A little bit of Art to Start the New Year!

Hi Everyone!  Happy New Year, it's been a bit quiet on here of late, 2015 really was a year that heralded lots of change for me personally and so my art has been a bit on the back burner.  Following illness and two surgeries, and moving house, at the end of last year I rejoined the workforce, helping out two afternoons a week, at my local Naturopath and around the same time I also commenced studying Crystal Healing.  

My creative mojo has been on a bit of a holiday but keeps popping in for a short visit........so I thought I'd share a little bit of the art I have managed to create with you today.

My most recent project has been a Valentine's Day Card using some of my Gelli Print Backgrounds. You can view the full process and the finished card over on the Altered Pages Blog.

Love Inspired Gelli Print

 

Thinking ideas through

Earlier this month I played with Paint and Paper just for fun and created a elephant canvas which was inspired by one of my Christmas Presents - Elephant Cushion Covers.

This is still a bit of a work in progress.

I also created a couple of ATC's for a Feather Swap

And at the end of December and Start of January  I participated in the Woman Unleashed Online Retreat.

This was quite a empowering journey, with a lot of meditation, reflection and lots of art journal play.

My fortnightly crafting groups starts back next week at Time to Create so hopefully this will get me a bit more in creative mode and I can share a bit more regularly on the blog in the weeks to come.   Thanks for stopping by.

Crafter Hoarders & Altered Pages Challenge Blog Hop

Today the Altered Pages team is joining with the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Team for one of their fabulously fun blog hops - #14 Button it Up!

Crafters of every type are button hoarders! Buttons are pretty, inexpensive, and extremely versatile. If you are a card maker, quilter, layout artist, or anything in between, you probably have a button hoard! Buttons come in many sizes, styles, shapes, and colors, plus they are easy to store...usually in cute containers! Pull out those bins of buttons and use some of them for your challenge project!  You can participate in the Craft Hoarders Challenge and win a prize from the blog sponsor... Altered Pages!




What better than to team with buttons then some Vintage Sewing Collage Images and I couldn't stop at just one project.  I made two canvases like the one below, by layering grunge paste onto the surface and then stamping (to leave an impression and add texture) as well as adding my buttons. Once dry I used inks to stamp over my impressions and add the background color before finishing with some Dew Drops.

Supplies Used

4 x 4 Canvas Board, PaperArtsy Grunge Paste, Various Buttons, Kept in Stitches Stamp Set by Altered Pages/Mailbox Muse, Vintage Sewing Collage Image, Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko Staz On Ink - , Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko Memento Ink - Peanut Brittle, Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko Memento Marker - Peanut Brittle, Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko Delicata Ink - Gold, Robin's Nest Dew Drops

I do hope you will join the fun, hop along and play along in the challenge too!  Be sure to leave a comment on each blog you visit.

Altered Pages

Robin Horasanian 

Danie  May (That's me - You are here)

Roni Johnson

Tonya Trantham

Trisha Too

Stephanie Siatta

Barbara Rankin

Debi Tullier

Lyneen Jesse

We have joined the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Design Team to find the links to their posts visit the Craft Hoarders blog here! 

Amber Milone
Christy Butters
Debbie Seyer
Donna Idlet
Ginny Nemchak
Glenda Brooks
Gloria Stengel
Jan Marie Ennenga 
Karen Zueger
Kathy Clement
Pam Bray
Tammi Bennett 

Don't forget that leaving comments during the AlteredPages and Craft Hoarders blog hop allows you to be entered into a random drawing for an AlteredPages Blog Gift - a Set of Japanese Oil Pastels and a huge Ephemera package.

Create Art - A Quick Canvas Make

Today I am wanting to share with you a quick canvas make which was my first play with one of the beautiful new collage stamps from Darkroom Door.  It's called Create Art.

My canvas is a 5 x 7 inch canvas board.  I chose to do a simple background using my Dylusion Spray Inks and some Stencils.

