My eyes are dim I cannot see.....

After making these two moos for the Three Muses Challenge, I think I'll need some Coke Bottle specs!  I don't usually like making these, they are too small and fiddly to handcraft unless I have lots of time, however...  a stressful day at work meant I needed to spend some time in the studio to unwind.

I'm not sure I'm any less stressed but here are my two mini creations.

Silly Old Moo

The background of this one is painted with Americana paints in Indian Turquoise and Spa Blue.  I stamped the lady on white paper and coloured her with many Promarkers.  I then glued her to the substrate and drew some lines and dashes and then stamped a circle in gold paint and dragged some gold paint over the top parts before writing on it.

Hideous Baby Moo

The background on the second piece is Neocolor II.  I stamped the baby on white paper and coloured it with Inktensils and Promarkers.  I sprayed the background with sparkle varnish (looks like white dots) and then glued the baby to the background.

Ridiculous Moos

I've recently joined a group called Abandoned Art, where you leave small pieces of art for people to find, these two delightful quirky things will be sealed in a cello bag and hidden somewhere with a note telling the finder that they can either keep, give away or leave the pieces.  Hopefully someone will post a note to say they found them.

Thanks for looking and please check out the other artists.

That's a jazzy kite!

Ever since I saw Three Muses challenge of Fly a Kite, I've had this idea floating around in my head.  I just couldn't let go of it, so eventually had to create it in my journal.

Welcome to my jazzy kite!

Let's go fly a kite....  

The journal page already had some ink on it from mopping up some previous spills.  I sprayed the whole page with water and then the lower part with Lime Crush followed by Cut Grass in patches.  The top part of the page was sprayed with Vibrant Turquoise.  Once it was dry I lay stencils over the top (flowers, Letters and a clock) and sprayed through them with water and let them sit until the ink re-dissolved before I mopped them with paper towel.  Next I applied some Gesso through a harlequin stencil and left it all to dry while I worked on the saxophone.

I sketched the saxophone shape onto a vintage text page, cut it out then painted it in Golden Translucent Primary Yellow.  I stamped on it with music stamp in Pumice Stone Distress ink and at the same time I stamped on the background across the grass.

Next came a little colouring of the sax with some cheap oil pastels and a charcoal pencil before I glued it to the background.  Finally I drew the music coming from the sax and going into the sky with kite being represented by the treble clef.

A totally bonkers bit of work, but my muse is happy now.  Thanks so much for looking, it is always appreciated.

Vintage Beauty

The topic at Take A Word Monday is Vintage Beauty so I decided to do two things at once.  I made an ATC for a swap this month and created it to suit the theme from TAW

It's a simple piece from me this time, but I love how it has turned out.

Love those shoes!

A few weeks ago I went to a Flea market and found some cigarette cards of old movie stars that I thought I may be able to use in my art. They are real photo's not a print, so they are quite thick but have aged beautifully. Today is the turn of Ms Maril De Forest and pretty she is too.

The background is scrapbook paper in a grey and paler grey stripe.  Attached to that is the photo of Ms De Forest.  Over the top I thought the Tim Holtz film ribbon was so fitting and I added the text down the right hand side from my computer and coloured with some Pumice Stone Distress Ink.

I finished it off with a small star from my stash.

Secret Recipes!

I love playing with techniques, textures, recipes and effects and have been doing lots of them lately.  So that I don't forget what I've done, what worked and what doesn't,  I have finally created a little book to put them in. I call my book of samples.

Needing something to decorate the front of the book I have been on the lookout for a couple of weeks for the perfect item and I found it last weekend at a car boot sale.  It's a Starwars figurine that I used to make a mold, then created a flat back piece in polymer clay before painting with a faux aged ivory / bone effect.  The book is approx 8.5cm x 10cm and approx 4.5cm thick!

Let the force be with me

I have a feeling I will be making subsequent volumes since I don't intend to stop doing this anytime soon.

