Saturday 26 October 2013

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - Letter L

Evening all,

cor blimey it's wet and windy tonight so it feels very warm and cosy tucked up with my girlie watching Strictly as I type!!

Loving this challenge still so if you fancy a peek at what its all about please pop on over here (never too late to start playing you know!!) and if you fancy a peek at all the other L entries please pop on over here.

Tee hee, there was a twist this week too, we had to incorporate a window somewhere on our entry, what fun.

Anyhoo, here you go, L for LYCAN........




A very simple collage page incorporating some of my favourite movie werewolves, starting from top left - Professor Lupin from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, David from An American Werewolf in London, Benecio Del Toro in Wolfman, Jacob from the Twilight saga, Tyler from The Vampire Diaries, Jack Nicholson in Wolf, lol trying to do this from memory I think this is Lon Chaney (I have no idea what the film was called)?????, and the eyes are courtesy of Oz from Buffy and Angel.  
The wolf eyes are in my attempt at a window, framed with some washi tape.

All images were found on google.

Many thanks for popping by and leaving a comment if you feel you would like to, your time and thoughts are very precious.

Huge hugs

Dawn x 



Monday 21 October 2013

Am I weird...................

................for finding the packaging more inspiring than the item inside it????????

Ha ha ha ha ha I fancied a play with something other than a journal/altered book page for a change so I fished out a board book blank to tackle!!!! Strangely enough though I found the cardboard backing sheet and the acetate cover more appealing so I made a giant reversible tag instead LOL........


The first side was gessoed then painted yellow. Once this was dry I covered the whole tag again with orange paint and 'ragged' the surface with a scrunched up bit of kitchen roll to create some texture. Lots of stenciling followed before I added some elements from my scrap box to finish the decoration.
Stamp credits go to Paperartsy, Do Lally Pip, and a freebie Christmas tree stamp from Craft Stamper which made some fab bunting!!


The second side was gessoed before I applied some modelling paste through 2 TCW stencils. Lots of paint applied next with some delicate stamping to add more interest and texture. The dragonfly was stamped on the acetate with stazon and coloured lightly with promarkers. The flowers were die-cut with a Sizzix die from green patterned vellum.
Stamp credits go to Tattered Angels and Hero Arts.

Hmmmmmm, maybe I will attack the actual board book one day - who knows!!!!!!!!

Many thanks for popping by and leaving a comment if you feel you would like to, your time and thoughts are very much appreciated.

Hugs

Dawn x

Friday 11 October 2013

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - Letter J

Evening all,

brrrrrr, chilly wind today!!! Ha ha ha I'm still resisting the temptation to turn the heating on though!!!!!!!!

I can't believe how full and colourful my book is looking now, this is such a fun challenge and I will be sooooooooo sad when it draws to a close.  I got brave again but couldn't find anything in my trusty drawing instruction book so I resorted to flicking through a magazine to find a photo to work from, lots of artistic licence applied of course!!!!!!!!
If you fancy a peek at what this challenge is all about please pop on over HERE, and if you would like a nose at the other J entries please pop on over HERE.

Anyhoo, my chosen word for the letter J is JUNO - Roman Queen of the Gods, wife (and also sister lol) of Jupiter........


Tee hee, a very modern day interpretation maybe but I think she looks regal enough!!!!!!!!




Lol, I never thought about putting a crown on her until it was too late, sigh!!!! Luckily I managed to find a suitable stamp which was embossed in gold and added to balance the page a bit more.

Stamp credits - Alphabet set by see-d's and the crown is from a My Minds Eye set.

Many thanks for popping by and leaving a comment if you feel you would like to, your time and thoughts mean so very much.

Huge hugs

Dawn x

Wednesday 2 October 2013

Breaking in.................

................a new journal!!!!!!

Hmm, I was ever so naughty and treated myself to an A4 Moleskine sketchbook. Ha ha ha I thought £12.00 with free p&p was a pretty good deal considering they usually retail between £19.00 and £25.00, so I had a 'what the heck' moment and went for it!!!!!!!!

I can understand why they are favoured by so many now, they feel wonderful, are superbly made (sewn signatures too whoop whoop), and the paper is very nice to play with too. I don't think the paper would stand up to too much abuse and dye ink/promarkers will bleed through if you do not slap on a coat of gesso but I have to say that I love it already.

Here is my 'breaking in' spread........


I started by literally winging some paint at it to get over the blank page/new book syndrome ha ha ha. I then stamped all over the spread with various stamps from my stash, using coffee and sepia archival ink.  The next step was to add another coat of paint which I added some additional texture to using a couple of grout/adhesive combs. The next pic shows this in a little more detail........


........you can just see the grid patterns in the paint. I defined this a little more by sponging some raspberry adirondack over the surface using some cut and dry foam.

Next came my favourite bit, building up layers by applying paint using various stencils, my fingers, bottle tops and old plastic cards.

The final stage was the addition of the stenciled/masked figures and various stamped sentiments, some directional tags, strips of washi tape, and doodling.

These scans show a little more detail........




Stencils/masks are a mix of Tando Creative, TCW and Tim Holtz.
Acrylic paints from Ranger, Decoart and Pebeo.
Stamps - heck, I can't remember them all and some are un-named anyways!!!!!!!

Anyhoo, on a final note I have to tell you this story!!!! My delight of a 2yr old son decided to shove a sweet up his nose on Sunday!!!! I was all prepared for a trip to A&E to get it extracted as after viewing up his nose with a torch (ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!) I could see it was way beyond my reach!! Well, after a few more checks while organising my daughter too I could see that it was melting and Max had lovely frothy green sherbety snot for the next couple of hours as it fully dissolved!!! Needless to say I don't think he will be doing it again in a hurry as it did sting a little until it had gone. BOYS HUH!!!!!!!!

Many thanks for popping by and leaving a comment if you feel you would like to, your time and thoughts mean the world you know.

Huge hugs

Dawn x