Precious Moments

Isn't it lovely when you are spoiled with lovely photos to scrap.  This photo of my niece Zana was taken in a professional photo shoot when she and her mother visited my sister in Australia in 2011.  The pose is awesome and I adore the black and white finish of the photo

 

This layout has been made following the Dusty Attic monthly sketch.  I started with random paper from my stash, a lovely big doily, lace & trim, lots of  DA chippies, and luscious flowers (handmade and prize winnings).  I've finished the page with lots of bling, black rhinestones as the chain for the bird cage, red rhinestone flourish and clear rhinestones dotted throughout.

 

The Dusty Attic chippies I have used are:

DA0720 Birds Nest #1 - gesso'd then inked

DA0476 Mini words #2 - painted, glossy accents

DA0435 Decorative flourish set - gesso'd then stickled

DA0678 Bird cage #5 - painted

 

Challenges entered with this layout are:

Dusty Attic - monthly sketch layout

Artfull Crafts - pink

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'.

Candy Station swap

I made this 'Candy Station' aka 'pretty box of lollies' in a swap for Paula at Artistic Creationz.  The brief was to decorate a box no bigger than 6" x 6" x 2", and to use a spring theme.

 

Sadly nothing I tried came out looking like spring, but I love how its turned out anyhow.  I've used lots of hand made flowers here again, with pearls, laces and trims to finish it all.

 

The goodies inside are all homemade:  Russian Fudge, Hokey Pokey and Candied Figs, yummy.  Now I can't wait to see what Paula has made for me.

 

 

Floral Fantasy winner

Yay my entries have just been chosen as September's Overall Challenge winner over at Artfullcrafts.  The theme was 'floral fantasy', so anything with flowers could be entered.  And as I love flowers .... it was a no brainer but to enter.   I was running out of time so entered 2 oldies, but favourites of mine, both with lots of handmade flowers.

 

 

This boot was made in a swap, so sadly now I don't have it any more.  I really enjoyed this challenge, which started by painting the dark grey boot with gesso before I covered it with several layers of satin, then lace fabrics.  I made the majority of the flowers, mostly the yoyo style, then added lots of pearls, pheasant feathers, ribbons, small doilies, mini roses and leaves.

I was sad to see it leave our shores, but love the shoe I got back in return.

 

This layout is a real favourite of mine, here I was trying out new ideas and I'm very happy with the result.  With such a pretty picture of 2 gorgeous girls, I had to make something special.  Here I've started with G45 paper, then used lots of lace, feathers and a Dusty Attic skeleton clock face.  I've used some of the same flowers as the boot, and added some of my crocheted ones as well. 

I particularly love all the stitching, a technique I will use again.

 

Thanks to all the crew at Artfull Crafts for my selection, and I hope to continue to contribute to your monthly challenges with more of my projects.

Rock around the Clock

Todays layout is my DT entry for Southern Girls Challenge, with the theme this time being 'Song Inspired'.  I wanted to do something a bit different again and I think I have achieved that, with these lovely photos of the talented dancers at The Beach Hop, Whangamata 2013.

 

I started with paper from Kaisercraft Needles & Threads collection, which I splattered with paint.  The Dusty Attic skeleton clock face DA0430 has been painted with high gloss paint, as were the letters.  I used more of the colours with the photo matts, and the random flowers. 

 

Very basic, yet very effective.

This layout has also been entered in the Lets craft & create 'Colour me Happy' challenge

 



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.

Playing Ladies

Wow I've got a bit more catch up to do, so this is hopefully the first of my weekends efforts. I had fun using this awesome photos of my sisters and I all dolled up for a race meeting in Forbes, NSW last year.

 

Here is the Dusty Attic monthly layout sketch I have followed:

 

 

I started with Kaisercraft paper from the Needles and Thread collection, then layered on a bit of Martha Stewart paper.  Lots of ink & gesso grunged up the page, then I softened the look with some muslim, doily, and random flowers.  Dusty Attic chippies DA0579 scroll #6 small, and DA0370 mini vines were gesso'd, glimmer misted, then stamped to give that tortoiseshell look - I love it.

 

I'm please with how this has turned out considering my senses and creativity are very dulled at the moment with a terrible head cold.  Thank you for looking, please leave a comment.

Dreamer

Here I've created a small 4" canvas to enter into the latest challenge at lets craft & create where this fortnights theme is 'black and white'.

 

I started by covering the black canvas with a black lace fabric, sadly the photo doesn't show it but it looks gorgeous.  The bling is from Zva Creative, shabby rose and pearl trim from Louise Delore (Retail Girl), then I used a Dusty Attic mini word DA0476, which I finished with a bit of Kindy Glitz for the faintest touch of colour. 

My niece Tessa is so photogenic, I am lucky to have some beautiful photos of her.  I think this black and white photo really does show the dreamy side of her.  

Thank you for looking, please leave a comment.

Dodge parts

Todays layout is a bit overdue, but finally done.  This is for August's monthly sketch layout at Artistic Creationz.  Its great to find sketches needing more than one or two photos, even though these are weeny little photos.  So I thought what a great opportunity to use all these lovely photos taken by the NZ Rodder magazine of our pride and joy - our 1938 Dodge pickup.

 

Believe it or not I did actually start with a paper covered with cars, then placed my little 2"square photos as per sketch, picking out the purple and green from the photos.  Lots of trinkets, die cuts and bits finished the centre.  The frame around the title is from Dusty Attic, DA0869 - Elegant Frames.

 

It took a few days of thinking as to how to finish the outsides of the page, which I  bricked with texture paste, gesso'd & painted green & purple, then gesso'd again.  For the finishing touches I used a flourish stamp using TH Brushed Corduroy distress ink, and inking the edges and bricks also.

 

Another layout just a little different than my normal, but we've got to think outside the square a bit to learn now don't we.  I enjoyed the challenge, and have seen it is quite different to the other layouts created for this challenge.



 

 

Medieval Times

This is my first entry as a DT member for Southern Girls Challenge.  The challenge this has been made for is 'Make Believe'.  The girls seem to be choosing harder themes, I think to really try us newbies out, hehe.  But alas girls it hasn't phased us at all, from what I've seen already we are all taking it in our stride.

 

 

At first I was about to make another 'girly' layout with fairies and flowers, then I was reminded of these photos I had of this fancy dress party we attended recently.  It was a great evening, with about 95% of us dressing up.

 

To give the page that old 'medieval' feel I've used a beautiful houndstooth paper from Kaisercraft 'Just Believe' collection.  I've distressed and inked everything, as well as sanding, inking & distressing the photos to age them.  The old doily and trims fit the theme perfectly .  The key has been aged by firstly painting black, then I coated it with TH Distress Powder - vintage photo, I love how it turned out. The handmade flower was one from my stash I'd received in a swap sometime ago. 

 

I've thoroughly enjoyed making this layout to share with you and hope it inspires you along with all the other gorgeous DT entries as well.