MIXED MEDIA CANVAS

Hi. At artastic this month the focus has been on stencilling. For this challenge I have created a canvas wall panel.

The background is a 30cm x 40cm deep canvas which was firstly painted with white acrylic paint. To this I added steaks of greys, ochre and umber to make a weathered appearance. Stencilled fronds to represent seaweeds were added in various shades of grey to create a layered effect. The stencils were also applied to the sides of the canvas. In addition to this I added mesh fibre which was then sprinkled with embossing powders, beads and sequins which were then heated.
This method was also used on the smaller canvas board with starfish skeletons.

The glues used for this technique are PVA based and when applied thickly, give fabulous bubble effects when heated.
The inspiration from ARTastic was based on the work of William Rose.

Catch you again soon.
Cheers, Di

HEARTS

February's theme at Pixels and Paper is hearts. For this I made a gift pouch / card from vellum.

 

 
The gift pouch has been assembled using 3 layers, all opening at the top. The largest heart is folded on one side, leaving the cut edge to either be left open  to make a card, or, as in this case, taped to form a large pocket. The lace has been inserted between the vellum and a pink-coloured backing paper. I've done this to add a level of stiffness to the vellum. This same paper has also been attached to the smallest vellum heart.
Embossing on the heart has been done with an embossing tool. Perforations have been made around the embossed hearts on the largest pocket and then cut into with scissors. I've added some liquid pearls to the flowers.

As you can see, this gift pouch is able to hold a number of small gifts. In this one, I've added a camera chip, gift card and CD, as well as a small card.

 

This card has been die cut with a beautiful butterfly / heart die, from a paper background I created, using the pastel shades from this month's inspiration photo. The heart was then attached to the same paper used to line the vellum.

We'd love to see your take in this month's inspiration..... heart- shaped conversation lollies.

 

 

 I remember these very well indeed, as my uncle owned a factory that started out making conversation lollies and candy Easter eggs. This brought back many memories of  my younger years.

Pop on over to:pixelsandpaper to see what the rest of the team has done.

Catch you soon.

Cheers, Di

A TOUCH OF GOLD.... MAYBE MORE!!

Hi!. November at Pixels and Paper is asking for a touch of gold (or more than a touch if you wish) on your project.
This month I was inspired to create a wall hanging. I kept the white canvas board and added touches of gold, pink and a few other colours with beads and embossing powders.

Some of these I let run down the canvas. I love the effect that can be achieved with the heat embossing... totally random speckles and splotches where embossing powders 'escaped'. To the centre I added a wooden starfish which had also been beaded randomly and coloured with embossing powders.

This gave the desired textural effect I wanted and added depth and richness to the colours  as suggested by the inspiration photo.
Pop on over to:pixelsandpaper and check out how the team has used this photo. We'd also love to see what you come up with.
Cheers for now.
Di

ANGEL'S WINGS

Hi and welcome! this month's challenge at pixels and paper is all about monochrome.
My layout has been done in tones of brown including deep creams.

 

 The photo is of some gorgeous stalactite formations in the Hastings Caves, Tasmania. These have been called Angel's Wings and certainly do look like wings. Stamping, stencilling and edging have been done with Distress Inks: Ground Espresso. I've also used diecuts, chippie embellishments (heat embossed) and gauze. One of the papers in the piece is actually a piece from a wallpaper sample.
The inspiration photo makes one think of yummy indulgences.

 

 

Pop on over to: pixelsandpaper and check out what the rest of the team has come up with for this challenge. Remember you don't have to use the colours pictured. You can choose any colour providing the colours used are in the same tone and hue range as each other.

Catch you again soon.

Cheers, Di

NECTAR

Hi again. This month has had five Sundays and at Anything But a Card, this means a small mini challenge based on the number FIVE!!

For this I have done a layout using photos of shrubs that used to be in my garden and the gorgeous rosellas that sipped the nectar of the flowers.

I designed a template and cut the photos using this. The background has been stamped and then heat embossed using Lindy Stamp Gang powders (Orbit Olive Gold).  Gold and black Sharpies were used to doodle a frame, additional leavers and the title.

You have this week to share your "Five" creations if you'd like to. Pop on over to: anythingbutacard  and check out what some of the team has been up to. 
Catch you again soon,
Cheers, Di

DORRIGO: DT Piece for ARTastic

Hi and welcome. I hope your new year has been everything you'd hoped for so far. ARTastic has a fabulous challenge this month, using as their inspiration, some street art by Fintan Magee. Fintan is an Australian street artist known for his murals throughout Queensland and later, in New South Wales.

