Last minute Challenges

I hope you're all having a great weekend so far. The relentless heat has kept me indoors most of the day so that means I can visit my creation station without the guilt. This time I'm entering two Challenges. The first one is for Challenge YOUrself.  This one jumped out at me because of the song lyrics. I mean who doesn't like Louis Armstrong I ask you?!! And this is such an iconic song known the World over. My inspiration is the word "Wonderful" and how I'm trying to appreciate the fantastic Country that I live in as well as my own personal World. When I'm visiting places in my own Country I really do sometimes think to myself how wonderful it is and how lucky we are.

The second Challenge is from Picture This! Challenges. A chance to play with some mixed media....yay!! soooo much fun.

Here is my entry with a background of texture paste, stamping, Dylusions Paint and something new for me...glue from my new cordless hot glue gun. I've used the glue to add dimension to the page.

I painted the glue with Dylusions Paint "Dirty Martini".  I also watered down some of the paint and let it run over the textured background.

There's a lot of layering on this page, which I normally struggle with and I'm not afraid to admit that this was my second attempt. My first was a complete disaster but I managed to pull it apart and salvage a few things to add to the new page.

This photo of me was taken almost a year ago when we took time off to visit our Nation's Capital. I specifically went to enjoy a art exhibition that was running at the time and while we were there we were lucky enough to see Rob Thomas in concert. One of the best concerts we've been to. Such a nice guy and fantastic entertainer. I can't wait for him to come back to Australia again.

So that's my labour of love for today. If you have a couple of minutes to spare jump on over to both of the above Challenge blogs and check out the "wonderful" inspiration from the design teams. Thanks for looking xx

What I've been playing with....

Hello everyone and welcome back to my humble blog. I just want to share a mixed media project that I've been working on for a few weeks. The back story for this is when our daughter lived overseas for a few years she sent me an array of beautiful hand-written cards, postcards from all the Countries that they visited and entertaining emails filled with details of their day-to-day life and all the challenges that come with living and working in a different Country.  She also sent me a few small pieces of memorabilia. I've had all this sitting in a bag waiting for a permanent home. I finally rummaged through my "empty box" stash and found a sturdy, cardboard box just crying out to be altered and this has become the new home for the two years worth of happy mail from our girl :)

I have to say that this project has ended up nothing like it started out. I thought bright, happy colours were the way to go with lots of texture. However my mood changed after I layed down my original colour choice (and sadly those of you who know me more closely will understand why this happened). But in the end I still went with one of my favourite colour tones. The original texture is still there underneath all the layers that I added. Here is the finished product:

I rusted up some of the metal and chipboard elements then added paint and inks. I also used Inka Gold to swipe over it in random places.

I added some tiny seed beads to the inside of the frame.

My box full of memories...

So now that I've got that out of my system, it's time to get cracking on some Christmas cards and projects.  Thank you for dropping by once again xx

Weekend Getaway Projects

Hello again everyone, it's been a bit long-winded between blog posts I'm sorry. However I'm just back from a wonderful weekend in the Blue Mountains with my scrapping kindred spirits. I just want to quickly share with you a couple of the projects that I made over the weekend. The first is my entry for the challenge at More Than Words .  For my "recipe" I used Die cuts (skeleton leaves), Flair, Flowers and Mist and of course the word "Delight".

Here is how I cooked it up:

I love an Aqua and White colour combo. The flowers, sequined bow & arrow are from D-lish Scraps. The photo is a one of my DD & her partner on their recent trip to Thailand. The photo isn't perfect, but it captures their "delight" at travelling to foreign shores once again. 

Again I've included a pretty cluster using my die cut skeleton leaves - one of my favourite dies.


The other project I achieved over the weekend was a canvas that I've been wanting to do for a very long time.

The paint brush is an old one of my Dad's which I grabbed from him before he threw it out. It has some lovely bits of rust and calcium build-up on it so I've tried to reproduce that on the canvas. Thank you to Mary Bennetts for the Title inspiration, Lizzy Hill for her colour and texture guidance and Cheryl O'Brien for coming to the rescue with the perfect Mist. It was a real team effort :)

The background is stenciled with texure paste and coated with a thick layer of Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint.

