Butterfly Arch for Happydaze

Due to family circumstances I have decided to reduce some of my crafting commitments, so I'm sad to say this is my last DT project for Happy daze. I have loved being on their design team, they are such a talented and friendly bunch and always full of inspiration.

I used the lovely lost coast design Butterfly stamps for my final project. I had an off cut of plywood on which I drew an arch shape and asked if Hubby would kindly cut it out for me as I wanted to keep my crafting fingers intact LOL.

I layered on various colours of  studio acrylic paint with a roller and then used the edge to give the impression of tall grasses. Once dry I used black archival ink to stamp the butterflies. Then I used the crafters workshop template and versamagic chalk inks and outlined the flowers with a white gel pen. I stamped the sentiment with archival ink and then I had my first encounter with beeswax, had fun getting very messy.


There is still plenty of time to enter the Junebug Happy Daze Challenge. One lucky winner will be drawn at random to win a  £15 voucher and free P&P to spend in the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person & you must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

• You can enter by blogging you address to the linky widget here, 
• emailing your picture to info@happy-daze.net
• uploading your photo to their facebook page

My apologises for not visiting your blogs this week but this is a scheduled post as we are away in Devon.

Have a great week and Happy Crafting. XX

An altered Cigar box for Happy Daze

I've had an old cigar box lurking in my crafting stash for a while now and I decided to give it a make over. I gave it a base coat of black gesso, then as I couldn't find quite the right shade I wanted for my box, I mixed a few different colours of my matt emulsion together to create a custom shade. I gave it a couple of coats, then sanded it down to reveal some of the black gesso. Next I used vintage photo distress ink and a crafters workshop template to create the harlequin pattern. I distressed some old book pages and used this fabulous vintage bird plate by blockhead stamps to decorate the lid of the box, using distress inks and inktense pencils to colour the images. I glued in place with matte medium then I sealed the box by rubbing in a small amount of Judikins microglaze, which is perfect for protecting your inky creations, then I buffed a small amount of antique gold patina around the edges of the box.

I meant to blog this yesterday, but as usual I am late, I despair of myself sometimes LOL!

Have a great day & Happy Crafting xx

Miranda For Happy Daze

Good morning & hiya to my new followers. Do I see sunshine!! I wish I could drag my craft desk outside as I seriously need a touch of sun on my extremely pasty skin (nearly the same colour as this bag) :-D. If you would like to know what products I used please pop over to the Happy Daze blog for some more info.

Hope you all have a lovely day crafting and manage to get some much needed sun. xx

I'm entering this for the following challenges

Tuesday Treasures (Bumblebeesandbutterflies)

Craft room challenge ~  add fabric 

Panpasteluk ~ pastel colours

The Lady Margaret ~ Happy Daze

I was so pleased to see that Happy Daze are now stocking these gorgeous Chapel Road Art stamps. I love this image of Margaret she is so serene and I love this period in history it is so rich, oppulent and fascinating.

 I made two gothic arches out of some recycled card and buffed on  distress inks in Barn Door and fired brick to create the rich red background. Then I used crafters workshop harlequin template and sponged on black soot distress ink and used one of my script stamps, to complete my background. Happy Daze are also stocking Micro Glaze from Judikins and this is perfect for sealing and protecting inky backgrounds. It also protects and seals any inkjet papers or photos. I rubbed a small amount onto each arch, then buffed to a sheen.

Margaret was stamped with black archival ink onto glossy card and coloured using a selection of versamagic chalk inks and a craft nib. I rubbed on some gold leafing wax, inka gold will work too. Then I triple embossed with cosmic shimmer clear utee. I also triple embossed my cabinet card frame with utee, then stamped with an inked up swirl stamp, then rubbed on more gold wax, cosmic shimmer bright gold is a much easier alternative, but unfortunately I didn't have any to hand. I added a couple of antigue bronze corners and a metal flower, then stamped and added the sentiments. Finally attaching the two arches together with some chain. 

