Art is.....

Hi everyone,

     I am going 'brayer' crazy this week!

     I hadn't planned to do any crafting this week at all as I had a lot of posts to write up. I decided that the PaperArtsy challenges this week were too interesting to put aside. It had ocurred to me that the best thing to do was jot down the ideas and work on them in a week or two (if I had time), but with that comes the chance that I will never get round to doing it...so I took the time to play a little.

   This was inspired by everything! The brayer, stamping, attaching text tissue paper and stamped tissue paper, using the brayer to roll acrylic paint onto stamps....I piled it all into one creation!


       First I covered a piece of cardboard with Gesso and the stuck some Tim Holtz tissue wrap strips over it with Matte multi-medium. You can see traces of them here under the paint - I usually lose those pieces of stuck on text completely during this kind of work...but this time they didn't vanish!

  Then I began to add some Fresco Paints with the brayer....Pumpkin Soup, Smoked Paprika, Blood Orange and Hey Pesto with some DecoArt Turquoise as well.

     I then stamped various stamps including swirls, letters, numbers with Space Cadet and Snowflake Fresco Paint. I also added some more stamps with black Archival ink.

    I added the face from the Stampers Anonymous set, having first stamped it on tissue paper with black Archival ink then glued it into place using matte Muliti-Medium

   I used some Tim Holtz Grungeboard letters and painted them in the Decoart Turquoise paint and then covered them with DecoArt one step crackle. When dry I covered them with Walnut Stain DI and wiped it away to enhance the cracks.

 
I attached the word ART above the head and then added the words "means something different to each of us" in different text. Using Chit Chat stickers, Label Letters and some stamped text smudged with Walnut Stain DI.

       I did some very light spritzing with Dylusions Sprays in Melted Chocolate and White Linen

     I then blended some Walnut Stain around the edge of the cardboard to add some shading.

     I really enjoyed making this! It isn't my usual style at all but my New Year resolution for my crafts was to to explore new techniques and learn.....I am not saying I have mastered using paints with a brayer and certainly there are bits that didn't go as well as I had thought....but it was such joy to just create. 

I am joining in with Simon Says this week who are asking for things beginning with 'A' - 

My 'A' is for 'Art' - It of course does mean something different for everyone, but for me, while making this creation it meant 'Absolutely wonderful FUN'!

Thanks so much for being here

I would like to enter this in the following challenges -

  PaperArtsy
  Simon Says


 

New Adventures

Hi everyone!

     Just when I thought I was done for posts in January, PaperArtsy dragged me back to crafting again! ;o)

     I was browsing through some blogs and hopped over to PaperArtsy and saw the latest Guest Designer Ellen Vargo take us through brayer and paint tag making....I have a brayer that has never been used and I never imagined I would ever used it - In fact I was about to dismiss it as a useless purchase and bin it!

     I LOVED the effect that Ellen got - and so I grabbed a tag and some paints and got into a lot of painty mess - Brilliant fun!

    
I started by just rolling some paints onto the tag. I used Ice Blue, Lake Wanaka, Space Cadet, and Guacamole Fresco Paint with the brayer. Then I dabbed a little bit of Hey Pesto Fresco Paint to cover some gaps and add a lovely hint of translucent colour.

    I distressed the edges of the tag with some scissors and dabbed Walnut Stain DI around the edges.

 Flower die cuts were covered with Honeydew Fresco Paint and when dry dabbed with some Walnut Stain DI and secured with silver metal brads.

Some twine was used for the stems and leaves.

 

I stamped one of my favourite stamps and cut the sayings into strips which all then had some Walnut Stain DI blended around the edges. I decided to attach them so they weren't flat.

I used brown hemp string tied at the top to make a hanger.

                      Hope you like it! Thanks so much for being here

I would like to enter the following challenge -

PaperArtsy 

 

Year of the Horse

It is the Chinese New Year on the 31st January and I decided to represent this time of year with the Try it on Tuesday challenge which wants you to create something about -

'Celebrations'

2014 is the year of the horse - and the first thing I had to do was figure out how to feature a horse on this hanging. I didn't have any horse stamps or digi-images so I decided to make an image myself!

