Every Inchie Monday -- Game

On Every Inchie Monday the word is 'Game'. For the card one I have made three shrink plastic chess pieces to sit on the games board. For the sewn one, I have had fun with noughts and crosses. A bit colourless, but I took the easy option for both of them. Looking forward to see what the others have done.

Artful Times challenge DT piece for Heavy metal

The theme this week on Artful Times is Heavy metal, and my contribution is a key cupboard. I covered the door in green metal, and embossed it with various embossing plates, and also did some freehand ones as well with my metal wheels. I sanded the embossing very lightly to expose the silver under the green coating. A few small areas were painted with alcohol ink to give a different shade of green. The surround to the door is crackle paint. The rest of the cupboard is painted green to match my kitchen.

Tag Tuesday -- Locks and keys

On Tag Tuesday the theme is locks and keys. Out came my three stamps with doorways on, and I stamped them on separate card. I then couldn't make up my mind which one to use, so made three tags using them all. Two of them have embossed backgrounds with white and gold, one with a script background. On two of them I used some new key ribbon that I bought at the Sewing for pleasure show on Saturday. They all have key \and lock charms on in metal or wood. I really enjoyed doing these, and am now half way to a tag book.

Tag Along -- Pierrot

Not a subject I have ever been interested in, so the theme of Pierrot on Tag Along was a bit daunting. I borrowed a stamp from a friend and made a small tag with it, on an embossed background of diamonds. It looked a bit odd all on it's own, so I have placed it on a larger tag. This one I embossed with white and red in a diamond pattern, and a bubble wrap background. I then wished I hadn't made the small one in green. Should have stuck to red black and white. The stamp went back so it's too late.

Try it on Tuesday -- Music

Music is the theme for Try it on Tuesday, and it is not  a subject I have much on. Music background papers , no problem, so that was my starting point. I found a few music type stamps that I didn't know I had and did the piano keys and music notes in black embossing powder. The middle bit with the blue roses on came from my stash as well. I also found a ballerina charm. The tag is finished off with some music ribbon.

Sunday Postcard Art -- Steampunkery.

Steampunkery is the theme on this weeks Sunday Postcard Art. I inked the background and lightly stamped some images on top in blue. The fish air balloon is embossed, and doesn't show up very well . I added Tim's three men, and some cogs. My brain always makes me want to do steampunk in brown/orange type colours, so I made myself do this card in blue.

Every Inchie Monday -- Figure

This week on Every Inchie Monday, it's Figure. My brain went for something complicated to start with, as drawing figures, or more to the point sewing them is a bit 'Not me'  The card one has a shrink plastic art figure that you use to get the proportions right ( but not in my case). The sewn one is just a simple outline of a figure. I hasten to add this went through several deformed versions before this one.

Tag Tuesday -- Spring flowers

Spring flowers is the theme for this week on Tag Tuesday, and as I don't seem to have any Spring flower stamps, it gave me an excuse to use my one and only set of JOFY stamps for the first time. Although I love flowers and gardening, actually using flowers in my art I find difficult. I don't know whether it is the colouring in of them that I don't enjoy, or the composition of the work that I find difficult. Whatever it is, the first one went in the bin.

This one is on water colour paper with a watercolour background, and then sprayed lightly with a green metallic spray ink. A few Paperartsy stamps found their way onto the tag as well. They are coloured in with Derwent Intense crayons. Some die cut grass added at the bottom, with some stamped words

Tag Along -- Gypsy

On Tag Along the theme is Gypsy, a completely new subject for me, which was a bit of a challenge. I looked for images on Google, and chose one I thought I could work with. The background is sprayed inks, that I then stamped various swirls on. There is some distress ink used with some stencils as well
I put some paper flowers on, a rose in her hair, and finished off with a glass bauble ( pretend crystal ball.) A few red gems in her hair, and a bright butterfly finished off my first gypsy tag.

Every Inchie Monday -- forest

This week on Every Inchie Monday it's Forest. I have sewn one and painted one. The sewn one looks a bit flat on the scan, but is in fact fairly textured. I thought it would be easy to sew pine trees --wrong again. I think the colour is too bright as well. In fact not happy with it, might have another go before long.

Sunday Postcard Art -- Arrows

On Sunday Postcard Art the theme is Arrows. My thoughts went straight away to dressmaking. I started with a distress inked background, stamped a couple of stamps that had arrows on, and added the dress form. I had coloured and embossed the dress form, and then dressed it in organza ribbon and lace. I then added my own arrows with instructions.

Artful Times Challenge 51 --- Use a game piece

I have now joined the design team on Artful Times, and this challenge is to use a game piece. For my contribution I have used a large piece of a child's jigsaw puzzle, which I will add to, and make into a time/steampunk book.
First of all, I painted gesso onto the picture side to give it a key for the texture paste.

