Solstice

Hello to all of our crafting friends, Antony here on behalf of 2 Crafting Minds.

Well both myself and Samantha are pleased once again to share our blog

with another fellow crafter. This time we have the very talented

Amanda Mcleod. Amanda loves crafting as well as writing poetry and

runs her own Facebook craft group page as well... I'll hand over to her to introduce

herself and her beautiful canvas. Thanks for letting us share your

work Amanda!

 

HI everyone, My name is Amanda and arts and

crafts are my absolute passion. I am a member of

Sheena's Ink-ettes group and regularly show cards

and crafts using Sheena's amazing products and

I also write poetry pieces based on Sheena's new

collections which I love doing. I was so excited when

one was read out on Hochanda!

I have always crafted in some way since I was a

child and really enjoy making cards and journals.

I have a small website where I sell my crafts and

cards (www.theatticrooms.co.uk) and a Facebook

page called The Attic Rooms. I also set up a
Christmas card making group on Facebook called Make One
Christmas Card Every Week Throughout 2017 which I love running,
along with a team of 5 other ladies. I have just started trying out
canvases having been inspired by Samantha's amazing art pieces.
Samantha has given me so much confidence since I met her over
on the Sheena page and she has really helped me to progress
and push myself to develop new ideas and new techniques.
This is only my second canvas and it's one of the few times when
the image I saw in my head was able to be transferred onto the artwork.
Not often it happens that way!  Thank you to Antony and to Samantha for

allowing me to share their space for this blog!

Products used to make this project - 16" x 12" pre-primed canvas from eBay

A selection of paints including -

Pebeo deco creme in 32 Matt Fir Green 

Pebeo deco creme in 34 Matt Olive Green, Reeves acrylic in Terracotta

White Pebeo paint for snow splatter effect,
as well as Flowersoft Polar White

A wide selection of Tim Holtz distress inks for colouring the foliage

Pinflair Glue Gel for affixing all the elements to the canvas

Spectrum Noir Colourblend pencils and blending solution

Sheena's white card 300gsm for die cutting

The vision and idea behind 'Solstice'

The original seed for the idea of the Solstice piece was started after I
had made this card for my Christmas card making group, 'Make One
Christmas Card Every Week Throughout 2017' - (MOCCEWT) for short!
I've always loved the whole solstice mythology story and the cyclical
battle between the Oak and the Holly King and their endless struggle
to dominate the seasons and wrestle power one away from the other
at Midwinter and Midsummer. So making this card really sparked the
whole idea for a more substantial piece of art.

Step 1 I started out with a plain, white canvas which

measured 16" x 12" and which was primed with a coat of Gesso.

 

Step 2 I then coated the entire canvas with a sponged
background of green and brown paints. I intended to cover
th entire canvas with foliage but wanted a 'forest green'
background should any small areas of canvas remain visible.
These are the three paints which I applied, very roughly and
completely randomly over the whole canvas.

Step 3 The Oak King and The Holly King faces were made
from air dry clay by hand. I wanted to give the impression of
faces growing from within a living tree so they are both surrounded
by twisting branches. I applied bark like texture to The Oak King's
face to further this impression. Here are the clay pieces in their

early stages.

Here are the masks after being painted with Pebeo paints.

I purposely wanted the Oak King to have sleepy looking eyes.

Is he just awakening to rule the Spring and Summer or just

going to sleep and handing over his dominance to the Holly King?

I wanted the viewer to decide! 

 

 

Step 4 I then began the process of a HUGE amount of
die cutting, stamping, colouring and shaping for a whole
variety of foliage, flora and fauna. I used Sheena Douglass's
Perfect Partners ranges which included, ivy, oak leaves,
holly, pine branches, brown twig branches, berries and
brambles, florist's friends, snowdrops, bluebells, a squirrel,
a Kingfisher and a Robin and mushrooms. I also added
some dragonflies, butterflies, maple seeds (helicopters!)
frogs, a spider, a handmade web!, some mistletoe, and other
natural elements which were foraged from Golden Acre Park in
Leeds such as the acorns and pine cones.

