Through the Keyhole, Who Lives in a House Like This?

Today sees a new challenge over at That's Crafty

Here are a few teasers of my project, a full step by step can be found HERE

I hope these teasers have inspired you check out the full tutorial.

Playing with Gelatos

Good Morning!

I'm over at That's Crafty!  today with a great storage idea for those AT Coins that are really popular at the moment, I have also added a few of my coins as some extra inspiration.

Here is a sneaky peek of what to expect!

I have added lots of photographs for a step by step tutorial so I hope it is easy to follow!

 

Have a great Crafty! weekend.

Diario di Viaggio

It is my turn on the That's Crafty! blog today and I have a sneaky peek of something I have made for my friend Rachel. The details and a tutorial are HERE. If you have seen the Ciao Bella rice papers but are not sure how to use them I show you what I did with mine.

I have a lovely weekend ahead with no commitments so will be having a play with some of Melina's new stamps, the full range are HERE 

Whatever you are doing today I hope you have a good one.

A bit of excitement!

I have been invited by That's Crafty! to be a Guest Designer for September and October, naturally I said I would be delighted!

I'm going to tease you here with a taster of my projects, the full tutorials can be found HERE

I used some fab products, lots of which you will have naturally in your stash, the full list are on the That's Crafty blog

I hope these teasers wet your appetite for the full tutorials! 

I will be back on September 5th over on the challenge blog which offers an amazing prize of £30 to spend at That's Crafty! I will post details on here too.

Sharing some Love

I have been so busy creating lately that blogging has been put on a back burner, so I thought it was about time I showed you what exactly I have been making!

I thought I would start with sharing some love, so below is a 6" x 6" mixed media canvas.

My next make is a mixed media tag.

Finally I have a mixed media ATC.

As you can see I have used lots of paint, crackle paste and lace. I hope there is something to inspire you in your next make.

Smile!

I made this photo frame using Fiber Paste by Golden.

Golden Fiber Paste is an opaque, viscous medium that dries to a surface similar to rough handmade paper. When dry, it has an off white colour and is very absorbent. You can give it a smoother finish either by skimming it with a wet palette knife before it dries or by applying it to a smooth plastic surface. Adding acrylic colours, watercolours or inks will give it a pastel tint. It has a sticky feel when wet but once dry, Golden Fiber Paste provides a good surface for pastels or pencils. It is very light weight and can be used in a die cutting machine or scissors.

I used paints by DecoArt adding a top coat of Golden Iridescent Pearl Coarse paint to give a sheen finish.

Finally I used Prima Resin Angels to complete my frame.

Perfume?

I used a circular canvas for this mixed media piece of art. I made this after watching Finnabair's lesson on Wanderlust 2016. 
I used a perfume bottle as my centre piece ( which when I used the last of the perfume I couldn't bare to throw it away even though I had no idea what I was going to do with it), lace and lots of metal embellishments. It is now sitting proudly in my craft room.

Ministry of Magic

Ok so not strictly Ministry of Magic but it does feel that way when you attend these wonderful weekend retreats.
I have attended 3 of these so far, the latest being last month in Coventry. This time we had the lovely Kate Crane and France Pappillon as teachers.
The two photos below show a project previously made with Andy Skinner and then the project with France last month.

If you haven't experienced one of these weekends I cannot recommend them highly enough. They are run with Tando Creative and details and booking can be made HERE

Wanderlust 2016

Wanderlust 2016 started in January and is a year long art journaling adventure
It is the first time I have followed an online year long course and I am loving it! We are taken through stages and steps to various styles of mixed media art journaling, as art journaling is one of those crafts that cannot be 'right' or 'wrong' it is perfect for absolute beginners or experts.
Jamie Avery produces some excellent pdf downloads offering information on pens, pencils, paints, mediums etc. these are a bit of a bible on what's what and what's not.
What I particularly like is that at no time do you feel under pressure to go out and buy new art supplies, there are no links to any shops only discount codes (from sponsors) should you wish to make purchases.
Below are a few pages of my journey so far.

Here I have used an 8" x 8" black Dylusions journal and covered it front and back using playing cards I made with Seth Apter.

Looking at these photographs I think I have added bits since taking these pics which is something I like very much, pages 'evolve' overtime until you feel you have finished.

The above page is in my tiny journal with pages 

approx 4" x 6".

Above is double page of my tiny journal.

Every other week we are given 'book prompts' which are there to inspire us, it is very interesting to see the differences between everyone's pages given that we all use the same prompt.

The above double page was the first 'prompt' which was choose a word which describes how you feel today.

Above is prompt #5 which was 'What do I see when I look in the mirror'

I will post more pages from my journey throughout the year.

Ministry of Mixology

A few weeks ago I toddled off to Coventry for the Ministry of Mixology Spring retreat. On my first day along with 3 other friends I attended Andy Skinner's workshop. We all made variations of the frame below, mine is to celebrate my 25th Wedding Anniversary in July. Although we all followed the same brief the results were very different.

We used a basic kit by Tando and used Andy's painting techniques. The heart in the middle I took with me, I made it at Glazed Creations and it gave my frame that extra special touch.
The following day I attended the second workshop with Kate Crane. We made an art journal following Kate's style of painting, I have almost finished so photos will follow!

Remember 2 Live Your Dream

Back in May I was lucky enough to attend a workshop with Claudia Neubacher

The workshop was held at That Craft Place.

We used two mini canvas' and DecoArt products.

I used a Prima spark plug embellishment to represent my hubby who is a huge motor racing fan and flying related embellishments to represent our son who is a pilot.
It was a great day and it was truly lovely to meet Claudia.

Colour Pop!

I used Andy Skinner's Charlie Chaplin mask with Fluid Acrylics on high gloss card, the type you would normally use for alcohol inks. This was by accident but I am glad it happened as the colours popped like never before.