I started with 3 colors sprayed randomly to color my entire background.  I moved the canvas around allowing it to drip and run and pool.  After a little time to soak in I ran over the ink with a paper towel which lightened the colors somewhat and then dried with my heat gun.

Next I added some stenciled detail using a 4th color of Dylusions Ink and some gesso and after drying this I then stamped my image with Black Archival Ink and embossed with Black Embossing Powder.

To give my canvas more of a framed look around my image and to make the colors pop more I then took my black Dylusions and sprayed using my Mini Circle Explosions Stencil from The Crafter's Workshop. After allowing a few minutes for the ink to soak in I rolled with a paper towel to lighten and dried with my heat gun.

My final two steps were to add some further color to my image with my Inktense Watercolor Pencils and add a couple of Dew Drops from the Robin's Nest for a bit of interest.

My Canvas today is going to take pride and place in my craft room and will be a reminder and a bit of a personal mantra as Creating Art really has been a wonderful sanity keeper and therapy for me over the past few years.

Trending Tuesdays - Time Flies Canvas

Hi Everyone!  I hope you are having a great start to your week so far. Today is a Trending Tuesday over at Altered Pages.  Trending Tuesday is where the whole design team takes up the challenge to use a a particular product which is available from the Altered Pages Store to create a project.  It is designed to inspire our readers with various ways to use that particular product.

This months Trending Tuesday Theme was to create a project using a Stencil.  Altered Pages sells a range of stencils from a variety of manufacturers including the Crafter's Workshop and Andy Skinner.

I decided to make a canvas as I love using stencils to create texture and interest on them.

For my background (seen below) I started by layering some torn pieces of paper and sprayed on color with my Dylusions Inks.  I then took some texture paste and my Cubist Stencil from the Crafter's Workshop to add some texture and detail.  Once this was dry I rubbed over the top of the raised texture with some red and yellow Gelatos, stamped some more detail on the background using the Altered Pages Basketweave Art Stamp and added more torn paper and some washi tape.

A close up of my finished background.

I had a large red butterfly from an Altered Pages Collage Sheet which was cut out and left over sitting on my desk and I liked how it complimented the colors of my background so this was my starting point for my finished canvas.  On my desk were a few other bits and pieces left from other projects, such as the pink punched flowers (from the Robin's Nest Sorbet Glitter Papers) and the time flies wording.  I printed out some more butterflies, and on the computer generated the words Make Every Moment Count.  Then using some other paper scraps I punched and die cut out some leaves and grabbed a few of the Robin's Nest Dew Drops and stuck everything down to end up with the finished piece below.

My finished Canvas

I really loved how it turned out my quote is a reminder - something I am trying to do each and every day. My timing for creating this canvas was perfect as I was in need of something to pretty up and girl-ify the spare bedroom this past weekend when we did respite care for a young girl and it did the trick wonderfully.  She loved butterflies and in-fact we made her her very own butterfly canvas to take home after her stay.

Wild About You Canvas with Sin City Stamps and Altered Pages

Hi Everyone!  Wild About You is the title for my post today.......so just what is the You?, you ask.  Well for starters it is the wonderful Wildlife Background Stamp from Sin City Stamps. I just love it!   And secondly it's because its the perfect excuse to give someone this particular piece of art.  I was kinda thinking that if the love of your life isn't into hearts, red and soppy cards for Valentines Day like mine isn't then this canvas (8 x 8) may be the perfect way to tell your partner you are "Wild about them" and you get to have some messy fun creating it.

Supplies Used:

Altered Pages:  Gelatos, Glitz Unchartered Waters Papers, Glitz Decorative Tape, Dylusions Spray Inks, Acrylic Paint, Stencils for layering color on background, Gesso, Gel Medium, Waterbrush,  Sin City Stamps:Wildlife Background Stamp

For my background (the messy fun part) I simply layered color using all (and I mean all) the paint and color supplies I have listed above from Altered Pages with various stencils to add depth and interest to the background.  Once I was happy with this I then turned to preparing my main image.

