Mini Collages

Hot on the heels of the ATCs I made earlier, these are some mini collages for a swap I'm in on one of the Yahoo groups I belong to. I haven't been a member for very long and this is the first swap I've taken part in. The backgrounds are spray inks on glossy card. I added images from an old bird book I picked up on my travels and text from Longfellow. I recently bought a battered copy of Longfellow's works from the local junk shop. I love Longfellow and have two copies of my own so I specifically bought this one to use the text in artwork. I'm keeping it on my desk and if text is needed for anything I'm trying to use just this book for a while. :o) A touch of teal Staz-On round the edges and that's that!

ATCs

I haven't felt the urge to make any ATCs for a good while but I recently signed up for a swap being hosted on my Yahoo group on the theme of New year/resolutions/new beginnings. This evening I thought I'd crack on with them nice and early and here they are:



I picked up some foil from the scrapstore before Crimble, different colours from the usual gold and silver - a glorious pink, a green and a turquoisey blue. I used the pink and blue on these but as usual the scanner doesn't do them justice!

Another rubber stamp!

Ok, never mind the mince pies, I've moved on to shortbread now! LOL These are two stamps I made this evening from both sides of a piece of the plastic tray that housed a scrummy selection of shortbread biscuits! :o)

Rubber stamp

I was absent mindedly munching a mince pie yesterday when the plastic packaging it came in caught my eye! LOL The bottoms of the dents where the pies sit had this pretty little pattern on them! Ever thrifty, I chopped one out and this morning I made a rubber stamp from it.

Here it is:


It rather reminds me of Spirograph patterns! :o) I knew I could justify eating one more mince pie! LOL What do you think?

Altered Christmas Card

I found a pack of Christmas cards squirrelled away AFTER I'd sent all I was going to send this year so I thought I'd alter one to share with everyone online. ;o) I bought a teal blue Staz On inkpad recently and I'm a tad obsessed with using it on everything I make! LOL The dark bits around the edges are green foiling but, as ever, the scanner doesn't like them! Anyway, here's the card and a very happy Christmas to one and all! :o)

Christmas Decs

These are two examples of some Christmas decs I made for a few friends this year. I picked up the trees and hearts at the scrapstore during the year and just embellished them with some little extras, nothing too strenuous, just words glued to vintage fuses, washers and beady bits! I had a pleasant time making these, I felt at peace with the world as I sat constructing them thinking about all my lovely arty friends. ;o)

Chunky Book

This is my page and the cover of a little chunky book for a friend on the theme of friendship. The cover is made from a cut down book cover with a (slightly) altered vintage photo attached, the blobs are gold foiling. The page was prompted by the quote.

Background

You know how sometimes you're tinkering about with one thing in mind and then all of a sudden what you're doing takes you off in a different direction? Well, I've had one of those moments this morning and thought I'd share it with you. ;o) I was working on making a green background for some chunky book covers but all of a sudden it turned into a Christmas collage background! The scan hasn't quite captured it's gloriousness but here it is:



What do you reckon? I'm planning on chopping it up and making two or three Christmassy collages that I'll then scan and print out to use for Christmas cards. The leftovers will become 1" collage squares. Just call me thrifty! LOL

AB Spreads

Here's a couple of spreads I've done in an AB belonging to my friend, Kari, on the theme of dreams.
Each of the black squares on the first spread contain a different word.

Everyday Book Spread

This is my final piece for the Everyday Book RR that's been running on my Yahoo group all year. The theme this time was autumnal/family. Inspired by the recent 1" collage swap I hosted I decided to use more of the little cuties for my spread. The collages are quite simple, just appropriate words and pictures, but I really enjoyed making them and found it quite therapeutic. :o)

Assemblage

I've made this little shrine/assemblage piece for my friend, Jill, who's moving home tomorrow. She's offline while preparing for the move so I feel safe in posting this pic! The scan isn't very good (I must get to grips with photographing my work instead) as the light has bounced off the back and it doesn't show the verdigris/rust colours very well! Anyway, it's an old madeline tin with a key and rusty washers wired onto it. I do so love working with knackered metal stuff! LOL The wording at the bottom says "I am home" and is stamped on aluminium tape and then blacked up with gesso. I wanted to convey my message with a simple piece and I hope that's just what I've done!

Decos

These are the decos I've been working on which will be winging their way to Switzerland this afternoon. :o)

First up we have a deco where each spread has to incorporate a transparency. Whilst rummaging about looking for something to use I came across some old slides of Venice so went with that as my theme. It was a bit of a pfaff cutting the holes, not being the most accurate soul in the world, but it worked out fine. ;o)

Second, we have a deco entitled Golden Dreams. The text doesn't show very well on this scan but it says "golden slumbers kiss your eyes".

Next is a body parts themed deco. This pic doesn't really show the colours very well, in the light you can see the golds and reds over the black gesso
.
And last is my fave, a winter wonderland themed deco. I wasn't at all inspired by this one until I found the text and then it all just came together as these things do! ;o) I'm a sucker for beaded trim so that's probably why it's my favourite!


Ok, that's enough deco talk for one day!

