Wildlife Coasters

It's been a long time since my last blog post so there's no time like the present to share a project that I made for a friend for Christmas. This was one that I made early as it had to go across the water.

I had these wonderful wildlife/nature stamps for my birthday this year from Visible Image which I absolutely love. This Nature collection is really up my street and something very close to my heart.

While in my local charity shop I came across another lucky find, a brand new MDF coaster kit which I thought would be perfect to experiment on with my fab stamps. This is my first attempt at coasters using stamps.

Like all my projects, I have a sort of plan in my head and then it's a case of let's see how it goes and where we end up. 

I gave the MDF a light coat of DecoArt coat clear matte medium and then stamped and heat embossed my Totally Toadstools stamps in black Verafine Clare ink and clear embossing powder. 

I masked my stamps before adding the antique linen distress oxide ink to the coaster holder and giving it a mottled look so that the background would not look so plain. I coloured the toadstools with distress oxides and made up the holder once all the paints were fully dry. I then used a glossy varnish to add a protective seal.

These are a few of the coasters from the nature stamp collection. Behind the Totally Toadstools stamp, I also used one of the Visible Image stencils - strobes, highlighting the spots on the toadstool with a marker pen. The other stamps used here are Erika's Maple and Hedgehog Hugs. I did actually use the Nuts about squirrels stamp set too in my coasters and thought I had taken a group picture of that coaster too.

One of the stamps I added to this coaster set was the skeleton moth - from the Glimmer of Light stamp. Using the Strobes stencil in the background gave it a more dramatic effect and I know my friend likes this particular stamp.  I used a mix of distress ink for the coasters but this moth needed some micas for that extra shimmer.

For the edge the coasters I decided they needed gold gilding wax to give them a more finished look and lift that dull brown edge.

I sealed these with a few coats of clear varnish and although I think they would be more suitable for decorative use, I did tell my friend that I wouldn't recommend using them with hot drinks.

I was really pleased with how these turned out as they could have gone either way, to be honest, but as my crafting is pretty slow anyway I quite often change my mind by the time I pick a project up to carry it on.

Although I have given up all my crafting commitments, I will try and keep my blog going. Perhaps I need a new crafting focus for next year. This past year has been challenging for me in more ways than one, putting aside what is going on in the world.

Apart from crafting I spend a lot of time in my garden. Before Christmas, we had to cut back a tree that was getting too big. I try to put as much as I can back into my wildlife garden so lots of branches get chopped into logs, canes, and sticks for the garden, bug homes, and anything else I can do with them.

Our resident robin has been none too amused with the disturbance in HIS garden. All our robins have always been very friendly over the years but this little one is very anti-social, especially to the other birds who try and feed in my garden and we often witness them getting rugby tackled off the bird feeders if they dare to be on there at the wrong time as our feisty robin.

I have a very long way to go yet with my chopping, (note I have the easier job) but it's a start and in the meantime, the birds seem to like bouncing off the mound of branches in the middle of the garden.

Have a great day whatever you have planned 

Happy Crafting