The Wildlife Background Stamp was stamped twice with black ink.  The first image I colored the background with Gelatos and Water Color Pencils.  The second image I fussy cut out the elephant, giraffe and zebra, adding only color to where the background met the animal.  I then cut out my colored background forming a rectangle panel and then mounted my fussy cut animals on foam dots to this.

Taking a matting piece of paper cut to size so that it will frame my image once on the canvas.  I adhered this to my canvas and then using my Gelatos to blur the edges I continued to try and blend in this paper by stamping with Green Ink a leaf stamp across my entire background.  I also add this point added further green by way of a circle stencil and a Green Gelato.

Now happy with my background.  I added my main image to the centre of the canvas and my two strips of decorative tape above and below the image and its mat.  I then took some Gesso and the same leaf stamp and framed my image with leaves.  A smidge of yellow and green gelato added a touch of color to them further.

To finish my canvas I now simply took the same decorative tape and ran it round the sides of my canvas.

I am really happy with how this turned out and I am now already thinking of ways to incorporate this wonderful stamp from Sin City Stamps into more of my art.  So stay tuned.

WOYWW #229 - A little improved!

Hi fellow desker's and crafty friends, I am pleased to report my desk is a tad tidier than last time you visited. Thanks to all of you who visited me here last week and commented.  There were a few of you I didn't manage to reciprocate the visit to, and you shall be the first on my list a little later today.

Rod and I are enjoying our time alone this week, we had dinner out with friends last night.  They are foster carers like ourselves with a boy the same age as 'A' so it was good to have a catch up and debrief a bit about the kids (compare notes so to speak....lol)  as well as talk of other things.

This week I have been busy getting things ready for next month's edition of Unruly PaperArts, we are going Stencil Crazy for November so I have been following up on contributor articles, editing posts and the like. Being home alone means I have been avoiding the housework and spending lots of time playing with all my crafty stuff too.

Here's a few snapshots of my desk and my week.

I've been working with Christmas Stamps and Alcohol Inks for a couple of ATC Swaps, Stencils and Spray Mists for some upcoming Design Team stuff as well as my latest Quick and Easy Santa Card Kit for Altered Pages.  You can see a glimpse of some of this in my middle photo above.

And just for fun!  I've been playing with my Gelli Plate, and yesterday I finished my Summer Canvas.  Today I have been creating some more ATCs and stuck a cutout of a photo of my eyes on a journal page I have been working on and off on.

A look at one of the Gelli Prints I made.

My Summery Canvas (inspired by a recent Swaps)

I stuck my eyes on this drawing in my journal.
The background is one of my hand-carved stamps

So that's my desk this week, and what Wednesday is all about.  I hope you all have a fabulously fun and creative week.  For a sneak peak at more wonderful desks from around the world or to find out what I am on about head over to our host Julia's Blog here.

WOYWW #221

Hi Everyone and Happy Wednesday!  Its time to link up again with all my creative friends over at WOYWW!  For more about this link up, see Julia our hosts blog  here.  Thanks to everyone who has been visiting and leaving some love.  I've been trying to get around to as many of you as possible but just never seem to get through the whole list.  Luckily though the list is never in the same order so I figure I do get to peek at everyone's desk over a few weeks.

Its just a quick one for me today as it's 4.00pm Wednesday and I've just got home from a course to do with achieving Positive Education Outcomes for Young People in Out of Home Care, so my brain is a bit muddled at present.  But in saying that I really enjoyed the course, learned a lot and got to meet some lovely people too.

Creatively this week, I have been to the Wild West with my fellow teamies at Altered Pages , painted a canvas to celebrate the arrival of Spring and creating a few other DT projects.

My desk shows some further planned seasonal canvases, I've gotten as far as choosing papers to represent each season.  You can see my Spring Canvas at the back and a altered notebook at the front.  The pizza box just visible in the left corner is my first ever kit from the 'Mailbox Muse' and its theme is 'Alice's Utterly Mad Tea Party'

I'd better go as 'A' will be home from school soon and looking for some afternoon tea.  Hope you all have a creative and fun week.

