DAWN SERENADE

Pixels and Paper, this month has very delicious -looking, decorated  cupcakes to inspire you, with the addition of tiny embellishments. Pop on over to:pixelsandpaper and check out what the rest of the team has been up to.

From this, I've used some of the colours  (blue, pink, green) in a  slightly softer hue, circles, domes and the tiny embellishments.

I tore paper to resemble a shell, and misted music background paper, to link with colours in the photo, as well as the title.
I sewed with string, used wire, mother of pearl shell discs, charms, rhinestones, seed pearls, jewellery backings and chipboard pieces.

First page of layout

Second page of layout

I foiled the chipboard music staff and heat embossed the title, shells and sea horses.

The photo for this layout was taken when on a short break with family, at Mooloolaba Qld. The day and night before was wet and we were wondering what had happened to the glorious weather. I decided to have an early start with some photography and was lucky enough to capture the various phases of dawn on the ocean (all from the balcony of the apartment we were staying in). Truly amazingly peaceful, and beautiful, soft hues.
The break away could have been longer, so this location is being added to a bucket list of places to revisit.

Catch you again soon.
Cheers, Di

GRAB THE BROLLIES!!!

Hi and welcome. As I'm writing this post, the temperature outside has dropped and I know we're in for another chilly night.... just right for snuggling up in a warm doona!
Our inspiration at ARTastic this  month was based on the artwork of Shirley Charlton (aka Shirlroma) called "Umbrellas, wet street". 
I loved this piece, with its wet, reflective appearance, the pops of colour from clothing and umbrellas and the texture on the pavement. 

I had a photo taken on our last holiday in Tasmania, showing the reflective view of yachts and old buildings on the waterfront area of Hobart, and the rain falling on the nearby Mt Wellington. This, was just right for our theme and added criteria this month. Minutes after taking this photo we had to make a dash for cover... no brollies on our holiday!

The background was stencilled onto white card, using a new stencil which I thought went so well with a flagstone look.

 

This was left to dry slightly before spraying with various ink sprays and building up layers of colour using Glimmer Mists and Lindy Stamp Gang Sprays. These gave a beautiful metallic , watery sheen to the whole of the background. Once these were dry I sprayed sections with Dylusions Ink Spays and let them dribble freely down the page... helped by misting with water.

 

 

 

Umbrellas were made from papers which had also been sprayed or inked in some way. This one I stamped with versamark and heat embossed using a white embossing powder. It was then overstamped and coloured with Inca Gold 'Rose Quartz'.

 

 

Two of the brollies were cut from smooshed Distress Inks, using some of this year's colour releases. two were cut from paper sprayed with Dylusions Ink Sprays, and the remaining one on the centre of the grouping was cut from tissue paper which had been painted with Dylusions Acrylic paints (the most yummy colours!)

 

The title was also cut from the same types of paper and then given a coat of Glossy Accents to give them a wet look. This was also applied to the ribs of the umbrellas.
A lot of messy fun, using techniques and mediums I love to play with.
If you want to play with us, pop on over to:artastic and check out what the team has done. We'd love to see your art here.
Cheers, for now.
Di

 

 

IT'S GOLD!!!! A TAG FOR ABAC

At Anything But A Card this month, the focus has been on GOLD!
For this I have made a tag using black cardstock as a base. This was sprayed with gold glimmermist.

A butterfly was diecut from a manilla folder which started life as a mop up piece. It was sprayed with the gold mist as well, then dry embossed. The raised areas were highlighted with Delicata gold ink (absolutely THE best gold ink I've used). Some glittery blue sections were added using Viva Decor Perlen- pen.

The flower was made from glitter paper with an overlay of leaf skeletons (purchased), also inked with the gold ink and edged with the blue glitter. Gold pearl pen was also added to the glitter petals.
To finish the tag I added the stamped sentiment, woodchip butterflies and flower centre and gorgeous braid (black and antique gold).
Pop on over to:anythingbutacard and check out what other members of the team have done with our "Fool's Gold" theme. We'd love to see what you come up with (as long as it's not a card of course!)

Catch you again soon.
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

FIVE FACES OF ME?

Hi and welcome. Over at Anything But A Card we have a week long challenge, based on the Number 5... five of anything. Pop on over to: http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/ to check out the challenge and what the rest of the team has done to inspire you.

For this, I've made a tag. The base is  card which has been used initially as an overspray/ inking sheet. To this I added additional smooshings of distress inks and splattered with water.

 

 

This was then sprayed with Dylusions ink  and Glimmer Mist. Gesso was also applied through a stencil. As this was added while the sprays were still damp, some of the green was able to bleed into the gesso.

