Boy

I have been trying to broaden my horizons, starting this month by looking at new to me challenge blogs.

So, I came across "The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge" and I liked what I saw.

This month, it is...Put a stencil on it, which is what I did! last minute I know!

I started in my repurposed girls annual by applying crackle paste through a lettered stencil. I continued the stencilling across the page using Coffee Archival. I stamped a Dina Wakley scribble stamp and then applied a spray of water and Bister powders.

Next, I stamped with a Paperartsy favourite of mine from Ink and the Dog, School Days 1 , and assembled a few possessions of the boy!

I created a book for him using a small Spanish dictionary, hessian and leather. I stitched it together and then sanded back to age the leather. Reminds me of my old school satchel.

So, a little wrinkle free distress, and a fiddle with the possessions and I was happy.

This boy reminds me of my Dad who was born in 1909 and had to endure a difficult time taught by nuns! He was very academic but used to run away, they were grooming him for the priesthood and, luckily for me, he resisted. 

I have a photo of him which is similar to this, but he has a black eye, from fighting in the playground.

I have really enjoyed creating this tonight and am happy to enter it into the Mixed Media monthly Challenge.

There was great inspiration from all of the design team, Lynnes layering, textures from Karen, and great dimension from Clare. 

Round and Round

Here is my entry for the That's crafty "Round and Round " challenge.

Trying to make more of an effort to join in with challenges this year, and so far so good!

As usual, I gessoed a page in my girls annual and drew a girl, Emily Blunt, from the front of a recent Times Supplement.

I selected PaperArtsy paints in greens and blues to paint her face and hair. 

Next, using Tracy Scott stamps ETS01, I stamped with Black Archival around her hair, 

I outlined her features with Black Stabilo pencil and used some Posca pens into the stamping.

Finally, using Lin Brown stamp ELB06, I stamped a sentiment! 

Happy Bunny!!

Pink and Orange Paint Chart

I know, my fourth entry on the PA blog for pink and orange, but I think that this one is a great idea to share. So simple but a bit quirky and interesting.

I have had a few of these paint sample cards for a while and never got round to using them till now.

All that I did was to stamp with black Archival and the PA stamp HP1507 onto the paint chart. it took the ink brilliantly.
For my orange, I painted over one butterfly with fresco Smoked Paprika.
Mounted onto black card and then onto a card blank. Bingo.
I hope that you like.

Pink and Orange 3

Sometimes a girl just can't help herself, and having experienced life in the sixties, when pink and orange were the new black, then, why not!

So, here is my third entry into the PA blog.

I began, on my girls annual, by gessoing the page and dividing it up into 9 sections.

Next, I went through my Paperartsy stamps and this one fitted nicely, and being my all time fave stamp, I was delighted. (that indicates how much pre planning there was!)

The stamp is a Lynne Perrella LPCO22.

Next, stamped with black archival onto tissue paper, 9 images. Painted each rectangle with a different fresco paint.

Glued the images onto the rectangles and touched them up slightly with a little more paint.

I finished off with a few words and redrew the black lines with Black Fudeball.

Had great fun! love a challenge!

Pink and Orange Canvas.

Ha ha, its barely day three in the big brother house and here is my second Pink and Orange creation.

I started this canvas last night and finished it off this morning.

I worked on a canvas that is 16"x12".

I began by choosing some magazine pages and tissue paper and creating a background.

As you can see from the orientation, I intended this piece to be Landscape, but overnight it changed.

Next, I added some PA fresco colours with my fingers, did a little stencilling and stamping, some doodling and some writing in Pink Posca, White uni ball and black stabilo.

I decided to section it off, just evolved, which I did with Black Stabile pencil, and there are some ink splats.

I hung it on the wall overnight and then turned it around this morning and added some more papers, paints and scribble.

The hardest bit for me is taking the blinking photos. So, here are a selection.

One on the wall.

One, on a table.

One in a tree.

And, finally, a close up!

Thanks for looking and I hope that you like it half as much as I enjoyed doing it.

I am entering this into the PaperArtsy challenge.

Pink and Orange Houses

I was thrilled when the latest topic of Pink and Orange came up on the Paperartsy blog.

So, be warned, this is just my first attempt!