A quick reminder about the current Happy Daze Challenge which  you still have plenty of time to enter. It is "May Queen." One lucky winner will be drawn at random to win a  £15 voucher and free P&P to spend in the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person & you must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

• You can enter by blogging you address to the linky widget here, 
• emailing your picture to info@happy-daze.net
• uploading your photo to their facebook page

Vintage Portrait Tag For Happy daze

I don't often make tags but these lovely new blockhead stamps from Happy Daze seemed perfect for this. They are gorgeous quality, and lovely thick rubber. I used the vintage portrait set for my tag. I dabbed distress inks in pine cone, barn door and  picket fence onto my craft mat and sprayed with water, (I think the technical term now used is smooshed) the tag across the ink. Then I randomly stamped one of the stamps from the set in archival ink on the tag. I used an old book page and tore to fit and then stitched it onto the tag. I stamped and cut out the vintage portrait and coloured with distress inks and sewed onto my tag. Adding some flowers, jewels and ribbon from my stash to finish.

A quick reminder about the current Happy Daze Challenge which  you still have plenty of time to enter. It is "April Showers" So have fun using your favourite water technique.  One lucky winner will be drawn at random to win a  £15 voucher and free P&P to spend in the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person & you must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

• You can enter by blogging you address to the linky widget here, 
• emailing your picture to info@happy-daze.net
• uploading your photo to their facebook page

I'd like to enter this for My Mojo Monthly ~ Tagology

Best Of British ~ Designed for Happy Daze

I have to own up that I've never made an ATC before as I've always found the diminutive size rather daunting, but these chunky wooden ATC's are perfect for me as they have plenty of surfaces for decorating. 

I sanded down and rounded the edges. Then coated with black gesso, once dry randomly painting red and blue acrylic paint on the block, then a final coating of a thin layer of white gesso. I sanded lightly to show some of the paint beneath. Then using black archival ink I stamped Artistic Outpost Loverley London plate, ooops and stamped one of them upside too LOL! I buffed over Barn door and chipped sapphire Distress Inks to highlight the paint showing through. I rubbed Inka gold along the edges and buffed to a shine

I bent & cut four of the these filigree corners (an idea from one of Gingers gorgeous creations) and glued in place with glossy accents. I screwed in a small draw knob from my stash to complete.

A quick reminder about the current Happy Daze Challenge which  you still have plenty of time to enter. It is "April Showers" So have fun using your favourite water technique.  One lucky winner will be drawn at random to win a  £15 voucher and free P&P to spend in the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person & you must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

• You can enter by blogging you address to the linky widget here, 
• emailing your picture to info@happy-daze.net
• uploading your photo to their facebook page

April Showers ~ Designed for Happy Daze

Hiya hope you have all had a good start to the week. 

It's a new month and so that means a new Happy Daze challenge. The theme is April Showers show us your favourite water technique.   I have to admit I’m not really one for techniques, so you can keep it simple like me. Or you can really let your imagination go wild and show us your different skills and methods.

The challenge is opened to anyone all we ask is that you use one item that is available in the Happy Daze shop.  One lucky winner will be drawn at random to win a  £15 voucher and free P&P to spend in the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person & you must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

• You can enter by blogging you address to the linky widget here, 
• emailing your picture to info@happy-daze.net
• uploading your photo to their facebook page

For this steampunk canvas  I  used a variety of  stencils to build up layers and washes of paint to create the background,  and I used water colour paints on my stamped image.

I used an old book page and gave it a light wash of gesso then I used the Lost Coast Designs Balloon Guys stamp as my focal image. I coloured with a combination of watercolour paints and distress inks and rubbed on Inka gold around the edges.

The two embossed panels are made using ten seconds studio metal in slate, humungo tape, card, this was run through my big shot using an embossing folder. I distressed the panels with sandpaper and sponged on different acrylic paints in black, red and orange until I achieved the desired effect and then rubbed on Inka gold.

I used black stazon to stamp an image onto an optical lense then applied gilding flakes to the back. I used a metal corner, a Tim Holtz hitch fastener , sprocket gears, game spinners and time pieces to finish my canvas.

