Spread Your WIngs

This piece is for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

I started the background with various shades of blue using Inktense blocks and then covered them with Golden High Flow in Iridescent Pearl.
I stamped using a a cloud stamp but it was too subtle so changed to a honeycomb stamps with SSS Hybrid in Audrey Blue and used this around the edges as well.
The bird is from Crafty Individuals and was stamped onto tissue and applied with Mod Podge Paper, then coloured with Sakura Gelli Roll pens. A simple ATC sized piece that I may use on a card as some stage.

Let It Snow!

One of the new challenges from The Craft Barn this year is the song challenge. The first one is based on the song Let It Snow.

The piece of art has to have the title of the song and artists who have made it popular.

Now I know I have mentioned the fact that being in the Southern Hemisphere puts me out of sync for many of the challenges online, but this Summer has not been so great so far and, can you believe it, there was snow of the mountain range to the west of my town last week!!

I did not take the photo - it was on our local news website. I kept this quite simple, adding a border this pattern paper, some bronze Golden hi-flow and artists who had sung the song. The snow flakes are die cut with some silver glitter gel pen added. I also used Golden pearl hi-flow on the actual snow. In hindsight, I could probably stamped the title directly onto the page, but the tissue does help add some texture and interest. I added the sun, also a die cut and also coloured with Golden hi-flow, which dry with quite a glossy finish. 

So this in SNOW in the SUMMERTIME!!

PASC January

This is my journal page #PASC0117 and ATC #PASCACT0117 created in response to the Pick a Stick Challenge for January. 
The idea is to follow the prompts in order to create a mixed media piece of art.

1. My photos are roses, taken in my garden this week. The stems of the flowers are actually photos of tomato plants also growing in my garden at the moment. The leaves are sweetpeas, which were in bloom just before Christmas.

2. I used a black marker to make a simple border.

3. The map is on the outside of my extension flap.

4. My random words are written along the top edges of the leaves.

5. I used some sewing thread that ends up under the word 'bloom'.

6. A number stamp adds interest to the background.

7. I added a folding flap to the right side of the page.

8. Little wooden hearts and stars are stuck on with craft-card hearts and flowers.

9. Instant coffee was used to stamp circles.

10. A piece of lace is also under the word 'bloom'.

I didn't add much extra apart from a little more background stamping and the word.

The ATC challenge takes 3 of the original prompts to me used int eh small piece of are which is approximately 6 cm x 9 cm (2.5 x 3.5 inches).

1. The extension is acetate sprayed with homemade alcohol glimmery sprays which were then stamped and edged with black marker, then attached with washi tape.

2. The lace is a doily on the card. This was coloured with Gelatos and highlighted with a gold gel pen.The background also has a napkin with quite a lacy pattern. 

3. I made am embellishment using circles of a map, coloured with Gelatos and highlighted with Inktense pencils, attached with a staple and paperclip.

Relax

I'm trying to get back into the swing of things for the New Year and enter a few more challenges again. I had a nice little shop over the holidays using my Simon Says Stamp voucher that I won last year so feeling inspired to create.

This week's SSS challenges inspired this idea and so I am using it for both Monday and Wednesday challenge entries.

Monday's challenge is 'Chill Out'. Many Northern Hemisphere people are of course using this to be inspired by the cold weather, and even though we are not having the best Summer, it is not cold, so I took a different tack and thought about relaxing and taking it easy - I'm still on my holiday, but not for much longer, so I'm making the most of it.

Wednesday's challenge is 'Anything But a Card' so I thought I would make this word block. It is actually a cracker box. I stamped on mixed media paper, added gesso, Liquitex inks and cut out circles. The stamping on text paper is done with letters I cut from erasers.

Twelve Month Challenge - January

This is for the new challenge by The Craft Barn - The Twelve Month Challenge, based on Sarah Coleridge's poem, The Months.
The piece had to have the lines from the poem for the month and the given images - this time, a bird in a wellie/gumboot.

Now I'm not much of a drawer, but I'm still fine about how this turned out, just think I better do better if I ever decide to build a door!! :)

Being in the southern hemisphere, the opposite  seasons are always a bit of an issue for me but I added a little snow with an embossing pen and white embossing powder. Maybe there would not be bluebirds and flowers int his season, but we do have flowering plants all year.

 I have decided to create a small book with a two page spread for each month and change the poem to match the season here. Let's hope I can keep it up!

I used my Derwent Inktense pencils and blocks to colour both these images. The little boy in the summer version if from Crafty Individuals.

So here is the double spread and my Summer version of the prompt.

VLV Stamps January

I have recently received a Pound o' Rubber from Viva Las Vegas Stamps so I think it is time to entry their monthly challenge, now that I do have a number of their stamps. Looking at the prompts on the monthly challenge post I immediately thought of one of the very first geli prints I did about 18 months ago. I had used weeds and some ferns from my garden, and while I liked the impression they created, the paint I had used had been very thick and I wasn't sure about the texture it has created. But for this challenge it seemed that it would work.

I used Harlequin Diamond Background and Standard Alphabet & Numbers in the background.

The butterfly came in my Pound o' Rubber. I believe it is Tribal Butterfly Outline. I went though several layers adding colour and then toning it down again before I was reasonably happy that it worked on the background.

Mixed Media Moods - January

I have finally got around to creating something for Our Mixed Media Moods hosted by DeeDee Catron and Mixed Media Jenn. I love watching both their videos and am always inspired by what they create.
I was mainly inspired by the bottom middle photo from the mood board, with some added colour and texture. This picture made me think of the Christchurch Cathedral, which was badly damaged in the earthquakes, here in New Zealand, in 2011.

I mostly used greys in the background as I wanted this to be more muted. I used a stamp of the cathedral, as it was, to give the effect of a shadow, then stamped it a gain in black on card, ripping off the broken parts and layering it with raised tape over the shadow. The background stamping is an invoice type stamp (I think Heidi Swapp) which funnily enough I think I used as it was one of the prompts from VLV Stamps :)  - I was doing them both at the same time - but it works here. I wanted to add a little colour and texture so used the Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint, coloured, through a stencil. The final stamp is a sculpture which is also found in Cathedral Square.

Dream & Fly

Two little tags which I think fit well with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for this week.
Thinking about the New Year as 'something new' - let's dream and fly as we head through 2017.

2017 #1 Inspiration Wednesday

It's been a while since I added anything to my blog. Holidays, family, camping - all good fun, but now some time to get back to my art and creativity.

I have found a couple of new challenges for 2017 including subscribing to Donna Downey's Inspiration Wednesday. This is the first time I have taken part in an online workshop so having paid my money, I need to keep working at this one!

I first made my journal following the instruction video and using fabric I already had. My main challenge with this now, is to let go and not worry if it doesn't stay pristine (already have a gesso spot on the cover :0). If you have watch DD work, there is not much hope of that :)

The quote, which stretches across three pages, is from Maya Angelou: "Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it".

I used the Independent Women stamp, Colliope, as a basis for creating my own stencil. The stencil wasn't totally successful but worked ok as a one off for this page. I'm glad I purchased this stamp, as it does not seem to be available any more.

I wanted to attach an embellishment so used a pendent I had made previously, that fitted well with the colour theme.