New beginnings #2

I joined Christy Tomlinson's online Art Society Video Club back in January ... monthly inspiration for mixed media canvases. Very different, but I'm loving it! Videos come mid-month, so here's my January canvas ...




 

I added a layer of tissue wrap to the canvas, then painted over; added die cut patterned paper leaves which I painted over, and a couple of die cut embossed butterflies I'd done a while back & added the text.  It looked quite disjointed, so I finally sprayed over the whole canvas!

 

For the second one for January, I went 'off track' a bit!  A dark background, & for Christmas I'd got the Steeleye Span album "Wintersmith" (inspired by Terry Pratchett's tales of Tiffany Aching).  One of the songs on the album was called 'I shall wear Midnight'. I'd already done the black/grey background for my canvas.  I also had some tiny patterned leaves left over.  So I decided to create my canvas around these ...

 

 

And here's a couple for February ...

The patchwork is made of rectangles of the top layer of paper napkins (I've gathered quite a collection over the years!); faux 'stitching' added with pen.

 

For this one, I used Tim Holtz fabric for the patchwork.  As the edges of the material were already 'pinked', I cut the rectangles with pinking shears & I added a little stamping using various border stamps, with a little distress ink on the edges (back to my favourite 'muted' colours!!).

 

Back soon!     Kay

New beginnings!

After an unproductive few months last year, I'm finally getting back into crafting!

Our Facebook group has a challenge each month - for February it's "New Beginnings", using new (or not used) products and/or a new technique.

Just over a week ago, I went up to Leicester with a friend from the group to Neil's Studio in Leicester to a workshop run by Hels Sheridan. (Neil is also a member of the group; I first met him last year at his newly opened studio in his back garden - a great creative space - Neil is also now on several craft Creative Teams - well worth checking our his blog here).  Anyway, had a great time & managed to complete a 9" x 12" canvas...

 

 

I loved doing this! 

A couple of days later I found out from my friend that Sizzix UK had cut the prices of lots of Tim Holtz dies... Now Hels provided a piece of the Harlequin border to use in class; loved this one, so versatile, & yes, it was on sale!  And as I checked the website, I saw several more reduced that were on my 'wish list'!  So, an order to Sizzix, and a couple of days later, these arrived!

 

I also sent my first order from Fernli Designs, who produce wooden / MDF laser-cut embellishment & other pieces.  I was ready to produce a Hel's type canvas with Tim Holtz dies & some Fernli cogs!  And I also bought some Dreamweaver Embossing Paste that we used at the class - love this through stencils; it has an almost 'velvety' finish, rather than molding paste, which is more glossy.

Comparison of Dreamweaver embossing paste (diamonds) & molding paste heart

 

 

 

This canvas is much smaller, 6" x 4" & the canvas itself is 'chunkier', less fine-grained.  So I think it has a different feel to it.  (I think I prefer the 'original', has a much more 'open' feel to it - I think my next one will be on a larger canvas - more space to play with!).

 

I used the Harlequin & Washer Borders - both the die cuts themselves & the pieces that were left.  And I used the Old Jalopy Mover & Shaper. All the wooden bits are Fernli Designs, apart from the tiny hearts, which I picked up from ArtCuts at Alexandra Palace Stamping & Scrapbooking Show last year.  And the embossing paste is through Tim's Latticework stencil.

 

detail of the cogs

texture detail; die cuts, embossing paste etc

 

(hope this counts for the challenge!)

 

Back soon!     Kay



Tim's February tag

My 'take' on Tim's 'February 2014' tag

Quite a 'simple' one this month!  I mainly followed Tim's techniques, but used stash that I had.  The 'trim' on the bottom is die cut lace, cut out of silver card, aged a little with Black Soot distress paint.  I first came across the 'chalkboard' technique over at Tim's Creative Chemistry 102 online class last year (the class is still available as an independent one) - I'm still practicing it, but I love this technique!  Once I'd finished, the tag was still looking a little 'bare' - I found a die cut, stamped & 'glossy accented' butterfly I'd done a while back.  Being grey, it toned in, so I added this to the tag.

Detail of the 'chalkboard'

Thought I'd just add this Valentines card, used the same 'chalkboard' technique, this time as a background, using various border stamps.  I think I might be using this idea in some more cards!

