Friday 29 April 2016

Fly


Welcome back to my little corner of the sofa. I asked Saph to move over for you but as usual she is being very stubborn ( How can reasonably small creatures be so hard to move? Its like she has hidden suction. I have to leap into bed and pull the covers up before she jumps up otherwise I dont have a hope of staying warm and draught free!) Well, that is enough of my ramblings....
Today's offering is actually a by product of last weeks craft club technique ( or should I say I worked for hours on this composition???) . This card was underneath the paper I was working on and the marks are "overspill" of paint!  My partner in crime,  Trish, forbade me to spoil it and mentioned that the PaperArtsy challenge this week is 'White Space'. Now I would have felt a complete cheat entering it as was, so I stamped a butterfly on some card I painted with the same colours of the stripes cut him out. As usual, his antennae came to an untimely end, however I drew in a couple of prostheses for him once I curled his wings and stuck his body down. He seems fairly happy with them. I then stamped the saying, using a stamp positioner as I am invariably wonky. It turns out that even using a stamp positioner  I am invariably wonky! Then I used a fine liner to add a border around both the edge of the card and around the sentiment which helped to disguise my wonky leanings.  I am very pleased with the result, I hope you like it. 
Please dont be shy, say hello, and I hope you have a wonderful Bank holiday weekend.

Entered into challenges:
white space

Sunday 24 April 2016

Its all about the Face

I did warn you didn't I!  For years my go to doodle has always been a solitary eye, but they never really got any better and tended towards a cartoony appearance. Last year I taught myself to crochet (Very basic) via YouTube so I had the bright idea to use it for faces! Well here I am with a page that I started a while ago as a practice piece (from a You Tube tute). The eagle eyed among you will notice that there are some bits missing - as I said, I am just learning and haven't learnt how to do cheeks yet!
 I actually liked it as is and was a little nervous to do any more in case I spoiled it. Then, lo and behold, Thats Crafty chose Faces as this fortnights prompt for their challenge. I didnt want to enter her  "naked" , so I used clear gesso to seal the pencil then applied Fresco finish over the top, first with yellow and orange, then Irish cream, using a wet wipe to remove the paint from areas I wanted her to look clearer.
I finish off by adding a very light application of red for the lips, doodled for the frame then backed it onto black.  I am pleased with the result. So what do you think? Dont be shy, knock on the door and leave me a comment.....generally its good for the ego you know!

I am entering this into 
Craft for the Craic

Saturday 23 April 2016

Playtime!

Hello there my bloggy friends! Nearly 2 weeks since a post....blame work, I do! I love what I do, however it really effects my crafty mojo. I started a project last weekend, hoping to have that ready to show you last Sunday, well that obviously didn't happen did it? In fact I only finished it this afternoon and I am still not overly enamoured with it. It was one of those projects that in my head looked fab, to be honest it should have stayed that way...in my head! So I finished it and pushed it aside to enable me to get on with what I really wanted to do!
Now, have I mentioned Lynne before? This very talented lady runs the Craft2gether club at Feering on the 1st Monday of the month. I can't tell you how much I look forward to this each month, always something new to learn and friends to chat to as we do so!  This month our project was based on the technique  Faux screen printing Lynne observed Kim Dellow demonstrating at at a retailers workshop.
At club I chose some Fresco finish paint colours and set about applying the colour with a credit card. I enjoyed this process so I did it again, and again, and again...and a few more times after that!Others were busily finishing their projects whereas I went on a wallpaper spree! (thats what I call it when I just concentrate on lots of backgrounds. Well concentrate is a wrong choice of word as I do anything BUT concentrate!). Then today I reaped the rewards.....








I can add these to my art journal or they can be used for cards...one very happy, relaxed bunny! Thank you for joining me once again, and you never know, there might be another visit tomorrow! (After all, it is the weekend!)

Entered into following challenges:
MAWTT   Spring flowers
avenue613.blogspot.co.uk



Stampotique Nature

Sunday 10 April 2016

Journal Club



Hello my friends! Last Monday was the last Journal Club with The Fantastic Mrs Fox (see what I did there?).   Carol Fox has not only introduced me to journalling, but also has shown me so many different techniques to lay down colour, doodle and highlight, I shall be forever grateful! So as a little thank you I wanted to show you a few of the pages I completed at Carol's classes.....
Using our fingers to lay down the paint, building up the background with stencilled gesso and gelatoes. The girl was stamped separately and coloured with polychromos (3 attempts to get her right!) 

This is the same technique - I love this quote. 