 

 

The card was cut to the size I needed. Photos of a juvenile tawny frogmouth were cut out. This particular tawny spent a crazy 30 - 40 minutes one morning,  gyrating and bobbling around on the branch while its two parents, appeared to look on in askance at its behaviour. We were able to capture various moments in this episode between fits of laughter. The juvy just carried on unperturbed. The photos chosen show just  five of the poses and facial expressions we captured... there were many more.  Some of the positions it put itself into made it look like a gargoyle, so this became its name. 

Added to the tag was stamping,  torn net fibre and scrim.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving comments. I always like to see what people think and I like to reciprocate by visiting your blogs and leaving comments as well.
Catch you again soon.
Cheers, Di

PS. ABAC is currently having a Design Team call. If you are interested in becoming a member of our team, check out the details.

Fireworks on Canvas

Hi and welcome. Just a quick post tonight, showing you a canvas I have just finished for:
http://archiscraps.blogspot.com.au/  where the challenge for January is based on a photo of Sydney's spectacular Opera House. The added criteria is to add something musical.
For this, black gesso was painted onto the canvas and when dried spritzed with glimmer mists. the fireworks were drawn on with metallic inks, kindy glitz and liquid pearls.

The photo  I've used for this piece has come from a public domain site and depicts the Opera House on New Year's Eve. This has been mounted on paper put through a music embossing folder. The edges were torn and smooshed with 3D stamping paint. The music staff and fluoro notes were a set of stickers bought years ago and forgotten about. Amazing what a good tidy up discovers! These were also smooshed with the 3D stamping paint for a touch of glimmer.

Extra bits and pieces include a metal spiral, a metal badge made up of various musical instruments, star-shaped paper clips , fluoro ribbon added to one of the firework bursts and plastic stars. Other musical notations have been put on with a foiling technique, liquid pearls and metallic inks.
At the moment I really love creating with canvas, because of the versatility with what can be done with them.
Thank you for stopping by. Your visits and lovely comments are always appreciated.
Cheers, Di.

Autumn Tag

Hi and welcome. Tags are becoming one of my favourite forms of mini-art. I've a long way to go, but am enjoying the experimentation process.
This tag is for the current challenge at Anything But A Card: Fall into Fall.  Pop on over to: http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/  to see what the DT has been up to.

I used a Kraft tag for the base and smooshed it with gold metallic alcohol ink, as well as the colours previously used and left on the applicator. I loved the effect this made and it's one I'll use again. I was surprised to see how well a non-glossy surface took alcohol ink. the edges were swiped with Inca gold.

For the next layer I added a smaller tag made from a  metallic gold vellum. The edges of this were swiped with 3D Stamping paint. The next tag was made from acetate packaging, alcohol inked and then put through an embossing folder. On the front I rubbed on some Inca gold and 3d stamping paint. The leaves were die cut using the Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves die. These were also cut from acetate packaging and glossy cardboard packaging. The surfaces were treated the same way as the base with the addition of metallic gold alcohol ink.

 

 

Some images from Graphic 45 "Place in Time" collection and a snippet of an autumn poem from  an old poetry book (smooshed with Distress Ink) completed the tag. It was finished with a bow made from seam binding, spritzed and sprayed with Dylusions Inks, Glimmer mists and water.
 
 
                                     
Thank you for visiting and for your lovely comments.
 Cheers, Di.

Rose Tag

Hi and welcome! Firstly thank you to the design team for choosing me as a feature artist for Challenge 19. This was a lovely and unexpected surprise.
Challenge 20 at ABAC; http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/  has been exactly that:- a challenge in where to start!! The dusting off of old supplies has certainly been a good incentive to look in some drawers that haven't been foraged into for quite some time and I did find quite a few items (a lot with the 'what was I thinking of'! factor. Yes, there were a large number of stickers (which no longer self-adhere), some roses (made from very thin sheets of rubber, which had been an "I'll use those" purchase) AND!!!! a Tim Holtz mini mask which I'd forgotten I'd bought and until now, never used.
The tag I made started off as a piece of card stock with a thin layer of gesso applied to it. While wet, it was sprayed with Glimmer Mists (Walnut Gold, Coffee Shop and Suede). These were smooched together using a plastic bag (thanks Julie). Then it was sprinkled with perfect Pearls powder (Perfect Gold) and left to dry.
The mini mask was used as a stencil, and the flourish was made using 3D Stamping Paint in Moss green.

The stickers, roses and crushed velvet ribbon were added. In my stash I also found a chipboard word 'DREAM' which I broke up to add to the tag. A net and pearl bead dragonfly and some wool have completed the tag.

Thank you for stopping by and leaving comments.These make my day. Cheers, Di

A Timely Point of View

Today's post has me looking back, wondering where the last 40 years went to so quickly. We celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary in September, so what better way  to "Share the Love" for Challenge 12 at http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca  than by reflecting on our lives together, so far.
This very tongue- in - cheek photo was taken at our wedding reception. It features Russ (husband, seated), best man Charles and groomsman, cousin Ron (looking quite raffish with the goatee). I think the photo speaks for itself, lending ideas for the imagination about what they were thinking!

