Craft a Little Everyday! An MDF Inspiration Project for your Crafty Space

Good morning all! Martina here with a piece I made as 'inspiration' for my crafty space. That's Crafty have produced some amazing MDF pieces in all shapes and sizes, so I chose the upright 'splat' as the perfect 'canvas' to work on...

I started by painting my piece with Americana Acrylic Paint in Baby Blue. I did not want the colour to be too dark, as I wanted to add various colours on top. I then used the 'Craft a Little Everyday' Dinky Stencil with some Structure Paste to add my main sentiment. Using the Bubble Background Stencil and some Blackcurrant Sparkle Medium, I added some detail to one corner, and then used some Crackle Medium through a splat stencil to the side. Once the crackle was dry, I replaced the stencil and added a layer of paint in the colour Snow White.

Once the mediums were dry, I used a foliage stencil and some Bundled Sage Distress Ink to add some trailing leaves to the top of the MDF. I stamped, coloured and cut some small daisies from the Daisy Days Stamp Set to add to the leaves. I coloured the sentiment with Lavender and Dark Orchid Starlight Paint, adding some pearls to the letter 'A'.  

At the bottom of the upright I added some PaperArtsy Jofy 50 flowers and decorative pins. To make the flowers I used some PaperArtsy Infusions on Watercolour Card, stamped the flowers heads onto this and then cut out. The 'wheat' like sprigs in the background are Art-Cutz coloured with Starlights.

The final touches were some splats to the base, all created with various colours of Sparkle Medium, and some PaperArtsy flowers (sitting just behind the Jofy blooms and to the right). To make the flowers I pushed a Versamark Ink Pad through Stencil PS060 directly onto the MDF. I then sprinkled WOW Embossing Powder in Fuchsia Fusion and White before heat drying.

Phew! Yes, that was a lot of products! I didn't really start out with a plan, I just wanted to add some of my favourite products all on one piece as a reminder of what I have...or at least some of it! It is one of those projects you make just for you, for fun, or maybe to inspire someone else, or as a gift? I love all the MDF uprights; I have a feeling there may be less birthday cards made this year and more of these!

What products would you use on your piece? Do you have a favourite product? I can't decide...

Love

Martina

xxx

          

Polkadoodles: Bright and Beautiful Daisy Days!

Good morning crafters! Martina here with this week's post and I am going for bright, bright, bright! Oh yeah, Lisa and Kirsten are rubbing off on me, the inks are out, so hang on to your sunglasses chaps!

I started my card using three  different colours of Distress Inks: Mustard Seed, Cracked Pistachio and Mermaid Lagoon. I striped each colour across my card and then proceeded to blend them into each other.

Once happy with my blending, I lightly spritzed some water onto the card to create a blotchy, less perfect look.

Once dry, I took the Bubble Background Stencil and used the same inks to add some bubbles to the topper. 

I also used some Hickory Smoke Distress Ink to add some of the flowers from the Paperartsy PS060 Stencil, as these would appear to be in the distance once the other layers were complete.

Now turning to the main features: I stamped all the flowers I wanted from the Polkadoodles Daisy Days Set directly onto my topper, not worrying about overlapping the blooms at the top. I then stamped the flower heads onto plain card and coloured them in with bright colours (I used Kuretake pens). I cut the daisies out and covered the stamped ones on the topper (ignoring the curly bits, as the stamped ones would have these on!). I coloured the stems and leaves that were showing with bright greens and added some butterflies from the same stamp set.

I added some words from my stash and some detail with a white pen.

Some basic matting and layering to set of the colours and there we have it!

Thank you for reading; you can take your sunglasses off now! I hope you like it and I will see you next week!

Love

Martina

xxx

  

Make Time to Relax and Craft with Imagination...

Good morning all! Martina here, how are you? I was lucky enough to attend Lisa's Paperartsy workshop at the weekend and it was SO much fun! I did not finish all my projects, but that was fine, we covered lots of techniques, so I was able to carry on at home! I suppose the amount that I was chatting and biscuit-eating may have contributed to me running out of time, but we won't talk about that too much...

This week I am using Lisa's time theme stamps, the idea being a masculine card, with a hint of sparkle thrown in for good measure...

I began my card by cutting my base layer to size using Super Smooth Card. Using Vintage Photo Distress Ink I added some colour to the edges. I stamped the little 'hash' stamp from the Take Time Set in each corner in the same ink and heat embossed with Wow Clear Detail Powder. I also chose the words I wanted from the set and arranged them on a block before repeat stamping around my topper.

The next step was to make the topper panel to fit inside the backing piece above. Using the same ink and card, I used the Mosaic Sun Stencil to create my background.

I then began to play with my stamps from both of the sets. I knew I wanted the flying watch from the Time to Celebrate Set as the main image, so stamped this first in Gathered Twigs Distress Ink and embossed as before. I used a combination of the different brown tones to stamp various little accents and embellishments from the sets until I was happy. To make some of the details pop, I highlighted some areas with a Pen-Touch White Pen.

Now for my sparkly bit! I stamped the flying watch with some Staz-On Ink onto Acetate. Turning the acetate over I applied some Diamond Sparkle Medium thickly over the wings.

Once this was dry I cut around the wings, leaving part of the middle attached to make it easier for sticking later.

Wanting to add yet more dimension to the watch, I stamped it twice more and cut the faces out (leaving the rim around one and colouring as below).

Having another little play, I decided that I wanted to bring a little more detail and dimension to my card, so went back to my Acetate again. I stamped the tiny butterfly several times and then Brayered some Diamond Sparkle Medium across the back before setting aside to dry and cut out.

A bit of mattering and layering and there we have it...Oh, I nearly forgot - I added some Glossy Accents to make a dome on the watch face!

I hope you like it, I think it's still ok for a man's card even with the sparkle, don't you?

I look forward to seeing some of you at Lisa's class on Friday if you can make it (that is assuming I can survive half-term!)

Thank you for reading,

Martina

xxx