Autumn Card

A simple card for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Autumn.

The background had been sitting for a while, having been made with left over paints and texture paste. I stamped the leaves and coloured them with Inktense pencils then added the script stamp.

V for Virago

I wanted to create another entry for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - V and found a small scrap of dictionary on my table left over from my first page The word on it - Virago. Now I had no idea what that meant - all I could see was the word 'aggressive' which didn't seem promising. But once I looked it up, the ideas came. I do like to find something out of the ordinary!

The background for this page just happens to be similar to my other 'V' page as I had put out too much purple paint at some stage and used it up through the same stencil in a couple of journals. I used images which show books about strong women and pushed it back with gesso, making sure the definitions where still visible. The circular definition is an image of a necklace and the sculpture is a bronze found outside the Casale Monferrato. I used grey Gelato to grunge up the border and added some journalling.

Out Of The Box

Once again there's lots of inspiration on the Paper Artsy Blog for their latest challenge - Squares & Grids.
I have also been enjoying watching DeeDee Catron create her art pages and this in another one inspired by her style.

I started with gesso and then a grey wash. The squares are Geli print scraps overlaid this a Viva Las Vegas stamp on tissue, cut up and stuck on. I used Golden Payne's Grey acrylic which I initially thinned and dripped but ended spreading with my fingers as I wanted it o grab around the edges of the squares. The vertical and horizontal paint lines were a happy accident. I randomly dabbed with my brush and they ended up almost looking like a woven pattern. I finished with watercolour pencil for a border, splatters, scribble and journalling with ordinary pencil.

Angel

I had been watching a video by Barb Owen on how to make a paper woven angel and thought the grid pattern created by the weaving, fitted for this challenge by Paper Artsy - Squares & Grids. I must admit, I thought I had until next week for this one - where does the time go?!
So I had to do a bit of improvising with the resources I needed as some of the things I may have used were elsewhere. Once again, this was a practice, thinking about craft activities for my class for Christmas.
I think it turned out quite well and should be achievable for 10 year olds, although they do find some of the fiddly bits a challenge.

I used Geli print scraps woven into a sheet of coloured paper, backed with scrap booking paper and then sealed on the front with matte medium, to make sure it was really secure. Even this looked great and I have enough to make several angels.

I made it slightly larger than the pattern, which turned out exactly right for the wings I had die cut from a design my son drew for me. For the face, I search for cherubs online, resized and coloured.

Addicted to Coffee

This is for the Addicted to CAS - Code Word Coffee.




I don't have too many a day, but when I do, I really like to taste the coffee!
So I thought I would use the resources around me and go with the real thing, starting with authentic coffee cup rings and some coffee grounds to use for texture.








A Flat White is my choice when I am out so that is what I chose to depict.
I added Golden Glass Bead medium to the coffee ground to give them a bit of shine.

V is for Grandma?

The current alpha challenge over at The Craft Barn is 'V'. For me that stands for Grandma - Violet was her name and even though she left us many years ago it is nice to have a reason to dig out the old photos and create this tribute to her.
Weren't those early photos amazing?!

Think Pink - Strong Girls

Now pink is not my go to colour! I think the rebel in me says '"Don't make me choose pink just cause I'm a girl!" and "Definitely do not buy me those pink flowery tools they make for girls!"
So I had to stretch myself to go completely pink for this Simon Say Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Think Pink.
Now, the CAS-ual Fridays - Fight Like a Girl Challenge 159 sounds a bit more like me, as in, "We are girls - we are strong!" Their challenge is link to Breast Cancer Awareness Month and in respect to all those affected, I'm happy to turn pink.

This is my first set of actual Artist Trading Cards. I have enjoyed other small pieces of art such as ICADs and tags, but not really having anyone to trade ATCs with :( - I had not made sets of these before.




























Although there are several layers - gift wrap, acrylic with gesso, Derwent Inktense blocks, stamping and die cuts - the outcome and sentiments are simple and hopefully effective. My favourite part is the leaves. The card stock I used was mauve so I toned it down by stamping with a small script stamp I have and really like the textured look that created.