Once Upon a Midnight Dreary... - Saturday 18th October 2014

Hello Friends,


'I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled lustre by the dwelling, and gazed down, but with a shudder even more thrilling than before upon the remodelled and inverted images of the grey sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems, and the vacant and eye-like windows.' Edgar Allen Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher


Well if there was ever a time of year for Edgar Allen Poe then this is it! I created this with inspiration from a mixture of Poe texts...The Raven, House of Usher and created a very dark scene for Halloween. The title is from The Raven (had to have crows, ravens somewhere here) and the vision is mostly House of Usher.

I love the fun of Halloween, our front garden will, as always be suitably decorated to reflect this and hopefully raise some "oohs" and 'aahs" from the Trick or Treaters ( I get a special tingle when even the teenagers compliment!), but I also like the more sinister and creepy images and tales.

I won't pretend this was easy or quick: this little scene took a long time to make in very tiny snatches of 'me' time over the last two months. I was also so tempted to keep on going with it (it just started as the little scene with the fence) but in the end I had to stop or it would never be posted...maybe next year it will expand!

So bear with me whilst I explain how it was created:

The background -  this is just A3 card, on which I painted some 'lightening' with white cosmic shimmer paint and highlighted with wink of stella pen.

The House - although the whole creation is a Poe homage, the actual house was kind of inspired by the Bates House in Pyscho. I wanted to go for a large and decrepit looking building.The main building is made from two large and one small block from the Sizzix Scoreboards xl die set by Eileen Hull. I wanted a slatted wood effect, so cut them using corrugated packaging and painted them using burnt ember acrylic paint. Once dry I brushed a layer of Cosmic Shimmer white matt chalk paint on top and then sanded it back to reveal the burnt umber and give it an old and worn effect.

The side part is made from the Sizzix Cottage die by Brenda Walton. I cut two, layering one on top of the other and painted it in the same way as the main building. I free cut the windows, details and door opening and I cut a little figure to stand spookily in the door way. I cut the steps simply by making a concertina from black card and dusting with white paint.

You can't see in the photos, but I used a glue gun over the house to create a web effect.

The Graveyard:

The fence is an mdf art part from Anna Marie crafts. I painted it with burnt ember and then sanded it back before finally adding a touch of rusty hinge distress ink. The barbed wire is simply rusty wire with knots tied at intervals. 

The tree  with the owl is an art part from Calico Crafts, as are the bats and pumpkins. I painted the tree using burnt umber and the bats in black sparkle. For the pumpkins of course I used orange!

I used dried out grapevine for  decoration and some little die cut leaves scattered on the base. The base is just some wooden packaging.

 The stamps: I used rather a lot of stamps in this project!

The owl at the top of the house  and the cat are by Chocolate Baroque

The The gravestone with raven  and 'Be Afraid' sign are  also from Halloween stamp sets by Chocolate Baroque

On the ground is a Poe quote from the poem A Dream within a Dream: "Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?" - the stamp is from Crafty Individuals. The ravens in flight above the tree are also from the same stamp set.

The pumpkins hanging from the tree are also by Chocolate Baroque. I photographed these separately as they are hard to see: they are coloured black with orange faces (Promarkers) and then coated with glossy accents, so still a little hard to see I'm afraid,

 The pumpkins at the foot of the steps (see picture 1) are a stamp from a Hampton Art set I bought in the US last year.


The moon is part of the tree; I backed it with vellum and illuminated it by suspending  a battery operated tea light behind.

 That's about it..what fun it was to make...I love doing things like this, just wish there was more time to do it!


I'd like to enter this project in the following Challenges:

Art with Heart  Tricks and Treats Challenge - 

http://www.eileenhull.com/2014/10/spook-tacular-sizzix-projects.html

The Sizzix Challenge - Halloween 

http://blog.sizzix.com/sizzix-challenge-halloween/


Artists Trading Post Mixed Media Halloween Challenge -http://artisttradingpost.blogspot.co.uk



Thank you so much for stopping by, I know Halloween, especially the darker side isn't too all tastes, but I am such a fan and it was still fun to create!


Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Prim Folkart Crow - Sunday 21st September 2014

Good Morning Friends,

Well tomorrow is the day that the kitchen installation begins, we'll make sure the installers arrive ok and then be off, just for the day to enjoy our holiday!

My post this week goes back to the Prim Folkart creations that I mentioned I was working on in my Creative Blog hop post last week. There are two pieces, but they go together, so I wanted to show them  as one.

I know that Primitive Folkart is a bit of a' like it or loathe it type of craft'...and this piece is something very different to what I usually post here!

I first fell for it as a teenager,I really love its honesty and naivety,  but it's not so popular here in the UK, so I don't do too much of it,( or at least I don't post it on here) but for me, Autumn and Christmas are seasons where this type of art form really comes into its own and I wanted to show you what I have created this time.

The Tryptych

First of all the Tryptych, which I painted freehand. I sketched and painted the elongated pumpkin, star and crow. Crows are synonymous with folk art, they are viewed as a spirit animal/guide, with links to luck,  magic, change and also being a trickster...so pretty powerful!

I started with a plain wooden triptych, which I painted in a brown colour chalk paint and then white. I used Annie Sloan paint, because I love it! I then sanded the edges to give it a distressed finish. I drew the star, crow and pumpkin, which I painted with acrylics. When It had dried, I sanded over the pumpkin again. Then I gave the whole piece a coat of Mod Podge gloss to seal.

The sunflowers

I made the sunflowers like this: I used some calico and cut three circles, one of them smaller for the centre. I snipped around the edge of the two larger circles to make the petals, which I painted with yellow acrylic. 

I sewed around the edge of the smaller circle and pulled the thread to draw it in, then stuffed it with some toy stuffing before securing it and adhering it to the rest of the sunflower. Then I painted the centre with Burnt Ember acrylic, leaving some patches for a more rustic look.

Coffee Stain

Before starting the sunflowers I had made a little cup of very strong instant coffee - I used this to paint over the entire sunflower to give it an aged stain. I also painted the leaves on the sunflower with coffee stain.

To finish the sunflowers I added some rusty wire for the stems and made little labels, on which I wrote the words 'Fall' and 'blessings'. I painted these with the coffee too and inked the edges with vintage photo distress ink.

  Now for the crow....

I made the crow from a pattern I've had for quite a while and used in projects before. It's by a Prim designer called Sagebrush and Sassafras  and  is made from calico and once I had sewn it up, I painted it with black acrylic. The wings are pockets, which the flowers are tucked inside.

When the paint was dry, I gave the crow a coat of coffee stain and then brushed the wings and around the eye with  cinnamon. This gives the piece a 'dusty finish...and it smells good!

The flowers are also made from calico and painted with orange acrylic. I also sewed rusty bells to them and the fixed them to the stick to tuck in the pocket. I tied checked ribbon around the crows neck to finish.

I made the sunflower in the same way as the little flowers in the triptych   but a  much larger version and I wrapped a stick with calico, which I painted with ember  paint to make the stem.

The pot is actually mdf - I painted it with acrylic paint, sanded it  and sealed it with Mod Podge, I used outdoor, just in case I ever wanted to use it for an outdoor decoration. I filled the pot with an oasis and twiggy bits before adding the crow and the sunflower. I had a  little sunflower left over from the triptych, so I also added that.

Finally, I made a label and sewed around the edges,. I gave it a coat of coffee stain before inking over the tag and roughing up the edges  to complete the ageing process I  then tied it to the stem with ribbon and added a strip of burlap for decoration.

 Flowers above are attached to a stick and inserted into the wing pocket

  Well I hope you find my delve into Prim Folkart, even if it's not to your taste...it took quite a while to finish but I was happy with the end result,  By the way these pictures were taken in amongst our grapevines, which are looking great at the moment....I'll post some photos later in the week.


I would like to enter this mixed media piece into two challenges:

The brand new challenge at The Mirror Crack'd - theme 'Anything Goes'

and  the September  e-play challenge at Eclectic Paperie - Fall 


Thank you so much for stopping by, I will be back in a day or so with a fun Halloween piece I have made using Artist Trading Blocks


Love and Hugs
Carole X

Little Donkey: Sunday Stamper wk 265 - Thursday 11th July

Morning Friends,

Aha...did anyone think my creation this week was going to also be my first Christmas card? Sorry, not today, I'm still crafting for the beach!

