WOYWW 207

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it's Wednesday already and time for WOYWW 207!!

I was very lucky to have been offered a job at the beginning of the year with an Interior Design Company.  This week we are busy getting a show home ready which great and I am learning so much.  We had ordered loads of styling pieces but the client had purchased a glass dome and we needed something to go in it.  I couldn't resist and volunteered straight away!

 
Yesterday I went to the florist's wholesalers to see what I could find.  I had already got an idea and needed driftwood but I found that they don't stock that and there's no time for an online order.  

Slight panic set in as the kids needed collecting from school and I needed a new idea fast!


I had a quick look around and grabbed a few possible options before dashing off into the school run traffic (always a good space to develop ideas as there's nothing else to think about!)








I decided to use an orchid stem and so needed to secure it to stand upright.  I used oasis which I needed to hide so firstly I covered it in a lovely brown web-like ribbon I had found.   I had also bought a beaded wire collar (designed to be used to make a posy) so I cut it apart and re-invented it to make cover my oasis.

The butterflies are stamped on old dictionary paper and the wire was sandwiched between then so they have dimension.  I curled the wires using my Fiskars Curly Thing (technical term - LOL!) and arranged them in amongst my orchid stem.


 Finished.

I'm really pleased with it but this morning is the moment of truth.  My boss gets here in 1/2 hour so we can head off to the house and finalise everything and so I have to hope she likes my creation ...



Have a great day everyone and happy snooping around everyone's desks.  I'll be doing my fair share when I get home later on today!!

xx

Seagull

Our new challenge at TioT is On the Wild Side (featuring Animals of Birds).  I love this one as it's something a bit different - gets your creativity all fired up!

I am still exploring how far I can go with drawing and I wanted to do a page about gulls ...

For the first 30+ years of my life, I lived in-land and only came to the beach on holiday.  I remember sitting in the back of the car with my brother waiting to be the first to see the sea.  The excitement of that stays with me.

We moved to Poole a few years ago and now live next to the beach.  Seeing the sea each day still gives me a thrill and when I am in my garden and a gull floats above me or stands on the roof calling (as they do!) it reminds me of where I now live and how much I love it here.

So this was the background inspiration to my page.

I started by drawing my gull and then I sketched in the land.  I stamped some elements here and there and some fish in the sea (hard to see in the photo) before using gelatos and watercolour pencils to colour my page.

One of the most fun parts was painting waves in water and then feeding acrylic ink into the water - it just spreads out in the most lovely way travelling along the watery paths you create.  Amazing to see!

I spent some time getting the journalling right and then used a stylised text to handwrite it.

The finishing touch was some drizzles of clear tar gel which I coloured with acrylic inks for some texture. 

Keep Your Heart Open

For those of you who came for a desk snoop yesterday as part of WOYWW 206, they will have seen this page in progress.

I started this page at a class, continued it at home but then left it to one side whilst I deliberated what was missing.  Yesterday I decided that it had to be finished and to crack on with it no matter what!  So, now I'm happy with it and I can pop it on my blog for everyone to see - yeay!!

 

The inspiration for this page was my big bunny Bruno.  
 

Petie

We got our first English Lop, Petie, in September and as soon as I saw him I loved him.  He was the most gentle rabbit and he loved to be held.  Sadly, he died on the day we returned from our holiday at Christmas and we were really sad.  

Bruno

I went back to the breeder to get another big rabbit and I chose Bruno.  However, its always hard to open you heart to a new pet when you are missing one you just lost but he's won me over with his gorgeous personality and kind nature.  


I decided to draw a stylised version of him and colour
him in the distress inks.

Relaxing in the garden

The background was created with dylusions spray inks and stencils.  

To be honest, I've shied away from the spray inks as they are quite messy and my workspace is rather small with my computer, carpets and white blinds to consider (not exactly ideal!!).  However, for this page I flooded the paper and then splodged it down on my craft mat and it was such fun that I'm actually keen to give it another go!  The only problem is that now the edges of at least half my new art journal are red!!!

I added quite a lot of texture stamps and other bits and bobs to create background interest before sitting my rabbit on some old sheet music, tinted with Distress Ink.

I cut my heart and added some wings and doodling and then finished the page with the paper banner edges and the title.

Investigating the camera

I am entering this page into the Craft Room Challenge to stamp your own background and also as a new entry in the Creative Corner blog as it's Anything Goes so my rabbit should be OK over there!!

Have a great week whatever you are up to.

xx

WOYWW 206

So this is my first time going WOYWW.  I don't know why I've never done it before as I've seen so many of you all taking part but anyway today's the day and I'm jumping in!!

