FLIGHTS OF FANTASY!!!

Hi and welcome. My DT piece for ARTastic this month has been formatted around two photos taken of some rather unusual markings on  tree with the required additional criteria of wood veneer and/ or birds.
I see owls, one in flight and the other on a branch.

I wanted a quirky look to reflect that of our inspirational artwork this month., a painting by Luka Va called "Bird King".

 

 

To achieve this, apart from the photos, I smooshed some manilla card with Distress Inks directly from the pads ( fossilized amber, cracked pistachio, abandoned coral and mermaid lagoon) and then stamped with archival black. The stamp I used was a funky mushroom edging. I added wooden mushrooms, inked with some of the same colours and then glazed with Glossy Accents.

 

 

I also added some additional wooden birds which were treated the same way as the mushrooms. To the whole of the background I glued cut and broken pieces of timber veneer to give the whole, a rustic look. Timber veneer leaves were also added. 

 

 I cut some feather shapes from my leftover smooshing and stamped on the letters for the title. Some extra words from Darkroom Door completed the piece.

I wonder what you see in the photos. I know some of my teamies have seen different things. It would be a hoot to find out.
While you're here, why not pop on over to:artastic to see what the rest of the team has done. You will be amazed! We'd love for you to join in.
Catch you again soon. Thank you to  those who have left such encouraging  comments.
Cheers, Di

MAISIE VICTORIA DAVISON

This month at ARTastic, the inspiration photo was a beautiful heritage styled painting depicting a fabulous jacaranda tree in full bloom.  To see this painting, pop  on over to the ARTastic blog at:
http://artasticchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/  and also have a peep at what the rest of the team has done for this month's challenge.
Jacaranda trees are out in all of their gorgeous blooms throughout this area and particularly in the not- so- far- away city of Grafton, where they hold a Jacaranda Festival each year in October. Although not native to Australia, they have become an icon in many streets and gardens. Personally I love these planted next to an Australian native, the Illawarra Flame Tree, also in brilliant bloom at this time of the year. This tree has a gorgeous coral/red flower which looks stunning next to the vivid blue/purple of the jacaranda.
 But enough of these musings and onto my layout!

The photo I' ve used is of my mum, taken in 1929 when she was 18.  This particular photo is a reproduction of the original, made about 40 years ago and given to family members at a reunion in 1974. Mum loved roses, blues, mauves and laces, so I have incorporated these into the layout.  She was also a fabulous crocheter and I've also used some snippets of crocheted doilies.

I've chosen to reflect the hues of the jacarandas in the papers I've made the roses from and in the laces I tinted with Distress Inks. (Milled Lavender, Shaded Lilac). The same Distress Inks were also smooshed onto the papers.

Some of the papers for the roses and flowers were made from smooshing the colours onto a white cardstock and also giving them a light spray of Glimmer mist. Other papers are from cardstock I've had for ages. The roses and some of the other flowers were diecuts using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die. Others were punched.

To go with the heritage style of the painting I have given my layout a shabby chic/ distressed look with distressed and punched edges and inserts of laces and different papers. These have torn and rolled edges which were also inked with the 2 lilac colours as well as Vintage Photo Distress Ink.
The chipboard flourish has been daubed with distress stains and sprayed with glimmer mist.

I've used a material vine to complete the piece and hidden journalling tags (also edged with lace).

Thank you for popping by and for your comments.
Cheers, for now,
Di

HEART AND HOME

Hi and welcome. It's a lovely, sunny winter's day here in our little patch, with just enough crispness for some extra layers.
This month at the ARTastic challenge has been distressing!! and my DT piece for this has certainly been distressed.

My piece started off as inside packaging from a box. The corrugated cardboard was already framed and recessed, making the perfect surface to work the distressing on.
The frame was torn to various depths to show underneath layers. Some bits were rolled and others left partially raised to give an old wood/peeling paint effect.

The whole surface was sprayed with Baseboard and Chalkboard mists with additional layers of colours from Distress Stains and Inks. Gesso was used for the stencilled leaves while the undersurface was still damp.. love the effect that this gives!

 

 

 

 

 

  

The photo I used was from an oil painting given to me by my mum. This was by an artist / teacher, Ken Harris. Mum took up painting classes with him when she was 70 and really enjoyed her new hobby until ill health prevented her from continuing when in her 80's.

