What's your poison?

Shame there's not a bottle of Bombay Sapphire on here, because that would be my poison of choice for sure! Only another 4 weeks to go before I'm off work for 2 whole weeks! Sheer crafting bliss if you ask me. I'm gonna be a crafting hermit and only surface for food. Oh and one day of pampering at Seaham Hall health spa with my best mate. I can't pass that one by. I'll only be dreaming of creating something anyway, so technically I'll still be crafting in my mind.

What's your poison? 
mini canvas

The canvas above started life with 2 Dylusions inks Vibrant Turquoise and Crushed Grape. What a wondrous combination, I can't help but keep looking at how gorgeous they look together. I also used Dylusions Alphabet Jumble stencil and the Inkylicious Latin Script stamp.

I couldn't resist using some bubble wrap too for some darker dots. This is a great cheap way of creating more layers. I used Dylusions dotty stencil and a baby wipe to dab off some of the colour in the top right hand corner.

I used an Indigo Blu crackle stamp for more interest

I wanted some texture on there so I used some modelling paste mixed with purple metallic acrylic paint and turquoise mica powders. I used a spatula to spread the modelling paste through a key stencil from 'That Special Touch', and some small sequin waste, the effect looked great especially with the mica powder in it.

I did a mop up tag from my excess Dylusion inks on the craft mat and decided to use up the rest of my modelling paste as well on the same tag using the flower stencil from Crafter's Workshop. This will pop up on the blog later probably.

Once the modelling paste was dry I painted the keys with some black paint and rubbed some purple metallic paint on here and there. I stamped some Old Curiosity Shoppe set 3, Bottles onto white card and used water colours to give them a bit of colour, cut them out and stuck them on the canvas. I finished off the painting with some black and metallic blue streaks, some yellow circles, a Tim Holtz bird stamp and the caption What's your Poison?

Think I'll go finish off that tag, bye for now xx

Why not decorate a letter?

I thought I would revisit my Decopatch letters and pick up where I left off a few months ago. The next letter I needed to decorate from my series in "The Hobby Room" was 'Y'.  I went for a grassy letter this time with daisy's.

I used railway flocking for the grass and a flower punch for the daisy's.

Here are the other letters I've done so far, not the best picture in the world I know, but I've hung them a bit high up on my wall and the desk lamp is turned round to light up the letters.

Here are the other posts for the other letters if you wanted a closer look with more detail.

T is for Tim

H is a wash with colour

E is for Elegance

H is Craft from the Heart

O is for Ornate

B is for Beach

B is for bling

And Y is this one.

My next project is going to be using something I bought from the MDF man from the last show I was at.

I feel another painting moment coming on.

Michelle x

Morning world

A new day and a new computer! I went out and bought a shiny new laptop thinking my old one was running slow and I'd had it a while. Oh no it was my internet provider's network dying, and then going off for the last 24 hours. A blogger simply can't live without an internet connection for 24 hours! So I've been busy installing programmes on the new puter, and then did a sneaky ATC with my new Ranger canvas ATC's.

So this is what I thought this morning, "Morning World" hopefully we can get the internet back on, and sure enough it did. Phew no more internet dt's. 

I used Stampotique Stamp "In Prison"

Background is stamped with an Inkylicious 'Brick wall Stamp', dabbed with Aqua Adirondack dabber and a Dimension Stamp small 'Honeycomb stamp' with some gold acrylic paint.

I used a close squirt of Dylusions inks for the 3 circle sprays.

Beauty is everywhere

Another little quickie. I started this watercolour card at Art from the Heart on Saturday. I finished it off with the brilliant 'Heart Throb' Stampotique stamp and a Indigo Blu Nature 1 (love this set) caption. Background was made using Golden acrylic paints. I drew the stitching around the edge too.  I nearly forgot but the clouds are from the Indigo Blue Nature stamp set too. Michelle x

Entered into Try it on a Tuesday

He looks a bit creepy!

Just a quick post. I finished off a little canvas I started at Art from the Heart on Saturday. Which one's are the creepy ones?  The '3 in a round' stamp is from Stampotique and the tree, leaves, and spider-web are from Lavinia Stamps. I used Golden & Artiste acrylic paints.  I stuck a bit of modelling paste through a Balzer Designs stencil (mini burst) for the texture around the edge.