I then added some texture paste through some stencils and then another coat of gesso . When dry I added some card and metal cogs, a steampunk clock with a bee on, and  again, another coating of gesso was applied.

Then came the nice part, painting the whole thing in my favourite colours. As I usually do time and steampunk in brown/orange type colours, this was a bit of a change. I did tone the colours down a bit with some more gesso.

Do go and see what the others in the team have done, and join in yourself.

Tim Holtz style tags 2014 - March

These are my version of Tim's March tags. He uses his smudged stamp method, which I can't say I would use normally. I didn't have any of his stamps, so used ones I had and plodded on. You do the stamping first and smudge with some foam. The second tag is stamped with the same stamp as the first one, which by then has taken off most of the ink.The other elements including the background colour are added afterwards.

Artful Times -- Anything goes

As the theme is anything goes on Artful Times, I decided to use a Halloween house book, that a friend and myself have been doing for what seems like ages. She is Halloween mad, and I was getting so fed up with it, my book is a lot smaller than hers. I have put it on book rings, so that if she makes me do it again later on in the year, I can just add more pages.. The book is a mixture of collage and stamping, and every house is a different size and shape. I have scanned a few of the pages as well.

Try it on Tuesday, & A Vintage Journey.

Try it on Tuesday has Birthday or use a mask or stencil as a theme, so I thought I could combine it with a new challenge site 'A Vintage Journey, which is very Tim Holtz orientated. There are some fabulous samples from their design team, and I love vintage.
As I have a special friends birthday coming up, it was an ideal opportunity to made her a card which was all Tim. I inked the background with distress inks, and went over it with on of his stencils. I then stuck on a piece of his new paper stack. I used an old map to cut out an old jalopy to emphasize the journey element. The umbrella man had to make an appearance as well. I stamped up some of Tim's tickets, and the Eiffel tower stamp, plus his very useful 'Enjoy the journey' The whole card could not be complete without a few of his rusted cogs.

Tag Tuesday -- Pretty in pink

Not one of my favourite colours, but I struggled valiantly on. Pretty in pink is the theme on Tag Tuesday this week. I used some paper from Tim's range, and then added some tissue (Tim's again) I then inked up the tag with various inks through stencils with gesso on the last application, as it was getting far too pink for me. The little girl is from Lisa's altered art. I added lace, made some lace flowers and added some tiny fabric ones. Gosh it's still very pink.

Every Inchie Monday -- Engrave

All I could think of this week on Every Inchie Monday was the engraving on grave stones.( Pun intended) The card one has a shrink plastic headstone, and some tiny card ones. The fabric one is made of felt with embroidered engraving and a few flowers to brighten it up.

Sunday Postcard Art -- Fish

This week on Sunday postcard art the subject is fish. I thought I would go for a Japanese look, as in a previous life I kept Koi carp. I have kept it to a simple colour palette and design of black, white, and red. The fish are stamped and embossed and the Geisha also stamped.

Tag Tuesday -- Maps, charts & diagrams

Tag Tuesday's theme this week is maps, charts and diagrams. I inked up my tag with distress inks and ripped up a map from an old road map. It happens to be of near where I live in Mid Wales.
I then made some smaller tags, and cut out from an old dictionary, the meaning of the three words. There are also two tags in the slot at the bottom stamped with map type images.

Sunday Postcard Art -- Newspapers

The theme of newspapers on Sunday postcard art was a bit difficult, as we don't take a newspaper. I did find a small bit of the Sunday Times travel page that I had saved, and a small picture in my sea file of some ladies bathing in 1892. I distress inked the background and stamped it with a newspaper background stamp  that I have. I added the two seaside articles.
Not very pleased with it, but I can't do the fabulous digital ones that the others do so well. There are some wonderful examples on the site.

Book of the sea page 9

For this page I have embroidered onto a dyed muslin different seaweeds with various threads. There is also some distressed scrim, and a piece of dyed Kozo fibre, which looks very like seaweed when painted and manipulated. There are plenty of French knots, and a few fancy yarns.
The sea horses are painted pelmet vilene embroidered with different types of embroidery threads.

Every Inchie Monday -- Explode

On Every Inchie Monday this week, it's explode, so I was able to make my usual two. The fabric one is just masses of stitches radiating out from yellow to red. The painted one is on canvas, with watercolour paints.

Tag Along -- Cats

The theme on Tag Along is cats. I didn't realize I had so many cat related things, and was spoilt for choice. In the end I went for a background of sprayed tissue paper stuck onto the tag, and adhered some of Tim's tissue paper with the words curiosity on. Cats are very curious, so I thought it suited the theme. I stamped and embossed some cat footprints, and then stuck on some fabric cats. I have been meaning to use these before, as they are so colourful. I finished it off with some ribbon, and a cat charm.