 

I've taken the bricks from the mural as my inspiration for my layout.
The background has had double layers of stencilling. The first layer was a light coat of gesso was done over a smooshed  and sprayed background. Then I used a brick / stone wall stencil with Modellier Creme (Chocolat)

To this, I also added torn pieces of washi and Tim Holtz paper tapes and various stamps in black archival ink. Under the photo (which is of a mosaic tile mural on the wall of a building in Dorrigo, NSW), I have used torn cardboard from packaging. This was embossed and then smooshed with distress inks. The journalling was done on crumpled glassine paper. A white Sharpie paint pen was used for the writing.

There is still time to join us at  artastic this month, so why not pop on over to the blog and have a look at what the rest of the team has done with the inspiration image. We'd love to see your art.
Cheers for now.
Di

RAINBOW CONNECTION

Hi and welcome. The first of June means  another new challenge at Pixels and Paper and another great photo for your inspiration. As we, in the Southern Hemisphere head into winter and others in the North head into summer, this photo certainly reflects those not so sunshiny days.

Pixels and paper inspirational photo for June

When I first saw this the vibrant pop of red from the bench seat was the first thing that caught my eyes. then I looked for the more subtle images hidden by the misty rain.

The photograph I have used on my layout was taken by my son at a recent short get away to Caloundra on Queensland's Sunshine Coast (north of Brisbane). It had rained during the night and early morning, but we decided to risk the possibility of another shower and went for a pre-breakfast walk along the boardwalk. The skies were still very murky and then it started to rain. We found some shelter and stayed there until the  shower passed and as luck had it, out came the most glorious double rainbow which reflected in the water of  the bay.
The colours of the rainbow then became an integral part of the layout. The background colours reflected those in the sky and in our inspirational photo. The metallic silver cardstock has been embossed and then lightly inked with archivals. The same cardstock was used for the large raindrops which were stamped  and cut out, as well as for the drawn title, coloured using Peel-off markers.

 

Close up showing rainbow- coloured raindrops and title

 Added to the scene is a diecut figure  (looking at the scene),  diecut flagstone footpath and a bench seat .

Close up showing diecuts and pice of cardstock embossed with ripples.  This was a piece of  an experimental background, sprayed with Dylusions Inks and Perfect Pearls Mists.

To finish off I added small drips of Kindyglitz to give the sparkle of raindrops in the sunlight.
Pop on over to:http://pixelsandpaperchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/ to see the fantastic work by the rest of the team.
Thank you for visiting. I love reading your positive comments and look forward to stopping by your blogs to see what you have been up to.
Cheers, Di

DIAMONDS IN THE SKY

Hi! Today I'm sharing with you my first DT piece for ARTastic. The inspiration image for this month's challenge has come from street art by Vexta, with the added criteria of using diamond or triangular shapes.

Pop on over to: http://artasticchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/ to see what the DT has come up with for this. There's still time to enter and we would love to see your art.
For my piece I used mostly diamond shapes in some of the colours seen in the artwork. Various mediums ( 3D Stamping Paint, Pan pastels, Silks Acrylic Glazes, and Primary Elements artists pigments) were smooshed onto black cardstock and then cut out. The image I used, called 'The Star Lighters',  has come from an old decoupage book and mounted onto punched card stock. The poem, 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' was torn from an old poetry book, edged with 3D Stamping Paint and mounted onto an acrylic background. This background had been  put through a ray patterned embossing folder.

 

 

To complete the layout I used Kindyglitz and added 'diamonds' in a ray pattern.

Thank you for stopping by. Remember we'd love to see you come and play with us.
Cheers, Di

FLIPPIN' OVER CHRISTMAS

Hi and welcome. You could take this title in a number of ways (depending on mood). However, I have made a tag, with a Christmas theme.
First, I used a Petaloo magnetic tag for the base. This is a deep chocolate brown which is great as a base colour to give additional depth. I'll apologise here for the quality of the photos.. really should have done them in natural light so that the true colours were more obvious (NOT !! at 1.00am!!)

 

This was painted liberally with Collage Pauge, and TH tissue paper was adhered to it.

 

 

After this I used a chevron stencil and white gesso to create a background. With the stencil in place I spritzed with glimmer mists  and then removed the stencil and left everything to dry.

 

 

 

 

 

When dry, Inca Gold (soft gold and apricot) were rubbed in.This gave the tag a beautiful pearly finish, while still allowing the chevron pattern and sprayed colours to still be seen.
Inside the tag I glued on paper strips,and fabric pieces, again with the Collage Pauge.These were tidied up before the edges were covered with paper tape, again smooched with Inca Gold.

