Wishing with all my Heart

This is an impulse mixed media project,

made because I had an overwhelming urge to be creative.

I found a 3 by 4 inch canvas in my project box.

I had previously painted it pink, don't ask me why.

I took it back to my desk & added a rough coat of

DecoArt Media Black Gesso,

using a spatula.

Once dry, I picked up my paper scraps folder

from the floor next to my desk

& had a quick rummage.

My inspiration for this piece came from that folder,

the butterfly image, torn handmade paper, printed pattern paper,

corrugated card, the string,

including the precut image of the girl,

which for some reason had been discarded

I turned to my copy of Pride & Prejudice

for the focal words 

& finally added leaf metal fragments by Eberhard Faber.

Where did you find your creative inspiration today?

I have an Idea ...

This is a project from Melody Ross.

I used what supplies I already had,
so that meant a smaller canvas (7 by 5 inches).

I also decided to do mine portrait,
rather than Melody's landscape original.

I didn't have any heavy-body acrylics,
so I just used my regular set of cheap acrylics.

Creating a textured background using a palette knife & cheap acrylic paint

Mars Black (background)

Titanium White (lettering)

Need to leave this to dry overnight

I used Golden Soft Gel (Matte) Medium as my collage medium.

Collage pieces added & painted over

Lemon Yellow (hat) 

Medium Yellow & Yellow Ochre (flower)

Phthalo Green (leaf)

Colbalt Blue & Phthalo Blue &  (flower)

Crimson (flower)
&

Walnut Stain Distress Ink (antiquing finish)

Trying to show the gold edge

For the edges of the canvas,
I used ecoGreen's Pure Gold acrylic paint
instead of sheets of gold leaf
over a background of Burnt Sienna.

a little bird told me ...

... that I am the Little Birdie featured artist of the day over at the Brave Girls Club, so if you are visiting my blog from the Daily Truth and want to see a little more of my little birdie, please click on the picture below.

The Key to my Heart

This is my Valentine project for 2013, using a small 5 x 7 inch canvas.

The blank canvas was covered in torn 7 Gypsies paper & given a coat of gesso.

Once dried, a wash of diluted acrylic paint was added. When this was dry, brown rub-ons by Kaisercraft (These Days) were applied.

The letters, cut from the 7 Gypsies paper, were mounted onto paper punched from papers by K&Company (Brianna).

A further coat of clear gesso was then applied over the rub-ons & lettering.

The metal key is from K&Company (Life's Journey) & tied with a piece of olive green organza ribbon.

The paper heart shape was adhered to mountboard, with the edges sanded, before the band of grosgrain ribbon was fixed into place.

The canvas was edged with lace ribbon by American Crafts (Ruban Premium in Vanilla & Chestnut).

Additional supplies worthy of note are Pinflair Bookbinding Glue, Liquitex clear gesso, & Eco Green Crafts Acrylic Paint (white).

Sweet Melody

I was so excited to learn that Priscilla Jones had an article in the current issue of Stitch magazine, which included a tutorial of her mixed media canvases.

So only using items I already had to hand, I plowed in to create my mixed media canvas.


The first step was to plan my layout & draw a quick sketch.


The canvas is 3 by 4 inches. I painted a base coat of Eco Green acrylic paint (Orchid) incorporating two strips of torn music paper. Once dried I added two further strips of music paper & then a coat of watered down acrylic paint (White). One more coat, this time a mix of emulsion (Dulux Springtime) & matte multi-medium to tone down the background colour & blend in the whiteness of the paper. I allowed it to run down the edges of the canvas for extra textural effect.


To create the topper, I first cut up some neutral shaded fabric & coated it with the white paint & allowed to dry. The fabrics were hand stitched together, using pale coloured thread. Priscilla uses the free stitching setting on her sewing machine, but all my stitching is done by hand.


My bird is made from three different fabrics, stitched together with bolder coloured thread & then stitched onto the fabric background. To embellish, I added the words & four buttons.


I thoroughly enjoyed following her tutorial & it has given me a deeper admiration for Priscilla's work, which I already adore.

Quiet Please

I've been finishing off a project I started in July last year.

It's a canvas, covered in torn printed text from an unwanted book. The lady & the inchie squares were taken from a Great Plains brochure.

I used Distress Inks (antique linen to age the printed quote & peeled paint around the edges). The quote is attributed to Richard Alpert.

I used oil pastels to give age & distress to the image of the lady & added a butterfly to her necklace (from The Graphics Fairy).

