back to stamping

It was so nice to do some stamping!  I still don't have easy access to all my stamps and I didn't realise how much I missed it until I did it! 

This little mixed media piece is a gesso background, an image transfer and some simple stamping.  I love that it's all very, very simple, but that the final piece looks quite intricate.  The stamps are by Tim Holtz; I only used 2 of them, just stamped them at different heights to create something more complex-looking. 

I was asked to create this card to give to someone because the concert tickets haven't arrived yet!  The concert is by Lauren Pausini, so I found an image of her to use.  I think it's worked quite well, and it was good to use an image where I actually know the person! 

I hadn't anticipated a very creative weekend, but this has definitely got me in the mood. 

invitation to brag monday

The awe inspiring Graphics Fairy has a lovely thing called Brag Monday where we all get to brag about things we've made using something from her incredible bounty of images.  Today I'm bragging about this invitation.


A colleague at work asked me to make it; it's to send to a client who she's having trouble getting a meeting with.  The idea is that a handcrafted, unique invitation might just do the trick. 


I was more than happy to craft at work, so said yes.  I had no idea what to make, so spent some time perusing the Graphics Fairy blog.  The moment I saw the Florist Frame I knew it was perfect.  Feminine, but not so much that the card couldn't be sent to a man. 


For the calligraphy I wrote the words on plain paper and scanned them into my computer.  This allowed me to use my favourite calligraphy pen, even though it creates letters that are far too big for the frame.  More importantly it freed me from the stress of trying to get it perfectly right in the frame! 


After that came a little resizing, a little printing and a little inking.  So far so good, but I knew I needed something for the paper ribbon.  I immediately thought of dictionary paper but, oddly enough, I don't tend to take old dictionary pages with me to work.  Then I googled the phrase dictionary page.  To my delight one of the first images I found was on the Graphics Fairy blog!  It was meant to be.  More printing, tearing and inking followed.  Some gluing followed and there was the card. 


I like how versatile this card can be.  Fine for a man or a woman; good for any occasion; easy to resize if necessary. 


OK, enough bragging, I'm going to go and be inspired by some of the other braggers! 

commissioned love

A colleague asked me to make a card fire her to give her partner. I asked her fire some words that meant something to them and then created this.Despite having the weeks to make it, I left it to the last minute and made it the night before! That could have gone horribly, horribly wrong so I was very relieved when she liked it. It's a very simple card, just a drawing coloured with watercolour paint that is then layered into a card. But simple can be harder than complex, so I'm rather proud of this one.

back to the beginning

Don't get me wrong, I love the piece I began to create last week. Love it and am keeping it. But just because I love something doesn't mean it's right.

So I've gone back to the beginning and this time I've cut my flowers our of thin watercolour paper instead cardboard. And while I may write on this one, I won't be outlining the flowers to make them stand out. This should work better for image transfers. I hope!

next steps

The paint on this is a bit tricky to show as I used iridescent paint,  but I'm very happy with it. I used a lot of layers and I think they've given it a lot of subtle texture.

I wrote all over the background; two poems that I think go nicely with what I think the piece will be. Of course by the time I've finished they could be completely inappropriate. I'm quite proud of my writing, not because it's particularly good but because I've actually done it. I've gained confidence in my drawings, but I still hate my handwriting.

All that remains is to add some image transfers and then stand back and see what else we need.

beginnings

It's the time of year when we review the year past and look to the new one.

Not this year. This year I'm simply going to post the beginning of a new piece.

It's very simple, so far: die cut flowers (courtesy of Tim Holtz) stuck to a piece of chipboard. Not today sure where I'm going with this, but it will definitely involve gesso, paint and image transfers. No surprises there then!

Happy New Year.

if in doubt, make your own

I've been looking for a watercolour notebook for ages, but I just couldn't find exactly what I wanted. Then, in a flash of inspiration, I thought to make my own. So I did.

Each book is simply a piece if watercolour paper, folded and stitched using a simple pamphlet stitch. The cover was a stroke of genius: file folders that I got for practically nothing. The design doesn't go the right way for a book, but that's a small price to pay for a cheap but perfectly sized watercolour sketchbook. Now if I can just remember to make my own in future, everything could have an equally happy ending!