Crafty countdown....65 days to go

Hi crafters, thank you for popping on by again!! This blog post is a little tricky to photograph, as its long!! I've gone down the real messy crafting this time - let's see if you like this, or prefer it a little more refined.

I've carried on with yesterday's theme, as I still had stars left, and love using the same products to get a different look. 

 I started with a piece of mdf (not Meg!!) that was already painted:

I arranged the stars and got an idea of layout. I then added stencil detail, using blue paint and a stencil brush 

Once I stencilled the whole mdf pieces I then added gesso with a sponge - this adds texture, but also allows me to see the stencil work underneath:

Next I wanted to use the same stamp I used yesterday, but wanted it to look different, so decided to cut it up:

I matted and layer the stamp images onto card, but the words which were difficult to cut out needed to be stamped directly onto the plaque, so I had to mask of the words I didn't want to ink. This is easily done with a post it note pad:

Next I threaded string through two of the holes, and threaded some of my stars:

The moon (which I have painted silver) was covered in glue, then popped into a tub of flakes. I then suspended it from string which I tied to the string at the top of the placque:

I quite like my swinging little moon:

Oops, I forgot, I also went round some of the swirls created with the stencil, with a black fine tipped drawing pen. This just emphasises the detail a little.

Next, I added my other stars and the words to make up the saying. I added glitter glue, and also glossy accents to the words. I brushed over with white paint to add extra texture to my design, and to give it that rough "sketchy" look.

Gosh, that's it!! To finish I blasted it with a clear super gloss varnish. Because I'm using mdf, the varnish doesn't shine as much as expected, but does give it a more professional finish.....so, smooth or "sketchy and rough"? Have a play, and see what you like :)

Crafty countdown- 66 days to go

Today: sitting in my messy craft room, the weather chilly and blustery outside, the dogs chilled, radio 6 on with Giles Peterson playing some cool tunes. Crafting. It's one of those days when I have to steal myself, this is bliss. I thank my lucky stars that I'm able to do this. 

And, talking of stars (seemless), sitting in my room are 3 boxes of cool little stars which I bought ages ago for my web site, but couldn't list as the boxes were all damaged - it's not a major disaster as I kept them :)

Normally things like this make we want to get out the triple thick embossing powder, but as these have holes in, they're shouting out to be used with wire.

I also had on my desk a piece of Meg which had already been base coated with black paint, then white gesso

I blobbed some paint on my craft sheet, and applied with an old towel. This adds texture whist applying the paint 

Next I used a stencil and sponged the paint through 

I didn't worry about It being perfect. And I never pre-plan these things. It's all about playing and experimenting - seeing what happens. To emphasise the circles I used my pocky tool to scratch rough circles into the mdf

I like the exposure of the black paint and mdf. However, it looks a little heavy, so I used white gesso to knock the intensity back a little

The base is rough from the scratching, so I lightly sanded it, and sanded the edges, to reveal some of the black paint.

Really happy with this now, like the texture and the colours, so I'm ready to stamp. This is the scary bit - once I've stamped I have to love it or paint over the whole thing! I didn't want to stamp with black as I thought this would be too heavy, so I used a nice denim from Adirondack, and one of my fav stamps from stampers anonymous, another Tim Holtz collection.

I then painted my stars and threaded them with coated wire. I used a nice pliable wire 

Don't they look cool! Now to apply them to my base. I used 3D foam under the moon, and then a combination of pinflair and cosmic shimmer glues. I sculpted the wire, so my stars say precisely where i wanted them:

Really happy with it. I added a little black paint to the moon and stars to lift them off the base, and then couldn't help myself - glitter glue!! Has to be stickles star dust. Not to much, but just enough to give it a subtle sparkle: