And the winner is....

No 4, Netty!! Well I have your address so no problem there. Should be on its way tomorrow. Enjoy!!

Tag 4..... and we have mail...

Here is my interpretation of Tag 4 of the 12 tags of Christmas. The main techniques in use were using 'faucets'.

One of the uses Tim suggested was to put an image behind and bling it up with a bit of stickles - works really well!! But what kind of faucet is that I hear you ask? Well it isn't, because I don't have any, but that's why I was playing with the melt pot. I thought that I could make my own embellishments using UTEE and cookie cutters. I have used images behind UTEE before, and this time used a vintage santa, but I love the extra sparkle you get by using stickles.
Another technique used by Tim was to colour the gem with alcohol inks behind and then stamp an image with archival ink which then lifts the colour off - kind of reverse resist. Doesn't work so well with a UTEE shape, (not a complete disaster but not as effective as I had hoped with the stamp I used) but then the colour is not so clear to start with as UTEE looks more like amber than clear glass and gets darker the more it is heated.

I did however use the technique for the glass in this slide mailer. You may just about be able to see the little clear snowflakes.
I used this lovely little vintage image several times on this piece and on the accompanying ATC (I'm hooked on that snow effect now as you can see).

As she is wearing a holly wreath I added the poem 'under the holly bough' to the inside. The mailer is for a Christmas present swap, and I am also entering it for Alter It Monthly.
Really getting a creative buzz from doing these tags, shame I'm only on holiday for one more day, I seem to be getting so much done. Quick reminder - last chance to enter the December giveaway which closes at 9 pm tonight!!

12 Tags of Christmas begins.....

Of course I am talking about the wonderful Tim Holtz and his wonderful 12 tags of Christmas. Each day he posts a different christmas tag for your delight and inspiration. Obviously he is showcasing his products but there are still plenty of ideas and techniques that you can adapt and play around with. As I said I have wanted to do this before but never had time.... but this year it is going to happen!!


I am already behind (of course) but have finished days 1-3 and started on days 4 and 5 so not bad going for me!!


Day 1 - well, I read through the instructions and my heart sank a bit, grumpily thinking I don't have this stuff.... then after a stern talking to I started to have ideas. I may not have the folder or die to make the house, but I do have grungepaper, an embossing tool and a craft knife - might take a bit longer but not much!! I didn't have a spare holly wreath knocking about either so I stamped some leafy branches and used the leaves to make a wreath. I found one little ticket that someone had given to me, wrote the '25' and coloured it in and stamped Happy Christmas over the top. Could have made a picket fence too but decided I liked it as it was. Job done.


Day 2 - OK, this tag is mainly stamping but without having the same stamps that Tim uses it is hard to get the same 'look'. The main technique that Tim shows here is how to create a custom ink pad, but as I don't have any of the re-inkers in the right colours to do this for my stamps I just went for stamping and colouring in. Not entirely happy with this one and the colours looked a right mish mash until I added the yellow and bronze ribbons which seemed to tie everything together.


Day 3 - Yay, something I have the bits for!! Well not entirely, I didn't have any of the tissue tape, so I stamped music and text onto ordinary tissue paper and stuck it onto my bird shape and used the rest to make my 'flower'. I especially loved the 'snowy' effect Tim created with a splatter stamp and acryllic paint. I don't have that exact stamp but used a different one. I re-sized and printed out a little vintage postcard image for one of the embellishments and used some green lace with a touch of red ribbon behind across the bottom. I think this is my favourite one so far, although looking at it now I think maybe the elements are a bit too regimented but too late now!! In fact I liked it so much that I used my experimental bits to make an atc.



Well, off to dust off the melt pot and have a play and then I must sit down and write out Christmas cards at some point today...

Happy Birthday to me, Week 2 part 2, and Week 3 part 1!!!

First of all thanks to everyone who sent me cards for my birthday - I have a stunning display up and will pop round to say thank you properly as soon as I can. Am having a quiet day, partly in my craftroom and partly with my DD who has decided to keep me company. This evening I am out with my darling hubby for a quick meal and then to see Bill Bailey at the theatre. Brill!!



OK, now we are back to the Art and Healing course which I am now about 3/4 of the way through. The second part of week 2 was to do a page in our altered books representing a positive outcome from our younger years (or sort of turn something around so it is positive even if it wasn't at the time). I chose to focus on my school days and the positive influence of a lovely lady teacher, Miss Gillian Smith, who was a great encouragement to me - I was a shy little soul back then.



So this is a picture of her and me (looking a bit like I'm about to ascend to the heavens) with a picture of my old school in the background. The words I have chosen to accompany the page are 'Shine your light'. Miss Smith once said to me that I 'shouldn't hide my light under a bushel'. My biblical education being somewhat sketchy at the time, I had no idea what she was talking about, but as the years passed I realised what she meant and I have never forgotten her support and kindness.

The next things was to do our front cover with some photograph altering (loved that!!) and a little tag to go on the front. I couldn't think of a quote to put on the tag but finally I chose one from Dr Seuss: - 'Today you are you, that is truer than true, there is no one alive who is youer than you'.



