Calendar Art Journal January 2016

I'm getting back into my Calendar Art Journal. 

I always like looking back at what I was doing and the arty pages I made. 

It really is a bit of a snapshot of how you were feeling at the time and you can see what crafty products were influencing you.

This is the Uber talented Kate Crane's idea, she has a whole Facebook Page dedicated to it. 

Art Journaling Calendar Challenge

She has a tutorial on her blog on how to start. 

Why not have a go.

I'm off to see what crafty products are in the New Year's sales :)

I went with an Icey blue theme. But it's still very warm!

Warm but windy though. I drew the blowing cloud with pencils but coloured it in with my NeoColour Crayons.

I drew trees that were being blown by the wind

The snow like media is DecoArt's Crackle Paste, which looks great when sprayed with a blue shimmer mist.

I've used Indigo Blu's gilding flakes and Flitter glue to make the lovely silvery flourishes. The stamp is a Crafty Individuals (CI -182) flourish.

I also used two stencils in the background, the blue swirls (Crafters Workshop) and the black arrows (Dylusions Arrows)

Did you spot the whether symbols that they use on the tele?

I just thought I'd draw them in too, seeing as we are having unusual weather this winter.

Tara for now xx

A bit of Gelli Plate & Gelato Mail Art

Well, one Sunday I decided to get my Gelli Plate out and just make lots of lovely Gelli Prints.

I love having afternoons like that where you don't think too much about anything and just make lots of backgrounds in your journal or Gelli Plate prints.

So what to do with all those prints.

                                                                       MAIL ART!

Yes I love a bit of Mail Art. 

It's always a nice surprise too when you get some lovely art through the post.

And this mail art is bright, its going to get noticed in the sorting office that's for sure!
They are nearly A4 size, so not too small!

So what did I use?

Mostly DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics for the backgrounds of the envelopes.

But for the Day of the Dead panels I used Faber Castell Gelatos. I love these, they get better each time I use them :) 

I used Kate Crane's Stampotique stamps for the characters.

Love these little cuties :)

Some of my old favourites, like the Crafty Notions heart stamp that was free with Craft Stamper about 2 years ago. Wish I could get another one from somewhere, mine is falling to bits!

The DREAM stencil is an Andy Skinner DecoArt stencil called Serendipity, its got lots of great words on it. Go check it out. :)

This AWESOME! Day of the Dead stencil is also a Andy Skinner design.

This is going to get used like mad, I just know it! 

I'm hankering for a T-shirt  with this design on it.

So I'll be trying out some fabric paints soon :)

It does have the quote "Day of the Dead" on the stencil, but I went all Spanish and used the PaperArtsy alphabet stamps instead.

I covered some card in book pages and made this bright background from rubbing Faber Castell Gelatos onto the board. I brushed over a coat of Matt gel medium to seal it, and then used some bright acrylic paint through a stencil to add more layers. 

I hope my Mail recipients will like them.

Hope you feel inspired to send your friends some mail art to brighten up their day :)

See you soon

Michelle xxxxxxx

Aged Decoart Crackle on ATC's I've missed making ATC's

I forgot just how fun and quick making ATC's were.

So had a little play yesterday with my Decoart Crackle Glaze and Antiquing Cream.

I just love all those aged crackles :)

Here's how its done :)

I bet you've seen these before?

I've got lots of them, just waiting to be used on something like this.

I stuck down a few papers and an image with some gel medium on a ATC. Be sure to cover the top with a layer of gel medium too, this gives a good surface for the crackle glaze to adhere to. Dry with a heat gun.

I like to use strong not bendy ATC's. Stick some mount board on the back or buy the thick ATC's, they don't buckle or bend when you use the heat gun on them and the crackle glaze works better on the firm card. 

Then I used Faber-Castell big brush Pitt pens to create the shading.

I have used distress inks in the past around the edge, but they don't work well because they are water based, and the crackle glaze is water based too and so the ink runs into the crackle. This is not good, and you don't get a good crackle either. 

The Pitt pens are indian ink and won't run into your crackle glaze. 

You can rub your finger on the ink too and it moves it around to blend the shading. 

I used the black Archival ink around the edge of the ATC.

I used a wide flat brush to brush on the crackle glaze. Take care not to over brush it. Load up the brush and brush one or two strokes over the same area and move along. You get a better crackle the less you work it. The glaze is self leveling so it will even out when you leave it. 

Leave it for about 4 hours and you get this gorgeous effect!

and no leaching of the ink.

