Photo-a-day

Hi everyone

     For Christmas my wonderful husband bought me a DSLR camera...I had studied photography (many many years ago!) and I was very used to using a SLR and a TLR (even using some large format cameras for architecture photos) and of course back in those days I was working in the darkroom...the dim red lights and the magic of a photo slowly appearing in a tray of chemicals - very happy memories of the good old days....

     Now it was time to move on with technology and my digital camera knowledge was at zero. I had used a "point and shoot/basic as it gets/can't fail" camera for the last ten years and my memory of apertures and shutter speeds and ISO had sadly faded....

      I wanted to get practicing again and to start enjoying photography again. So I decided to do one of the many 'photo-a-day' challenges you can find on the internet - I was too lazy to come up with subjects myself and I wanted the more interesting aspect of being 'challenged'!

     Sadly I didn't manage the whole month because, as usual, life gets in the way...but I managed some and I shared them on FB....today I would like to share them on my blog too...

 CELEBRATION

Had to be the Christmas tree of course!

RESOLUTION 

Well this subject could be taken in several ways - I chose to think of this title as being about New Years resolutions...and mine is to focus on the garden more...

 FAVOURITE

My favourite dog in the world is my dog Deana....she loves posing!

ELECTRIC

After visiting the Natural History Museum I took a photo of the trees lit up with fairy lights

SMILE

Two of the best smiles in the world - my wonderful children

TOGETHER

Because we always are and we always will be....

 RELAX

 Pure joy - Peace and quiet, a favourite program (E.R), wonderful chocolate and perfect cup of tea

 LOOKING DOWN

January dog walking is a messy business....

 LOOKING UP

Is prettier....the trees look very bare, but make a very striking photo

 HEART

My son making the shape of a heart for me

MY VIEW

A daily walk through the woods always presents a scene worthy of a photograph

 SUN

The camera pointed straight at the sun at 11am created this amazingly atmospheric photo

 EASY

Easy is the word here! One of the easiest recipes in the world and also one of the yummiest!

 PLAY

This was 'PLAY' in several ways - My husband required goth makeup for a gig...I love doing makeup so it was a wonderful playtime and of course the photo has been totally PSP'd - so another fun play! And he was heading off to play the drums...

 BREAKFAST

Ahhhh bliss - Sadly this isn't an everyday breakfast! This is a rare Sunday brunch treat but I couldn't resist taking a photo of it for this subject. I adore homemade pancakes and, not meaning to blow my own trumpet, I make the best homemade blueberry sauce in the world (according to my children!)

CLOSE-UP

Our cat Mooey loves to sleep on her favourite sitting room chair. She spends most of the day there snoozing and will glare disapprovingly at anyone who dares to disturb her peaceful slumber

Hope you like them!

Love from Laura 

xxx

Tic Tac Toe!

Hi everyone!

 Over at Our Creative Corner it is our wonderful Julia hosting the challenge this month! Come over and play with us...

 Tic Tac Toe!

How easy is this? 

Well, we do like a challenge over at Our Creative Corner, so Julia has made this Tic Tac Toe grid very slightly trickier...Here is what she says about it...

 "For this challenge please choose one line from the grid shown. This can be a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line....
 but you must select the middle square as one of your choices. 

 What you make is your choice but please ensure that the three items you have chosen are clearly visible on your make. 
Please state in your post which line you have chosen. 
Inks, stains, sprays etc can be used as necessary on your project".

So there is the challenge this month - pick a line - make sure it goes through the center square of the grid - and make something! 
Add it to the challenge over at Our Creative Corner and you could be a winner of some fabulous goodies from our wonderful sponsor this month...

Tando Creative

I chose the line including Metal/Stamps/Crackle Medium.

I chose some Artistic Outpost Stamps and stamped the 'Cocoa' image onto white card with Potting Soil Archival ink. I then tore around the edges before dabbing over it with Walnut Stain DI.

I stamped the words Wonder and Think onto white card with Potting Soil Archival ink and inked it with Walnut Stain DI. I then attached some bronze brads to the strip of card.

I used some corrugated card as the background of the hanging. I tore sections away and then painted the entire thing with Fresco French Roast Paint. I then covered it all in a fairly thick layer of Decoart crackle Paint. When dry the edges of the background were lightly dabbed with Walnut Stain DI

A few strips of tissue tape were added to the background and the focal image stuck on to the background

Rusty hearts were added

The background was then stuck onto rigid card that had been inked with Walnut Stain DI

Bronze Hinge fasteners were used with brown wire as a hanger

There is my finished Tic Tac Toe creation - hope you like it!