Looking at this on on the PC,  my Cheshire cat's eyes and smile on the left page look like an orange monster!

Teeshamore Collage. Boy was this fun! We had pages and pages of images, quotes and words to choose from...the hardest part was whittling down to just a few. I decided not to go for a run of the mill quote, instead choosing to play silly sentences (getting ready to go back to work I suppose). 

These are just a few of the pages I completed based on Carol's designs.  Pop along to her blog http://gingernonutsbits.blogspot.co.uk/ and have a gander at her creations, she is one clever cat!
Once again I would like to thank you for popping in (and drinking all my coffee!) and I look forward to seeing you next time.

Friday 8 April 2016

Colour me happy






Good evening, I hope you are all doing just dandy out there. My offering today is a funky little journal page that was easy and fun to do...just as crafting should be! 
My background was formed on...now I could be arty and say Deli paper, however that would not be the truth! It was some packaging tissue that surrounded my new bedroom ornaments that I ordered from Next. They were very safe in their protection, generous beyond belief, so I probably have enough to last best part of the year! I selected 4 or 5 PaperArtsy Fresco colours and 3 paintbrushes of random widths and set to work.
I randomly brushed horizontal stripes onto my tissue using the different brushes and colours trying not to blend them until the sheet was covered. The tissue coped well with the paint which was a pleasant surprise!  Then using the same colours I stamped and stencilled over the whole sheet randomly,  adding some depth with a little black stencilling. Then, finally, using a little Snowflake and a small brayer I "knocked" it back in places. 
 And viola! Background.....ooops excuse me...Masterboard .....finished!
Back to my trusty Weetabix box (it is just as well I have 2 teenage boys that eat  mahoosive amounts of cereal! ),  cut it down to 8"x 8",  gessoed and dried before  using matt medium to stick a section of the masterboard onto it. 
So far so fabulous! Very happy with what I had achieved thus far, I then blocked! Yep, too good to be true! I had no idea where to go next. So I didn't, I placed it on the side and waited, and waited and waited some more.....
3 days later, whilst contemplating whether to clean the bathroom or not - BING! Light bulb moment! With a Dylusions stamp I created a border around the edge with Black Archival, filling in the small gaps with a black pen. Using the stencil I drew around it onto some black card and stuck it down with the matt medium, with her toe resting on the border. I thought the quote was quite fitting as my lady is in silhouette. I added a little shading around the different elements and Bingo - Complete! 
I would love to hear what you think.
And by the way, I still haven't cleaned the bathroom!

I am entering this into the following challenges:
Thats Crafty Challenge Bright, Bold and Beautiful
Stamping Sensations One for the girls

Wednesday 6 April 2016

Paris in Spring

Hello again! Today I bring you Paris in Spring...I have been working on this on and off for the last few days (that long? I hear you say) Yes that long.  I had an idea, and that is always a bad sign as usually I just start with either a stamp or some colours that I want to work with and the project just evolves.  When I have an idea...well lets say I have difficulties in the translation!
I am still not sure whether I am happy with it as I am still raw from the emotional journey...haha just kidding...though the first bit is true. 
The background is 4 x Paperartsy Frescos ( these are my favourites) applied with cut and dry. I kept layering up the colours until I achieved the blend and effect that I wanted. I then stamped in the same paint colours using a variety of background stamps...this part I am very happy with!  Then using a selection of browns from the same range I coloured another piece of card onto which I stamped the tags and the Eiffel Tower, cut them out and edged with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Using an embossing pen I wrote on each tag Romance and Love and embossed with Vintage Frantage (unfortunately it didn't look very Vintage) and then wrote Paris in Spring and embossed with the same ( not happy with my writing either!) 
Then I gathered together the flowers, leaves, grey board flourishes I wanted to use and various embellishments that I distressed with some texture sand paste and paint. I played around until I found an arrangement that I was pleased with...this is what took days! That and the fact either Borrowers or Fairies keep running away with essential pieces of kit (my scissors still haven't turned up!) , family wanted dinner, Saph needed walking, yadayadayada...
Anyways, back on topic...Despite the colours being harmonious they just didn't look quite right together...so I glued them all down anyway...then knocked it all back with a coat of diluted gesso.  I think this pulled it all together - what do you think? I then distressed the edges of the board and the tags and added Vintage Photo Distress Ink, then doodled around the edge to frame. 
Thank you once again for popping over, next time give me a little notice and I'll have some nibbles ready.. 

