a sprinkle of imagination

Sweet Dreams

2016-09-25T09:39:00.003+01:00

Good morning all and happy weekend to you all. I'm feeling a little sleepy at the moment, with Autumn around the corner and the dark nights making an appearence it is somewhat reflecting my mood in what I have made for this project.

For this project I used:

Dylusion paints (crushed grape, lemon zest, bubblegum pink, vibrant turquoise, white linen)

Stampotique - Magda Polokow - Pajama Party

Inktense pencils

Finnabair art basics 3D Matt gel

Finnabair art ingredients mica powder blue opal

Posca paint pens

On the door hanger I gave a coat of gesso. Over this I blended crushed grape and white linen Dylusions paint. Once dried I applied some tiles of card using the 3D gel. Using the lemon zest and bubblegum pink I applied more Dylusions paints in random areas of the hanger, I love the way these blended to a different orange shade. I dried this layer before using the vibrant turquoise paint again in random areas. I knocked everything back by dry brushing with white Dylusions paint. Once this was dry I added some more vibrant turquoise.

Now that I had finished my painting I added some background stamping and stenciling, through a raindrop stencil I scrapped over some of the 3D gel and set aside to dry.

I stamped Pajama party onto some watercoloured card and coloured with inktense pencils. I cut her out and adhered her using the 3D gel.

Around the tiles and Pajama Party I went in with my inktense pencils and added some shadows. Finally I doodled with a White Posca pen.

Remember to drop by the A Sprinkle of Imagination shop where there are lots of special offers!

Crafty hugs,

Clare X X X

Free Postage Weekend!

2016-09-09T12:10:00.000+01:00

Music - Up cycled CD case

2016-09-03T11:59:00.000+01:00

Happy weekend everyone, Clare here today with a Sprinkle from my imagination! Recently we have been sorting out our bedroom in preparation for some decorating! You know what it's like? You unearth lots of bits and bobs that you you really had forgotten about. Well I found out an old cd case with some old CDs and decided I would give it a make over.

I started off by giving the case a coat of gesso so that the paints would have a good base to cling to.

Using Dylusion paints (vibrant turquoise, lemon zest, cherry pie, white linen, fresh lime). I painted directly onto the case. Using stencils from Tim Holtz, Dina Wakely & Dylusions I added some shapes with the paints I had originally used in the background.

Using Dylusions Dy's Alphabet I stamped onto the case with black ink.

I originally stamped Dina Wakelys Shilloueted woman onto the case but because of the texture she didn't pop as much as I wanted her to! So I stamped her onto some white tissue paper, heat embossed with clear powder and carefully applied her to the case using Claudine Hellmuth Matt medium.

I added some doodlles using Posca pens. My case is now ready to be filled once again with CDs for the car and I shall no longer have my daughter moaning that I'm always listening to the same music!

Thanks for stopping by today, remember to stop by A Sprinkle of Imagination for your mixed media materials.

Hugs,

Clare X X X

Let's Go Fly a Kite

2016-08-30T09:00:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, I hope you enjoyed your long weekend! I've got a clean and simple card for you today.

This silhouette image by Jenni Bowlin looks great with very little embellishment. I just sponged a background using Seedless Preserves Distress Ink, then l laid the Fence Frame stencil from The Crafters Workshop and sponged more Seedless Preserves. To ground the image I stencilled Black Soot Distress Ink through the Tim Holtz Stripes stencil.

To finish off, I trimmed my panel then mounted it onto purple card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Shirley x

Master board makes

2016-08-22T13:39:00.000+01:00

Hello fellow bloggers, I've been going master board crazy lately, it really is a good place to start when you are looking for inspiration for a project. Working with stencils and paints to build up the layers and create different looks the effects you can end up with are too many to mention.

I started of with with my master board using Dylusions white linen, London blue and after midnight.
With the help from Dylusion, Tim Holtz and TCW stencils I built up my layers. I added some
background stamping using the stamps from Tim Holtz District warehouse set.

