Surf For Inspiration.....

I was honoured to be asked by Tracey of This Thursday It's All About.... to be a guest designer for them. Visit their site and have a go for yourself - you could win a set of Tanda Stamps. I was asked to surf for inspiration, starting on their site and hitting five links and then taking inspiration off the one I ended up on. I must say this was interesting and landed on a great site that was full of vintage, aged, distressed images - right up my alley!!! It is a blog site by Sally Jean, so full of inspiration, hit the link and go take a look.

Henceforth I set to producing this great mini book with box on a vintage and distressed theme. I took photographs of my own 'vintage' style items - jewellery that belonged to my Nan & my Mum, a great oil lamp I inherited, old books in my collection - I love books and can't get enough of them!!, and old tools and bikes in the garage, then set to distressing them and adding them to the book. This is the end result. i hope you all like it and gain a bit of inspiration yourself to go and experiment for yourselves and have a go......

For this book I used a range of vintage travel papers, crackle paints, distress inks, chalk eyes, grungeboard flourishes and some flourish stamps from Basic Grey, a bit of stickles, a white pen for doodling and a key to hand on the chain.

I am a bit later than anticipated in posting this - I am currently away from home and having ICT issues in actually getting the computer to read my disk with all the images on - I was having kittens!!!! Still it's all ok now! Have a great time searching for your muse today, and do not be afraid to try new things - those accidents are always happy accidents and can result in some great effects!

Sally x

Art Dolls With Character

The challenge at Arty Girlz this week is to use fabric in your artwork - well I thought this a good opportunity to share with you my Art Dolls. I love making these and only wish I had more time to create all the things I love!!! The first one is complete and the second a work in progress, the actual doll is complete, but she needs her clothing and accessories to be finished off and embellished. Whe I start making each one I have in mind what I want it to be, but as you make them they take on a character all of their own, and end up being somethign completely different!!

This first one definitely has some attitude about her, and i love the way her hair turned out, some people have commented to me that she reminds them of Rula Lenska, hense her name is Rula!

This lovely lady was going to be a fairy of some sort, but as her face was created, the shape dictated something quite different and she became and aristocrat, something about the shape of her nose just spoke of the need for royalty! Thus she gained a powdered wig which just needs its jewels adding and a sparkly ball gown which needs to be trimmed and embellished, along with some fitting accessories.

I hope you love these as much as I do, I am hoping to complete these as soon as time allows! Not had much free time of late to complete unfinished projects, the day job has definitely been getting in the way of late, it's half term and so far i have spent two days in school prepping for the week back, and looking to spend another day in finishing off, and that does not include all the marking and lesson planning still to do before Monday! Those who say teachers get it easy need to come and try it for a while!

Tones of Blue

Tones of one colour is the theme for Make A Moo this week. I chose to use varying shades of blue for this one. I used an offcut of a painting I did a while ago - the background colours were shades of blue. I then stamped on top in Midnight Blue Stazon using a Tim Holtz stamp, addinghighlights in white pen. On top are squares of glass I cut when at Uni - I never throw anything away, if you couldn't tell!! - and added alcohol inks to the back and drew in white paint pen on the other, then attached them using glossy accents.

Those odds and ends always come in handy at some point - I used to drive my parents mad with the way I kept everything and still do no doubt!! Happy creating.

Wee Witches.

This is my interpretation of the theme for Gothic Arches this week. Created using walnut ink and embossing powders for the background and layering some stamping and collaged images to create the whole. Hope you like the end result. Looking forward to Friday and an evening of fun!!

Dark....

This is my entry for Octobers challenge at UK Art Raffle. The theme was open to interpretation, I kind of struggled with this one as I have recently done a lot of work on the theme of halloween, which lends itself nicely to the theme, and wanted to do something different. In the end I chose to produce a mixed media piece depicting a dark force being released from a book of magic:

The background was painted with crackle paint and acrylics, with the book then being collaged on top. I covered the image with some tattered angels spray and walnut ink to darken it down a bit more. I created embellishments for the top in acetate, stamping and embossing on it and then distorting it with heat. I also added a few dark butterflies and finished with some hand written words. I am not altogether sure I like this one, maybe becasue I have looked at it for so long. Let me know what you think......

Good luck to all who entered, waiting for the postie this week and keeping an eye out for the new challenge.

Marie Antoinette...

One of the most famous Queens of France, known for her excesses in life, and finally her infamous death at La Guillotine, at the height of the French Revolution. SPA set this as their theme and I chose to draw my own version of the famous lady rather than use a collaged image. Drawn in pencil, and colour added with watercolour pencils, the edge finished with a purple chalk eye. I hope you like the end result.

Christmas Trees Already???

Tag You're It! asked for tags that included a christmas tree this week. We have not even had Halloween or Bonfire Night yet, and already it is on to Christmas. Many people have also started Christmas cards and gifts too - still a little early for me though! Anyway, here is my tag created by chalking the background in two shades of green, stamping my tree in cherry red Stazon, adding stickles and eyelets and finishing with red and green yarn.

