Bottle lady

PaperArtsy are challenging us to use bottles this fortnight. There has been so much inspiration this week on their blog - I was going to do a flower vase but as that had been done so brilliantly I thought I'd make a bottle lady using my favourite Lynne Perrella stamps. The bottle was painted with Chalk paint and then I added a tissue paper shirt, pens for arms and a head suspended on rusty wire. I guess she might benefit from a taller bottle but you have to use what's to hand don't you?!

Thank you, as always, for popping by.

Three Crowns

I have a tale of three crowns on the Country View Crafts Project blog today! Pop over and see!

Purple circles

This fortnight's challenge at DragonsDream Tag It On is set by the rather lovely Catherine and is... purple and circles. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to use my lovely purple Fresco Paints and the newest Emma Godfrey stamps.

Thank you for popping by - we hope you'll join in with us this fortnight!

Not all like baby pink...!

We had a lovely day out yesterday as it was a Bank Holiday here in Blighty and I managed to sneak an hour in the Studio too! I'd not anticipated having some time to myself and so asked David for some inspiration in the form of a colour (he chose baby pink!?! Eek!) and a word (he chose 'flying')... Hmmm... Baby pink?!... I remembered these Tim Holtz stamps which I don't use often enough and the page began!

I brayered Fresco paints - Candy Floss and then Snowflake on to my small Moleskin journal. I then added a spray I made of Bougainvillaea paint. The yellow numbers were Banana Fresco through a stencil.

The girl was stamped onto Tissue paper and painted on the reverse. She's standing on an offcut, from a previous project, of an Emma Godfrey stamp... The scratchy stamp is also an old Tim stamp - now I've dug it out again, prepare to see it lots!

Thank you as always for popping by, every visit really is very much appreciated.

Smell the flowers

I am currently experimenting in my small Moleskin journal and this is the latest! The background is Caribbean Sea, Yellow Submarine and Snowflake Fresco paints with three JoFy flowers in a Wendy Vecchi jar. It was quite freeing to make a simple page, allowing the flowers to take centre stage... Experimenting is as liberating as it is fun!

Thank you, as always, for popping by!

No dramatic gestures...

I *may* be recovering from last night's Eurovision party - in our house and online! I think the sentiment might just be perfect! If you joined in I hope you had as much fun as we had! We love Eurovision, especially since we started watching it unfold on Twitter a few years ago! I made this yesterday having a few mini experiments that seemed to work really well! Will be exploring them more over the next few days!

Thank you, as always, for popping by!

Su in disguise

I had an afternoon in my much neglected studio today and made a page in my small Moleskin Journal. I wanted to use the glasses and moustache stamp that came free with a Craft Stamper magazine ages ago. I had used them in a similar way ages last October and fancied another go!

The quotation is a slightly altered one by Margaret Atwood - I had to make it fit the Emma Godfrey journal spot!

The little hat Su is wearing is from a Wendy Vecchi stamp as are the other stamps and the stencil.
Thank you, as always for popping by! It's one of the best nights of the year tonight as it's Eurovision and Twitter explodes with all the comments! If you're around and will be watching then let me know! My Twitter name is @freyatom.

Third time lucky?!

The latest challenge over at the Make Art Challenge blog the theme is Flowers this month. I used my medium Moleskin Journal and created this page.

I love Wendy's jug stamp as a flower vase and this page was born! I used many other favourite stamps and stencils so it was a really enjoyable page to make!

I used the zig zag stamp from a sewing stamp set to ground my jug so it wasn't 'floating' in mid air!

I love these rules to live by - I do try and live up to them! Now, this wasn't my first attempt at this challenge... I had two aborted attempts first... I thought I'd be honest and share them. I'd be interested in your opinions!

Thought this one was a bit too pink...!

And this one was a bit too bland! Glad I finally got one right! Thank you, as always, for popping by - it is much appreciated.

Experimental words

PaperArtsy's challenge this fortnight is Words and I loved Alison's use of a Sara Naumann stamp set and was drawn to this quotation on another Sara Naumann set. 

I had a brand new small Moleskin journal that just needed to be started and what better way than Fresco paints?!

I used Yellow Submarine, Beach Hut and Snowflake paints for the background and also to paint the Lynne Perrella image. Really enjoyed starting a new journal - I like to have different sized ones 'on the go' at the same time! Thank you, as always, for popping by!

A man's house...

I am playing with PaperArtsy stamps and paints over at Country View Crafts Projects this month - please do pop over and see the finished article!

I see you Su!

The rather lovely Silvia has chosen this fortnight's theme at DragonsDream Tag It On and she chose... yellow and texture. I love these Tim Holtz stamps and the eye chart stencil and so I combined the two! The background was Grunge Paste though the stencil and, when dry, I blended shades of yellow Distress Ink. I stamped one set of the glasses and attached half to my lovely Su. 

We hope you'll join in with us this fortnight and please do pop over to the blog to see the fabulous tags made by my fellow team mates!

You've got a friend

For my second project for the Simply Scenic Country View Crafts Challenges theme this month I recreated a little scene that I remember so well from school break times! Ok, we might not have worn hats but we did sit on a wall waiting to be called into the latest playground game!

I cut out some children from Lisa's Altered Art and ran a Vintage Photo Distress Marker over the cut edges to give them definition. The collage sheet came with hats so I cut out three and added them to the children.

For the wall I used a small piece of mdf (8x7cm) and painted it with blue paint. I used the brick stencil from Wendy Vecchi with Grunge Paste and, when dry, I added Vintage Photo Distress Ink to colour the bricks. The sentiment is from a PaperArtsy set and seems pretty applicable!
Well, I hope you like my little scene and we are very much hoping you'll join in with is this month!

A soul blossoming...

The long Bank Holiday weekend has given me a really great opportunity to play with 'homemade' paint sprays. This fortnight PaperArtsy are encouraging us to use sprays and whilst I love using spray inks I have never made sprays using paint. There's a wealth of information on how to do this here in this video.
I made two sprays (with Bora Bora and Bourgainvillea) and just had fun! I made a background like Jo showcased but then cut it all up and used it for an upcoming birthday card so I can't share that (and I forgot to take photos - doh!) and I started my calendar journal page for June - this is a sneak peek:

My third project was in my journal. I prepped that page with Chalk paint and then lightly sprayed the two homemade sprays, drying each one in between. Then I sprayed both together at the top of the page and let them dribble down. I liked the drips Kate made and so I had to use them somewhere!

The effect is very soft because I used such light sprays - if I had sprayed more heavily the effect would have been stronger.

The Lin Brown flower and bottle were sprayed with the paint sprays and then with the flower I added some of the spray mixture to the flowerhead to add definition. I then went a bit bonkers and added lots of painty circles - I could have perhaps held back a little there!

Thank you, as always, for popping by!

May

It's my fifth month of Kate Crane's Art Journal Calendar challenge for 2015! I have been a really good girl and not only made new pages each month but have also remembered to fill them in each day! Impressive stuff 'eh?!

If I'm honest this one didn't really go to plan. I didn't really like the end colour and the orange blobs were going to be flowers but I didn't like those either! The joy of this calendar is that the spaces to write the dates on covers most of the page and indeed creates a whole new look so you can afford to make a few mistakes along the way!

I love the flags for each day - they have lots of space on them to write on which means I'm clearly anticipating having a busy month ahead!

As much as I'm looking forward to May, my mind is already thinking of June's pages...!