Autumn Leaves

Really should have called this, cock up on the gelli plate! As I had this wonderful idea that I could impress real leaves into the paint and print from them. Wrong. They slipped about and were very unsatisfactory.

Anyway....step one was spreading neutral fresco colours onto my background with a credit card.
Step Two, Little round gel plate and real leaves...disaster!
Step Three, rescue by printing with Lin Browns new stamps, ELB29 with fresco paints and archival inks.

This is the A4 rescued sheet.

Step Four, cut it up into four pieces.

Step Five, a little extra stamping of leaves to frame them and a sentiment.

Mounted onto cards and breathe!

If nothing else, this is a good lesson in perseverance and not filling the waste bin!

I am happy to enter my four cards into the PA challenge, Autumn Leaves.

A few drawings

I decided to get back to face and figure drawing this week. There are always images in magazines to whet the appetite, so I had a little play. Each one has featured the fabulous Stabilo, Black pencil, that you can paint a wash over afterwards.

A very quick scribble with a touch of Derwent Inktense.

A piece of torn newspaper scribbled over.

And one with the newspaper more carefully placed.

Most pleased with the fashion one and want to find time to do more of them!

Thanks for looking.

Mark making

I am on the receiving end of a very sore back at the moment. Strong painkillers that I am not at all used to and can't do much at all. Too much gardening this week....will I never learn.
However, as the only chair that I can sit in is my craft room one, then, I decided to have a bit of a play.

Many of us are fascinated by this subject and the power that a mark in the earth, onto paper, onto a person can influence our lives.

I began by selecting some mop up paper. In fact, it is from a paper palette page that I used recently to mix PA fresco paints onto for a colour mixing project. It was a shame to screw them up, so I dabbed with a piece of copy paper to repeat pattern the coloured blobs.

I printed with my home made stamps onto the colourful background using black archival ink.

Next, I cut the rectangles more or less the same size. Couldn't use my paper cutter as couldn't bend over it! I arranged them onto A4 black card.

To finish off, I added some doodling with a White Signo Uniball pen.

Not back for an old crock fuzzed up with opiates....maybe I should do this more often?

I shall enter this into the Paperartsy Challenge, Making Marks.

Travel

Here is the first of my pieces on the topic of Travel. I immediately thought of olde world travellers and the dedication that they put into discovering far flung places....not like us, moaning at having to be at the airport a few hours before we are jetted off.

I decided to do a double journal page in my now favourite recycled Annual. I began by tearing strips of paper from a Kraft paper pad and gluing them down.

I knocked it back by brushing over with watered down Paperartsy fresco paints, Stone and Taupe.

I then selected some pics from a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Ephemera pack and aged them with Vintage Photo Distress ink.

I selected some stamps from the fabulous Travel  Ways CMS 162, also by Tim Holtz. I used Black Archival ink to stamp them onto some of the Kraft paper and then heat embossed clear. After a layering with black shiny card I added them to my arrangement.

Finally, I linked all of the elements by adding some black Rub ons, also by Tim Holtz. Remnant Rubs.

I hope that this may inspire you to join in with us at Country View Crafts. There is a wealth of inspiration from our talented team.

Products Used:- Tim Holtz Ephemera pack; Tim holtz travel Ways Stamps; Vintage Photo Distress pad; Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs.

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!

Over on Country View crafts this month, our topic has been "Hot Summer Days".
Here we are, almost into September, but still time to join in with us.

For this piece, I decided to work in my "Girls Annual".
I began by using DecoArt Crackle Paste through a Tim Holtz stencil. Next, I sprayed Pink, Orange and Yellow Dylusions onto my page and added a little Paperartsy infusions which soaked into the crackle.
Next, I roughly tore a selection of Washi Tape strips and added, then stamped some flowers from Emma Godfrey's so useful stamps, and finished off with a few buttons, some of which are threaded with wool.
Finishing touch were some wooden letters sprayed with Red Dylusions.
I feel that this sums up some of the sizzling days that we have encountered this summer.

Please have a look on the Country View Crafts blog for more inspiration.

Products Used:- DecoArt Crackle Paste; Dylusion Inks; Paperartsy Infusions; Tim Holtz Stencil; Emma Godfrey stamps.

Vintage Journey Guest Spot.

I was really honoured and flattered to be asked to present a guest piece on "A Vintage Journey" blog.
The inspiration by their designers is so varied and of such quality. I only started to participate fairly recently but am so enjoying the journey with them.
The topic for this month is "Stencil It".

I worked in my, now, very favourite repurposed girls annual. A charity shop find with the most wonderful quality pages which are really card.

I began by gessoing the page and gluing a few pieces of manuscript paper down. The stencil that I chose is one consisting of bubbles or circles.

I pressed Decoart Crackle paste through the stencil in 2 places and left to dry.

Next, I selected 2 Paperartsy fresco paints...Taupe and China Blue, and layered on some paint with my fingers. Before it was dry, I popped the stencil over the top and removed some of the paint with a baby wipe.

Then, once again with the same stencil, I dabble brown and blue archival ink over the page creating another layer.

My fourth use for the stencil was to draw through it onto some paper stash and cut out some assorted circles which I added. I added some White Fire treasure Gold to my circles to highlight the crackle.

Finally, I added a photo from Tim Holtz Photo Booth and chose a poem from another charity find about Love Without Hope.

I do hope that you like my creation and pop over to the Vintage Journey blog to enjoy lots of inspiration.

Zesty Zing

I am currently creating a "Scruffy" journal. It is scruffy because it is made from torn recycled packaging with exposed bits of corrugated card adding to the texture of the pages.

Tonight, I created a double page using some very bright papers from a free set of papers that I have had for years. They were designed by Kate Knight.

I began by covering my pages with randomly torn and glued papers. I knocked them back with some Paperartsy fresco Chalk. I added some bits of torn page and then brayered lightly over it all.
I covered the pages with Clear Gesso and then sketched a face.
This was painted with more fresco paints.
I cut out some flowers from the Kate Knight papers and added them. I also added a phrase from the Tim Holtz Small Talk collection.
I finished off with some doodling and some Distress ink, Picked Raspberry, around the edges.

I am entering this into the That's Crafty Zesty Zing Challenge.