Playing In My Art Journal

This past few days has seen me playing in my art journal to get shading mastered in preparation for a rather large canvas project that I will be under taking.  It will be a piece for our front living room and I am praying it turns out how I envisage it.  Below are the images of what I have been playing with in my journal.  The white flower has the grey shading and details as if light is coming from above...still not entirely happy with it but hey its art from my perspective right.

I have also been playing around with another of Catherine Scanlon's Art Journal pages...it took a couple of attempts as I was using Golden Fluid Acrylic Paints on this one and after being miserable with it first go around I listened to some suggestions from friends on Facebook and went back in with some Pan Pastels (my favourite medium by far) and I actually like the end result.

Other then that life is plodding right along...family are good and Bek is taking her drivers test this week...that scares me that she is so grown up now...and a Junior in the fall...OMGOSH!!

Anyway..back to the studio I go!

Back Online

Well after a much needed break from blogging I finally reactivated my blog.  It was hidden for some time so I could regroup and try to regain some of my missing craft mojo.  It is slowly returning but all good things come to those who wait.

Life has been hectic to say the least.  We had family over from Australia  in January and it was truly wonderful to spend time with them. I watched our gorgeous daughter grow up and get her temps....and start to make choices for the career she wants to pursue to help others.  Life is in a wonderful place right now.

The things that have inspired me greatly to get back into creating have been some wonderful Art Journal Colouring Pages by the ever talented Catherine Scanlon...you can find her blog HERE I have coloured 2 of the pages already.  One with Faber Castell Gelatos and the other with Pan Pastels.  I have no clue what to do the third one in...perhaps some acryllics....hmmmmm  Anyway here they are....I am happy with them...especially the Pan Pastel one.

Have a great day .... I am thinking it is time to hit the studio.

Missing In Action....Sortta! **image heavy**

Well hi blogland!! I am still alive I promise!!!  I have been so caught up in life here and some other things that I have left my poor blog to collect dust in the corner.

I have not created a thing since the wooden spoon! Sad I know but there has been a lot of other things going on in my personal life. We have been so busy getting ready for the winter months that completing the outdoors projects has taken all our time. I also started the Brave Girls Art School ... and fell so far behind!!! I don't think I will ever catch up at this stage but I am hoping to at least knock a few projects off the list!

The store....well its there but that is about it! My two DT ladies both stepped down as they didn't have the 'time' for it any longer (this is going to sound horrible but that was like a kick to the teeth) and so the store sits in cyber land and I have a room full of gorgeous products and a whole heap of stuff I never loaded as I frankly do not see the point at this stage! My niece will get some yummy goodness for her Christmas gifts though!

Personally...Well I slipped backwards with the anxiety and depression...I fought as hard as I could but I finally went to my doctor and was put back on some medication...it seems to be helping along with the love and support of my amazing husband and daughter.   Speaking of my daughter...she has continued to grow into a gorgeous young woman who I am extremely proud of! She keeps flourishing in the love we share as a family unit and my heart swells with pride.  She just had her 2012 Homecoming and seeing her all dressed up made me feel very old LOL! The last photo is of her with her 3 best friends....they all looked gorgeous!!! Anyway I best get a move on...a few things I want to accomplish today and sadly none of it is in my studio.

Altered Spoon

Well I have been very busy all weekend...but the creative part was the most fun!  Susan had a blog hop to celebrate her 5 year Blogoversary...and asked us to play along and alter a wooden spoon.  Now after I scratched my head for a considerable amount of time...some ideas started forming.  I went out to the Dollar Store and grabbed a pack of 4 wooden spoons and set about making my ideas come to life.

First I stained the spoon with Walnut Distress Stain and the lightly coated it with Tarnished Brass Distress Stain. I then cut out lots of branches using a Tim Holtz die along with the leaves.  I used Kraft Core Nostalgic Collection for those.  I then inked then with Walnut Stain Distress Ink  and spritzed them using Olive Vine Glimmer Mist.  I set those aside and grabbed a vintage Jello mould and coated it in Alcohol Inks and then once it was dry (like 5 nanoseconds) I grabbed some flora foam and filled it as the base for the tree.  I used Peat Moss around the base and glued some of the leaves on that.  I used some jewellery wire to thread through the word charms which had also been treated with alcohol inks.

