WOYWW 207

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it's Wednesday already and time for WOYWW 207!!

I was very lucky to have been offered a job at the beginning of the year with an Interior Design Company.  This week we are busy getting a show home ready which great and I am learning so much.  We had ordered loads of styling pieces but the client had purchased a glass dome and we needed something to go in it.  I couldn't resist and volunteered straight away!

 
Yesterday I went to the florist's wholesalers to see what I could find.  I had already got an idea and needed driftwood but I found that they don't stock that and there's no time for an online order.  

Slight panic set in as the kids needed collecting from school and I needed a new idea fast!


I had a quick look around and grabbed a few possible options before dashing off into the school run traffic (always a good space to develop ideas as there's nothing else to think about!)








I decided to use an orchid stem and so needed to secure it to stand upright.  I used oasis which I needed to hide so firstly I covered it in a lovely brown web-like ribbon I had found.   I had also bought a beaded wire collar (designed to be used to make a posy) so I cut it apart and re-invented it to make cover my oasis.

The butterflies are stamped on old dictionary paper and the wire was sandwiched between then so they have dimension.  I curled the wires using my Fiskars Curly Thing (technical term - LOL!) and arranged them in amongst my orchid stem.


 Finished.

I'm really pleased with it but this morning is the moment of truth.  My boss gets here in 1/2 hour so we can head off to the house and finalise everything and so I have to hope she likes my creation ...



Have a great day everyone and happy snooping around everyone's desks.  I'll be doing my fair share when I get home later on today!!

xx

Seagull

Our new challenge at TioT is On the Wild Side (featuring Animals of Birds).  I love this one as it's something a bit different - gets your creativity all fired up!

I am still exploring how far I can go with drawing and I wanted to do a page about gulls ...

For the first 30+ years of my life, I lived in-land and only came to the beach on holiday.  I remember sitting in the back of the car with my brother waiting to be the first to see the sea.  The excitement of that stays with me.

We moved to Poole a few years ago and now live next to the beach.  Seeing the sea each day still gives me a thrill and when I am in my garden and a gull floats above me or stands on the roof calling (as they do!) it reminds me of where I now live and how much I love it here.

So this was the background inspiration to my page.

I started by drawing my gull and then I sketched in the land.  I stamped some elements here and there and some fish in the sea (hard to see in the photo) before using gelatos and watercolour pencils to colour my page.

One of the most fun parts was painting waves in water and then feeding acrylic ink into the water - it just spreads out in the most lovely way travelling along the watery paths you create.  Amazing to see!

I spent some time getting the journalling right and then used a stylised text to handwrite it.

The finishing touch was some drizzles of clear tar gel which I coloured with acrylic inks for some texture. 

Keep Your Heart Open

For those of you who came for a desk snoop yesterday as part of WOYWW 206, they will have seen this page in progress.

I started this page at a class, continued it at home but then left it to one side whilst I deliberated what was missing.  Yesterday I decided that it had to be finished and to crack on with it no matter what!  So, now I'm happy with it and I can pop it on my blog for everyone to see - yeay!!

 

The inspiration for this page was my big bunny Bruno.  
 

Petie

We got our first English Lop, Petie, in September and as soon as I saw him I loved him.  He was the most gentle rabbit and he loved to be held.  Sadly, he died on the day we returned from our holiday at Christmas and we were really sad.  

Bruno

I went back to the breeder to get another big rabbit and I chose Bruno.  However, its always hard to open you heart to a new pet when you are missing one you just lost but he's won me over with his gorgeous personality and kind nature.  


I decided to draw a stylised version of him and colour
him in the distress inks.

Relaxing in the garden

The background was created with dylusions spray inks and stencils.  

To be honest, I've shied away from the spray inks as they are quite messy and my workspace is rather small with my computer, carpets and white blinds to consider (not exactly ideal!!).  However, for this page I flooded the paper and then splodged it down on my craft mat and it was such fun that I'm actually keen to give it another go!  The only problem is that now the edges of at least half my new art journal are red!!!

I added quite a lot of texture stamps and other bits and bobs to create background interest before sitting my rabbit on some old sheet music, tinted with Distress Ink.

