Thursday 29 March 2012

Dragonfly Dreams

Just a quick post today.

At Christmas I brought a few dragonfly tree ornaments that I found when I was buying flowers for the bar.
I didn't buy them for the tree, but because I knew I could use them in my art. I am not normally a glitter magpie but loved them so they will appear in my work in different guises over the next few months.

I started with a collage of paper to cover the canvas and then added paint and ink to create a background.
Added some cute dragonfly ribbon a quote from a Kaiser Craft Rub on sheet called dreams, although you can't see the rub on as it wasn't a great success I have a love hate relationship with them, love them when I get it right, hate them when I end up with blotches of rub on left on the sheet. So I typed the words and stuck them over the original.
The Rose is a Crafter's workshop stencil,stencilled with Golden bead gel medium and coloured with oil pastels.

I think I need to take a photography course.

Anyway I must be away to work.
Have a crafty day
Georgina

Saturday 24 March 2012

A few pictures



Two posts in one day I can't believe it myself.
However since I took photos of the pages of the grunge board book that I have finished I thought I would post them.


The dollars aren't real I was given a packet of tissues with fake dollar images on the I just stuck them to some card stock.
 I like grunge paper it is so versatile it can give dimension to any project In my world flowers can be in shades of teal
 Everyone loves a journey and it is no exception for the umbrella man


This page started out as something else completely. I was thinking about different textures so I cut out the middle of the page with a spellbinder die and then embossed the circle in an embossing folder. I then tried to replace it in the middle of the page Doh! I forgot it would stretch the and not fit in so I cut the circle out of the circle, it did fit but looked awful.So plan B evolved I put in a penny slider mechanism although in truth it revolves in a circle, but I really like the effect. The background is distressed and the circle of speedometers cover the acetate used to support the car, which is a Tim Holtz stamp, stamped onto acetate and alcohol inked before being stuck to a piece of paper. I am rather pleased with my mistake.

Once again have a crafty day of fun
Georgina

A week of false starts

I have been a bad blogger this week. Note to self - must try harder.

Creatively it has been a week of false starts. I have two unfinished pages in my altered book, a painting of a green pixie unfinished and at this present moment not likely  to see the touch of a paint brush again. A grunge board book as yet unfinished (in fairness this project has be been hiding unfinished for a while), a journal page inspired by a tag, which I have finished.
The background is a mixture of Distress ink and distress stain. The hair is also coloured with a mixture of distress inks. The owl is shrink plastic and coated with distress crackle a then finished with a few swipes of distress stain all in all a lady in distress. I will post a picture of the journal page when it is finished.
In the meantime enjoy a crafty day.
Georgina

Thursday 15 March 2012

This weeks altered book page

This week my altered book page was inspired by the lovely Tamara Laporte, her work can be seen at www.willowing.org.
My page is completed in water colours, acrylics and collage elements made from paper torn for an old dictionary (Yay! I fought myself and won). The little birds are coloured in Promarkers and reminded me of my childhood when my grandmother had  flying ducks on her parlour wall (we are talking1960's). A parlour I might add that was only used when visitors came.  As a child I loved those ducks, I wonder what became of them.


Enjoy your day
Georgina

Wednesday 14 March 2012

12 tags of 2012: March

When  does a cat become a kitten?
When you have drawn half a dozen that look in varying ways like a 3 legged toad Don't ask! Then I remembered a cat stamp we have in the classroom stash, unfortunately it is a lot smaller than I remembered, but the perfect size for a kitten and who says kittens can't follow their dreams.



I used the mosaic technique to create the wall, the sky is distress inked. the tree is inked in appropriately in gathered twig distress using a Crafters Workshop stencil. Then the leaves highlighted with an olive green Pitt pen(Faber-Castell). In my reality the kitten is dreaming of the caged bird which it can't yet reach, meanwhile the little blue bird has already followed it's dream and has flown to freedom.

Today I woke up in the mood to paint so I spent the morning painting(more of that in another post) and when I have finished bloging I am going to visit an art installation on two narrow boats put on by a group of 5 2nd year art students in Sheffield. It is called the Art Ark and is sited in Victoria Quays, Sheffield. So it is a completely arty day for me. If you live in the area why not drop in and see their hard work, the exhibition it is on until tomorrow evening.

Have a fab arty day
Georgina

Saturday 10 March 2012

Another altered page

I find Altered books difficult possibly due to the fact that from a very early age we were expected to respect the  written word and not to deface books. Tearing a page whilst not a punishable crime it was definitely frowned upon. So even if in my opinion the book is pants I have a real problem with any kind of defacement whether it be notes in the margins or folded corners, but I am working on it. In this techno age of the kindle they say paper books have had their day, not for me, a kindle just doesn't smell right.

Sorry, I digress, back to the topic in hand my altered book started with Dyan Reaverely earlier this year at a Ranger on the road event I decided to stick with it and finish it, they say challenging ingrained behaviour and beliefs are good for you so I am busily tearing out pages and hopefully artfully defacing my book. here is my  newly finished page except I am not sure it is finished I may go back to it at a later date once it has had time to settle.



I gessoed the page as I wanted the ink to sit on top of the page, I used Colourcraft Brusho Mist sprays in Rose Red, Sand and burnt Sienna to create the background I wanted a splodgey effect with some of the page showing. I then stamped the background with stamps from PaperArtsy Clocks 5 set in teal and gold ink the gold doen't show up well in the pictures I might try another photo later. The main figure is from a Grapgic 45 12x 12 paper sheet (Time warp I think)along with the flower and butterfly elements. The Woman's head was from a different sheet. I added some pen nibs and a Vintaj decorative brad foe extra interest.The quote says she remained true to herself and is a Donna Downey stamp from Prima

May your day be full of arty joy
Georgina

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Birthday Card in Distress

Tim Holtz Distress Ink(by Ranger) is so versatile and comes in so many great colours it is hard to have a favourite, but I find myself reaching for the same colours for a time before moving on to a different selection. Currently I seem to be reaching for the Autumn seasonal palate (seedless preserves, gathered twigs and ripe persimmon). And this birthday card is no exception.

The flowers are made with an old lottery ticket (not a winner). After colouring the ticket with seedless preserves and ripe persimmon I cut out petals using the top of a small heart punch an idea I picked up from Jane Gill from Woodware, she has such fantastic ideas for flowers made using various punches. The flower pot is a punch I have in my stash I think it is by Carl but not sure. I highlighted it with gathered twigs. The heart ribbon was white and coloured with gathered twigs distress, the frog is also stamped in the same colour.



The background is fern leaves stamped in all three colours. I glued the flowers to a piece of green card for contrast and the flower pot is slightly raised with foam pads. Of course I will put in a lottery ticket as a little bit of fun for the recieptient.

Georgina

Thursday 1 March 2012

Altered Page

I can,t believe it is March already, but I guess it must be as the days are getting longer and the blackbirds have begun singing outside my window. I have just been over to Sir Tim's blog and the March Tag challenge looks great I can't wait to start. However today the housework has to come first but you can bet your bottom dollar I will be cleaning in hyper mode so I can get in some inky play time later.

I have finished the second page of my altered book. It had to be the front page I know everyone says you should not start with the front page. I usually do because I mither about it until it is done and can't settle into a new journal until it is finished.

I liked the colour of the page so I did not prime it, just used paint and a couple of stencils we had brought with us.





A glass of Red Juice helped the creative process


We didn't pack many supplies honest! What you can't see are the other boxes on the opposite of the room. 

Back at home I added part of a one of Suzi Blu's Girl stamps and added a simple pair of trousers to give the girl a bit more height on the page. The words say each page is a new possibility.




Georgina