Chunky Book Page

This is my effort for a Christmas recipe themed chunky book. Although my recipe isn't exactly Christmassy, it is one I make for special occasions as it's dead easy and totally delicious. :o) Yellow isn't a colour I work with alot (I had to beg fibres as I have so little yellow stuff!) but I thought it would be nice to use it as a step away from traditional red/green for Christmas. Probably means it'll stick out like a sore thumb but hey, who wants to fit in?? LOL DH brought the metal banana shapes home from work, they're stainless steel though so I used alcohol inks to make them a more bananaesque colour. :o)

Mini Collages

These are my batch of 1" square mini collages for the swap I'm hosting on my Yahoo group. I spent a very pleasant time with my friend, Becky, today making these. :o) There's nothing like good company and someone else's supplies within arm's reach! LOL

Altered Tin & Book

I've been working on a swap piece for a challenge on one of the Yahoo groups I belong to. The idea of the challenge was to create a piece of artwork inspired by this quote:

There is an Indian proverb that says that everyone is a house with four rooms, a physical, an emotional, a mental, and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room everyday, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.
Rumer Godden

I decided to alter a house shaped tin I had and make an altered book to go inside it. I sanded the tin and then gessoed it before stamping randomly all over it. I then added the border around the bottom and fiddled about with gold foil around the edges of the shapes. On the lid I stamped the four "rooms" along the edges and wireded embellishments through the four holes that DH drilled for me. ;o) Each embellishment represents one of the "rooms" - spiritual - feather, mental - spiral, physical - body and emotional - heart. The chunky board board book that I altered is more of the same (gesso, stamping and gold foil), with hand written quotes for each "room". The book sits in white net inside the tin.

Here's a few pics but there's more on my Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/58739721@N00/

Another sketch!

I went to London this weekend to see a show for a friend's birthday and we stayed over in a hotel. I was lying in bed, wide awake, while my two friends slept peacefully, pondering the painting reflected in the mirror opposite and decided that since I wasn't sleeping I might as well use my time wisely and propped myself up on the pillows and drew the view! Here's the end result! It all went a bit pear shaped as I wrestled with defective perspective and trying to put shadows in but it filled a wee bit of what turned out to be a loooong pretty sleepless night!!

Sketch

I babysat for a friend this evening, the children went up to bed as good as gold and I settled down to do some drawing. And this is the end result! It took me the best part of an hour and I really enjoyed it even if there's a bit of artistic licence involved! LOL

Collage

Scrabble board, viintage invoice, watercoloors, vintage photo, vintage fuse, wire, dry letter transfers, brads, beaded trim.

I made this piece of collage for my friend, Skippy's, birthday. I'm into fuses at the moment! The word on it is "dolce" again! Really enjoyed making this piece, it's lovely making gifts for friends and family. :o)

Arty Meme PS

Pssst I don't think the arty meme police are watching so feel free to comment even if you don't want to post the meme on your own blogs! I'll still send the first five a piece of artwork! Go on, you know you want to! :oD

Arty Meme

My friend, Laura, posted this meme to her blog and I jumped in to take advantage of a great idea so now I have to post it to mine too! :oD

So, the idea is that the first five people to respond to this post (via comments) will receive a piece of art from me! I know not what the artworks will be so there's surprises in store! :oD The catch, of course, is that if you respond, you then have to post this meme to your blog!

Altered Tin

I've been working on this tin over the weekend and have finished it this evening. I just wanted to make something for no reason other than doing it and this is the end result! In a former life the tin was a puncture repair kit. I've sanded and coloured it with spray alcohol inks and added metal bits and bobs, a chopped up photo, Titanium earring, fuse with added text ("dolce") and a quote. I'm pleased with it and it may even find it's way onto Etsy! *gulp*

Everyday book Spread

This is my spread for the latest round of the Everyday Book RR on my Yahoo group. This time the theme is courage/black & purple. I struggled with this theme but eventually came up with this!

Assemblage

This is my personal present to Laura. I found the lock on the local junk stall a few weeks ago. Well, I couldn't pass it by when the label said "happiness", could I now?? So I used it on this assemblage to celebrate Laura's 40th birthday. I turned 40 earlier this year and it's shaping up into my best year yet in a lot of ways. Laura is starting out on a new chapter in her life very soon too, I hope it's the beginning of a fabulous 40th year for her!

Chunky Book

I've been holding off posting because both of the things I have to share were for a friend's birthday and I didn't want to spoil the surprise beforehand! So, my lovely friend, Laura, turned 40 yesterday! I organised a chunky book as a surprise for her and this is my page in it.

Mini Collages

I've jumped on the 1" square collage bandwagon today and these are my first efforts!

Assemblage

I finished this piece at the weekend but haven't posted pics until now as it was a present and I didn't want the recipient to accidentally see it if she visited my blog! :oD It's a house warming gift and is made from a piece of rusty pipe I found on the beach on holiday, a vintage brooch, copper wire, fibre, rusty bottle cap and some veneer. I absolutely loved doing this, I adore rusty metal and I was really pleased with the end results. ;o) I'd really like to explore assemblage much more. Not a brilliant picture, I've had to lighten it a bit and it doesn't show the depth of the pipe, it's much better in real life, honest! LOL

And another deco!