The circles are from Finnabair Don't for get to fly set. I stamped these directly onto my master board and then stamped these onto watercolour card with black ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I coloured in the flowers and added some doodling with a white Posca pen.

I cut out the circles and layered them onto the card. With a white and black posca pen I flicked and splattered across the card and finally added the lawn fawn sentiment 'Happy birthday to you'.

I also used another section of the master board using the warehouse district and still have another couple of pieces to come back to for future birthdays.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you have enjoyed my blog post? Come back again soon!

Crafty hugs,

Clare X X X

http://www.asprinkleofimagination.com/stencils/

Two Scribbly Birds

2016-08-17T22:00:00.001+01:00

Hi there peeps! Are you enjoying this little burst of summer? I've managed to drag myself away from the garden for a few hours of crafty time.

I've been playing with the Scribbly Birds set from Dina Wakley. I made a couple of background panels using Dylusions paints, then cut two panels using the Lawn Fawn Lawn Cuts Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies.

I smudged the paints onto the panel, splattered some white, then once that had dried I brayered some white over the top to knock everything back.

I stamped the bird in Versafine Onyx Black, then watercoloured using Distress Inks and fussy cut the image.

Cut-down strips of Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tissue Tape were added to the panels for visual interest.

My second card was made using the same process. I stamped some triangles from Hero Arts Stamps & Cut - Happy onto the panel.

This time I tore the tissue tape into strips to layer onto the panel.

Thanks for popping in, and enjoy this good weather while it lasts!
Shirley x

Here's the science bit!

2016-08-11T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hi blog friends it's Clare here today and today I'm revisiting a technique that I used a long time ago. It's more of an experiment with paint if I'm honest, it really is quite scientific!

Using Dylusions lemon zest, I painted a layer onto the canvas and dried. After this I painted a watery layer of white linen, with a pipette I added some drops of surgical spirit. Here's the science bit! The surgical spirit pushes the paint away leaving these beautiful natural circles that you can see below.

It is very important to do this in a well ventilated room! Once the white layer was dry I added a watery layer of vibrant turquoise and added more surgical spirit, dry again, and another layer of watery white.

Once my white layer had dried I added the final layer of bubblegum pink and repeated with the surgical spirit. I stamped Stampotique, Kira Nichols, Kitty Squad stamp and coloured with water soluble crayons. I cut them out and placed them popping out of the circles. I stamped one of the Dylusions sayings and added to the mini canvas. Finally a little doodling with my posca pens.

I decided that I would add a magnetic sheet to this canvas and pop it on the fridge.

Thank you for stopping by today, have lots of crafty fun!

Hugs,

Clare X X X

Dylusions love !!!!!!

2016-08-09T07:00:00.000+01:00

Hey there lovely creative ones. Hope you are all keeping well.

We are enjoying some lovely weather here in the UK at the moment and it just puts me in such a good mood..makes me appreciate all the lovely colours and flowers all around me.....

Playing in my large Dylusions journal and of course the wonderful Dylusions acrylic paint and stamps.

Created a fun background first using various coloured Dylusions paints and adding some random stamping with a black archival ink pad.

Once I was happy with my background I sketched and painted my flower in white and adding some shading with a black pencil.

To finish my page I used a white gel pen to put in some background elements on the back. The white really makes the other colours pop !!!

The last thing I did was take a black pen and write in the words 'be free' running down the stem.

I love the way my journal page has turned out and definately think the beautiful sunshine helped me create a happy piece of art !!!

Thanks for stopping by

Bright and painty hugs

Tracy

Xxx

Bonjour!

2016-07-27T06:00:00.000+01:00

Bonjour bloggers, my theme today is a little on the French side! My Daughter, Sophie, has just returned from a little trip across the water. It was her very first trip abroad on her own (with school). I was a little anxious, to say the least but she is home safe and sound.

I asked Sophie to keep her tickets and leaflets etc and said that we could do something special with them upon her return. I decided to make a memory book where she can keep her special treasures and photos.