Two green buttons thread with brown leather cord adds a little visual interest & balance to the other side.

Dimensional Art Canvas

This week's project, inspired by Tim Holtz, was to alter a mini canvas using Grungeboard into a dimensional piece of art.


The canvas is 2 inches wide & 2¾ inches high.


Using the mini Grungeboard die-cut alphabet, I spelt out the word "Art" topping the T with a mini Grungeboard crown element.

To cover the Grungeboard & canvas, I turned to a couple of old telephone books & tore out sections containing the words Create & Art.

Using matte Studio multi-medium, I adhered the paper over the Grungeboard elements & canvas, finishing with a further layer over the top.


Once dried, I highlighted the raised areas with Distress Ink (broken china), Perfect Pearls (Blue Patina) & Distress Stickles (Broken China).

I edged the canvas with Distress Ink (peeled paint).

I used a few green dew drops as jewels on the crown & down one side, for added visual interest & balance.


The silver metal word charm was wrapped around the canvas using metallic blue & light silver thread.


To finish, I took another mini Grungeboard element, this time the wings. I cut the wings in half & coloured them with Distress Ink (peeled paint).

I added words from the telephone directory to write the phrase,

"Let Your Creative Wings Take Flight"

I coated the wings with the matte multi-medium & adhered them to the back of the canvas frame.

A Stroll in the Sun

My project this week has been to work on a blank canvas (5 x 6¾ inches). As with most blank canvases, it was rather daunting, but taking inspiration from Tim Holtz blog theme this week of Distress, I took two plain white Prima paper flowers & let my creativity flow ...


To distress the flowers, I used Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers (Sandal, Hazelnut & Lettuce). I added an old button to the centre of each flower, using gold metallic thread, then stitched along the petals. A few touches of gold from my Marvy Metallics pen & Gold Stickles to finish.

So on to the canvas. I began with a rectangle of Hazelnut paint. Once dried, I brushed a little Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls, then I added Lettuce, edging it with Gold Stickles.



The centre motif uses handmade cream paper, cream jute ribbon, a square of white mountboard coated in Distress crackle paint (antique linen) with a button with gold metallic thread in the middle.


The Flora Doodles velvet butterfly was distressed with Distress Ink (brushed corduroy). I added lime green gems to the wings & Stickles. I removed the original black antenna & replaced them with my own hand coiled gold wire ones.

I composed a Haiku (a Japanese poem) to tie the canvas elements together. The words were printed on white copy paper. Each word was torn out to create the frayed edges, then they were inked with brushed corduroy Distress Ink. The words were adhered to the canvas using Glossy Accents.

Eastern Promise

I love blog hopping & yesterday Jo's blog lead me to Chris Rowe's blog to her template challenge - how could I resist?

So today I sat down to play & decided to use the beautiful image provided for this week's challenge on Art Creations Friday.



I used a small box canvas 4 inches high x 3 inches wide. I base coated the canvas with gold acrylic paint. Once the base coat was dry, I added Distress crackle paint (antique linen) & whilst wet, I sprinkled Perfect Pearls powder over the top. When the paint had dried, I lightly swept over the paint to buff the Perfect Pearls.



I designed some papers to match the image & printed them out together with the image. I layered various elements over the base template & cut the doors. I mounted the frame over the image using 3d foam, so the doors could open & close. I added a little silver Stickles over the grey paper elements & gold Stickles over the gold paper elements.


For the finishing touches, I rubbed gold Stickles over the canvas, wrapped pale silvery blue ribbon around the canvas & added pearls on the door.

Window to my Soul

The challenge theme on Creative Wednesday is Windows.


I took a 5x7 inch canvas & covered the surface with a thin layer of Distress Paint (antique linen). Once it had dried thoroughly & the cracks had appeared, I took a piece of Cut-N-Dry foam with black ink & rubbed over the surface, which highlighted the cracks.


I used a corner stamp by Crafty Individuals in the four corners, using Archival Ink (Jet Black).


The frame is a fabulous clip art image from Dover Publications & after much fine cut work, I mounted it over a piece of cream vellum. The image, or should I say, reflection is a Non Sequitur rubber stamp, again stamped with Archival Ink.


I must also mention that the frame & lettering were printed out onto papers from Shabby Princess.


The butterflies were lifted from a photograph that I took earlier this year, of a Speckled Wood butterfly as it was fluttering around my garden.