Playing with colour and Woodware

This was Saturday's fun.

3 water colour postcards.   Aquatints Brights all 6 colours.  Archival black ink and Woodware stamps.    Glossy accents with a light sprinkle of glitter.   Whisper pens to enforce the detail.

Result fingers and hands beautifully multicoloured.   Hardest part finding the seed head stamps used on the 2 outside postcards.  The joys of moving home, still have not found my crocodiles.

Backing a piece of card from some packaging saved because I might have a use for it.   Painted with white gesso and a scrap piece of DP laid over the middle.

Great messy fun getting m back into the game.

There was a lot of cleaning to do, the paintbrush and the little trays the paints were dripped into.   A baby wipe did the job same one for all tasks and colours.   So pretty when it dried.

Trimmed baby wipe to size with a piece of acetate (it used to be part of a report cover) matched to go over the top stamped with stayzon and Woodware stamps.   The edges of the white card blank lightly dusted with pale Adirondack dye based inks.    Some very old flower topped brads hold everything together.  

The background reminds me of the shaving foam technique without all the mess and drying time.

Challenge's

Red Rubber Inspirationals - Anything goes with Stamping Focus.

Mixed Media Card Challenge - New Stamps and Aquatints.  Can use tissue I haven't unless you count the baby wipe.

Green Ombre

It's a card!  Made with one of the terrific new Woodware stamps, got mine from the Stamp Man.   3 green pens, my new Chameleon Pens that I am still getting to grips with, 1 green ink pad, Memento A Stamping' up stamp, green ribbon and a little shabby shutter dusted around the edge of the tag.   Bit of a green theme going on here, well it is my favourite colour.   The sentiment from the Woodware set reads, "of all the gifts life could send ... ... the best is knowing that you're my friend" There are quite a few people that sentiment applies to.

So what inspired this burst of creativity?

Less is More - Friends
Inkspirational - Ombre

Then I saw that the CASology theme this week is also Friends, gotta be done.

Think now Christmas is out of the way my Mojo is resurfacing, mind you one cuckoo doe's not make a spring.

Black and Gold Mask

I do not like the way pictures work on blogger from the newest operating system from Apple.   The tidy version of these are not accepted by blogger some learning needed me thinks.

This mask blank has been travelling with me for years, just did not know what to do with it until recently.    All the masks I still have (I love giving the away but have kept a few special to me ones), are now on the wall of my new home.

As you can see there is a bit of a hole in the middle, well the previous owners had other things, lots of other things. hanging all along the hall and up the stairs and probably filled that gap.   Anyway having  a gap stirred me into using the largest mask blank in my stash.

2 coats of black Gesso, freehand stamping and the use of gold ep and the basic design is done.  More ep used to outline the eye sockets a black rhinestone and some gold ones added with silicone glue add to the design.   Finally a piece of cord wrapped in gold foil of some kind threaded through the eye sockets and glued in place.   The completed whole sprayed with spray and shine varnish.  It took a week to complete with drying time!

So did it work? Or will I have to do another one?   Oh yes the pink walls!  The previous owners must have liked pink they used it all over this house.   Another altered art project for my future.

Sharing my Black and Gold mask with

Rhoda's Creative Spirit - Always Anything Altered

2 Creative Chicks - Always Anything Goes but no cards

Right there is no getting away from it any longer the house is demanding some attention, no not with paint but the sucky thing and it's companions.

Happy 2015

Boxing day saw me driving over to Hull, I just love going over the Humber Bridge.   Of course I bagged some goodies, including this 30cm x 100cm box canvas.  I've never worked on a such a long thin surface though and was not sure what I was going to do with it.   The Popart sunflower idea presented itself before I had left the shop.

Once home I looked on line a lots of images of sunflowers, taking inspiration from these the flower was drawn onto the canvas.    Outline in place I started with Spectrum Noir AquaTints, mistake.   Even when dry between different colour applications the colours would bleed and blend.  Not so terrible with the stem but did not think the petals would look so great with green blurred outlines.   Good thing I have such a great range of good quality acrylic paints.

Once the basic background and stem were laid down a small tube of no nails was used to outline part of the flower head.   When that had gone off the basic yellow and orange/yellow mix filled the image.  Next Bronze colour acrylic filled the centre, if you look at the head of a sunflower you will see a patten in the seeds which I tried to emulate with the paint.   I used to have a great stencil with graduated circles it had to be cut down so that it could be used in the centre here, black felt pen applied through the holes for the seed head.    A line of Emerald coloured acrylic paint runs up the stem, with a thinner line of copper texture paint beside it.   Orca yellow paint applied in the same way outlines petals not marked by no nails.   Finally when everything was dry (pretty much) tacky drying glue and gliding flakes were added to the leaves and parts of the flower.

