Getting messy and having fun with my little book

A really cold day and on and off showers - so there was just one thing to do - play!

 I just love these French posters

 They are so cute

I have added 'swipes' of gold to the crumpled pages since taking the photo which highlights the creases.

 I am not 100% happy with this page - it does look more vintage in real life -and not so pale as it does in the photo

I aged this faded angel sketch and found a small pot of green paint in my cupboard which I hadn't opened.  It turned out to be crackle paint - but had gone almost solid - but it has given the page so much texture - even though it didn't crackle.  I might bend the page a bit and see if it does - then rub in some ink if it works

I have aged this 'certificate' by my favourite method with a heat gun - it really does the trick and makes things look ancient.

And this lady is my favourite page

I traced her from a black and white image, then coloured her, with a heat gun.

Again - since taking the photo, I have gilded some of the creased pages to highlight them.

Just got to make an outer cover for the book. That will have to wait until next week as I am off out flower arranging tomorrow

Another page or two for my little French book

 I added another couple of pages to my little book yesterday

 Initially I was quite pleased with the aging experiment and how they turned out

Until, that is, I noticed a white little splodge of paint on the lady's cheek - so she has been ripped out and discarded!

I replaced her with this - a Moulin Rouge type poster.

Oh - and I am working on this

For the back page.

But I keep being  distracted by the scenes from my window

 Dolly the Silkie with the same colour hair as me, noticed that the wind had lifted a bit of netting

 So she set about head butting it so that she could get at the fresh greens I have been growing for them for over winter - and of course the other girls had to get in on the act

When I shouted, 'Oi - Dolly - what are you doing?'

She gave me the most innocent and stunned look - like children are wont to do 

- as much as to say, 'Are you talking to me?' The others

just pretended that it was nothing to do with them of course!

They truly bring a smile to my face, however I may be feeling.

More tomorrow

Wilder, windier and wetter - so another day in the studio

So now that I have lots of pages prepared I am ready to have a play - this is the fun part - getting messy.

I printed some free black and white images from the internet then coloured them in and distressed them.

This is just the the start!
Click on photos to enlarge!

I found this postcard image and decided to paint it before painting the page with all the colours I had used on the print - plus silver rub and buff - and added some little roses which I had painted to match.

(The white smudges are in fact silver so do not look harsh in natural light)
When painting with water colours, you have to gradually build up the layers
So a lot of patience is called for!

But it is worth the effort I think.

The above image - a little larger than an ATC took me a couple of hours+
to paint and finish - shading and layering the paints and gold.
She is mounted on a torn vintage sheet of written notes, and
a piece of brown torn, stamped paper.

The Marie image on the material and card came with some bags which I purchased a number of years ago from Lilla.  I kept her safe - in a drawer - but decided to add her to the book with just a few background layers and a kiss of gold here and there.  I love her to bits.

More to follow

Wild, windy and wet - time to play

What to do when the weather is a washout - go in the studio and play of course!

I tore a pile of pages from an old  book  and screwed them up!

 Treated them to a cup of tea and some gesso

Then flattened them out

Dried them off 

And started sewing the pages together

To make little books!

Then off I went to download some black and white free images from the internet.

What's on my work desk today?

A mess that's for sure!

 I have signed up for a mail art swap (envelope) on Cardmaking Paradise Forum

of which I am a member.

After having a conversation with emails whizzing backwards and forwards 

with this lovely lady, 
I was inspired by her work and ideas.  I haven't seen her finished envelopes but I do know that she made her envelopes

  I have been trying different (safe) methods - then went for the
reckless one!  Making my own envelope from scratch, as Susanne had.
I took an old used envelope and carefully pulled it apart then made a cardboard template - before playing with this huge sheet of thick paper!

 I haven't had as much fun since I ran a playgroup when my sons were little!

I dolloped some random colours including gold over the surface.

Then mixed them all up!  I have already cut a piece and made one envelope 

and have these left.

(click to enlarge)

 

 To be absolutely truthful - I just love them

And under the light - which is hard to see - the gold looks amazing

 And I want to cut up the rest into sheets

Or pages - and just keep them in a book - or make them into 

book covers or journal covers.

Who would have thought that those few random blobs of paint

swirled around in time to the music playing on my cd player

would creat these.  They look different depending on which way I turn them

and I can get lots of sheets/pages out of the big piece - which a chunk of wallpaper lining!

Mad woman - you don't have to tell me - I know - but at my age I can be!

WARNING!

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other peoples' gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickles for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

by Jenny Joseph

Mail Art

I seem to be getting my 'mojo' bac which has been in hibernation for too long.  So long, that I thought it had gone all together!

Just being on my own in the garden studio - looking out onto the chooks running around, the autumn leaves blowing off the trees - and yes the rain too - is very calming - no distractions.

Hmm - does this look a too  bright?  Might be the scanner

This one done on a different scanner is truer to the colours I think - or somewhere in between.

I am putting them up on cork boards in here - it certainly brightens up the room - and for once it is my own work - not other folks.  I have those on other boards.

Thank you for visiting - time for lunch

P.S.

Looking at it with .new eyes. this morning on here, I think ti needs a quote or something to break up the big expanse of space

Mail Art

I am just going to experiment with mail art.  

I have always fancied having a go, so yesterday tried it out on a big yellow padded envelope which I am sending to a friend.  

 It rather spoils the look with a label on it - but I am hoping that once she receives it she will slap on a piece of paper over the label, or paint over it in white.

Sadly the village post office has been closed for two days in a row.  We might lose it altogether and the owner retired and a buyer 'fell through' but they have had a temp in there ad hoc!

Studio Cabin Makeover

Well my studio has had a make over at last! 

I have wanted to do it for years!

Since Mr Lottie's serious illness it really made me see things differently, and now that he is on the mend I am going to start enjoying life and spending more time in my studio - which I decided I would brighten up with a Makeover.

 I took these photos in the pouring rain

It's brighter in real life and on a sunny day!

It is my haven - and heated so that I can use it all winter.  It got rather neglected for the past couple of years a Mr L was so ill - but now it has a new lease of life - just like he does - and I am going to make the most of both!

I had a wonderful time creating arty crafty things, reading, 

gazing out of my window watching the chickens - who all seemed to skidaddle when they saw the camera! - or maybe it was the heavy rain.

I took the opportunity of chatting to a lovely forum friend on the phone - a perfect day!

Postcard swap on UK Stampers

I am rather enjoying the post card swaps on UK Stampers forum - they can be quite addictive.

This month the challenge is 'Blue and Birds'

I found some old stamps that hadn't seen daylight so decided to give them a go

These are cling on stamps and I found that the lines were a bit too thick for my liking

But I painted the images, and tries to blur the lines a bit with Gesso, and I painted in blossome and flower heads that were not on the stamp to soften the effect.

I might have another go at this theme if I get time - but for now I am experimenting with mail art for another swap - this time on Cardmaking Paradise

What a great way to spend an afternoon

I haven't been able to go to my flower arranging afternoons once and month for ages, and ages, and ages, - but I did so yesterday.

I was only there an hour or so, but did manage to make a table top arrangement - the other ladies were making great big dangling arrangements suitable for displaying in church

This is how it looked when I brought it home but today the roses have opened out and you can hardly ee any foliage - and it looks just gorgeous.

I don't plan to miss any more of the flower arranging monthly get togethers if I can help it!

You just can't beat the smell of fresh foliage, and flowers to put a smile on your face

More texture pages

More experimental pages for my texture reference book.

It's just one of the forum projects going on at Cardmaking Paradise   see the link in the  post below.

 

I got my inspiration for this whilst looking out my garden studio window

on a dull wet grim sort of day.

 

 I cast my mind back to autumn last year with the bare vines of the ivy clinging to the birch trees

The leaves are starting to fall after the cold snap these past few nights, and I have mixed in some frosty wintery sparkle - and the wistful vintage girl printed on a perspex 'window' in the woods.

So somehow the challenge of using texture paste on a page - I seem to have turned into a Narnia type dream

And my 'texture paste' alas wasn't the posh art one - but a £! pot of unamed all purpose filler in a hardware shop!

The texture pages being created on the forum by members are so colourful and  beautiful - I just wish I didn't have a weird imagination and could just create the way they do - without it having to 'be' something pictorial.

Apparently it is all due to what sort of brain you have - honestly I was told that by a professional!

I happen to see things in pictures in my brain - tasks, problems, mathematical things - you name it I visualise it!  Tsk!