Friday 31 August 2018

Using a Brayer and Cling Film on Coated Card

Having been challenged into using my brayer on coated card at a workshop held by Maria Moorhouse recently, I decided to adapt one of the cards we made.  The stamps used and finishing touches are my own choices but I'm grateful to Maria for making me think about using this skill again.

Wednesday 29 August 2018

WOYWW 482: This Time Next Week...

This time next week I will be at work so my posts will be written on a Tuesday evening and posted early before I leave the house.  I thought I 'd better write this post today and show you what my desk actually looked like this morning.
I took a wide shot for a change.  My workspace faces the door of the shed (covered by the red curtain) and as you can see, I have space for friends to come and join me.  My heat gun is close at hand as is my rotary trimmer and place mat ready for my coconut lattes.  In the background you can see the birthday flowers from one of my sons still going strong.  I also have a second hand Rolodex that holds slightly larger than ATC sized card (4" x 2.5").  I have tried out some mini art work on there and and intend to fill it gradually with technique cards and mini art pieces.  I am grateful to Louise Withers for the idea.
I am just waiting for Eva to arrive as we are planning a couple of day's crafting before we go back to work next Monday.  To link up with other desks, please visit Julia on The Stamping Ground, who keeps us organised and hosts the link up.  Less than two weeks to the crop now so we look forward to seeing many of you in person soon.

Tuesday 28 August 2018

Golden Hi Flow Acrylics on a Canvas

This is a piece that I made for the Golden shows with Louise Withers today on Hochanda.  I decided to see how my Hi Flow acrylics would work with a brayer on a canvas board.

Friday 24 August 2018

Rainbow Dogs: MDF ATCs and Holder: Part One

I won this MDF ATC box and ATCs blank in a challenge with Louise Withers.  It seemed only apt that I used it for a DT piece for the Royal Talens shows on Hochanda today at 12pm and 4pm.  They should be available on catch up for two weeks if you miss them.  I will share the step by step for the box today and the contents tomorrow.

Thursday 23 August 2018

A Journal Page Experiment on Handmade Paper

I had the opportunity to choose my own birthday present from my husband recently while on holiday.  I picked out a beautiful leather bound journal, embossed with the tree of life, containing six signatures of handmade paper.  I wasn't sure how the paper would handle journaling, so decided to experiment yesterday.  As it was my birthday, I chose that as my theme.


Wednesday 22 August 2018

WOYWW 481: Birthday Celebrations

Well the weeks seem to be going round quicker than ever.  Less than 3 weeks to the crop and this time last week I was posting from a McDonald's in York.  To know more about this desk sharing malarkey and the upcoming crop, please visit our leader Julia.  I am rather late posting today as I have been waiting for Eva to pop round so that I can share the other side of the desk too.  It is the first time we've crafted together in the shed for weeks so it makes for a lovely birthday.  We did, however, enjoy a full day workshop with Maria Moorhouse last Saturday, followed by footie on TV and pizza, so we have already caught up with our holiday gossip.
As promised, my side of the desk shows the gorgeous leather bound journal, which I chose as a birthday gift from hubby, when we were in Papeterie last week in York.  It has 6 signatures of hand made paper so I will be experimenting with clear and white gesso to see what works and what doesn't.  You can also see the beginning of a large MDF tag which I am working on for a challenge.  I will be able to show more next week and will share the step by step at some point after the challenge has closed.  For now that's all I can share.  It looks like Eva's blog is going to have to wait for a while as she is having to swot up on some RE topics ready for September.  We are going to the footie together this evening, so I'm hoping that Stoke City will gift me a first win of the season and three points for my birthday; that would round off the day perfectly.
These are the beautiful hand made cards that I have received so far for my birthday.  Even my twin sister sent me a card which came with stickers that you add to the front lol.
On the other side of the desk, Eva has just arrived with cake and another beautiful hand made card!  Happy WOYWW everyone.

