Be Still

This is altered playing card number 38 for 

#52CafeCards
which is the year long creative challenge organised by Marta Lapkowska
& we are currently taking inspiration from her Whisper Boards.

I used the prompts of the colour scheme,
birds, flowers & the lady.

#MaremiWhispersBoard12

The patterned papers are designed by Vanessa Arbuthnott.

The label is by The Graphics Fairy

& can be found in the Free Printables photo album

of Marta's Facebook Group.

The lady is one of the Tim Holtz Paper Dolls.

Breaking the Rules

This is altered playing card number 37 for 

#52CafeCards
which is the year long creative challenge organised by Marta Lapkowska
& we are currently taking inspiration from her Whisper Boards.

I used the prompts of the colour scheme
& book text.

#MaremiWhispersBoard11

I made a cotton thread tassel for the bottom of the card,
using the colours in the mood board.

The background paper was designed by Vanessa Arbuthnott.

The label is by The Graphics Fairy
& together with the tag, can be found
in the Free Printables photo album
of Marta's Facebook Group.

Both the label & tag have text in the background
& I thought the angle of the label matched the angle of the staircase.

What do you think?

Be Creative Everyday

This is altered playing card number 36 for 

#52CafeCards
which is the year long creative challenge organised by Marta Lapkowska
& we are currently taking inspiration from her Whisper Boards.

I used the ideas of the powder blue colour,
flowers & the quote.

I thought the trees looked like the paintbrushes.

#MaremiWhispersBoard10

The background patterned papers are designed by Vanessa Arbuthnott.

The text is torn from my Pride & Prejudice book,

"I hope, I endeavoured to do so much as I might."

The label is in the Free Printables photo album of Marta's Facebook Group
& is by The Graphics Fairy.

A Piece of the Puzzle

The sixth & final challenge for #ITAC2017 was to create a piece of artwork,

using whatever format or techniques we wanted,
taking inspiration from the world

& to include one or more of the following;

CIRCLE(s)
the words PEACE, LOVE, HARMONY or UNITY
wire, stitching, lace or ribbon
the colour WHITE 
a HOLE or OPENING
​

Throughout this tournament

I have been working in a small handmade paper book.

My piece is entitled

Find Peace

For the main part of my piece, I used a blank jigsaw puzzle.

I took a photograph of three Pocket Cards by Tim Holtz,
including a map of the world.
.
I printed it out on photocopy paper,
then individually cut out, adhered & sanded the edges of each piece.

Open the door to reveal the wording beneath
(using the white brad as the door handle).

The circle kraft resist card is by Tim Holtz.

I altered the jigsaw edging to create my frame,
using gold peel offs, crackle glaze with layers of gesso & acrylic paint.

I wrapped gold beading wire through the holes three times,
securing the ends under the World word.

The jigsaw puzzle illustrates that we each have a part to play
in this interconnected world.

It needs all the pieces to make it complete.

Wherever you find yourself,
may you find
your own Peace.

Believe in yourself

This is my altered playing card number 35 for 

#52CafeCards
which is the year long creative challenge organised by Marta Lapkowska.

She is tagging these mood board prompts as #MaremiWhispersBoard

I used the prompts of birds,
blue tones & added a yellow gem.

This uses a piece I made for this year's Wanderlust course,
with Everything Art.

I used a copy of a photograph of the completed project,
imported the image into Word,
reduced the size
& flipped the image,
printed it out, together with the words.

The One Day Project: Travel

Today I would like to share another page in my vintage collage journal.

The journal is made from altered 3½ inch square drinks coasters.

Just using scraps of paper & a gluestick.

Scissors & a sanding block.

Blending colours,
following the movement of the images
& enjoying the pure essence of creativity.

You can read the story behind this project here.

Enjoy the Journey

This is my altered playing card number 34 for 

#52CafeCards
which is the year long creative challenge organised by Marta Lapkowska.

Marta is using #MaremiWhispersBoard
as the tag for these mood board prompts.

I used the prompts of purple flowers
& butterflies.

I used patterned paper by Vanessa Arbuthnott,
butterfly image from The Graphics Fairy,
Distress Ink (milled lavender)
& printed text.