I began by creating a master board using all of my fresco pinks and oranges, braiding, stamping, doodling with post pens and to finish, added some lines of glue with my Tombo stick and overlaid with pink foil.

I drew some houses onto the back of the master board, cut them out, doodled onto them and assembled them onto my simple landscape background.

To finish, I stamped along the horizon using a stamp from HP1601, bending it slightly to fit the curves.

Really enjoyed playing and am entering this into the PaperArtsy challenge.

Seth Apter Launch

Wow, have been waiting for this very special day for ages. I am happy to reveal that I was asked by the legend that is Seth Apter, to help him to launch his new designs!

So, here are the new stamps....which obviously link together.

And something that got my creative juices flowing....Art Bits!

Here are his recently released paint colours.

Followed by new ones.

So....it was PLAYTIME!!

First of all I got familiar with all the stamps and worked out exactly what effects could be created and playing with the paints, got myself familiar with all the endless combinations.

I began to stamp lots of the shapes onto different coloured backgrounds and cut them out, so that I could experiment with lots of combinations. 

Next, I created a master board using the first set of paints to chop up for backgrounds.

Lots of layering, stamping and stencilling. Looks very messy. Used it to create a set of samples to show off the versatility of the new range.

And here are the four finished pieces, using chopped up shapes, heat embossing, enamelling and lots of doodling. 

On this next piece, I have used the long, rectangular word stamp as a background. the many cut out stars were useful to tumble across the piece and the Wooden star is the main focal point. 

Next, I created some gelli plate backgrounds.

Onto these, I added some of Seth's stencilled words from my stash of his stuff, cut out shapes, acetate and some of the words from the stamps which I cut out singly. These are more muted but another dimension to the collection.

Because this collection from Seth screams out grunge style, I wanted to combine them with the marvellous Paperartsy Infusions.

Here, I have sprinkled generous amounts of Infusions onto tags and applied bleach to the stamps, successfully removing the powdered ink to reveal the stamp shapes. 

Then, more cut out shapes, some embossed metal, hessian and Art Bits. there is some PA rust on the 3D shapes too.

I can't resist a bit of rusty wire, which I curled around a pencil and threaded through the metal eyelets.

Finally, using the brand new set of 4 paints, I created another master board.

The stars in Smoked Paprika were created by using one of the spaces on the Art Bits board as a stencil.

From this master board I created some rather more 3D creations. 

By combining the wooden shapes I found that the relationships between the shapes created what I perceived as an exciting tension. 

By adding some shiny beads, rusty wire and metal brads, I created some mini art works that made me very excited.

I still want to squeal when I look at this last one. (no hope for me)

As you can see, I have had no problem creating lots of exciting samples using Seth's fabulous new creations. Combined with the already released stamps, stencils, dies etc, there are endless possibilities.

I am going to move onto more 3D, sculptural work and maybe chop up the wooden parts and combine them in different ways.

I hope that you have enjoyed visiting my blog and I do hope that you will leave me a message to say Hi.

Also, I am sure that you will find lots more inspiration by visiting Seth's blog, and also my fellow wingman in this project,Nikki Acton,who has created some delightful pieces. 

Paperartsy are launching many more exciting new products at the moment, so, don't forget to hop over there too.

Finally, thank you for popping over, and a MAJOR THANKYOU to the wonderful SETH APTER for  allowing me to help to launch his new, brilliant collection. Thank you also to Leandra for encouraging me to be a more confident crafter. 

      Here is the video:-

Butterfly grids

Over on the Country View Crafts blog, the theme for this month is "Anything Goes."
I decided to have a play once again in my repurposed Girl's Annual.

I began by gessoing the page which almost covered the script and collaging some neutral papers.
To this, I added some DecoArt White Crackle Paint through a diamond stencil.
I then added some images from Graphic 45 and blended the page with neutral tones of Paperartsy fresco paint, which I blended with my fingers.

Next, I washed over my pages with watered down acrylic ink in Burnt Umber.

I felt that it lacked detail, so I stamped in Black Archival a fabulous stamp, HOT PICK 1506 from Paperartsy.

For extra interest, I scribbled some butterfly poems here and there with white and black posca pen.

Then, with a black stabilo pencil I drew grids. 

To finish, I sprinkled Infusions Orange County and sprayed with water.

