masculine monochrome

Well having been inspired to enter my first challenge over at A Vintage Journey , in a very long time...I decided to have another go ... and those of you who stop by here once in a while will know that I do love a neutral and monochrome palette ...
so when I saw that the challenge over at Simon Says on Monday was monochrome ...I decided to play along.

So here is my masculine make in monochrome...in yet another little shrine... I bought mine from Country View Crafts here ... so here goes:

And here is a photo that shows a little better the dimension ... I am having so much fun making these and my previous one ( a sewing inspired one ) , for those who are interested can be found here .

I started by painting the piece with DecoArt media paints , sanding , then adding a layer of

 crackle glaze and leaving to do its magic ... then added some antiquing cream and rubbed off ..leaving the wonderful crackle highlighted ...gotta love some crackle !

 

In order to make my gent , cut from one of Tim's gorgeous found relatives cards to stand proud of the background I added a couple of mini spools , painted to his back...

To decorate the inside , I used a piece of paper from the dapper paper stack, again from Tim Holtz..some rub ons and some yummy idea-ology...

it is amazing how much detail you can fit inside..

I added some seam binding , tied around the edge that had been dyed using hickory smoke...I do love this colour .

Here is this wonderful vintage gent...standing inside

and finally a last few images of the inside ...

So thank for stopping by... I am entering this into Simon Says Monday ...where the challenge is monochrome..

keep those fingers inky!

trace x

Home sweet home bunting for Country View Crafts

Well I have managed to pop another post up over at Country View Crafts and for all the details you can hop here  .

This piece is fairly simple to make and hopefully fun and effective too...so here are a couple of sneak peaks ...... and for all the details hop here ..x

thanks for stopping by and hopefully I will be back soon x

keep those fingers inky!

trace x

A stitch in time ....

Well I am struggling with crafty mojo at the moment ... and have been pinging around playing with this and that and not really finding my groove .... but I saw the challenge over at A Vintage Journey ... and decided to have a play ... so here is my sewing inspired make :

I created this little make using some great new shrine kits and had fun filling it full of sewing inspired pieces, some of the new Tim Holtz gears were rusted up ...and well just plenty of playtime really, so I wont bore you with all the step by step details...

I added Decoart weathered wood crackle, on piece , then clear embossing and plenty of distress goodness!

I added some idea-ology, weathered up a bit with a painty wash.. some sanding...

Inside I nestled some spools covered in hand dyed seam binding, vintage lace and some more idea-ology...rusty wire ...and some little vintage buttons

Here is a little side shot , to show the wonderful dimension , these little things have ...

A more sunny shot ....just because I loved the shadow the rusty cogs gave ...

here is the close up detail of the hand dyed seam binding I tied around the inside before securing...I love the contrast of the blue tones against rust....

And finally one last sideways shot....

So thanks to the team over at a Vintage Journey for inspiring my playtime ....I will be adding this the challenge, cant remember the last time I linked up and played in a challenge...and I loved this playtime ...so thanks x 

Well that's all for today ...I am off to teach a few more lesson for James...IT today amongst others , so not my strong point!! give me some inks anyday ...

that and running Oliver to and from school, looking after Lucy ..who is under the weather to say the least ....

and well that about sums up my day ...

oh and trying to find a snippet of time to do my Tim's tag...which yes I am behind on again....oops !

hope you have a great day !

keep those fingers inky x

trace x

Life is meant to be a great adventure - For Country View Crafts

Well today is the start of a new challenge over at Country View Crafts and I am lucky enough to have chosen the new theme : which is on your travels... so here is my first make : (make sure you hop across here to see my team mates wonderful makes ..and don't forget you have a whole month to join in , you could be chosen as a guest designer or be the winner of a gift voucher for Country view crafts shop..and believe me Susan has it jammed of all sorts of yumminess!) So here is my first make :

For my this piece I created two mdf panels that make a pair  ..
I covered my boards with ivory card and trimmed to size, I then coloured using distress sprays and stains in frayed burlap, pumice stone and antique linen. I also added some DecoArt modelling paste through Industrial elements stencil.

I also added some modelling paste through a stencil onto one of the pocket cards.

I also inked through the stencil using walnut stain distress ink ( I did not stick the layers down , just laid ontot the background to place where I wanted to add the stenciled detail)

Again I added stencilled detail to the other panel.

I then placed my found relatives picture and pocket card ephemera onto the piece (again not glued yet) to guide where I stamped this fab handwritten stamp from Tim Holtz Handwritten thoughts.

This picture shows how I built up the layers in my background using layers of distress ink, stencilled and stamped details. The new distress spritzer gives great effects too...love those splatters!

I inked the edges with walnut stain distress ink and covered the sides in tissue tape to make the piece finished .

Here is a close up of the details... I added some idea-ology, a die cut using new movers and shapers plane...crackled and then coloured using paints and inks..and plenty of layered pocket cards and ephemera...topped off of course with one of the wonderful found relative cards ..

Here is the second panel :

with a crackled globe from movers and shapers die cut, more idea-ology and ephemera

I had such a lot of fun creating this piece.. and you have a whole month to join in the challenge ...you could be one of the lucky guest designers or a lucky winner of a gift certificate for Susan's lovely shop..

Make sure you hop across here to see all my team mates fab makes ..