Back soon!     Kay

Creative JumpStart 2014 - homemade 'Gelli Plate'

A couple of the videos for Creative Jump Start 2014 (www.nathaliesstudio.com) used household items to create a gelli plate for mono-printing.

Inspired by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and Louise Nelson, I decided to give it a go.

I actually made my 'gelli plate' from a piece of 'fun foam', which seems to be standing up well to its use!

home-made 'gelli plate'

Using turquoise and tapioca paint, & blue and green card, I started to play! On some I also used a stamp with the paint. 



    

I did several more!  The brighter green and blue are the colour of the card, as I used a mask of torn paper to create the background shape.

 

I decided to make a card from the one on the right.

 

 

 I had already stamped the 'flowers' in both paint colours. I sketched round the edge of the masked shape with an opaque white pen.  I stamped the butterfly and corners and embossed them with Stampendous Frantage aged silver embossing powder and finally added the ChitChat words and the raffia bow.

(Household objects - torn paper from notebook, raffia, (& home-made 'gelli plate') & I used Stampendous embossing powder as mentioned above.)

 

Back soon!     Kay

Creative Jumpstart 2014 Finnabair-style canvas

It's the last day of Creative JumpStart 2104 today; just realised I hadn't posted any of the bits I'd done!  The course is at www.nathaliesstudio.com. I haven't done all of them, but I have got so many ideas now, and we still have the videos available until November.  So here goes:

First project to show is a small mini canvas (only 7cm x 7cm) inspired by the video from Finnabair (Anna Dabrowska).  Her blog is here - take a look - she does such amazing pieces!  I would love to do a class with her - the CJS video was great!


In real life, it's a bit less 'yellowy'!

 

(Household items: teabag for making tea stain, old press studs, old necklaces).

I enjoyed finding the bits for this tiny project, painting white to hide colour, and then adding sprays to re-colour! The sprays were using mica powders with water - Perfect Pearls & Cosmic Shimmer. I also used a homemade tea stain, and watered down distress ink.  Quite a few of the bits were from my stash of craft bits, but there's also a few bits from broken necklaces & some old press studs (I've got a whole big box of those!).  I think if I did a similar project again, I would leave the glass in the lightbulb unpainted though...

 



Showing 3-D dimension

Back soon!     Kay

Not cogs in a clock! My take on Tim's January tag

Happy New Year!

It's been too long since I've blogged!  Autumn came & went; Christmas came & went.. and now it's a over a week into the New Year!  But hopefully (fingers crossed!) I'm now back in the world of crafting & blogging...  Days of not crafting after Tim's CC102 course merged into weeks & months.  Busy (& stressed) at work, no ideas - I was ready for a change!  I made the decision to leave work and become a lady of 'leisure' (?!).  So a little more time for crafting & other things, & a renewed zest!

I certainly needed lots of inspiration when I saw Tim's January tag!  How could I adapt it?  Distress stain?  Yes, but not Tim's colour.  Stencil? Yes, but not that one! Pocket watch die? No ... you get the picture!!  So I had to get my thinking cap on! 

So for the tag background I used Antique Linen stain and a couple of different stencils, and I used a rubber stamp for the numbers.  I found a quote I liked from my collection of Tim's stamps.

Now for the 'clock/watch' ...   I have the gears die, and also the clock faces texture fade ... so, a clock in a cog instead of cogs in a clock!

 

I really hope that this year I shall be able to craft my take on all 12 of Tim's tags!  And also do lots more crafting, which I'll share here. 

 

I'm currently taking Nathalie Kalbach's Creative Jump Start 2014 online course - inspiring videos from lots of fantastic crafters, and great fun finding household objects to craft with!  And I'm also doing a Christy Tomlinson Winter Whimsy multimedia workshop - it's no longer 'live', but still available, and very much adaptable for other seasons / themes!

 

So I've got plenty to keep me busy in 2014!

 

Back soon (with fingers crossed!)     Kay

CC102 catch-up Day 5

Here's my last tag from Day 5

 

And that's it for CC102!

 

I really enjoyed the week's crafting and learnt so many new techniques!  And had so much fun - roll on CC103!!

 

And here's just a couple of finished cards using more than one technique...

 

So it's onwards and upwards with my crafts - practising and creating - combining techniques, new cards & new ideas - I guess I'll start thinking about Christmas as well!

 

Back soon!

 

Kay