Spring has sprung!

Spring has definitely arrived here at Spring Grove with our first sighting of a snake yesterday and lots of baby birds emerging from nests and flowers in bloom. It is one of my favorite times of year, as it's a time of renewal and new beginnings and I always feel energized after my hibernating ways of winter come to an end.

I have been thinking a lot about my creative journey which has been all over the place this year.  With wanting to move towards mixed media and art journaling, at the beginning of the year I signed up for Life Book 2013 over at Willowing and I have been reading lots of books from various mixed media artists, such as Kelly Rae Roberts, and Dawn DeVries Sokol.  I am loving my transition into these forms of creative expression, even though I don't share much of it with you here on my blog as its more for my personal enjoyment than anything.  Like life my creative journey is truly a work in progress.

Anyhow I was re-reading some of Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts over the past few days, as I love her work and was inspired to take paint to hand and create this canvas in honor of spring.

Supplies used:  Acrylic Paint, Gelatos, Swirly Garden Stencil, Punchinella, 

Stampin' Up Baroque Motifs Stamp Set, Various Scrap Papers, Burlap Flower.

It's only my second time painting a face, and my first time with acrylics, I struggled with my facial features but I loved the process and am quite happy with it so far, paint splatters, smudges and all.

I've been back buying more burlap embellishments at the dollar store, this time some flowers.  I have used one on my canvas, for my girl's headband.

I am not sure if it is fully finished yet..........time will tell, I think some birds or butterflies may be in order.

This canvas is a reminder of how this time of year makes me happy, it's a time I cherish and when the world around us is kind to all, full of new life and beautiful color.  It's a time we often look upon things with eyes wide open and feel like anything is possible. It's a time to look forward and to dream.

Unity FWF

I think its pretty obvious that I love Unity Stamps 

given they have been regularly featured on my blog, particularly of late,

and today is no exception.  

I am joining in with the Friday Friends with Flair Link Up

and sharing my card for Day 5 of the Itty Bitty A Day Challenge 

on their Show and Tell Facebook Group.

My first project is a canvas page

inspired by the current {Be Inspired} Challenge.

This is one of my favorite Unity Sentiments (Sept 2011 KOTM)

 and I am planning on making a second page to match 

where I can write everything I am grateful for in my life.

 I will paste these both into my journal.

Supplies: Canvas Page, Stamps - Unity KOTM Sept 2011 and Jan 2012, Gesso, Gel Medium, Basic Grey Paper and Book Pages, Faber Castell Big Brush Markers and Gelatos.

My second project is my card for Day 5 of this weeks Itty Bitty Challenge.  

Supplies: Stamps - Unity Beautiful Itty Bitty, Paper from my scrap stash, Versamark Ink, Black Zing Embossing Powder, Faber Castell Gelatos, Lindy's Stamp Gang Flat Fabio Mists, Dienamics Mini Royal Roses Die, Spellbinders Circle and Scallop Circle Dies, Sizzix XL Borders Die, Kaisercraft Rhinestones.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

  Hubby and I are enjoying a quiet one, child free and relaxing.  

It's a nice change from the busy pace of the last few months 

and gives us a bit of a breather before 

the pace picks up again.

Altered Pages Challenge #11 Dreamy Nights

Hi Everyone!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  Today it's time for a new monthly challenge theme at Altered Pages.

The theme Dreamy Nights is open to lots of interpretation, at the time of thinking about this challenge I had been having lots of dreams in my sleep, and I can always remember conversations with one of my friends who was always having vivid dreams in full color.  Her stories of her dreams always has us in stitches laughing as well as trying to interpret their meanings.  If anyone can decipher what red and blue chickens in clothes means I am sure she'd love to hear it.  So my canvas is entitled - Technicolor Dreams in my Head.

