Gelukkig Nieuwjaar

A great image is up to use on Art Creations Friday this week. Gelukkig Nieuwjaar means Happy New Year and I created this digital piece using the photograph provided, fireworks, text and different brushes on Photoshop. I layered the images, cutting away areas to show parts of some layers in more detail, then used different lighting effects to pull it all together.

Santa Is Coming To Town....

Well hopefully anyway! This is my entry for TGIF, slightly later in the week than I hoped, but what I thought was going to be a fairly straightforward week has turned into another hectic one!! Still, only two days left till the end of term, then the relaxing and enjoying time with family and friends can begin!

For my Santa skinny I coloured the background with distress inks and then stamped the flourish with holly leaves on top. I stamped the lines from the song on a separate piece of card with Versamark and embossed with clear EP, once cool I rubbed distress inks over the top, cut and applied to the background. I also stamped Santa, coloured with markers and added a bit of bling with stickles.

Brown & Aqua

are two of my favourite colours and they work so well together. This is my tag for TYI this week. I used patterned papers and stamped the flourish onto the aqua sheet, cut it out and applied to the tag. I then added aqua and brown flowers, button, stickles and ribbon to embellish. Hope you like it!

Gold

Is great to see at this time of year. When the weather is bleak and it is dark early, a bit of gold lifts the spirits! This is the theme over at MMM this week. I created this ATC by colouring the background with yellow and orange pens, then stamped a background image on top. On separate card I stamped the butterfly images in Versamark and added Stamp 'N' Bond to it, heated it up and lay it on gold foil. They were then cut out and applied to the background, finishing off with some doodles in gold pen. It was hard to photograph to show the gold, but hope you like it.

Creating With....

a beautiful image from Art Creations Friday is a lovely way to spend some time. I created this digital image using the image of the lady provided and a photograph of a rose in my garden from this summer. I used layering, opacity filters, flourish masks and colour balance techniques to create this piece. Hope you like it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Christmas is looming...

rather qiuckly, and I still have lots to do! Christmas is the theme at Make A Moo this week and I have used a variety of techniques to create these.

I used torn strips from an old book and adhered to the background, I then stamped images in Versamark and embossed in clear EP. Once cool I rubbed distress ink over the top to bring the image out. I then added punched snowflakes and stickles to add a bit of dimension and bling. Hope you like the end result.

Have You Been ...

Naughty or Nice?

This is the theme over at This Thurs and I made this ATC using a stamp of Santa's face. I added stickles around the edge to highlight his face and chalked the background in red and added the handwritten title. Not long to go now till Santa climbs down the chimney.....

Triangles...

are a popular shape this week, and I have created a triangular tag with triangular shaped trees on top for CBH and TYI. I cut the different sized shapes and chalked the edges with a dark blue to make them feel like a dark winter night, then added glamour dust to highlight the patterns and images on the papers used. I added the trees with foam pads to raise them off the surface at different heights.

Favourite Medium.....Mmmmm........

As I am sure I have said before I find it hard to stick to one medium, and there are several that are top on my list to work in. So for Arty Girlz this week, I have decided to share one that I always go back to and use on a daily basis - pencil. Below are some architecture inspired doodles that I created a while ago, and have developed further into a painting which now hangs on my wall. I am always doodling things while thinking, talking on the phone, or putting off those other things that need doing!!

Paper Dolls....

is the theme over at MMM this week, and I have combined it with the theme of Skinny's for TGIF. I drew the corset on a patterned piece of paper, added hand drawn detail and chalked the edges. I cut a piece of striped paper so it was wider at one end than the other and then pleated it up. I stuck the skirt onto the Skinny background paper at an angle, then added the corset on top. I found a great vintage lady and cut her top half out and added it behind the top of the corset, and finished my doll off with a funky little crown. Hope you like the end result.

