Getting ready for the New Year

and my determination to art!

As I said in my previous blog post... I have joined two groups.. one was a Christmas Present, which I am thrilled with.. A year long workshop with My Candy, and the other is a Piece a Week group where we "promise" to produce something Arty each week, along with other Arty bits I have planned.. I aim to be blogging regularly as I try my hardest to keep up to date with all the deadlines! :-)

I have two words for 2013 as well.... (apart from my every day favourites, which I try not to type!!!) and they are FUM.... Find it, Use it, Make something.... And Accept. Accept as in, there are lots of things I cannot change, so accept them as they are... Accept what I have and stop wishing for something different, and mostly in Blogland, Accept that my art is My Art, and there are far better artists than me out there, and stop ripping stuff up and sulking cos mine is quite frankly pants at times.... But hey.. it is mine.. and I accept my art for what it is... Mine!

So starting with FUM.. and being determined to start the New Year ahead of the game and prepared........This is what I am going to start working on.
I Found, I am going to Use, and I will Make... something!.... and I promise to post the finished result... no matter what level of Art or Pantness it turns into!

Toodles! xxxx

Hello little sadly neglected Blog! I have abandoned you and I am soooooooo sorry!

Been a rough build up to Christmas..... Started with a nasty tooth infection.... I am not showing the picture, but my face swelled up so much, even my mum had to double check it was me in the piccie I sent her! It was NASTY!!!! I looked like a Mutant Alien Duck Lady.... I cried! :-)

Having recovered from that.. I promptly went on to get the Fluey yuk that is going round... Took me weeks to get over.... weeks and weeks.. I am only just feel human now!

Another reason I have been absent.. is due to lack of Mojo... and Lack of Mojo is due to.......

Errmmm.. can anyone see my desk??

OK.. Onwards and Upwards..... My Arty News Years Resolution is FUM


Find it
Use it
Make Something!

But first I have to find the desk! And where everything is..... See how all those luvverly drawers are bulging... Yeah.. that is cos they are full of... ermm errrr ermm.. OK Crap! LOL

Sort Out Time!!!!!

Determined to Be Arty next year...... I was bought the most Fabulous Christmas Pressie... a years membership to My Candy Run by a very talented and fabulous friend of mine Rachelle, I am sooooo Looking forward to this, and I just wish I knew who my Secret Santa was.. cos I have so many Thank You's for them it is untrue!

I have also joined a fabulous group where we will be Arting each week.. and providing pictures as evidence..... so hopefully I will be keeping up and blogging, so two birds with one stone.... Yayyyy!

Talking of Birds.... after ages of ignoring.. I was just introduced to Angry Birds..... Uh-oh... Timewaster! Addicted already!

... and on that note... must stop wasting time tweaking my blog post..... better go and find my desk... so I can be all ready for Art To Commence..... next week! LOL

Hugs all... See you soon

Hope you had a luvverly Christmas...... and A Happy Arty New Year to you all!
xxxxx

Arghrgrhrghrghhhhhhhh!

Hello! Gosh it has been ages since I have done a Blog Hop.. far too long.. I must stop life getting in the way of what I want to do! LOL

OK... October Blog Hop... you should have come to me from Maria
If not.. why not nip back to the start.. that would be our luvverly Gill and look at al the Scream inspired artyness...

Yes Scream... The Hop Theme.. (hence my blog title!) Well.. two things instantly popped to mind when I saw the title.... one was a painting (I am sure you can guess which one!) In all honesty, I am not 100% sure I like the painting.. but I am totally fascinated by it.... the expression, the background, the shapes.. I love it.. but that doesn't necessarily mean I like it! :-)

The second thing to pop into my mind..... well.. you have to be of a certain age to get this... by that I mean my age or older!!! 1970's childrens TV... Just William... Remember Violet Elizabeth... who would thcream and thcream and thcream until she was thick.. Poor Bonnie.. what a typecast to grow up with!!!

So.. for my Blog Entry, I decided to combine the two as a Journal page.... with a healthy dose of inspiration from the wonderful Dylusion's range of stamps... (if you haven't come across these before.. where have you been?? Check out Art From The Heart for all of Dyans goodies!)

So, with a bit of nifty pen work to change the wonderful Curious Corrin into the Thcreaming Violet Elizabeth (the similarity was so perfect.. Corrin had to be used) I give you my version of

The Dylusional Screamer!!!!

I lightly sketched the background onto watercolour paper (an A3 pad.. it is a fair sized journal page) and when I was happy with it, I coloured it with Derwent Inktense Pencils.. (the bestest pencils about in my opinion!) and blended with a waterbrush.. I loved the freeness of the colouring and the wildness of the pencil strokes.. great fun to do! I have made it brighter than the original.... cos little Miss Thcreamer wanted happy colours! :-) I then stamped out Corrin onto scrap watercolour paper, stamped most of her head again.. minus her mouth and chin which I drew in, and then stamped out her hair a few more times.. coloured with Inktense again and assembled.. I am quite chuffed with it.. Fine Art it is not.. but it makes me smile!