Step 5 The pieces were then layered really thickly and

built up slowly, to create a really lush foliage covering. I wanted

to create a Spring/Summer side for the Oak King and an

Autumn/Winter side for the Holly King so created two very

separate sides which blend and merge in the centre.

A close up of the Oak King's side.

 A close up of the Holly King's side.

 Step 6 My favourite part of the whole piece, the

butterfly on the Oak King's nose! You can really see the

texture on his nose in this photo,' and his sleepy eyes.

The Bluebells are also a favourite part too. I love the splash of

blue in amongst all the green foliage.

One side of the Oak King has fresher green/yellow leaves and
I aged them down into a more brownish hue where he meets his
rival, the Holly King. Can you see the little brown frog?

Step 7 A close up on the Holly King. I really like how his

eyes appear to be gazing off to the left and upwards as this

was a complete accident but I like how this looks! I added

berries for a splash of colour as this side is more Wintery and

has a much darker feel. There is also a touch of white

flower soft added very sparingly to suggest the

beginnings of the Winter frosts.

 

Step 8 A closer zoom into the Oak King's domain.

Here you can see the dragonflies which I cut from vellum

to suggest the gauzy feel of their delicate wings. The

Kingfisher was coloured with Spectrum Noir Colourblend

pencils and I used blending solution to get a lovely smooth

finish. The little squirrel can just be seen peeping through

the foliage and the lovely fresh leaves of the brambles.

  

Step 9 A close up of the squirrel. He was coloured using
the same pencils as the Kingfisher. He appears to be studying
the butterfly intently! You can also see the lovely, purple
berries and a red mushroom in this shot and the maple
seed heads which I can remember throwing up into the
air when I was a child. We used to call them helicopters
because of the way they spun as they came hurtling
back down! I overlapped the foliage across the edges
of the canvas to keep the look softened at the edges. 

 

Step 10 Up above the Holly King's head, the Robin
is perched in bare branches that are laced with a touch
of frosts, foraged pine cones and pine branches. This
part represents the coming of the Winter time.
The Robin was also coloured with Spectrum Noir
Colourblend pencils. You can see the mistletoe closer
here too. One of my favourite elements of the Winter side.

Step 11 A close up of the mistletoe and the spider, who
is just beginning to spin his web. I made the strands for
the web using white embroidery thread and then used
Glossy Accents to create 'dew drops' on them. The
plastic spider was donated to the art work by my son, Ben,
aged 8, who kindly raided his Halloween supplies for me!
The spider was just perfect!

Step 12 A close up of the mushrooms. These were from
the Sheena Douglass set, 'A little bit magical' and were
coloured using the same pencils as before.

Super close up of the Oak King! 

 

Super close up of the Holly King!

 

 

Super close up of the Kingfisher and a dragonfly. 

 

A super close up of the Robin. I added a tiny splattering of

white Pebeo paint to this area to suggest the coming of Winter snows.

The frost was created with Flower Soft. 

 A super close up of the mushrooms, snowdrops and

the 'dew drops' on the spider's web. 

 

A super close up of the green frogs and the snowdrops. 

 

A super close up on the bluebells and the brambles. 

 

Two more close ups. The vellum dragonfly at the top and a wider angle of the bluebell area at the bottom. The acorn which is nestled into the Oak King's face is made from clay.

 Thank you so much for the post Amanda, our jaws are still
on the floor. What a wonderful story behind the canvas too.
If you have time, please take a look at the short music video I created,
which shows the canvas up even closer. 

Since Amanda did this blog post for us, Sheena has invited her
onto her Design Team known as the Inkoids! Well done and
congratulations!

Hope you've all enjoyed Amanda's post and tour of her amazing

canvas as much as we did!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

 

Antony
and our Guest Blogger Amanda

Patina Look Notebook Cover

Hello, Antony here! Well I've been busy once more. This post is all

about using Viva Decor's Inka Gold/Pinflair Buff-it craft polishes to give a

patina style finish to your projects! The polishes will work on any porous
surfaces such as paper, cardboard or even wood, so they can easily be
used for your home decor projects as well as your papercrafting ones.
I've also done a video on how to create the patina effect look, so if you
want to view that skip to the bottom of the page where
you will see the video I posted to Youtube.

