A non paper craft project

Welcome dear reader,

Today I would like to share a project I made that doesn't involve paper crafting.

I wanted something flowery for my kitchen window and I had this idea in my head for months. It took a while for me to find the right piece of wood though. And for me to gather all the flowers as they are not cheap!

But today was the day I finally was able to realise my idea.

Jeroen was kind enough to put two hooks in the wall so I can hang up my creation.

I started with a piece of beautiful piece of hazelnut wood. The marking of the bark is beautiful. I attached two ribbon bows to hang it up with. I secured them on the wood with thumb tacks. And I secured the bows with hot glue to prevent them from coming undone.

I put the wood on a table and started putting the flowers and greenery in place and secured them with duct tape to be able to pick it up and see how it looks.

Once I was happy with it all I cut off the ends and glued it all to the wood with my glue gun.

After it all cooled down I hung it up and started to add more ribbon bows for some colour.

I quite like how it turned out.

Well until next time,
Take care

Frédérique
Xxx

Card for 1st wedding anniversary

Hello dear reader,

Today I want to share a card I made that was ordered by my mum. It is for a first wedding anniversary. I went for the shabby chic-ish look.

I started out with a card blank and stamped some script on it in brown ink. Archival coffee to be exact. I then added some shabby blue Frantage embossing enamel and heated it to give it the desired look. I am totally in love with those embossing enamels at the moment.

I cut a piece of thinner card stock and stamped the same script on it as the card blank has, only this time in iced spruce distress ink. I distressed the edges nd also added some frantage powder but this time I went for the shabby white.
I glued the card stock on the card blank and started on my embellishments. I painted a few 1s ith shabby shutters distress crackle paint and once they dried I aged them with gathered twigs distress ink.

I glued a scrap of hand bobbed lace (courtesy of my mum) on it and one of the 1s, and I added two white clay roses that I stained with diluted tattered rose distress reinker. The little bird is also white clay and I coloured it with some clear wink of Stella to give it some shimmer. I painted a piece of harlequin embossed grunge board with pewyer liquid pearl and covered it with glue and sprinkled mica flakes on it and glued the roman number 1 on it.

And last but not least the rest of the ones form a little flock together. It has the seal of my mum's approval so I hope the newlyweds like it too.

Until next time,
take care.

Frédérique
xxx

Blog hop nomination

Today I was nominated by the very talented and lovely Kath for a creative blog hop. I am very honoured and will nominate two other people whpo inspire me and are amazing.

The following questions were asked:

1. What am I working on?

I am currently working on my christmas cards. I always start on time as I don't like pressure. I cannot create under pressure so I like to take my time on each and every one of them.

2. How does my work differ from others in my genre?

Uhm....I don't really know. My tags, cards and mini albums are a mixture of all sorts of styles and techniques. I go through phases of certain things. One day it is stencils and the next it is flower making. Sometimes it is romantic or vintage, and the next day it is distressed and grungy.

3. Why do I create what I do?

To keep me occupied and sane. Plain and simple. I create in the first place for me. I do make cards and tags for special occasions like anniversaries and birthdays, but often enough I create for the sake of getting it out of my head so it won't keep me awake at night.

4. How does your creative process work?

It differes. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night because a design or layout pops into my head. And it won't leave me alone until I have created it. And sometimes I sit at my desk and see something that inspires me like a stamp or a die cut. Other times I just grab a tag and start inking and have no clue where it goes. It has a life of its own and I end up with a tag or card I can send to someone or give to someone. And ofcourse there are occasions where you make the personalised project for a certain person like a birthday or birth.

In any way...it is always a surprise what I end up with....

Well here are my two nominees for the blog hop:

Tammy Tutterow

Tammy is an amazing artist and part of the DT of Tim Holtz and Ranger. And rightfully so. I admire her immensely and learn a lot from her tutorials.

Ryn Tanaka

Ryn has the most amazing detailed stamps. It is no secret that I am madly in love with her droplet and bubble stamps. They take my crafting to a next level and I am Ryn ever so grateful. Her work and designs are brilliant and next to Tim Holtz she is the reason I craft.

you really should check both of these blogs out as they are very educational and different.

Until next time,

Take care.
Frédérique xxx

The big two

Hello there,

How nice of you to stop by. In this post I want to share a card I made for the daughter of a dear friend of mine. Hannah turned two and I decided to make a shabby chic themed card for her.

