a Stitch in Time

Is it a canvas? is it a book? . . . No . . . its a sewing kit.
For this weeks Imagine if . .     post I've been busy putting all the pieces together and created a wee surprise out of Jo's hollow book.

 

 

 
 
 
                           

  

 

 

I struggled at first for inspiration on this project, but once the ideas came I was away laughing.  After all these pieces were sorted, the fun began.

  

 

First the cover was created, using some sticky back canvas as the hinge.



 

Then I attached lots of die cuts (recognize these Ngaere??), used several stencils with texture paste, then painted it all with several colours with Lumiere paints.



 

All the embellishments were then mostly hot glued in place before getting a coat of gesso to seal them all.



 

Most of the bigger embellishments then received a coat of a very dark purple (yes scary I know) just to give them a solid base, then several layers of different colours were added until I was happy with the end results. 

Products used were: Lumiere Metallic Acrylic - Pearl Turquoise & Grape

                                 Folk Art Acrylic Paint - Heather

                                 Lindy's Stamp Gang - Starburst, Azure Sea Asters

                                 Viva Décor Inka Gold - Platinum

                                  Rub'n'buff - Gold leaf

 

I created the 'page' effect by adding book paper and scraps of lace between the chipboard 'pages'.

 

Enjoy more closeups of the embellishments.

 

 

Lots of Imagine if . .  products have been used in this, from lettering, random chipboard, felt flowers, stencils, quote from quote sheet, words.  All these products are available from the website and now can be found in several shops around New Zealand along with their very own new shop in Morrinsville.

 

Thanks for visiting, I hope my work inspires you to go forth and create something similar.

 

 

Travel journal

Over at Artistic Creationz they are now taking entries to join in the annual Circle Journal, so while I've got a bit of time up my sleeve I've made a start to mine.  Firstly to think of a theme . . . once that was established the whole idea of the shape/size/construction of the journal was quite straight forward.  I also wanted to do something quite different to the norm.

 

This collage was such fun to make, and surprisingly easy.  The whole idea hinged around the availability of the Eiffel Tower chipboard, which luckily Spotlight did have in stock.  I have taken a few photos to show you the different easy steps.

 

 

I started with just a piece of cardstock.  After creating the background by sticking on some 'texture' (muslim, tissue, lace, netting, etc) I hot glued all the bits in place (as you can see there is allsorts here - even a dismembered doll).

 

 

Everything then got a generous coating of gesso.

 

Then the fun part really started.  I painted the whole thing in red, then the base got a touch of black paint and coffee shop glimmermist (to tone down the red a bit).  When this was all dry I touched up the red again (several times), leaving the black background.  Then to attach the label.  The whole page has been finished off by highlighting areas by dabbing on some gold rub'n'buff.  I LOVE how its turned out, and by the comments and 'likes' on facebook, I think I've done myself proud.

 

I hope I have inspired you to try something similar, it is soooo easy and fun to do.  Thank you for visiting and for all your lovely comments.

  

Altered Journal

 I thought it was high time for a new 'notebook' to help keep track of all my upcoming commitments and monthly challenges, so I decided to alter a rather plain Dusty Attic journal .  My poor notebook I have been using was well and truly ready for retirement.  So here it is:

 

Here I have used techniques I learnt from the lovely Dusty Attic DT's.  Firstly I followed what Belinda has done to create the textured background.  I started by painting the surface with gesso, then when dry I glued on ripped book paper.  When this layer was dry I used a stencil and a credit card to apply a layer of gel medium.  Next I rubbed over some distress ink (peeled paint, tumbled glass & mustard seed).  Dylusion Ink sprays (London blue & white linen) came next, then I finished with a stencil and some texture paste

 

 

 For the next stage I followed  Gabrielle in her stunning video.  I started by gluing on all my embellishments,

 

 

Then it was all given a coat of gesso,

 

Then I painted it all with Pearl Blue Lumiere paint,

 

When this was all dry I touched everything up with a very light dabbing of gesso, sprayed patches with glimmer mist (Crème de Chocolate), again more gesso, then finished with another few squirts of the Dylusion Ink spray just to give it a big more brightness.

Here are a few closeups before the last squirts of Dylusion Ink. 

 

 

 

I love doing these collages and must find the time to do more.  I am very happy with how this has turned out, and am very impressed with the Dylusion Ink sprays, which I've not used before (it might be a good excuse to get some more).

