The Altered Puzzle

It is always nice to sit by the log burning fire with a good book but not on August Bank Holiday Monday, Christmas maybe....

Well I hope you all had a good weekend, you wouldn't believe the days could be so different. On Sunday we took Jack & Bru to Aberdyfi for a paddle. Must admit they weren't that sure about the sea, but they enjoyed a good walk along the beach. Thankfully we picked the right day for it.....

I've had some great fun with a Route 52 jigsaw (£1.49)

I decided on Paperartsy's French Roast paint, it is such a great colour, not as harsh as black.

Then I tried to keep the colours in green, golds and silver as much as I could.
The puzzle looks a bit daunting when it's plain white but I tried to treat each piece as it's own little canvas.

So there's painted pieces with embellishments stuck on, Embossing onto metal foil.

Fresco finish Metallic- Old Gold on top of French Roast with Crackle Glaze in-between.

Stamping and colouring with Distress Inks

Gold Embossing (Ranger's Queens Gold is nice and fine)

Metal mesh cut to size and a Moth embellishment added using Multi Medium

Several pieces have been painted Honey Dew, then PA crackle paint then French Roast

I have added a few Route 52 embellishment's and picture's of Jack & Bru. Generally just made it up as I went along.

After Dry brushing around the edges I stuck a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Word Band at the bottom.

There's Rock Candy Crackle Paint and a torn piece of cardstock

I have removed a couple of Jigsaw Pieces and placed a picture underneath.

Dabbing paint through a stencil. Some started French Roast and dabbed with green, then another the opposite way round.

Apply molding paste or gesso through a stencil ( remember to wash your stencil)

The green disc 2nd from the left at the bottom is utee that has been poured onto a stamped texture tread which had a cookie cutter sat on it.

The piece next to it is triple embossed then stamped into it at the end.

After Dry brushing around the edges I stuck a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Word Band at the bottom.

I'm pleased with this little project it's not perfect, but what I wanted to do was try and do lots of different techniques, to have a little reminder when I'm stuck for a idea.

That's it for now, time to think what to do next, I'll not ponder too long, just get stuck in.

Happy crafting

Sharon

Sunshine And Bakers Twine

It's here, that's the sun i'm talking about and I hope it stays for a while.

We have the builders in, Jamie will get his new office and I will get a new craft room. Since moving house I have been in the dining room, which is ok but I feel the need to keep putting everything away.  I like to be away in my own space, so I have moved from the dining room to a little upstairs room in one of the barn's.

It goes from extremes (bit like the weather) cold and really warm, you can tell it's warm today Kira the cat has found a nice soft spot up there to have a nap, bless.
So yesterday I went to do some creating and decided to play with my melt pot, not had it out in a while. I had a great time, tad warm but it was worth the effort, I just love the new texture treads I will show you some more later when I have finished playing.

New Bakers Twine

The new bakers twine is a handy item to have in your stash. It's so easy for adding a embellishment onto your tags and cards. It comes in a pack of 5 rolls 20 yards in each, vintage in colour. Above are a few tags I made, using various colours of distress inks and picking them at random otherwise I tend to use just my favourites.

Something else I wanted to share with you, Jamie and I were very lucky to spend a morning in February with Tim Holtz and the very talented Dyan Reaveley. We weren't the only ones of course.

Here is what Dyan was teaching us to do for journaling pages, using her new Dylusions sprays and stencils. The new colours are vibrant and spray brilliantly. The wording is from one of her new stamps which has been stamped on to sticky back canvas.

Another good idea was to stick two tags back to back, which hides the mucky side and makes twice the area to journal or stamp onto.
I didn't think I would like the Black Marble Dylusion Spray but it makes the other colours really stand out. We sprayed the stencil then turned it over and placed it down on the opposite corner so you achieve a mirror  image.

The above journaling page was inspired by what Dyan had shown us..... 

The tag below was covered by blending distress inks for the background, then blending through the stencil in a darker colour, highlighting with black and white gel pens.

I thought of my mum when I saw this quote. Dad has been in hospital, after finding out about Dad I enquired how she was. She said "I've done the hoovering!" 

Maybe her way of coping.

Hope I haven't gone on too much, it takes me a while to get going then I can not stop. 

Thank you for stopping by.

Sharon x