Seeing Red...

doesn't always have to be a bad thing!! This is a great theme over at TMTA this week. For my ATC I added a smoky red background using chalk eyes, layered on a piece of an old book and then stamped the lady on a separate piece of paper, added her dress on top and added to the ATC. I finished with the red buttons and a dark brown edge to the ATC.

Trees....

have lost all their leaves now, but locally they looked very glittery with frost as I got home tonight. Trees is the theme over at Gothic Arches this week and for my arch I stamped a winter tree in white chalk eye over the background and added white pen to the ground, I then white embossed the top tree on a mini arch and layered on top of the larger one and finished it all by adding some ice stickles to make it shimmer, just like the trees in my garden!

Winter Montage

Art Creations Friday have a great vintage image to use this week, and I created a digital montage of winter carols, snow, a Christmas tree scene and of course the image provided. I used layering, brushes, filters and colour management elements to arange this composition. Hope you like the end result.

Presents...

is the theme over at Make A Moo this week. I used a range of basic grey papers, stamped the stocking and presents, adding glaze and gel pens to the presents and then mounting them all on the background.

Everyone loves receiving presents, its also great to give them!! Looking forward to getting my festive decorations up this week too.

Home Sweet Home

Home is one of the best places to be, especially on a day like today, cold, torrential rain, and wind!! What a horrible morning it was today, it brightened up a bit, but is still cold. I am still trying to get warm!!

For the MMM challenge this week I have chosen to share a project I completed at Scrapbook Sisters a while ago now. It is the pop up house by Karen Burniston, taught by Jane Dean. I had a fantastic day making it, and now wish I had time to make other people a little house!! Hope you like it as much as I do.

home

Stone Angel

is the theme over at TMTA. I have created my ATC digitally this time using some photos I took while on holiday in Ireland a year ago. I took these photos of the church and the stone angels in the graveyard, it was such a beautiful peaceful place. I have layered the images and rotated the angel, so she is repeated, then changed their opacity so varying amounts of the background can be seen through them. I then added extra lighting effects to enhance the overal feel of the piece. Hope you like it.

Winter Wonderland

Art Creations Friday have a wonderful background to use in this weeks challenge. It lent itself well to a winter themed piece, and SPA have the challenge of Winter Wonderland, so I have combined the two to create this digital image, using layering, brushes, and opacity filters. Hope you like the end result.

Exotic Places...

Sound really good right now. The weather has definitely turned to winter, and a dose of warm sunshine would be very welcome!! Exotic places is the challenge at Weds Stamper, and I used my Egyptian stamps to create this arch. I stamped the background in a montage, added colour and chalked the edges. Then I stamped King Tut onto a separate piece of card, added some extra colour and stamped the lotus flower pattern several times, added colour and cut out as inchies, incorporating them to the background with foam pads to raise them off the surface. Using inchies is the theme over at OPH.

Snow...

I feel is going to be a popular theme over the coming weeks, and snow is this weeks theme at Gothic Arches. For my arch I have used Penny Black stamps. Stamping the trees in black Stazon, then the deer using Versamark and embossed with silver and stardust to get a mottled look. I then added ice stickles ot the ground to make it shimmer like snow, and finished the edges with chalk eyes. Unfortunately this scan does not do it justice, it has lost its bling. I will photograph again tomorrow in daylight to get the shimmer on the deer and snowy ground!

Little Monkeys

Monkeys are very intelligent animals and have so much character to them. This is an interesting theme set by Make A Moo this week. At first I had no idea as to what I was going to do, I do not have any monkey stamps or collage materials, so decided to draw my monkeys on acetate in permanent marker, adding colour to the cream card background using chalk eyes in abstract blocks of colour. I used glossy accents to adhere the acetate on top and finished with some blue stickles.

Snow Is Falling....

Well, it did last weekend, but no snow today, just very cold and windy. I got up early to go do my Christmas shopping at Bluewater, thought I was early - but my, was it busy! And after all that, found a real lack of inspiration in the shops and left with hardly anything bought!!