Anyway I came up with a little Canvas for this challenge, incorporating the following items from Altered Pages:- Glitz Large Gemstones, Music Ribbon, Scrabble Tile Collage, Vintage Artists Trading Cards Collage Sheet, Glitz Vintage Blue Papers and Foil.

The Acrylic Paint, Gesso and Stencils are from my own stash but you can get these also from Altered Pages.

The metal dragon fly and the butterfly were on my desk at the time so I incorporated these into it as their symbolism is often relevant to dreams.

Well I must go I have a teenager wanting to challenge me to a game of Ten Pin Bowling on the WII.

I hope you all enjoy your week.

Believe Canvas

Hi Everyone!  Today I have a project to share with you all for The Robin's Nest Design Team.  I have really enjoyed my first term with this team so I am trying out to do it all over again with my creation today.

Do you believe in the Magic of Christmas?  Well I certainly do, its my most favorite time of the year, as we get to catch up with family and friends and enjoy the spirit of the season and reflect on the year that was and dream for the year ahead.  This year will prove to be even more special as we share it with our new Foster Child.  He has already in the few short weeks we have known him brought so much joy and laughter into our home.    

Every Christmas I love to create a few pieces to decorate our home and I have made a Cute Canvas for today's post.

My canvas is 13 x 18 cm in size and I started by coloring the sides of the canvas black with a Faber Castell Gelato Pen.  I then took piece of the Robin's Nest Glittered Black and White Paisley Cardstock which cut just smaller than the dimensions of the canvas and colored in the design with my Red & Green Stamper's Big Brush Pens also from Faber Castell.  Once dry I took some home made Olive Glimmer Mist and lightly sprayed it over my design and once this dried I took  my Picket Fence (White) Distress Stain and blotted it randomly around the design so that it covered up some of the design as well as the blank space.  This toned down and softened the starkness of the the white background of the Paisley Cardstock.  I then stuck this paper on to my canvas and distressed the edges with some black/red ink.  

I waited for this to dry and I then again randomly dotted all over the top 2/3 of the Design with the Picket Fence Distress Stain, to resemble falling snow flakes.  To the centre of some of these I added some Pearl Dew Drops which are also from the Robin's Nest.

To the bottom of the canvas I took the Red Velvet ribbon from the Robin's Nest Collection and wrapped this around the canvas.  I then added my bird which I cut from Red Felt using one of my dies, his eye is a small dew drop.  I had some old Christmas Decorations that were coming apart so I used the leaves to make it look like the bird is in the tree and a few random fibres in my stash to create a nest with a bit of shaping with my scissors.

I die cut my flower from red cardstock  adding some Red Dew Drops from the Christmas Collection to its center  for a further touch of Christmas I then buffed the flower and the edges of my canvas with Gold Viva Decor Inka Gold.

The Word Believe is simply cut from the Robin's Nest Black Believe Ribbon layered on a piece of red cardstock!

And there you have it,  a very unique home decor piece that can be hung on the wall, or placed on a stand or easel.

Thanks so much for looking at my project today and be sure to check out the wonderful selection of products suitable for Card Making, Scrapbooking and Mixed Media Projects at the Robin's Nest.

My first post for Anything But a Card!

I have had another busy and fun week, and also had the nicest surprise when I received an email from Jessica from the Challenge Site Anything But a Card asking if I would like to join their Design Team.

This all stemmed from my canvas entry here on their site a little over a week ago, so I must say it was a wonderful compliment and I am honored to be joining such a wonderful group of talented designers.  And adding to the excitement of me joining the team is finding out that Unity Stamp Co is joining ABAC as a sponsor this month.  I think three quarters of my stamp stash is made up of Unity Stamps.

This all took place on the Friday which didn't leave me much time to create my first project for their Challenge #3 but luckily for me I knew exactly what I wanted to create for my post today.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month so with this in mind I went looking at some of the Cancer Quote Websites for something inspiring I could use on a Canvas and it evolved from there.