Because I have access to them at work, the book I am using is a recycled board book. The down side of that is that the baby books have seen a lot of love during their shelf life (and drool, chewing and generally been treated with the care and attention you expect from the average toddler). When preparing the back of the book I realised it wasn't going to withstand a lot of prep, so I have made a little pocket out of the last page - not sure what will go in there yet. I still have to make an empathy puppet (might pass on that - there are some great ones about though!!) an affirmation page and something with my personal 'angel'. Because I have so many other things to do at the moment I am going to leave these until the christmas break rather than rush. I also seem to have lost the sound on the computer which makes it a little difficult to follow the videos...



I must also quickly blog a little altered matchbox I have made for a swap on Flickr. It has a little domino book inside and I chose an oriental theme just to not be doing Christmas for half an hour. I have to do displays and activities at two libraries through Nov/Dec as well as my own stuff and sometimes I just need a break...... but I'm still smiling through apermanent sprinkjling of glitter.



Having said that, I'm thinking about doing the twelve tags this year even though I'm already a day behind..... well, if I get at least one done today I might go for it.

A grungy Christmas giveaway - and an apology...

Well, I know you guys won't mind if I tell you that regretfully I have decided to combine the November and December giveaways - my art time is really under pressure at the moment and it will give me a little time to catch up.

I really did start this on time for November, but I have been fiddling with it for ages whenever I can get a minute in the art room. However I have decided it is finished and I had better upload it NOW so that it can get to someone in time for Christmas!!



Well this giveaway is a mixed media canvas. I have been doing the wonderful Art and Healing Course (more posts on that to follow when I get a minute - I haven't been completely idle!!) and did this little Christmas figure as a practice piece and liked her so much I thought I would create a background for her. There are a lot of layers (so loads of drying time!) and it ended up even grungier than usual because for one I made a glaze with black acryclic rather than dark blue - I wouldn't mind but I did the same thing the other week and re-sorted my paints to stop it happenning!! The trials of art in artificial light. Still think I managed to save it. Collage, image transfer and stamping onto tissue have all been used here (I find stamping onto a canvas is horrrendously unpredictable, using tissue paper helps that out a lot and if it disintegrates you get some added texture!)

I love the sentiment I have used, I think with all the hustle bustle that surrounds the festive season we forget to enjoy ourselves and celebrate the season on a day to day basis. Despite being really busy, I'm trying my best to keep a smile on my face and not get stressed - doing OK so far lol!!

Right, how to enter - it's simple!! Just leave a comment on this post and you will be entered in to the draw. As this is a Christmas item and we are already a long time between giveaways I think this one will have to have a very short tunaround. So the closing date will be 9.00 pm on Tuesday 9th December. Yep, that's right, just a week, but it's because I know I will have time to get to the PO on the Wednesday morning - so if you are entering and I don't already know you, don't forget to check back in case I need your addy!!

Inernational players welcome but receipt before Christmas can not be guaranteed (sorry!) as last postal dates are probably Monday. Feel free to link from your own blogs and Happy Christmas Season everyone!!

Still plodding on....

Thought I'd maker a quick post of a couple of things I've done recently just to prove I am still here. As I feared, working 4 days a week instead of two has dramatically cut down my art time so I'm just getting to it as and when. Still, I have a clear day in my art room today - a special treat as I have been so busy!

Here's is a little Autumn Fairy Art Doll I made for a swap on fantastic Paper dolls.



And here are some cards I've made for recent swaps and birthdays.




Right. Off to get inky!!

Self Healing Art Course, Week 2 - Part 1!!

There is a lot to get done this week on the art, heart and healing course. We are altering a board book and the first exercise is a page dedicated to our younger selves and the wishes we might have had for ourselves at that age. The main technique that we are trying out is image transfer, a great favourite of mine.



I only have this one (easily available!!) image of myself as a young child which I have successfully used before in my artwork as a transfer so although it took me quite a while to find what I had done with the original (stuffed in a folder - it has now been properly scanned in to my digital files) I thought that this would be quite easy. Wrong!! We were using the acrylic gel medium method but I couldn't find my golden medium (sure I've got some somewhere) so went out to get more but could only find a structure gel by Galeria. By now I was champing at the bit to get going so decided it would have to do. I wasn't entirely unhappy with the transfer but the resulting image isn't very clear. Good job we were going for a vintage grunge look! The first transfer went on a bit wonky and looked rather small so I decided to repeat the image and added the words 'Where will you journey litttle one?' - I was thinking along the lines of there are different paths you can go on throughout your life and right at the beginning the choices open to you are endless. Yes, it's official, doing this course is making me a bit deep.



The second part of this exercise was to write out those wishes I mentioned above and add them to the page. The ones I chose for my young self, or any young person for that matter, are:

Home and Family
Friendship, Love and Passion
Confidence and Ambition
Strength of Body and Spirit
Creativity and fulfilment
Self Reliance and Compassion
Happy Memories and Hopeful Plans
May you never be alone, and may you always want what you have.

For me this has been a very positive and self-affirming exercise, even though the I'm not sure I am entirely happy with the artwork. Why? Well, although I don't think I had a perfect childhood, by trying to pin down my negative feelings I realised that the bad bits don't really have any effect on me anymore. What has been is past, what is, is and what will happen, will. I find that the circumstances of my early years that did hurt and anger me to think about 10 years ago or so have lost their potency. But I can recognise that they made me who I am, and even with all my faults and foibles, at the end of the day I quite like being me. So perhaps they weren't that bad after all.

Ha ha ha. Told you I was getting all deep and introspective. Right, on with part 2.