 

 

This was mounted on a gelli plate print done with acrylic paints. This was still too bright for the effect I wanted, so it was also smooshed with Distress Inks.

 

 

 

Edges were torn, rolled and inked, with pieces of old manuscript music tucked into some of the gaps,

before attaching.

The original background I'd prepared didn't look right, so I used a piece of brown cardstock, dampened it with water and scrunched it up. When dry, it was inked and edges were torn for a more rustic look

 

 

 

 

 

More torn and inked music manuscript was placed around the frame

To this I added acetate leaves coloured with Vintaj and glass effect gels, die cut leaves, heavily scrunched and then shaped, and real gumnuts.
I really enjoyed this challenge and if you are tempted to join in, have a peep at our inspirational guide artwork at   http://artasticchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/  and while you're there have a look at the fabulous creations done by the rest of the team.

Thankyou for stopping by. Catch you soon.
Cheers, Di                                                                                          .

TWISTED LIGHT

Hi and welcome. Think of rainbows and misty rain and you'll have the perfect inspiration at Pixels and Paper this month. Interpret this photo as you wish and come and join us.

Pop on over to: http://pixelsandpaperchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/  to see what the rest of the team has done for this month's challenge.
My take on this photo was to take the colours of the rainbow as a background for my layout. This was done with a piece previously gessoed and spritzed with dylusion ink sprays (a second generation print).

 To make a more uniformly covered background I swiped it with distress stains and then oversprayed with white dylusion ink to soften the colours more and to help them blend onto each other.

 

Images were stamped onto tissue paper and attached to the background with collage pauge.

A mauve vellum overlay was added to give the whole piece a misty, soft, luminescent appearance.
This w also stamped and streaked with Kindyglitz (falling raindrops).
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Close up of 'rain' streaks

 

 

Close up of stamping and die-cut leaves

 

The photo was taken along the Huon River in Tasmania, just after a passing shower. We intentionally made sure that the sun's glow was a feature, but it was a surprise to see the effect of the twisted light when the photos were viewed later and then developed..... cool effect!

 

 

Thank you for visiting and leaving your lovely comments. Come and play with us at Pixels and Paper. We'd love to see your art.
Have a great weekend.
Cheers, Di.

Alina the Fair

Hi and welcome.
A beautiful  mixed media artwork, "Listen" by Jenny Grant is the inspiration piece at ARTastic this month. Check out the stunning DT inspiration pieces at:http://artasticchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/  I really enjoy this style of artwork and for the challenge this month decided to do a canvas piece using a mix of different mediums.
I used a canvas board for the background surface. This was  painted with black gesso and while it was still damp, I sprinkled on Perfect Pearls powders and spritzed with water. I also spritzed with Perfect Pearls mists.

Zentangling has been a feature in some of my projects this year, and this time I chose to draw a faerie face on cardstock and gave her a tangle of tresses, some of which have been zentangled. Alina, (the name I have given this faerie) was  looking too stark against the background so I lifted her tones using Lyra Aquarelles.

 

 

 

I don't know what I was thinking of when I outlined the face in black!!!! Just got carried away... anyway the jawline had to be softened. This was done using a blend of Picket Fence Distress Stain and the Aquarelles.

 

Before attaching the piece to the canvas board, I sprayed with a fixative. Alina's headpiece was beaded and finished with a metallic flower embellishment (Tim Holtz). This was coloured using 3D stamping paint. The other metal pieces on the canvas were also coloured the same way.

To complete Alina's coiffure I added metallic yarn, a piece from a Christmas decoration and 3D Stamping Paint to suggest movement and to give an extra pop of colour.

The outside edge  of the canvas was painted with the 3d stamping paint as well.

Thank you for stopping by and for leaving encouraging comments. these are truly appreciated.
Cheers, Di.

FARM IDYLL

Pixels and Paper Challenge for November.
The challenge at Pixels and Paper this month is about chickens, inspired by this picture.

 

 

Of course your page doesn't have to be about chickens at all - perhaps you see the wider picture of a farmyard and would like to tell the story of a trip to the countryside or visit to a working farm. Maybe your child has visited a farm as part of a school trip or raised chicks as a classroom project. You might even like to think laterally on this one and explain your love of egg based dishes! Bacon and eggs anyone?

Pop on over to: http://pixelsandpaperchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/ to see what the Design Team have come up with for this challenge.

