Mockingbird Hill Done 2 Ways: Festive v. Spooky Halloween

I finally got around to finishing my first Mockingbird Hill houses using the stamps and die sets from Sheena Douglass.  Using the exact same sets I have created 2 looks – one is for my mum (I’m planning on making her a little mini card village for the winter holidays) and one is for my favourite holiday – Halloween!  The festive one is snowy and twinkly and the spooky one is covered in cobweb and glows in the dark!

To make them into tea lights I have created side panels wide enough for a battery operated tea light and a solid back by tracing the outline of the house. 

Pebeo Mixed Media Canvas Set “LUCY” 4 of 4

Inspired by the recent Sheena Douglass shows on Hochanda I decided to give some of my daughters old wall art a revamp as I had everything in my stash.  The canvases were originally Disney princess pictures from the pound shop but I covered them up with black gesso.  All mediums used are by Pebeo plus a few bits and bobs from my crafty stash.  Here is a video on how I made the fourth and final canvas “Y”.  This has an under the water theme and I love the shells, sand and Punchinello.  This one was my personal favourite.

Scroll past the video for photos and a list of materials used…

Ingredients

• Pebeo Black Gesso
• Pebeo Modelling Paste
• Punchinello
• Shells (from a hobby store) and play sand
• Pebeo Mixtion Relief
• Pebeo Foiling Sheet in Green
• Pebeo Fantasy Prisme paints (in a green and a blue)
• Pebeo Dyna paints (2 of the blue/green colours)
• Glue
• Transparent Mixtion Relief (Pebeo makes one but I’m not sure what brand this one was)

Here is the finished set!  I love how they each have been made using the exact same techniques but each one has a completely different theme to it.

Part 1 “L” / Part 2 “U” / Part 3 “C / Part 4 “Y”

Pebeo Mixed Media Canvas Set “LUCY” 3 of 4

Inspired by the recent Sheena Douglass shows on Hochanda I decided to give some of my daughters old wall art a revamp as I had everything in my stash.  The canvases were originally Disney princess pictures from the pound shop but I covered them up with black gesso.  All mediums used are by Pebeo plus a few bits and bobs from my crafty stash.  Here is a video on how I made the third canvas “C”.  This one is covered in cogs and is actually Lucy’s favourite one in the set.

Scroll past the video for photos and a list of materials used…

Ingredients

• Pebeo Black Gesso
• Pebeo Modelling Paste
• Pebeo Mixtion Relief
• Pebeo Green Foil Sheet
• Pebeo DYNA paints
• Pebeo Fantasy Prisme Paints
• Sand paste made by mixing play sand in with the modelling paste
• Pebeo gilding wax in Empire Gold
• Cogs die cut from chip board
• Micro beads

Here is the finished set all together.  For “L” click here, for “U” click here.

Pebeo Mixed Media Canvas Set “LUCY” 2 of 4

Inspired by the recent Sheena Douglass shows on Hochanda I decided to give some of my daughters old wall art a revamp as I had everything in my stash.  The canvases were originally Disney princess pictures from the pound shop but I covered them up with black gesso.  All mediums used are by Pebeo plus a few bits and bobs from my crafty stash.  Here is a video on how I made the second canvas “U”.

Scroll past the video for photos and a list of materials used…

Ingredients

• Pebeo Black Gesso
• Pebeo Modelling Paste
• Paper flower embellishments (the ones without centres are Prima)
• Micro beads
• Pebeo Mixtion Relief
• Pebeo Gold Foil
• Pebeo Fantasy Prisme Paints in 2 colours
• Pebeo DYNA paints in 2 colours
• Pebeo vitrail glitter medium

Here is the set of canvases all together.  You can catch up on Part 1 here.

Pebeo Mixed Media Canvas Set “LUCY” 1 of 4

Inspired by the recent Sheena Douglass shows on Hochanda I decided to give some of my daughters old wall art a revamp as I had everything in my stash.  The canvases were originally Disney princess pictures from the pound shop but I covered them up with black gesso.  All mediums used are by Pebeo plus a few bits and bobs from my crafty stash.  Here is a video on how I made the first canvas “L”.  The buttons are a vey nice touch and the modelling paste really does hold them firmly in place.

