Friday, 4 March 2016

Image transfers - PaperArtsy Challenge

I've had great fun this week playing around with image transfers to enter the PaperArtsy challenge but have unfortunately run out of time to blog before going off to Mum's for the weekend as I'm off to a crafting sleepover first!

This is the first time I've had success with a gel transfer and I think it is partly because I have tried to transfer glossy images before, with a coating on them, and partly because I have used the thin type of gel medium. This was the lovely thick Golden Matte Medium and an image from a clothing catalogue. I have transferred it onto calico which I have then wrapped around an 8 x 8 piece of PaperArtsy grey/white board.

I am entering the challenge which is here. Thanks for the great inspiration!

(Sorry the blog is down at the time of writing this and I'm dashing out of the door!). Please see www.blogpaperartsy.co.uk.

Friday, 19 February 2016

Neocolor Cards for PaperArtsy Wax Challenge




I was away last week for Colin's birthday and we spent a couple of days on an idyllic island, where we had this glorious beach all to ourselves on an unusually sunny day. For a Valentine's Day present Colin took me to the Nantes version of our shop 'Great Art'. I was in heaven, stroking the pencils! I bought myself some more Neocolor crayons too.

 Over on the PaperArtsy blog, the challenge is to use wax. Do check out the challenge entries as there are the most amazing encaustic pieces; I have loved looking at them! For me, it was a chance to use my Neocolor crayons which are lovely. I stamped some of the brand new Lin Brown floral stamps with Coffee Archival over a couple of sheets of A4, which I had first covered with a layer of gesso.


I then scribbled the crayons on the images and pushed the colour around with a waterbrush. I love how the poppies turned out, so vibrant!

I then chopped the pieces up to make cards. I added a few white pen highlights. Not very exciting, but I did need some more birthday cards.
I am entering the PaperArtsy wax challenge which is here.

Friday, 5 February 2016

Button Heart Canvas for PaperArtsy Hearts Challenge




The current challenge on PaperArtsy is Hearts. I had some gold tissue left from Christmas so I used it to cover an 8 x 8 box canvas to give a really rich gold. I wanted to make a heart shape purely out of buttons, painted with Fresco paints. I used pink and purple shades and some blends, Bougainvillea, Pansy, Lavender, Purple Rain, Rose, and Orchid. I also used a wash of colour on some book page and stamped the tiny 'flowers' from Sara Naumann Eclectica 17 to pop in the centre of a few of the buttons for some variation. I love this set!

I am entering the challenge which is here. Do pop over and see the current new product releases and gorgeous samples which are being shown all week on the blog!

Friday, 22 January 2016

Gilded Heart Bottle for PaperArtsy


Happy New Year! I am delighted to have a post on the PaperArtsy blog for their Hearts theme. I have used gold embossing powder to gild the inside of a heart shaped bottle from the inside and then added Wisteria Fresco paint. I would be thrilled if you popped over there to see the details.

I made this as a home decor piece to put artificial flowers in for my room at Mum's. My mum in law bought me some beautiful new bedding for Christmas to go in there. Unfortunately the walls are a disgusting dingy peach and it was last decorated when I was eleven, but apart from that the colourscheme I am working towards is mainly shades of purple so you will probably see a few more purple items pop up. As some of you know, I am Mum's weekend carer and I am trying to make the room my retreat, and not at all what Colin would put up with at home.

Tomorrow Mum will be 88 and I am organizing a family afternoon tea for all of us at her house.

Friday, 15 January 2016

Slide Mailer for PaperArtsy Transparent Art Theme


Over on PaperArtsy the Challenge Theme is Transparent Art. I thought I would decorate a slide mailer, using the microscope slides as the transparent aspect. I used the Hot Picks stamp set, HP1009. I love the flowers from this set. I also used the script from HP 1304. I painted the slidemailer with Blush Fresco and then added a little Orchid to it to stamp the script. I stamped the slides themselves with the flowers in Frosting Glaze fresco, although it's difficult to see. I then stamped the small flower from the set onto packaging acetate which I'd saved, in Jet Black staz-on and painted it from behind and cut them out. I used Golden Gel Matte to adhere the slides to some scraps of Thorndon Hall paper (wish you could still get this) on which I had stamped some of the script in the Orchid mix. I used some more scraps of the paper for the back of the lid, with some velvet ribbon.


For the front I simply cut a really beautiful piece of the Thorndon Hall paper which had cherubs on it, and made a cherub out of a mould and clay, and painted it with gold paint. I might put a mirror on the inside of this; I think it would be pretty and useful on my dressing table at Mum's as my colourscheme is purple and pinks.

I am entering this into the PaperArtsy transparent challenge.

Monday, 21 December 2015

Christmas Wishes


I didn't want my last post of the year to be such a sad one so I have decorated this chirpy Christmas tree which was a wooden box which contained M and S truffles last Christmas. I have used lovely JoFY bauble stamps from PaperArtsy and Fresco paints. Thank you so much for the kind comments I have received; it means so, so much to me.

Christmas, I hope, will bring me healing quiet and rest and freedom from responsibilities for me to come to terms with what has happened. I hope you all have a very happy, peaceful, and relaxing Christmas, surrounded by those you love.


Friday, 4 December 2015

RIP Big Davy

My Beloved big brother David died on 20 November 2015.

Looking up at him adoringly in my Pixie hat, knitted by Mum

He had to have what everyone else was having!

What a heartbreaker!

He played flute, sax, and guitar

https://blogs.law.harvard.edu/doc/2015/11/25/remembering-big-davy/