Monday 31 October 2011

I don't really do Halloween; however.........

Yep, me again!
 As I've just said; I don't do halloween really but I just thought that I had better share this with you tonight as it fits the bill!
One of the things I discovered on the recent workshop was a really great ageing solution so I mixed up plenty and kept it in a jar. Obviously putting poison in a jam jar is not the best so I thought I'd better make sure that
no-one got confused.
So here you have my ageing solution. As you can see the effects of too much can clearly be seen. (I told him not to have so much!)
Seriously though, I made the label and the top with Tim Holtz stamps and a bit of distress ink. Mr bones came from the 99p store (99p for 6 of the little chaps) and I aged him with alcohol inks and a bit of paint. Hence the "rather gruesome " hands! Still, one should  now have no cause to think that the contents of this particular jar is anything but BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!
See you later guys. Have fun tonight.

Journal at Katzelkraft blog

Hi there everyone
Being my Monday over at Katzelkraft here is a sneak peek at what I'm sharing. All the details and more pictures can be found HERE if you'd like to take a closer look.
The stamps used are available direct from France HERE or in the UK they are sold exclusively at The Craft Barn

We had a fun end to the week as my eldest daughter popped in to visit for a couple of days. One of the things we did was go down to Sheffield Park gardens for the Autumn colour which was glorious to see.





Now I need to get some serious crafting done so I'll catch up with you all later!
Be blessed in your art today!

Wednesday 26 October 2011

WOYWW 125 and more

Hi there folks; time for the international gathering of global desks (desks used loosely of course, any surface is appropriate) The speaker for the chair is as always Julia; her link and speech can be found HERE
Before we discuss my desk I would like to bring to the party attention my Calender page for The Craft Barn challenge. The details are all HERE but here is a quick sneaky peek. Do pop on over for all the details and leave a comment so they know you've been!

So, my desk this morning; taken at about 6:45 am so still dark! All set up ready to go this morning with a couple of bottles that are going through the "change of life". ready to be re-modelled today.........plastic surgery for art!
They don't look too exciting now but wait till you see them next week when the bruising and swelling has subsided.
On the left we have the book which is from the Try it on Tuesday new challenge; altered week sponsored by The Craft Barn with a fab prize. It's altering fabric this week and there are some great ideas on the blog!
This was a lace doily from a bootfair so it has been covered in inks and used as a decoration on the cover, when the glue dried I inked and dry brushed silver over the surfaces to bring out the highlights.
So then, lastly are these piles of ribbons.

 4 Large rolls of the stuff which we found in an "antique" store in Faversham  for a tenner. There's about 1000 m  on them all in total! So if you want some then tell me in your comment and I'll draw 5 names  next week to send to. (I have to limit it for postage, sorry I can't send to everyone!)
So that's me this week, I'm all excited as elder daughter gets home tonight for a few days!!!!!!!! Happy dance.
Oh, and as so many of you ask about the dolls house; here is the tale. I made it (from a kit) a good few years ago, pre Tim Holtz days but never really got it finished. The stuff is jolly expensive too. So it ended up out there and stayed when I took over the space. I have been thinking about "altering" it, but when I get inspired, or the time is another thing!
So, hope you all have a brilliant day, I'll try to pop over but i've loads to do so no promises!
Bless you one and all.

Monday 24 October 2011

Craft Barn box class with Katzelkraft

Hi there folks
Hope you all had a good weekend. Thought I share my box made at friday's class at the Craft Barn. We spent the morning and part of the afternoon creating our papers. I love to make my own backgrounds but sometimes it can be scary so we went through it all step by step using beautiful flourish stamps from Katzelkraft to build up 3 layers.
One thing I've learn't when doing this is that the effects are so much better when you stamp and then blend using the same colour distress inks.
By using 3 colours per sheet and 3 different images working from light to dark you build up a lovely depth.
This detail picture shows 2 different colourways; green tomes and orange tones.
After we'd finished the papers we then spent some time assembling the gift box with loads of folding  (and some muttered curses too!)
We also made a loop and charm with shrink plastic  to help open the box and to add interest.
Shot of the base. All the ladies who attended the class seemed to really enjoy it and came up with some beautiful papers and they all said they would definitely be making more of their own papers in future!
Katzelkraft stamps are available in the UK exclusively from The Craft Barn and also direct from France.
Hope you all have a creative week ahead of you and get to create something beautiful.....

Friday 21 October 2011

New Challenge at The Stamp Man - Night time

Good afternoon everyone.
I trust that this finds you all well. The new challenge over at The Stamp Man starts today; and for me this WAS a challenge!
Here is my card
I started out by clear embossing the trees from Aspects of Design 4 -Celtic Christmas onto white card. This was then inked with distress ink in stormy sky and black soot over that. I "bleached" out some of the colour by using a paint brush with water inside the trees.
I then used the same colour inks onto another piece of card and spritzed with water to give the illusion of a starry sky. I stamped the sentiment in perfect pigment and covered in perfect pearls blue patina and then highlighted with a white pen. Lastly I added some small gems to act as stars.
I laid the two pieces overlapping and cut out the wavy line and then stuck them to a card blank.