Scroll past the video for photos and a list of materials used…

Ingredients

• Pebeo Black Gesso
• Pebeo Modelling Paste
• Random mixed buttons
• Pebeo Mixtion Relief
• Pebeo Gold Foil
• Pebeo Fantasy Prisme Paints in 2 colours
• Pebeo DYNA paints in 2 colours
• Pebeo vitrail glitter medium

Check back for the details on the other canvases.

Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements Fabric Patchwork Cushions

My mum got a new brown leather sofa and in conversation one day she asked me “what colour cushions do you think we should get?” to which I replied “well mother, I don’t recommend a colour but I can recommend some fabulous printed cottons which would be perfect for you!  So after spending an hour or so picking out the perfect fabrics I offered to make the cushions for her and I’m pleased to say that her and her husband were very pleased!  The fabrics were a delight to work with and I have a wedge of scraps to use on my own crafty projects hip hip hooray!!!  N.B. The cushions were 18” square.

Here are the finished cushions – for the backsides I started by creating an envelope fold using an old pair of trousers and a couple of shirt backs.  This was enough for two of the cushions but for the third one I had a crafty little trick up my sleeve to surprise them… it was a gamble…

So two of them have backs like this…

 

And the third was fashioned from one of the shirt fronts (and sleeves for the border).  They were very pleased with the secret stash pocket!

And just for fun here’s how I went about sketching the ideas out and working out the measurements.

Mixed Media Canvas for Sheena Douglass

This is a mixed media canvas that I created for the designer Sheena Douglass.  The end result was really beautiful with all of its shiny parts and especially the mermaid whose tail catches the light beautifully.  I made it through to the 2nd stage of the recent Design Team Call out for Sheena Douglass and even though I wasn’t picked in the end I still wanted to share with you my makes and how I made my final round canvas featuring stamping, die cuts, stencilling and lots of Pebeo mixed media-ness!  The canvas had lots of super shiny elements thanks to the foiling and the Dyna paints.  For my samples that were made in the first round please scroll down past the video and past the ingredients list…

Ingredients

• Gesso in White and Black by Pebeo
• High density modelling paste and modelling paste by Pebeo
• Crackle texture paste by Golden
• Stamps by Sheena Douglass (mermaid and cracks)
• Stencils by Sheena Douglass (pop dotty and equalizer)
• Dies by Sheena Douglass (wild rose and day of the dead)
• Embossing folder by Sheena Douglass
• Acrylic paints by Pebeo (including Dyna colours)
• Gelatos by Faber Castelle
• Foil Gilding sheets by Pebeo (green and silver)
• Drawing gum by Pebeo
• Perfect medium by Ranger
• Archival ink in Watering Can by Ranger
• Spectrum Noir alcohol pens (skin tones)
• Mixtion relief by Pebeo
• Aluminium tape
• Black card

Here’s my three makes from the first round:

 

Day of the Dead Mini Canvas (click for blog post and video)

Savannah Family Card – I’m planning on making this into an art journal page so make sure you’ve subscribed to my YouTube channel.

Faux Leather Embossed Altered Box – click for the blog post

Mini Canvas: Day of the Dead

These mini canvas boards are great for experimenting ideas in smaller formats before going big!  I’ve attached ribbon to the back so that it hangs.  This picture has been created using some of the stamps and flower die from Sheena Douglass’s Day of the Dead collection. 

Ingredients

• Black Gesso by Pebeo
• Acrylic Dyna Paints by Pebeo
• Stamps by Sheena Douglass (Day of the Dead collection)
• Black Archival Ink by Ranger
• Mixtion Relief and Black Vitrail Liner by Pebeo
• Vitrail, Fantasy and Prisme paints by Pebeo
• Gilding Sheets by Pebeo
• Archival Ink in Tiger Lily
• Sparkle coloured gel pens
• Shrink plastic
• Printer paper
• AquaTints by Spectrum Noir
• Black Ribbon

Upcycled Wooden Box: Faux Leather

Created especially for the recent Sheena Douglass design team call out, I turned this wooden box into something that will never end up on a craft stall!  The paper technique is called Faux Leather by Sheena Douglass and involves turning kraft card into a soft chamois leather effect using a mix of water and glycerine. 