Anyway, the theme this week over at TYI is snow, so I created this tag by layering a patterned paper onto an inked piece of card and added some EP to make the snow shine, then stamped the wording onto cream card in blue and added EP to the edges. I then added this to the main tag with a snowflake brad and added two cream snowflake eyelets to complete. It would look good on my Christmas pressies - once I find something good to buy!

UK Art Raffle...

Set the theme of Circles for November. It took me a while to find inspiration for it, and due to a very hectic shedule over the last couple of weeks, I only managed to finish it on Thursday and post it on Friday, hoping it arrives today! If not it will be entered into the December raffle instead. If you haven't checked out UK Art Raffle yet I recommend a visit and sign up, you can win some amazing forms of art.

To create this I drew the face outline in pencil, then added colour with watercolour pencil, creating the hair from overlapping circles. I once dry I stamped some circles on top in Versamark and added a translucent gold EP on top to highlight a few areas. I hope you like the end result, would love to hear your opinions of it.

Detail:

Favourite Colours?

Time is very definitely limited this week, a very busy schedule that shows no sign of letting up yet! So I have combined Arty Girlz and SWI&T this week.

My favourite colours - that is a hard one, there are so many lovely colours in the world and different combinations evoke so many different emotions. In the end I settled on a colour range that I really do use a lot - purples, blues and browns. I created this card using some inchies I had made previously and applied them to the background, which has been coloured with distress inks over a Tim HOltz mask. I drew around the inchies and the border to define the shapes and patterns, then mounted it all onto black.

Playing With Paint...

Is one of my favourite mediums, and as an Art teacher I get to play regularly!! For This Thurs I have chosen to share two different paintings I did a while ago. The first is a watercolour of some flowers using colour wash techniques for the background and then the flowers in detail on top.

Details of the flowers:

This second painting is done in fabric paint, layering it quite thickly and painting to show texture and mark making techniques.

Joker

Is the theme for SPA this week. It has taken me a while to produce something that I am halfway happy with - the creative flow is not as clear as usual, too many other things running through that I need to remember to do this week! Anyway, I have opted finally for a digital piece, layering images, textures and colours using a range of opacity filters and effects to end up with the following. Hope you find the end result interesting....

Art Creations Friday -

Is a brand new challenge site, set up by four very talented artists. Their first theme was to use the image provided on their site and create your own piece of art incorporating it into your work. The image is a beautiful vintage lady, and it just cried to be used in a piece of digital art. I created this 8x8 piece using layering techniques, colour balance and varying opacity features. I will probably use this as a background paper in a further piece of work. Please visit Art Creations Friday and give your support, I hope you like my take on the challenge theme.

9 Lives...

Pets is the theme for Make A Moo this week, and those with 9 lives are my favourite. I have always had at least one cat in my home, and found it very strange not to have a pet while away at university. Since then I have had Hugo, my adorable all black moggie.

I created these by stamping the cats and then the wording over the top, added gems and chalked the edges. Quite simple but effective because of the bold stamps.

Blog Award

I was given this award by two creative people - Leona and Crissi.
This is the message for the award. It is to be passed to 8 other bloggers for the sentiments below.

This award states that:

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY- nearness in space, time and relationships.These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends, they are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.

I am passing the award onto these creative people:

Bernice, Heather, Clau, Lani, Scrapbook Sisters, Jeni Boyns, Mary-Beth, Scrapperlicious.

Alternative Christmas Ornaments

As a member of the design team for Srapbook Sisters, I was asked to create some alternative ornaments for Christmas. The kit I was given consisted of memory glass, microscope slides, fixings, links, bulldog clips, foil edging, and alcohol inks. I combined these using a range of techniques to create the following:

Some of the techniques I used were those of Tim Holtz, a visit to his blog is always inspirational. If you are in the vicinity of Scrapbook Sisters pop in and have a look, they are so welcoming and helpful, and have a shop sent to tempt!!!

This work also fits the theme of ornamental christmas over at MMM.