I had so much fun creating this and I can't wait to do another.  I'll be back in the next few days with a few of the other projects from our weekend away.  Thanks for calling in xx

More than Words Challenge

Hello everyone and welcome back. I've had a wonderful week of catching up on well-over-due jobs, cooking decent meals and finally feeling like I am getting on top of things both domestically and creatively. One of my personal achievements this week was to create a layout for the current challenge at More Than Words and to incorporate more colour into my projects. I really like the theme of this challenge and new exactly which photo I wanted to use.

I love using circles so I pulled out my treasured Prima Stitched Circle stamps, which apparently are collectors items now. A set went up for auction at the recent retreat that I attended and after fierce bidding, ended up selling for quite a bit of money, so I'm cherishing these stamps even more now :D   The other thing I was excited to get stuck into was my Colour Blast Shimmer Dust and Colour Blast Colour Paste. I had the chance to play with these beautiful Australian products at the aforementioned retreat and I was blown away at how magical these products are. I think my new motto is "colour, colour, colour"!  Here is my entry:

I just had to use this colourful pic of me with two of my scrapping buddies Mary Bennetts and Lizzy Hill. Not only did the photo fit the theme but also my own criteria of  using bright colours. I hardly ever get to see these ladies IRL but they are always ready for a cyber chat and inspire and encourage me endlessly. This photo was taken at Camp Mojo last year and I can't wait to see them again (plus a couple of other of my lovely friends)  next month for our weekend getaway!

This cute felt star is part of a package from Charms Creations that I won at the recent retreat. So glad I have had a chance to use it already :)

Look at that rich, vibrant colour!

Lots of layers and texture!

So thanks for calling in and I hope that I helped colour your world!

Mixed Media & Re-purposing...

Hello and welcome back to my humble blog. If you are living in the Mid to South Eastern States of Australia at the moment you'll hopefully be taking advantage of the near-blizzard conditions to get some creating done. If not, I'm very jealous :(   However, the shortest day of the year has come and gone, so I'm looking forward to longer daylight hours very soon. I've been ensconced in front of our cosy fire most of the weekend altering a set of pre-loved bookends. This is just one of a multitude of projects I've been trying to get around to doing and I'm pretty chuffed that I finally finished them.

Lots and lots of texture layers using different mediums were used on this. The Kaisercraft timber letters are a recent purchase specifically for this project, but everything else is what I found in my stash.

 

The chippy clock behind the letters is from 2Crafty and I've covered it in Structure paste to get a really gritty, rough surface. I also used the same on the clock hands. I cut the clock in half to add to both sides of the bookends.

Except for the Tim Holtz film strip, everything on this has been altered in some way. The flowers were cream and I used water colour paints to change them as well as on the cameos. Heidi Swapp Colour Shine was also used, with a paint brush, as well as Viva 3D Gold paint and Kaisercraft Antique White paint.

I first covered the whole thing with newsprint paper and Gesso before adding some stencilled lettering with texture paste.

I added a chipboard semi circle and a metal butterfly to both sides as well as some German scrap pen nibs which I painted gold. Using my finger I rubbed a bit of gold paint over the lettering to make it stand out more.

I have probably said it before but.... hot glue guns and I have a love-hate relationship, but I managed to take a bit more control of it this time, so I think we are coming to some kind of understanding :D
Here is the finished product on a table in the corner of my library. It now holds the books that I am yet to read (when one is read another seems to take its place! I'm sure they are breeding), otherwise if they go straight into my bookcase I tend forget about them.

It has been a long time since I've altered anything and I really enjoyed the process despite the long wait between drying times.  Thanks again for dropping by xx

Week 6 Colour Me Positive....

I hope your week has commenced on a positive note. If not I hope this post cheers you up. I'm not getting too much in the way of scrapbooking done of late but I am trying to keep up with the weekly challenge at Colour Me Positive.  Here is this weeks prompt & the optional extra is to use stamping somewhere on your project.

I sometimes feel that there isn't enough kindness in the World, so I've used one of my favourite quotes that we sometimes need reminding of - Always be kind for everyone is fighting a harder battle - Plato. This page was inspired by the very talented Marta Lapkowska.

Once again I've used the beautiful Dylusions paints and Faber-Castell Gelatos. The stamps that I've used are from Prima: Dragonfly and Stitched Circles. I've used my own handwriting (eeek!) for the quote.

I love using my finges for spreading the colour around....so much fun making a mess :D

Thanks for looking once again. Have a great week xx

Farewell 2015...