It would be lovely to see you play along with us this month...

 .....as well as having our wonderful sponsor Tando Creative joining us this month to give a lucky winner a wonderful prize, there is also the chance you could be picked as the winner and find yourself here in the Spotlight as our Top Talent.....you could also be one of our Top 3's and be featured in the OCC Pinterest Gallery!

Hope to see you soon!

Happy Crafting!

Laura

xxx

I am entering this in the 'Show us your AO art' challenge 

 

Decoart Art

Hi everyone,

Today I am really happy to get to show you some wonderful Decoart products....

I must admit I adore Decoart paints and mediums....right back when I tried that first bottle of one step crackle I was totally devoted....

For this project I decorated a box canvas - and this is how I did it.

I stuck some text paper onto the canvas with multi-medium and dabbed some gesso over the canvas to knock back the vividness of the text and make a good base for the crackle paint

Next came a layer of Decoart Media Line Crackle Paint...I adore this as it is so easy to use - thick layer for heavy crackle, thin layer for fine crackle and it dries quickly!

 Once dry I covered it with Raw Umber Antiquing cream...I cannot work without Antiquing creams - I love how they give you time to work - the paint is non-permanent, so you can leave it to dry and come back to it whenever you want to wipe away what isn't needed. A coat of varnish will make the paint permanent.

The Raw Umber antiquing cream darkened the cracks perfectly and was wiped away with a damp cloth.

Next I got to work on splatters and drips I worked with Phthalo Green-Blue Media Fluid acrylic paint and watered it down - one wonderful thing about these paints is how highly pigmented they are - so watering down doesn't mean a loss in powerful colour. I added a little gold and created the most amazing iridescent shimmer....and dripped the watery paint down the canvas.

See how just adding a little gold creates the most amazing iridescent peacock shimmer?

   Then for some splatter with watered down Raw Umber , Gold and Phthalo Green-Blue acrylic paint

I then used some Raw Umber acrylic paint and painted it around the sides of the canvas. I then dry brushed it around the edges of the canvas to soften the edges.

 I stamped some Raw Umber acrylic paint around the edges of the canvas using a script stamp

   I created some roses and blossoms out of die cut flowers.

The rose was covered in Phthalo Green-Blue paint and then using a stencil I dabbed gold all over the petals. I then constructed the rose......

I did the same with single flowers but added a layer of Turquoise Media Interference paint to add an iridescent shimmer to the flower. I then covered a silver brad with gold paint to match the rest of the gold accents.

I used a sign saying 'believe' that had Raw Umber paint very lightly dabbed around the edges with a sponge

 Memory box die cuts were dabbed with raw umber paint and added to the canvas

 And here is my finished canvas......

 

Hope you liked seeing how this was made!  See you soon!!!

Happy Crafting

Laura

What's Your Number?

Hello everyone!

 At Fashionable Stamping Challenges we are featuring as our challenge -

Numbers

How easy is that! Just feature any number and as many as you like!

I went a bit mad on numbers here!

I started out with a tag which I covered in Cheesecake Fresco paint through a rings stencil - I don't think it was worth it as the effect pretty much got swallowed by everything else - never mind!

I then covered the tag with Evergreen Bough DI and then wiped it with a baby wipe to make the colour more muted (I had applied it rather too heavy!)

I then stamped a Prima number stamp at the top and bottom of the tag in Evergreen Bough DI

I dabbed Vintage Photo DI around the edge of the tag and then stamped a Prima ruler stamp down one edge with Coffee Archival ink

 I used an Artistic Outpost number stamp from the set Generation Redux in Potting Soil Archival ink

I stamped the focal image of the woman (again from the Generation Redux set) in Potting Soil Archival ink and dabbed the card with Vintage Photo DI. I then stamped the Prima number stamp over it in Evergreen Bough DI

I stamped the word 'Memories' in Potting Soil Archival ink

                           I added a brass flower and corner decoration placed at the top of the tag

And that is my numbers tag! I hope you like it?

I would love it if you came over to see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you at Fashionable Stamping Challenges!

Remember we are a stamping challenge so please feature a stamped focal image on your creation.

  

You could be the winner of $20 to spend at Flonzcraft Stamps! And of course you could be picked as one of our Catwalk Spotlights!

Hope to see you there!


Happy Crafting!

Laura xxx