Altered Paintbrush - Little Miss Art Mojo

Oh yes this was fun! I must confess that when Tracy chose 'Altered Paintbrush' as her theme for the eclectic Paperie's eTeam Picks Challenge, I was more than a little scared, 'oh yes' I said, 'that sounds like fun' but really I was thinking oh my goodness where do I start!. Well of course the answer is at the beginning..... find a brush. I hunted about, discarding brushes that any life in them, and settled on a rather old cheapo, nylon bristled brush that looked like it could work. After some rather vigorous washing, I noticed a few bristles left in the sink. A little more shaking and pulling and I was left with a bristleless brush. 'Hmmm does this count?' I thought. So here is the before shot....

I covered the 'brush' with book pages adhered with Studio Matte Multi Medium. Once dry a gave it a light coating of Studio Gesso. I still wasn't sure where I was going with it so the brush sat on my work table for a couple of days. Then, I decided to just get on with it ! I started by spraying on some Dylusions with the vague idea of creating a rainbow effect. I used lots of Bubblegum Pink which could possibly be my favourite Dylusions colour. This was good as it started to give my brush a distinctly feminine character.

 I applied antique linen Distress Paint in a vague face shape, and thought about painting a face. I had a little practice on some spare card and decided that this was not going to happen, especially after seeing Micki's wonderful altered brush over on the eP challenge blog. I decided to use this wonderful face stamp from a set I've had for many years, the polymer is actually split but it still works. I stamped it onto a tissue using black Archival Ink.

I tore one of the faces out and separated the tissue. This leaves a very delicate image which, when adhered to the surface looks more like a transferred image as the edges are barely detectable. Once the face was applied, I used Distress markers to colour her eyes and mouth. It was then that I realized that she had to have wings. I used a chip board set from my stash, which I think are by Maya Road, I coated them with Studio Gesso and used a technique Tim Holtz demoed, to colour Distress Stickles Dry Glitter with alcohol ink. I just added a few drops of Water Melon Alcohol Ink to a dessert spoon full of Dry Glitter and stirred until it was fully mixed. I really like her sugary pink wings. The sentiment just came to me, 'She painted till her hair fell out'. I printed this out onto a tissue using a set of letter stamps and adhered each word with Studio Matte Multi Medium.

 Some flowers, a net bow, a couple of tags bearing some of my favourite Donna Downey quotes from her Unity Stamp Company, Art and Possibilities stamp set and my Little Miss Art Mojo was finished.  I must confess I just love her! Here's a back view...

So a big thank you to Tracy for making me do something out of my comfort zone. If you fancy having a go at altering a paintbrush, we'd love to see the results. Hop over to the eclectic Paperie Blog, follow the link to the e Team Picks Challenge, on the sidebar and you'll see Tracy's brilliantly altered paintbrush along with full instructions on how to enter your creation. You'll also find plenty of inspiration from other members amazing eclectic Paperie design team. Who Knows, you could even win a gift certificate for the fabulous eP shop. where you'll also find many of the supplies I've used for this project. I'm also entering Little Miss Art Mojo into the Vintage Stamping Challenges Wings and Things challenge. x

Claudine Hellmuth Studio-Multi-Medium Matte	Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso	Dylusions Ink Spray - Lemon Zest	Dylusions Ink Spray - London Blue	Dylusions Ink Spray - Cut Grass
Dylusions Ink Spray - Bubblegum Pink	Dylusions Ink Spray - Crushed Grape	Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Antique Linen	Tim Holtz� Distress� Markers - Tumbled Glass	Tim Holtz� Distress� Markers - Fired Brick
Unity Stamp Company - Art & Possibility (Donna Downey)

Twelve Tags of 2013 - August

Time for another tag for the Tim Holtz Twelve Tags of 2013 Challenge. The months are surely racing by! this month's tag required us to use a masking technique and as usual, was a lot of fun to do. I've stuck pretty closely to Tim's tag which you can see here, but I've used Tim's Statue of Liberty stamp because quite frankly, I just love to have an opportunity to use it as it's one of my favourites.

 I was pretty impressed with how well the Distress Marker stamping worked out as I've not tried this before. Hard to think that a little 'huffing' can activate the ink so well. here's a close up

So, only a few more days and no doubt Tim will be posting up a tag for September. I'm pretty envious of  my blog friends who have tickets to see him in the UK this week. Lucky ladies! Treat him nice and perhaps he'll come again. Hope you all have a fantastic time! x

Mixed Media Fun for Eclectic Paperie

Good Morning peeps! Here's a little peek at a project I'm sharing over at the eclectic Paperie blog. Intrigued?.....well  if you have a few minutes hop over there and take a closer look. While you're there pop in to Kim's well stocked eP shop where she has some great items on clearance , including something I've used here.......x

WOYWW #219

Well here we are again, time for another WOYWW post, that's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, for the uninitiated. Julia, over at her Stamping Ground blog, hosts this weekly opportunity to snoop around the work spaces of crafters  from around the world. so in the spirit of "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" here is the current state of my rather messy work table. Taking centre stage, are some papers which have been coated with resin. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with them yet, but I found a pack of resin that I bought umpteen years ago and wasn't sure if it was any good. Having cracked open the two containers I was amazed to find that there was still liquid in them whoopee! I might just have a ferret around for more things purchased in sales from bygone years! in the meantime have a happy WOYWW and unless I'm whisked away to a Welsh seaside or maybe the Edinburgh Festival, I'll see you next week ! x

Happy Holidays !

