Lemon Curd Easel

Morning, I'm mixing it up today with this card. It's an easel card that I made for the launch of Sara's 'Vintage Tea Party' collection. I'm also using the Crafters Companion easel dies that were recently launched on Hochanda. The papers add a lovely accent detail to the edge of the card.

For this card you will need:

Floral Easel Die Set

Tea and Biscuits Die Set

Made with Love Dies Set

Vintage Tea Party 6x6 paper pad

Paper clay or similar

Foliage die

Silver Mirri Card

Centura Pearl White 'Hint of Silver'

Kraft Card

Indigo Blu Banana Custard  and Emerald City Acrylic paint

Acetate

Cheese Grater

Step 1: Create your easel base using the Floral Easel Die set using Centura Pearl.

Step 2: Cut 2 pieces from the paper pad, selecting the decorative edge. Secure to your base card with Collall Tacky glue.

Step 3: Using both edge dies from the Easel set create 2 frames from Centura Pearl and secure to the base card.

Step 4: Form your paper clay into a lemon shape and make 3, add texture with a cheese grater and leave to dry.

Step 5: Paint the lemons with the Banana Custard and add a spot of the green at the end of the lemons.

Step 6: Cut 2 spoons from Mirri Card, secure a little lemon card behind the bowl of the spoon. Cut some foliage for decoration.

Step 7: Arrange the elements on your base card, this will now form your stopper. Use Collall 3D glue gel for this.

Step 8: Cut 3 of the jars from Acetate and paint using Banana Custard, You may need 2 coats.

Step 9: Cut the lid covers using paper from the 6x6 paper pad.

Step 10: Cut the jar fronts and label from Kraft card.

Step 11: Assemble the elements using 3D glue gel

Step 12: Arrange and secure the jars to your card, again using 3D glue gel.

I really hope you have enjoyed your visit today, along with the tutorial I have included for this project. Thank you so much for taking the time to pop by and I hope you will visit again very soon. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

An African Mystery

Hi. I have another big project for you today, in fact the largest piece I have done to date about 60 x 40cm. It's my piece for the All-and-Create Africa Challenge No4. The first idea was an African landscape, which evolved as a result of research, elements I wanted to create and a story. There are a lot of elements all of which, tell just one version of a mans journey. So what's the story surrounding this mans life? Was he part of the Trans-Saharan gold trade, providing gold to the Mediterranean economies that demanded it. The man was unearthed at the foothills near to the Sahara Desert. Among his possessions were some trade beads, traced back to Ghana, threaded onto copper wire. Whats your version of his story?  

To start with I created his face using a polystyrene head and allginate. This was filled with plaster, I made the mould to one side rather than face on.

The face was secured to my board. Then using polystyrene, I created the high and low points to start the land.

Using Ivory Powertex and Calico I began building the landscape, creating Mountains,hills,valleys and delta's.

The next layer was sand to create the ground, here i used a selection of fine and medium sand. Then added more layers of a texture paste in certain areas which gives another interesting texture, completely different to the sand.

To add pictorial interest to my piece and tie in with the story and theme, I create a landscape within a map of Africa. I made a stencil with copier paper and then used distress inks.

Then it was back to the main piece, building up various layers of colour from pale creams, yellows through to oranges and reds, leaving each to dry before moving on to the next. 

The final stage of the landscape was to create even more dimension, texture and colour. I decided to use rust, with it's lovely rich but sometimes unpredictable colours, which was scary. I went back to this many times with vinegar, brushing and moving it around to get the effect I wanted. Here is a photo of part of the process. It's looking a little disastrous and close to going in the bin.I was constantly worrying, wondering whether all the work so far had been wasted.

This project was a great learning process for me. I had loved geography and studied (minimally) parts of Africa in secondary school. This time round I read about the trading beads and found photos of some from Ghana. I wanted to make some and include them as an element in the finished piece. First I rolled out some paper clay into thin sausages and left to dry.

Next, I painted them with matt black gesso.

I then painted the 3 thin lines with yellow ochre.

To add the design, I used a white 4Artist marker from Pebeo.

Colouring the face came next, I had already built up the colour as I did the landscape, but now needed to tie it in with the background, I used layers of burnt umber, black and reds, distressing these as I went to get the finished result.

The first layer of rust was finally finished, I was extremely happy with the effect and wonderful colours it had given.

I layered up my pictorial element onto black card, drew in a double black line to create a frame and stamped using a mixed font from Clarity.

Meanwhile I added more rust and texture around the face to ensure it appeared as part of the landscape rather than just stuck in.I wanted it too look like it was coming 'OUT OF AFRICA'

Thank you for stopping by today and taking a look at this project. I hope you like all of the photos, the close ups really show the detail off, much of which is impossible to see without seeing it in real life. Take care and Happy Crafting.