 

 

A paper doily, smooched with a chocolate coloured Inca gold and a die-cut strip of paper was used to frame a vintage image. A Christmas poem torn from an old poetry book completed this section, together with a die-cut and embossed bauble (foil paper).

 

 

 

                                      

 

 

A dove was die cut and embossed from pearlised cardstock. Pan Pastels were applied to sections and the whole piece lightly spritzed with biscotti Perfect Pearls.When dry, some sections were highlighted further with Inca Gold. A piece of ribbon was threaded through the cardstock to form the basis of a very retro choker. Miss Bird was certainly getting into the Christmas spirit with her choice of jewels to adorn herself. A Christmas tag, again a deep chocolate brown,  salvaged from an old 
Kaiser craft range and some lace completed the front. Rayon ribbon was coloured using distress inks, and used to complete the tag.

Thank you for looking. I'm entering this piece into:
http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/  where the team members were getting into the holiday spirit.

and  http://ourcreativecorner6.blogspot.com.au/ where the team was looking for a vintage Christmas, with no red  or green.This is a first visit to this blog challenge.

Have a happy and safe Christmas. Cheers, Di

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS.....

...... on ev'ry site you see!!!!

Including Pixels and Paper for this month's challenge.
This month we have a vintage Christmas photo for your inspiration, so we would love to see your project based on an aspect of Christmas shown here. You have until midnight, 5th January to submit your creation, so we hope that this gives you plenty of  time to enjoy the festive season with family and friends and hopefully finding  some crafty time for yourself.

Pop over to:http://pixelsandpaperchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/ to see what the team has produced for this.
This is my DT piece for the challenge. I focused on the stockings and used this concept as a centrepiece for my layout. This was done with iris folding.

 

On the background I've also stamped a Christmas ornament topper  (Chocolate Baroque stamps) with versamark, then heat embossed it  and added braid so that it looked like they were hanging.
The inspiration photo also reminded me of my childhood when many of the decorations for the house and the tree were handmade. I remember making strings of bells from milk bottle caps, washed, turned inside out and moulded into bell shapes over a lemon juicer. We also made paper chains from cut up cards and crepe paper.
For this memory, I chose to make the ornaments from stamped foil paper, (Chocolate Baroque stamps)  and again heat embossed the design. This gave them the look of some of the gorgeous decorations that were always packed away carefully each year. The idea of stamping and cutting out the ornaments was the result of a play day at Julie's at: http://timetocreate-handmadetreasure.blogspot.com.au/


                                                 

Some close-ups of the ornaments. Sorry about the blueness of the background. In trying to get the detail of the ornaments to stand out more, the background was brightened a wee bit too much. The photo below is more of the real colour. Sentiments are Words from Darkroom Door.

 

The photo of our son taken in 1990 was framed with foil paper, smooshed with 3D Stamping Paint. Journalling has been done on tags popped into the folds of the stocking.

 

On the base I've placed a strip of "Merry Christmas" words in  various languages  (Graphic 45). I played with some soft metallic silver Pan  Pastels and 3D Stamping Paint on this strip.

Thank you for visiting and please pop on over to Pixels and Paper to have a peep. We'd really love it  if you decided to have a play with us.

Cheers, Di

Black, White and Red

Hi and welcome! This month's inspiration at ARTastic has been based on a beautiful artwork by Lorraine Lewitzke  'Rock and Roll Party', with the challenge being to use black and white with one other colour. To see what the design team has come up with pop over to:
http://artasticchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/
I've chosen a school photo of  son and self, probably taken in 1988, when he was in year 2.  I wanted the background to reflect some of the softness of the inspiration piece, so used lengths of ribbon and lace and sequin waste over a lightly patterned paper.
Cogs were die-cut and randomly daubed with Kindy glitz. The background of the clock (from Dusty Attic) was embossed with an embossing folder, and the clock heat embossed.

To complete the layout, I added embossed chipboard corner flourishes and added buttons, (the hands on the clock are also buttons) lacquered wooden stars and fabric flowers.
The two white buttons are from one of son's old school shirts!

 

Thank you for visiting and while you are here, maybe you'd like to take a peep at ARTastic's new sister blog, Pixels and Paper Challenge Blog.http://pixelsandpaperchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/



Thank you for your lovely comments, and I hope to catch up with some of  my favourite blog sites soon.
Cheers, Di