it's been a while...

Didn't realise it's been so long since I last posted, and big changes are in progress for me.  I made a decision to change jobs as I was finding things stressful - and as part of this process I'm relocating to Manchester!
I'm really excited and all things being well, I'll be moving to a lovely 3 bedroomed house with a converted attic that I'm hoping to turn into a craft room.

Gelli printed canvases

Anyway, back to the arty stuff :) Had a great day yesterday with my friends Bibi and Sam, doing a bit of gelli plate printing onto canvas inspired by Donna Downey's gelli plate class the-art-of-gelli-prints-online-workshop . She makes it look so easy, but love that she included a bit where she went wrong :)

Sam's

Bibi and Sam's

I wasn't sure about one of my canvases but decided to keep going and did another couple of layers on top and some stencilling to finish, quite happy in the end.

stencilled with paynes grey(love this colour)

Added damson india ink

thought Evolve was a good word to stencil on this one as it did!

outlined word in stabilo all pencil in white

added a bit of drippage and doodling to finish

Sam's canvases turned out so well, she did 3 and was really proud - deservedly.  I loved the colours in Bibi's and her abstract poppies

Off to Manchester tomorrow evening to carry out some training - have my survival kit packed, the coffee provided in the hotel room is horrible!

Coffee 

12 Tags of 2013 April Tag - just in time, and a crafty mash-up

I've been a bit lax in keeping up with Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013, I try to keep up but if I do get them done I forget to upload them :(
I made a card for my friend Bibi's Birthday using one of the massive Ranger tags and Tim's April technique.
I didn't have the metallic distress paint so used the distress stains instead along with some of the distress dabber paints that I do have.

I also didn't have any clearly for Art so used some heat resistant acetate to stamp the face section from a La Blanche steampunk stamp.

 Of course, I just had to do a pop-up for the inside of the card!

Side on - curved heat resistant acetate

I've also been dabbling a bit with jewelry making, I made this necklace and bracelet for a work colleague who was returning to India.  

Still love playing with stencils and molding paste, and art journaling after attending 2 classes with Dina Wakley at AFTH in Harrogate

Molding paste, stencils and gelatos

Art Journal Page - Art Journal freedom

Graphic 45 butterfly wings, vintaj patinas, fractured doll - butterfly ball  necklace

Frozen charlotte vintaj necklace

Mixed Media Canvas

 Inspired by Marion Smith's Mixed media painting we decided to do a  canvas as our project this month.
I wanted to add some different textures so cut a heart from some calico and used one of the Stencil Girls April stencils - Paisley pattern, with molding paste, Sam and Bibi loved the stencil too so they used it on theirs too.   I'm a bit obsessed with stencils and molding(modeling?) paste at the moment - h and dylusions spray inks.

Used several different stencils to create the background texture and sprayed with dylusions inks and water to get them to flow and merge.  Coloured the heart with gelatos, I love how they look on fabric.

Tied some twine around the brushes(although you can't really see it) then glued the brushes in place. Gave the brushes a quick coat of gesso to unify them, added a tattered clock, some rose trim to the edge of one side of the heart then glued in place.

Left - Sam's, Middle - Mine, Right - Bibi's

I thought mine needed something at the top so added a stamped saying and an altered butterfly.

Before

After

Sam Scraps and Oh Dear Dina what did you do?

Well, I almost fell off my chair when my friend Sam proclaimed that for our next crafty meet up we were going to all do a 12x12 scrapbook layout a la Anna Dabrowska style.  In all the years we've been meeting up Bibi and I have tried several times to get her to have a go at scapbooking but no way would she do!

We're each going to take turns to make up a kit and decide on a project that we all must do - no excuses - the person who's turn it is is boss!  Sam put together a wonderful kit with lace, flowers, leaves, stencils, paper, masking tape, stamps and drippy ink and a photo of the three of us together at Ally Pally.

Layout and kit

Bag of goodies from Sam

I think all our layouts turned out wonderfully, but Sam wasn't too sure about hers, but Bibi and I love it, she was so out of her comfort-zone, never mind that it was a scrapbook layout but she also used colours that are a bit more girly - not her usual greens and browns!

Bibi's LO

Sam's LO

My LO

Last week I spent an amazing 2 days at Art from the Heart in Harrogate taking classes with Dina Wakley.
Dina is so funny, inspirational and just a joy to learn from.  The first day was all about textures and layering, we worked on plaster tiles and book covers using rigid wrap. The rigid wrap is like plaster impregnated bandage, as it's quite messy we all went out onto the fire escape to wet the rigid wrap and apply it to our covers.  What we didn't factor in to this was that it was blowing a gale at the time - just picture plaster dust, drips from watery plaster and bookcovers being whipped out of peoples hands and ending up in the carpark!  I blame Dina, she had done a snow dance earlier and although it didn't snow then I do think she's responsible for the weather - they don't have winter where she lives :)

plaster splattered boots

Dina's fab book

Rigid Wrapped covers

always the sign of a good day!

Incised, sketched,stamped, stenciled, wax on wax off tiles

 We worked on several tiles, incising designs into them, adding paint, adding a layer of beeswax, removing the wax, more incising, more paint.  It's hard to see the lovely sheen of the beeswax on the tiles

Shelob?

Spider on the Tower building in Harrogate

Inspire

 Day 2 was a class based on Silhouettes.  We learned about composition, white space, repetition, layering.
I loved this class too, playing with stencils, sprays and paint. I also bought Dina's book, which I would recommend to anyone interested in Art Journaling.

 I wish I could have attended the faces and 2 day art journaling classes but they were fully booked. At least I know that AFTH isn't too hard to get to from London so I'll definitely be back.