For this week's Sunday Stampers - full deets here -  Hels has set the theme of ' showing some depth' and this was a very quickly made project. I actually had lots of much 'grander' ideas but I'm afraid this painful shoulder and neck  of mine, is severely restricting my ability to craft for long periods at the moment :(

In case you haven't recognised it, this little picture is made from the lid of a totally dried up distress ink container. 

I painted it with  PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic in Mermaid and then once it had dried, sanded it a little to remove colour and make it look worn.

I stamped the seaside donkey ride image (Crafty Individuals), cut it out to reveal the painted sky areas and attached it to the lid. Then I stamped it again, cut out the donkey and girl, coloured them and attached them with 3D foam pads.

To finish I also stamped some bunting (Crafty Individuals), coloured it and stuck it across the top. To finish I added some starfish and  a sandcastle button I found in my button box!

This little stamp brings back childhood memories - on days out to our nearest beach when I was a kid, Weston-Super-Mare, being horse mad from a very young age, all ever wanted to do was ride on a donkey! I even remember my favourite was called Molly! Don't every remember wearing a winter coat like this little girl though :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Love Carole X

Weathered Shell Box - Thursday 20th June

Hello Blog Friends!

I hope you all managed to enjoy some sun yesterday, because I don't think Mr Sunshine is coming out this morning (at least not here in the Southwest, where it's pouring down!). Yesterday was a non work day for me, so the hens enjoyed a wonderful day in the garden, whereas I spent most of it inside making up my packs for the ladies at our workshop tonight and finishing off this little box that I started last week!

My regular followers will know how much I have have been enjoying using this stamp from Crafty Individuals and tonight is the second workshop where we will be using it - my group of ladies (a different group to last time), will be making the twisted easel I posted here.

When I saw that this month's Crafty Individuals Challenge had a beach theme and having made quite a few beachy projects lately, some of them using this stamp, I knew I wanted to create something other than a card. This wooden box had been on my altered art stash shelf for a while and looking at it, the idea of a shell box came to me...

First of all I sanded the box and then gave it a coat of Claudine Helmuth Gesso, both inside and out.  I made masks of the stamps from post it notes and positioned them on the box where I wanted to stamp them, then using a dotty mask I stencilled through with embossing paste. Once dry, I  sanded slightly and gave the entire outside a coat of acrylic (parchment colour); then I stamped the beach huts, sentiment and bathing belle and gave a wash of colour with promarkers.

Next I coated the front and sides with crackle accents to give a protective finish and left to dry...in an attempt to make the box appear as if it had been around for years, I rubbed it inside and out with gold rub n' buff and the edges with Patina metallic gilding wax.

 To decorate I added shells, starfish, some little metal charms and hessian to the top and sides and knotted some craft ribbon rope before tying around the box. I also decided to use a piece of knotted rope for the 'handle'.

I rubbed some of the gold relief inside the box leaving areas of parchment paint showing to create and worn look.

I stamped the quote 'May you always have a shell in your pocket' from the same stamp set(love this!) on card, tore it, distressed it and fixed it to the inside of the box lid. Then I stamped the postcard from Crafty Individuals stamp CI-119, a few times and inked with distress inks to make them look old. I distressed the edges and crumpled them up before tying with vintage lace (which I coloured with Vintage Photo distress ink)

To add finishing touches, I used some bottle tops, added a starfish to one and little shells with the others and filled with UTEE heated in my melting pot; I also made a cast of a shell from heated UTEE and added some shells collected on my own travels.

Well I think that's about it!!! Thank you so much for stopping by!

I would like to enter this project in the Crafty Individuals June challenge: Sun, Sea & Beach

I would also like to enter this project in the Our Creative Corner June Challenge: Recipe and have used:  

List A: Fabric: Hessian, craft rope and lace

List B: Wooden box, metal embellishments

List C:  Inks, Acrylic paints and rub n' buff stain

Love and Hugs

Carole X