Sunday 25 May 2014

Handmade Project Life Cards take II

Some more handmade Project Life cards for the UKS swap as mentioned below.
3"x4" washi tape and hand stamping.


3"x4" hand stamped, bicycle die.


6"x4" Die cut letters from book pages on pre printed cards.


TFL  \Lou x

Sunday 4 May 2014

Handmade Project Life Cards (swap)

Apologises for neglecting you all, I've been out and about training hard for the Edinburgh KILTWALK which takes place next Sunday 11th May.  26 miles around my favourite city ever, taking in the sites, panoramic views and raising money for local Children's charities.  So crafting has taken a wee back seat while I get stuck into my training.

Over on UKS, I am taking part in a Project Life Swap.  Make 2 sets of 3x4 and 1 set of 6x4 Project Life and Netty on UKS will swap them out.  I've not done a swap like this for a while, it was fun to hunt through my stamps and come up with some simple ideas using only ink, paint and stamps.

These are the 6x4 Project Life Cards, 
I've decorated them so they can used either landscape or portrait.  
I've used some Tim Holtz stamps and distressed ink.


This is my favourite 3x4 set out the 2 sets, stamped images and lots
of red paint splattering.  
The Deco Arts paints are fab for splattering, they retain the colour
well when watered down slightly.


The final set are 3x4 with a water coloured background and then stamped.  
I thought I'd stick with summery colours as we are heading into what will hopefully be a fabulous Summer.

Thanks for looking, Lou x



Saturday 29 March 2014

Journal 52 weeks 5,8 & 12

Journal 52 prompts  can be found HERE.  Hers my take on 

week 5 : Abstract Art.  
I really enjoyed this quick and fun technique.  Oil pastels and watercolours.


week 8 : Found Poetry.  
Wrong season I know but the words are from a Sainsburys advert for Halloween goodies.
Collaged background, coloured with my chalk pastels and some Inkadinkadoo stamps :) for the detail.


week 12 : A Day in the Life of Me.  
It was a nice sunny day, so I went with the sun rays idea, once again coloured 
with my favourite chalk pastels..


TFL  Lou x

Wednesday 26 March 2014

Junk Key Charms

Over on UKS, I've organised a Round Robin, with the SSers team, it runs a bit like a CJ.  An old key gets passed around and each person adds a charm like piece to the key.  Round 1 is due to be completed this weekend.  My theme is Vintage Sewing Room.


I've made a little charm pillow which is stuffed with dried lavender, added on bits from some old earrings and a few pieces of ribbon.  Suzy has it next, I wonder what she'll add to it!

TFL  Lou x

Craft Barn Q&L: Flowers and/or Travel

Its amazing how quickly time flies.  Can you believe we are at the 6th quotes & lyrics challenge for the year already.   Check out the latest challenge and gorgeous entries HERE.

I've stepped away from my affirmation cards this time round, I fancied doing something just for fun and while I pondered I was listening to a Sandi Thom album. My choice:

"I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair!" 


I went totally OTT with the flowers!!  The background is my usual collaged papers, gesso and chalk pastels, this time in a soft lime. Flowers: dictionary pages where painted with watercolour (hot pinks, red, organe and yellow) and I used some old punches in various sizes.  The face is a stamp I purchased from etsy many moons ago, stamped onto tissue, adhered used matte medium and highlighted with my trusty chalks.  

Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave me a message for the last challenge.  
I really appreciate it.

Thanks for looking
Lou x


Tuesday 25 March 2014

Altered Paintbrush Figures

Over on UKS, Netty is running a one to one swap for Altered Paintbrush Figures.  I was asked to alter my brush to the theme of Punk Rocker.  As I don't own any face moulds etc or work with clay I opted for Papier Mache, I'm thinking this was not the best approach for such a small face.  My Punk Rocker looks well worn!!  Well more Frankenstein meets Punk.  Sorry Netty!!


Tuesday 18 March 2014

Journal52 week 11 and 2

I'm still enjoying the weekly prompts from Journal 52, this weeks its 
STARS


The collaged background was coloured with chalk pastels in dark blues and purples.  
White gesso was then splattered over the background ( I love this effect).
I cut out the star, backed it with clear sticky paper and sprinkled with glitter. 
The quote was then added.

This is a close up of the glittery star :)

I'm still playing catchup,
  Week 2: Somewhere A Simple Place


On the reverse of each of my journal pieces I have written my thoughts/feelings .
Meditating is such a powerful tool and I always feel better for doing it.

TFL  Lou x



Craft Barn Q&L :Art or Road

The Craft Barn Challenge and all other entries can be checked out HERE.  Its well worth a good old nosey, as always, there are some great quotes and art work to check out.  

"What ART offers is a space, a certain breathing room for the Spirit."  




I went with a light airy feel to compliment the quote.

The collaged background has been coloured with pale blue and lilac chalk pastels.  

The quote was stamped onto another collaged piece and birds die cut from some scraps.


