Twelve Tags of 2014!

Well this is really cutting it fine but I could not let the month pass by without posting my October tag for Tim's Twelve Tags of 2014. You can see Tim's tag here. It's been a long day organizing a Halloween party for my lovely nieces and nephews. I've had to make some substitutions for this tag as I have yet to get my hands on Tim's new Distress Sprays. I've used my Dylusions Sprays but I don't think they react in quite the same way. Well I shall keep it brief  as I'm just about ready for bed ! Whoo hoo! new tag tomorrow ! x

'Any Old Iron' ~ Artist trading Post Exchange New Challenge

Hi everybody! Today, I'm excited to share my first design team project, for the Artist Trading Post Exchange challenge. Ruth is hosting the challenge for this fortnight and she is asking us to create a piece of work inspired by this fabulous photograph of a rusted door, she took whilst on holiday. If you would like to join in, hop over to the ATP blog by following this link and you'll find the challenge guidelines as well as plenty of fabulous inspiration from the rest of the design team. There's a £10 voucher for the Artist Trading Post for one lucky winner ! You can create anything you wish, but it must contain some stamping, and no digi images please.
 I love the wonderful colours and textures Ruth has captured in the picture, and decided to use them as my inspiration for this mixed media canvas.

I started off by adhering some torn book pages to the surface of my canvas, using  Matte Multi Medium. Once this was dry, I applied  Embossing Paste through a Tim Holtz Lattice Work Layering Stencil  and a stencil from my stash. Once this was dry, I set about creating the rusty texture using Golden Glass Bead Gel. Ruth has a great post on the ATP Exchange blog about this wonderful medium.  I applied the gel with a palette knife and also sprinkled a few seed beads into the gel while it was still wet. This added some variation to the texture.

 This is a fabulous medium to use and I got a little carried away, applying it to a bit more of the canvas than perhaps I should have. I had meant to leave some smooth areas. Once these layers were dry, I started to add colour. I used Luminarte Silks. These are wonderful metallic sheen, acrylic glazes and come in a variety of gorgeous colours. They are a dream to use !

The colours I've used here, are from the the Autumn Splendour and the Fruit Punch sets. As they are essentially glazes, the colours layer over each other beautifully. After having such a lot of fun painting with the Luminarte Silks, it was time to apply some detail. I stamped three butterflies onto a piece of lightweight paper using black Archival Ink. I heat embossed the images with clear embossing powder and painted each one with with Luminarte Silks.

I then cut them out and adhered them to the canvas with Matte Multi Medium.

This close up shows why I wish I'd left some smooth spaces, I think my butterflies have a little more texture than perhaps they should. As you can see I am embracing imperfection! To finish off the canvas, I added some touches of gold foil to the stenciling, a dictionary definition stamping in the background and a Remnant Rub On word across the middle.

I just about manged to capture some of the glint of the foiling in this photo. So there you have it ! my first ATP Exchange post. If you'd like to try any of the products I've used to create this canvas, just click on any of the links and you'll be transported to the Artist trading Post shop. I look forward to seeing your 'Any Old Iron' projects x

Compendium of Curiosities 3 ~ Challenge 13 ~ Worn Cover

Hi everybody! It's Friday evening and for me that means getting my project up for Linda's Compendium of Curiosities 3, challenge number 13. This has been great for me, as the challenge was to go to work on one of Tim's Worn Covers. I've  been keeping my Creative Chemistry tags in this one. Here's what it looked liked before.....

I love the worn look of the cover as it is, but it was definitely needing a little personalisation. I used one of my favourite of Tim's wonderful techniques. He calls it Painted Industrial. To create this technique on my Worn Cover, I've used Alcohol Inks on the sticky backed foil, instead of Distress Paint.Tim showcased this technique in his book, Compendium of Curiosities Volume 2 . So you see, you really need all three books so that you can keep on referring to them !
Here's a side view.....

I used rivets to attach the Ring Binder, you have to hammer the two parts together and they work really well at securing the binder. The letters and numerals for CC102 were cut from the fabulous Word Play Die. I covered a piece of chipboard with sticky backed copper foil before die cutting them.
I used some paper from the Laboratoire Paper Stash, to cover the inside.....

...... and finished off with an embellished jeans button and one of those totally fab and utterly useful Ideaology elastic bands, simple but perfect !

