Choose Happy

Hello! I was recently very honoured to be asked to be a wingman for Emma Godfrey and her new stamp release. That meant I was given the chance to play with her new stamps and create some samples! It didn't really take much thinking about as I jumped at the opportunity!
This is the stamp set I'm using today:

It is the first of the three new stamp sets and has some beautiful flowers and for some reason my brain turned them into animals (a bird and a fish!) which you can see here. I also reimagined them as a sheep and in the course of making the sheep I could see a bee and so I thought I'd share how to turn a flower into a sheep! I love that stamp sets don't have to be just as the designer imagined - that you can cut up sentiments to make new ones or, in this case, turn a flower head into something quite different. You feel like you're getting more for your money then don't you?!

To start, stamp out the large flower three times on to white card (I normally use cream card but you'll need white for this project!):

Then carefully cut out the centre and ink it with black ink:

Then, using the 'petals' from the flower, add rows to the black circle. Leave one quarter clear:

Cut out an ATC and then ink it with blue ink. I added a stencilled grass border. The legs for the sheep were the dot and dash stamp from the stamp set:

The bee was made the same way using the smaller flower as my base. The bee and flower were coloured with Distress Markers. The bee is coloured with Wild Honey and Black Soot Distress markers and the wings were two of the large flower petals, cut out and adhered at angles to each other - they have Glossy Accents on them for a little shine but I'm not sure the picture shows this! To add the sentiment I masked off a larger sentiment from the set, inked the stamp and then peeled off the tape before stamping:

Thank you, as always, for popping by - what other animals can you see from these stamps - I'd love to see them!

Gabrielle x

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Workshop photos

Morning everyone. Brenda here and today I am sharing some photos from the reverse canvas workshop on Saturday. It turned out to be a gorgeous sunny day both outside and inside Flitwick village hall and I think you'll see why with all the beautiful flowers creating magnificent displays and wonderful butterflies fluttering around. I have more photos of my canvas on my blog Bumblebees and Butterflies.

First some working shots -

Margaret said she doesn't like her photos but I though this was a great one of her and me together. Sue was enjoying the banter beside her.

Lots of fabulous mixed media backgrounds emerged during the morning using modeling paste and distress paints.

 This was my demo one ...

... and the butterflies also started to emerge ....

We covered the canvas frames with tissue wrap.

As the afternoon came to a close the most amazing canvases were born. Using the back of the canvas like a shadowbox and having created the same elements as I had in my canvas these lovely ladies had been making different choices along the way with colours, stencils, positioning and look what appeared ....

Jo was a new member to my classes and I love her style.

Margaret's colours are very Spring like.

 Sue was feeling rather poorly but she kept going throughout and produced this beautiful piece.

 Another fabulous design with very striking butterflies, Sheila did a great job with her background, it is such a delicate backdrop.

Linda used complementary colours and arranged her butterflies in a different design, I love the patches of blue on her frame.

 Yvonne also used colour on her frame and created a very rustic looking version.

Hazel was still putting the final touches to her design when I took this photo but can you see her third butterfly? I love the way it is hidden.

Denyse was also a new member to my classes. She told me she rarely finished a project but today she was all guns blazing and finished with a beautiful interpretation of mine. These colours are just perfect for the season.

Whilst playing with ways to create these butterflies I re-discovered the Tim Holtz distress embossing powders. They are not made any more so if you want to grab some before they have all gone then pop over to the CVC shop where Susan is doing 10 for £20 - that's less than half of the original price.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at what we did on Saturday. My thanks to all these ladies for their hard work, help and good humour I came home tired but excited and ready to get creating again for myself. 

My next workshop is on the 14th May, same venue and times and we will be journalling. I will be reworking my recipes for success class so whether you are a seasoned journaler or a novice my recipes will help you be successful and spur you off in your own direction. Make choices at the end of each step so that you can use the same recipe time and time again but design numerous different pages. It will be a fun day so I hope you will be able to join us.

Have a great week and hopefully you have got some of the sunshine and blue skies we have had for the past couple of days.

Take care.

hugs Brenda xxx

Life Is Good with PaperArtsy

Hello all, Alison here.  I've a new tag for you today amidst all the Encores which have been happening over at Words and Pictures while I'm away.  Sometimes, all I need is some ink and a really great stamp to make me happy, and that's what you get here.

It's one of the PaperArtsy Hot Picks collage stamps, so the flower and the text come all in one.  (Some of the Hot Picks are reduced at Country View Crafts at the moment, so grab'em while they're hot!)

I started by blending Distress Inks onto a tag, and then did some spritzing with the Tim Holtz water spray bottle.  It does give great droplets!

Then it was simply a case of stamping the flower, which I did in a combination of Archival inks - dabbing mainly Olive around the leaves, mainly Cornflower around the flower heads and adding Potting Soil over most of the text.

I used a little bit of Fresco paint in Chalk on the flower petals, building up layers in thin washes until I liked the effect.

I stamped the sentiment from Tim Holtz's Simple Sayings and embossed it in Weathered White.

It was stealing the flower's thunder though, so I used an embossing ink pen to add a bit of Weathered White to the petals too, to balance the look.

Some simple crinkle ribbon tied with fine twine makes the topping.  I layered it up on to some white card, distressing the edges with ink and the Paper Distresser and my fingernails.

And I finished the whole thing off by splattering some of the leftover Chalk paint on by tapping a paintbrush.

And that's your lot.  A simple springtime tag, but it makes me happy...

... as does the fact that in a couple of days I get a few days at home with my craft supplies again (all being well)!  Hope you get to do something that makes you happy soon.

Alison x

Words and Pictures

Click on the links to go shopping at Country View Crafts: 

PaperArtsy Hot Picks Stamps - HP1305	Tim Holtz stamps - Simple sayings	Distress ink pad - Peeled paint	Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Mowed Lawn	Broken China Distress Ink
PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Paint - Chalk	Rangers Antiquities Embossing Powder - Weathered White	Ranger Inkssentials Manila Tags #8	Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer	Versamark Watermark stamp pad

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