Wednesday 27 March 2013

The whole box of crayons

OMG I am loving this page and loving Twinkling H20's from Luminarte - check these out.  The colours are so vibrant but the photo does not really do it justice. 

I recently purchased 8 of these tiny pots and am in love.  They work like a watercolour only with an iridescent sheen as they contain mica particles.  Before starting you need to spritz the colours with water to activate them.  I put gesso my page as usual and just splattered each colour over the page until I felt like I had done enough.  The colours ran and blended together - to stop this happening you actually need to put some sort of absorbent ground on the page first but I didn't have any.  I brushed watered down white gesso and iridescent medium randomly over the page (separately - not mixed together), added some stickers and little swirls of kindy glitz before adding the quote.


The significance - well, if ever I am asked to define my 'style' whether it be art, scrapbooking, interior decorating, gardening, or my clothes - I would definitely say that I am eclectic.  I like / do a little bit of everything.  I like to use the whole box of crayons.  When I am working with art therapy clients I like to have a range of tools at my disposal.  When scrapbooking I like to try new things, new products, and will go with what and how I feel at the time.  My garden, home and clothes are a reflection of my eclecticism - they are what I like and definitely no particular style - I tried that and it doesn't sit comfortably with me at all.

How comfortable are you about using the whole box of crayons?  If you haven't done it before, maybe give it a try - break out, you never know, you might like doing something different.

Ciao.

Monday 25 March 2013

Footprints on our heart


A little bit of reflection ...


The quote "Some people come into our lives and quickly go.  Some stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts.  And we are never, ever the same."

Lots of people were thought about as I was preparing the base for this - the passing of Jan's mum, the loss of our friend Shane, the wee bub that Michael & Anna lost and the one she is carrying now, my much loved grandparents, friends I have lost touch with - all passed through my mind and my heart as I was painting. 

I had started with attaching a couple of pieces embossing - the clock (on the left) and leaves (on the right).  Several layers of colour later and am not happy with how dark it is ...  it was a few days before I had time to come back to it.  I painted the colours I had used in the base onto bubble wrap and pressed it onto the surface, did the same with white gesso, then randomly wiped a brown stamp pad over the page, outlined a few of the bubbles in black pencil, inked in some detail on the clock and the leaves and added the daisies - voila - done!  Finally in my happy place - I really had my doubts about this piece as it took a while to come together, but come together it did.

Thanks for looking.

Sunday 24 March 2013

Precious Memories

A couple of weeks late with this post - I just could not get this page finished - don't even know why the forget-me-not is there.  The painting part was finished but haven't found the right quote.  I have lots, just nothing jumps out at me.  At that point my computer died and had to go to the computer hospital so I just left it. 

A couple of days later, Jan's mum died.  It felt like there was some significance to the forget-me-not flower and when I googled I came across a quote.  The quote reads "In your soul are infinitely precious things that can not be taken from you ... no matter what happens". 


Forget-me-nots are the representation of true love and fond memories, a symbol of remembrance and hope.  They also have a link to Freemasonry, hugely significant to this family.  Suddenly it all fell into place.  While it has been a difficult time for everyone concerned, and there are huge adjustments to be made, I know that, no matter what happens, we will be okay.  It's hard when families cannot accept your life choices and particularly so at times like these.  This was a reminder to us that, no matter what happens, our memories and the things we count as precious, can never be taken away from us ... ever.

Thursday 21 March 2013

Scrapfest by the Sea - Blog Hop

Hey there

It's most likely you have reached my blog today via the Scrapfest blog hop.  Welcome.  There's not a lot to see yet as I'm still fairly new to blogging and I have lots more to learn.  My problem is finding the time to do it, what with all the scrapbooking, ATC challenges and the like.  Plus I have a new job working in a scrapbook shop - Paperzone in Frankton, Hamilton - so I seem to spend a lot of time preparing for the classes I teach.  I do a lot of what I call "research and development" that's really just another name for surfing the net looking for inspiration.

I'm looking forward to Scrapfest in August and meeting everyone I've met online - you all feel like old friends now.  We are going to have so much fun.

Anyhoo, this is a blog hop so I guess you want to hop along to see the next scrapper on the list.  thanks for stopping by - you are now off to Beth's Blog, hope to see you in August.

Saturday 9 March 2013

Creating a background paper

I wanted to share a technique I learned this week that was new to me.  The background for this paper was created using white linen cardstock, shaving cream (yes, shaving cream) and StazOn re-inkers. 


Firstly I laid down a bed of shaving cream on a glass plate, spreading it out with my palette knife.  The next step was to let little droplets fall from the re-inker bottles into the shaving cream.  My chosen colour scheme for this project was Ultramarine, Mustard and Cactus Green.  I used a meat skewer to move the droplets around until I was happy with the balance of colour.  Any object would work and different things would give different results.  The next part of the process was to press the cardstock down onto the shaving cream to 'print' the inks onto the cardstock.  I then set it aside to dry a little before carefully wiping off the shaving cream and then letting it dry fully.  A little bit of glimmermist spritzed through a stencil, a few splashes of indian ink, trimmed and distressed edges, and I was ready to use it on my layout.

TIP:  if you are going to have a go at this technique may I suggest you use a shaving cream you like the smell of as it tends to linger around ... for quite a while LOL!!! 

I love the finished LO, I hope you do too.  Thanks for looking.

Thursday 7 March 2013

Filling your cup

"There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it" - Minnie Ammonier.

These past couple of weeks I have had reason to ponder on these words, more so than usual, so it seemed appropriate to use them when journalling this week.  The actual art work is unimportant, the process of getting there was very important. 

I believe that we are given challenges in life for a reason. We learn from life, we grow because we face a challenge, move through it and come out the other side with new insights and knowledge.  Hey, this is not new, and it's definitely not rocket science. How we grow from our experiences really depends on how well we listen to that inner voice, or in this case, the music in the trees.

Recently I have had several friends face huge health challenges and this has left me questioning why bad things happen to nice people.  There will be a reason and by listening carefully to that inner voice we will find that reason. 

One is a "doer for others" and the message has been to slow down, take time out for self, take time to play.  When your cup is empty you do not have anything to give anyone else.  Only by having your own cup full and overflowing can you have something to offer to others.  The situation she is experiencing will enable her to help others more, but only once she learns to fill her own cup.  It has been a harsh lesson but she will get through it but right now it is a tough journey. Kia kaha my friends ... be strong.



The background is a mix of Pthalo Turquoise and Diarylide Yellow with black acrylic paint around the edges.  A music stamp was placed on the background before using The Crafters Workshop Mini Branches Reversed stencil with clear gel medium.  Once dry, a black staz-on ink pad was wiped over the top of the gel medium.  Iridescent medium was applied to parts of the page and then a light wash of the yellow paint was given to the whole page.  With the addition of washi tape and some india ink drips, the page felt finished.  The quote has been placed on the inclusion (which you can't see here as it is standing up towards the camera).