The Guests Arrive

This is my first ever double page spread, I confess to being a feature photograph scrapbooker, so there will be a few challenges along the way with this album. I wanted to keep the pages quite crisp and a bit formal to show off the lovely features of the venue. I took my inspiration for the branches and baubles from a Christmas decoration in one of the photographs. I used my Tim Holtz Bird and Branch die for this for the baubles I used some peel offs ( another first for me!) coloured with pro markers.

And here is a close up to show the detail and a picture of me and my Bro!

As mentioned yesterday...work starts on the garden...so here is the before shot

The Bride

Am jumping out of sequence today to share this page of the Bride and her Daughter as they arrive. I really enjoyed creating this page, keeping the detail fresh and simple. I am in the process of creating a double page spread showing the guests arriving and hope to be able to share this with you tomorrow.

I have a major garden project on this weekend which involves laying a lawn. Already I can't lift my arms, I hope this doesn't affect my cutting and sticking skills!!

 

 

Wedding Album Page 1

I am now embarking on my next project which has been waiting for it's turn a little while now. My Brother and Sister in Law got married in December. I took the majority of the photographs (not that my photography skills are brilliant). The couple wanted all informal shots so there are very few staged ones. This was quite tricky on the day and we ended up with quite a random collection of photographs, although very natural and quite amusing. It  has taken me quite a while to decide which ones to use and to do the editing.
  

Now the plan is to work on layouts in black, white and red with some christmassy elements. Well I failed on page one as the images had too many brown tones and did not work on a white page. I guess the photographs always tell you what to do!

 

Luckily I had a sheet of button paper which I have hoarded for many years, so I went for buttons and lace. I laced a ribbon up through the page to mimic the lace detail on the brides dress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pesky embellishments!

Right, now I have to stop travelling around blog land looking at all the lovely things and do some work of my own.

This is the continuation of the clay embellishments I have been making. I have to say part way through the day yesterday they became the enemy and nearly went in the bin! I painted, working the paint into all the detail. I then coloured some with Treasure Gold and on some I used my oil pastels to bring out the detail. They still didn't have the wow factor and looked more like children's fridge magnets than lush vintage treasure. Now my nails are wrecked and my hands feel like clay too.

Then I delved into a pot of copper mica powder and some magic happened...........Look......

 

Doing a happy dance............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going to do some durability tests and coat with some varnish, they seem fairly tough. I feel an encrusted canvas coming on.

 But first I have a wedding album to do.

 

What's on your workdesk Wednesday 199

I have been meaning to take part in this brilliant blog hop for sometime with Julia over at Stamping Ground. I love looking around at all the different blogs and the things everyone is making. If you haven't heard of WOYWW click on the button in the sidebar or here and prepare to go on a journey.

Today on my desk I have little clay embellishments, which I made some time ago but never got around to painting. I think this is going to take all day but the SUN just showed up in my workroom so that's where I am going to stay!

I made these from a block of air drying clay and some push molds designed for cake decorating, a block of clay goes a very long way.

 

 

Now I am painting with acrylic paints and experimenting with mica powders and waxes to bring out the detail and to make them look aged. I hope by the end to have a lovely collection of Vintage looking embellishments. Pop back and visit again to see if you can spot them on my cards, canvasses and scrapbook pages!

 

 

 

 

Sunday Stamper week 250 with Hels Sheridan

Sunday Stamper week 250 with Hels Sheridan.

The challenge this week is entitled Shiny Happy People...use something shiny

Now I would have loved to use my shiny new wheelbarrow in the garden but  as the weather continues to be horrid here is my card entry.

Now I started by getting out gold and silver miri card but they are not my favourite materials, then I realised acetate would be shiny.

I coloured my acetate with Alcohol Inks in Meadow, Lettuce and Cranberry. I then sprinkled glitter and mica powder ( Crafty Notions - Oyster) all over the surface. I then adhered torn strips of book pages with matt medium and set to dry. I repeated the process on some scrap acetate with Cranberry Alcohol Ink. When the acetate was dry I stamped a greeting and some seed heads from a set by Artemio. I stamped two butterflies from a set by Crafty Notions onto the scrap sections and also onto the base acetate layer. The base layer was attached to the card blank with the cut out butterflies on top and a few black gems.

It was hard to capture the shine on camera but I hope you can see!

Wishy Washi World

I have had so much fun playing with Washi tape.........well I am a bit addicted to all the pretty patterns you can get.

I started by following some ideas by Carla Sonheim where you randomly lay down strips of tape without  a plan and then see what images you can produce. So here are some of my birds and something that sort of looks like a dog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This got me thinking and I knew I wanted to make the skirt of a dancer out of tape....

 

 

 

 

 

and welcome to Washi Town

 

 

a little more precise, but it is really easy to trim back the tape with light use of a craft knife.

 

 

 

Fusion or confusion

This stumped me for a little while, having chosen two random elements from a list I them had to create a design incorporating them both.

Yes this is a little weird but here is my Micycle!!

Somehow I don't think this will catch on....................................