My take on this was based on a photo taken of my husband and our first car way back in '74 / '75. At this time we were renting an old farmhouse. Although we didn't have any form of poultry at this location, we did have paddocks around us where hereford cattle were mainly kept by our landlord. The house paddock often had the cows about to give birth in them and my husband sometimes had to assist the farmer with the deliveries or let him know when the new born calves had arrived. The car shed was very old and ramshackle. We didn't use it very often, particularly when we discovered that it was the residence of a red-bellied black snake... and that's a whole other story !!

 

The background papers were cut, inked and painted (combinations of distress inks, stains and archival inks). Stencilling was used for the tree, and freehand dabs of various stains added for foliage. The roof of the die cut shed was made from corrugated cardboard packaging which was smooshed with Rusty Hinge distress ink. The pond was an experimentation with a gellipad and the rooster cut from Graphic 45 papers. The photos of the ducks were also cut out. On the page I've also used dried grass for reeds and a Dusty Attic chipboard barbed wire fence.

I hope you are inspired to join us for the challenge. We'd love to see your work.

Thank you for stopping by and for your lovely comments.

Cheers, Di.

  

 

 

 

 

A Messy Journey

Hi! Just getting this in before the deadline at:http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/ . This challenge (Number 22) certainly had me getting messy, sticky and inky! - some very interesting effects on my fingers!
I started by covering a piece of patterned card with Gel Medium. On this were placed punched flowers and other shapes, another layer of gel and a layer of tissue paper.

This was covered with gesso, spritzed with Dylusions Sprays and lightened with White Linen. When dry, a section was stencilled using 3D Stamping Paint. At this stage, I decided that I didn't really like the overall effect, so I added some more gesso over all of it (a thin layer) and when dry, smooched on Distress Inks, leaving a more subtle effect.

 

 

Various other pieces were prepared. This used the natural dyes from flowers and foliage: freshly picked, put between light card and rolled through the Cuttlebug:- very effective, but it can be rather messy because some plants are juicier than others. The rollers have to be cleaned as soon as you finish.

 

 

 

 

The stencil piece is a second generation stencilling. The original was quite bright (have kept it for something else). When gessoed it had been lightly spritzed with Dylusions. For the above, I flipped the stencil over and added just a little more gesso, drawing in any colour still left. I liked the effect it had of additional foliage in the background.



 

 





This is a piece of microfiche. The same stencil has been used, this time with the 3D Stamping paint.

 

 

 



The chipboard was smooshed with Distress Inks and then had Vintaj Patina brushed on to give more of an aged look.

 

 

 

The piece has a slightly textured finish and even though on card, still has a slightly metallic appearance.

 

 

Some stamping around the edges and a stamped film strip, have completed the front cover.

 

 

 

This cover and panelling are now the first part of "My Messy Journey" .... an art journal to hold information and samples of the messy experiments. Hopefully many pages will be added.

 

What I Used:

Distress Stains: Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Picket Fence (chipboard)

Vintaj Patina: Moss, Rust (chipboard)

3D Stamping Paint: turquoise, moss green, silver, blue ( large background, microfiche)

Dylusion Sprays: London Blue, Cut Grass, Lemon Zest, White linen ( background, stencilling)

Distress Inks: Mowed lawn, Forest Moss (background)

Archival Ink: Olive

Impasto Gel medium, Gesso

 

Thank you for visiting and for your encouraging comments.

Cheers, Di

Tag with mini photo booklet

Hi and welcome! Our wintry days have finally arrived with sunny, but blustery, windy days. Whales have started to migrate to warmer waters, but so far haven't spotted any, even though we've had a couple of trips to various headlands nearby.
Challenge 21 at ABAC: http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/ has a focus on 'Masculine or Dear Ol' Dad'. For this I have made a large tag with a mini photo / affirmation booklet.

 

 

The tag was made from black card stock and has a grid of various patterned washi tapes on it. It was then painted with 3D Stamping paint (aqua, silver and blue) and stamped with Darkroom Door 'Sail Away' stamp set. I used the metallic silver StazOn for this.

The mini booklet was made from white card stock and smooshed with Distress Stains (Salty Ocean, Weathered Wood and Bundled Sage). The pages were stamped with Archival Ink  (cobalt blue and french ultramarine), again with the same stamp set. Photos of holidays to Tasmania, South Australia and Queensland were added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Washi tape and 3D Stamping paint was added for additional texture. I have been enjoying carving jumbo erasers (very cool and super-easy to carve)  to make my own stamps and used one of these to add extra markings on the background.