I painted the book cover in Dylusion London blue, white linen and cherry pie. Using Tim Holtz stencils and the above paint I stencilled over the page.

Once dried I doodled using a Posca pen. I used the French words and The Eifel tower to stamp directly onto the book cover. The stamps are from Julie Nutting 'bonjour' set, I didn't use the doll from the set but selected another that was big enough for my project. I coloured the doll using Inktence pencils and collaged her on to the cover.

All ready to hand over to Sophie to create her book of memories.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Happy crafting,

Clare x x x

Christmas in July

2016-07-25T09:00:00.000+01:00

Morning, folks! Now that summer is upon us, I thought it would be a good idea to make some Christmas cards :)

I've used the Lawn Fawn Lawn Cuts Stitched Snowflakes. The snowflakes come attached to each other - you can leave them like that (as I did) or you can separate them to use individually or in a different arrangement. The beauty of this die set is that you can use both the negative and positive cuts so you can get two cards for the price of one.

I started off by cutting the set out of white card, then leaving everything intact I brushed a watercolour wash of Tumbled Glass Distress Ink across, allowing the colour to pool unevenly at the edges of the cuts. Once dried, I removed the cut pieces and adhered the panel to my card base. I popped the two larger snowflakes back into place to use as a guide for sticking the interior shapes into place, and diluted some Viva Decor Inka Gold and flicked it over the finished card.

That left me with the stitched snowflakes to use on another card.

Again, I flicked some Inka Gold over the navy card base, and brushed the snowflakes with Wink of Stella for a little sheen.

Then I just adhered the snowflakes by the centres and curled up their edges for a bit of dimension.

Thanks for looking, and have a great Sunday!

Shirley x

Clock Flower Journal Pages

2016-07-21T09:00:00.000+01:00

Morning, peeps! I don't often do journalling, but I was in the mood for a little painty play recently.

I started off by dragging some Dylusions Paints across the double page spread using a credit card. Lemon Zest, Vibrant Turquoise, White Linen, and London Blue around the edges.

Added a bit of stencilling in White Linen and Squeezed Orange using Tim Holtz stencils, and while the sponge applicator was still loaded with Squeezed Orange I made three circles.

When the circles were dry I outlined them and drew stems and leaves with a black Derwent Inktense pencil, then smudged it with a damp paintbrush, and added white highlights with a Sakura gelly roll pen. I overstamped the circles with the clock image from Tim Holtz Curiosities set using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink.

I finished the pages off by adding a sentiment, butterflies and a border with a Finnabair stamps.

Thanks for taking a look, and enjoy your day!

Shirley x

All hearts and flowers.

2016-07-19T06:00:00.000+01:00

Good morning all! It's been a while since I last posted for A Sprinkle of Imagination so without further ado let me show you what I have been up to in the room of craftiness!

For this card I used The following Dylusions paints: Dylusions paints Cherry pie, Lemon zest, white linen. I started by scraping lemon zest over the card with an old credit card. I repeated this with the cherry pie, with the edge of the card I added some lines with the Cherry Pie. I dried with a heat tool and then scraped over some white linen. I blended some more white linen through the Tim Holtz

splotches stencil. Through the Dina Wakely TCW stencil , grunge hearts, I blended with Cherry pie and Lemon zest.

Onto some card, previously sprayed with Dylusions inks, I stamped with the heart stamp from Finnabair set Trust the magic several times to create my petals. I assembled them together and added some glimmer with a Wink of Stella clear pen. Using the small butterfly from the Finnabair spread your wings set I stamped a couple of butterflies to embelish the card. I finally splattered with my black and white Posca pens.

Thank you for stopping by today. I'll be back soon with some more painty and inky mayhem.

Crafty hugs,

Clare x x x

More reasons to get crafty...

2016-07-06T10:24:00.000+01:00

Good morning all

Just a quick post to let you know that there are even more products in our HUGE sale section

and a few special offers too!

10% off selected GOLDEN fluid acrylics

Some of the Distress family of products are either at a new lower price, or reduced to clear!