So there you have it, another fun challenge from Linda and the Curiosity Crew! I'm very grateful to them for 'making' me transform my CC102, into something far more fitting for the wonderful contents ! The challenge this fortnight has been sponsored by the fabulous Inspiration Emporium, with a $50 gift certificate for one lucky winner. There's also a huge package of goodies from Tim and Mario, for the Crew's favourite entry. My lovely blog friend Lisa with her gorgeous Tinted Photo creation, was the well deserved winner for the last challenge !If you haven't got your Compendium of Curiosities 3 book yet, you can order a signed copy directly from Tim, and don't forget volumes 1&2 are still available !

Exciting News!

Hi everybody! just a quick post to share some exciting new that I've been keeping under wraps for a little while. I'm very pleased to announce that I shall be joining the fabulous Artist Trading Post Exchange, design team. The ATP Exchange, is a relatively new mixed media challenge blog. So new in fact, that the team are currently hosting only the second of their fortnightly challenges, which, by the way, has a Halloween theme. I'm really looking forward to working with such a talented design team and I can tell you that there are some great challenges in the pipeline, all sponsored by the lovely people at the Artist Trading Post. I do hope you'll find time to hop over to the blog where you can meet the design team, see their inspiring art work and view the challenge guidelines. If you click on this link you'll be transported straight there. I look forward to seeing you ! x

'The Colours of Autumn' Frilly and Funkie New challenge !

I am delighted  to be presenting this project as a guest designer, for the Frilly and Funkie blog. I had the great honour of being selected as a winner for the 'From the Heart' challenge and now I have the great pleasure of sharing my guest design project, for the new 'Autumn Colours' challenge. You can find all the details of the challenge over on the Frilly and Funkie blog. 

The theme for this fortnight is 'Autumn Colours'. This is quite perfect, as there is inspiration everywhere ! I chose to make this autumn wall hanging as it is similar in construction to my winning heart and I thought it would be nice to share the process for anyone who might like to have a go at a similar home decor project.

I started with a chipboard circle measuring around 9 1/2 inches wide. 

I gave it a coat of gesso and then used embossing paste through my favourite Wendy Vecchi Flourish stencil, to add texture to the frame. Once it was dry, I gave the frame a coat of Paper Artsy Fresco paint. I used a mixture of Vintage Lace, Stone and a touch of Mushroom. After more drying, I used Inca Gold Paste, to highlight the stenciling. I also blended archival ink in Potting Soil, around the edges.

I used cream coloured 160gsm card, to die cut  a whole bunch of  leaves using, Tim Holtz's Bigz Tattered Leaves die. I also used some leaves I cut on my Pazzles Inspiration, and some smaller die cuts from the Movers and Shapers Mini Tattered Leaves. This gave me a nice variety of shapes and sizes. I then coated each leaf with gesso. 

Once the leaves were dry, I used a variety of Dylusions Sprays to colour the surface. This was great fun! I let the colours mingle together so that they formed pools and drips. Note to self...... wear protective gloves next time! Those Dylusions colours sure are strong ! I still have red cuticles after three days of hand washing and washing up! Whilst the leaves were drying I turned my attention to making the flowers. There are three different types, the two larger ones were made with the Tattered Florals die. You can see a step by step I posted some time ago, on how to make these, by following this link. 

All of the flowers have also been coloured with Dylusions Sprays. I made the spiky flowers by snipping a piece of card and rolling it up very tightly. I have a Cheery Lynn die which cuts a fringe, but I wanted to see if it was possible to make a larger one by hand cutting a strip.

These pictures show the process I used.............

........and this is what it looks like after being sprayed with colour. I adhered all the elements to the frame with Cosmic Shimmer glue. This has a nice thin nozzle which helps when you have lots of layers to attach. I played around with different layouts before deciding which one I preferred. It's a good idea to take a quick photo before gluing everything down as it's easy to forget where things  go. I added in a few little die cut acorns here and there, before finishing off with an extravagant bow made of Distress Stained seam binding ribbon. I also adhered a  metal washer to the back of the frame, in order to counter balance the flower arrangement. This avoids it from being lopsided when it is hung up.

I've had great fun working on this guest design project and would like to thank all those talented design team members, over at Frilly and Funkie for inviting me.

I hope you'll  find time to soak up all the wonderful autumn colours and be inspired to use them in your work and don't forget to show the Frillie and Funkie team. Who knows you could be their next guest designer !  x

  

Mirror Mirror On the Wall ....

Here's a little peek at the project I'm sharing over on the eclectic Paperie blog today. I think you may be able to guess the theme ! If you'd like to see a little more, hop over to the  eP blog by clicking on this link and all will be revealed.........x