New stamps and paints

Good evening all,

I've been playing with some new stamps and paints today. 

The paints are by Pebeo - Dyna acrylics, look how yummy they are, all shimmery and gorgeous.

I painted a few A5 pieces, just to have a go with them, then I made a set of 4 coasters.

 The peacock stamp is from Heartfelt Creations and the hummingbird and flowers are from Sheena Douglass' Laguna range.

 I will be taking the coasters with me to an artisan market at the National Wildflower Center, Liverpool, this Saturday. I will probably make the other paintings in to notebook covers.

Hope you like them!

Thanks for looking

Hugs Sue x

Palm House Artisan Market

I had a fantastic weekend at The Palm House, Sefton Park a couple of weeks ago.

What a wonderful place, and the sun was shining too. 

Here's a link to a video one of our visitors kindly made. Thanks Sam Matthews xx

My daughter came to help me out, as it was very busy, over 11,000 visitors on the Sunday.

 A close up of some decorated keys and a horseshoe. These were a couple of my new makes and its a good job I took photos immediately I put them out on my table as they sold straight away.

Thanks for looking

Hugs Sue x

Tealight boxes

Just a quickie....I've been playing in my craft room, making a couple of different style tealight boxes. What do you think?

 Excuse the messy craft table :)

Decorative mirrors

Good Monday morning, I do hope all the mums out there had an enjoyable day yesterday. I had a very relaxing day playing in my craft room with some new stash.

Here's a couple of decorative mirrors I've been working on...

 The mirrors I use are from Ikea.

 On this one I used Mother's Day Pink mixed with a touch of white and gold embossing powders to create a fully embossed background. This took quite a long time to get a good coverage and nearly a full pot of powder, but it did look pretty.

I used various die cut swirls, leaves and corners, along with my new Tim Holtz bird and birdcage die, just couldnt wait to use it. The flowers were from Wild Orchid Crafts and I finished with pearls and a couple of butterflies.

For my second mirror I decided to cover with patterned paper and used more or less the same embellishments, just in a different colourway.

Please excuse the photos, its very difficult to get a decent photo of a mirror without getting something  reflected in it. *If anyone has any tips on taking photos, please pass them on*

Challenges;

Mixed media monthly challenge - #10 Birds of a feather

Happy Mothers Day

Good morning everyone, and Happy Mothers Day to all the mums out there.

Today I would like to share a few pieces that I made ready for my recent craft fairs.  

 I picked up some laser cut words and phrases at a Sincerely Yours papercraft show. Not sure whether you can tell but the heart shape was painted with a purple chalk paint, then with a crackle paint, ( bought from Anna Marie designs, at the same show) and then finally a lilac chalk paint, that I mixed up myself, using a recipe of acrylic paint and cornflour. If you look closely you can just see the crackle effect on the top right.

  

I painted the butterfly in shades of purple to match the heart and the Nana in one of the shades, with

white dots around the outline.
I used a combination of die cuts, cheesecloth, flowers and buds to embellish around the edge of the heart.
I would like to enter this into
Simon Says Wednesday challenge - Things that fly

This one is another laser cut 'Mothers are like buttons, they hold things together' 

I used a few colours of pinks and purples, and drew a stitched effect in white.

I raided my button box and used various shapes and colours along with some silk flowers to embellish.

I would like to enter this into;

Simon says Monday challenge - B is for ... buttons.

 Here are a couple more, decorated in a similar way, but with different colours and embellishments.

More challenges;

Allsorts challenge- Flowers and pearls (Family wording)

Crafty Catz weekly challenge - Buttons and bows (Mothers are buttons)

Country View challenge - Anything Goes

 Thanks for looking.

Hugs Sue x

Mixed media canvas and a new family member

Good morning everyone, hope your all feeling well today. I can finally get to use my new kitchen, yay! all cupboards are now full, and there's just the floor and a bit of decorating left to do. That means I've got my dining room back and can sit at my table and play with some new crafty stash I got from Sincerely Yours paper craft show last weekend.

 But before I do, here's a quick catchup....

I've been doing lots of craft fairs and artisan markets over the past 12 months and been a very bad blogger ( I know, hangs head in shame), so I'm hoping to get on here more often this year and share some of my crafty makes.

I decided to try some mixed media crafting over the last few weeks and after looking at some amazing talent on here Gabrielle Pollacco, I was inspired to have a go.
Now I know this is nowhere near as good as hers, but I'm pleased with my first attempt. I am going to add some wording, but its near enough finished.

The mermaid body was made from Das air dry clay, but turned out to be quite brittle once dry, and the strands of hair kept falling off. I have used glue gel to try and glue them back on, not sure if it will last long, as long as I don't keep touching it, it seems to be ok. *Note to self - use different clay next time*

For the background I used a few stencils, some stamping and loads of glimmer paints and gilding wax, over all sorts of media, such as chipboard, cheesecloth, mesh tape, die cuts and modelling paste. I even made my own bit of netting out of string.

I finished off with jewels, pearls, metal charms and even more gilding wax.

It now has pride of place on my mantle, although it doesn't match my rooms decor (brown with red accents)
I may decide to put it back in my dining room ( as in photo) now that it has been cleared of all my kitchen paraphernalia.

Hope you like it, and maybe you'll be inspired to have a go yourself, its great fun.

Challenges entered;
Pan Pastel UK - Stencils
Simon says stamp Wednesday challenge  - Anything goes
Our Creative Corner  - Junk in your trunk (string, cheesecloth, bits of paper)
Imagination crafts challenge- always anything goes
Simon says stamp - Monday challenge -hint of clover (green)
Country view challenge - Anything goes

Before I go I would like to introduce the latest addition to our family
This is Kira (black and gold girl) who you've met before and our new boy Logan (black). We've had him for about 8 /9 months now.
 He'll be 1 at the end of March and he's already taller than Kira, who's coming up to 4, this year.
 Isn't he a beauty?