 

A male member of the family has a birthday coming up soon, so this tag will soon wend its way to this particular person.

 

Thank you for visiting. Your comments are always greatly appreciated. Cheers, Di.

 

 



Not Quite ATC's

Hi and welcome! This time of the year brings back fond childhood memories of visiting aunts, my mum's sisters, and uncles. One of the times we visited Aunt Mary, was usually a week or two before Easter. There was a special reason for this. Aunty Mary and her husband, Charlie, owned and operated an Easter Egg factory!! They specialised in the candy eggs, all sizes; made commercially and some special ones, made to order. They came in the lovely pastels of blue, pink, yellow, green, apricot, lilac and white. Some of them had additional flavourings such as aniseed, musk or peppermint. Inside the eggs were conversation lollies, with their stamped messages. These were also made at the factory.
Uncle Charlie had a number of waste bins inside the factory where any damaged or broken eggs, or lollies, were placed. These bits were able to be taken,... as much as you liked. With small cardboard containers bulging, we would then get on with the other purpose of the visit... selecting eggs for purchase for family members. It seemed to me, at the time, the bigger the egg, the thicker they were and the longer they lasted. I believe that some years, I still had some piece of egg in the fridge, lasting from one Easter to the next!  They were very hard, and you had to break off small pieces and suck them to thinness before biting.  Uncle Charlie and Aunty Mary were very generous, because often we would find an extra egg or two tucked into the package, and on a couple of occasions, I was also given a box of conversation lollies, to share with my class at school... more than enough for all of the class with heaps left over!
It was the colours of these eggs that prompted the colouring of the pages for my spring-themed mini-book, which isn't quite small enough to be ATC sized (tho' not much larger). The book features small photos and quotes and poems about spring.
I used  white glitter finish A4 cardstock for the booklet. This has a satin finish and colours react in very interesting ways when applied to it.
Distress Stains (Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn and Shaded Lilac) were swiped across the page.
When slightly dry, I toned them down with Picket Fence and gave the page a light spritz with water. This gave some great blending. Then, while still slightly damp, I pounced on the same colours to make little splats on the page and did the same with Picket Fence over the top....... love Picket Fence!!! Such interesting result; almost like marbling or tie dying.

 

The A4 page gives 8 smaller surfaces to play with, by simply folding and cutting one slit.

It's a very simple technique, one I've revisited from use with students at school. It just involves folding in half lengthwise, then in the opposite direction, bringing in the two ends to met the central  vertical crease,  slitting along the lengthwise fold line (crease, to crease) then pushing the ends towards the centre to  make the pages. The two above photos are a different booklet.


The front cover has been stamped with an added teabag folded butterfly (quarter of a teabag tile)
The back cover, is a photo taken at dawn, at one of our local beaches (September, our spring Downunder, 2010).

                                                   Close-up of tea-bag folded butterfly

Inside pages 1  and 2  is a photo showing some of my green and maroon hippeastum papilios... the first of the season and usually flowering profusely in October / November. The metal embellishment is a bead cap, squashed flat. A poem torn from an old written -off school poetry book, was smooched with Distress Inks: Bundled Sage and Spun Sugar. Punched flowers, and Martha Stewart vellum leaves and bits of  bling have completed the pages.

I've used punched flowers again for the next two pages. These have been finished with Perfect Pearls , liquid pearls and bling. Quotes, one from an old madrigal, 'Now is the Month of Maying'  a song I learnt when part of my High School Madrigal group (and still remembered!!!!), have been written down. The photo comes again from my garden collection and shows a native Bridal Veil orchid, which flowers in September.

Page 5 features a teabag folded flower and another butterfly. Again I've used 1/4 sized tiles. The poem is a Japanese Haiku.

For page 6,  I've used the ghost stamping technique and spritzed the dry piece with glimmer mist. The poem has come from the same book as the previous one. The rabbit is a piece of washi tape, which features stamps and post marks.

I'd like to submit my little booklet into the ABAC Challenge 15: Spring or Alice in Wonderland theme. Look here, to see what the design team and other fabulous artists have done for this challenge.
http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/

Thank you for visiting. Your comments are very much appreciated. Cheers, Di