Exotic

That's the word from Take a Word this week, and one definitions is "strikingly unusual or strange in effect or appearance", so I hope this fits!

Credits: all elements from Brown Sparrow by R McMeen @ SBG.

Double take

This is my piece for Sunday Postcard Art this week. Apologies to anyone who doesn't like clowns!

 Credits: all elements by Itkupilli

ACF 106

Art Creations Friday gave us this picture to create something with this week.

Well, it's Sunday today and you can see I am running very behind this week. This is for two very good reasons; firstly, my sister is staying and, secondly, on Friday we both went to the ArtsyCrafts day with Tim Holtz, and what a great day we had! I'll be showing what we did there at a later point, so watch this space. Anyway, back to ACF, here is how I used the picture.

Credits: frame - Studio Manu, from 'Magnificent'; words - Studio Manu from 'Sentimental Journey'; hearts - R-M Smith from 'Art Stomp'. All @ SBG.

Decorated beer mat

I made this a couple of days ago, but have only just got around to posting it. I covered the beer mat with Tim Holtz tissue tape and then lightly coloured it with Distress Inks. I tore the scrap of card and edged it with brown ink and coloured the ticket with Distress Ink. The number started off as silver, so I distressed it using black acrylic paint. I stuck on the ribbon and put the pin through it to hold the ticket and then added the 4 and the 'time' sticker. Voila!

I wasn't going to participate in the Three Muses challenge this week, due to visitors and a time shortage (!), but then I realised this piece would fit in well with their theme - time - so here it is!

Thoughts

I had fun making these three digital pieces; all created using Rebecca McMeen's Thoughtful Spots kit (which can be found at SBG).

Credits: R McMeen; all overlays by V. Lim

Some more (colourful) journal pages

Take a Word 17

And, this week, the word is door. Here is my digital interpretation. The door is one of my own photos.

 Credits: phrase - Maya @ SBG; background - T Baxter & Roben-Marie Smith @ SBG; overlay - V Lim

Sunday Postcard Art

Can you tell what the theme is at SPA this week? Yes, it's faces!

 

Credits: Face - Studio Maya @ SBG; background - T Baxter & Miss Vivi, both @ SBG; borders - Sherrie JD

Decorated journal cover

I did this by applying a layer of moulding paste over the cover, and pulling it around with a spatula to create a little texture. I let this dry overnight and then covered it with white acrylic paint. When this was dry on went several washes of purple and blue acrylic paint. To finish I lightly dry brushed some lilac acrylic over the higher areas to pick out the texture.

The photo doesn't quite do it justice, but you can see it in more detail if you double-click on the picture.

Two reflective journal pages

Both of these pages were started by scraping acrylic paint over the page with an old credit card. Sequin waste was then used as a stencil. Gel pens were used for the writing and larger circles. I have to say, the first is my favourite!

Art Creations Friday

For their 105th challenge, ACF have provided this image by Mucha.

This is how I have used it. The background is my own, with some digital stencils added.

Credits: Stencils - Holliewood Studios @ Deviant Scrap; overlay - R Rynne

Hot, Hot, Hot

We have booked a holiday in Egypt in March and the likelihood is that it will be cancelled. I feel quite relaxed about this, as I think the Egyptian people have done a wonderful and courageous thing. Egypt will always be there and we can go another time!

The Three Muses theme this week is 'hot, hot, hot' and this seemed to fit the Egyptian theme. The girl flying off in the background is the hope that we will be able to arrange a holiday elsewhere once our Egyptian holiday has been cancelled.

Credits: Sphinx background - Studio Manu @ SBG; digital stencils - Holliewood @ Deviant Scrap

Romance

Well, of course, it had to be, didn't it?! Take a Word's word this week is romance. My piece is lightly based on the story of the Magic Flute, one of the first operas I saw, and the relationship between Papageno, the bird catcher, and Papagena.

Credits: Grasses - B Kerr; all other elements from T Baxter's 'Fall in Love' kit @ SBG

Sunday Postcard Art

Captain Valentine could not but help wearing his heart on his sleeve, even though he knew his queen wanted to chop off his head!

Credits: I love  you heart - Paula Kesselring @ Deviant Scrap; soldier - unknown (please let me know, if you know!); all other elements from Curious Adventures by T Baxter @ SBG.

Rosettes and mini-book

Yesterday, I spent some time crafting with a friend and we made, amongst other things, some rosettes using Tim Holtz's die.

 

Today, I have used one of them on the front of a mini-book I have just completed. It is made out of one piece of 12 x 12 inches sheet of paper.

 

 

If you want to see how I made it visit Tim Holtz's blog.

Art Creations Friday 104

Art Creations Friday gave us this picture to create something with.

I had a play, and this is what I came up with.

Credits: T Baxter 'Keep Moving Forward' kit @ SBG; overlay - R Rynne.

Quotation

The Three Muses want us to use a quotation in our work this week. Here is my digital piece. The observant among you will notice that I have used an adapted version of this piece previously, when I printed it onto labels and used them on a journal page - see HERE. I never posted the original, though, so here it is!

Credits: Tangie Baxter & Roben-Marie Smith's Art Stomp kit @ SBG

Weeks 4 & 5 Sherrie JD's Art Journalling Course

Steampunk

Sunday Postcard Art's challenge this week is to create something 'steampunk inspired'. This is my digital piece.

Credits: Sherrie JD

Take A Word 15

Blackbird is the word this week and I have created a mixed media piece.

To start, I transferred some newsprint onto a blank page in my journal and, when it was dry, covered it with yellow and pink acrylic paint. I cut out the bird and stuck it onto the page, edging it with charcoal. I added the quote in black pen and then added further colour, first with soft pastels and then with oil pastels. It was finished digitally, tidying it into a square and adding the dark frame.

Magic

Art Creations gave us this sweet picture of a little girl to play with this week.

This is what I did with her.

 

Credits:  Wings & other elements - Studio Gypsy @ SBG; words - R McMeen, also @ SBG

My Moleskine journal

This first page was created using a base of acrylic paint and then adding more colour with water-soluble oil pastels.

The base of the second page was also acrylic, with pen work on top.

Dreaming

The instruction from the Three Muses this week is to use black and white. We are allowed to use other colours as well, as long as black and white feature, so I added some blues and greys, and a touch of yellow, to my piece.

Credits: R McMeen's Ismene kit @ SBG

Recycled journal pages

I have been following Pam Carriker's workshop on the Strathmore Online Workshop site. The prinicple is that you create a journal page using copies of previous journal work. I started off by using pages I  had created for the GPP Street Team. I cut out three main shapes, tore a matching background into strips and adhered them all to my empty page in pleasing arrangement.

 

Once this was dry, I added some journalling in the negative spaces. I highighted the edges of my three main pieces using a charcoal pencil and added further colour using oil pastels. I then went over the whole page with a wash of gesso, to unify the elements.

 

To finish the page, I used acrylic paint and some sequin waste to add extra interest to the background, and added some painted squares. I went over some of the details on the main elements with black pen and added some shadows to some of the features in the background. I added a sentiment using a Tim Holtz stamp and then added further details and journalling with a white gel pen.