I hope you like it... and I hope you are enjoying the Hop... from me you leap to Jearise

but leave me a comment first!!!

Happy Hopping!xxxxx


oooo and don't forget the Blog Candy! We have a sponsor... and it is..... Four Digi Stamps from rickstdennis.blogspot Go have a nosey.. some fabulous digis! x

Gotta Love Cardboard Mailers.....

I love Cardboard Mailers... for two reasons.. one, they generally come to me from Amazon, and contain scrummy books, and two.. they make amazing Journal Covers.....

Had great fun this week playing..... will try to keep this short, but hey, you know what I am like when I start.. so better grab a coffee and settle down all comfy.....

You ready... here we go......


Take your cardboard mailer..... some sheets of smooth A3 cardstock folded in half, 12 x 12 paper (I am in shock.. I actually used my prized Tim Holtz paper pad that I have been too scared to use in the past cos it is sooooo scrummy) some elastic, and assorted glues and tapes of course!

Trim the mailer to size... I wanted it to be big, so cut it 12 inches high.. OK I confess this was actually a happy accident... but hey.. it worked out OK!
Cover the inside and front, back and flap of the mailer with your chosen papers... But leave the spine uncovered for now...

I also used Washi Tape to cover the slightly wonky edges! LOL... I also found some Tape Measure Ribbon I had, which fitted the theme of the cover perfectly... so I attached this to the spine and the flap

Now the fun bit!!! Put some strips of double sided tape along the INSIDE of the spine to hold you pages in place..... (they won't all be totally secure, but this is good, because you can slide them out to decorate and you don't get ink all over your beautiful cover!)
Line all your pages up, and stick them in place....

Take your elastic, and secure one end to the OUTSIDE of the spine, and wind it round and round keeping it fairly stretched. Start with the fold of the last page, and each wind round, secure the next page into place......When they are all held in.. tie the elastic off.. lots!

Now might be a good time to give you a helpful hint or two about elastic... it is nasty stuff... tricky slippery little blighter it is..... if you let go of it.. it does this..... and all your pages fall out!!!
Took me ages to untie it all, and being stretchy, the more you pull one bit.. the tighter another knot gets!!!!

I then had "issues" with the ribbon tie being in the way... so I clipped it into place out of the way, and I thought it would be clever to make a bobbin out of spare card to hold the elastic..... Hmmmmm... sort of worked.. but it still had a life of its own!

I eventually managed to get all the pages in place, by using both hands, my nose and a knee..... I am sad to say, I think this is one occasion in life where a glass or two of wine doesn't really help the situation!!!! :-(

I then cut a piece of card just over double the width of the spine, measured and folded it into three and stuck the edges down to cover all the elastic... Put some decoration on the front... and Taaa Daaa.. One Art Journal!

I have even started to play with one of the pages.. will add that when it is done!

I hope you like it.... would love you to leave a comment and let me know.... and if you make one, I would love to see it!

Happy Elastic Catching!!!

Hugs xxxx

Take a Tag!

Hello!

What a rotten few days we have had weather wise! Started doing the garden ready for the school holidays, but no.. rain stops weeding.. I object to gardening at the best of times.. no way am I drowning while doing it!

So.. I went through my cupboard, and I found the beautiful kit I got from Duck Pond Crafts... it really is stunning, and I decided I really needed to do something with it, but what?

Tags seem to be huge at the moment.... in all the magazines, all the groups.. tags everywhere... so I decided to .. Take a Tag.... but do what exactly? Well.. combine it with my favourite crafty pastime of the moment, and make a book....

Are you sitting comfy? We shall begin! :-)

Take three A3 sheets of cardstock.... the fat Ginger Tom doing his Olympic Gold Star Ignoring Me Technique because he knows he shouldn't be there, is totally optional!

Take the Bloom Kit from the Fabulous Duck Pond Crafts.....

OK.. Roughly position the tags on a sheet of A3, and decide how big you want each "pocket" to be.... then score a lip at one end, so you can stick this sheet to the next...

Then decide how deep you want each pocket to be.. I have given mine fairly deep pockets.. and score... do this on all three sheets...

Then you need to fold them all so they are concertinaed (is that spelt right?? Blogger spell check says it is.. I am not sure myself!!) and fit neatly together. Folding back the thin lip you first scored so it is out of the equation, fold each sheet in half, then the edges to the middle to make four panels in each sheet of card,

Then open and fold up the Pockets you scored, and using a bone folder and some hefty pressure (LOL) crease everything into place!

Now... Quick Heads-Up at this point.. it pays to think ahead instead of making it all up on the spot.. having creased it all.. I realized I folded the wrong way.. so quick unfold, and re-crease! Durrrr! When it is all folded, you want the first pocket to be inside the "book" not as the cover! Oh well! (the third sheet I then decided to cut down so I had ten pockets (as I had 10 tags) but that is up to you how many pockets you want!)

