Saturday 30 October 2010

GPPS Street Challenge No. 45!

Another street team challenge , this time to use a background which has been prepared earlier so here we have two layer-painted pages.

fairly uninteresting as they stand but layered using credit card and acrylic paint



time to brighten it up a little with some spray gold paint and some stencils and a little metallic rub on along the sides and a hint of script stamping


I wanted to use tags so thought I would use three and put some messages on the back


I used distressed ink in a variety of colours on the front of each with a theme of yellow/orange/red and a bit of green


I loved seeing Michelle's hand print - such a personal message, so I cut a stencil of my hand and sprayed black copper paint (crafty notions) over it (I nearly didn't as it looked so dark in the bottle and I thought I might spoil it all but it's all about taking a small risk here and there and going with the flow.  The inner critic would have me cautious and careful but this is so much more fun)


And I love the result!

So to the next page (base colours purple, black and white) I added a stencil made up from Tim Holtz's alphabet masks and outlined it with a sakura pen. Then I added some flower stencilling with distressed ink in purple.   I then wrote words on some voile fabric and used gel medium to stick them down.  Some of the words just melted into the page which was really cool.


Thank you again Michelle for this challenge.  It was fun and I was surprised by the results.  I really had no idea what I was going to do today with those pages but it just all came together. 



Friday 22 October 2010

Thoughtful Friday no. 112


"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
Goethe

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Seven More Things...

I so enjoyed capturing 7 things I am enjoying at the moment that I thought why stop at 7 when you can do 14 so here are another 7:
This is such a fun online course for art journaling and I am enjoying it so much.  21 different techniques by 21 different artists.  It is a rich and nourishing 'playground' indeed.  More to come on this in another post!




I am just loving this new series by Jamie Oliver.  His meals are scrumptious, accessible and reasonably priced.  It just makes my mouth water watching each episode.  A delicious main course and sumptuous dessert all in 30 minutes - yes, really!

I watched this when it was showing live on the TV and was really hooked.  I love the character development, the high performing team dynamic and the sharp, super fast dialogue.  So now we are watching it on dvd and taking our time to cycle through the episodes - it's just great!



Playing with paint on canvas and some interesting texture paste - lots of ideas on how to use this as it also works with fabric!


Some lovely new Kaffe Fassett fabric bought in a very good sale of almost 50% off!! and it's all ready to go with this pattern

Experimenting with some free motion quilting having been inspired by the very talented  Jenny Doh

Enjoying this website The Women's Room where fashion, art and all sorts of thing feature on a regular basis.
Wow, so much to enjoy out there, what are you enjoying at the moment?  Do leave a comment and let me know.

Friday 15 October 2010

Seven Things I am enjoying just now

Tess at the lovely Driftwood nominated me over a week ago now to list 7 things about myself so after what can only be described as a very emotional week here are some things that I am really enjoying:

Enjoying the colours of leaves so much just now and pressing a few in a very old flower press!



A new project on the go in some very different 'yarn' which will make its debut as a scarf hopefully as a Christmas gift.


Loving the colours of this blanket I have started working to the lovely Lucy's pattern



These beautiful blooms keep on greeting me each morning even in October.  There are regularly 10 or 12 gorgeous flowers open in the conservatory - yes they climbed on in and made themselves at home through a tiny open window!



Ahhhh, isn't he adorable!  A super picture taken by my lovely son-in-law when he and daughter no.3 were over for the weekend recently.  Can it really be a year since they got married at the end of this month?!!!


We took a lovely visit to The Hop Shop where all things lavender can be bought.  It's a tiny farm shop (Lavender and hop farm with an apple orchard too) and I bought some lavender essence and just had to make some lavender and honey bread when I got home!


Another project with some really gorgeous yarn (the picture doesn't do it justice here) for someone who is quite special.
So there we have it - 7 very enjoyable things - I'm feeling better already!

Thoughtful Friday no. 111




"Happiness is not a matter of intensity
but of balance, order, rhythm
and harmony."

Thomas Merton

Friday 8 October 2010

Thoughtful Friday no. 110


"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
Goethe

Friday 1 October 2010

Thoughtful Friday no. 109


"O cooling breath of Autumn, tame our desire 
to have summer last forever"
Joyce Rupp

Thoughtful Wednesday

"Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement – to get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes noth...