Liz Borer Decorated frame.

Its been another fabulous week of projects on PA. I felt compelled to have a go at the decorated frame by Liz as she is always kind to me with blog comments and I am a great admirer of her work. She has a unique and very classy style.

I found a very old mirrored frame, you can tell how long I have had it with the price £1-99. It is cheap, plastic frame and tacky, ideal for a challenge.
I followed Liz's instructions and wanted to stick with her colour scheme because she is cleverer than me.
Working on glass demanded Stazon ink which has not given me such a pleasing effect as archival. I bought some polystyrene flowers the other day which I sprayed.
It always takes me ages to arrange flowers etc but went for this arrangement in the end.
I added Treasure Gold Royal Amethyst to the frame to finish it off.
Thankyou for the challenge Liz. had to squeeze it in today as I am off to London this weekend.
Before...

And after…..

Beryl influence 2.

Last night I had another look at Beryl's work and decided to play again.
I started by experimenting with gold embossing powder onto hessian and stamping into the third layer. Forgot to mention that I then added Treasure Gold.

I then stamped onto book page, coloured with crayons and mounted up on silk and hessian and added beads etc; made some little tags and wound threads round, stamped a long panel, fresco painted, coloured and screwed up and cut out another heat embossed piece. I then played about arranging them on a canvas.

I looked at them on various background papers and decided on the same Chatsworth paper that I used for my pink version on previous blog.

So I painted around the edges of my canvas and attached the Chatsworth paper with Claudia Hellmuth matte medium. 

Hardest bit was arranging and glueing my finished pieces.

I really enjoyed putting this together and trying some of Beryls multi media techniques. Long way to go but enjoying the ride!

Beryl Taylor influence

I have been a huge admirer of the amazing work of Beryl Taylor for years and her book is one of my bedtime reads. I aspire to do something like her so much that it makes my heart ache. (Sounds daft but I know what I mean.)
Then Lin Brown blogged her fabulous book that she created after being lucky enough to go on a Beryl course. My desire to create something was reignited and I quizzed Lin about her work.

I could never in my wildest dreams be a Beryl because, by nature, I am impulsive and a bit slapdash. Beryls work is carefully thought out and beautifully neat and detailed.
But, I can do a me influenced by Beryl and here it is.
First I did a pastel gelli plate pattern and transferred it to some cotton fabric.
Next I embossed a pattern onto watercolour paper and die cut a heart.
I painted the heart with PA fresco and Treasure gilded it.
I mounted the heart onto shiny fabric and sewed it to the cotton background. I free embroidered some of the flowers (badly) and attached some sari silk strips.

Next I hand sewed beads onto the heart and onto the sari silk and attached a metal heart charm.

I mounted the whole thing onto more silky fabric and then onto brown hessian. I stamped Art comes from the heart onto paper, distressed it a bit and mounted this also onto hessian and silk.

With a PA 10 x10 canvas I painted around the edges with frescoes and glued a Chatsworth paper on the front for my background. Then Treasure Gilded the edges and mounted everything, adding a bit of manuscript paper and extra sari silk.

Here it is getting to know the wall hanging and the ducks.

Pleased with my efforts but not a Beryl yet!

Wall Hanging

When I saw Penny Nuttall's fabric hanging, something in my brain went "ping", would like to have a go at that. Then I began to trash my house looking for materials , iron out (rare), sewing machine out. Spare bedroom ,craft room, utility, kitchen all blitzed in my excitement to play!

I found a piece of Calico, don't have any linen…on the list, luckily found a piece of hessian that would fit on the back. Driftwood from the garage that came from a beach in Spain and my trusty PA stencils and Fresco paints.
I started by stencilling flowers, leaves and Bloom and Grow in Chalk fresco, then stencilled over in colour. Dusty Teal, Lake Wanaka and Lilac for the flowers; Chartreuse, Hey Pesto and Toad Hall for the leaves and words. I then hand painted some extra detail onto them and wrote on the words with black pen to create shadow.
Sewing next and always have to get my instruction book out to check! Zigzagged the calico onto the hessian.
Changed the foot and did a little bit of free machine embroidery around some of the flowers.
I placed some bought flowers around the piece but decided that after the trouble that I had gone to it seemed like cheating so die cut someTim Holtz flower petals from assorted fabrics.
Next I assembled them and sewed them together. I also found some fabric beads which I had received in a Leandra monster box last year….lucky!
I did cheat with 2 shop bought butterflies to finish off.
Lastly I sewed 2 straps to the top and threaded my driftwood.
Contented and a bit taken aback by what I have created! Came together really well.I didn't do it in lots of pieces like Penny because I knew that I would get frustrated lining all the pieces up straight!
So thank you Penny for making my house look like a bomb site. I have really enjoyed creating my wall hanging!

My Garden

Just posted about my little Garden shrine and it prompted me to put a collection of photos from this week. Good record to look back on!

                                           Dads' old greenhouse.

                                           Just see Georges' playhouse.

                                            Summerhouse

                                            Clematis

                                             Astrantia

                                                          Old barbecue

                                

                                                          Phlomis

                                                         Think its Thuga??

Vegetable plot is tended by Mr Messy, so not showing that!!

Kirsten's Shrine

First of all, congratulations Kirsten on becoming a Guest Designer. I love your work and was blown away by your Journal that you brought to Stevenage.
A garden shrine really appeals to me as I feel very much at home and relaxed in my garden. I still own my Dads' greenhouse and as he died the same year as Elvis and he owned it for many years, you can imagine hold old it must be. When I am in there pottering away, I feel closer to him.
I hunted around for a suitable frame but couldn't find what I was looking for so I decided to use a card surround.
I grungepasted some bricks, crackle glazed a bit and began a colour scheme which was largely a collection of green frescos.
I painted some coated wire, curled it, cut out some leaves from PA Chatsworth, and made some die cut flowers. I already had some Tim Holtz hexagons cut out and used them to fill in the frame.
I stamped my guardian of the garden onto acetate (from Wings 3) and painted the back like Kirsten did. I painted and crackled a card heart also.
If you think that my writing is a bit haphazard then you are right because it reflects the way that I worked today. I even took photos of the "finished" product and then realised that I had forgotten to add the flowers and butterflies!!
Anyway, I painted onto the back of some acetate butterflies and then put it all together.
Of course I added some Treasure Gold to my frame and the heart. Goes without saying really!
I punched holes in the corners of the frame to hang it lopsided because it reflects the way that I do stuff, in a loppy sort of way. If I waited to line things up then I would never finish anything.
Thanks Kirsten, I love your butterfly shrine and have enjoyed having a go myself!

Washi collage

Long time no post, so here I go after health blips and a glorious holiday.
First of all thanks to Sara for fresh inspiration.

I adapted her ideas by using proper alcohol inks , brayering just the same and pressing  alcohol ink through a new stencil.
I don't have Sara's stamps….yet, but improvised with PA linear sentiment stamps and Ellen Vargo chevron stamp.
Everything else was more or less the same.
When I have another go I will match my colours to my flower more carefully.
Really enjoyed this, thanks Sara.