Just like the butterfly ....

Art Creations Friday are now on their summer break, but before they went they left us with this image of a little boy, to do with what we like.

You can see that I altered it quite a lot, but I am very pleased with the end result! Double-click on the butterfly to see it in more detail.

Credits: Butterfly & word art - Totally Wild Dezinez at Deviant Scrap; other elements T Baxter @ SBG

Itinerary 30

Random thoughts, the prompt from Art Journal Caravan this week.

I started off with an acrylic background onto which I glued some tissue paper (the blue patches). This works well because of its transparent nature. Next came some more paint - the peachy colour - and then I added the two strips Of Tim Holtz's Tissue Tape (also transparent - it's wonderful!!). Time for my journalling, some stamping and doodles. To provide some cohesion I sprayed the pages with Craft Notions matte white creative colour spray and dabbed acrylic paint through sequin waste.

My digital page is a complete contrast to my hand-created pages. It is relatively simple, with just one thought.

Credits: T BAxter & A Sexton @ SBG

Strip Ease 3

I am so pleased I discovered GPP Street Team because I am loving using the strips technique and then using paints and masks to decorate them. Here are my latest pages.

Odd birds

Credits: R McMeen/T Baxter @ SBG for the blackbird & Itkupilli for the woman.

This is my digital creation for the Three Muses this week. Spot the odd one, or two, out! Double-click on the picture for a better view.

Fun with fragments

I bought some Fragments (clear, thick plastic pieces in various shapes by Tim Holtz) ages ago and didn't do anything with them so I thought it was about time to play. This was the result. Most of them are decorated card stuck onto the back of the Fragment with Glossy Accents. Some are transparencies - this was slightly more tricky! To avoid the ink coming off the transparency I applied clear packing tape over the printed side and stuck the shiny, non-printed side onto the Fragment. This takes a while to dry so they have to be set aside for an hour or two. My favourite is the one in the middle with the pear and text. The pear was a Paper Whimsy image printed onto a transparency with a piece of text glued onto the packing tape behind it. I think it works very well, but of course I am biased!

Hoots and owls

This is my contribution for the Three Muses this week.

Credits: words by T Baxter @ SBG

Itinerary 29

Iim running a little late, but I think you'll be able to guess the theme from Art Journal Caravan last week just by looking at my pages. Most of my journalling in my mixed media pages is hidden away under layers of paint and gesso, but I know it's there!

My digital page.

Credits: T Baxter & A Sexton @ SBG

Shabby mini canvas 3

To see the previous two canvases and the technique I used to make them see my posts on July 8th and July 10th.

And, as a bonus, because it features a very obvious shape I thought I would enter it for the challenge at 'Lots to Do', and 'Tuesday Taggers' theme is canvas, with a request that we make a link to Art from the Heart, so it fits that bill as well!

Image transfers and Lutradur

Yesterday, I spent the day crafting with a friend. We played around with transferring images onto various substrates. I had another play in the evening as well! Here are some of the images transferred from acetate to paper.

To do this, apply matte medium to your paper - it needs to be a thin layer but thick enough for your finger to glide over it. Gently but firmly apply the acetate with the image you wish to transfer onto the matte medium. The image must be printed on an inkjet printer. Burnish it with your nail making sure the image doesn't slip. Gently peel back the acetate - your image should be transferred. Don't expect a perfect image, most will appear  distressed to some degree.

It is possible to use the same piece of acetate several times - see the Marlene Dietrich transfer in the picture. You will notice these are different colours - I did this by adding a tiny amount of acrylic paint to the matte medium.

At the moment I am experimenting with leaving the acetate on for different amounts of time to see if that changes the depth of the transfer.

My friend introduced me to this fantastic man-made material called Lutradur. After colouring it with fabric dye we transferred onto it and, this is the exciting bit, melted it with a heat gun to produce a lacy effect. I am going to have to get some of this stuff!

Mail Art

This is the challenge from the Three Muses today. I decided to go for wild and vibrant, a bit different to my usual entries! So I took one plain white envelope and put on it a few small blobs of green acrylic paint (I chose acrylic so it won't run if it gets wet in the post) and scraped them across the paper with an old credit card. When this had dried I did the same with turquoise and then yellow paint. I left a fairly blank area in the middle for an address to be written. I then stamped on some images, mostly from Tim Holtz's stamps from Stampers Anonymous, using Stazon ink (again because it's waterproof) around the edges.

I just have to make a card to go in it now!

Strip Ease - encore

I decided to have another go at creating a background using torn strips of paper, so I have started my next journal. I actually think this is even more successful than my first attempt.

As previously, I glued down my strips and, once dry, sprayed over a mask. However, I didn't stop there! I then dry brushed some dark blue paint over the pages and stamped the yellow squares using acrylic paint. I used black Stazon ink to stamp the script and postmarks. To finish I dabbed over some light green paint using a baby-wipe, to reduce the starkness of the stamping. Now I just have to decide how I am going to use this background.

Another Pringles lid

Sunday Postcard Art

Magic is the challenge this week, and this what I created:

Credits: Background T Baxter & butterflies Studio Manu, both SBG

Altered Pringles lid

I was just about to throw this Pringles lid away, when I thought surely I can use this for something! Well, it turns out I could, and did!

