previously, but I have to say these little bottles of powdered colour are A-Mazing!



I'm really wishing that I'd documented how I made this one but I truly believe 

that luck came into it, however I hardly ever disregard anything inked or painted only because I can usually find a use for it in other projects.







My first card shown was born from this background!  I'd used a stencil and sprinkled my favourite colour Infusions, A Bit Jaded, over the stencil, spritzed with water and removed the stencil from my raindrop background.  Now looking at the stencil, it still had a lot of beautiful Jade inkyness all over it, so waste not!  I took a clean piece of card and rescued the remaining colour by pressing onto the 
stencil.  Hey presto, a background that I really wasn't expecting, bonus!


The colours are truly vibrant, here are a batch waiting to be turned into cards. 





For those of you like me who really struggle with white space these colourful powdered crystals come into their own there are so many possibilities! 





A recent journal page using Infusions along with Paperartsy fresco paints, grunge paste and Electica Tracy Scott stamps and stencils.




Here is a mixed media canvas, I used the Infusions in the background before gelli printing over the top with Fresco paints.


The only trouble is there are now 12 more colours available, I think I NEED them all! 

It's always lovely to here your comments,  thank you for stopping by.

Crafty hugs,
Clare x x x 

   


Tuesday 14 February 2017

Bee Sweet, Bee Mine?

Hi guys I'm back with a little mid month inspiration for you.  The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge theme this month is Sweet Inspiration!  Our Sponsours this month are Stampendous, so to be in with a chance of a $25 gift certificate it's time to get crafty!



Using Dylusion paints, Bubble Gum, Lemon Zest & Vibrant turquoise, I scraped the paints over the 
tag, drying in between changing colours.  I knocked back some areas with white linen.  Time for some mark making!  With the edge of an old gift card I added in some lines, using an old bottle top I stamped on some circles.  Using the flowers from the Whisper Fly stamp set I stamped into the background.






I stamped the cute bumble bee from the Stampendous Whisper Fly set and coloured Neocolour II crayons.  Completed with some sequins and twine my little valentine tag is ready to go.



Now it's your turn, head over to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge blog, check out the rules and submit your entry! 


Crafty Valentine Hugs,

Clare x x x    
















Wednesday 1 February 2017

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #33

Good morning all!  A new month, a new challenge.  Love is in the air this month as we ask you to search for some Sweet Inspiration with the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge.


Our sponsor this month is Stampendous and our special guest designer this month is Fran Seiford.  Fran is the founder of Stampendous and has also designed an abundance of stunning stamps!  Stampendous are offering you a chance to win a $25 gift certificate for this months challenge.














So looking at the selection of goodies I had to work with I knew that it wouldn't be too tricky to come up with something as sweet as candy.








I started of  by applying the dream weaver  glossy  stencil paste through the stencil and spinning some of the uber fine micro glitter over the wet paste.  I set aside to dry to use to embellish my card.














Using Paperartsy fresco chalk paints I layered up my card.  Using the circle shape from the gelli printing shape set I started to print different coloured circles onto the card changing the pattern after I'd ran out of colour on the circle.  


Once I was happy with my gelli print I decided which part I wanted to use and with some die cutting,  I cut out a heart from the centre of the card.  I layered onto black card.  I then proceeded to add some doodling using a white Posca pen.









I stamped the image onto watercolour paper and coloured using neo-colour II water colour crayons.  I cut out leaving a slight white edge around the sweet little fairy and balloons.






I cut out some candy circles from the glittered, rainbow card, applied a sweet sentiment and attached to the card along with the floating fairy.





That's my sweet inspiration for you, now it's your turn.  Head over to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge blog to check out some more sweet inspiration, read the rules and submit your entry for the chance to win a $25 gift certificate.


Thank you for stopping by today, I look forward to seeing all of your Sweet Inspiration creations.

Hugs, Clare x x x