Time Flies

Hi guys!  I've been playing with various media to make this Time Flies canvas.

I started off by making my weathered wood panel by swiping Distress Ink minis from top to bottom.

Then scoring it every half inch before stamping with the Peeled Paint background stamp from Darkroom Door.  I painted my canvas with black gesso and adhered the panel to the canvas.

Added a few buttons, paper flowers, bandage fabric scrap and some moulded items from my stash, and painted those black.  

Once everything was dry I sprayed Dylusions White Linen over it and when that had dried, rubbed on some Viva Decor Inka Gold in Lava Red, Jade and Gold.

The Inka Gold adds a lovely antique metallic look to the painted flowers.

Using the Julie Nutting Mixed Media Doll Wings stamp as a template, I cut out a pair of wings from black card and painted them with Finnabair Art Alchemy Acrylic Paint - Opal Magic Rose-Gold.  You see the gold in one light, and the pale rose colour in another.  The clock is from Tim Holtz Curiosities, sponged with Antique Linen.

I hope time isn't flying too quickly for you this summer!

Enjoy your weekend.

Shirley x

Easter Special Offers!

Hello!

Its almost Easter but what would you prefer the Easter Bunny to bring you... 

Chocolate or Art & Craft Supplies?? 

Dylusions Ink Sprays can be found here

and 

Tim Holtz Distress Paints here

Offer lasts until Easter Monday or stocks last. 

oh - and if you're interested...

 I'd have the chocolate with the craft supplies...  I'm greedy like that! 

Happy Creating

Vicki 

A Quartet of Bright Canvases

Hi peeps, Shirley here!  I thought I'd banish the winter blues today with some vibrant colours.  I had some mini canvases in my stash, so I set to work, covering them with Dylusions Ink Sprays in Calypso Teal and Funky Fuchsia.  Once they'd dried, I covered them liberally with Finnabair Art Basics Clear Gesso to seal the ink - it doesn't seal completely, but does keep leakage to a minimum.

Sunglasses time: out came the lime green Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylic and some stencils by Tim Holtz and Rhonda Palazzari.

A bit of highlighting with a Sakura Gelli Roll white pen and a black pen to add depth.  It's only subtle but it does make a difference.

At this point, song titles sprang to mind for each mini canvas.  I wrote out the title words on black card, then wrote some of the lyrics around the edge of each canvas, photographed everything ready for my post, and decided I could be in breach of copyright, so I painted over the edges in lime and used the tiny stamps from the Hero Arts Happy Stamp & Cut around the edges.  Then I added encouragement phrases to each canvas instead.

In case you're wondering: Listen To The Music, Kissed By A Rose, The Times They Are A'Changin, Space Odyssey.

I hope they've brightened your day!

2 lovely wedding cards

Hello my dear friends!!!
Elena hire with you.
The communions have almost finished and it is coming the season of weddings. For this occasion I have created these 2 cards of lilac tones. The backgroung is made from white watercolor paper as a base. To create the texture I used White Gesso, and Finnabair Art Basics: Light Paste with Stencils. For the color, I have used some of  Dylusions Ink Sprays and for more contrast, I put some freehand  Darkroom Door Background Stamps. A bouquet of flowers and the text ended the composition. So we have a fresh result with a romantic air.

Here you have more photos with some details.

I hope it has inspired you to create your projects! :)))
Thank you very much and see you later!

Much kisses. xxx

'Old School' 3 -Salt!

Hello!
Another old favourite inky technique today, although this time I've only used bits of the background created on my final piece! My finished creation is this page...

The bright red poppy heads are the product of todays spotlight technique: Salt backgrounds!
Adding rock salt to wet ink is a great way to create fab texture and interest, and it's really simple too!
Step1: Prepare! The is messy, so put your card down on a wipe clean surface.

Step 2: Spray! (or drip...) Any drippy ink will work for this, acrylic inks, ink sprays, stains, you name it. I knew I was going to use the result for a poppy head, so I sprayed in just the one colour. You can go as bonkers with the colours as you want!