 

Thank you for visiting, please leave a comment I love to hear what you think about my work.

Art Journal 3

Wow how time flies.  Here we are already the middle of the month.  Definitely time to be getting on with things.  Here I've finished my page in the next art journal I'm doing with the ladies at Creative Dreams.  Being involved with this is really making me think outside the square in a real fun way.  Anyway here is my effort I've done in Jules' book.

She asked for spring colours, so whats better than these fluro Kaisercraft paints?  I spread the 3 colours across the pages with a credit card, then used random templates & stamps in black and white.  The background word stamp was stamped onto tissue before gluing on the page, then also painted.  Magazine cutouts were attached, then outlined with painty pens (black and white).  I finished the page with lots of spots and blotches, rhinestones & distress inks.

Inspiration for the background came from 'Mixed Media Jenn' on You Tube and I also used  techniques that I used on the previous page.  This was a real fun page to create and once I had the colours and ideas sorted in my brain this only took 2 evenings to actually create.

This is also being entered in the Lets Craft & Create challenge which is 'Ink Technique'.

Crazy Collage

Wow I cannot believe I actually created this!!! For someone who can't draw to save themselves, I am very impressed.  This is a page I've made in Fiona's Art Journal, which is the 1st of the monthly journals I will be contributing to with Creative Dreams

 

This is SUCH a crazy style.  Artists Teesha Moore & Jane Davenport are doing this crazy collage on You Tube, and now having done it I find you don't actually have to be an artist to create these masterpieces.  All you need is glossy magazines, pens, and a bit of paint . . . . . . and CRAZY imagination. 

 

This is definitely a style that I will be tempted to do again, and once you have a supply of glossy pictures in your stash, its surprisingly quick to actually put together.

 

Please follow my journey through the next 12 months as I contribute to all the other ladies journals as they arrive.

Collage ATC ****WINNER*****

ATC's (Artists Trading Cards) are not an item I make very often although my good friend Fiona at art of heart revells in them.  Dusty Attic run a monthly challenge and swap for these also, so after I had finished all my layouts for the months challenges I took a look and saw there weren't very many entries, so why no I thought.  Its quite different, doing such a little project as ATC's are only 2.5" x 3.5". 

Unfortunately I had to rush to get this finished so I could take photos before the natural daylight faded on me, so there are a few things I'm not quite happy with i.e. I would have liked to lighten the brown paint/mist a bit more, and even perhaps add a few more leaves??

Anyhow I created this by first glueing lots of 'texture' to the background - ripped text paper, chicken netting die cut, muslim - which was gesso'd then glimmer misted in places.  Next I hot glued the buttons, cogs, chain - which again were gesso'd then misted.  Leaves & flowers finished the bottom corner.  Lastly I added the lightbulb, crowns (which were stickled) and words.  I did want the word 'inspiration' to go with the light bulb idea, but time didn't let me.  Dusty Attic product used here are crowns#3 DA0157, Dusty in Bloom - cornsilk DA0806.

Challenges entered with this are:
dustyattic - monthly ATC challenge - collage   **** WINNER ****
lets craft & create - tags
southerngirlschallenge - leaves (I hope you can see the 2nd leaf hiding there)

Thanks for visiting, and sorry for the 'not quite my best' effort on this one.  Onwards and upwards as they say.

I'm a Winner!!!

Wow this is fantastic.  Here I am, new to this blogging game and I already have a win to share with you all.  This was my entry in the southerngirlschallenge  challenge #67 - buttons/flair.  I entered this challenge via email before this blog was running.

This is actually the front cover of a mini/journal I made in a partnered swap at nzpaperchase.  In the swap we were to send our partner a parcel of goodies, for them to make a project and return to the sender.  You'll be amazed at what my partner sent me, and how I came up with the result I really don't know, it just kind of evolved taking the best part of a month to create.

This is the parcel of goodies I received to 'play' with.  The majority of the items were just bits and pieces, not really papercrafting goodies as such.  After much thought here is the finished product:

I believe all the entries in this swap will be posted on nzpaperchase and facebook within days.  I can't wait to see them all.  This was such a fun challenge, really pushing out the boundaries.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing this with me.  Please leave a comment, as I really value your feedback.