If that's not even Tim Holtz goodness

we have also got a clearance event on selected

Idea-ology! and Tim Holtz Stamps

DYLUSIONS NEWS

yep, we have reduced to clear our remaining selection of

Dylusions Stamps AND Stencils!

Not only that but we have 10% off Dylusions Ink Sprays too!

So, plenty of sunshine crafting in the garden this summer.

You could even start planning your Christmas projects!

Happy Creating!

Vicki

Prima goodness !!!

2016-06-28T07:00:00.000+01:00

Morning gorgeous people

Tracy here and it's great to be back with you again...

So this week I've been playing around with the amazing Prima Watersoluble Oil Pastels, I've used the neocolours for a couple of years now so wanted to see what these new beauties from Prima could offer....

My substrate for this was a black and white napkin from my local supermarket, and i adhered this to a 6x4 index card with my gel matt medium before drying it fully.

Once adhered I started by laying down small amounts of colour directly on the napkin and then going over it with a wet soft brush to dilute the colour around the design ( you can only do this technique if you have gel matt medium over the top as it stops the water absorbing into the napkin giving time to move the colour around)

I continued doing this until I was happy with the depth of colour, you can keep going back to areas adding more colour until you are happy.

Once I was happy I went in with the oil pastel dry and added some darker areas to the stalks of the leaves and centre of the flowers etc smudging in with my finger ( you could also use a blending stump for this)

My final step was to use white acrylic paint to add some highlights and detail to my card and of course their had to be glitter !!!

I had so much fun with this technique, the oil pastels are rich and creamy with a stunning array of colours and they are current on sale !! ..... What's not to love !!!!

Thanks for stopping by

Bright and painty hugs

Tracy

Xxx

Technicolour or Monochrome?

2016-06-24T11:02:00.001+01:00

Hi peeps, Shirley here. I've been playing with this gorgeous stamp from Karen Hayselden in the new Stampotique Originals range. Meet Herbert Hare - isn't he wonderful?

I stamped out a couple of images, and coloured one with Derwent Inktense pencils and gave it a light wash. Once it was dry I went back and added more dry colour. Around the whiskers:

Around the ears:

And a shadow wash to ground the image.

Then I did a monochrome version, using just the black pencil. A light wash inside the ears - always wash inside your ears ;)

Then pencil shading on the face and around the outside of the image.

Followed by a shadow wash to ground the image.

Pop on over to the store for a look at the rest of Karen's and other Stampotique designers' ranges.

Have a great weekend!
Shirley x

Crazy Town !!!

2016-06-20T07:00:00.000+01:00

Hey there lovely people

Tracy here and it's great to be back with you today for a new post....

It's been a while and I've been working on lots of great projects but I always come back to one of my favourite techniques....

I just love to create these colourful collage whimsy houses and whenever I have scraps of paper on my desk to use up I just can't help myself.....

Using various scraps of paper, old tags & the gorgeous Dina Wakley Acrylic Paints I set to work to create a truly unique 'crazy town'

Every time I makes these I have no plan how they will turn out, I just start to cut up scraps of paper, card, tags etc and play around until I'm happy with the look.

Once all my pieces are glued down I can start going in and painting, I love to use my fingers for this process as I like the messy random look it gives ( you can use a brush for this if you don't like finger painting !!!)

Once I'm happy with my brightly coloured houses, I start to add detail. One thing I like to do is add shadow with a black watersoluble pencil around all of the edges of the houses, this really does help to ground them onto the page and really makes the colours pop !!!

One of my last steps is to add words or phrases to my houses and sometimes I like to add small pieces of metal embellishments, buttons etc to add some extra depth.

I hope you love my 'crazy town' as much as I do and can't wait to be back to share with you again soon...

Bright and painty hugs

Tracy

Xxx

Time Flies

2016-06-17T18:48:00.001+01:00

Hi guys! I've been playing with various media to make this Time Flies canvas.

I started off by making my weathered wood panel by swiping Distress Ink minis from top to bottom.