I cut my heart and added some wings and doodling and then finished the page with the paper banner edges and the title.

Investigating the camera

I am entering this page into the Craft Room Challenge to stamp your own background and also as a new entry in the Creative Corner blog as it's Anything Goes so my rabbit should be OK over there!!

Have a great week whatever you are up to.

xx

WOYWW 206

So this is my first time going WOYWW.  I don't know why I've never done it before as I've seen so many of you all taking part but anyway today's the day and I'm jumping in!!

So, here's my desk.  

Having nosed at some of the other desks, I'm a bit nervous as some people have scarily tidy desks or ones covered in heaps of lovely papers and scissors which still look great.

Oh Dear! 

Mine doesn't fall into either of those categories - oh dear!  You can't see it in this photo (so here it is on the left in all it's glory!) but I have covered my desk with a sheet of old lining paper as I am so messy.  This lets me scribble notes on it and also not worry about over spraying my inks and paints.  I should confess at this point that I've only starting to do this now that my white desk underneath is no longer white so guilt led me to trying to mitigate the problem.  Ever heard of the saying "shutting the door after the horse has bolted?" Oops!

So this week I am continuing on my Art Journal journey and embracing drawing. The workshop I did with Kate Crane  got me thinking about not being afraid to draw and I then watched a great video on u-tube by Vivian Sung Soon Keh.  I loved art at school and I really want to get back to drawing and painting and my journal is a great place for this.


This page is not yet complete and ready to show (hence I've left it partly covered) as something is not quite right.  Am I the only one who gets a project 95% done and find the last 5% the hardest?  I don't want to spoil it but know I have to be brave and add more.  I am experimenting with some old papers for this page ... have to see whether that is what's needed or else it back for a re-think!!

I have been using my gelatos and watercolour pencils on this project and also on another that's ready for my DT slot next week and I am really enjoying myself.

Have a great week everyone and thanks for stopping by my desk! 

xx

Home is Where the Heart Is

This is the first page in my new art journal.  I started it at my recent day at the Stamp Attic (well done Wendy for organising and hosting) which was taught by the super talented Kate Crane.  I  had a great day which sped by far too fast but it got me started with my new journal and now I'm keen to get time to do more.

I really enjoyed the freedom of the journal and creating whatever I liked with no colour or style restrictions.  Once I got home, I put the finished touches to it with the stamping, border and wording.  Got to try to build on this experience and do more ...

x

I am entering this into 'Anything Goes' at Fashionable Stamping.  

Butterfly Card

This fortnight's challenge at Try it on Tuesday is Feminine & Fancy.   

I  spent quite a lot of time thinking about this one and how I would interpret it but now that Spring appears to have finally arrived, my thoughts are definitely with outdoors and spring flowers so I decided this would be my take.

Talking of Spring ... slightly irrelevant to the post ... but has anyone noticed how blue the sky is this year.  It is amazing - just SO blue it's almost violet.  

Anyway, back to my project!  

 

I used a sheet of Rue 88 by Prima for my background, over which I stamped and white embossed text from the Papillon stamp set. 

I cut my banner and used a scallop punch for the edge before stamping it with some vines.  The central area was stamped with the lovely dog roses and cut out.

 

 

 

I tinted the background with a diluted lemon gelato to soften the paper tone.

All the stamped images with watercolour pencils which are one of my current favourite things!  I have had them for ever in my draw and hadn't realised just how great they are to use and how they give such a soft but controlled effect.  I finished off with some diamond glaze on two of the blooms.  All these stamps were by Prima's Build-a-Frame set.

The butterflies (Unity)  & bee (Stampotique) were also coloured with watercolour pencils.  I attached them with 3D silicone glue for some dimension.

Hope you are feeling inspired to join in with the fun now that we are getting our daily dose Vitamin D from that lovely sunshine!!

I am also entering this into the Faber-Castell Mou Challenge  as they want something inspired by gardens and the Anything Goes challenge at Our Creative Corner. 

xx

A Bird in the Hand ...

I just bought this stamp set by Stampington & Co with the most gorgeous bird cages and was keen to get them going!  I saw that Artistic Stamper's current Challenge is Clean and Simple so I set about creating a small card for this.