For this project I've used Viva Decor Inka-Gold in various colours, but
you could also be using Pinflair Buff-it craft or Tonic Studios Nuvo
Embellishment Mousse. Dies from Crafters companion, Sheena

Creative Expressions, Ranger Glossy Accents and a clear water based
sealer and an A5 size wire bound notebook with hardback front
and back covers.

Step 1 I started by buying an A5 wire bound hardback notebook. The reason

I chose a wire bound notebook was because it would be easy to remove both

covers for decorating. Also look for a cover that doesn't have a shiny finish
because you'll find that the decorating pastes won't stick to it.

Step 2 Using loads of different dies, I used them to cut myself the shapes
using 1mm cardboard. Most standard die will cut 1mm cardboard, but you
may need to tease the cut shapes out of the more detailed dies.

Step 3 Carefully pull apart the wire from the notebook so that the front
and back covers as well as the paper can be removed.
Put the back cover and paper to one side.

Step 4 I had no real plan on laying the die cuts out, but simply played

round until I was happy with how things looked, then I stuck them

down using Pinflair Glue-it Bookbinding Glue. If any of the die cuts
covered any of the holes for the wire binding, I made sure to re-cut
them within the die cuts.

Step 5 For the key and padlock I cut them out about 5 times each

using the 1mm cardboard and glued them together to add some real
dimension to my project.

Step 6 Using Rangers Glossy Accents, I added rivet style elements to the

project and let them dry before painting.

Step 7 I painted over the entire surface of the notebook using Viva Decor
Inka-Gold (copper) As the paste is water based, simply take some out of
the tub and put it onto a non-stick craft sheets or a small palette. Add some
water to the paste and then start painting. Ensure you get into all the
detailed areas. The paint is very forgiving, so you don't need to be 
good painter. I found a soft wide brush is best to use.

Step 8 Once I had painted all of the front cover, I let it dry for about

15 minutes. Don't try and force dry it, as it may warp the hardback cover.

Step 9 I applied a gold colour Inka-Gold to a sponge brush and lightly

brushed it over the surface of the die cuts. The higher areas of the design
 just picked up the colour. Don't over do it with the gold... lightly does it!

Step 10 Another colour of Inka-Gold this time... turquoise. Again I just a

sponge brush, but this time I added a splash of water to it after I

had loaded it with the paste. I pounced the brush on lightly to selected

areas of the design. This sort of gives the effect of verdigris.

Step 11 I continued to pounce with sponge brushes over some
of the areas that I had already painted with all the colours, until no
one real colour stood out the most. I finally went over with copper
colour Inka-Gold using a wet sponge to give a sort of oxide look to the
finish. I then let the everything dry for about half an hour and then using
a soft kitchen cloth I polished over the surface to the paint a shiny finish.
Finally I then sealed the surface with a water based sealer.
I applied two coats, letting it dry in between.

Step 12 I used the same paint techniques for the back cover and then

sealed that with a water based sealer.

Step 13 Once both the front and back covers were dry it was time to add

the paper back in and redo the wire binding.... job done!

Hope you enjoyed this post. Please take a look at the video. In it I use

Pinflair Buff-it craft polish to achieve the same patina effect. You can
start with your base colour using either copper or gold, it just depends
on the sort of look you are after.
The main thing is, just experiment and have fun!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

 
Antony

Guest Blog Post, Laura's Canvas

Hello to all our crafting friends, Antony here! Samantha and myself are

handing this post over to our Guest Blogger Laura Herbert.

Laura has been admiring Samantha's work and her willingness to help her

and others in the inkettes for nearly two years now!

Laura has also followed my own personal crafting journey from Dufex to Pinflair.

She even came to the NEC where I gave her a masterclass in

Pinflair's blending paints... although I later discovered she opted for

Tim Holtz's Distress Inks... can't win them all!

Recently Laura finally plucked up enough courage to

dip her toe into the wonderful world of canvases and mixed media!

As you will soon see Laura is Tim Holtz crazy.... so over to you Laura. 

 

Hi I’m Laura Jane, I’m mainly a card maker and have been for the last

15 years, I also like Cross Stitch, Dress Making, and Jewellery Making.