I cut the little guy out using the Kraft Core and sanded hi a little before spritzing him with Glimmer Mist.  The base is a tree sliver plaque that I have had forever and I coated it in Distress Stains before covering it in burlap and spritzing it with Olive Vine Glimmer Mist (my favourite colour by far!)
I scattered the leaves around and after wondering how to get the man to stay upright..my wonderful MIL gave me the idea to use a skewer up each leg to secure him too...VOILA! it worked well!

Thank you Susan for the opportunity to create using an item I would not have thought to use...and now I have a beautiful creation to place in my studio

Exciting News!

Good Morning everyone,

Today  I was going to share a project with you but instead I will share some exciting news that I woke to this morning in my email.

The first part of our CHA Ranger order has shipped!!! This includes the Tim Holtz Metallic Distress Stains, Rock Candy dry Stickles and the glue for it as well as the new Texture Treads for use with UTEE!  I am over the moont hat these gorgeous new things are the first of many to be arriving for the store.

Here is the link to a video that KinderstampO took at CHA in Chicago of Tim Holtz demonstrating the new Metallic Distress Stains.: HERE

I hope you all have a fabulous day today...I am off to play in the studio for a little bit, but be sure to come back tomorrow to see what Ramona has in store for you :)

The Whatever's #2

So I decided to play along on this cute little mixed media adventure. I love the concept behind it and that it pushes me out of my comfort zones.  You can follow along or join in HERE.

For this one I used tissue paper against my background and then stamped over it lightly with a script text stamp using archival inks.  I then gave it a whitewash with a light blue Pantone paint..I love these paints for their translucent qualities.I robbued over it in places using Inka Gold in  Bronze (Cat Scanlon's online workshop got me addicted to these paints!) I then printed my photo out on Kraft cardstock so that it was sturdy enough to withstand anything else I threw at it but also had that aged looked straight off the bat.    I brushed Inka Gold in Gold around the edges of it to frame Mother in and lightly brushed the Bronze over it, aging it a little more.

The stamps in the lower corner were floating around my stash as was the envelope I spritzed with Glimmer Mists..I sprayed Glimmer Mists on my craft mat and then sat the base of a mason jar on it and stamped it as cup rings on the background...I layered the title using mini cards from Tim Holtz and the stick pin is from Art-i-cake.

My journalling reads: So after the photos (which Mother watched over) we began a new journey.  One which led us to immigrate to the America's.

Curious Monday

Good Morning Bloggers,

It is Terri here, I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!  I spent mine trying to get a few projects finished up around the house and nowhere near enough creative playtime. 

Today I am going to share with you a canvas I made using some of the products from our store.  I used the Authentique Curiosity Paper Line as well as Pan Pastels, Seam Binding, Prima flowers, Tim Holtz Distress Inks and a gorgeous 12x12 Canvas from Canvas Corp (these will be in store in the not too distant future as I ordered them at CHA)

I firstly coloured the background of the canvas with Pan Pastels in Paynes Grey, then the edges in a Turquoise Tint.  Once I had prayed the entire canvas with a workable fixative (I use Krylon at present)  I then set about fiddling with background papers.  I inked all the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Inks Spring Collection as well as my favourite Vintage Photo. I layered the placement and then went about sticking things down with my glue.

The seam binding I wet with my spray bottle and scrunched it up so it was suitably wrinkled then blasted it dry with my heat gun.  The Vintage Bike I also inked with the same inks as the papers and adhered it with my trusty hot glue gun.  The clustering on the corner took me a little more time then usual as I was not entirely happy with it so I walked away and came back with fresh eyes.  All the flowers came from my stash and I inked them  to pull the colours all together.  The word is out of a Prima package. 

I took a step back and was still not entirely happy with the end result...then I  glanced across my desk and saw some stencils that were new to my studio and the light bulb went off...I grabbed the Pan Pastels again and set about adding the numbers across the top.  I covered the photo and sprayed a layer of sealant across the Pan Pastels..and VOILA!

 I love the end result, my daughter is horrified that I scrapped this picture of her in the 3rd Grade back in Australia..but I LOVE it.  I hope you liked the canvas and remember these gorgeous canvases will be in store as soon as the CHA order arrives (along with lots of other goodies!!)...I can hardly wait!!!

Have a wonderful week.