She was Independent

The fifth challenge for #ITAC2017 was to create a piece of artwork,

using whatever format or techniques we wanted,
taking inspiration from America

& to include one or more of the following;

Shades of green
Something transparent or sharp, like ice
A large format feature, XXL size
An element suggestive of money and currency
One or more elements inspired by music and/or Samba
Decorations made of feathers, metal, leather…
​

Throughout this tournament

I am working in a small handmade paper book.

My piece is entitled

Independent

I used differing elements from Tim Holtz

to bring cohesion to my page.

There are shades of green in the map,

the birds & the decorative patterned paper.

The metal embellishment

has an image of a United States Postal Money Order,

which is also green.

The red star is transparent & has sharp points.

There are also feathers (on the birds).

The images of car license plates is to echo the red, white & blue of the flag.

I added some text from an old book

& printed my title word.

There is one final challenge yet to be announced.

Everyday Beauty

This is the next altered playing card for

#52CafeCards

Marta Lapkowska is tagging these mood board prompts as #MaremiWhispersBoard
so use this tag to search for projects by other people on social media.

I am using them to continue altering my pack of 52 playing cards,
but others are creating art journal pages,
mixed media canvases etc

I used the prompt of
flowers with dusty pinks & grey.

The Spice of Life

The fourth challenge for #ITAC2017 was to create a piece of artwork,

using whatever format or techniques we wanted,
taking inspiration from Africa

& to include one or more of the following;

Warm, bright colours 
Repeated ethnic patterns
Charms, pearls, metallic wire…
Words or text
Textures, cracks, rust effect...
​

Throughout this tournament

I am working in a small handmade paper book.

I decided to go for bright colours,
text & texture.

When I think of Africa I think of Morocco,
straight back to two wonderful visits there.

The inspiration for my piece were the photographs taken during those visits.

It felt good to browse through those images,
bringing fond memories back to life
& seeing others that I had forgotten about.

My piece is entitled

Spice of Life

Both visits to Morocco were in the month of September.

They were a doorway to a different world,

one full of colour,

with new tastes & exotic aromas,

from the dyed fabric drying overhead in the souk,

to the market stalls laden with produce,

the bright flowers in bloom,

the pyramids of spices 

& sacks full of vivid pigment.

Morocco

I created a digital collage from my original photographs,

splashed Distress Ink (spiced marmalade) over my page,

made a paper flower embellishment from another photograph,

added a piece of ribbon (to remind me of the blue skies)

& a word cut out from a calendar.

You matter

The leaves on the trees have started changing
into their Autumn wardrobe.

Oranges, yellows, reds & browns
mix with the greens of Spring & Summer.

So with this foremost in my mind,
I was pleased to see the next prompt for
#52CafeCards
which is the year long altered playing card creative challenge.

Marta Lapkowska is tagging these mood board prompts as #MaremiWhispersBoard

I used the prompts of
wood (background image),
leaves (fallen autumn leaves from the garden)
to create my butterfly
& the colour scheme.

I used Mod Podge to adhere the leaves
& sealed with Ranger's Distress Glaze.

There is also some orange fibre,
three glitter gems
& some gorgeous lace ribbon from Liberty London

Time for Change

The Wanderlust online class for Week 33,

led by Kasia Avery,
was to create a One Word project.

Each month we choose a word for that month

& make a small card which goes in our One Word box.

This is my One Word card for September.

September is all about change,

especially as the season is starting to move from Summer into Autumn,
the leaves on the trees are already turning colour & falling ...

I used old scraps of paper,
so small that most people would have already discarded them.

I wanted to use the piece with the pink flower,
(to match the red of the postage stamp image)
then I realised that the edges of the envelope image
would line up with the definition paper,
so I made a pocket for my change ...

See what I did there?

My previous One Words

August 2017 - Begin

Making the Impossible Possible

Another altered playing card for
#52CafeCards

The next prompt for this year long creative challenge
is another mood board
which Marta Lapkowska is tagging as #MaremiWhispersBoard

I took the ideas of flowers &
fabric textures (by using abaca ribbon)
& followed the colour scheme.

The images are from Brave Girls University.