I have always admired mixed media, and with some helpful advice

and encouragement from fellow crafter’s Patricia, Antony and Claire.

I took the plunge and this is my first ever mixed media project. I knew

that I wanted to use my favourite stamp set which is the Umbrella Man

by Tim Holtz. I can now say that I love mixed media and can't wait

to get started on my next project.

Products used to make this project:- A4 white canvas from Poundland,

Bronze and Yellow Acrylic paint from Poundland

Poly-filler from Poundland,

Distress Inks in Mustard Seed, Vintage Photo

Walnut Stain by Tim Holtz, Distress Stain in Tarnished Bronze by Tim Holtz,

Umbrella Man stamp set by Tim Holtz,

Mini Harlequin stencil by Creative Expressions,

Flourish stencil by Tim Holtz, Spotty stencil by That Special Touch,

Heat Embossing powder in copper by Whisper, 

Heat Tool by Wilkinson, Perfect Medium ink pad by ranger,

Flake and Glitter glue by Creative Expressions,

Copper Gilding Flakes by Creative Expressions, 3/8” Letter Dies by Tim Holtz

Step 1 Cover the canvas in Gesso but if you don't have any it's not a

problem I used White Acrylic Paint. I’ve since discovered that Gesso is

not essential as most canvas are all ready to go. Bonus!

Step 2 I used a bronze and a yellow acrylic paint.

(Yes I'm a messy crafter!) I placed a piece of scrap paper
in the middle of the canvas and I smudged the bronze and then the

yellow with my finger to look like sun rays.

I repeated this method until I got the look I wanted.

Step 3 After the paints dried from step 2 I made a mask (using a post-it note)

of the Umbrella Man stamp, and positioned him where I wanted him to go

later on. Once I did that I used my spotty stencil (by That Special Touch)

and poly-filler as texture paste along the top of the canvas. Major tip!

Soak the stencil straight the way otherwise it sets like concrete!! Oops.

Step 4 I had a few things going on, I didn't like the starkness of the

texture paste so I blended some Mustard Seed distress ink over the top of it.

Then with Vintage Photo Distress ink I stamped the clock

(from the Umbrella Man stamp set) randomly over the canvas, Then

using the Tim Holtz flourish stencil I used Tarnished Bronze Distress Stain

for a slightly different look.

Step 5 I went around the edges using Mustard Seed,

Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain distress inks. This helps
make the canvas appear smaller to fit the size of the stamp.

Step 6 Using a clean paint brush I flicked water around the edges

to make splatter marks. I then lifted the excess water off using paper

a towel to give it a more distressed look.

Step 7 To add more detail into the background I used the same

three distress inks as in step 6 through my harlequin stencil,

then moved the stencil over to a darker area of the canvas, and

spritzed using a water bottle through the harlequin stencil, leave the

water on for a few seconds before blotting it off with a paper

towel to lift of the water. This will cause a faux bleaching effect.

Step 8 Using a flourish stamp from my crafty stash I added gilding

flakes by stamping Gilding flake glue instead of ink onto the canvas.

I also added more gilding flakes (remembering to add the glue
through the stencil first) using my harlequin and spotty stencils

randomly over the canvas to balance everything out.

Step 9 First I stamped the Umbrella Man using Perfect Medium

(sticky ink) and added my embossing powder to the sticky ink and using

the heat tool I melted the powder, once all melted and still warm
add another layer of Embossing powder and heat with the heat tool again,

this is Double Embossing. I then cut him out by hand with the card

stock that was left over, I double heat embossed it.

Step 10 With the remaining heat embossed card stock, I die cut out

3/8” letters for my quote as said by Winnie the Pooh

“When life throws you a rainy day play in the puddles”.

I then die cut another set of letters in a lighter colour to give them

a drop shadow and glued them all down with my tacky glue.

WOW!! Thank you so much Laura, for that our first Guest Blog.

I'm sure you'll agree that Laura did an amazing job and even more

so when you consider that was also her first canvas project ever!

Both Samantha and myself hope that Laura's post has inspired you

to have a go at creating a canvas!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

 
Antony
and our Guest Blogger Laura