On the canvas

Good morning, peeps!  Have you got snow today?  It's been snowing quite hard here in Yorkshire but at least it hasn't settled on the areas of ground that have already been cleared after the last lot - it's just sitting on top of the snow that's still lying around!

Anyhoo, let's move on to what's been going on inside Whitehouse Towers lately and I've been busy with me brush adding images to canvas to create wall art!  That's going to be the subject that wor Sheena will be covering in her shows this coming Saturday 30 March at 11.00 a.m., 3.00 and 7.00 p.m. - quite a marathon for the lovely lady!

Now, many of you might be saying to yourselves, 'Oooo, I couldn't paint pictures to hang on the wall' but let me tell you, peeps that with the lovely Sheena's help, her stamps and the new acrylics from Pebeo - you definitely can!

Here's one of my attempts:

This one uses the 'Floral Corners' stamp set, with a little help from 'Flying Colours' and 'Silhouette Grasses'.  The butterflies were stamped on to acetate with black Stazon and then painted from the back and the swirl from the Silhouette Grasses set was stamped straight over the blue acrylic paint with Olive Archival Ink.  Add a trellis cut from a Spellbinders die and finish it with the lovely gold wax that you'll see on the programme and you're done - all that remains is to mount it over one of those £1.50 mirrors from that well-known Swedish department store and it's ready to hang on the wall!.....simples!!

My lovely teamies Tracy and Fiona have been much more adventurous than I have with this mixed media game, to say nothing of the Lovely Lady herself so why not go and pay them a visit to see what they've been up to?

I'll see you again tomorrow with another sneaky peek but thanks for looking at this one.

Hugs

Dabble Day

Good morning, peeps!

If you fancy a day of indulging your craftiness, why not come to the Dabble Day at Samuel Taylor, Roseville Street, Leeds on this coming Sunday 24 February?

This will be the project I'm tutoring:

which, as you can see, is an altered notebook.

If you're wondering what a Dabble Day is, it gives you the opportunity to work with three different tutors each using a different technique to produce a card or other project - you simply move around from one workshop to another.  It's really a fabulous day where you can indulge all your crafty tendencies in one place!  The other tutors are Melanie Heaton, who you may well have seen on Create and Craft TV and Sarah McCrossan, another well known tutor who is on various design teams and published regularly in craft magazines.

The day includes all refreshments, including lunch AND you get 10% off all your purchases on the day.  Why not come along if you're free.

Hugs

My first canvas

Good frosty, sunshiney morning, peeps!  What a glorious morning it is - cold at the moment but the sun is so bright it's sure to warm up later.  We'll be taking this handsome dude for a walk:

He's not ours - we've borrowed him whilst his real Mummy and Daddy take a holiday but he's a very welcome visitor.

Anyhoo, on to the crafty stuff and this will be the last post of the current batch of samples before Sheena's shows on Create and Craft TV tomorrow.

This is the first attempt I've ever made at producing a canvas with stamps and I dusted off a box canvas I seem to have had forever:

I created the branch using an Existencil stencil (these will be on tomorrow's show).  I think I made the paint too liquid because, despite my best efforts, it spread under the stencil.  However, all to the good because it gave the effect of an old and gnarled wisteria branch so all was not lost!  I then stamped bunches of leaves from Sheena's Silhouette Garden Stamp Set using the Luminarte Primary Elements pigments mixed fairly thickly with liquid gum arabic ad painted the result directly on to the stamp.  I did the same with the wisteria, which is from the same stamp set.  The butterflies were stamped with black Stazon (they're from the Flying Colours Stamp Set ) and then painted with the same paint mix but, this time, I added accent beads for a bit of texture, as I did to the centres of little flowers in the grass ( from the Always Floral Stamp Set ).  The shading in the grassy area of the design was created with another of the stencils called 'Oceana'.

Here's another card to complete this post:

As you may have guessed, I did some more tile cleaning to create the background but this time added some splashes of gold with a Luminarte Colour Concentrate - you just whack it down fairly hard on to the card to create this effect - a bit like being at playschool really!  I stamped and embossed the dragonfly ( Flying Colours Stamp Set ) with WOW Pearl Gold Sparkle embossing powder and did the same with the scroll ( Flower Power Stamp Set ).  I then added acetate wings to the dragonfly embossed in the same way.

I'm so looking forward to Sheena's shows tomorrow and will be tuning in to C & C TV at 11.00 a.m. for the first show ( 2 hours! ) and then again at 3.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. for the Paint Fusion shows - hope to see you there!

Thanks for looking today.

Hugs

More with the Primary Elements

Good morning, peeps and happy Saturday!

Well, my flabber has been absolutely gasted this morning because I went to visit the lovely Sheena's blog this morning and lo and behold there were piccies of some of my DT items.  Thank you Sheena and Goph, I am truly flattered!