Fabric Corsages

Sharing some of the pretty fabric corsages if have been  making to sell at Ramster. They are made from sheer fabrics which have been 'cut out' using a soldering iron. This slices through the fabric melting the fibres and sealing the edges so they don't fray. They are then put together with beaded centres.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Stamper Week 249 with Hels Sheridan

Entering for the first time into Sunday Stamper with the lovely Hels Sheridan. Do click on the link and take a look at her fantastic blog.

The theme is Brown Eyed Girl, the project should have brown colouration and some stamping.

Here is a card I made for a very special friend who is having a birthday. She loves vintage cards and one of her favourite flowers are poppies. I decided to use text paper as a background for my image and inked this with Distress inks (Frayed Burlap and Vintage Photo). I stamped a random floral print in the background with Memento (Rich Cocoa). I decided to sketch the poppies and colour with my Inktense pencils.

 

 

On the card blank (after masking the edges) I stamped some swirls and crackle stamps, then blended Vintage Photo to colour the card. I also stencilled through a dotty mask  with green ink to add a further vintage touch. For a final embellishment I glued beads to the poppy centre and around the card edge.

 

I also needed a little gift box which I covered with text paper and distress inks. The paper flower is a clever idea with book pages, a link to the  tutorial can be found below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://knityoga.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/book-page-blooms-tutorial.html

 

 

Doodles the Dog

Just doodling today....relaxing and going with the flow.

Paint Splodge Creatures

Another exercise creating from your imagination and what shapes you can see, this time from smudges of paint. I am sure some of you will be a little concerned for my sanity by now ( I am beginning to worry myself!). It is really interesting what you can see if you look really hard at the shapes.

Brace yourself.....

Just a load of scribble

This was so much fun!

Just drawing a page of random squiggles and then seeing what you can turn the lines into. Not looking for perfect drawings, just something from your imagination. I am sure I could use some of these designs in future work.

 

 

To the bottom of the sea and back....

As promised the second 'I love you' page. What better things are there to do on a rainy day....I had such a lovely time with Harley creating this page. I particularly like his square fish with the toothy smile!

I used water colour paints for the background and left to dry with a sprinkling of rock salt. Once dry the salt had absorbed some paint leaving a watery effect. I drew and coloured with water soluble pencils and crayons. Harley worked hard drawing and colouring the fishes which we glued on top.

With both pictures I stencilled through a dotty and swirly masks with Distress Inks to bring all the elements together.

So here we are.....I love you to the bottom of the sea and back..............

Easter Hats!

Well today's plan for making art took a slightly different turn as Easter Hat making became a priority today, ready for school next week.

First we went shopping for important supplies.............

We selected a hat and a wreath to make the nest......I think he likes them!

After much glue and paint and much more glue....

 

 

 

And if you wonder why the bird looks so alarmed.....she appears to have hatched out rabbits!!!!

To the moon and back....

I have had this idea in my head for a while, it is a collaboration with my grandson Harley. This is all about preserving the memories, something he used to say a lot, one of his drawings from the fridge door and a sample of his writing. I wanted to keep my side of the page quite childlike...not too much of a stretch for me!

so here it is.... I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK.........

There is a second part to this....my response....picture to follow....if I can get Harley to do some work today!!

Pretty Patches

I know I have been missing for a while and sadly my sketchbook is waiting patiently for attention on my desk. I have been busy preparing cards for the Exhibition at Ramster over Easter. Here are some of the pretty patchy patches I have been making with fabric scraps, buttons and some stitching.

Off to find my sketchbook now!!!!

Monsters!!

The task today was to draw one eyed monsters!

To start by drawing an eye and build the monster around it.

Well I decided I am not keen on drawing scary monsters, so I did some friendlier ones that I quite like!!

Have a go, it's quite addictive................

A whole lot of Vintage!

 Busy busy today playing with this whole lot of vintage stash....... Just love the tiny Quality Street tin.

 

Transforming  all this into vintage inspiration packs for the next exhibition, took nearly all day. I am very grateful to my Mother's Day helper!

OTT will be taking their
"Curiouser and curiouser and curiouser"
exhibition to The Workshop at
Snape Maltings nr Aldeburgh, Suffolk, Ip17 1SR
from the 5th to the 18th July.The Workshop, Snape Maltings,

http://www.snapemaltings.co.uk/

Bird Sketchbook

I have not had time for another play date on my sketchbook journey as have been spending time in the kitchen with Sugar and Ice Cakes (pictures to follow).

So sharing with you some designs from my Bird Sketchbook, all start with a collage background which gives a lovely surface to draw onto. I usually collage with thin paper scraps, paper napkins, and printed text papers from old books. I prefer to use matt medium as an adhesive and water this down half and half. They key is to start on a sheet of plastic and be very generous sloshing on the adhesive so it will be quite wet. I will share with you a tutorial on this soon!

Off to OTT (02 Textiles) today to do some planning for our next exhibition!
Click on the link to see our work and where we will be.

Spring Cards

Busy today helping at Sugar and Ice Cakes with orders for the weekend, so sharing with you two cards I made for March birthdays introducing a little bit of spring. I was desperate to use the lovely Crowned Bunnies stamps from Crafty Individuals.

 Here are the results

 

 

 

 

From the Sugar and Ice kitchens last week were.............................................

 

 

Disco Ball

 

Skittles!

 

Baby Shower Owlies

 

Red Lorry