I am entering into these challenges:

Saturday 2 April 2016

Spring has Sprung


That is an original title isnt it? I think thousands of posts published today here in Blogland have used that title today, well I never promised to be original did I?
I have had a lovely crafty day accompanied by my pal from the naughty corner, Trish. No pressures, no plans or deadlines, just grabbed some paint and off we went!
Amidst the chat, lunch (chicken wraps with sweet chilli mayo= yummy) copious mugs of coffee (and the resulting trips to the loo) we did actually achieve some good work!
I produced this Spring journal piece whilst my partner in crime raced ahead and had had at least 3 pages on the go all  of which are fabulous and all very different, but unfinished ....nicky nicky nah nah! (sorry, but that is our level of intelligent chat!)
To begin with I layed colour down with a brayer using Leandra's (from PaperArtsy) technique ( corner, corner, side) with Fresco Snowflake, Tango and Limelight. It took quite a few layers as the brown of the weetabix box kept showing through (yes, I know,  only the finest of substrates used in this house!) With hindsight, I think I should have gessoed first, which would have allowed the translucent Tango and Limelight to really Pop (I promised myself I would never say that!)   Using the same paint colours, I then used various background stencils to build up the background. Using white gesso I stencilled with the circular Dinky stencil around the top of the page in an arch and highlighted with a white pen.  Trish had some spare diluted green paint which she kindly splattered over the background, and I added some splatted white to balance it out. Then using the Decoart Texture Paste (my personal favourite) through a Tim Holtz stencil I padded out the background with the aim to having these in silhouette. However by the time it was dry - which wasnt long as I used my trusty heat tool - I had changed my mind. Laying the stencil back over, I added a a couple of the Fresco greens to the paste. The flowers are Tim Holtz beauties, that I stamped many times onto card (white this time not Weetabix!) and coloured with my beloved Polychromos. My first was yellow, but it was lost on the background, so I then chose a mix of dark orange and reds, which in the photo look all orange! The flower heads were stuck into place with some 3D gel  and Cosmic Shimmer for the stems. The word was stamped with my bargain alphabet stamps (£1.64 from China!) and the page was finished with a doodle around the edge. I am very pleased with the page (it looks better than my photo - honest) and when I look back in my journal it will remind me of the lovely day I had whilst making it.  Have a good weekend and I hope to see you back here next time. In the meantime, be kind and say hello....everybody needs some lurve!

I have entered this into the following challenges:
http://craftstamper.blogspot.co.uk/Take it make it Challenge
http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/
moo-mania.blogspot.co.uk Spring

Friday 1 April 2016

Crazy Birds

Hello my lovelies, here I am again! Don't get used to such frequent posts, or indeed live in fear of them, it is the school holidays and I am enjoying some play time!
I practised the brayer technique again this time with the purply tones of the PaperArtsy Fresco range with a little hit of Bubblegum pink. These are my go to colours, I am unashamedly a pink and purple gal, however I will try variation so not to bore you to tears!  This time I used a variety of stencils to provide extra texture, using the Fresco paint applied with some cut and dry. I tend to use analogous colours (ooooh get me) , those that are next to each other on the colour wheel, as these create a more harmonious design that I am comfortable with. 
I have been itching to use these Crazy Birds from Tim Holtz, you have to admit it, they are undeniably cute. I chose 3 and stamped them repeatedly on a spare piece of card in black Archival and heat set with a blast from my heat tool. I then coloured them with my Polychromos in a range of colours as at this point I still didn't know how I was going to use them! As I was colouring I noticed 2 of the birds shared a view point and so the design fell into place. 
I cut out the birds,  this time amputating all their legs and hair quiffs (I am going to be known as the Butcher of Heybridge before long) as they were too tricky to cut out. I gave the yellow bird (Shane MacGowan) a branch to hang from using the Dylusion stamp (Round the Edge Dyan Reaveley) and then stuck the other birdies (Elvis and Phil Collins) into place. I drew back their legs and quiffs, not as good as Mr Holtz I admit, but they seemed happy enough and  grounded them with a few flicks of the paintbrush for grass. I wrote the quip on a separate piece of card with a black micro pen and added a few highlights with white. After cutting them out I applied some black ink around the edge and stuck them into place with cosmic shimmer.  The piece was finished off by inking around the edge and a doodle border.  
As usual, my photo doesn't show the full vibrancy of the colours I have used, (note to self, watch some Youtube vids!), but hey ho. Thank you for taking the time to read my mutterings and I look forward to chatting to you again. xx

Entered for the following Challenges:

Thats Crafty All things bright and Beautiful