Then scoring it every half inch before stamping with the Peeled Paint background stamp from Darkroom Door. I painted my canvas with black gesso and adhered the panel to the canvas.

Added a few buttons, paper flowers, bandage fabric scrap and some moulded items from my stash, and painted those black.

Once everything was dry I sprayed Dylusions White Linen over it and when that had dried, rubbed on some Viva Decor Inka Gold in Lava Red, Jade and Gold.

The Inka Gold adds a lovely antique metallic look to the painted flowers.

Using the Julie Nutting Mixed Media Doll Wings stamp as a template, I cut out a pair of wings from black card and painted them with Finnabair Art Alchemy Acrylic Paint - Opal Magic Rose-Gold. You see the gold in one light, and the pale rose colour in another. The clock is from Tim Holtz Curiosities, sponged with Antique Linen.

I hope time isn't flying too quickly for you this summer!

Enjoy your weekend.

Shirley x

Boots

2016-06-12T06:00:00.000+01:00

Howdy folks, I've sadly made it to the end of what has been a couple of relaxing, crafty weeks. It's back to school for me on monday where I shall be daydreaming of my little crafty hideaway and doing maths, of course! So with that in mind I have prepared myself a little door hanger in anticipation of the monday morning blues.

On the door hanger I painted with the following Dylusion paints: Bubblegum pink, cherry pie, vibrant turquoise, white linen. I also used black linen for the circles. I doodled around my mark making

with a white Posca pen. I chose Kate Crane's delightful Stampotique character 'Boots' with hope that she will lift me from my doldrums. I coloured her in with Inktense pencils, cut out and adhered her to my door hanger.

All I need to do now is decide where to hang it. Dare I hang it in my teaching area at work or just on my bedroom door to warn the family to tread carefully?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

Crafty hugs,

Clare x x x

Happy you!

2016-06-04T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hi guys I'm here today with my latest post for A Sprinkle of Imagination. Along with me I have brought Nina Angel, Magda Polakow's cute design from the Stampotique originals.

I started to work on a piece of black card. Using Dylusion paints, bubblegum pink and vibrant turquoise I blended through Dylusions starry night stencil. Once my colours were dry I bumped the

stencil over and blended some white dylusions paint through the same stencil. I doodled over the constalations with a white posca pen and set aside.

Nina Angel was stamped, cut out and then watercoloured using distress inks. From a piece of card that has previously been sprayed with Dylusion inks I die cut a star and added some white dots. From the Lawn Fawn die 'Happy birthday to you' I cut out the words happy & you and joined them together. And added some more white dots.

Thank you for stopping by today, remember to stop by the ASOI shop and check out the fabulous selection of stamps, stencils, paints and mediums galore.

Happy crafting,

Clare x x x

Recycling Backgrounds

2016-05-29T12:00:00.001+01:00

I've been recycling a piece of stamped card where the impression hadn't been as clear as I would have liked, and I didn't want to throw it away, so I painted over it to push the text to the background.

The stamp in question was the large text stamp from Tim Holtz Papillon. I sponged Dylusions Paints (Cherry Pie and Fresh Lime) then using London Blue I scraped some paint lines. A splattering of After Midnight and White Linen completed the background.

Once that was dry I stamped Donna Downey Poppies, masking the first one while I stamped the second one, then drew in the stems with a black Posca pen, and sponged some white around the outlines to help define the image.

Drawing stems onto flower head images is a great way to stretch your stamps.

Have a great bank holiday weekend!
Shirley x

Maude Doodle Dolly

2016-05-22T10:43:00.000+01:00

Hi peeps! Have you seen the gorgeous new stamps by Karen Hayselden for Stampotique? I fell in love with Maude Doodle Dolly.

I stamped her on a spare piece of white card, then watercoloured her with Distress Inks and cut her out.

On my tall card base I swooshed some black gesso across to ground where she would be standing, splattered some Distress Inks, then added some ring marks using a bottle top and Dylusions Cherry Pie and After Midnight paint, placing one of the ring marks as a halo.

