Tuesday 23 July 2013

Pirate day 2013 (No crafting!)

Good evening folks.
Just a very quick pop in to share some pics from Sunday's Hastings trip for Pirate day! No crafting to share at the moment sorry.
I'll also be taking a couple of weeks break so it will be quiet here but I will be back, and raring to go so please, don't leave me.......
Ok back to the photos. I'll let them speak for themselves, otherwise we'll be here all night!

















Saturday 20 July 2013

Sizzling Summer Sale at The Craft Barn

Me again!
Just wanted to give you a heads up on the Fab Sale going on at The Craft Barn. Online only so nip on over and take a look and grab a bargain while you can!

http://www.thecraftbarn.co.uk/section.php/12701/1/sizzling-summer-sale


Pages....

Good morning everyone

Thought I'd share this  now that it is finished

 I really enjoyed the movie The Prince of Persia and this page was made because of it. The background has been made with a couple of splats of vivid Dylusions ink then the rest was done in Melted Chocolate and there's some Aged Mahogany in there too. I've used my Fantasy Border around the edge.
 I've stamped with by Fantasy Background and Doodle Scribble Background randomly over the page too. More detail was added with my Frame One mask and Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.
 The images come from a book picked up from the 99p store and I did the writing in black pen.
The words are from the opening scenes of the movie. I really enjoyed creating this page and I think it's one of my favourites (At the moment!)
Then I've been playing around with my hand made journal a bit and did this chappie the other evening which I think sits well on this page......
 This picture is a better colour. He's been coloured with Distress Markers. The cogs are from PaperArtsy
 Lastly, yesterday at The Craft Barn was my Art Journaling class #1. Can you see the concentration; All hard at work but it was a lot of fun too.
Hope you all have a good weekend. Today is a working day but tomorrow will be fun as it is Hastings annual Pirate day.So the family and I will be donning our finest attire for a fun day. So if you're in the area and have nothing planned, why don't you pop down, there's lots to see and do and pirates EVERYWHERE!!!

Thursday 18 July 2013

Inspired by a painting

Good morning friends
This week over at The Craft Barn the theme we are exploring is "Inspired by a famous painting" It's a fun theme I think and today is my turn. All the details and more pictures of the Journal page I did can be seen HERE. I'd love you to take a closer look on their blog as there's a little more to this page than meets the eye at first glance.......


No prizes for guessing my inspiration this week!

Also; what are you doing tomorrow? If you're not busy and are in the area I'll be teaching my introduction to Art Journaling class at The Craft Barn. The details are HERE and it's always a fun and inky day...

Enjoy the rest of your day, I hope it's a sunny one.


Decoart Americana paints: Warm White, True Red, Cadmium and Deep Midnight Blue.


Wednesday 17 July 2013

WOYWW 215

Good morning folks
Time for another weekly round up of desks, hosted as always, by Julia at Stamping Ground. HERE is the link.
My desk this week, starting with the overview
 On the easel is this canvas which you may remember seeing in various stages. Well, finally it is finished and there is more about that on yesterdays post if you are interested.
 Then on the left are some bits and pieces from a class sample I'm working on for August, using some of my new PaperArtsy stamps. Peeking out you can just see one of my other new sets, the Eclectica one from PaperArtsy too.
 Then, how do you like this mirror, brass frame, porthole rounded glass and the princely sum of £1.00 at the boot fair Sunday. I couldn't resist!
 Lastly, I'm on the final stages of this Prince of Persia journal page which I am really liking. Just need to finish the writing now.
You can see the first stages here, it just needs to be blacked in.
So, that's my place this week...... yours?

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Mixed media canvas

Good morning friends
Well, it's gearing up to be another warm day here in the South East of England. The mornings are lovely and cool though before the sun really gets to work so I'm sitting enjoying an early morning cuppa listening to the birds. Last night I finally got to grips with a canvas that I've been tempted to toss in the garbage so many times! I just kept adding layer after layer and FINALLY got to a place where I was happy.
 This started out as an experiment in Distress paints and was originally purple and orange with some of Tim's Wild West stamps on it. It was ok but I wasn't too happy with it so I thought, I'd try something new and added some wax crayons and melt them as I'd seen done somewhere.... big mistake though I learn't that big fat crayons from the 99p store don't really work! So everything got left as is and it mocked me every time I saw it so I covered everything with gesso to shut it up.
 Then I began to add some crackle and texture pastes randomly and painted it with various paints, sprays and whatever I could toss at it.
 I added some fabric tattered floral flowers and painted over them with paint too. Them I just began to add bits, more flowers from my stash (Made with the tattered garland die and Inks, and the tattered poinsettia die too)
 Stamping was with Kaisercraft just to add some details.
In the picture above you can see the crayons. I felt it needed something there so I glued one of the mini books I made recently to it and I think it sits nicely on the "platform" I added more metal charms and other embellishments, like the corner and lightbulb too.
The sentiment is an epoxy sticker. I like the way you can see the texture through but still read it clearly. I also think it ties in with the shine of the lightbulb too.
Now I just need to fill the book! Oh and I added a couple of small glass jars to the top of the crayons too, just for fun.

All in all, I'm pleased with it, though it took a lot of twists and turns along the way to it's final incarnation.

Monday 15 July 2013

Tando Creative book week round up

Good morning friends.
I trust that you had a fabulous weekend and are ready for the week ahead. Yesterday we headed on out to make the most of the sunshine and had a picnic and a bit of a walk (Too hot to walk for long though at 30 degrees Celsius!)
We did find this glorious field of poppies along the way




Oh and not forgetting the lavender too.
 It was a great day and lovely to have family time.

The other thing I wanted to share with you was about Tando Creative.  Last week on their blog was book week and all week they were showcasing some amazing projects all using my book cover kits as the starting point. There was such a lot of fabulous ones I thought I'd share them here with you. So here are the photos of each one along with the link to the blog posts. I hope you enjoy them and are inspired too.

I kick started day one with the Ancient Kit.
http://tando-creative.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/book-cover-week.html
Then it was Karen using the Burst Kit
http://tando-creative.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/book-week.html

Then Carol, using the Squared off Kit. She also stretched the kit to create two fabulous books.


 http://tando-creative.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/wednesdays-book-cover.html

Then Katherine popped along with this using the Geometric Kit
http://tando-creative.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/book-week_11.html

Next up was Irit, using the Nuts and Bolts kit
http://tando-creative.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/book-week_11.html

Lastly there is Dana, using the Geometric Kit
http://tando-creative.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/book-cover-week-admit-one-album.html

I'm sure you agree with me that they are brilliant!
And, if you've been inspired, my kits are available from Tando Creative Stockists

Right, chores are a calling so I will leave you to your day.