I like the creepy stamps, I need more. Michelle x

Please check out other artists at Artists in Blogland, there is loads to inspire you here.

Olympic Torch relay 2012 Teesside

This just happened at the end of my road, what a great party atmosphere, everyone was in very high spirits, with carnival floats and lots of high five-ing policemen. Lovely warm day too. The BBC news team said they've had the best crowds so far in Teesside. We know how to party up here! lol It was a massive bonus that they changed torches right in front of me!

Golden Paints play day at AFTH

Well I've had the most enjoyable day today. I really had a lot of fun at Art from the Heart (AFTH), .... it should be dished out as therapy ..... I sang all the way home in the car on cloud nine! The paint-ier my hands (and face) got today the happier I became.  Kate Crane was of course on top form again drawing out the secret artist inside you. I'm always surprised about all the creative things I've made when I get home. If you've not been for a class there, then you should seriously think about having a go.

Here are a couple of pics of what we got up to today.  Here we are rubbing off our printed image transfers that we stuck to our tags. In the foreground you can see the colour swatches we made from using Golden paints with different mediums. Brilliant idea Kate.

Here are 2 journals drying on the end of the table. The blue one is mine, and the orange one belongs to the wonderfully talented Ruth.

Here are the tags I made and a little canvas board in the middle. Some tags are only a background for now and will appear on the blog later when I've finished them.

Here is the background of the journal pages. Not finished yet, it needs calming down a bit, but I love those Golden paints! 

Here are those printed image transfers. The one on the left we used fluid matte medium to adhere the print to, and on the right we used gesso. I rubbed more of the paper off around the face to give it a 3d effect of a face.

I love this background below. This was made using watercolour card, I sprayed it with water first, then painted it with some light blue paint, then dried it off.  Then I added a darker blue with a palette knife, oh and did a couple of circles with the lid while I was on. Then I added iridescent orange Golden paint....OH this is sooooo yummy! I NEED MORE.... finished it off with some splats of orange paint. Now I need to make an image to go on it.

I also managed to spend £68 while I was there too! My second haul of the week, good job I'm on a diet, they'll be no food shopping this week!

-----------------------------

On another note.

On Wednesday's post for WOYWW I promised I would put up the ATC's I received from the 3rd Anniversay swap. 

Trace's grungy steampunk from InkyPinkyCraft is full of wonderful layers, love those embossed rivets.
Jo's felt Dumfling from Twiglet is beautifully different, love this idea.

Rita from RMG creations produced this wonderful art embellished ATC.
Belinda from Belinda's Crafts gave me a marvellously inspiring quote, "Do small things with great love".

And last but not least Jo from JoZart made this fab colourful ATC dedicated to the 3rd WOYWW anniversary.

Thank you everyone for my smashing ATC's which are now on my wall inspiring me everyday.

Michelle x

WOYWW 158

I'm trying to write and upload this post into the only 45 minute gap I have free today! I'm off out shortly and I can't miss WOYWW! I've only got time to upload one pic of my crafty stash I bought at Stamp Magic on Sunday, but I will update the post tomorrow evening with some more pics of my ATC swaps for the Anniversary of WOYWW.

I did buy a lot on Sunday, but it was the MDF man's fault because he had so many great bargains on his stall. I can't wait to slap loads of paint on them and ink them up!   I got a few new stamps from Lavinia, Inkylicious and Indigo Blu, a couple of masks, some gorgeous Stampendous Shaved Ice and aged embossing powders, can't wait to get cracking with them!    

A couple of canvas boards, some more Pinflair, because I fixed my fridge door handle with my last tube! OMG it's brilliant, oh and my tea towel holder's never budged since I stuck it on with Pinflair, it's a wondrous thing!

A couple of pads of papers, some old style cigarette cards, an ATC pack, some more blank tags, some twinchies like inchies but 2 inches instead of 1. A Christmassy TH embossing folder ......  aaaannnd some little mirror florishes, ooh and a random bottle of Colourcraft mist spray, I wanted to see how it compares to my other bottles of mist sprays.

More to come in this post later, I gotta dash.

