12 x 12 Journal Page

Morning Friends and crafters, Im a little late today.Hope you are all okay and looking forward to a wonderful weekend. I am sharing a 12 x 12 journal page today using the 'Trent' A5 Media Stencil along with a super collection of AALL&CREATE stamps to give a dramatic and colourful background.. I wanted the portrait to really pop out of the page and using the different media to create layers. You could easily use this idea on a smaller card design as the stencils are designed to work for all size projects.

You will need:

Craftascope A5 MEDIA Stencil 'Trent'

Greasproof Paper

HB & 6B Graphite Pencils

Pergamano Blender Pen

Selection of Watercolours

Versafine Black Ink Pad

12 x 12 Pink Pig Journal

Grey Brusho

Infusions Rusty Car and Royal Blood

Step 1: Start by positioning your stencil on the page. Trace through the outside lines for this one. Use the 6B to roughly go over the lines, not too heavy on the lips (I will do a detailed video when I am back home).Make a mask from Greaseproof paper, see photos 2 & 3. Stamp your selected stamps to build up the background.

Step 2: Repeat to make a mask or leave the previous one in place to add colour to the background.

Step 3: Use Pebeo Drawing gum to mask any detail you want to protect. Then once dry, use a wash made with Grey Brusho and water for the entire background.

Step 4: Lightly spritz areas of your background and sprinkle some areas with the Rusty Car and some with the Royal Blood.

Step 5: Remove the masking fluid and the paper ask from you project.

Step 6: Use your selection of watercolours and alcohol markers to add colour and depth to your project, this really adds another layer of interest.

Just a little extra here: If you have not shopped with Hochanda before, here is a voucher code giving you 30% off your first purchase (FEY5JBP7) it can be used for any purchase, feel free to share it.

As you know I love writing my blog and helping as much as I can, well I would really love for you to add you support by adding me as a favourite blog. All you need to do in that section is choose other and add my blog address nickinbarnsley.blogspot It would be great to get a mention even if I dont come anywhere.

Here is the link to add your support for all of the categories. 

https://www.britishcraftawards.com/

Thank you so much for joining me today, I hope you have enjoyed the tutorial and the finished piece. I hope you will join me again very soon. Take care and Happy Crafting.xxx

Serene Dolphins

Morning, Some more Dolphins for you today. Having the open spaces in these stamps makes them so versatile for so many looks and styles. They are so easy to colour or fill to suit your project. For this project I have used some Blue Brusho and a selection of Blue Watercolour paint and some Pebeo drawing gum.

You will Need:

Craftascope A5 Media Dolphin Stamp Set 1

Brusho

Selection of Blue Watercolours

Versafine Grey Ink

Memento Midnight Blue

Brush

Drawing Gum

Water 6 x 6 Watercolour Card

Black Card

Blue Centura Pearl Card

Step 1: Stamp your Dolphins onto the watercolour card and mask with the Drawing gum. Leave to dry thoroughly. Use a fan brush to add some splatters of gum to remove later leaving a little white space. Wash your brush Immediately.

Step 2: Spritz your card with water and sprinkle some Brusho for the sea, you really to want some white space here as well to add some drama and movement.

Step 3: Use a brush to add a little blue to the sky. Leave to dry again. Then remove the drawing gum from the Dolphins.

Step 4: Use your selection of blue watercolours to colour the dolphins. Top Tip: I am quite heavy handed with colour so I mask off some of the dolphins with gum, little area here and there, then remove some for another colour. You can always go over it later with a much lighter blue, if required. Next stamp "Serene' using a dark blue ink pad.

Step 5: Mount your finished piece onto black card (Gutted) leaving a narrow border. Then position onto your base card, here I have used Centura Pearl.

Just a little extra here: If you have not shopped with Hochanda before, here is a voucher code giving you 30% off your first purchase (FEY5JBP7) it can be used for any purchase, feel free to share it.

As you know I love writing my blog and helping as much as I can, well I would really love for you to add you support by adding me as a favourite blog. All you need to do in that section is choose other and add my blog address nickinbarnsley.blogspot It would be great to get a mention even if I dont come anywhere.

Here is the link to add your support for all of the categories. 

https://www.britishcraftawards.com/

Thank you ever so much for joining me today, I do hope you have enjoyed the tutorial along with the finished card. I look forward to welcoming you again very soon. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Invisible to the Eye

Morning Friends and Crafters, Thanks for popping by to see what I have to share with you. Today I have a card I made for the launch of my own collection. I do hope you got to see my first show last Thursday, If you didn't see it, it will be available on rewind via the Hochanda website. I really hope I wasn't too bad and you enjoyed it if you did see it.

You will need:

Profile Stamp Collection 2

Selection of Leaf Stamps (Here I have used my own designs)

Pebeo Drawing Gum

Grey Brusho

Infusions Royal Blood

Watercolour Card

Black Card

White Card Base

Step 1: Take a piece of watercolour card 5 1/2 x 8'' and stamp the profile towards the top right of the card.