TFL  Lou x


Monday 10 March 2014

Journal52 Week10 Art for a Cause

Journal52 week 10 is all about using your art to bring a charity/cause you are passionate about to the forefront.  Just over 10 years ago I had a malignant melanoma removed.  I was lucky, it was treated before the disease had spread.  Simple sun safe practices help prevent this cancer.

As I only stumbled across this great challenge, I'm playing catchup.  
Week 1 was titled Up, Up & AWAY, and for me the KITE is a perfect representation.  
The freedom to fly and dance in the wind with the security of being grounded.


TFL Lou x

Friday 7 March 2014

Journal52 week 9

While checking out some of the other entries for the Craft Barn Q&L challenge, I stumbled across this challenge: Journal 52.  It looks right up my street, so I decided to have a go with this weeks challenge : Colour Swatch Inspiration: the prompt is to choose something for colour inspiration.  What better than colours from nature.  I love the warm colours of sunset and I love trees, for me that's a winning combination.


I used old book pages etc for the background then used chalk pastels to create my layers of colour.  The tree is hand drawn, painted black and I used a Hero Arts stamp to create the wood grain effect. 

Looking forward to playing catchup and taking part in future prompts.

TFL  Lou x

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Craft Barn Q&L Challenge: Marriage and/or Age

Thanks to everyone who left comments on my last entry, it is always fun to read through.  The Craft Barn Challenge and all other entries can be checked out HERE.  Lots of exciting fun quotes for Marriage and/or Age.  I had to pick one that was suitable for an Affirmation Card.

"Live Your Life and Forget Your Age"  

With my Mum taking up ballet classes for the first time at 69yrs young and my Mother-in-law who started to play the clarinet in her early 70's,  how could I not use this quote!!


The background is a collage of book/music pages, coloured with my favourite chalk pastels.  
The image was stamped onto tissue paper and then applied to the base with Modge Podge.

TFL

Lou x

Sunday 23 February 2014

Merly Impressions Scrapbook Challenge Feb 2014

The challenge on the Merly Impressions blog this month is to use stamps & stamping.  You can check out the challenge for yourself HERE.  The blog is full of inspiration.

I found this old photo of my nana, Elsie with her sisters.  I don't know their names or when this was taken, I'll be checking with my Mum later to see if she can shed any light on this.


I started with a white piece of 12 x 12 card stock, then applied pink and cream paint, in my usual random messy style.  It was a bit too 'fresh' for the photograph, so I slapped on some bronze, but that made the paper too dark for my liking, so out came the gesso and sponges/swiped that over the background till I was happy.  I'm very impatient so all the layers of paint were still wet while I was playing around with colour.  

Its all about the stamping and I think I went a bit stamp mad!!  Using bronze ink, I stamped the lace border for the base of the photo and then I went mad with some gold ink and my old favourite a crackle stamp, its so well used its split in places.  I've no idea where I got it from.  Back to the bronze ink and a swirly stamp for the rest of the border around the photo and the edges of the card stock.  I've used a kind of scribble stamp to further edge the card stock border.  

  For the final touch of stamping, I cut out some stamped and heat embossed butterflies onto old music paper, then smooched them over with a distress ink before stamping the butterflies onto the layout and overlaying with the cut outs.  I think the butterfly at the top should be a bit higher but its stuck down now!!

TFL  Lou x

Sunday 16 February 2014

The Craft Barn Q&L Challenge

Thanks to everyone who took the time to leave me a comment, very much appreciated.  This fortnight the Craft Barn challenge words are "Miss" and/or "Strong".  You can check out the challenge  HERE.

Sticking with my Affirmation Cards, I picked the quote:
"Love is Life, if you miss love then you miss life."


Dictionary pages have been used for the background, I've painted the background with cream and lilac paint, then  used chalk pastels to add pink and white highlights.  The heart was stencilled on using chalk pastels and the heart beat stencilled using ink.  

TFL  Lou x

Sunday 2 February 2014

Silence & Dazzle The Craft Barn Q&L challenge.

Firstly, I'd like to thanks those who take the time to leave a comment, its appreciated.

Silence and/or Dazzle are the words this fortnight.  Dazzle is such a fabulous word but I  couldn't find an appropriate dazzle quote or lyric for my affirmation card.  Check out the challenge and other fabulous entries HERE.

"In the silence I rediscover who I am" 
by John Francis, an American Environmentalist


Paint, tissue and stamping.

TFL  Lou x

Sunday 19 January 2014

Craft Barn Q&L Challenge.

Happy New Year To One and All.
The Craft Barn has a new challenge for 2014, you can check out the challenge and other fabulous entries HERE.  What is Q&L I hear you ask, its Quotes & Lyrics.  And to kick of 2014, there first Q&L is to create a piece of art work using a quote or song lyrics with SMILE and/or UP.  I've decided to create a series of affirmation cards, I'm trying out 3"x4" for size, we'll see how I get on.  My quote

"Peace starts with a Smile" by Mother Teresa


Any excuse to use my buddha stamp.  The base has been built up with layers of old text, maps, music sheet papers then gesso'd and finally coloured with chalk pastels.  The Buddha was stamped onto tissue paper and then applied with Golden matte medium.

TFL  Lou x