Bye bye my lovely crafty friends xx

There's probably a spelling mistake somewhere, but I'll have to fix it tomorrow!

xx

Home is where the ink & paint is!

Home is the place to be right now with this rainy weather. I'm not complaining though, I have to occupy myself somehow, and I don't need any encouragement to get my inks and paints out. I thought I would make a happy little scene of "Home is where the ink & paint is", and the heart of course!

I first primed a 30 x 25cm canvas with gesso, and left it to dry. Brushed some blue and green acrylic paint across the canvas until I was happy with the result.

I drew this quirky little house.

I sprayed a page in a book with Dylusions Inks, Cosmic Shimmers and Radiant Rain, drew the letters for the    caption and cut them out.

I used Balzer Design's Crafter's Workshop stencil on the bottom with some Forest Moss green TH Distress ink. I used a flourish mask to give the illusion of clouds and I really like how it looks. I also used a Dylusion's number jumble stencil here and there. The frayed material stamp around the edge is from The Stamp Man. I flicked some yellow, black and white paint at the canvas and used a lid for the circles.

I drew the heart flowers and painted them direct on the canvas then I tore two thin pieces of green card stock for the flower bed. I painted a page in my book with gesso and cut out some fence posts and cross bars from the page and stuck them on the canvas to make the fence. I really like the way the fence had turned out. I did some shading with some Caran D'Ache pencils at the base of the fence posts and the house.

A happy little painting for my craft room wall.

Michelle x

Jubilee ATC's

Well the rain managed to stay away for my two Jubilee garden parties on Bank Holiday Monday & Tuesday. Day one was a family get together, but the second one was a much more rowdy affair with people from work. I forgot to take any pictures of the second one.

Here are the ATC's I made for the WOYWW 156 ATC swaps, hopefully they should be with their swapee's by now. I still have two to make however. I've just been mega busy over the weekend.

The stamps are from Papermania's Portobello Road urban stamps, as well as the Portobello Road airmail paper. The crowns are stamped with silver embossing powders, then I added gems and painted them with Ranger's Rock Candy. I also used real 1st and 2nd class stamps on the ATCs and a Crafty Individuals London postmark stamp. I melted some wax and painted it on the corner of each ATC and stamped a flourish stamp into it before it cooled. Then I rubbed mica powders into the wax.

I am making the other two ATC's this afternoon, as well as another small canvas. I'm making the most of my week off work now by getting inky and messy. I will be back to the old grindstone on Monday, boo hiss.

Michelle x

Gone ATC crazy

It seems like everyone in the crafty arty world has gone ATC (Artist Trading Card) and art journaling crazy, that includes me too.  I haven't made a birthday card in ages, saying that I have to make 4 this month!.  Julia Dunnit's Stamping Ground blog has sparked off a mass ATC swap all around the world for her 3rd Anniversary of 'Whats on Your Workdesk Wednesday', if you like having a neb at crafter's messy desks then you should join in. I've got one's coming from the US and Africa, how exciting.

Here are 4 ATC's I've made for Evil Edna. Hopefully she'll have them by now, so it'll be ok to put them on here.

1. There's no place like home = Tim Holtz & Artistic Outpost stamps, Cosmic Shimmer's Embossing powder. Background is Adirondack alcohol inks.

2. Whitby Curiosity  = Whitby Abbey stamp from Crafty Individuals, curiosity stamp from Tim Holtz. Background is Dylusion's Inks.  

3. Listen to your heart = TH & My Minds Eye stamps, background is mixed white Picket Fence, Broken China, Vintage Photo TH distress stain and a TH text stamp using a copper Brilliance ink.

4. Eye into the Soul = My current favourite Inkylicious face stamp, and My Minds Eye strands stamp. I coloured the eye in with a blue Signo pen. I rubbed a bit of gesso in the corner too to whiten it up to stamp some words on. The background is stamped hard with TH Distress Stains to get a splat effect.

I thought I might add the ATC's that Kate Crane and I had swapped a few weeks ago too, I love the Stampotique stamp on the ATC that Kate gave to me. I feel a purchase coming on when I go to Art from the Heart in a week and a half's time. The ATC I made for Kate is .....based on Kate herself, she has these fab loose ringlets that are just begging to be drawn, and I couldn't resist, and she's always got her glasses on her head. Typical school teacher look, I feel like I have to put my pen down and listen. I had a lot of fun making it, and she likes it too, so that's a bonus.