I've spent a couple of afternoons playing with my Gelli plate and now have a whole bunch of prints just waiting for stamping, stenciling or perhaps embossing. Whilst it's good fun playing with this relatively new craft medium, it's been great to get back to a bit of 'old school' stamping with this summer themed tag. I've used a set of Graphic 45 stamps for the beach girl, borders and postage marks. The sun rays are from my most well used set of stamps, Tim Holtz's Bitty Grunge set. Here's a close up... 

I've used Scattered Straw and Spiced Marmalade Distress ink which I then heat embossed. The beach belle has been stamped in black Archival and also heat embossed.This enabled me to easily 'paint' her and the sun rays, with Distress Markers and a water brush. I stamped her first and then used a mask before stamping the sun rays. The borders have been stamped in black Archival ink and also heat embossed. I love the  crisp geometric pattern of these.

 I made the little stamp with a Woodware punch. the postage marks are from the Graphic 45 Tropical stamp set. I'm going to enter this into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, where the theme is 'Air Mail' and also The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Challenge where the theme is Postcards, Holidays and Travel. I've also discovered  The Drunken Stampers Blog through Linda over at Studio L3, They also have a Beach / Holiday themed challenge so with a name like that I can't resist joining in! Hope you've all had a lovely crafty weekend, let's hope the sun keeps shining x

WOYWW #218

Good morning WOYWW'ers ! just about qualify for that. I've slipped seamlessly into full on holiday mode. My initial early starts are getting later as the days progress. I've been up since 7 but have spent at least 2 hours, maybe 3, schlepping around in my dressing gown ( always wanted to use that word), followed by shower, the usual what shall I wear, breakfast, minimal housework and here I am ready to join in the biggest weekly blog hop in the world! Regulars will know this is hosted by the lovely Julia at her Stamping Ground blog. It's a great opportunity to visit work desks from across the world. If you haven't joined in yet hop over to Julia's blog and see what it's all about. I tidied my table yesterday evening so not much to see....... however, I've included the following two photos of a little doctor's case I picked up in a junk shop a while ago, thought you might like to have a drool over this dinky little item. I've put my hoard of 'Holtzian' stuff inside. I think he would approve and may even be a little jealous! Have a fun WOYWW x

'Game On !' Get Altered with eclectic Paperie Challenge

I've just finished this altered domino book for my design team contribution to the eclectic Paperie  Get Altered Challenge. Bonnie is our host for this month and she is asking that we use some element of  a game or games in our projects. You can see the amazing transformation Bonnie has made to a board game, over on the eP blog here. This is how my domino book  started out, before I got to work with some Foil Tape and Alcohol Inks

I covered each of the dominoes with Foil Tape which I firstly embossed and dabbed with Alcohol Ink in Stream, Denim Blue and Gold Mixative. I was inspired to use this technique after seeing Candy Cowell's gorgeous domino book on her blog Creativity is Contagious. I added a trimmed down metal corner, the butterfly charm, keyhole brad and gems and adhered them with Glossy Accents. The 'beaded' trim around the edges, is something I bought ages ago and have never really known what to do with. I toned it down with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint and secured it to the edges with more Glossy Accents.

Before stamping the insects, I vintaged the pages with my old favourites Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress ink. I also stamped the distressed harlequin pattern in the background from Dyan Reavley's Basic Backgrounds Set. The insect stamps are by Artemio. I stamped these with black Archival Ink and coloured them with Distress Markers. I then coated the whole surface with Versa Mark and clear embossed the surface. I added a couple of strips of Tim Holtz 'Elements' Tissue tape to the top and bottom of the accordion pages. I really love this thin little diamond strip.

Here's what's inside, and below is what's on the back. I actually made another strip using a piece of paper from Authentique Paper's 'Renew' collection. I stamped the numbers using Stampers Anonymous Worn Text Stamps and adhered it to the front page with Multi Medium.

The book originally had two lots of ribbon to secure it with bows at each side, but this seemed to swamp it, so my genius friend Sandy, from Sandy's Piece of Heaven, suggested cutting one set off and tying the other around the back. Much tidier !

So, now it's over to you! Why not have a hunt around for a game, or game piece or follow your own creative instincts to interpret 'Game On' and join in. You have until 21st of August to upload your project to the eP Get Altered Challenge blog. Hop over to the blog and follow the challenge guidelines and who knows, you could be the lucky winner of a $15 gift certificate for Kims lovely eclectic Paperie Shop where you'll be spoilt for choice with all the new products that are coming in on an almost daily basis. Below is a list of the products I've used, available from the eclectic Paperie shop. Hope you're having a fun day and finding some time to get creative ! x

Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Distress Ink Pad - Antique Linen	Inkssentials� Surfaces Metal Foil Tape Sheets 6"x12"	Dylusions Cling Stamps - Basic Backgrounds	Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous) - Worn Text Stamp Set
Claudine Hellmuth Studio-Multi-Medium Matte	Inkssesentials - Glossy Accents 2 oz.	Idea-ology - Tissue Tape - Elements	Tim Holtz - Idea-ology - Crinkle Ribbon 10 Yards	Authentique - Renew 8x8 Paper Pad
Archival Ink - Jet Black Ink Pad	VersaMark Stamp Pad	Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder - Clear	Tim Holtz Distress MarkersSet of 37 with ContainerGifts with purchase