The quote reads :-  

Be like the bird that passing on her flight awhile on boughs to slight, 

feels them give way beneath her and yet sings knowing that she hath wings.

This quote really resonated with me.

Taking a 5 x 7 Canvas Board, I started by using pink paint and dry brushing my canvas all over before adding some die cut 1 inch circles and stencilling with some punchinella and gesso.  I dry brushed over the gesso and with painted my circles.  The floral strip was a white die cut piece of felt from Kaiser craft that I have simply painted pink.  The bird and leaves are also die cuts.  I have doodled and outlined everything on the canvas in black even adding the shape of a Cancer Awareness Ribbon to the tail of the bird, before stamping my three words, faith, hope and love (Unity KOTM Oct 2011).  I have then also doodled with some watercolor pencils and gold and green Glitter Liners over my background and around some of the 1 inch circles to add some more interest and color.  The pink pearls and my simply cut out quote finished this off.

I hope you like my inspired piece and if you like to create anything but a card we would really love it if you played along with our Third Challenge this month at Anything But a Card.

The prize for one lucky winner is two beautiful fall themed Stamped Sets from Unity Stamp Co.

Half the Design Team are joining me in showing their creations today, with the rest of the team bringing you their's on the 15th of the month for a little mid month inspiration.  So be sure to visit the Challenge Blog here for all the details and to check out all the wonderful creations from the the Design Team.  You won't be disappointed.

Spring Inspiration and the Evolution of a Canvas

Today here in Australia is the first official day of Spring - with the Spring Equinox at 0.49am this morning.  Needless to say I wasn't awake to celebrate its arrival I was however inspired by Spring to create my latest canvas.

Spring is a time of new beginnings, a time of starting over.  Personally spring makes me feel revitalized, I so love getting outdoors and enjoying all that nature has to offer.  For me its a magical time of year.  It also is a bit of reminder given its also when I celebrate turning another year older that life is short and we should be living each moment and going after our dreams.

Starting with my blank canvas, I covered with a layer of acrylic primer and stuck down torn pieces of my chosen papers from Crafty Individuals Background Papers Book 1.  Leaving some black space.

I then applied some paint in similar colors to my chosen papers to fill in the gaps.  My paint colors were muted down with some white paint so that they were close to the colors of my papers.

I then applied some more paint without the white added as well as using some white gesso and my punchinella to add a little bit of texture.  Once the gesso was dry I washed some watered down paint over it so that it blended in with the rest of my canvas.

This close up shows the gesso with the washed color, some stamping simply for mark making in black archival ink, my clouds and sentiment stamped on white cardstock and glued onto the canvas were also given the color wash treatment. The girl is the "I Love you This Much' Image from Elisabeth Bell.  I have printed her on white, colored with my tria markers, cut her out and adhered to my canvas.

Some of my stamping such as the stars were stamped onto torn strips of my starting background papers and then adhered to the canvas.  Pre-made paper flowers added further texture and color.  Whilst the Butterflies were stamped and cut from some of my Shaving Foam and Dye Reinker Background Papers I made last week.  I initially stamped the Follow Your Own Star onto a piece of the background papers and stuck it on my canvas but didn't like it.  I wanted it to stand out more so I stamped it on white and gave it the color wash treatment and then stuck it over where I had placed my original one.  

All the stamped images and quotes apart from the image of the girl are from the Unity Stamp Company.  

And yes you guessed it I add to add a little bling in the way of Dew Drops from the Robin's Nest.  Pink Metallic Dew Drops highlight the quotes, turquoise dew drops highlight the butterflies whilst two clear colored dew drops add shine to the stars.  

I hope you like it and enjoy what remains of this wonderful Sunday.

I am entering this into the following challenges:-

The Artistic Stamper - September Challenge - Splatters and Speckles
Unique Crafters Challenge - September Challenge Anything Goes
Let's Create Anything But a Card - Challenge #2
Anything But a Card Challenges- #2 Texture
Fab N Funky Challenges - Challenge #139 Things with Wings