I added a diecut and sentiment from Hero Arts Happy Stamp and Cut set to finish the card.

Pop on over to the Sprinkle of Imagination store for a look at the rest of the new Stampotique designs and all the other new goodies.

Shirley x

Fabulous!

2016-05-21T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hello my lovelies, I'm here today from A Sprinkle of Imagination to share with you some feathered friends from Stampoutique.

I started off by blending some fresh lime and white Dylusions paint onto a tag. I added some background detail to my tag using contasting paint and ink.

I stamped Kira Nichols Stampotique - Birdy Up onto some water colour card and using Inktense pencils I gave the birds a burst of colour. There are four birds on this stamp but I only used three. I added some little dots using a White Posca pen. I fussy cut out my three little birds and set them aside. The sentiment was from the Dylusions set Say it how it is, stamped on white card and cut into individual words.

I assembled my birds along with the sentiment onto the tag and embellished with some sequins. I added some glossy accents to the birds wings and eyes and the pink bird had a sprinkle of glitter to make a little more fabulous.

Thank you for stopping by today, look forward to seeing you again soon.

Crafty hugs,

Clare x x x

Rainbow Heart

2016-05-08T19:11:00.000+01:00

Morning all, Clare here with my blog post for A sprinkle of imagination. Recently I was having a little play in my journal and my Daughter fell in love with my page and asked if I could make her a canvas for her bedroom so I set about making a girly creation.

First of all I layered up all of my bright Dylusion paints along with Dylusion stencils.

Onto this I stamped on some Finnibair butterflies and hearts , from Dont forget to fly & trust the magic stamp sets. I drew a freehand heart onto the canvas. Carefully, I painted around my images using Dylusion paints with Turquoise and white.

Once this layer had dried I stamped some Dylusion stamps with white Dylusion paint randomly around the canvas. Using a black Inktence pencil I edged my images. For the doodles I pulled out my trusty Posca pens. Finally through a stencil I swept through some Finnabair art basics 3D gel matt medium and sprinkled a dusting of glitter.

My daughter is overjoyed with her canvas which is now hanging up in her room. I hope you like it too?

Thanks for stopping by today. I'll catch up with you all soon x x x

Crafty hugs,

Clare x x x

Horlogerie

2016-04-23T17:03:00.000+01:00

Hey peeps, happy Saturday :) Today I've been playing with one of my favourite Tim Holtz stamp sets, Papillon. I just love the large background script stamp.

I started off by stamping the image with Versafine Onyx Black on card, then sponging Distress Inks (Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac, Dusty Concord, Peeled Paint). A quick blast with the heat gun to seal the inks, then I added some highlighting with a white Post paint pen. I trimmed the panel using the largest frame from the Lawn Fawn: Lawn Cuts Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables which give a lovely stitched edge.

I wrapped some grape Prima Jute around the panel then mounted it onto my base card, and it was finished. Or was it? Maybe it was lacking a little something. The moths and butterflies in the Papillon set came to the rescue!

That's better! Have a crafty weekend :)

Midge

2016-04-20T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hi there fellow bloggers. Recently whilst on holidays I decided to treat myself to a few new stamps (just a few, and a few more) ;-). I decided that I would get out my trusty Distress Inks and have a play.

I went a bit wild with my Distress colour choices this time using peacock feathers, twisted citron and seedless preserves through my Tim Holtz layering stencils. I stamped Stampotiques 'Midge' onto my card and then onto a post it to mask her. Using stamps from the Finnabair Lace & Doily set I stamped the flowery and lacy borders along with some small doily circles. The mischevious sentiment is from the Dylusions set Say it how it is

Midge's dress was coloured using seedless preserves with some white dots added to her frock. I know how she feels, when I'm unsupervised I always end up in some sort of mischeif, it usually involves a checkout full of stamps and crafty goodies.

Thats it from me for today, I'll be back soon with some more crafty mayhem.

Crafty hugs,

Clare x x x