  I drew quite an abstract representation of a horse!!! When I had marked out where all the swirls would be I drew over them with an embossing pen and sprinkled with UTEE. I then melted it and covered it with Old Gold Fresco paint.

  Then I began to try to make it looked like tarnished metal so I dry bushed French Roast Fresco paint all over it then began to brush it with White Fire and Classic Gold Treasure Gold.

     Now for the brights!!! I swiped some Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries DS over the craft mat, spritzed with water and then did some wrinkle free distress on some card. When I got it to how I wanted, I cut it to size and then began to tear around where the horse was. The torn edges were inked with Spiced Marmalade DI.

I stamped a Chinese style stamp in Sepia Archival ink and then glued the card to the hanger.

The word 'celebrate' was taken from the chit-chat stickers and inked with Spiced Marmalade, Festive Berries and Walnut Stain DI.

Aged Gold Frantage was added to the edges of the hanger

Roses were covered in Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries DS and so was some vellum strips that had Chinese symbols printed on them.

A die cut leaf was painted with Old Gold Fresco paint and then covered with crackle glaze and then French Roast Fresco paint was rubbed into the cracks.

When they were all stuck on the card I sprayed the whole thing lightly with Espresso Adirondack spray and then some Cosmic Gimmer mists in Ancient Copper and Tarnished Gold.

  Some rusty wire was twisted into a loop so that it can be hung up

Hope you like it! Why not make something to celebrate a special occasion? Come on over to Try it on Tuesday to see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you!

                    Hope to see you soon!

Collecting Memories

Welcome back!

   I had to do a project for over at PaperArtsy where Julie Ann from magpieheaven is one of the guest Designers! I adore Julie Ann's work and was so lucky to get to meet her at Ally Pally last September - she is as lovely in person as she is on her blog!!! ;o)

  I was very inspired by her use of the colours on her project and the box with the tags inside, gorgeously decorated with leaves. I bought a little box on holiday in the Czech Republic in the Czech equivalent of a 'poundstore' - Usually it is just lots of junk there, but you do sometimes find little treasures.

   This box was a mahogany one with a gorgeous embossed texture on it. While it looked lovely as it was, I knew it was perfect for a little alteration. So back home it went into the craft stock pile where I keep frames, hangers, paper mache and canvases and waiting until the time was right to use it.

     I covered it with Snowflake Fresco paint and then added a layer of Guacamole paint over all the embossed area and the edges of the box.

 I then brushed some Hey Pesto paint over this and then I dry brushed it with Chocolate Pudding Fresco Paint.

     For the sides of the box I applied Chocolate Pudding Fresco Paint and then applied some Crackle Glaze. When dry I brushed Guacamole paint over it before brushing some Hey Pesto over the top.

   When everything was dry I lightly sanded the edges down to reveal the dark wood underneath to give a very shabby look and then I went to town brushing White Fire Treasure Gold over it all!

   The top was decorated with a torn book page covered in Brushed Corduroy and Frayed Burlap DI's

    The die cut flowers were covered with Guacamole paint before being stamped with a text stamp from the Bluebird set of Artistic Outpost Stamps.

  The leaves and the edges of the large flower were brushed with Decoart Crackle Glaze and then when dry they were inked with Brushed Corduroy DI ink to enhance the cracks.

The words 'Wonder and think' were from the 'Think and Wonder' set of AO stamps. The twigs were coated with Mocha Mousse paint.

     I cut four little tags to size and put some Gathered Twigs DS and Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap DP on the craft mat, spritzed with water and then and swirled the tags in the pool. After drying with the heat gun, I dabbed any bare patches with Frayed Burlap DI.

   I then stamped the images in Potting Soil Archival ink using the stamps from the 'Think and Wonder' and 'Bluebird' AO stamp sets before adding various flowers that had been painted with Guacamole Fresco Paint and stamped with text.

As a finishing touch, a flower and a pen nib with the word 'thoughts' on it were glued to the inside of the lid.

I hope you like it! Thanks so much for being here - See you soon!

     

I would like to enter this in the following challenges -

PaperArtsy

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Artistic Outpost - Anything Goes