This deco's theme is "going postal" and each spread has to include a "beautiful" postage stamp! Not sure this stamp comes under that heading but once I found it I just HAD to use it! I've tried to create a faux metallic background with aluminium foil tape, alcohol inks and black gesso then just added some simple metal objects. Text on the tag is "hallmark".

Decos

Completed these two decos this morning. First is a faces theme and the second is "childhood, ready for action.." theme. Not sure about either of them but they're done now!

Deco

I worked in this angel themed deco this morning. The page opposite mine also used stitching so I thought I'd kind of try and balance it out with some on my work as well. I have a love/hate relationship with sewing machines (I'd love to be able to use one efficiently but they all hate me and break when I'm within a 100 paces of them!) and something is wrong with the tension on mine that no amount of knob twiddling seems to cure, consequently the top thread has pulled the bobbin thread through but I quite like the effect! Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! LOL Enjoyed doing this, there was no pressure and I just sat down and did it within 10 minutes! That'll be the one and only time no doubt!! :o)

AB Spreads

And last for today are my last two spreads in a mini AB on the theme "simplify". I used metallic rub ons, which I bought over a year ago but have never used, on the black gessoed page and really liked the effect.

Everyday Book Spread

And here we have my artwork for the latest round of the Everyday Book RR running on ANUK. This theme is sunbleached colours and seaside. I wanted to go for a simple, old fashioned (predictable I suppose!!) seaside kind of thing. The background is supposed to look like weathered beach hut paint but I think I was a bit light with my ink! I like it nevertheless although I think the shells should be more to the right.

Deco

Next up is my piece in my friend, Kath's, deco on the theme "where would your wings take you?". Couldn't get a decent scan because of the
chunky earring embellishment! The wording on the centre tag is "beyond my dreams". The rainbow background wasn't me unfortunately, just the scanner picking up CD's shine!

ATC

I've been having a planned art day today and have several things to share. ;o) This first one is an ATC for my local art group. We've been taking it in turns to choose ATC themes and my choice was lines from films. This is my effort, they're all very similar so I've only scanned one, with a line from my all time fave film - The Railway Children.

Pendants

These are pendants I've been making for my craft stall with Laura this weekend. My aunt decluttered lots of old netball and badminton medals and gave them to me for arty purposes! I prized off the cheap plastic picture bits, cleaned the centres of glue and then added stuff of my own. I wore the butterfly one to work and rehearsal yesterday and got lots of positive comments so I made these other five today. I might keep the sing one though! Still have a few left so may make some more yet if time allows.
Scan isn't very good as the glass nuggets stuck up somewhat on the scanner!

Everyday Book Spread

This is my artwork for the latest round of the Everyday Book RR running on my Yahoo group. This theme is green & gold/grow. I found these rolls of stuff at the scrapstore, a bit like bandage but not sure what they are! I coloured them with paint and zapped them with my heat gun. It's groovy stuff! Added to strips of that are some gold foil (also from the scrapstore) which I also zapped a bit to crinkle it. I sewed strips on to my background and then just whacked "grow" onto it with my metal stamps. Scan doesn't really do it justice but I'm really pleased with this one!

Chunky Book Page

My friend, Laura, is hosting a chunky book on the theme "Words to Live By" and this is my page for it. The deadline is Thursday and I was sure I was going to miss it as my original idea for the page didn't work out and I was feeling stumped for another but then it popped into my head last night! ;o) I'd already got the backgrounds done so I set to this evening and got the rest of them (23 altogether) done and dusted.

AB Spreads

These are two spreads I've done in a mini AB on the theme "simplify".
Both backgrounds are done with my home made alcohol ink sprays which I'm using to death at the moment!!

Log Box Project

This may be seriously boring but I'm dead chuffed with myself so I'm blogging about it anyway! LOL I have a log box that my paternal grandfather made. It's rather battered but is quite precious to me. When I inherited it I decided I would recover the lid of the box and accordingly took the old covering off. Well, I can't even think how many years ago I did that! Grandad died the year we were married and we've just celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary!! Anyway, this morning I started and finished the project! Yay! So, here we go with some pics!
This is the log box before I started on it.

Bit of a funny pic as I was working on the dining table in front of the window. This shows my wadding for the box lid which I made from several rectangles of an old blanket which I then tacked together. I stapled the base layer to the box lid so it wouldn't shift about while I was putting the fabric over it. Then I stapled the fabric on. The corners were a bit fiddly but I got there in the end (must be the Arian stubbornness in me!) and then I covered my staples with braid and hammered the gold studs through it.

And, hey presto, here's the finished article! It's by no means a professional looking refit but I am over the moon with it! ;o) What's pleased me even more is that it barely cost me anything at all. The fabric is a remnant I picked up for 50p ages ago, the blanket was given to me (to use at the V Festival last week and then to be thrown away) and the trimming and the gold studs came from the scrap store. Nice new log box and one happy bunny! :oD