Now hanging in the living room.   There are not really any challenges to share this with so I'm simply sharing it with you.

Happy New Year.

First projects in my new home & good by to Craft-Room Challenge

Hello, finally back and settled in and started to get into the craft room.   Oh yes the new home very comfortable most importantly the IMPs have settled and seem happier here.  I could wish everything in my life was going so well but it never was a smooth path to life was there.  So new craft room, just getting to find my way around has any seen my Cropadile?  Yep found new safe places and promptly forgot where they are!  

If you have been one of our lovely Craft-Room followers you have probably seen that we are closing the challenge site.   It has been more 3 years of fun and friendship but changes in out lives have brought us a parting.   My thanks to Julia, Maria, Esther, Debi, Hazel, Mervi, Suzanne, Annie, Amber and Christi for their support and help with the challenge over this time.    Not all of these special people have active blogs now so there are no links on their names.

I would also like to thank out sponsors without whose support we would not have been able to offer the great real prizes that we did over the life of the challenge.   The Stamp Man, Tando Creative, Crafty Individuals, Ali Craft, The MDF Man, Flonz , Rogue Redhead, Tanda Stamps, Rarebird, Stamp Addicts & Indigo Blue.

On to our last challenge then, this started last Tuesday but I was not able to make a sample until yesterday.   The challenge is a wonderful inspiration picture created by Debi.

I love this collage, it is so romantic beautiful winter images and gorgeous dreamy women.

Not having any paper mache models to hand I thought I'd use this artists model.   The dreamy floaty feel of the picture with the delights' of winter came to me from the picture.   Using Bigz Wings Dies and a Spellbinders feather die the dummy has been given a floaty white robe, and wings that have the look of movement all cut from white light weight card and tissue paper.

Craft-Room Challenge - Vintage Christmas

Great ideas and designs for our background challenge at Craft-Room Challenge, as always you give us a lot to think about and a great deal of pleasure visiting your blogs and seeing your work.

Sadly Annie has had to step down from the team because she has received a great offer the kind you cannot say no to.   It might be a bit early yet for her to share the news so you'll just have to keep an eye on her site to find out more, just like us her former team mates are having to. We all wish you every success in the future Annie, thank you for sharing your talents with us and being such a terrific roomie, we will miss you loads.

It seems that after her all to brief return Maria has had to step down again due to family and health issues.  We really hope Maria that things settle down for you soon and you can get back onto an even keel.   One of the original roomies your contribution to the challenge has been invaluable.

We do not have a host this time, following a group discussion we thought it would be fun to have a Vintage Christmas.  You are welcome to make anything Vintage Christmas Themed that strikes your fancy.

Crafty Individuals are our Sponsor this time and they could not be a more perfect sponsor for this theme.

Sorry I am a little late with my sample this week, been thinking of other things like moving!   But here it is now, I altered a bag with things that are to me very traditional christmas.

First the bag was stamped with traditional greetings.  Next a panel of gold textured paper and a strip of red crape paper.   More crape paper, this time green, used to tie a bow for the top of the bag.   One of my favourite Santa stamps created the main image coloured with my new Chameleon pens.   Not perhaps the best test for them but they are cool and the fade is a great effect.   Image die cut and some snow flakes punched out.   Both sides of the bag are decorated in the same way.   As a baby boomer my childhood was in the 50's and 60's vintage years.

Black White and Grey with just a touch of Green

 These are a few of my favourite things.   A mask form, painted with white Gesso, printed tissue added with the help of Modge Podge.   Rubber Stamping with Brilliance Lightening Black and then coloured with Green Whisper Pens.   The eye sockets outlined with black Whisper Pen, and the suggestion of lashes drawn on.    A black corsage with 3 gens popped onto it and a blast of silver spray and sparkle give the final flourish.

Moving home soon and I'm beginning to think that my collection of masks last used to decorate my flat in Bournemouth, 15 years ago, will be on display again.   The collection will be enlarged by the masks I've made since and kept, most have been re-homed but I've kept a few.

This mask was inspired by a new challenge Mixed Media Place whose inaugural theme is Black, White and Grey + one other.

Papertake Weekly also have a Black White + 1 theme.