A few Pen and Washes From Lake Garda

The Secret Garden,

 Some of you may know in my spare time I like to paint...Just recently I was lucky enough to go back to Lake Garda with a few Like minded friends and their partners, for a week ....to do nothing but Relax, and while the hours in good company and maybe do a little painting......here are some photo's of the Pen and Washes I managed to finish and as this is a Studio Blog...I thought you would like to see them......( they are mostly sketches that I will use for the Oils,) approx sizes 12 x 14

The Quay side Limone,

Old Doors from the Lemon Groves,

The Old Lemon Groves,

Archway to the waterfall

The Old lemon Groves from the veranda of the hotel

Malchesine Harbour

How many bikes!!!!!!!!! -Riva

Unfortunately I didn't get colour on this as the the ferry was about to leave and we had to catch it back to Limone there were so many bikes I didn't know where to start..

This was the challenge for us all..... what you don't realise is that this was looking down from the Balcony of the hotel onto the Old lemon groves approx 75 feet down...and the lake beyond, not an easy task as all those different angles of the roofs and lemon house pillars,What we called the  perspective  nightmare!!!!!   ( this was my 2nd attempt the first was made into a jigsaw!!!!!!! yes I ripped it up....)

There are others to finish  so...... when I get a little time I would like to get some oils done...

hope you you like ...

Ok back to reality... new designs for Decoupage stamp sets, Brand NEW Border stamp sets,  and Stencils on their way....... keep and eye out on http://www.imaginationcrafts.co.uk/

see you soon...Jayne x

The Gallery

Hi everyone,
Sorry haven't been back for a while ..... I have been madly busy with the art boards for Ally Pally which are all completed, wrapped and ready to go ....I thought it would be good to turn this blogging session into a gallery...all cards are approx 6 x 6, and as i have taken picture of the whole board, iv'e used my wide eye lens so they may look a little elongated, they all have covers on each sample ,so they do reflect back, but i hope they won't ruin your viewing.....Some of these you will recognise as they are copies of the originals  from the Imagination stand at our last shows....

 From the blog hop in Feb

 New colours of the Sparkle medium and some of the new Stencil Designs

 more New Stencil Designs with Sparkle medium

 Mica Magic some samples put together from the demo's from the last shows,

 Decoupage coloured with assorted mediums Silkies, Pearly Vintage pallet,vellum and chalk pencils,

 Mica magic with Stencils ,embossing using a die embossing tech ( see mics magic).

 Assorted Stencils with the Fantastic Sparkle medium and Silkies

 Decoupage Sets with Sparkle medium

 Multi colour with Stencils and Sparkle medium...( i plan to a blog hop with these very soon)

And lastly Assorted Decoupage stamp sets with assorted colouring techniques, Silkies,Copic and pro makers  and water colouring...

All of the Art work from Stamps To Stencils  used to create these samples are from The Imagination Crafts Products Range, http://www.imaginationcrafts.co.uk/

I would also like to thank Fantastic Ribbons, http://www.fantasticribbons.co.uk/ .For a beautiful range of ribbons and buttons featured on most of these cards..

Hope to see some of you while I'm at the Ally Pally Show at the weekend with  

                                     BJ Crafts  http://www.bjcrafts.co.uk/  Stand 43

Must get back to the designing side watch this space......

See you soon Jayne x

Mica Magic lift out extra

 Hi, as promised from last post ....here are few of the same samples but better pictures  this time

 Butterflies on our glossy card and the background done via Lift out technique see previous post.

 Dragonflies done the same way as above only difference.... i used the Versamark ink pad to stamp a random background using the swirl stamp from the stencil stamping range Bubbles....

 This one is one of my favourites, was again  the same technique by adding mica to the background and then lifting out the ferns and Butterfly from the Butterfly Delight stamp set. i have also added three butterflies over the lift outs....

And the last... using the leaf swirl stamp and the dragonfly from the bubbles and again that fern ( very useful stamp).The dragonfly was stamped onto acetate using Stazon,  and painted on the reverse side with blues from the silkies range..

All of these cards will be at Ally Pally with me... along  with many more and some samples boards that i'm currently putting together for BJ crafts and with a little luck and a fair wind..... i'll be posting them on here soon too..as i plan to finish them and New designs on the way over Easter...So if you need to get some of these products ....you know what to do ...go to www.imaginationcrafts.co.uk

If i get a chance before Easter i would like to get some mica stenciling a fab way of using stencils Mica and your Die cutting machine for embossing ...


so pop back soon ....Jayne x

Mica Magic

Hi everyone this is going to be the quickest blog hop, so many of you are interested in the Mica Magic demo's i've been doing at the recent shows i thought i would put on a quick how to do....before i get off to the NEC....

 MICA MAGIC BASICS

 Things you will need,
set of mica powders choose from Brights, Glow lights,or the fantastic new set Nature, Versamark ink pad,large fluffy brush, glossy card stock , Anti static bag, Set of stamps, for this i'm using the Spring Decoupagee set Butterfly, hot spot heat mat, very cheap hair spray...visit http://www.imaginationcrafts.co.uk/  you can see the whole range there

 ALWAYS use an anti-static bag on the card stock before start( this takes away all unwanted marks).