Step 2: You will need some masks of the leaves you are using, so stamp them onto copier paper. Start building the leaves up around the face and tumbling down the page.

Step 3: Mask the whole stamped area with Pebeo Drawing Gum and leave to dry.

Step 4: Next splat a small amount of Drawing Gum around the page, not too much.

Step 5: On your glass mat mix some grey Brusho with a small amount of water and wash over the background.

Step 6: Lightly sprinkle the Royal Blood Infusions, here and there over your card, then spritz. You dont need much water as you dont want the colour to spread or break.

Step 7: Next create your layer for the main image, Stamp the leaves around the top right and bottom left corners, mask with Drawing gum and was the card withe the grey Brusho as before.

Step 8: Once dry, remove the Drawing gum and colour using your chosen medium, here I have used alcohol markers, which I wouldn't normally do on watercolour card.

Step 9: Remove the Drawing gum from your main piece and colour in 

Step 10: To finish, layer both pieces onto black card, leaving a very narrow border, Mount onto a white card base.

As you know I love writing my blog and helping as much as I can, well I would really love for you to add you support by adding me as a favourite blog. All you need to do in that section is choose other and add my blog address nickinbarnsley.blogspot It would be great to get a mention even if I dont come anywhere.

Here is the link to add your support for all of the categories. 

https://www.britishcraftawards.com/


Until Tomorrow, Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Elephant March

Hi there, Im a little late today, well very late actually. 1001 Things to sort and never enough hours in the day. I was up very early this morning but I have still managed to fall behind with the things I wanted to do. Today, I am sharing a card I made using the 'Jungle Dreams' Collection from Michelle at MJM Studios.

You will need:

Jungle Dreams Collection

Sheena Stamping Card

Distress Inks Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Faded Jeans, Gathered Twigs and Spiced Marmalade.

Alcohol Markers

Pebeo Drawing Gum

Clarity Moon Masks

Collall Tacky Glue

Collall 3D Glue Gel

Step 1: Take the elephant and size it to the largest , then build up the heard using the same animal adjusting the size each time. Cover them with Pebeo Drawing Gum.

Step 2: Use some ripped copier paper to create a path for them. Here I have used a mix of Gathered Twigs and Spiced Marmalade to make an orangey brown. Use it deeper in some places to give a bumpy textured look to the path.

Step 3: Build up your landscape next using a mix of the green Distress Inks.

Step 4: Add the moon mask and add blue, again unevenly to give the illusion of clouds and mist from the heat of the day.

Step 5: Remove the moon mask and add a little yellow, not too much. The use some stamps to add branches, grasses and rock. Remove the Drawing gum.

Step 6: Colour the elephants with alcohol markers, dont give to smooth a blend as you do want some texture to their skin and shadows, It makes their skin look a little more rough.

Step 7: Layer the piece onto white card. Then mount onto a larger piece of black before layering it onto a white Centura Pearl Base card. print one of the sentiments, here I have cut it individually and mounted each piece onto white Centura Pearl.

Thank you for popping by today, I hope you like the finished card along with the tutorial I have shared. I hope you will join me again soon. It has started to snow again heavily here, I am hopeful that it wont be as bad as they forecast and I will be able to post tomorrow. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Snow Deer

Morning, The day as arrived when Leonie will be launching something very special on Hochanda. Please don't miss the One Day Special, starting tonight at 8 pm. I will be posting my sample previews as normal from launch. For today I am sharing a card I made using the 'Nature Trail' Stamp Set from Hobby Art, brought to Hochanda by Jenny recently.

When the card was finished I wanted a white border around my design. So to start with I cut a rectangle frame from copier paper and secured it to mt card with Stick n Spray, a repositionable adhesive by Crafters Companion.

Next using the set of stamps I planned and stamped my design with Versamark Ink. I used the smaller stamps towards the back to give a feeling of distance. I stamped the largest Deer in front and masked it using Pebeo Drawing gum, when this was dry I added a smaller deer behind. Each time I stamped an image I masked it with the gum.

I coloured the landscape using shaded Lilac and Faded Jeans Distress Ink, using ripped copier paper for the land making sure these matched any lines that where on the stamps. For the sky I used Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire and Black soot, I wanted the sky very dark to make the foreground seem lighter. I then removed all of the Drawing Gum.

To add the watercolour to the images, I used a selection of Spectrum Aqua Markers and applied them with a brush and water.

I removed the copier paper and removed any excess marks from underneath.

Lastly I trimmed down the border slightly and backed the piece onto a black background.

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope you have enjoyed the step by step and the finished card. I will be posting some of my launch samples later, so I hope you will visit. Thanks again and Happy Crafting.xx

Watercolour Words

Hello and thank you for stopping by to take a look at the projects I have been creating using Leonie Pujol's New Collection of Stamps. I hope you have been enjoying the step by steps I have been sharing.