Have a great evening, looking forward to season 2 of Game of Thrones even without Sean Bean. xx

Songbird designed for Happydaze

Inspired by Sam's altered altoid tins, I thought I would make my husband an altered tin. He plays the mandolin and is always misplacing his plectrums LOL, this little tin is the ideal size to store them in. I bought two of these tiny mint tins from Aldi for just over a £1.

I started by giving the tin a coat of gesso. Then two coats of cream matt emulsion.  I then stamped the cute little birds from Prima Songbird and the text stamp from Artist outpost Bluebird plate, in archival ink on the sides and the bottom of the tin. I painted the stamped images with distress inks in Barn door, Dusty concord, spiced marmalade and broken china. Then I buffed more broken china all around the edges.

I used a gold leafing pen around the top edge of the tin and finished with a coat of varnish.

A quick reminder about the current Happy Daze Challenge which  you still have time to enter. It is "March to your own tune" So anything with a musical theme.  One lucky winner will be drawn at random to win a  £15 voucher and free P&P to spend in the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person & you must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

• You can enter by blogging you address to the linky widget here, 
• emailing your picture to info@happy-daze.net
• uploading your photo to their facebook page

~ Renaissance Plaque ~ Designed for Happy Daze

I bought some fimo recently and decided to make a small Renaissance inspired project. I used the non bake variety and rolled out to about 1cm thick and then stamped with one of the houses on the  artistic outpost whimsical melange sheet. I used a script stamp in the centre, then left to dry for about 24 hours. It was then painted with studio acrylic paint in blue, zapped with a heat tool and distressed with the studio black paint. I highlighted the lettering with a krylon gold leafing pen. Then brushed on some heirloom gold perfect pearls. The plaque was coated with lisa pavelka magic gloss resin. The image was downloaded from the internet and placed in a chipboard frame which was given the inka gold treatment. Finally adding some gold german scrap, pearls and a filigree charm similar to this one

A quick reminder about the current Happy Daze Challenge which  you still have time to enter. It is "March to your own tune" So anything with a musical theme.  One lucky winner will be drawn at random to win a  £15 voucher and free P&P to spend in the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person & you must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

• You can enter by blogging you address to the linky widget here, 
• emailing your picture to info@happy-daze.net
• uploading your photo to their facebook page

Have a Great Day and Happy Crafting xx

Art Journaling Designed for Happy Daze

I decided to have ago at making an art journal (not really a journaling sort of person, never kept a diary before so will see how  I get on with it) using some recycled packaging to make the cover. I started with some plain white card and applied some distress stains in pine needles and dusky concord. Then diluted some distress re-inker in dusty concord and added some mica powder then sprayed on the the card. I lightened the page by adding a wash of watered down gesso. Then used bleach on one of my rubber script stamps and stamped it randomly accross the page & overstamped in black archival ink.
I used paper bag studios Be Happy cling stamp  and used distress inks to colour. This stamp so reminds me of photos of myself when I was younger. I sadly sported exactly the same haircut with the short wonky fringe, had my Mum to thank for that, she always cut my sisters and my hair really short LOL!  I remember one particularly bad haircut she gave me she decided to put some rollers in to try and make the best of a bad job, yikes it was dreadful, I think she scarred for me for life, but I did manage to let her keep me off school for a few days as compensation. Anyway I then stamped artistic outpost whimsical melange. I added some words ( tongue in cheek) I printed on the computer and used matte medium to glue the page to thick grey cardboard.

It does look rather dark for a journal they are usually bright affairs, but I blame successions of bad haircuts for that, told you I'd been scarred by the experience!!!!

The back of the journal was created in the same way and the stamp used is Paperbag studios windsong . I cut up my own paper to put in the journal a mixture of watercolour paper and thick card as I find a lot of the ready made books have quite thin paper.

 A quick reminder about the current Happy Daze Challenge which  you still have time to enter. It is Love, a Technique you love to use. It could be new or a your favourite tried and tested technique.  One lucky winner will be drawn at random to win a  £15 voucher and free P&P to spend in the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person & you must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

• You can enter by blogging you address to the linky widget here, 
• emailing your picture to info@happy-daze.net
• uploading your photo to their facebook page

Thanks for looking & Happy Crafting xx

This is Love!