I used watercolour pencils for my bird and the corners and the rest is self explanatory ... simple eh?!!

Fitting this post in quickly as the sun is shining and there is lots to do in the garden.

Enjoy your bank holiday weekend whatever you are doing!

x

Published!

Well, I've had to keep this quiet for some time, but am pleased to announce that following on from being a Runner Up in the Scrapbooker of the Year, I was asked if I would like to join their Design Team and be their Featured Artist in May.

After not a lot of thought (LOL) I jumped at it and got to work on 4 layouts for the May edition.

I thought I was getting a double page spread, but to my surprise, I had 3 whole pages - WOW!! I feel really elated to have achieved this goal and am looking forward to my role as part of their Team.

Here are the layouts in better detail:

 

 

 

Hope you are all having a great week and the sun is finally shining.

x





I thought

Tulip Bookmark

Today it's my son's 15th Birthday.  It's obviously a great day for him but it's always really special for me too as he was my first child and as corny as it sounds, it just feels like I had him yesterday.  I can't believe I'm a Mum to a 15 year old!  ( Sure all you Mum's out there know exactly what I mean!!)

His birthday list is very short this year which means he only has a couple of gifts to open and the remainder of his budget he is saving.  This is great as he has money for things he may want later in the year but it's not much fun getting an envelope of cash is it? 


However, the one thing he did want was a bookmark.   

He is an avid reader and his mulberry paper bookmark we bought in Thailand some years ago is almost worn out.   

He saw a really cool one make from recycled electronic boards at the Natural History Museum but it was a bit chunky to sit nicely in a book.  So, he asked me to make him one.

I did a class at the weekend at the Stamp Attic with Kate Crane which was fab.  She got us drawing and to my surprise, I found I could draw better than I thought. So I decided to base the bookmark on 'Tulip' who is Max's rabbit which he has had since he was a tiny baby and which has been his favourite soft toy his whole life.

Tulip has always been the special toy and he has travelled the world with us.

My regret is not knowing this in advance as I would have loved to have thought to take photos of him on our travels as it would have made a great album.

I created my background using dylusions inks and stencils.  Added some stamping and painty bits & pieces before covering most of it up!!!  My rabbit was drawn and cut out and painted using distress inks.

I wrote a note from Tulip on the back which will amuse Max and then I ran it through my Zyron machine to protect it and make it last a bot longer!  I punched a hole so I could add the tassel and it's all ready.

I've yet to make his card and cake so better press on!!

Have a great day ...


 I am going to enter this bookmark into FSC Challenge 'Sentimental'.  When I popped by and saw their challenge, I thought this must be meant to be as it couldn't really get more sentimental for me (it nearly made my cry writing the note on the back as it brought back all the times he was a little boy!!) Oh ... I think I need to 'man-up'!!

x

Thankyou

Well, first off a big THANKYOU to Avril for thinking of my and my little blog and nominating me for this award.  She is one of my fellow DT members at TioT and it's really touching when someone thinks of you and tries to help you.  

This award is designed for blogs that have less than 200 followers.  Once the award has been accepted, the idea is to pay it forward to 5 other blogs that you like to read and follow and hopefully encourage others to visit, read and follow them too.

To accept the award, you have to ...

• Thank the person who gave it to you and link back to their blog
• Post the award on your blog
• Give the award to 5 others Bloggers with less than 200 followers and leave a comments on their blogs telling them they've been nominted.

I have just realised that most of the people I follow have over 200 followers so I couldn't nominate them, which has been a bit of an eye opener for me!  I probably need to post more often but I often make things that aren't linked to a challenge so it's hard to see how anyone will see them so I don't post them.  I think I'll just post them anyway and see how it goes!!  

Anyway, I am nominated the following 3 people (hope that's allowed?).  They all make lovely things so I hope you take a few minutes to pop over to them and consider becoming one of their followers.

Suze
Kaz
Cathy


Alexa 

x

Balloons

Our challenge for this next fortnight at TioT is Inventors, Inventions and/or Steampunk.  

I have a fascination with hot air balloons and so this challenge allowed me to go to town with lots of different ones floating about in the sky.

