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