I started with a piece of white card stock and stamped some swirls on it with embossing ink. I heat embossed it with old pink embossing powder, rose quarts antiquities by ranger to be exact. I then inked it all with blue distress ink and as the embossing powder works as a resist, the contrast is nice. I cut out all the  images and inked the edges to give it a vintage look. The number is one of Tim Holtz's numerals and I covered it in several coats of different colour paints and let them dry a bit and then rubbed the wet paint off. After it dried I covered it with glossy accents. I glued everything on the piece of card stock and added a few die cut leaf branches and little die cut feather I coloured with wink of stella markers and distress markers. I added ribbon and a fluffy bow and finished it with three tiny roses and glued it to a card blank.

I can't wait to hear the feedback once the card arrives. That is always the best part of sending hand made projects....

Take care and until next time.

Frédérique
Xxx

A grungy cupcake

Hello dear reader,

The other day a dear crafty friend of mine challenged me to make a card with a cupcake. I would get bonus credit if I made it grungy....
I stamped the cupcake on white card stock with embossing ink. I embossed it with Stampendous Frantage Shabby white embossing powder. I also sprinkled some on the rest of the paper. I heated it underneath to make sure the powder stayed put. I love the look of the frantage range.
After it cooled down I inked the card with old paper distress ink. Then I inked part of it with Brushed corduroy distress ink and finally with vintage photo, walnut stain and gathered twigs to get the "ombre" look. I added hints of colour with some adirondack acrylic paint. I stamped the sentiment on some other card stock amd cut it out and inked it with old paper distress ink and stuck it to the card with 3D foam. I distressed the edges and inked them with gathered twigs distress ink. Then stuck the whole thing on a beige card blank and this is the result....

Until next time, take care.

Frédérique xxx

Tag made with the droplets stamp from DesignsbyRyn

Hello there, how nice of you to drop by.

Today I want to share a little tag I made using my new DesignsbyRyn droplets stamp.
I inked the tag using the wrinkle free distress technique by Tim Holtz, one of my favourite techniques.
I then stamped the droplets in a darker blue ink. I coloured them in with tumbled glass distress ink and a waterbrush. After it all dried I added the highlights with a white gel pen and stamped and cut our the sentiment. I stuck it on the tag using 3D stickers and added the ribbon.

I didn't want to add any embellishments as I think the droplets are too beautiful to cover up any more.

Until next time, take care.

Frédérique xxx

A twist on the Tim Holtz tag from July

Hello there,

Thank you for stepping by.
A while ago I joined the monthly tag challenge that Tim does for the 12 tags of 2014. It was the July tag and it involved making sand, a seahorse and sea scape. The one with the acetate backing is the one I made for that challenge. The other one, with the smaller seahorse and red coral, is a tag I made today using my new DesignsbyRyn stamps. I am totally and madly in love with all the bubbles and water droplet stamps.

The tag is coloured with distress stains and the sand is made with distress embossingpowder, distress glitter and glue. I stamped the coral in red and the seahorse in dark blue. I coloured it with distress ink and then with a wink of stella clear pen to give it some sparkle. I stamped the bubbles in tumbled glass distress ink and heat embossed it with holographic embossing powder. Then I coloured the bubbles with tumbled glass distress ink and a waterbrush. Then I highlighted the bubbles with a white gel pen. Add a piece of hemp string and voilà...

The Tim tag is made with the same sand and background. I drew a seahorse as I don't have the die cut and didn't have the stamp yet lol. The rest are all die cuts too. The backgeound is a piece of acetate that I embossed with my cuttlebug. A word band was added and a piece of string and it was done.

It is so easy once you know how it is done ;-)

Until next time, take care...

Frédérique
Xxx

Alcohol ink backgrounds

Hello dear visitor,

I had a play with alcohol inks again. I love making backgrounds with them. Either in blots, streaks or tartans. In this post I share a card made with streaks and one with a tartan background.
The streak one is very easy to do. I put some alcohol ink on my blending tool and drag it from one side to another to create the streaky effect. After it is dry I stamped the corals on the card using black Archival ink. I let it dry and then stamped the fish silhouettes. Those stamps are all by Designs by Ryn. I love her stamps. They make it so easy to create something nice. Mount it on a card and it is done.

The tartan card is made the same as the streaky one, only I always make sure I put contrasting colours next to eachother. I drag the tool from one side to the other and then rotate the card 90° and drag it again over the paper, this will create the tartan pattern. After it dried I stamped the lady silhouette and let that dry. I mounted it on a card blank after I chomped the corners. Same as the streaky card.

It is really simple to do, yet it looks quite nice I think.

Until next time, take care.