I started by stamping my card with some keys and my dream stamp to create the background.  I converted a photograph taken on my recent trip to Cornwall into monochrome and then downloaded my hot air balloons from the Dover Book of Old Transportation onto a sheet of acetate.  I coloured the balloons with Sharpie pens and used Helmar 450 to fix my acetate to my image.

The large balloon was stamped and coloured with pencils and I used some red crystals to highlight the strings.  The rosette was cut using an alterations die to which a couple of cogs and ribbons were added.

Check out the rest of the TioT DT entries as they are really inspirational and will hopefully get your creativity fired up to join in the fun!!

Genuinely Jane Studios are our sponsors for this challenge and they are very kindly giving a Gift Certificate of $25.00 to the monthly winner.  

Remember you can only enter your work into 5 challenges including ours if you want to be in with a chance to win the prize.

Genuinely Jane Studios produces dozens of different styles of natural birch wood albums and mini-albums for scrapbookers, mixed media artists and altered artists. We also offer complimentary products including paints, inks, adhesives, glitters and much, much more.

Have a great week ... the sun is shining here in Poole and the sky is blue so maybe the summer is finally here?!!

x

I am entering this into the Colour Challenge at SSSS  as kindly suggested by Terry!

 

Petite Chaises

OK ... so I definitely get the prize for Airhead of the Week!!  Despite being ill last week, I had (rather unusually for me) got one of the DT projects ready and finished well ahead of time.  

For those of you who are regular visitors, you will know that I had ALL DAY yesterday to focus on crafting.  Well, despite this, I managed to entirely forget to upload these little lovelies onto the TioT website.  I even made a note to get this page organised and STILL my pea-like brain didn't register that they weren't uploaded.  That is until midnight!!  I jumped out of bed having had one of those awful OMG moments and uploaded it.  But alas, too late!  So I definitely win the Airhead's Crown!

So, the theme this week at Tiot is Recycle It.   What a great challenge ... I'm sure we all have lots of things which we can re-use in our projects.  Certainly I have a box of tags on pins and chains from clothing, gorgeous packaging with punched designs from Prima blister packs and ribbons and feathers from boxes of chocolates.  I even have an outer wrapper which came on our newspaper which is made of vellum or similar which I thought would come in useful.  So, crack open your box of 'kept' items which you thought would come in useful one day and make that day TODAY!!

My project is a recycle of Champagne tops.  I know what you're thinking ... and Yes, it was a tough job drinking all that fizzy but I take my creative responsibilities VERY seriously!!!  

I re-worked my tops to make little chairs with backs and sanded some of the black coating on the wire back to the bare metal.  I then used alcohol inks to tint them lightly.  I used a coat of shellac and some god leaf to embellish the seats.

The cushions were cut from cotton and sewn on my new machines (which is a dream to use unlike it's predecessor!).  I filled them with a little soft toy stuffing to plump them up and hand sewed the final seam.  I then stamped them with miniature images on both sides using Stazon.


Ooh ... and before I forget (don't let me get started on that again!!) all eligible entries to our challenge are entered into the prize draw to win £10 store voucher for Crafty-Emblies who are our kind sponsors!  

Please read the rules so your gorgeous creations are not disqualified! 



I hope this project tempts you to up-cycle some of your stash or if all else fails, drink loads of champagne and make some cute chairs!!!

I'm entering my little chairs into the Craft Room Challenge - In the garden Anything But a Card as these do remind me of the little cafe chairs we all love to perch on with a cuppa in the summer!  

x

 

Pomp & Pageantry

Good Monday Morning Everyone!

Today I am hoping to get all day to be creative which is a great prospect as I've a lot I want to get achieved.  However, when DH left for work he announced he may be back mid-afternoon to work from home (oh dear!) so that will put an end to my plans as we share a workspace currently ... say no more!! 

Anyway, I decided to get started and have a play with my alcohol inks  - I always love the vibrancy of their colours but I'm not always sure what to do with what I create on 12 x 12 scrap pages.  I do use them on metal which is great but I want to expand their uses on cardstock.  So, I hatched a new plan (in the middle of the night!) and had a play using my inks and clingfilm with some heat and Voila! 

