Saturday 17 August 2013

Inspired by France

Life has been so busy this week that it feels as if I've had to flap my wings furiously just to stay in one place!!! And in the snatched free minutes I've been sneaking over to the Paper Artsy blog to keep up with those 10th birthday celebrations. It's so exciting that I've hardly been able to absorb it all, what with all the other events going on at Magpie Heaven - the search for a flat for my mum and the continuing kitchen saga! However, I have seen that France has been creating some fabulous projects and Michelle has done amazing things with Crackle. I wish I could have built something really impressive to decorate like Liz Borer's lovely little chest of drawers or France's clock book, but I just tell myself one day I'll have the time and the space: today I was working away on the dining table, nipping in and out to check on supper. If you would like to find out more about the great Paper Artsy designers and how you can win some super prizes click HERE. I decided to use those moments before dinner to make a special card for my dear friend, Patsy to thank her for looking after my mum so well for a little while. France's hearts seemed the perfect theme.
Our friend Patsy loves all things Victorian and Edwardian, so I interpreted France's hearts in a more 'Old Fashioned girl' style! Please click on the images if you would like to see in more detail, especially the fine chain at the top of the card. I die cut a Tim Holtz tag and book plate. I Crackle Glazed the tag, using 'Little Black Dress' and Mermaid. In the corners I stamped with Archival using my lovely new Mini stamp that I won in the Paper Artsy draw - and these spirals are just lovely! I die-cut two Paper Artsy hearts, using Smoothy Card, painting them both with a mixture of Frescos in Sage, Mermaid and Vintage Lace. I stamped and clear embossed one with a lady from an 'Ink and the Dog', Buttons plate and the other I Grunge Pasted through a Crafters' Workshop stencil of swirls and spirals. I also die cut some hearts from Polyshrink and stamped them with images from the same 'Ink and the Dog' plate.
You can see the Grunge Paste and Crackle more clearly in this photo, as well as the shrink plastic heart, which I coloured with Adirondack alcohol ink and glazed with Glossy Accents. The gold wings are Dresden foil from Retro Cafe Art Gallery.
I finished off my shrink plastic hearts with a little pearl at the top and edged the card with some ribbon I bought the other day on my ramblings. It has a lovely design of trees - so appropriate as Patsy is a great nature lover! I finished off with some fine chain on the tag and some seam binding coloured with Peacock Feathers and Broken China Distress Inks. The background for the card is some canvas effect, grey 'Coredinations' paper. Now I must try to fit in a visit to Paper Artsy to catch up on the latest video and see all the lovely projects inspired by the great Paper Artsy designers.


19 comments:

  1. Oh my, that is so beautiful!!! I love the stamping on the crackle & the little shrink plastic embellishments are great.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow fab crackle there and love your SP hearts. Hope your friend Patsy really likes it.

    Sam xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Considering you haven't had time to do much, I think this is fabulous - I mean, it's fabulous anyway, but you know what I mean.. I am useless with shrink plastic, so very envious of your little heart! Have a good evening.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The shrink Heart is so pretty and love the colours!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So many lovely details... the shrink hearts are gorgeous, the ribbon too, the crackle, the stamping...love it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gorgeous Julie Ann I am sure you're friend will love it!! the crackle is great and I love the hearts :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. So many interesting elements incorporated into this project Julie Ann, lovely to see you back.Thanks as always for joining in the fun.x

    ReplyDelete
  8. I really like what you did with your hearts, especially the one in the left hand side. It looks like jade! The heart with the swirls looks great. I swear, your little hearts look like jade! Your tag is wonderful and I love the corners!
    sandy

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ooh! So much to look at! This is gorgeous Julie Ann! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  10. i think Patsy is one lucky bird, because she'll receive a gorgeous card!
    thanks for playing alons :)
    xx
    france

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful, I think your friend will love it! I've been following the PaperArtsy blog too - so many amazing projects!

    Dawn

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ohh looks lovely, so much going on, and pulled together really well!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh my goodness, I'm sure your friend loves this beautiful piece. You pay such a lot of attention to detail and the shrunk hearts are gorgeous. Well done Julie Ann 'cos I know it's not been easy for you to craft recently.

    Hugs
    Lesley Xx

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh bless your poor wings:O), they seem to be flapping around that card with well magic, that card is a piece of ART WOW, I sure can tell your inspiration is from Paper artsy but with your style SHINES through , I have been getting their blog in my post now, I agree some amazing work over there. I love your signature pieces :O), the tree ribbon is stunning, the perfect addition, your crackling is gorgeous, and I too love those swirls, loooooove the chain and dyed seam binding, beautiful. It's an outstanding card for a very special lady. Your nest will be calmer soon and then your going to blow us away, we can wait till you have more time, in the mean time, the work you are doing is, well, designer worthy my dear friend it's been a pleasure visiting again, see ya soon and have a peaceful week, ((((big hugs)))) my kindred magpie, Dianne

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh wow this is absolutely gorgeous, it's truly amazing. I love all the details, the heart is beautiful and the shrink plastic charm really is fantastic :-) Hugs Kezzy xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Julie Ann, love your project - that shrink plastic heart is so cute! You can totally tell it's been inspired by the paperartsy blog - I love their blog although haven't yet been brave enough to enter the challenges!! I just became you newest follower :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. It's great Julie Ann... I love the crackle tag, and the three different hearts - stamped, textured and shrunken - are so cool!
    Alison x

    ReplyDelete

Due to high level of spam recently I have enabled comment moderation on this blog, so any comments will be moderated before appearing on the blog.