Some close ups to try to show details. I was trying to create the illusion of a moonlit night scene just softly showing the trees in the soft night sky!
There are some fab inspirational projects on the blog to inspire you so do pop on over and join in the fun. As always there is a £10.00 voucher for the winner to spend at the Stamp Man.

Hope you all have a lovely afternoon.

Thursday 20 October 2011

Dry Embossing at the Craft Barn and journal pages

Good Morning everyone.
Over at The Craft Barn Blog, our calender challenge is in full swing and I can't believe we are past the halfway mark now! For my July page I used and alphabet embossing folder to emboss my letters and sentiments.
Here is my page.
As always, all the details of how I did the page are on the Craft Barn blog HERE so feel welcome to pop on over to get the details (And let them know you've been by leaving a comment there!)

I've also been catching up on some of my journal pages; for those who were at my class you may recognise some that were not finished but now are!
First up


My random thought page. The question just popped into my head one day while looking at the stamp so I stamped the image onto a page and wrote it down before beginning to doodle! (Doodling is very therapeutic I think!)
Then there is this simple page; again based on something I was thinking about in response to a situation.

The next page was something I demoed at the class and this morning, waking up to the first frosts in our part of town, I finished it.


Then; last one for today is this one from a recent trip to see The Rhythm of the Dance at the theatre. Afterwards they were giving out posters so I nabbed one and used it on the page.


I cut and glued the bits that worked for me. Hauled out some of my Celtic stamps and had fun. The background is stormy sky distress ink; there's Americana Jack 'o Lantern orange and some doodling, I also used a charcoal pencil and paper stump to ground the images into the page.
So, now you're up to date with my completed pages. I still have some backgrounds done but pages not finished but you'll be one of the first to see them, I promise!
Hope you all have a blessed and creative day.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

WOYWW124

Hi there everyone. It looks like today may be a day of sunshine here which will be lovely. We are definitely being spoilt with the weather at the moment, even if it is cold the sunshine warms the heart!
So what's on my workdesk (Hosted as ever, by Julia at Stamping Ground) this morning?

The overview
A bit of a mixed bag today. so shall we start in the middle; still sitting there from yesterday's post is the group of bits from the scavenger hunt (details are HERE)


Then on the left are some metal birds, a notebook and some chipboard circles.


Oh and a small old tin we found Sunday too.

But, of course, the biggest treat is now sitting to the right........

Meet Bradley, Brad for short. Now here's a tale of unexpected blessing. I have wanted said Vagabond machine since they were first launched. Seems centuries ago now but with one thing and another I never had managed to get one. So on Sunday as were on our way to Haywards Heath we drove past The Craft Barn and my wife told me to stop. (I was not going to, I promise!) So being the dutiful Hubby I stopped and Susan said we are going to pick up a little box here as it was on the list for the hunt. So we went in and as we entered my lovely wife said; right, get your Vagabond! Well, I was not going to argue was I? So that is how Brad joined the family!  He works a treat too as I've just cut a gazillion tattered leaves to send to my mother in SA and my arms are not aching!
So, that's my beautiful world this morning and I look forward to seeing yours! If I can leave Bradley, that is!

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Scavenger hunt...

Hi there everyone.
I said yesterday that I'd had a bit of a busy weekend so I thought I'd share a bit with you today. I've been so busy with DT work lately and was feeling rather inspirationless so on Sunday I decided to be a bit different so told Susan we were going out and she was going on a scavenger hunt! (after staring at me blankly for a bit; I explained that a scavenger hunt was when you were given a list of things and you had to go out and find them; usually in teams but this was going to be a bit different)
So I duly presented her with a list of 10 things
A flower, a heart, a small book, a box, a figure, an old bottle, a little frame, some keys and a tiny spoon......oh and the last thing; a load of fun!
and we headed off towards Westerham which is somewhere we've been but not really explored.
So this is what she came up with

Heart and flower shaped mother of pearl buttons, a fabric covered book, two old bottles, the spoon and keys all were found in Westerham; then we headed down to Haywards Heath area and at a place near Sheffield Park Gardens found the box, frame and figure to complete the hunt!


At the end of the day, Susan said she had had a load of fun so that sorted the last item on the list too.

Now it is my turn. One of the things that has been intriguing me is the art of "assemblage" We fill our house with all sorts of bits and pieces that hold memories for us but assemblage takes those bits and creates almost a sculpture out of them. So my task is to take all these individual items we collected on the hunt and create a meaningful whole piece of dimensional art from them (And yes, there will be some ink and stamping involved; it is me who is doing after all!)
I'll be sure to let you know how I get on.
But one day perhaps if you are bored why don't you try this ; you'll have a great day out and make a lasting memory ( we are already planning the next one Susan giving me a list and I give her one and Battlesbridge antique village here we come!
Hope you all have a blessed day and create something wonderful......