I decided to couple my inking with my Indigoblu stamps so I can enter both the Alcohol ink challenge at Artful Times and also the Words and Phrases challenge over at Indigoblu.  

Well, got to dash and make a start on my next project whilst I have the house to myself!  Hope you are all having a good Monday too!

x

 

Mother's Day

I saw this wire-work idea and was really keen to try it myself.   I am fascinated with birds' nests eggs and so the wrapped wire conjured up a nest in my mind which had to have some lovely eggs perched on it!!

I hadn't got any wire in my stash of the gauge I would really have liked so I had to make do with this thinner one which worked fine which was very easy to work (and hence very easy to mis-shape!!).

I painted my background on watercolour paper using acrylic paints and then acrylic inks and spritzed water.  I stitched my heart to the background with embroidery silk.

The eggs were tinted with alcohol ink onto which I glued the small wording printed from my computer.

The title was stamped with Lost Coast Designs alphabet in Staz-on Timber Brown and then distressed with Vintage Photo and Peacock Feathers.

I like this wire idea so there may be more to come ...

I'm entering this into the first challenge at the new site Country View Crafts blog - Challenge 1 - Pick 'n' Mix 


Enjoy your week ... xx

Easter Bonnet

Can you believe Easter is almost upon us?  The start of this year seems to have gone by so fast.  However, as I sit looking out this morning, the snow is falling and the ground is white so the prospect of spring flowers and hill top walks seem a million miles away.  That's British weather for you!!!

So, looking forward to Easter, the TioT challenge this fortnight is Easter Hats and Bonnets.  As a non-cardmaker and with my kids too old to dress up in suitable outfits for a scrap page, I was mulling over how I could meet this challenge.  My stash has a lack of anything I could remotely link to this subject so I was facing a dilemma.  

But, luckily for me, I have a very artistic hairdresser and we usually chat about out arty endeavours during my regular appointments.  At the end of last week, I was telling him about my quandry and he planted the idea of a car bonnet.  That was the inspiration I needed and as soon as I got home, I set to work on coming up with how I would interpret this idea.

I covered a large tag with black cardstock and ran it through my Big Shot to emboss it with swirls and birds.  I downloaded my image online and then used glitter Gelly Roll pens and Distress Markers to create my Easter design on the bonnet. 

I added some tissue tape and some chicken wire (Dusty Attic) and wound wired natural florists raffia at one end.

The photo was mounted onto white cardstock which I added pink sparkly doodle around the edge before fixing down using two black photo corners (and glue).

I wrote the title onto masking tape, coloured the letters with the Gelly Roll pens and then plattered them with indian ink.

The bird was from a florists wholesalers.

I hope you enjoy my take on this subject and look forward to seeing all the great work everyone comes up with for each challenge.

I have also entered this tag into Challenge 51 - Easter Bonnet over at Out of a Hat Creations.  I hadn't found this blog before but it looks like a lot of fun so I'm diving in!!

Enjoy your crafting ...

xx

Closed

This layout is based on Wheal Peevor tin mine which is one of the many abandoned mines to be found all over Cornwall.  Their shape makes them very striking against the skyline so I decided to enhance this further using Lightroom.

I used my Gelli plate to create my background paper by adding the black and white pattern and the  purple and pale grey bands.  I then used an Artist Cellar stencil with molding paste (Golden) to create two panels in opposite corners.  Once the paste was dry I rubbed Viva Decor paste and gilding wax into them to give them colour and shimmer.

I printed the poem onto tissue paper and glued it to my layout with Mod Podge.  I have to confess its a lot easier if you have a set size and place for tissue paper items as my first couple of attempts resulted in torn paper!  Large areas of tissue are certainly tricky customers!

Anyway, once it was down, I moved on by stamping the window onto vintage map paper which I tore and inked with black soot.  The hinges which were cut from grunge paper, painted with black acrylic paint and rubbed with silver Inka-Gold.  The barbed wire (Dusty Attic) was painted black and touched up with a little copper Inka-Gold for a rusty effect.  The Owl is from PaperArtsy Hot Picks which I stamped and coloured with pencils.