 Now ink up your stamp with Versamark and stamp image onto the black card.

 Sprinkle the mica using the fluffy brush as above... ( mica will go along way so you don't have to use much)

 Now using a stippling motion stipple across the whole image.

 then flick off excess and polish using the same brush, it's a dry brush so will remove all excess mica and polish the image.. you then  MUST use a cheap hairspray to seal the mica, if you don't then the image will smudge.A light spray will be sufficient.

MICA LIFT OUT

 To start cover the card with Versamark directly to the card in a down and twist motion to cover the complete card

 Sprinkle as we did above Mica colours onto the card this time add a little extra as we want to cover the card.

 once you have covered the card it will look like this ...polish slightly to take away excess mica.

 Ink the stamp you are going to use as the lift out image, with versamark

 And lift out the image ,Remenmber to re--ink every time.continue to do this untill it looks like this

Once you have completed the area , Remember to spray with hair spray to seal  the mica...

Here are a few more samples.....

 This one was done using both techniques above....

 The main image was mica in golds on pink smooth card, and i've cut out the butterflies from a demo card and created the back ground by randomly stamping the flower spray image all around, then edged the card with versamark and stippled the mica on ...

 These fushias were colour with Silkies on acetate, and mounted onto a mica painted background...

These Dragonflies were painted with Glitizes on acetate then mounted onto a mica background

Here are a few more samples..... 

hope you enjoy playing....Sorry the images aren't brilliant, will reload them after the show along with some other samples

Don't forget you can see all these stamps, Mica powders, and all the things you will need for this project so pop in at http://www.imaginationcrafts.co.uk/

see you soon Jayne x

Blog Hop follow up

Hi , thought i would just share with you the complete range of samples that we have seen through the Blog Hop 3 days   craft-along

they will be with us at the next few shows SECC , Harrowgate and the NEC, so pop along to the stand,and have a look..

Right back to the New Summer Decoupage Stamps........for more info on them goto http://www.imaginationcrafts.co.uk/

see you soon, Jayne x

Blog Hop DAY 3

Good evening all ...ok i'm earlier today as we have alot to do, i wanted to get going,
just as a reminder there is another sample card over on imagination blog posted earlier today ..

ok i have thought of 2 hot tips for making your life easier when stencilling.

TOP TIP 1

Always use an antistatic bag to the back of the masked area this will stop it sticking while your working on your projects.

                                                                          TOP TIP 2

Use a Copic or Pro maker pen on the edges of your stencilled layer, this will help to give you a professional Finish I tend to use the chisel end, so i don't ruin the brush nib.

And this is the card we will finish now....

This is actually slightly different as the back ground scenes are different to the one I showed you on day 1, but this is also good to show how well they all fit together.

this is what you'll need to finish the card ,
white 6x6 card
Two brayered then stencilled scenes we have here county road and the village,
two black layers for matting,
Acetate with your owl and tree, Dusk till Dawn
Border punch of your choice,

Double sided tape..

                                            

Matt and layer as shown the right side of the card and attach the border on the right hand side.Trim to fit

Do the same for the left side but attach the Acetate under the border on the left hand side.

This is what it will look like flat,

and this is how it looks once you have tucked the acetate under the right hand border....

Now as i've worked through this blog hop i have some bit left over i would like to use so ..let me show you how we can do the Snow scene sample, the stencils used may be different but the end result ..Whow really cool....This what you need

using all the extras up plus a picket fence, a white sparkle card base one for each side  diamond glitter medium, fluffy stuff ( yes it's called that ) when you heat it puffs up to look like snow ...Also this time i had an extra gold owl on a tree so we will use this too..

Maske off the top area of the stencil, we already have the Birds from Birdsong on the sunset backing card... spread the black sparkle medium as before, and set aside to dry, this will probably take 2 hrs to dry.

Once dry you can see by this picture, cut away the top half above the horizon line .on the white Glitter card. do this to the other side too .once you have trim to size the black will blend together to give you a snow scene.I left the trees and moon on the background card and attached the snow card with 1mm foam tape ...almost decoupaging the stencil....

Once you have mat and layered the scenes, attach the left side first, again with the border on the left  hand side edge..

Set out your acetate owl and tree like this , trim to fit the height of the card when standing.I have added some white paint and diamond sparkle medium to the fence and then attached it across the bottom,of the acetate, trim to fit,  

This is the acetate attached under the border on the right side this time.

When you stand the card up and tuck the acetate under the left border .as shown below..

And it looks like this when standing....

Note on this card not only is the Owl gold but there is snow on the tree branches and on the base of the fence .

Well what can i say that's all folks .....for this time anyway .I will post this picture on the Imagination Blog very soon   www.imaginationcrafts.co.uk  and don't forget if you are coming to any of the shows we are at, pop along and see us we will have these samples on stand, and we would love to meet you ...

Thanks to those who followed along I would love to stay and play but ...Mr post man brought me the Brand New Summer Decoupage stamp sets, today and i have to go and play...urmm that might be a good idea for next month's Blog hop,

As we are going to be away for the first 3 weeks of March...SECC Harrogate.and  NEC the NEXT Blog Hop will be after that but I will let you all know soon

See you soon have fun Jayne x