My First Post Ever

My first ever post. AAAHHHHHH!!!!

My name is Celina and I live in Waterford the 'Sunny South-east' of Ireland (which means it only rains 350 days of the year instead of 360 LOL)

If you had told me only a year ago that I would be making nice things that people would pay for,
using art techniques and all things crafty I would have laughed you out of the house!

I was even told at the tender age of 14 that I should concentrate on other school subjects such as science or English literature as I had no artistic talent or vision to speak of.  I must admit I agreed with them at the time.  I didn't like what she said, but she was right, I couldn't draw or paint anything except floors, walls and ceilings, Ha-Ha-Ha.

Fast forward umm.... a few years and I was pregnant with my second child. I was put on bed rest very early into the pregnancy and my husband and I had been warned that Alex would be born quite premature and to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Between our fears and our tears, I found something that day and it changed the course of my life!!!
Create and Craft TV.

Not sure what to get I saw a Spellbinders machine being advertised with some dies and thought wow that looks so cool!!

But I waited and watched a few more shows and thought it looks so easy and I got one on flexi-pay and waited for it to arrive.  By the time it did arrive I had bought lots of little things like paint, inks, embossing powder and well anything that looked remotely fun and easy to do.

Needless to say that what I first made was well.. crap! Until I came across a few blogs and then things got interesting.

Through trial and error I began to create and design things and cards that were at times really pretty and at other times masculine. 

So here I am terrified of showing what I can do when I don't know if anyone will like it. Then again I am doing this for myself so I really don't know how all this will turn out.

Here are a few pictures of what I have done so far and feel free to comment but don't be too hard on me and instead suggest how I can do things better.

This is just some of what I've done from last year and as I wish to improve (or evolve) I aim to show you something I have just done be it journaling, cards, mixed media or anything else I want to try and do.  I will show you as we go on this wonderfully crazy journey.  I will do it at least once a week and see how it goes.

I hope you like what I do and how I tell the story.
Thank you for reading, or skimming, or just looking at the pictures LOL!!

Celina

Mother's Day Card

Good Morning,

In Ireland, today is Mother's Day, and I made a card for my mother that would show how much I care about her.

This was a quick and easy card to make but the card came out lovely I think.

So I rummaged around my crafty larder and knowing my moms aversion to black I picked up some beautiful flocked card that I think is Kaisercraft,  After that I used Spellbinders dies from Botanical swirls and accents from the Suzanne Walker collection and then passed the corner from the set through the ebosser 4 times to make each corner.

I used the Asian Motifs to cut around the stamped message in the centre from Spellbinders as well.

I picked Hunkydory  pink card and leaves 'acetate' layered as the base. I cut a square measuring 7.5'' x 7.5'' and taped them with clear adhesive.

I applied the corners overlapping them slightly to fit the size of the card.  I used clear adhesive pads so it couldn't be seen.

I added some Creative Expressions pearl swirls and crystal swirls also for bling. I used Prima  flowers for some elegance as I also think of my mom in this fashion too.

I also layered it on some lovely holographic card and more of the original pink card sans acetate leaves so the entire card measured 8' x 8'

Et voila!! A card I'm proud to post... twice!!! LOL!!

Hope you have a lovely Mother's Day with the ones you love.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair

Hi All,

Don't tell anyone, but I LOVE stencils and masks and anything in between. I can't get enough of them as they make marvellous layers that can only add to your craft project or art piece. 
And thanks to Effy Wild I now make my own. Woo Hoo! But today this is not one of those that I made. I'll show you that one soon, I promise.

Anyway I digress. There is a new company (to me anyway)that are making stunning new stencils and mask and this new-fangled idea thing called Stenscapes. Who are they you ask? What are they? I'll tell you. They are called Splodgeaway and you can see what they do on their blog.

In a nutshell, Stenscapes are a set of masks and stencils that all come as one pack that create a picture and landscape that all works together or can be used in conjunction with another set.

I didn't do that exactly.

I used them with modelling crème and kristel gel from Viva Décor that is truly amazing and incredibly versatile. The look and depth of the finished article is great and I use their products a lot. The modelling crème is pearlescent and opaque and the kristel gel is transparent and was initially used on glass and mirrors I believe.

So I thought what about acetate? It worked!! But I went alittle overboard and used the  Fantasy Fairy stenscapes and used the castle, fairy, toadstool, flinging glitter at it here and there. Then I used the Fantasy Unicorn stenscape for the unicorns, castle and the little vine. Then whats a crafty piece of art without a few flowers so I used Splodgaway's flower creators 1-4 either for the flowers or the leaves.

Once I thought I had enough of the shapes and layers of flowers on the acetate I put them aside to dry. I have found that it is best to let the crème and gel dry for about 24 hours so that they are hard and dry all the way through.

Now I had time to create my background. I know that I made way too many pieces from the masks so I am sure that I will be making other things like cards and such to use them up.

Kaisercraft have beautiful papers that just beg to be used in a ethereal landscape especially when I consider that they have a fantastic Fairy Tales pad.

Anyway using acrylic paint I used daisy and swirly backgrounds and through a load of shimmer sprays and paint from Tattered Angels and Luninarte.

Then I added a little title using peel-offs and my daughter has hair that feels like it is as long as Rapunzel's when I am trying to get knots out LOL!!

It was finished with little bits of Prima embellishments and some bling and little bits of foiled Spellbinders die cuts.

That's about it really. Talk to you later.

Celina