I cut the flowers from vintage book pages using the tattered florals die by Tim Holtz.  I inked it up with broken china and black soot before adding a black crystal brad.

The black crystal swirl is by Prima and I added this with the stamped journalling ticket and my flower.  I perched my crows and added a key (Seven Gypsies) to complete this page.

This was the second of my three layouts which I entered in the National Scrapbooker of the Year 2013 competition in which I was a runner-up.

I am entering this page into Challenge 43 - Swirls at Fashionable Stamping.

Have a great week.  xx

Dandelion Clock

Time Flies.

Well, it couldn't be a more apt challenge this week at TioT!!  

Having just gone back to work after being a full-time Mum for a very long time, I'm running to catch up and time is definitely flying for me!  No time for commenting and visiting everyone's blogs (BIG apologies!) and a lot less time for the gym (oh dear!).

But, I love this new challenge so I guess I just need to speed up (LOL!)

So, back to the ART!  I love this challenge as there are so many ways to interpret it from clocks and wings to dandelions and growing families.  Whichever way it speaks to you, grab your stamps and inks and join in the fun ...  We love to see all the beautiful work you create.

This piece is part of a new journal I started to create on Sunday at an art journalling workshop.  I had a whole day to play with paints, tools and inks which should be heaven but I have to confess ... I was completely out of my comfort zone!   Having no idea where I am heading with the subject of my page and just creating backgrounds feels too random for my brain and stresses me out!  So, asI really want to embrace this way of creating I have set myself the challenge of continuing this journey and finishing the journal.  I think I will learn a lot on the way so wish me luck!!!

This page started off with adding a couple of tags and then painting it all with gesso into which I stamped some flowers and alphabets.  I then added a coat of Lumiere paint in Halo Pink Gold.  Some vintage papers and stamping came next before adding some Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam in Golden Goddess and Lipstick Pink. I highlighted around the tags with a black oil pastel which I blended with my finger.

I added the stamped images using Black StazOn.  The journalling was printed onto masking tape which had been painted with gesso.  I used Adirondack colour wash to colour them and some white acrylic ink which was largely removed with kitchen paper.

The cogs and clock face are vintage bits from old pocket watches.

I keep looking at my page ... I think I'm happy with it but it's away from my usual style so I'll see what everyone else makes (feedback welcome!)

Wherever you are, hope you are inspired to find time to stop the clock and enter in with the fun!

xx
 

Love

Love is in the air ...  With Valentines fast approaching are you feeling the lurve?!!

Our new fortnightly challenge starts today at Try it on Tuesday  ... and we are all about Celebrating Valentines Day (include a heart).  Dust down your cupid stamps, your bows, arrows and hearts and see what loving you can create!!

I really enjoyed making my DT entry for this challenge.  I managed to snatch 2 hours on Sunday afternoon to get creative having had a back to back weekend schedule of football and rugby.  Normally this would result in me only getting my act together at the point my slot was over but not this week!  With the excitement of going to see Ronan Keating that evening (great concert and nice eye candy!) I cracked on and achieved my goal!!

I embossed the stamps for the background in white before using distress inks in a combination of pink, purple and turquoise shades.  A quick spritz & flick with water and a little gathered twigs around the edge completed it.  I cut the flourishes from grungeboard and painted them with Byzantia paint.  The heart is also grungeboard which I embossed with script before inking with pink & purple distress.  I then added Silver Fox embossing powder which is quite coarse so gives a lovely texture.

The crown is hand cut from a vintage book and I stamped 'Love' using old printers letters painted with acrylic paint.  The material strips were stamped using archival and spritzed with Shimmerz Sea Foam.  I crinkled the muslin up and dried it with a heatgun.  I didn't expect it to retain the crinkles but the spray ink has given it a bit of body and it's actually quite solid which was great!

I used a domino covered with part of an old playing card and UTEE'd for my other embellishment and stamped a little butterfly to my gorgeous girl.

Hope you feel like getting into the love game and want to have a play along with us!  x

Don't forget our great sponsor for this challenge 

who are offering a £10 store voucher!

I'm also entering this into Fashionable Stamping Challenge 40 - Show Some Love.