Patina Time

Having finally managed to get round to purchasing the fabulous Compendium of Curiosities Vol 2, by Mr Tim Holtz, I can now have a go at some Faux Patination.  The lovely Linda over at Studio L3 has asked us to create a little something using this technique for the Compendium of Curiosities Vol 2 challenge number 2.  You should really go and have a look, as there is some really stunning artwork there.
For full details of how to create this lovely antique look  you will need to peek at page 58 of the Compendium (Vol 2).

I wasn't quite sure where I was going with this technique, but it's so easy and gives a lovely effect on metal and glossy card. How lucky am I that my supplies of Alcohol Ink are mostly blues and greens, though I did have to buy some Snow Cap Mixative.

As you can see I've used a Wendy Vecchi Art Part watch, that is covered with paper, sanded, inked, and the watch frame is stamped with a flourish stamp in gold. I have aged an Ideology watch face, and added some little watch parts as well.  I don't think I've finished with this watch yet and might add it to an overloaded tag.

Two Hearts

Having had such a great time with Donna Downey a couple of weeks ago, I am now obsessed with hearts and Pan Pastels.  Plus I have made myself a new art journal, and for someone who has a pathological fear of sewing machines (which stems from a needlework class when I was about 11 when I sewed my finger to some material, and got told off by the truly unpleasant teacher for breaking the needle), I feel quite proud of my achievement.
Here is a page which I made today.

I covered my page with some vintage French script, and then applied a sheet of scrunched up tissue with matt medium.  After this dried I used a homemade stencil and my Pan Pastels to make the heart images, sprayed with fixative and then coloured the background.
The stamps are a mixture of Tim Holtz and Wendy Vechhi, and its all stamped using black Stazon.
The bus tickets are stamped onto manilla card and then fixed with tiny staples.
Hels theme this week over at The Sunday Stamper is numbers, and it's the 200th Sunday Stamper, so a big thank you to Hels for giving us a lovely dose of inspiration each week. To celebrate she has some fantastic blog candy, so pop over to her blog to have a look and perhaps enter the challenge.

Before I go here's a picture of my journal, that I made all by myself. I bet that needlework teacher would be quite surprised!

And now I really should go and make a start on the veggies for tonights dinner, yummy Welsh lamb.

I'm Seeing Things

Well I thought I must be when I popped over to see what lovely creation Tim had designed for his April tag.  I had to check about ten times, but yes that really is my name there in the list of prizewinners for March.
Woo Hoo!!!
Now I 'm off to email Mario.
It's a good start to the week.

The Custard Factory

I have been meaning to write this post all week, but somehow  just didn't get round to it.
Last Sunday I had a fantastic time at the Custard Factory in Birmingham, where I was lucky to attend wonderful workshop by Donna Downey whose work I love.
It was a really small group so we all got a chance to chat and ask Donna loads of question.  She was really inspiring.
I made two canvases on the day and brought another home to finish.First up is my Pan Pastel creation. I am truly hooked on these little jewel like lovelies now.

Next my mixed media canvas (18''x6''). Lots of gesso, modelling paste, acrylic paint and different collage elements. This was such fun to make, and very messy.

I can't wait for Donna to come back next year. It was such a brilliant learning experience for me.

On a Journey

I haven't made a tag for ages so as I don't start work until 1pm today I thought I'd while away the morning getting inky. The Sunday Stamper theme this week is On The Road, so that's where I've gone. After a little rummage through my stash, the completely random thought of Ernest Hemingway popped into my brain, so I thought about him on his travels, and made my tag up as I went along.

My tag is made from Kraft resist paper that is inked with Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo DI's, and the stamps are Tim's Stuff to Say and also some by 7 Gypsies.  The  man who actually doesn't look anything like Ernest is from my new Destinations paper stash (LOVE IT), but I do think it's the right era. I'm not sure if Ernie ever made it to India but I liked the Mount Everest Hotel salvage sticker that is tucked behind the mini camera film. I had to unroll bout 18'' of tissue tape before I got to the right bit with the journey definition on it, but have carefully re-rolled the bit I didn't use back on to the roll.

To finish off I've used some bits of Ideology from my stash.