Step 3: Reactivate the inks with a little more water so the surface is nice and wet...

Step 4: Add on the rock salt...

Step 5: Spray with a little more water to make sure the salt has a nice wet bond with the surface..

Step 6: Now you can go one of two ways. Leave it to dry by itself, or blast with a heat gun. Drying naturally gives nice results...but for the impatient.....Blast with the heat gun!

Step 7: Once ALL the ink is dry, wait until the cardstock and salt is cool. It's really quite surprising how hot salt gets! Once cold, rub off the salt...

Step 8: Admire the fab textures and design the salt creates!

I then cut circles from my salty background, and added seed beads to the centres to give me my poppies.

I typed straight onto an old book page to give me my title...

Which was very apt, because I wanted to doodle my way around the rest of the piece, no stamps at all. I was a bit hesitant about letting go and creating the stems and leaves of my poppies, so really needed to believe in myself!

I *think* it worked, but need a lot more playing about until I'm confident!
Have a go with the salt, its a really nice technique!

See you soon,
Trish xxxxx

Getting my art on.

Maybe it's the change in the weather or maybe I'm just coming out of a creative funk but I'm having a great time at the moment getting my art on with my journal seeing most of my creative play.

This is the latest page to come off my table with a line taken from a song by Abba (I was a huge fan) which any fan of the movie Mamma Mia  will recognize from I have a Dream,  "I believe in angels, something good in everything I see". Don't ask me why but it was one of those moments when that song kept playing on repeat in my head while I was working. Subconscious trying to help me out or something?

My figures are created from an Andy Skinner, Tando stencil called Hippy Chick.

 The background has been sprayed with Dylusions inks (Squeezed orange and Postbox red). I'd forgotten how bright these colours really are. Note to self : restock the Dylusions! There are some gorgeous new colours in the shop.

While the ink was still wet I used a wet paintbrush to paint circles into the ink, creating the swirly background.

Have a good weekend.

Jaine x

Sticker background!

Hello!
You are all probably aware that I love backgrounds...using anything and everything to create weird and wonderful textures and designs. I want to share a quick and easy way to use up left over alphabet stickers to create something a little bit different! The end result looks like this...

I'll take you through the stages.....
First, firmly stick down the left over stickers to your surface. I've used a Tando panel for this. If your stickers are old and have lost their stick somewhat, glue them down! You will be adding inks, gesso and water over them, and if they are not stuck down firmly, the stickers will left up from the surface.

Put them on randomly, just keep checking to make sure you haven't spelled a rude word by mistake! Trim around the panel...

Sponge over with gesso to give an even, white base. Sponge because it gives a thinner layer, and you still want to see the shapes of the letters!

At this point, it's up to you as to how you colour the background. Thin layers of paint will work, as will acrylic inks. I've used Dylusions ink sprays. I used  pink and orange, then flicked a few splats of red at it! A little spritz of water to get them all running together, then a blast with a heat gun to dry everything....

This is your basic background, now you can add detail. I have kept it simple, and used black paint splats, a tiny bit of black stamping, and then edged the whole panel....

 Despite all the inks covering the stickers, their shapes still appear, giving a nice interesting look..

My little girl is a Stampotique image. Once stamped, I masked off her head and legs, then stamped with a text stamp to give her dress a little interest.

She is standing on a bit of stripy text paper, left over from my last circles project!

A couple of stars, and a text phrase finish off the whole thing!
I hope you like her...it's a nice way to use up old stickers and create something new!

Trish xxxx

do what you can

Hello

This is my friend's journal. It has travelled for a few months and tomorrow I'm taking it after this long journey to it's owner. My pages...

I used:
- Dylusions Ink Spray Fresh Lime
- Dylusions Ink Spray Fresh Bubblegum Pink
- Claudine Hellmuth Studio Black Gesso

- Stampotique Originals stamps

- Darkroom Door Carved Birds Vol 1

- Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black

- Distress Glitter

- tissue paper