The front and back inside cover use old text roughly torn and glued to the substrate then using an edge painting effect before covering with a fine crackle medium and rubbing in a medium to highlight the cracks.  On the right hand side is the first page of the sample - burned copper.

Words of Wisdom

The challenge at Three Muses this week is 'The Written Word'.  This journal page has quite a few layers but creating it gave me so much joy!

There was no initial plan, no rough outline, just me with my journal and a pile of art 'stuff'.

Death by a sharp word!

The background of the page is completely covered with pages from an old Punch magazine and sealed with Golden Mat Medium.  Once dry I painted over the top with DecoArt medium white mixed with Liquitex mat medium (makes the paint thin without losing pigment.) Once this was dry I used Gallery Molding paste through a text stencil and waited for it to dry completely.  Next came a text stamp in Archival Ink in Monarch Orange, followed by a French Script stamp in Archival French Ultramarine.
I then used Sennelier Oil pastels in Chinese Orange and Azure Blue and used my finger to smear them into the page and over the raised molding paste.

The words are all printed in different sizes from the computer and dabbed with Spiced Marmalade distress ink.  (tip:  I always use a pouncing motion over printed words so that the ink doesn't smear).

Thanks so much to Three Muses for the theme, I've really enjoyed creating this piece!  Check out what the other artists have done.

Thinking of Spring

Today at Take a Word they challenged us with 'Botanical s'.  It seems so long since there were beautiful spring flowers, so here's one I created.

Time to smell the flowers

 This is an ATC (2.5" x 3.5") backed on to thick card stock.  The background is plain honey coloured paper that I stamped using Versamark and the polka dot stamp from Hero Art, using Bridal Shower embossing powder before heating.

The small framed stamp is actually a large stamp with four different flowers that I cut down to a single bloom and coloured using Inkensils.  Once it was coloured I stamped over the image with a crackle stamp using Archival ink in Pale Ochre.  I wanted the image to have some gloss so I painted over it with Golden Gel Medium in Gloss and left it to dry.

Across the bottom is a strip of Tim Holtz washi tape and  the text was 'Sweet Tulip' on my computer.  The faux bow and the brad were bits from my stash.

Thanks so much for looking, it's always appreciated

Rusty Tin Signs - How Distressing!

I love playing with distress, grungy and faux techniques and have the opportunity to make a series of cards for an ATC swap this month.  What better chance to record the making of at least one card on video.  This will be a series of 3 ATC with the theme name 'How Distressing'

The first ATC is called Rusty Tin Signs and is painted with Americana and Traditions brand paints in Butter, Mint Julep Green, Burnt Umber and Quinacridone Gold.

I'm feeling a little distressed today Part 1

I made the key with scraps of polymer clay and the two tiny safety pins are from my stash of embellishments.

I'm still not good with recording and editing video, but you can check out the video on YouTube.

Thanks for taking the time to look and comment, it's always appreciated.

Mind the Gap!

The theme at Three Muses this week is 'Transport'.  I decided to do another page in my art journal to celebrate the London Underground!  I don't live in or near London so always look forward to a trip on the 'Tube' whenever I'm in London.

Stand Clear of the Doors

The background of my page is a journal page coloured using red and blue water based oil pastels.  I smooshed them up with an almost dry baby wipe to spread them a little.  Then I found a photo on the www of a fast moving train through a tube station.  In Photoshop I dropped the opacity to 50% and printed it on high quality art paper.
Using a splotchy background stamp with Archival Pale Ochre I stamped all over the newly printed image :) before I rubbed all around the edges with Stormy Sky Distress ink and glued it to the background.
Next came more distress background stamping in a crinkle design using Deep Purple.  (sorry about the technical terms: splotchy, smooshed and crinkle)
The Tube station names were stamped in Archival Coffee and the Underground and Mind the Gap are using Distress Ink in Barn Door.  The Union Jack is stamped in Chipped Sapphire and the red is barn door hand coloured using a nib rubbed on the ink pad.

I had an absolutely great time doing this piece and will probably add more to it as time permits.  I love this stamp set, it's by Indigo Blue if anyone is interested.