Monday 17 October 2011

Katzelkraft Tag

Hi there everyone.
I've just posted this tag on the Katzelkraft blog. Here's a sneaky peek and all the details are on the blog HERE. I hope you are all having a good day today and finding time to create some art!
I'm running around a bit today after a busy day yesterday but hopefully I'll be back here later to tell you all about it!
Just a reminder  that these beautiful stamps are available direct from France or if you are in the UK you can get them exclusively from THE CRAFT BARN

Friday 14 October 2011

Journal page

Good morning folks.
Hope you are all well. Thought I'd share this journal page with you. Last night my wife and I trotted off to the theatre to see The Eva Cassidy Story. It was a lovely, if emotional, production. The staging was kept simple and documented aspects of her life and musical development and of course, her tragic death at such a young age. So this morning I made this page
The background had been done a while ago using distress ink and water painted with a brush that had some inka gold on it so there is actually a lovely shimmer to the page.
I used a Dina Wakely stamp stamped 3 times without re inking. Journalling lines were drawn using a French curve and my thoughts were noted. Some doodled lines and designs and some gold painted and stamped highlights were added.

On the way back to the car we took a detour and walked past the stage door just as Brian Fortuna walked out so as an added bonus my wife asked him to sign the programme which he did with good grace and smiles. Strictly fans will remember him from 2010 when he got to the semi finals with Abi) We did not know he could sing and act; but yes he certainly can!
So all in all it was a lovely evening, even if some tissues were needed at the end as it brought back memories of the last time I saw my Dad too so double the emotional impact.
I hope you all have a creative and blessed day; wherever your journey takes you.

I'd like to welcome my new followers too. Thank you for deciding to join me on my creative journey and if I can, in any small way, inspire you to find your own creative voice; I am humbled and grateful.

Wednesday 12 October 2011

WOYWW 123

Good morning folks and welcome to Wednesday; kindly sponsored by Julia over at Stamping Ground.

So what's happening in my little world.........
I took these photos yesterday before going to work (so that's why the sun is shining instead of the gloomy darkness) because I knew I would not get chance to go back into it before later this afternoon.
So we have the journal page and tag I'm trying to work on...... though may have a re think as the image in my mind is not transferring to the page as I wanted.
Then there's my "Big Brother is watching" tag which I need to finish. (If you look closely you can see the face staring out from behind the advertising..... a reflection our society today,NOT the TV programme which I can't stand!)
Pride of place today is my bottle! Very pleased with it (More details are on the original post HERE)


Then I found some more birds to alter, Yay! So hope to get cracking with those later today. They are just the right shape.....

Lastly, I put hooks into the shelf to store my blenders nice and handy. So there is my little paradise today. Hope you have as much fun in your creative space as I do in mine............. See you later.

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Craft Barn calender page

Morning everyone.
Over on The Craft Barn blog it's my turn to share.


It's all about texture on my page this week. Here is my page and as always; all the details and more pictures are on the Craft Barn blog so I hope you'll pop on over and leave a comment so they know you've been to visit!
It is also tag week over at Try it on Tuesday.
This weeks theme is peace and tranquillity. I kept it very simple this week and made a pair of tags using masking and a bit of stamping. I like the way they turned out though.



There's plenty more inspiration over on the Try it on Tuesday blog so I look forward to seeing your interpretation of the theme!
Enjoy your creative journey today!

Monday 10 October 2011

Altered bottle

Good morning peeps
This morning I thought I'd share this altered bottle that I did last week. I had to carve out the time to do something just for me!
The techniques were from an online workshop by Andy Skinner called the "Evil Elixir Workshop" To be honest I don't usually do online things but I am SO glad I decided to do this and if you get the opportunity to do it if he does another I would heartily recommend it!
So, here's my bottle; dragged out of the depths of the sea!

I started out with an empty brandy bottle that had a pleasing shape to me. Obviously I cannot give too much detail away of the steps as that is not fair to Andy. Needless to say, there are plenty of stages and at one point I thought it was a total mess!

I can tell you a bit more about the plate embellishment as that is something I did. I learn't that you can't bent Tim's Idea-ology bookplates to get a curve as they snap! But I still used them. I aged it with paint to create a rusty finish. Then to do the inside I took some friendly plastic (Doesn't matter which colour; this was purple to begin with) I cut it to size and heated with the heat gun and stamped a Sweet Pea stamp from
The Artful Splodger into it to get the girl's face. I ran it under the cold tap to harden and then painted it black before drybrushing inka gold in old silver and lava green which really made the image stand out!

The lid has a polymer face on the top; a piece of string around it and some vintage measuring tape around the side. All distressed with the same golds and black paint. The ornate embellishment  is a thin metal corner that was a bright shiny silver before ageing with paints and glueing in place.
I have to say that this has to be one of the most interesting projects I've done for a while. I've learn't some great techniques to use in other projects while working with products I never knew existed!
I still look at this and echo in my mind what my daughter said " I can't believe you made that!"
Hope you all have a fabulous day and are blessed in your creative journey.