Here’s a photo of the sorry looking box before starting… this is NOT a second hand box, this is exactly how on found it on the graveyard self in my supermarket – heavily reduced, scratched, chipped and dodgy decoupage peeling off.  It’s a good size and made from wood, so as a crafter I had to save it!

On the night before the renovation began I made up five sheets of A4 faux leather.  You can find a tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfunaRazSSo or on Sheena’s messy crafting DVD.  The next day I took some measurements and cut down some of the pieces to the right sizes for all of the panels on the box (with a little bit of overhang to get a nice finish later on).

For the background panels I used Sheena’s A4 embossing folder with the ivy leaves on it.  Using the remaining faux leather I die cut and embossed using Sheena’s fence, daisy border, briar rose and day of the dead dies.

Next came colouring up the pieces… normally I do a red-brown colouring (which I did do for the background) but I wanted to try making up green, blue, purple and yellow leathery pieces too.  To get that effect ink up using the base colour first, then go over with at least two different shades of brown.  I use distress inks. 

Then at long last came the assembly stage.  I adhered the background with Colall tacky glue and sanded off the edges with a sanding block. Then I went around the sanded edges again with my darkest brown ink.  Then I stuck down the fence, daisy border and ivy leaves before I sealed everything with Pebeo’s Bindex medium.  This is the part that gives it durability and a shiny/satin finish.  You can use gel medium or spray varnish for paper. 

It was this point that I realised that the original tassel on the box was half decent so I poked a hole through my lid leather and reinserted it.  Then I added all of the diecut flowers but only after sealing with the bindex separately (so that I could paint it on flat before shaping later on the lid). 

And here is the finished result…

 

Mixed Media Canvas: Lucky

Here’s a lovely way of making art from whatever you may have lying around your crafting area.  Don’t let any colours distract you as the whole thing will be gesso’d out and recoloured.  I’ve taken a variety of stencils – including some by Tim Holtz, Sheena Douglass and Memory Box – and applied either texture paste or crackle paste using a spatula.  Once dried I’ve added all sorts of bits of pieces including some Idea-ology pieces (wooden letters, faux wishbone and a clay moulding of a clock face piece), paper flowers by Prima, lace ribbon, beaded string, card die cut pieces and a random tinker bell cabochon from a fancy dress outfit.  The whole piece got two coats of white gesso by Pebeo and was then left to dry.  Then came the Distress Crayons- yay!  These were scribbled on in vertical areas and painted out with a wet brush.  Once completely covered the piece wasn’t pulling itself together properly so out came the Dylusion ink spray.  This still allowed the colours from the distress crayons to show through but were now all related together from the top layer of turquois.  The final step was highlighting all of the raised areas (which are plentiful from all of the texture) with Empire Gold gilding wax by Pebeo.

Altered Frames for Stamped Sheena Pictures (in Steps)

This technique was demonstrated by Sheena Douglass during one of her shows on Hochanda recently.  Essentially you take any cheap, old or unloved frame and give it a new look.  The materials used are Pebeo black gesso (which is a great choice as it really does give a good even one-coat finish), Pebeo Dyna acrylic paint (sorry but you won’t get the full experience of these special effect paints on a computer screen) and Pebeo gilding wax in Empire Gold.  It’s easy as 1-2-3!  This images I popped inside my frames were created with the Laguna Surf stamp set by Sheena Douglass.  The background stamps were coloured with Spectrum Aqua Pens and the foreground images were heat embossed onto acetate and coloured from behind with the Pebeo Dyna paints.

1. Cover frame in black gesso

2. Sponge dyna paints

3. Apply gilding wax to all raised edges, dry then buff it

First Frame… from Poundland!  It started off horrible shiny white plastic which I enjoyed killing off with the gesso mwahahahaa…

Second Frame – a quality ceramic-like material