Now to make the cover.. This is done using very technical and exact measuring.. so pay close attention! LOL
Lay a sheet of card on your mat, portrait, and position one of your folded pockets on the bottom corner (either will do)Landscape. Score a line a little bit bigger than the pocket is so it will cover it nicely.... Remember what size you scored at! Now the technical bit! Hold all the pockets together, and stand up just above the score line.. give them a bit of space to fit easily, and score another line... then score again using the measurements of the first score (you know what I mean!) Turn the card and score it so it is just bigger again that the pocket, and cut and crease....

OK.. Now we have everything folded the right way.. onto the fun bit... Getting Inky! Put a sheet at a time somewhere getting messy doesn't matter.. I have a Spray Box.. and get inking and spraying and all that other messy fun stuff! Then leave somewhere safe to dry.. which in my house means somewhere the Fat Ginger Tom can't reach! Ink and spray the covers too!

Once they are all dry.. (I inked up a couple of tags while I was getting messy!)

it is time to decorate... taking the (I may have said this before) Fabulous Bloom Kit... which has soooo much in it.. look!!!!... And play.

Obviously this is very much up to personal taste.. but here is my cover..

...and assemble...... Now another Heads Up Here.... if you want a ribbon tie on your book... NOW is the time to add it.. DO NOT stick the front cover down then remember the ribbon, cos you need to rip it off really quick to get the ribbon on it before it all sticks together forever!!!! I have only stuck the front cover so far, as I might want to use brads etc to decorate the pages, and it will be easier if I can still get to the backs of the pages to do this! See.. sometimes I DO think ahead!!!!

(yes.. this was the point I realized I had forgotten the ribbon tie and panic set in!!)

I have quickly tied it together to give the look of being finished.. and I have also started playing with a couple of tags... I will let you know how I get on with them..

So.. thats it! If you stuck with me all the way to here.. Thank You and Gold Star! If you liked what you saw.. leave me a message.. makes me feel like I have friends! :-) If you love the look of the kit as much as I do.. pop over to Duck Pond and grab one.. they are soooooooo fantastic... and if you decide this looks fun and you want to make a tag book.. please let me know.. I would love to see it!

Right.. off to do battle with my slightly broken and temperamental kettle.. cos I need a coffee after that huge blog post... Happy Crafting, stay inky, have a good day and see you soon

Hugs xxxxxx

Long time no blog!

Good Morning Bloggers... How long since I last posted??

Been laid low with a rotten bout of Shingles.. seriously been yukky.. felt soooooo ill.. No likies, no likies at all.. but I think I am on the road to recovery.. and having found my blog dashboard in the New Updates (why????) I have a few piccies to show you.. OK.. a fair few.. you might want to grab a coffee if you plan to stay to the bitter end! :-)

Been playing with my Art Journal.. and new ideas and things.. here are some of the results....

First off, Mermaids taken and adapted from the Fabulous Suzi Blu book....

A Doodle Face.. with everything I needed to get off my chest written first then Gesso-ed over while still wet

My New Rules!

A couple of Plays with Encaustic.. forgotten how much fun it is!!

Happy Face... adapted from Doodles Unleashed

Playing with Paper Dolly's.. taken from ideas in College Couture

A few Flower Fairies.. my style! ;-)

And my latest page.. even scribbled all over.. Christina A is still soooo beautiful.. I could hate her you know if I wasn't such a Nice Person!!!

Right.. thats it from me.. got some more ink and stuff to do while I finish getting better from this yukky nasty illness..... catch ya laters! xxxxx

Journal update!

Morning!!!  Just a quick blog to show you that I actually finished one of the unfinished pages of my last blog....    And here it is

Right.. now you all have to go and sit down and recover... cos that is it!  End of Blog Post.. Only one picture.. Gasp Shock Horror!  I must be ill! :-)

Toodles!!! xxxxx

Wonderful Weekend!

Hello and Good Monday Morning!

Was away for the weekend at a luvverly friends, and we Played!!!!!! (as well as chatted, and giggled and chatted, and giggled.. you get the picture!)

And we Journalled!!!!

I had a new book which I started, and I got inky and messy AND I art-ed direct to page.. I was soooooo Brave! :-)

And here it is so far..........

Inside page....  Dylusion Stamps and inky mess through stencils!  Coloured/painted with Inktense pencils

 Flower (no...really!!!!!) Chalk mists and a HUGE stamp (the stamp is chalk misted too)

To be finished... Dylusion Stamps and Acrylic Paint

More chalk mists (I do like them!!!) A stencil and dimensional paint , the adorable Willow (I think!!) and stamps and fat pens

Guess what sprays????  Leaf stencil and Paper Artsy stamps... needs to be finished

 H20's this time.... and a stencil.... needs to be considered and then when I have thought of something.. finished!

Bit pleased with myself!  I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed those chalk sprays though!!!!!!!


Hugs all
xxxxxx