Whooooos whoooooo?

Here is my entry for Gothic Arches challenge where this week the theme is "pink and brown".

ART OF THE WEEK!

I have been away for a few days so not been keeping that up to date with the blog so I was really surprised and chuffed to see that I have been awarded ART OF THE WEEK over on Mixed Media Monday for my bird!!

Thanks to everyone who left such lovely comments about him!

ANYONE 4 TEA?

"Teatime" is the theme on Gothic Arches today. I haven't made an arch for a few weeks so thought it was time to have another play.

I have added a spout and handle to my arch, I hope that is Ok, the basic shape is still an arch!

Could not have teatime without adding the Mad Hatter in there somewhere, he is peeping over the tea bag folded flower in the corner!!

MY HEART HAS WINGS...........AND A BEAK!

Mixed Media Monday has a great theme this week............hearts and/or wings............how could I resist!!

Here is my entry...............I have to give credit where it's due, he was inspired by Tim Holtz! I have seen on several other blogs examples of birds that have been made in one of Tims workshops and I really liked them so I decided to have a go myself. The hardest part was finding a wooden bird to work on!

I have also entered him into the Lots to Do challenge which this week is also "wings".

THE KING AND QUEEN OF CHESS

Theme Thursday has a great theme this week, it's "game pieces", so even though I am a day late in posting ( had to work yesterday!!) I had to play along!!

Not used these stamps from Lost Coast Designs in ages so it was fun to use them again.

WORKSHOP SAMPLE AND WEDNESDAY STAMPER

I thought you might like to see a sample for one of my current workshops!

I am teaching this this week over at Paddys Stamping Place in Prestwich, nr Manchester, there are still places left particularly on Thursday. If anyone would like to come along give Paddy a call on 0161 798 5115, it would be great to see you there!!

I am also entering this piece for this weeks Wednesday Stamper where the challenge is to "use hearts in a differewnt way", I hope this counts!!


The leaves are made from punched copper hearts.

RECYCLED ROMANCE!

This is my entry for the Mixed Media Monday challenge this week.

The theme is "Romance".

My piece is made from recycled pages from the TV guide, if you look closely you can see the original text in the background!

For some reason folks seem to think this is a canvas, it isn't!!! It is a folded (if somewhat large) card made from the pages of the tv guide!!

MILAGROS HEART

I thought I was done with challenges for today but then I was wandering around blogs earler and spotted that the challenge on Big Art Adventure is Milagros Hearts and I just had to have a go!!
I love hearts in general but milagros hearts are just something special!

I have a friend who lives in New Mexico and on visits there I have bought several nichos and amongst them a couple of hearts.

Here is my version, I used Ten Seconds Studio metal working tools to get the patterned effects and black acrylic paint for the aged look.

AND THE WINNER IS?

MASKED BALL is the theme on TGIF today, this is my entry.


I have to admit it reminds me of some sort of film award!!!

BORDERS

Theme Thursday challenge is to use a border of some sort in your work.

The one I have used around the sides of this box is one of my favourites and it is from Paperbag Studios.

And just to prove that I do make cards occasionally I have also used it on the inside of the card that sits inside the box!!

KISS KISS

KISS KISS is the theme on Wednesday Stamper this week.
The only thing that came to mind when I saw this was "THE KISS" by Gustav Klimt, I knew I had some Klimt swirls stamps somewhere so I had a rummage around and found them and used them to create the background for the postcard (the picture is actually called "The Three Ages of Woman")

Last year the Tate gallery in Liverpool held a major Klimt exhibition as part of the city of culture celebrations and what an experience that was, it was mind blowing! So, I had some postcards lying around from that( though not of The Kiss itself, that wasn't included in the exhibition as it is too fragile to move)................the idea was starting to come together!!
Another artist whose work I like very much is Charles Rennie Mackintosh, he was a contemporary of Klimt and they did have some contact (there was some Mackintosh bits and pieces in the exhibition) so when it came to the words on this piece the Mackintosh style alphabet I have seemed to be just right!!

So, this is my entry for the KISS KISS challenge!

PEARS

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY has Hermine as guest host this week and her chosen theme is "fruit". An interesting choice that made me think a little!

Here is my entry, collaged and painted pears!

A pair of German Gold Scrap wings make a fun set of leaves for this small pear.

"THE BAG LADY"

This piece was originally called "The Tag Lady" as opposed to the bag lady but with the addition of a beaded bag she reverts back to being a bag lady!!

This weeks theme on Wednesday Stamper is (hand)bags so this is my entry.

Small beaded bag I made from a kit, not the best picture, sorry!

Her tag skirt!!

ANOTHER SNEEK PEEK!!

FANCIFUL WHIMSEYS

It's a good week for published stuff!! This time it's the Spring issue of Paper Creations. I made a series of cards and a decorated box using the Fanciful Whimseys stamps by Sandra Evertson (by Stampington). This is just one of them and actually it's my favourite of these stamps.

ALTERED ARTS

WHAT? NEVER SEEN A DIVA BEFORE?

This is a sneek peek of a canvas that has been published in the latest issue of Altered Arts e-magazine

I love this stamp.............it fits perfectly with the Stampotique girls stamps

HOME IMPRESSIONS GOTHIC ARCH

I was recently asked to join the design team for HOME IMPRESSIONS, a stamp store with their own range of stamps based in Holland and run by my friend Ria.

See the design team blog here.

The first sets of stamps arrived yesterday and I just LOVE this Gothic Arch set so decided to have a play with them today.

This effect on the crow is done by inking the stamp with black ink and then pressing the un-inked rose stamp onto it, this removes some of the ink. Then stamp the crow image onto cream card, I find a slightly glossy card works best.

These pics were taken in my garden, this ring of rusty barbed wire hangs on the back of the shed door and I think it makes a great place to display these cards!!

What the shed door normally has hanging on it!!

HEART AND HOME

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!! Great name for a challenge site and they have a great theme this week..........BOOKS. This is my entry, a CD book, I am still amazed that the Zutter machine will punch through a CD!

THEME THURSDAY AND WORKSHOP SAMPLE

Something my friend Jo Capper-Sandon said on her blog the other day struck a cord, she was saying that the piece she was showing was made just using what was left on her desk, it made me think.

This morning I saw the challenge on Theme Thursday was to create a piece that is only 2"x4", in itself a challenge!

Well, I had to finish off a workshop sample this morning so thought I'd have no time to make something for the challenge. After the sample was finished I was clearing up and thought about what Jo had said................so..............here is my entry for this challenge made from only the stuff I had lying on my desk!!


And so here is the workhop sample I was working on that gave me the left over bits!

I will be teaching this next week on Thursday and Saturday at Paddys Stamping Place in Prestwich near Manchester, if anyone fancies joining in the fun then give Paddy a ring on 0161 798 5115.

If you look closely you can see what this started life as!!

SHE SELLS SEASHELLS

The challenge on Wednesday Stamper this week is to use lace somewhere in your work.

I quite like to use haberdashery bits and pieces in my work so this appealed to me!!!

These cards were made a while ago but I still like them, they have not only lace but buttons, press studs and buttons and even some machine stitching on them!

BOUQUET OF DREAMS

Created by hand challenge site has a theme of "Hearts" today.
My entry is this heart shaped board book.



This is the front of the book

couple of the inside pages

and this is detail of another page with stamped vines and small punched hearts added as leaves.