Tuesday 21 August 2018

Vintage Science: A Good Luck Card

This card was made to wish my son's girlfriend luck in her upcoming university exams.  She is a Chemistry student, so the Weird Science stamps from IndigoBlu were perfect.  As the card has a vintage feel, I am also entering it into the Vintage challenge over on I Love IndigoBlu.

Saturday 18 August 2018

Art Journal Insert

I finally got round to having a go at the August challenge over on Mixed Media Art Journey.  Each month six word dice are thrown and the resulting prompts make up the challenge.  It is the first time that 'Create Insert' has been one of the prompts.  I decided to use two tags to make the insert for the middle of a signature in my Eileen Hull Journal.

Friday 17 August 2018

Playing with Alcohol Inks on Yupo Paper

Having been inspired recently on Hochanda, I decided to play with the alcohol inks that I already have.  I used an offcut of Yupo paper from my stash and Ranger alcohol inks in Indigo, Wild plum, Purple Twilight, Raspberry, Sail Boat Blue, Stonewashed, Cool Peri and Ice Cap Mixative as well as blending solution, a drinking straw and a felt pad blending tool.

Thursday 16 August 2018

ATCoin on a Tag

There are four prompts each month on Tag It Tuesday.  At least two of them have to be used when creating a tag for the challenge.  This month's prompts were 1: Dots, 2: Cheese Cloth, 3: Sprays/mists, 4: Beads or bead gel.  As you will see, I used three of them.

Wednesday 15 August 2018

WOYWW 480: Campsite Desking

A very quick share today (check out Julia's mother site for more desks).  We are off camping in York and will be returning home tomorrow.  Hopefully the boys will have left the house in one piece!
My desk is a camping table. I have brought some colouring with me, but haven't done a great deal. 

We found a fabulous shop in the Shambles for journal and paper lovers.  Hubby has bought me a gorgeous leather bound journal for my birthday but I won't be sharing it until the actual day next Wednesday.  He said that I might as well pick something that I wanted lol.
Shop just to the right of photo.
We have visited the Railway Museum and the Castle Museum, just avoided torrential rain and driven out to Goathland (Aidensfield in Heartbeat), Whitby of Dracula fame and back via Scarborough.  We may visit Castle Howard today as we are heading home tomorrow.  Of course rain overnight is the forecast!

Victorian Street at Castle Museum
There was a display of small hearts and the artwork created from them in the Great War exhibit at the Castle Museum.  Very moving and some spectacular examples.


I have a very small window of opportunity each day to go online when we call at McDonald's for our morning coffee, so I won't be visiting any desks until we get back.  Have a great week everyone.  I have just realised that it is the 3rd anniversary of my first blog post; who would have thunk it lol!

Tuesday 14 August 2018

Canvas Journal Page: Sun, Sea and Sand

The current challenge over on Country View Challenges is 'Sun, Sea and Sand'.  For a change, I decided to work on a canvas board.  It also fits the current prompt on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More 'On Your Travels'. 

Monday 13 August 2018

Sunday 12 August 2018

Two Dimensional Pebble Painting on an Art Journal Page

I am really having to stretch my ideas for some of the prompts this year over on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  The August prompt is 'On Your Travels' and week 1 is 'Painted Pebbles'.  As I am continuing last year's idea and completing an art journal page for each prompt, once again I had to come up with a way of getting a 3D challenge into a 2D format.  I think I succeeded rather well.

Friday 10 August 2018

Why, Why, Why? Once a Fan, Always a Fan: Art Journal Page

I thought it was about time that I caught up with the Mission Inspiration prompts for July.  Given two of the prompts and the fact that it's our first home match of the season tomorrow, the theme was a no brainer!  Three suggested colours (Yellow Ochre, Burnt Orange and Grey), eight steps and a choice of five word prompts were the usual order of the day for this monthly challenge.

Thursday 9 August 2018

A Scrappy Tag!