Thank goodness it is Friday at last, my school holidays have started, one week to get caught up on sleep, housework, tasks that really need seeing to and have just been put to one side for far too long, oh and of course that mountain of school work - marking, catch-up day with students in school, and clearing my classroom ready for next term - did I say sleep? I might not get any more of that looking at this list!!

Pink, Green & Brown

Were the colours chosen by Tag You're It! this week. This is the tag i created using as the background a patterned paper offcut in pinks and greens. I added the ribbon and punched the dress three times and layered them to create a full skirt look and then punched the butterflies from old book pages and chalked them to fit the colour scheme and finished by adding some pink stickles for detail.

All was quiet on the Western Front today - Hugo must have found other things to amuse himself today, all items stayed safely on the table today - I will probably find something astray on my weekly clear up on Sat!

It's All About The Paper

I love paper and so does my cat Hugo - I came home to a huge disaster today. I walked into my lounge/diner only to find all my crafting materials and papers I left neatly stacked strewn all over the place, chalk eyes everywhere with lids missing, glue, scissors, pencils, and pens rolled under the furniture! But turning to look at Hugo - butter would not melt! He sure had fun getting up on the table and attempting to sit on the paper, but in the process sending everything flying - I think he must have had a bit of a scare when it all fell.

Anyway, Gothic Arches has given the challenge to use the technique of paper patchwork for this week. What a good opportunity to use all those odds and ends of papers that you keep in the thought that 'I will use that one day!' - well, today I did.

This arch is all pieced together using strips of paper left from layouts, odd circles left after cutting frames, pages from an old book, and punching a few butterflies from the same papers. I layered and glued the papers together for the background and then added some Gesso in areas to blend them together and make them flow, I rubbed it on with my finger and then rubbed most of it away again to get a smoky feel. I then finished by smudging some dark brown chalk eye around the circles. I hope you like the end result.

Faeries.....

As a child I used to spend hours in the garden looking for the faeries. My mum was good at telling stories and giving tips on how to find them - the circle of mushrooms in the lawn was a constant source of fascination for my sister and I - we even found a mini skipping rope once (well done mum, as we found out once we were grown!). Despite that I still believe in all things a little mit mystical and magical.....

For the Small World of Inchies I have made one twinchie using a stamp by Crafty Individuals, coloured with watercolour pencils and then detail adding with Glossy Accents and Stickles.

Then I made these two inchies using silhouette stamps and chalking the backgrounds. Again finished with Glossy Accents and Stickles.

Remember they are out there just on the edge of your vision...

The Witching Hour....

Is nearly upon us, and I have created these two ATC's for TMTA and MMM this week. I used two different Tim Holtz stamps, chalked the backgounds with blue and brown and then drew over the top of some sections with black glaze pen to make them stand out. I added wording to one, and brads to both as detail, and finished by chalking a dark edge around.

Detailed sections:

Thanks

CBH set the theme to create a piece using the word Thanks somewhere in it. I have chosen to share some cards I made at the last CROP I attended hosted by Scrapbook Sisters. These were a make and take on the day, taught by Karen. I am not a big card maker, but enjoyed these and was pleased with the outcome. So, thank you Karen for teaching me how to make beautiful cards.

Follow the Arrows

Arrows is the theme set by Make A Moo. I chose to create two different Moo's this week. The first was created by painting Old Paper crackle paint onto the background and then rubbing Soot Black distress ink over the top. I then stamped Cupid (from Cherry Pie Arts) and added a grungeboard arrow which has also been painted with crackle paint - Fired Brick. For the second Moo I stamped the cat at the bottom and drew a small bumble bee above, surrounding this with three arrows which have also been painted with crackle paint. I finished the edges with chalk eyes.

Men...

What else do you need to say!! Well Men was the theme for SPA this week and this is my postcard inspired by it. I created the background using crackle paint and distress inks. I then stamped the flourishes on top and the car. I then stamped the car separately and added colour over the top in pen. I added this to the background with foam pads. The title is hand written separately, cut out and doodled before adding to the card.

Haute Couture

Who doesn't like to browse the windows every now and then at all that Haute Couture out there. Some of which I like and wish I could fit into and the rest just think 'there is no way I am spending that much for practically nothing!'

This is my take on the Gothic Arches theme this week. I used by New York Style stamp, stamping it directly onto the background and then again onto another piece of card. This second image I couloured with my pens and added Liquid Pearl detail, I then cut it out and mounted it on top with foam pads last of all. I also stamped the background with the word Fabulous and outlined in a glaze pen, then handwrote the word Darling! and again added this with foam pads so it is raised. I added blue and pink chalk eyes to the background.

Ophelia

This is the theme this week for TMTA. This is my take on Ophelia. I stamped the face first and then masked it out to stamp the background texture image on top. I then punched a range of flowers from those leftover pieces of paper from other projects, used white pen to add detail and glued them in place. I finished with a small pink heart punch. Hope you like the end result.

There are so many different interpretations that can be made of Ophelia, it was hard to pick just one!