Upcycled blues.....

Oak House Studio are starting their "Take 5" summer challenge with "Something Blue".  For one of my projects I decorated a large jar candle with some homemade stickers. (details on the Oak House  Studio blog this month).

While I was making the stickers for my candle I decided to make myself a little tea light jar with the spare stickers and to hold the candle in place I used some of the Oak House Colour Chemistry (Jubilee blue) ink to dye some rice (a few drops mixed into the rice, then left to dry).

The jar was the finishing touch to a much larger upcycled project....for months I have been searching for a suitable vintage style, large mirror that had a shelf attached, but just couldn't find what I wanted. In the end Steve sanded our old mirror and attached a little shelf, this looked amazing but the two woods were very different....so out came the Colour Chemistry Inks and I very quickly painted/dyed both parts with Vintage Blue.To soften and create a distressed look I painted over with white eggshell. Although I made sure the ink was very dry I did spray a light coat of matt varnish to try and seal the blue as I think it would have bled into the wet paint. After sanding the paint back I sealed the whole thing properly with waterbased varnish.

I was so pleased with the finished mirror, I also upcycled an old stool for the bathroom (a handy hop up for my granddaughter) ..... I used the ink very diluted on this project and kept the wood more natural....I didn't want the stool to completely match plus there were so many layers of paint to strip back...each one leaving a hint of colour etc. and I loved the effect this created. The ink gave it a new look without spoiling the aged effect.....I really am a big fan of these amazing inks......now looking for more things to use them on!!!

Thanks for popping by and don't forget to check out Oak House Studio blog (for my jar candle) and shop......well worth a browse for some unique and fab products.

....and I would love to join in with my jar candle with some of the challenges

simplycreatetoo.blogspot.co.uk - with their "stitching" challenge

and

Notjustcards - April challenge 

thank you both for the fun challenges!!

April ....something blue....

I have been lucky enough to join Oak House Studio for their "Take Five" event. For the next five months five different designers will be challenged to use Oak House products on a chosen theme.....and I will be joining April's theme "something blue".
This has been a massive excuse to lock myself away with not only some of the very unique Oak House Stamps but their gorgeous, fantastic inks....so much fun in one little bottle ....and no I don't mean wine....good obviously ...but this is so much better for you....although if you don't wear rubber gloves (I DON'T) you will have an attack of the inky fingers.....who cares...I love it!!!!
I have had so much fun, splatting, spraying dipping, dripping, dunking and dying....the possibilities are endless and I haven't limited myself to papercrafting.

Oak House very cleverly now sell all their inks in concentrated form which you can make into full bottles of regular strength spritzing ink plus have tons left over to use in different ways. I have been painting with them, dying paper, ribbons embellishments etc., adding them to different mediums and fully exploiting the fact you can dilute to change the intensity and mix the colours to create an incredible variety.

On the blog I made a CAS card with an inky background but I haven't got an envelope
 (I think I have warned you previously....don't store ALL your envelopes somewhere damp and cold....they like to seal themselves.....grrrr any one want to buy a couple of hundred pre-sealed envelopes?!)  .......so as this is my crafting on a budget blog I thought it would be good to make the envelope for my card and in contrast it would be ornate.

 This bit of paper was destined for the bin, it was just a protective backing piece when I was working but I loved it already had a panel masked out for writing the name.
Unfortunately it's not big enough ...time to get creative....using a scrap of paper and Oak House Pure Gold Acrylic ink (love this bottle of liquid gold....so shiny in real life) and a scrap of sponge,  I inked over the O.H. Thorseby Backgound stamp then spritzed over with diluted Jubilee Blue and Hey presto....instant posh verdigris....what fun...not intentional but one to remember....particularly as there is "rusting" technique I want to try.

 

Quite simply I glued the stamped panel over the top of the folded inked paper (fold edges in to form a slight overlapped join at back, then seal bottom edge with double sided tape), trim sides to match pouch and fold to create the flap.

....who needs proper envelopes.... ;-)

Check out the Oak House Studio Blog for my "bespoke" dyed tissue paper gift wrap,  plus all the other designers projects this month.....and of course the Shop for the amazing inks.

My card is also on the blog and I'd like to enter it into Hiding in my Craftroom's  "LOL" challenge.... it has actually got four layers (base, dyed panel, silhouette panel & word tab) ....this is quite a lot for me....not great with layers!!!!!!
....thanks for popping by :-)