Two cards- Two genres!

Welcome to you all, and to the last Challenge of Onion (me), Quirks (Lisa) and M (Mitra).
For those who have been following our little personal mission for inspiration over the last seven weeks, you will no doubt be a little sad, but it has served it's intended purpose; to challenge each other with an objective to revitalise the enthusiasm to create.
I have to say the verve and oomph has resurfaced for me, and although the complacency I feel at this time is great, I know it is not permanent, but that is a good thing....right?
We must extend ourselves to know how far we can go with our Art,  but what is most important is to continue to enjoy the process of creating.
This was not a competition on who could produce the best work, on the contrary it was to help each other through the rut we found ourselves in, our designs and preferences are very different, this was a huge plus as we were able to understand and learn from each others thought processes.....we did produce some interesting pieces, not all have been Wow's, but all have been a step forward to our goal and that is to rekindle the motivation and contentment we feel at our craft desk.

Oh goodness that was a little long-winded, let us get to the important bit of this post, and show you some cards.
This final Challenge was to make TWO cards-
 One Shabby-Chic and one Clean and Simple, plus we had to use this paper somewhere in the design.

As you all know I am a Shabby girl at heart well and truly, and as for CAS, well it is not a genre that I find easy or enjoy.

My CAS card.

Kraft card and the diecut Flower and stem which I white embossed,

and then I popped up the head of the flower.

I should have left it, but I destroyed the whole feel by adding the water effect at the base,  it was so hard for me not to add something else.
 (Oh Rosie I know what you are going to say!)

My Shabby Chic Card.

I used much more of the paper here; the Flower, leaves and Bg.

Glossy Accents have been applied to the Flower and leaves, and the Bg put through the crimper.

I must have still been in a CAS mindset, as this is a naked looking Shabby-Chic especially for me!

On closer inspection you will notice I have stamped and altered my Bg to enhance the feel.

The addition of curly fibres, tissue paper and stitching.

My heartfelt thanks to such great bloggy mates; Lisa and Mitra for sharing this journey with me, the last seven weeks have been so much fun, the anticipation of viewing each others work and the interpretation on each theme has been very inspiring.

Lisa Blog- here.

Mitra-here

NEWS

I am now on the design team for House of Cards  (Shabby Chic Team), it goes live this week with the first set of Challenges from the Fun and Cute Team. 

Mynette and Ruth(owners) have hand-picked the Teams for the different genres, so I feel quite honoured to be part of this new Challenge Blog.

Hop across and read what it is all about, there are prizes on offer too!

I am always warmed by your lovely comments that you leave and thank you for spending this time with me.

Smiles:)

Sue

Mixed Media Box

Hello Everyone
A couple of weeks ago I went to a class at Scotties; my local stamp shop. It has been ages since I attended any classes, and although I did not learn anything new, it was a joy to be amongst like minded people, there is nothing like it for boosting the lazy gene in you and I was certainly inspired.
I did not finish the box on the day as I wanted to make my own flowers.

I of course wanted it Shabby-Chic, there are endless layers of papers, paint and ink, plus embossing paste, before I was satisfied with the result only then did I begin to add the elements.

 The Back.

The side.

Top.

The handmade Flowers.

I am entering this into Sugar Creek Hollow- Mixed Media. Challenge.

Have a great day

Smiles:)

Sue

The Chevron!

The Chevron, is a repeated pattern of inverted V shapes that seemingly connect along a straight line.

Hello Everyone,
Here I am again with another chapter in the progress of stimulation and fostering the art of motivation. It is the 5th Challenge of Onion, Quirks and Mitza Pitza and this week it is ''To sew a Chevron Pattern''
I took on this Challenge in a figurative sense, when I designed my card.

I pulled on my quilting experience and made up the pattern, using three different papers of the same tonal qualities.
Here is how I made my Chevron pattern.

 Cut three pieces of  paper into strips of equal size and place them in repeated rows.

Start gluing them down on some paper until you have a size want. 

Make another one -Mirror image.

 

Start cutting at a 45 degree angle, making sure to cut your second piece (mirror image) to match.

The patterns should look like this, paired up.

Glue in place, I used multi medium.

For those discerning people who notice immediately that my points do not match, do not despair, I learnt a very long time ago that these can be hidden!!!

And here I am sewing my Chevron, and at the same time covering up the mismatched points.

Mmmm... not too bad.

This Tulip is a  corner stamp from 'Our Daily Bread' I fussy cut one and left off the other.

It has been coloured up using water soluble oil pastels and then glossy accents applied.

Cut and decorate the Chevron to size and add some elements.

My friend gave me this gorgeous shell that she found on the beach, it is perfect here.

More stitching.

My stitched Chevron Card.

This exercise brought back mixed emotions for me as I was transported back to my quilting days, I used to spend hours piecing and cutting material, this took no time at all in comparison, but it was still very enjoyable.

Okay, so pop over and visit Quirks (Lisa)  HERE

and Mitza Pitza (Mitra)   HERE

Next week is our last Challenge in this exercise of reinventing and discovering our motivation, and it is a biggie.......stay tuned.

Have a great week 

Smiles:)

Sue

S-habbilicious.

Hello Everyone
“S” a unit of the Alphabet that represents inspiration.
I am surrounded by this letter;
My Initial.
My Daughter's intial.
My Grandaughter' initial.
My Blog.
And all are considerably significant in my life.

If you read the definition of this letter you will begin to understand a little more about me!!!!