So, at the risk of being boring I shall repeat two of them here - I showed you the mirror yesterday:

I confess to having nicked Goph's photo because it's soooo much better than any that I took in a hurry because I had to make the post.  I hope he'll forgive me.  This box is a perfect illustration of the wonderful, intense colours that can be obtained with this medium  in this instance they were blended with Crystal Lacquer, as they were for painting the mirror I showed you yesterday.  The box has first been painted with ordinary emulsion paint.

....and now for a card.....

This is another 'cleaning up the tile' background (see yesterday's post) and this time I mixed the mica powder with liquid gum arabic to paint the flowers from the Always Floral and Flower Power stamp sets.  They were then cut out and secured to the background with brads.

Sheena's shows are on Monday 18 February on Create and Craft TV - the first is the Craft Clinic show at 11.00 a.m. for two hours and then at 3.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. she'll be doing some Paint Fusioning.

Well that's it for today, peeps.  Thank you for looking and enjoy your weekend.

Hugs

A bit bigger than a card!

Good afternoon, peeps!

Well, I've been closeted in my craft room again playing with a new medium - well, new to me anyhoo.  These are the Luminarte Primary Elements which Sheena will be demonstrating on the Craft Clinic on Create and Craft TV at 11.00 a.m. on Monday.  She'll be on again at 6.00 p.m. as well and if you're looking for fabulous iridescence and wonderful, intense colour, this is the medium for you.

The project I have to show you today is a mirror from that well known Swedish department store:

Can you spot a camera in the hands of yours truly reflected in the mirror?  I put my watermark over it but I don't think I'm fooling anyone!  Anyhoo, the good news is that I said 'camera' YAY! no more taking piccies with my phone so things can only get better from here peeps!

Just to prove that I haven't given up making cards here's one that I used these wonderful pigments on:

 

This photograph doesn't do the wonderful colours justice but the fabulous background was made from cleaning up the paints left on my tile with a piece of card - waste not, want not and all that!  I just embossed the butterflies and scroll with WOW Black Glint Embossing Powder to complete the picture.

I'll see you again tomorrow with more colourful goodies and thank you for looking today.

Hugs

Another flowery post!

Good afternoon, peeps!

This may well be the last sneaky peek of the lovely 'A Little Bit Floral' stamps that Sheena's launching tomorrow before the actual shows begin.

The first card shows off the Magnolia design:

This is again painted with the Twinkling H20s - do you get the feeling that I rather like this medium?!  There is a good selection of word stamps on this plate as well.

Now for a little return to that Dahlia image, which was probably my favourite of the ones I had to play with:

Just for a change the flower and leaves are coloured with Copics and then mounted on a Twinkling background.  It's such a shame that you can't see the shimmer in these photos.  However, you'll be pleased to hear that there has been movement on the camera front so there could soon be an  improvement  in the photos displayed here!

Don't forget to tune into C & C tomorrow for your half price deals and thank you for looking today.

Hugs

Sneaky peeks - part the second!

Good morning, peeps!  A really good morning it is too - the sun is shining so brightly I've had to draw the curtains to see the computer screen!

I thought I'd show you a different flower today from Sheena's new 'Little Bit Floral' series of stamps that go on sale on Create and Craft on Saturday.

The botanically minded amongst you will know that this is an iris and the stamp is just a single flower, which makes it really versatile because I've just used a mask and stamped three times to create a little group.  As with yesterday's card, I've painted the images with Twinkling H2Os to create this shimmery plant portrait.  I'm sure that some of my teamies will have been much more creative with techniques but when I see a realistic flower image, my mind automatically goes to botanical illustration techniques.  It's one of those areas of art that I would do lots of if I had the time - TIME - yeah, that would be a novelty then!  The metallic corners I'm fairly sure came from Wild Orchid Crafts and the card itself is actually white not the wavy green colour it looks here!  (that new camera is getting closer methinks!)

Anyhoo, just to prove that I can sometimes be a little more adventurous using different techniques with flower images, here is that dahlia image I showed you yesterday looking a little different:

The dahlias are embossed with WOW Black Glint Embossing Powder over a background produced with Distress Inks in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon and Picked Raspberry.  I flicked water splashes over it and lifted the colour off using kitchen paper then sponged three colours of Twinkling H2Os over the top but I'm afraid I can't remember which colours I used for that.  There were little pots of lovely colour all over my desk!!  I've used the dahlia word in the background to the panels.

I hope you like them and will join me tuning into Create and Craft to watch Sheena on Saturday .  The show times are still showing as 9.00 a.m., 12 noon, 4.00 p.m. and 8.00 p.m. AND the stamps are part of a half price event!!

Thank you for looking today.

Hugs