Then rub in Antiquing Cream with your finger or a brush.

The antiquing Cream will fill in the cracks and is non permanent, so you can wipe off the excess when you're finished working it into the cracks.

And Voila!

Two fab aged crackle effect ATC's :)

Now what else can I crackle?

Have a good weekend peeps, the sun is out and I'm going to the beach :)

Michelle xx

Make your own Flower Press

It's been a while since I last blogged. It's been a very difficult last 6 months. 

My Mum passed away 2 weeks ago and my priority was to look after her.

I very rarely got my paints out but found that I was sewing more, this still fed my crafty craving but didn't tax my brain too much. I did make 2 really nice quilts though. I've added a few photo's at the end of this post of the sewing I've done.

I've had the blank wood for this flower press for a couple of years now. I was going to teach a class to make the flower press, but it just never happened. I finally got round to playing with my DecoArt Media Fluid acrylic paints, so made and painted up my flower press. This is my finished result.

Here is my walk through :)

I used some bull dog clips to hold my two pieces of wood together, then drilled the holes in for the bolts.

I then cut some cardboard to the same size of the board. But then cut the corners, to accommodate the bolts.

I put it all together to test if the bolts were long enough.

Here is the blank flower press.

I first mixed these paints and painted the first coat of paint on both boards.

I dried this coat before applying the next coat.

I painted a white second coat of paint.

Dried this coat, then sanded it back to reveal the turquoise blue.

I used the "Old French Script" Americana Decor text stencil and some Paynes Grey paint on some cut and dry foam. I did this on both the front and the back panel.

I dry brushed some white paint over the stencilling to knock it back a little bit.

On the front panel I used some texture paste through the "Dandelion" Americana stencil, and dried it with a heat gun. I then sprayed some Turquoise DecoArt Media Shimmer Mist over the dandelions and dry brushed some Titanium white paint over the top to catch the detail of the dandelion stencil. Love the contrast of the two colours. 

This is the finished back of the flower press.

I finished off the edges by stamping a crackle stamp with some gold paint, and darkened the edges of the board with some Prussian Blue Hue paint on a cut n dry foam pad.

This is the finished flower press with the cardboard, flowers, and the bolts in.

It also contains these flowers too :)

I filled 3 layers of flowers, making sure that none of the flowers are touching each other.

And placed cartridge paper on the bottom and the top of the flowers.

I've used Tim Holtz plastic letters and dabbed over white paint with my fingers.

Here is the finished front. I've added a bit of Treasure Gold on the edges and the raised parts of the flowers and stamped a flourish stamp around the outside with white Picket Fence Distress Stain on it.

I will come back to this flower press later in a few months and make something with my pressed flowers. :)

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Here are some of my sewing makes I've made lately.

A baby blanket. With some free motion quilting on the top.

A soft flannel raggy baby blanket

A pin cushion

And a Pan trivet for the kitchen.

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The Butterwick Hospice looked after my Mum as her cancer progressed and they are amazing people. I can't thank them enough for what they did for my Mum.

I made them this card to say thank you.  

Thanks for popping by

Take care

Michelle xx

Decoart Helping Artist & New Blog Heading

I'm really excited to share with you that I have become part of the DecoArt Helping Artist Program.

DecoArt work with artists and tutors, providing them with products and materials that they hope they'd use in their art work and classes.

They sent me this amazing selection of their new Media range paints, mediums and misters!

And some stencils too!

Well I just couldn't wait to get started on something, so I wanted to give the blog a bit of a revamp so went for making a new header. I used these paints to start off with.

I got some plain natural calico cotton to draw some houses on.

 

I mixed some Media paint with DecoArt's Fabric Medium, and painted my houses on the calico.

I left it to dry overnight, but you can dry it with a heat gun in minutes too. 

When it was dry I washed the cloth to make sure the paint was fixed. It sure was.

I dried my cloth and cut out my houses.

I then painted a background on some more calico.

 Wrote out "The Hobby Room" on a piece of paper and pinned it to the calico background.

I used the sewing machine with a free motion foot on and sewed along the letters

This is what it looked like when I had finished.

Pull off all the paper and you have your sewn name. 

I appliqued the houses to the Hobby Room cloth.

And added a cheeky washing line and some birds too with the sewing machine.

Well I have to say I love these paints, and the fabric medium is brilliant too.

It's given me an idea for more fabric painting and sewing!

So watch this space. 

Hope you like the revamp.

Michelle xx