CB Monthly Challenge - July

I have been away for a few days celebrating my mother's birthday and spending time with my sisters. It was fun creating with with one of my sisters who has just started to work with different media. As I only had a small supply of art supplies with me, it was challenging to find ways to use what I had.
I completed a few ICAD's using what I had and then I moved on to the July challenge for The Months by The Craft Barn. I was a little annoyed when I realised I had let my 'Month' journal behind, especially as I had started preparing the backgrounds. So I started again, knowing I would have to stick in my page and complete my Southern Hemisphere page later - then I checked the CB blog and found I was a week ahead of myself!! So I have waited to post, having completed the Winter page at home.

My mum had some great napkins with text on them, that I used as the background and then layer with white acrylic and Gelatos. The flowers where painted with watercolours and then detail added with black pen. I had also prepared the text at home - and left it there - but as I managed to acquire an old typewriter while I was away, I typed out the couplet from the poem.

So I still stuck in the page I completed while I was away, but now have both pages done to share with you.

For the Winter page, I used a similar technique as I used in the song challenge a couple of months ago for I Can't Stand the Rain. The window is sort of just sitting there, but I didn't want to lose my frost effect created with a white embossed stamp.

CB Song Challenge - What a Wonderful World

Once again I've been contemplating this idea for 2 weeks and leaving it to the last minute to execute!
I have been using the felt pen watercolour idea as backgrounds in work I do with kids at school and knew it would be a good basis for this page. I actually sprayed it with fixative before I did anything else on top.

I was happy with the idea of the trees, using the doily as a stencil, but then wasn't too happy with them so pushed them right into the background. I must admit, on the video they didn't look so bad.
I was brave and had my first attempt at writing the title on the page with my Tombow marker - then smudged it when adding another flower while filling the space where the trees were. Not minding my own handwriting so much on my work, except that it seems to be different for every verse!

Please check out my video - still pretty new to recording and posting these so would love you to check them out :)

Twelve Month Challenge - May

Tine for The Craft Barn Monthly Challenge for May and again I have tackled the season for both hemisphere's. I'm not really a drawer (yet!) so was grabbed the lamb napkins I found in my local dollar store knowing I could use them for this challenge.

I used Golden fluid acrylics in gold green and light umber for the background, applying it with an old bank card as this gives more texture. As the background was quite dark, I found it showed through when I glued on the lambs from the napkin, so had to add another layer. I thought I had been quite careful with the placement, but seem to have some ghosting - not a problem really. I then went over the lambs with white Posca pen to make them whiter and also used a couple of flowers from the napkin.

Now for my Southern Hemisphere page. I had been to Wellington with a school trip in the second week of May and these are the amazing blue skies we encountered. This is actually a combination of two photos taken at the waterfront. The top one shows The Michael Fowler Centre and pole sculptures on the 'Taniwha Bridge', with another sculpture and cafes in the lower photo. I really didn't want mess with them or cover them up so all I did was add some glaze and glass bead gel to the top image and some silver foil and gel markers to the sail-like roofs in the bottom image. While my couplet about May reflects the amazing day we had, sadly I will have to admit that during the last two weeks of May, it has done nothing but rain!! Still we are lucky here, as we really do see the sun, and skies like this all year.

Sunshine for Your Soul

The current challenge from Paper Artsy is Blue & Ochre which did fit quite well with other challenges I am do at the moment (see Angel of Gold) but I decided to work on these pages already started. This is a journal I have repurposed and begun by sticking in paper napkins.

As always there are so many inspiring imageson the PA blog. This fabric from IkoPlusis beautiful and would make a lovely background for a page:

I started playing on the double page spread but decided to finish just one side at present. I plan to work on the other side during the next week. I want them to be different, but also work together.

I added text paper and them gesso over the napkin. The 'circle' paper is scrapbooking paper which had a faint pattern on it, which I darkened up with gel pen. The bottem embellishment was something I had made some time ago and seemed to fit well on this page.

An now to decide what how to complete the opposite page.

Background for SSS

This background started sometime ago using leftover modelling paste, which I had coloured, and paint so I thought it would be good to work on this for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Make Your Own Background.

Next I added some pieces of two different napkins.

Next came some scraps of book text and gesso. The corner motifs were stamped onto the page and then connected with black pen. The flower and sentiment were stamped on tissue and then stuck to the page. The flower is backed by a used baby wipe. The ephemera is not my favourite par of the page but I was happier with it once I tom=ned it down with tome antique white acrylic.

Explore, Dream, Discover

This is another piece inspired by Our Mixed Media Moods by DeeDee Catron & Jenn Engle. I love what they do in their art and have finally been brave enough to film a short clip of myself creating. I wasn't brave enough to speak yet, but it's start.
We know how these challenges often overlap and I found that what I created also fitted perfectly with the latest Paper Artsy challenge, Pink & Orange. Traditionally we probably wouldn't put these colours together but in art they look amazing and I loved this piece and the colour combination is sure to appear again. I was especially drawn to the boldness of the Dina Wakley piece, but also the subtleness of Elise Engh's feathers, as posted on the PA blog.

Here is Our MMM inspiration board. My inspiration came from the cloours, top left, and the roses, botton middle.

E for Equal

This post is for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - E

While ripping up my dictionary page for my first post for this challenge, I was looking for something else on the page to inspire me and came upon the word equal.
The background is a napkin with a very regular, equal spotted pattern, pushed back with gesso. Then came some stamping with the small equals signs.
I used the butterfly and circle to represent symmetry and the two equal sides of the image. Then the two mathematical equations were stamped onto the page, a large equals sign made with the scraps of dictionary page and the die cut people representing equality.
There was still something missing so I found and image of scales which represent equality as well as justice.

1-8 Hugs & Kisses from NZ

CAS-ual Fridays latest challenge is called 1-8 which means to use 8 items the same on your project. They theme is also related to sending out thoughts and positive vibes to those affected by breast cancer.
And just checking out some of the other challenges I take part in and see that Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is Explore the World - great how the challenges can fit together! This page is perfect to enter this challenge as well.
I recently acquired a box of postage stamps from my mother, most of which are local New Zealand stamps. I thought I could incorporate these in this challenge to show how we can send out our thoughts and wishes around the world to those who are going through challenges and hard times.

I started with a background of a paper napkin which features the Pavlova dessert, which comes from NZ. This also provided me with the checkered border. I printed out a world map and added the xoxo stamp for kisses and hugs as well at two postcards with greetings stuck on them.I decided where in the world the postcards were going and drew in the lines with a fine-liner and high flow paint. This wasn't as neat as I would have liked so tried to touch it up with my Posca pen. Then the all important 8 postage stamps. Being so small, New Zealand had all but disappeared under the paint so I touched that up with the Poscas as well.

Happy with the positive, happy thoughts, and love represented here.