Frédérique xxx

Yellow challenge

Hello there,

Last week a friend of mine and I challenged eachother to create a  project using only the colour yellow. Gold was also allowed. The sentiment could be stamped in another colour. This is what I came up with. I rediscovered alcohol inks last week and just had to have a go with this one. The background is made by using various shades of yellow and gold alcohol inks and dabbing them on glossy card stock. The flower I made with corrugated card board circles I cut in various sizes and glued together to create a bit of a dome. With a punch I punched tiny flowers out of yellow card stock. With my paper blossom tools I shaped the petals and glued them to the dome and made hearts with liguid pearls. It was not quite the look I hoped, but I am awaiting my proper hydrangea punch to arrive. I made a bow out of gold ribbon and glued it to the card. Then stamped the sentiment and glued the flower in place. And chomped the corners with a ceopadile corner chomper. I mounted it all to a card black that is yellowish faux leather. I hope you like it AnnaMarie ;-)

Until next time,

Take care and keep your craft on!

Frédérique

Christmas cards for charity

Hello dear bloggers,

It has been quite a while, I know I have been neglecting my blog ever since I joined Facebook. The advantage of FB is that you get instant reactions to your work. But I pledged myself to post a bit more here, for the people who do not have facebook. The other day I was asked to make a few christmas cards to be sold on a fayre in Totnes UK for a charity. Ofcourse I said yes, as I want to help and it will be a great test too, to see if my work will actually sell. People have been telling me I should sell my tags and cards, but I have always been reluctant ever since I tried selling once at a car booty.....and sold NOTHING. So if my cards will sell on this charity event, I might be inclined to set up an etsy shop or something similar. Anyway, I want to share the cards I have made sofar for the fayre....

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2014 July

Hello dear bloggers,

It has been ages since I posted something. Life has been busy and inspiration has been lacking. But today I managed to create again. I made my version of the Tim Holtz' 12 tags of 2014.

You can read and see on his blog how it is done....

Now I am off to tidy up my craftroom so I can create again....

Take care and until next time

Frédérique

Another tag made with stamps from DesignsbyRyn...

Hello bloggers,

I made another tag with the amazing rain drop stamp by DesignsbyRyn. I love how real they look. The tag itself is cut from ledger paper. I used stencils, distress markers and the spritzer by Tim Holtz to create the background. The umbrella man I cut from a piece of acetate with the steel rol die also by Tim Holtz. I inked it with black and silver alcohol ink. I stuck it on the tag and wrote the sentiment. I then stamped the rain drops on the tag and coloured them in with watered down evergreen bough distress ink and a waterbrush. I adore those droplet stamps. Cannot wait to order more. The edge of the tag I inked with walnut stain distress ink. As the finishing touch I added highights to the droplets with a white gel pen.

Until next time....take care.

Frédérique
Xxx

Designsbyryn take two

Dear fellow crafters,

Again I was inspired by a stamp I received a short while ago by DesignsbyRyn. I just love these droplet stamps. The tags just create themselves.

As the one I did in the previous post, I inked the tag using the wrinkle free distress technique by Tim Holtz and stamped the droplets and coloured them in with tumbled glass distress ink. Then  watered it down with a water brush. I highlighted the droplets with a white gel pen and stamped the sentiment. These stamps are so intricate and detailed that nothing else is needed. In this case....less is absolutely more....

Well until next time...take care

Frédérique
Xxx

New stamps by DesignsbyRyn

Dear bloggers,

The other day I received my stamps from DesignsbyRyn. I just love the water droplets stamps. As soon as the mailman stuck it in our letterbox I just had to have a play.
I inked up a tag with distress stains using the wrinkle free distress technique. One of my favourites.
I stamped the droplets on the tag with stãzon ink and let it dry. I then coloured in the droplets highlights with a white marker and the rest with tumbled glass distress ink and a water brush.
I wanted to make sure the focal point were the droplets so I just stamped a sentiment and left it at that. A ribbon to finish it off and no further embellishments. I look forward to try the other stamps out and use various techniques.

I will post them as soon as I finish them.

Until next time,

Take care

Frédérique

Union Jack

I recently got a stamp set that contained this phone box. I love english hone boxes.... so I made this london themed tag using masks for the layering.

Until next time,
Frédérique

A few projects I did the last couple of weeks....

Dear bloggers,
I know I know, again I have been neglecting my blog. Once I get my tablet it will be easier to keep it updated, as I now do it from my phone. I hope I will not have to wait too much longer. I suspect I will receive the tablet somewhere in March. But until then I will try and update more frequently.

Until next time,
Take care
Frédérique

My altered christmas list book.

Dear bloggers,

I decided that I needed a book to keep track of who I send a christmas card and who sent one back. I used to write it down on pieces of paper but now as my list is growing, I was in need of a book. This is what I did to it....
The brown is the bare back. The front looked the same befor altering. It looks quite festive, even if I do say so myself lol.

Until next time,
Take care xxx

Frederique