The current Happydaze challenge is Love - A technique you love to use so I thought I would make my better half a Valentine card, using one of my favourite techniques which is stamping in bleach.

I started with  My Minds Eye Union Square, Beautiful Day paper, then I used some white card and covered it with barn door distress ink, rubbing the pad straight on the paper as I find it takes ages buffing with a foam pad on a large area. Then I folded a sheet of kitchen roll into a square and put it on a plate with a small amount of bleach to act as a stamp pad. I stamped a script stamp randomly across the paper, which removes the distress ink and creates a contrasting effect. I used the heat tool to dry, then I buffed some more distress ink to tone it down  a touch as it was a little to bright. I stamped Lost Coast Designs Cupid stamp in archival ink on top and die cut, Then buffed a some black soot DI around the edges and finished with a gold pen. I used Catslife press this is love stamp for the sentiment.

So please join in the Happy Daze challenge and show us the technique you love to use. One lucky winner will be drawn at random to win a  £15 voucher and free P&P to spend in the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person & you must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

• You can enter by blogging you address to the linky widget here, 
• emailing your picture to info@happy-daze.net
• uploading your photo to their facebook page

Leonardo Lovelies designed for Happy Daze!

Hoping to see the Leonardo Da Vinci Exhibtion at the National gallery, if I can hope with the hustle and bustle of London. I'm not a great one for crowds as it makes me very grumpy LOL! In the meantime I have satisfied my craving for all things Da Vinci, by making this little shrine. I used the little wooden arch which I gessoed and painted in matt emulsion. Then using black archival ink I stamped the Lost Coast designs Mona Lisa and Door and Window set. The other lovely lady is called Leda and is from judikins. I used inktense pencils to paint the images and background. Finishing with a touch of Inka gold in copper.

A quick reminder about the current Happy Daze Challenge which is Try Something New for the New Year. It could be a new technique you have recently discovered or some new stash you can't wait to to use. There is still plenty of time to enter. One lucky winner will be drawn at random to win a  £15 voucher and free P&P to spend in the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person & you must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

• You can enter by blogging you address to the linky widget here, 
• emailing your picture to info@happy-daze.net
• uploading your photo to their facebook page

Shabby Calendar Designed For Happy Daze

Hoping you all had a great Christmas. Ours wasn't very peaceful as the dog decided to scoff a Thornton's chocolate Santa when we weren't looking (chocolate is poisonous in large quantities for dogs, our dog is small and he consumed a very large amount!) so we had to take him to the Vets on Christmas Day, I won't go into details for the treatment as it wasn't pleasant and I'm sure you can imagine LOL but we returned £130 lighter.

Anyway onto my project as its nearly the end of the year I decided to make a calendar. I recycled some cardboard which I covered in Tim Holtz Vintage shabby paper I die cut the edges, distressed and stamped. For the main image I used the pretty Artistic Outpost Bluebird stamps which I coloured in using new flexmarkers from my stash. The roses were made using some more of the Tim Holtz Vintage shabby paper & my new tattered pine cone die (which I never had a chance to make any cones with in time for christmas LOL) I printed the calendar on the computer then used my bind it all to attach it. Some string was added to finish.

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your holidays and here's looking forward to a very crafty New Year.

XX

Cameo style Jewellery designed for Happy Daze

This jewellery uses shrink plastic to create both the pendant and earrings. Firstly I lightly sanded a sheet of shrink plastic and then painted a thin coat of gesso (this makes it easier to stamp on.) I stamped Lost Coast Designs winged girl with archival ink and gently heated to dry the ink. Then I used spellbinders lacy ovals to die cut into the shapes. I coloured the images using zig photo markers and then used my heat tool to shrink. I used a Krylon silver pen around the edges. Then glossy accents to finish, but this needs to be left overnight to dry, a quicker alternative would be Lisa Pavelka Magic Gloss Resin. Earwires and amethyst drops are from my stash.

Haven't forgotten about the blog candy as woo hoo, now101 lovely followers, sorting it out at the moment. I managed to get the last one of the small fabric purses from my local garden centre so will be adding that to it.

Take care & will be back later in the week with the blog candy, till then.

Happy Crafting XXX