This tag is one of those which came together very quickly using bits from my scrap box.  It was embellished with some of my recently acquired design tape from Tim Holtz.

Wednesday 8 August 2018

WOYWW 479: Off Gallivanting

Time for the weekly sharing of the desk, hosted by Julia over on The Stamping Ground.  I was off gallivanting yesterday at the four weekly JJAMMMA meet up at Hobbycraft in Stockport and have a guest slot on the other side of the desk as Eva is off on her holidays.  I have also taken a shot of my desk this morning (with actual crafting on it)!
My desk as I found it this morning.  I am catching up on the July Mission Inspiration and you can also see the piece of Yupo paper that I was working on yesterday afternoon with some luscious new alcohol inks.
Yesterday afternoon at Hobbycraft, I was about to start adding some stamping over the Yupo in Archival inks.
Kaz, who was guesting on the other side of the desk, was working on some collage work.
My trolley has been breeding.  I bought myself an early birthday present which fits perfectly in the space.  Even less reason to move from my seat when crafting now.
and finally... This is an art journal page which I created in January when we were still hoping to avoid relegation.  Stoke City had an open training session at the stadium yesterday and I went along.  I feel the page has been improved with autographs of both goal scorers, the team captain and my favourite player who was making his home debut that day as well as a couple of interlopers who are new to the club lol. 

Tuesday 7 August 2018

Bee Happy Tag!

It is rather apt that I should be sharing this tag today, as I will be heading up to Manchester (Stockport) later to meet up with some crafty friends; the bee is the symbol of Manchester.  This tag is dedicated to all my crafty friends from all parts of Manchester. 

Monday 6 August 2018

Be the First Domino! Having to Think Outside the Box.

Altered dominoes was the first prompt in July for the 'Puzzled' theme over on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  This caused me to have to think outside the box: firstly, I don't have any dominoes that I could alter and secondly, how to incorporate them on a journal page.  It was the last of the five puzzled prompts that I completed for that reason, although I left a blank page in my journal ready.  In the end I found a way round both problems when I came across a quote that I really liked.

Sunday 5 August 2018

If You Are Not Big Enough To Lose...: Art Journal Page

The July prompt over on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More is 'Puzzled'.  The final week's sub category is 'Wild Card';  I chose to use a board game that I enjoy as my inspiration for this page.  For some reason my family doesn't enjoy playing this with me; if they do, I have to be a single player and play against teams of relatives lol.  Just because I like collecting trivia and have a good memory...

Saturday 4 August 2018

Friday 3 August 2018

Altered Powdered Milk Tin

One of the challenges to celebrate 5000 members over on JJAMMMA (Junk journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art) is to create a piece of free standing altered art.  I started with an empty powdered milk tin and ended up with a storage jar for brushes, decorated suitably using one of the new IndigoBlu stamp sets: Artist Studio.

Thursday 2 August 2018

Bingo Tag: Embossed Background

Having prepared a blog post which I can't share until tomorrow, I needed a quick project to share today.  The current challenge over on Tag Tuesday is 'Bingo', so I created this tag using a mop up sheet for speed.

Wednesday 1 August 2018

WOYWW 478: Slowing Down

I decided not to rush creating the ATC box and MDF ATCs that I shared with you last week and have been working on other projects in between.  As you can see from my desk, I have finished painting all the MDF in the colours of the rainbow and edging each of the ATCs in gold embossing powder and heat embossing to tidy up the edges.  Next I need to decorate them and decided to used my Crazy Dogs stamps by Tim Holtz.  They have all been stamped out and are awaiting colouring in using my Ecoline pens from Royal Talens.
My laptop is always close by as it is the power source for my light box when taking non desk photos.  Nothing to show on the other side of the desk today as Eva is away at the moment.  To join in with desk watching or sharing, please visit Julia over on The Stamping Ground, where she keeps us all in order (or not, as the case may be lol).