On a piece of 8 1/4'' square of watercolour card, I stamped the sentiment from Leonie, in the top left hand corner, about 1 cm from the edge of the card. Directly opposite, I stamped the Kaleidoscope of flying butterfly scribbles. I then chose 3 words from across the collection that fitted in with the theme.

Very lightly with a pencil and ruler I drew a double box around the sentiment and all of the words. Also I drew a box at about 5 mm and 1 cm in from the edge of the card to create a double frame. I then went around all of these with a Black fine liner creating a deckled edge.

Before masking off with Pebeo drawing gum, I joined the boxes I had created to a dot that I had made in the centre of the card. The gum was put all around the edge of the card, all the boxes and drawn lines.

When dry, I wet the card with water and a brush around the centre and added yellow ink. I let it spread out, also blew it around the card and left to dry. 

I repeated with green Brushos and again left to dry. Finally I sprayed the remaining white card with water and sprinkled Crimson, Blue and Violet Brushos using a dry brush.

I coloured the cubes and lines in 2 shades of grey. The very outer edge of the card I coloured with a black alcohol marker and the same for the frames around the words. I set this aside before mounting to allow it to dry thoroughly and for the card to flatten.

Later, I decided I didn't like it and tore it in half, I think I was a tad stressed at the time. I made an alternative card, which I will share another day. Anyway as the day went on I decided that I really liked this one, so I tried to fix it. Not too badly either, I think so I mounted it on white card which I had coloured using Mediterranean Blue Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Polish. 

Hopefully you have enjoyed this share along with the step by step. Thank you so much for visiting and for your support. It means a lot to me and without you I wouldn't have continued with my blog. Take care and hope to see you soon.

Tropical Art Explosion

Morning, Today I have decided to show you another variation on the Art Explosion card I shared on Sunday. I enjoyed making it so much I decided to have another go. I hope you like this one too. I have still included a step by step for anyone who didn't see the other post.

The card design is on an 8 1/4'' square velvet card. I positioned my art masks and secured them with Crafters Companion Stick n Spray and drew around them with a waterproof black fine liner.

Next I took one square stamp and positioned it 5 times around my design at different levels.

I then found the centre point and drew a series of lines to give the illusion that the words and stamps were flying out at you.

This is when my design changed. Around the edge of the card I drew a deckled line 5 mm from the edge of my card and then another 5 mm from the first using a waterproof black fine liner.Using the Art Stencils, I stamped through the stencil onto the words using a couple of open stamps which I could colour later.

Then I used Pebeo Drawing gum over the whole design, Including the edge to allow it to be kept as a white frame.

Next I took my distress inks, Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet,Mowed Lawn and Mermaid Lagoon. Using smoothies I pounced the separate colours randomly over the background. The after removing a majority of the Mowed Lawn from the smoothie I gently blended the colours (not too much). Then from the centre I did the same thing with the wilted Violet as I wanted this to be darker.

When this was dry, I used a selection of stamps and Black Archival ink to place the stamps over my background.

Then I removed the drawing gum from the whole project. I used a black alcohol marker to colour the very outside of the card and also to fill in between the stamps in the words. Taking a selection of red, orange and yellow alcohol markers, I blended from red at the centre to yellow at the edge  (a little bit firery).

I really hope you have enjoyed this alternative to the Art Explosion from Sunday. Thank you so much for taking the tie to stop by and I hope you will come back. Take care xx

I'd like to add this card to the Country View Crafts monthly Challenge as this month is 'Use a Stencil'

Home Birds Project

I cant quite believe we are nearly into May, this year seems to be flying by. Today I am sharing another project I have made using Leonie Pujol's Collection. I know I have said this before, but they really have been a pleasure to work with and the ideas do keep coming. I really hope you have enjoyed seeing the projects I have made.

For this project I thought it would be nice to add another stamp to the design and I have chosen a beautiful Clarity Stamp, The House-martin, Although by using different colours I have created a couple of fantasy breeds. I have also used Leonie's home mask and a selection of stamps from her collection.

I started the project by placing the home mask in the area I wanted and stamping the birds. I wanted the birds to be slightly off my main design. Secondly I planned and mask off my design area with washi tape and copier paper.

Next I stamped the large flower stamps and masked them off, I used cut outs first, but just lately I have come to the decision that I prefer Pebeo drawing gum. I wish I had used that in the first place. Especially on this project as I wanted to use blending tools for the Distress inks and the cut out do tend to need repositioning then.

I then stamped all of the fillerinerus (as Leonie calls them). Using Shaded Lilac Distress ink I blended the centre of my design across the Home mask, The from the outside in towards the home I used Adirondack Stonewashed. I repeated this with Blueprint sketch and stopped about halfway and finally repeated just around the edges with Chipped Sapphire, concentrating more around the stamped corners.

After removing all of the masks, I coloured in the elements using a selection of my alcohol markers. Then, I cut around the edge of my design with a craft knife and ruler, avoiding the overhanging wings and layers onto black card and then onto dark blue.

Hopefully, you have enjoyed this post and I really hope you like what I have done here. Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog. Thanks for all of your comments, I am over the moon to get them.