1.) A capability to find openings where others can’t.
2.) Anything new is a challenge.
3.) Looking at a situation from all sides.
4.) An “S” person has tenacity. 
5.) Never consider themselves failures.
6.) Innovative; right on the cutting edge.
7.) Negative “S’s” act impulsively .
8.) Do not reflect on the task at hand, but just go after it.
9.) If not the centre of attention, they tend to whine!!! ( I never whine.)

 Why am I talking about this letter?
Well this weeks Challenge of Onion (me), Quirks (Lisa) and MP.(Mitra) is to:
'' Draw your own focal image/sentiment"
Like I can draw!!!!!NOT, but as true to my 'S' as I am, 'anything is a challenge'.

I chose my Initial! Ha.... you may think easy way out and you will be correct, but I made it a focus and I did free hand draw it   .... so just continue to scroll down and I will lead you through the process of how Specific and how Special, I made my S.

 I used a lid to a very pretty Box

I covered it with Gesso.

Added a layer of newsprint.

Mod-podged bits of a paper napkin.

Stamped with Archival.

 Covered a piece of thick cardboard with Burlap.

Applied some tissue over the card-stock and stitched.

At this stage you are beginning to think that this does not look like a letter S, stay with me it is next.

Here it is my magnificent drawing of my Initial.

And off I go now making it special.

I received some inspiration on Pinterest.

I must apologise here that I missed taking a few pics as I dropped into the doodling zone!

You can see how I finished it up, using water-soluble Oil pastels and a Pitt pen.

And I cut it out.

Added some paints (Distress) on my mini cogs.

 

 Placed it centre stage on my prepared Bg.

My  S-habbilicious  Lid.

Now all I have to do is the base of the box!

I have two very talented partners in this Challenge;

Quirks-HERE.

Mitza Pitza-HERE 

Pop over if you need some inspiration and some good positive feelings.

Hope you receive some inspiration. 

Smiles:)

Sue

Just a note.

Hello Everyone I just wanted to let you know that I have now switched over to Bloglovin' as a Google Friend Connect Replacement. As you probably know Google reader is disappearing on July 1st and it is most likely in the future GFC will go as well, so I am letting you know that if you still want to follow me click on the Bloglovin' button in the right hand column. If you want to change to this reader yourself, it appears to be user friendly with clear and concise instructions, and of course most importantly it is free! There are tutorials out there just Google Bloglovin'. Have a great day Smiles:) Sue

The Bleaching Technique.

Bleaching
I would recommend wearing a mask if you want to try out this technique, it can be a hazard to your health when the fumes are wafting around the place........ as I found out!

I chose a soft subtle Pink as my primary colour, as it relates a feminine and a romantic feel.
What you are viewing above is a print of a butterfly that was cut from a serviette and matt medium applied to meld it into the Bg, the Die cut has also been treated the same way, (before being cut).

You can use coloured card-stock for this technique as long as it does not have a White core, initially I tried the card-stock but I did not like the effect I was getting,
I made up my own Bg, with Distress Inks, using the wrinkle free method; swipe the inks side by side on to your mat and spritz with water, then colour up your chosen paper/card.

I added a touch (I did not use all this) of mowed Lawn once I dried off the Pinks.

 

I used the method of soaking a paper towel in Bleach to use as my stamp pad, and stamped my images onto my Bg- I realised after these numerous attempts that the stamp has to be very wet to create a good effect.

Once this was dry I over stamped in Vintage sepia,  and stitched a border.

 

I was aiming for a Vintage feel, so included different laces and a button.

Smiles:)
Sue

Using a home-made Stencil.

Welcome Everyone
It is the third Challenge of Onion, Quirks and Mitza Pitza Incorporated, better known as Sue, Lisa and Mitra.
These Challenges are personal and there are no prizes, but the rewards for us are huge as we are gaining enormous inspiration from one another. I have been up for the past few weeks with my Art, but this week not so much so my creation is very simple.

The Challenge: To make our own Stencil.

Last weeks task was rather taxing on my tolerance levels; waiting for glue to dry is tiresome, but waiting for metal shavings to behave themselves is excruciating, so this week I decided to make it easy on myself and make a card.
I doubt very much that my buddies across the water will be going down this path, they will be far more innovative, and their projects I know will be Wowing me as well as you, so do not despair by my meagre effort this week, there is plenty to draw from with my buddies.
I cannot wait to see what they have made.
On the other hand you may like a less complicated design from me.


To make my stencil I used my Cricut Machine, and a Cornflakes box.

I felt I needed some weight and thickness to make my stencil, I was a little hesitant to cut plastic on my Cricut, as I had never attempted it before, so I stayed safe......... there is a theme going on already; SAFE.

I used Wendy Vecchi (Studio 490) embossing paste over my stencil, it has a wonderful creamy consistency and easy to apply, it was like icing a cake.

Look at this dimension, it is wonderful, I actually did not want to embellish very much.... gasp! I cannot believe I just said that.
But I have added faux stitching, some dots and the organza Rose.
Some of my CAS friends would have probably not even added these few things.

You see, not complicated, I did have to wait for the paste to dry but it did not take long and the result is pleasing.
I have just demonstrated that I can make a card and not add lots of embellishments, this is huge for me, even though it maybe a little boring.

Now hop across to see Quirks project here
And Mitra's  project here

If you have not used embossing paste as yet, I urge you to give it a try.
Have a great week.

Smiles:)
Sue
(Onion)