Spring Walk ATC

This is a new twist for an ATC !

We were given a template of an Egg for this weeks challenge at Mamma's group over on Flickr as its near Easter.......

http://www.flickr.com/groups/815984@N23/pool/

This is my little effort :-]........when i first saw the template,I thought omg,what am i going to do with this,but once I started thinking about Easter and looking for images,it was ok,I just had to do a watercolour and combine it with collage,I enjoyed it so much,I,m going to do a couple more for friends as a little Easter card.......its quite a lot of work laying it out first off,as i had to use watercolour paper,a lot of cutting out,making sure i got all the scenes the right way round .I found it better to cut out the template then stick the w/colour paper onto that then cut out,which made it quite thick and sturdy,I used 140LB weight paper .

Altering Beermat's

Cover,made out of a beercan and alcohol inked with metal key embellishment. may add more !

Inside pages with my own handmade backgrounds ,butterflies to be stamped into the background at a later date lol

A Journey of Discovery

Taking me along a road of twists and turns,planning out or creating in my mind how i am going to make this new altered beermat book,of course you need to think of a theme first,I always do things back to front lol,I started to work on altering my first beermat,I must say they are lovely to work on,a nice firm base and a good weight.

Loving Vintage ladies and Lace as I do, I think i will carry a theme throughout of ladies and lace on the front with a poem of the back,trying to portray the poem,soooo I need to get the poem,then create the page...........hope this is not confusing you as it is me lol.....that means a couple of hours looking for poems,keeping in mind the images I have to work with.

Turning from that,because i,m not keen on the research side of things lol.

I started by making some backgrounds using spray inks by Glimmer Mists and Sticky Fingers,then stamping over with a lovely new stamp I have just purchased of scrolles and flowers...........my first twist is jumping from that to making the cover,out came the beercans lol,and using the cuttlebug embossing folders again,fixed that to a beermat on a slightly larger piece of card stock,just incase of sharp edges.Using alcohol inks next hoping for blues and greens,but things dont go according to plan with me,it looked all green when dry,sooooo maybe a green theme running through the book ?? ummmm..maybe lol (after doing a blue page !! ok blue and green,that should work..... ) confused ?? trust me,it should come together at the end .........

The left side of the mats must be left clear,as I need to get them into the Bind it All machine at the finish.I shall add the wording on the front of these at the end when i have sorted out which poem each one is going to portray,and maybe add more embellishments to match the poem.

Seeeeee how i work ! total confusion LOL,and to add in case you are all wondering,I DONT drink beer lol,but do like a laquer shandy .....

Will be blogging more pages later.

Gothic Arch book finished !

I know you have most proberly seen this cover before,I decided to blog it,as I am done with it at last,after a lot of playing around trying to think of a way to make a book out of my Gothic Arch pages,I had already settled on doing an altered book with them,after starting on it,I didnt like,so in the end settling for the Bind it all machine lol ,its quicker and easier !!

I did blog this cover a little while ago explaining how it was made out of a beercan and run through my cuttlebug machine.....I intend to do more of this type of metal work,just cant wait to start on a new project !

Altered Scrabble Tiles

This month's theme for Gas Mamma Group
Altered scrabble tile charms
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1057040@N22/pool/
Top left I collaged,then glazed with Anita's Clear Gloss finish,edged with silver Krylon pen
Right one is a Shrink Plastic Rose,fixed onto a spray ink background.

Bottom two are both collaged then same as above.
We are going to collect each others work to make a charm bracelet,cant wait to see all the finished pieces,I am going to try and create 6 more,so I should end up with 10 charms for my bracelet !

Cottage in Oil

This cottage I painted some time ago for a friend,its an oblong shape and large,I really enjoyed this one... so much room to create in,I find if i paint on a big canvas I,m talking over 16x12 the better my work is,a much looser style which is good...I just love to paint in oil,I can always cover up my mistakes lol,with watercolour its 90% thinking about it and 10% actually painting,you only get one chance !

I have been meaning to blog this for ages,its nice to keep a record on the net to look back on.

Painting in watercolour & Pastel

Last weeks theme for the Mamma group was An English Country Garden ATC ,
http://www.flickr.com/groups/815984@N23/

Right up my street LOL ,Its been a long time since I painted a cottage,but the challenge was set,never ever created one this ATC size,I just had to give it a go,I have always worked in w/colour and pastels for the publishers,as the pastel colours are so vibrant and take the print well,thats what I was told :0)I can see their point though.It got me back in the mood for painting !
I always paint the background in watercolour first,its like laying down a sketch of how you want it to go,then I attack it with Pastels lol, I leave parts of the watercolour showing through,like this one the sky, and some parts of the path,doing it this way,it gives me a colour guide too.The white of the cottage is the white watercolour paper,I forgot to say I always use 140LB w/colour paper.