First I cut out a circle of stiff paper and then stamped the watch onto it. I then slotted this into the lid - it didn't need any glue as the grooves held it in place. I applied a dark alcohol ink around the edges of the lid to remove the whiteness. I made the flower from Grunge Paper and stuck on the embellishments (mostly Tim Holtz) with Glossy Acccents.

I am now very glad I didn't throw that lid away!

Strip Ease

Michelle at GPP Street Team has challenged us to use torn strips of paper from to make backgrounds, so I decided to give this a go.

I have now finished my first journal, but when I first started it I left the first pages blank - I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm so glad I did. My techniques have developed throughout the journal and so I was glad I was able to add a page that I really liked at the beginning! It also meant I could match it with the very last page.

So here they are:

After sticking down the strips I sprayed dark blue paint over stencils. I then added some stamps and my journaling and some orange highlights.

ACF 83

This week, Art Creations Friday gave us an image of a woman to play with. As I wanted to finish my journal, I decided to incorporate it into my last page.

I started with a green acrylic background, onto which I pasted some strips of paper and then the images of the lady. I stamped various images onto the background and then outlined the woman with charcoal. After adding the writing I sponged ochre acrylic paint through some sequin waste.

Old age - journal page

Flying carpet ride

Credits: Studio Manu and R McMeen via T Baxter, both  SBG

I wasn't quite sure how to tackle the theme from The Three Muses this week, but I felt this poor, glamorous girl definitely needs a flying carpet!

Itinerary 28

This week, the theme from Art Journal caravan is 'chasing your dream'.

First, my response in mixed media:

And now my digital page:

Credits: T Baxter & A Sexton @ SBG

Live, laugh love - another wall hanging

I made this wall hanging using the very similar techniques to the one I posted yesterday.

The stamps (including the metal embellishments) are from Paper Artsy, the paper is from My Mind's Eye and the letters are from PaperMania.

A wall hanging

I have just finished making this wall-hanging.

It started out as a piece of corrugated cardboard. I peeled back some of the top layer to reveal the ridges, applied gesso over it and then, using baby wipes, I lightly swiped several layers of different coloured acrylic paint over it. Whilst this was drying, I cut an oblong piece of card from the DCWV Mariposa stack, distressed the edges, wiped them with the same colours of paint and stamped on the quote (one of Tim Holtz's stamps). I took a piece of green vellum  and tore the edges to give a distressed look. Then came the embellishments. The key comes from K&CO. For the decorative metal strip, I stuck a piece of metal to a piece of scrap card and embossed it using my Cuttlebug. The swirls are Grungeboard covered with a cream acrylic paint and then sprayed with Glimmer Mist. I layered all the different elements, stuck them down with Glossy Accents and then added the clip and ribbons.

Babies - Sunday Postcard Art

I don't have many baby pictures, so I used these fairy babies from Lisa'a Altered Art to create my piece.

Credits: Lisa's Altered Art; Shabby Princess; & Birgit Kerr @ SBG.

Butterflies

Here is another mini-canvas, made using the same techniques as the previous one (see the post on 8th July), but using very different shapes and colours. I added some clear glitter to the butterflies wings to make them stand out a bit more.

Limbs

I went for a different style on this journal page. It's a bit simpler and I tried writing in a different way.

Credits: collage elements from T Baxter @ SBG

An inspirational place....

This is a slight departure from my normal post as Cindy at 'I Owe it all to Him' is hosting an inspirational place event. I don't really have a particular, every-day inspirational place but a place I love is the Alhambra & Generalife in Granada, Spain. I find the the gardens, the scent of the flowers, the water features of the Generalife and the architecture and ceramic tiles of the Alhambra very beautiful, relaxing, peaceful and inspirational. For me it is a small piece of heaven on earth. This one of my pictures taken in 2006.

You can see some more of my photos down the right hand side of my blog.

ACF 82

This week, Art Creations Friday provided this background for us to use:

This is what I did with it:

Credits: elements from Studio Manu @ SBG

More journal pages

Here are two more sets of journal pages. I created these whilst I was away on a course as a way of relaxing in the evenings - how could I possibly go away without any craft materials?!

Shabby chic canvas

I made this 4 x 4 inch piece using a technique I found on Tim Holtz's blog. To start I glued the heart and wings, both made from Grunge Board, onto the canvas using Glossy Accents. Once dry, I used matte medium to stick on the dictionary pages over the whole piece, gently pushing the paper around the Grunge Board shapes. Once this was completely dry I applied various colours of Distress Inks to both the shapes and the background. I stamped on the birds and then added the metal ornaments, again using Glossy Accents.

Rust

That's the theme from the Three Muses this week. Here is my digital piece.

Journal pages - summer

Here are two sets of journal pages I have created over the last week. Both are in bright colours and feature summer activities/pastimes.

As usual, they started with acrylic paint backgrounds over which various paper elements were added. I then used pens and pastels to decorate them.

Itinerary 27

The instruction from Art Journal Caravan this week was to explore the idea of a blessed moment in one's life. As this is quite personal, I decided to do some hidden journalling. I made two areas with flaps so that I could write underneath them.

All the collage papers are my own work, scanned and printed out. Having already added the words, I stuck these onto the painted background. I then drew and doodled around these pieces and added some extra colour using Distress Inks.

My digital page is very different to my paper ones, and I quite surprised myself with the colours! If you want to see all the details just double-click on the angel.

Credits: T Baxter, A Sexton & Studio Manu all @ SBG