Puffin Just Chillin'

Is it Spring yet?
I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to not feeling I'm huddled up bracing myself against a cold wind. I've enjoyed some sunshine in the last couple of days and this inspired me to create a sparkling (if cold) sea around this puffin perched on a rock.

Spending the autumn and winter in the open ocean of the cold northern seas, the Atlantic puffin returns to our UK coastal areas at the start of the breeding season in late spring. They can, therefore, be seen as a definite sign of Spring.

I created my puffin using bondaweb backed black, white and orange fabrics with a low volume print. To set the scene I added some brown print applique. I then put the fabric background in an embroidery hoop and used a couple of variegated threads. 

Using Gutermann Sulky colour 4071 I covered most of the background behind the puffin on the rock. I also used the stitches to secure some small pieces of turquoise net, metallic silver, and white sheer fabrics. I added brown variegated thread colour 4011 to the main rock.

I felt it was a little bland/lacked dimension so I sprayed on a little Brusho Shimmer Sprays in 3 colours: 
turquoise, gold and silver pearl.

To further lift the puffin I added some black free machine embroidery to create an eye and beak detail. If you'd like to know more about using free machine stitching then have a peek at my Helen Moyes Designs website where until 17th February you can enter a giveaway for stitch goodies.

To further lift the background, I used some flexi glue in thin lines, allowed it to dry a little then used transfoil metallic foils, again in 3 colours: Horizon Blue in front of the sea, Pewter on rock and Rainbow in the upper paler sea/sky

A mount really sets this fabric piece off, I don't think this picture really shows the details as I'm using artificial light. I will try to get a better photo in daylight and post on Instagram. 

What indicates Spring has arrived for you? Please share in the comments below

Burst Bag

This week I've been adding surface layers to decorate a canvas bag. The techniques could be used to decorate a canvas, cards, a quilt block,  a baseball cap ...

The medium I used was EXpandIT 3D Expanding Fabric Medium which I coloured with  a couple of Adva-Print concentrated fabric colours 

I used the TCW287s Mini Burst stencil to create the design.

My bag was new so I washed it and then ironed it when dry.

Before you start decorating a bag, it is good to add some thick card inside the bag, to stop it from sticking together and also having the design seep through to the other side. This way you can decorate both sides independently if you wish.

First I added EXpandIT mixed with a little golden yellow using a sponge brush. Here you can see that I didn't cover the whole stencil design. 

Without waiting for this to dry, I added fluorescent orange to the coloured EXpandIT and added that to the rest of the stencil design. 

I then hung the bag up to dry.

Once dry I used a heat tool to expand the 3D medium paint. Keep moving the heat tool around to avoid overheating/scorching the medium. You can watch my burst design expanding here

I wanted to add a little sparkle to the burst design with foiling.

First I added some flexi glue holding the bottle at 45 degrees and gently squeezing. I put some on top of the expanded medium and a little just at the edges of the burst design.

I let this go tacky, then laid a foil sheet over the top. I used two different transfoil sheets, summer rainbow and rose gold.

You can see my transfoil technique here

Here is my finished bag design. What do you think?

What would you decorate using these techniques?

Manicure with Transfer Foils

I have been trolling Instagram for some distressed nail designs that I could try doing myself. What caught my eye was a variety of transfer foils applied to nails using a special glue (you know, everything for nails is special and expensive). Some of the foils were marbles, some floral, and some looked like distressed gold - it's the latter that made me think... can I pull the look off using Bronze Transfoil and Flexi Glue?

I started by brushing on a thin coat of the Flexi Glue onto my chosen nails (I didn't want to cover them all).

I cut a small rectangle out of the Tranquil sheet while waiting for the glue to become tacky.

Put the foil over the one nail at a time and firmly press to make sure the foil adheres to it.

It worked!!!

3 out of 5 nails are now covered in a layer of distressed brassy coat!

The last step is to use a topcoat to make sure the design lasts - it doesn't matter what type you use as long as it's see-through.

I absolutely love how they turned out!!!

Till next time!

Ewelina

Vintage-y card with Transfoil and Ewelina

Hey everyone!

Ive been making cards again. No specific reason... just feels like the size is appealing to me at the moment... Hmmm

Anyways, have you tried the Transfoils yet? Well, I have and let me tell you - they are a treat!!!

The process is so easy and doesn't require any heating - how good is that!