I hope that this piece has inspired you to play and to take part in the Country View Crafts Challenge.
Thanks for looking.
Products Used:- HOTPICK1506; DecoArt White Crackle Paint; Graphic 45; Orange County Infusion

Interior design

My daughter gave me a load of interior design magazines recently and while leafing through I came across some exciting colour mixes and patterns.
Without planning, I tore out a few that called to me and glued them roughly into my Girls Annual!

Next, I selected some Paperartsy fresco colours that matched and just threw down some paint.
It is as random and spontaneous as it looks. I finished with a PA stamp of a "Movie Star" to finish! Really enjoyed this frantic foray into something different!

Silver and Gold Tag

I am trying to join in more this year, so here goes with my second entry in That's Crafty Challenge.

I began by applying Crackle Paste through a That's crafty stencil. As you can see, they are a host of little dragonflies.

When dry and suitable crackled I painted over them with black Gesso.

Next, to highlight the crackles, I brushed lightly over the flies with Treasure Pewter.

I edged my tag with Gold Leaf pen and mounted it onto a sparkly silver background.

Finally, I die cut some numbers and words fromTH Stacked Artful Words die. Oh and threaded some silver fluffy threads at the top. 

Silver and Gold

I was inspired both by the topic and by the design teams beautiful art over at That's crafty.

So, here is my tag entry!

I used a size 8 tag and glued some card letters to it. 

Next, I covered them with Plumbers tape, you can see the seam down the middle.

I pressed down the tape around the letters using a ball tool.

Next, I added some gold rub ons and a little Treasure Brass rubbed onto the letters.

Some gold ribbon to finish and there it is!

I could adapt this for birthdays by using the initials of the person, or their first name if it was a simple one.

This is another photo of the same tag under my daylight lamp!

Swirls, whirls and flourishes

So many times have I enjoyed the wonderful art from the Stamps and Stencils Team. And, so many times have I intended to join in! At last I have made it. 

Here is my journal page in my repurposed book.

It didn't turn out as I had expected, meaning that it started as a double page and the main image is now covered up. 

I gessoed the page and added some strips of various papers, added swirls using crackle paste through my only swirly stencil.

Stamped with Archival watering can some flourishes, sprinkled with Infusions in Violet Storm and did a bit of scribbling.

During the infusion process, my image, which was already in the book, lost its way! You can just about see the girl, top left.

So, I found a substitute girl from TH Photo Booth, nestled her into some ribbon and lace and chose a word.

Am not totally happy with this piece, but I so wanted to join in and hope to do so again.

Entering this onto the Stamps and Stencils Challenge.

Vintage going round in circles.

I don't contribute to A Vintage Journey as often as I would like, but this New Year, armed with good intentions and inspired by wonderful art from the design team, I have made it!

I worked in my trusty "Girls Annual" and began with watery white gesso to partly obscure the writing on the page.

Next, I brushed over the centre with some watery Acrylic ink in Burnt Umber. This is one of fave go to's at the moment.

Then, I selected some stamps from Emma Godfrey, Tracy Scott and Visible Image and stamped them onto printed tissue.

A quick arrangement and some ink splatters to take the eye across the page.

Really pleased with this and entering it into the A Vintage Journey Challenge, Going Round In Circles!

Anything goes.

Over on the Country View crafts Blog, our theme for this new year is Anything Goes.

So, I was more than happy to try out my newly acquired stamps from the talented Tracy Scott.

They are from Paperartsy and are ETS01.

I decided to work in my fave repurposed Girls Annual, the paper is so thick and yummy.

I began by giving the page a watery wash of fresco Sky. Then, using Black Archival ink, I stamped an arrangement across the page.

Because of all the detail on the stamps, it would have been quite difficult to paint detail without covering all the lines, so, I stamped onto some coloured background and cut out the shapes. 

The aper that I used was given to me by Tracy Scott and is one of her designs which she has reproduced for chopping up. Here it is with my cut out pieces showing. Obviously, I didn't cut out all the spikes, just the centres.

I added some colouring and doodling using a selection of Posca pens and added a sentiment which I think is appropriate for the new year.

" You are capable of becoming more than you realise!"

Finally, I splattered some fresco paint in Snowflake.

Happy New Year everyone!

If you would like to see the selection of work by our design team then please pop over to the CVC site.

Products Used:- ETS01, Chit Chat Words.