So, here's my desk.  

Having nosed at some of the other desks, I'm a bit nervous as some people have scarily tidy desks or ones covered in heaps of lovely papers and scissors which still look great.

Oh Dear! 

Mine doesn't fall into either of those categories - oh dear!  You can't see it in this photo (so here it is on the left in all it's glory!) but I have covered my desk with a sheet of old lining paper as I am so messy.  This lets me scribble notes on it and also not worry about over spraying my inks and paints.  I should confess at this point that I've only starting to do this now that my white desk underneath is no longer white so guilt led me to trying to mitigate the problem.  Ever heard of the saying "shutting the door after the horse has bolted?" Oops!

So this week I am continuing on my Art Journal journey and embracing drawing. The workshop I did with Kate Crane  got me thinking about not being afraid to draw and I then watched a great video on u-tube by Vivian Sung Soon Keh.  I loved art at school and I really want to get back to drawing and painting and my journal is a great place for this.


This page is not yet complete and ready to show (hence I've left it partly covered) as something is not quite right.  Am I the only one who gets a project 95% done and find the last 5% the hardest?  I don't want to spoil it but know I have to be brave and add more.  I am experimenting with some old papers for this page ... have to see whether that is what's needed or else it back for a re-think!!

I have been using my gelatos and watercolour pencils on this project and also on another that's ready for my DT slot next week and I am really enjoying myself.

Have a great week everyone and thanks for stopping by my desk! 

xx

Home is Where the Heart Is

This is the first page in my new art journal.  I started it at my recent day at the Stamp Attic (well done Wendy for organising and hosting) which was taught by the super talented Kate Crane.  I  had a great day which sped by far too fast but it got me started with my new journal and now I'm keen to get time to do more.

I really enjoyed the freedom of the journal and creating whatever I liked with no colour or style restrictions.  Once I got home, I put the finished touches to it with the stamping, border and wording.  Got to try to build on this experience and do more ...

x

I am entering this into 'Anything Goes' at Fashionable Stamping.  

Butterfly Card

This fortnight's challenge at Try it on Tuesday is Feminine & Fancy.   

I  spent quite a lot of time thinking about this one and how I would interpret it but now that Spring appears to have finally arrived, my thoughts are definitely with outdoors and spring flowers so I decided this would be my take.

Talking of Spring ... slightly irrelevant to the post ... but has anyone noticed how blue the sky is this year.  It is amazing - just SO blue it's almost violet.  

Anyway, back to my project!  

 

I used a sheet of Rue 88 by Prima for my background, over which I stamped and white embossed text from the Papillon stamp set. 

I cut my banner and used a scallop punch for the edge before stamping it with some vines.  The central area was stamped with the lovely dog roses and cut out.

 

 

 

I tinted the background with a diluted lemon gelato to soften the paper tone.

All the stamped images with watercolour pencils which are one of my current favourite things!  I have had them for ever in my draw and hadn't realised just how great they are to use and how they give such a soft but controlled effect.  I finished off with some diamond glaze on two of the blooms.  All these stamps were by Prima's Build-a-Frame set.

The butterflies (Unity)  & bee (Stampotique) were also coloured with watercolour pencils.  I attached them with 3D silicone glue for some dimension.

Hope you are feeling inspired to join in with the fun now that we are getting our daily dose Vitamin D from that lovely sunshine!!

I am also entering this into the Faber-Castell Mou Challenge  as they want something inspired by gardens and the Anything Goes challenge at Our Creative Corner. 

xx

A Bird in the Hand ...

I just bought this stamp set by Stampington & Co with the most gorgeous bird cages and was keen to get them going!  I saw that Artistic Stamper's current Challenge is Clean and Simple so I set about creating a small card for this.

I used watercolour pencils for my bird and the corners and the rest is self explanatory ... simple eh?!!

Fitting this post in quickly as the sun is shining and there is lots to do in the garden.

Enjoy your bank holiday weekend whatever you are doing!

x

Published!

Well, I've had to keep this quiet for some time, but am pleased to announce that following on from being a Runner Up in the Scrapbooker of the Year, I was asked if I would like to join their Design Team and be their Featured Artist in May.

After not a lot of thought (LOL) I jumped at it and got to work on 4 layouts for the May edition.

I thought I was getting a double page spread, but to my surprise, I had 3 whole pages - WOW!! I feel really elated to have achieved this goal and am looking forward to my role as part of their Team.

Here are the layouts in better detail:

 

 

 

Hope you are all having a great week and the sun is finally shining.

x





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