All you have to do is cover your chosen area with the Flexi Glue and give it a couple of seconds to become tacky - that's when you put the foil over it, press evenly (or maybe even rub it with your finger a little bit) - and remove. Done!!!

As you can see, it works perfectly on both chipboards and paper but I have also been told that it holds awesomely on fabric (I will be trying that soon!).

So that way, I have my card base and main embellishment ready.

I used my paper scraps to build paper cluster - some them I just distressed and some I cut into tags as it makes the cluster more interesting.

After attaching the paper cluster to the card, I sprinkled it with 3 different colours of Brusho (mix it with water and add some SprinkleIt for sparkling effect; dip your watercolour brush in it and sprinkle on the card). 

To finish, I mounted the dress form chipboard on top and added phrases around the cluster.

Nice and easy - shiny card with a hint of good old vintage :)

Hope you like it.

See you next time.

Ewelina

Autumnal Index Cards with Suzi

Good Day All, Today I'd like to share with you my latest Altered Index Cards.  I've used lots of Brusho Crystal Colour Powders, SprinkleIt, Metallic Acrylic Paint and Coloured Pencils to create my Index Cards.

Here's my Index Cards;

Here's how I created them;

First of all I created the backgrounds on my Index Cards.  I took four Index Cards and gave them a coat of white gesso before applying Brusho Crystal Colour Powders in Gamboge, Burnt Sienna, Olive Green, Yellow Ochre and Orange. I also applied some Copper SprinkleIt for a bit of sparkle.

Next I took some old book pages and my Brusho Crystal Colour Powders and created papers for me to use for my die cut leaves.

Here's a selection of the papers I created;

Here's a selection of the leaves I created, using Funky Foliage Dies;

The next step was to sketch out the faces on my Index Cards;

As you can see I also added some tree shapes to my cards. 

I then added more details using the Koh-I-Noor PolyColour Coloured Pencils.

I then took my die cut leaves and arranged them to give the impression of hair.  I also added some to the base of my trees.

If you look closely you can see I added some Copper Foil to some of my leaves for a little extra shine.

To finish my Index Cards I trimmed off the over hanging leaves and added a boarder of Copper Metallic Acrylic Paint around the edge of the cards. I also added some of the Copper Metallic Paint to the cheeks of the Face in Profile.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out, when I was creating the backgrounds I didn't really know what the next stage would be, but the Brusho Crystal Colour Powders created there own patterns and in those patterns I saw the start of the faces.  I love how unpredictable the Brusho Powders are, you always get a surprise when you use them.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing how I created my Index Cards. I had great fun creating them.

Thanks for visiting with us today

Bye for now

Suzi

xxx

Brusho's, Photo Paper and Foils

Hello Colourcraft friends.  Gail here today.  I have been playing with Brusho's on photo paper.  I noticed that when I spritzed the photo paper with water it got quite sticky and that got me wondering if it would be sticky enough to apply Colourcraft foils.  The answer is yes!!

I started by taking a 6 x 4 piece of photo paper.  These are some I bought that have 'post-it' sticky on the back.  This means I can stick them to my mat, which is great cos when you add water to photo paper it curls.  A bit of low tack tape on the corners or edges would be good if you are using plain photopaper.  I sprinkled Turquoise, Ost. Blue and Leaf Green Brusho powders and spritzed with water using the clear spray bottle.

Colourcraft have a range of Transfer Foils.   Today I am going to use the gold.

I let the water dry a bit on my Brushoed spritzed photo paper and then applied my gold foil, colour side up.  I pressed it down and peeled it off again.

Hmmmmmmm....  That's not too impressive is it??  But some did stick!  The panel was still quite damp and sticky so I put the foil back down, pressed it down in places and popped out and fed the rabbits.  10 minutes maybe......

Tah-Dah!!!!  Success.  Maybe a bit too much foil now??  But very cool.

  

Second attempt, using Ost Red, Crimson and Sandstone Brusho powders.  This time I used my heat gun to dry the photo paper until all the loose water was gone and some patches started to look dry.  Then I applied the foil sheet.  I just burnished it in a small area and then lifted it off again.  If your foil slips then the surface is still too wet.  I kept pressing the foil down and peeling it off until I was happy with the amount of foil on my paper.  Think leg waxing.  Foil on, foil off.....

Then I made another panel using Scarlet and Violet Brusho powders.  Love that one.  Reminds me of posh marble.

I hope you get time to get crafty today and maybe try this technique.
Thanks for looking.