Happy New Year to you all, I hope it is a very healthy and prosperous one for you. I'm looking forward to 2016 and all the new and exciting adventures it may bring. I wanted to upload one last project for the year to share with you. This is a frame that I made for our DD for her new little home and the close ups that I posted a few weeks ago:

I went with a seafoam/mint and soft pink colour scheme. The lovely background pp is from Kaisercraft. This little bird is from Prima as is the die that I used for the leaves.  The wooden heart which I altered is also from Prima.

I had to included a little wooden globe (Kaisercraft) which represents all her travels. I altered it with paint and clear crackle paint then I let some drops of mist run through the cracks. 

The fantastic large chipboard clock is one I've had in my stash forever and I finally found a project to use it on. I gessoed it then added "structure" paste. Once dried I added mists and paint. I then spread some clear glue around and sprinkled on the seed beads.

Here is the finished project. I covered the Kaisercraft wooden "Love" word with a matching subtle glitter paper and some small wooden letters were painted in the same tones. The little white heart on the right lower corner is from Prima. Sorry about the dodgy photo :(

There is a little bit of glare off the glass in this pic. It is a 38x38cm (15x15 inch) frame and 30x30cm (12x12 inch) with the white mat frame inside.

Thanks for looking and I look forward to sharing some more inspo in the new year xx

Art Journal Journey...

Well hello again, I'm just getting in by the skin of my teeth with this challenge. The ONLY challenge I've been able to enter so far this month. This one is for Mixed Media Place Creative Gym Exercise #12 - "Proverbs & Sayings". I was inspired by my family's ongoing International Nights. This Saturday night we are visiting France. This one has been a bit long in coming around because it's getting harder and harder to get my offspring and their partners all together at the same time, but I keep persisting :)  So finally I get to decorate the house with some lovely French decorations. We girls have organised the french wine, a Fondue and I'll be cooking Coq au vin. I've decided not make dessert as it's DD's birthday so we'll have birthday cake instead. Hopefully someone has organised that side of things :/  So enough of my chit chat, here is my take on the challenge:

"Paris is always a good idea"

A closie of the little Cafe' scene:

Lots and lots of wet media layers on this project. It's a wonder the pages didn't disintegrate! anyway they held together thankfully. Head on over to Mixed Media Place and check out the fantastic DT inspiration. Thanks for looking xx

Mixed Media Creative Gym Exercise #11: Rusted & Rustical

Okay so I'm slightly obsessed about learning all I can about mixed media (along many other obsessions in the industry). So I'm currently following the challenges over at Mixed Media Place because I really want to learn more and extend what I already know about creating with mixed media. The designers over at Mixed Media Place are so talented and innovative.

The current challenge is to use one of the wonderful Art Recipes from the very talented Finnabair as inspiration.

After much deliberation I chose to use Finnabair's Art Recipe July this year: "Rusted and Rustical". You don't have to make the same project or even follow the recipe step by step. What inspired me about this recipe was the rusting. So this is what I came up with (I've highlighted the products that were used on this):

I've been wanting to use my old paint brushes on a project for ages and when I finally came across a cheap mdf artists pallet I knew what I wanted to do. After covering my project with news print paper and Gesso,  I "rusted" up the metal pieces on the brushes as well as the cogs with rusting powder and brown vinegar. I then glued them to the project with a hot glue gun.

I then threw some rusting powder around them on the background and added some Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze in Indian Summer. I also used Modelling Paste for the flourish and quote, 3D Gel Medium to hold the beads in place and to cover them ready for colouring.

Once the modelling paste was dry I cover it with Ranger Crackle Pain. I stamped the background with a Kaisercraft background stamp and Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye and then used a aqua pen to move the ink around. The aqua brush was also used with water colour paint to smudge and blur the flourish. I laid down some old crochet pieces under the brushes before adding the embellishments. Also added some drips of Prima Colour Bloom in "Berry Wine" which happily settled within the crackle paint.

I painted up the embellies and flowers using Gesso, Aquamarine acrylic paint, Heidi Swapp Colour Shine in "Mint" (also used on the background), Prima Colour Bloom in "Deep Teal". I added some aquamarine paint on the rusted cogs. Glimmer Glaze was also dabbed onto the flower petals here and there.

Happily this project really stretched my creative imagination and I'm pleased that I got to use such a variety of media on this piece. I would really appreciate any feedback/advice from any of the Mixed Media Place Design Team on any improvements or tips/tricks to improve my techniques :)  Thanks for looking xx