I drew a little kitchen roll and attached it to the bottom of the ATC, there's always a roll knocking about when your using the Dylusions Inks.

I have another 5 to send off this weekend, exciting times! Will put them up next week.

Michelle xx  

WOYWW 156

It's been 9 days since I last blogged, I'm a bad crafter! Basically I have 2 garden parties this weekend and I have been tidying the house from top to bottom, and trying to make the garden look like I haven't spent the last 12 months in the craft room! I am off work next week, so after my epic entertaining session I'll be right back where I belong getting inky & messy. I'm craving being creative.

I'm interested in the ATC swap with my fellow WOYWW'er. From my desk this week you can see that I have been making ATC's as well. I'm ready to send mine off to my swapee.

If you're wondering what is WOYWW then please see Julia Dunnit's blog here for an explanation and to join in if you want.

Done an ATC swap with Evil Edna this week, I will try and put up my 4 ATC's on the blog Friday perhaps.

Michelle x

Dream Big Canvas

It seems like ages ago since I last posted, but it was only Wednesday. Since then I made an ATC for a swap with Kate Crane.  I drew a cowgirl Kate with Dylusions spray's in each hand, and a caption saying 'Put em up!', I'm really pleased she liked it. Kate posted it on her blog Here. I love my ATC from Kate (mine is the green one), it's taking pride of place on my wall. :-)

I've been getting all preoccupied with painting up a 60 x 60cm canvas which has taken me all week to do since I work full time. I felt that layering up a canvas was one step up from layering up a journal page really, so I jumped in with both feet and got cracking. I was inspired to do the canvas by two books I had bought from Art from the Heart, they were 'Layered Impressions' by Katie Kendrick and 'Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts'.

One thing I do love about painting up a canvas, is that you can use lashings and lashings of acrylic paints and really get your hands all dirty and get my Ranger apron dirty too! Here's the finished article below. Dream Big, Live Well and Be Happy. I've hung it on the wall above my bed. Maybe I'll go to sleep now instead of thinking too much about designs and layouts!

I started off with the blank canvas which I primed with gesso and allowed to dry. This didn't take to long to dry, about an hour maybe. Then I tore up some papers and stuck them on with multi-purpose PVE glue. 

I painted over the top with more gesso and stuck some bubble wrap into it while it was still wet for a textured pattern.

I stuck down some florist straw on a roll down one side, and used a 'Mini Cubist' Crafters Workshop stencil with some brown acrylic paint here and there.

I filled in some areas of the florist straw with glue and Beadazzles (love this product, I'm always looking for an excuse to use it!) just for some more texture and interest. I also used Dylusions 'Jumbled Letters' stencil randomly around the canvas too.

I used Indigo Blu's Flitter Glue and gilding flakes with a Tim Holtz stamp to get these beautiful gilded circles 4 or 5 times around the canvas.

Then I drew a women's face on watercolour card and coloured her with acrylic paints. I cut her out and stuck her on the canvas too. this was the halfway mark. I used the bubble wrap again dipped in Burnt Umber acrylic paint and randomly stamped it too. I also stuck down two skeleton leaves in the bottom right hand corner.

I used heavy structure gel through the Cubist stencil and a Dylusions 'Dotted Flowers' stencil to generate some raised areas on the canvas.

I got my brayer out and loaded it up with a few different shades of blue and rolled it over the edges of the canvas.

I stamped my current favourite Crafty Notions heart stamp up the side of the florist straw using blue Aqua Adirondack dabber acrylic paint, and shaded the area around the heart with pastels.  I used a fab Inkylicious text stamp with black paint randomly too.

I used Tim Holtz Grungeboard letters and sprayed them with Postbox Red Dylusions Inks and Red firefly Cosmic Shimmers on my craft sheet, then when they were dry, I sprayed them again, then again. Then I stuck them on the canvas.  I did a bit more shading here and there, and added some darker areas of brown acrylic paints around the edge using a paint sponge until I was happy with the colour.

Then I hung it on my bedroom wall! 

Roll on the next one!