The boys, sharing the love by giving support!!.... too late .... now, who's next!

The photo was distressed by sanding the edges and parts of the surface, then inked with 'vintage photo' distress ink. Papers from Graphic 45 'A Proper Gentleman'  and Kaisercraft 'Prairie Lane' have been used. These also received the distressed look. The lace effect was done by using lace on a teal blue cardstock and spraying generously weith Glimmermist. This was a piece left over from a previous layout and the colour matched well with some of the fine detailed patterns from the Prairie Lane collection.

Cogs were die cut from embossed card. Some were then inked with Brilliance pearlescent 'olive' and others were give a faux rusted metal finish (first time I've used this, so many thanks to all of you who have posted about this Tim Holtz method) and then brushed with perfect pearls. The slight shimmer on these hasn't shown up on the photo.

I've also used Washi Tape, featuring the theme of cogs and clocks.

As Russ and I  are now both retired, we're hoping to enjoy the journey, even more.

Thank you for visiting. I love to hear from you. Cheers, Di

 

Rachel Rosina Davison

Hi! I hope everyone had a joyful Christmas with family and friends.
 Today I'm showing a framed fusion collage done at "Creating Bliss" craft camp, (organised and run by Julie http://timetocreate-handmadetreasure.blogspot.com.au/  ) in May this year (and it was a blissful and creative camp with many new techniques learnt and passed on to others). This is also my entry for http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com.au challenge,  anything goes or favourite project of the year.

Framed portrait of Grandmother

Enlargement of section showing details of lace and fabric leaves

The photo is of my grandmother, Rachel Rosina Davison (nee Harvey). We believe that this was taken at her wedding in 1901. This is one of two wedding photos I have of her, and since it was taken from a copy of a copy of the original, some of the finer details of her dress have been lost in the reprinting processes.
Julie has called this a fusion technique, because much of the adhering of fabric and lace to papers, and papers to the backing card was done by ironing on Steam a Seam 2. Various vintage style papers were used to go with the photo and the era in which it was taken. These were distressed slightly by smooshing on stains and adding stamped images that seemed to fit. The mat under the photo was embossed to give the piece some additional texture. The fabric leaves were stained and misted with glimmer mist before applying the Steam a Seam 2, and then fussy cut before ironing on to the background. The lace which I had in my stash begged to be used for this as it reflected not only the fashion of the day, but also the lace on Grandma's dress. The only other embellishment was the stick-on pearls, again another fashion statement of the era.
I don't remember my grandmother very much, being only about 3 when she died. However, I think she would have liked the treatment of this portrait as she apparently loved sewing, particularly embroidery, as well as making clothes for her children. A photo of  all of the children showed her use of lace on the frocks of the girls in the family.
I loved this technique and will, hopefully, make a similar piece showing my mother at a similar age.
Thank you for stopping by and Happy New Year! Here's to more creative crafting in the coming year.
Cheers, Di

Hi!
First, it was a HUGE surprise to see that I had been chosen as one of the Fabulous Four featured artists for my layout for challenge 6: a stitch in time at http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com.au/   So thank you to the team for this.
Today I'm showing an altered box which has a nautical theme, to be entered for challenge 7 at ABAC.
The box was a fairly plain one picked up at a local shop. Basically painted white and blue with a couple of beach stencils and wooden fish. Potential? Yes!



Side of box before alterations



The base was sprayed with Glimmer  mist (Sea Glass and Silver) and while wet, covered with cling wrap, scrunched and moved around and left to dry. The cling wrap was removed when dry. This left an interesting pattern. The base and interior of the box was stamped with coral and shells (Darkroom Door) with Stayzon Midnight Blue and Teal Blue.

Interior of box showing creased markings and stamping.
 

The exterior of the box was given a coat of Viva Croco Azure, left to dry overnight, before stamping with the Stayzon and Distress Stain Brushed Pewter.

A net was made from an onion bag and filled with shells and treasures from the deep. Dolphins were cut from packaging and given an Opals Enamelling Powder treatment (Zeehan) Starfish were made from wooden stars treated to an Opals finish. Liquid Pearls were added to these, fish and some of the shells decorating the box.

The box was completed with craft buttons, (pirate ship and fish, with the shanks cut off), shells and shell discs and small cane baskets (fish baskets).

I've popped in a piece of sea sponge and coral... so it could be a display box for those sea treasures or a storage box for art/ craft equipment, lotions and potions........ anything really.
It was fun to make over.
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate comments that are left and enjoy reading them. Come again.
Cheers, Di