Journal Journeys Challenge 10

Over on Journal Journeys Dawn gave us the challenge of 'Paris' this month.  Now I could've done a layout about the romance of Paris, but Paris in July only means one thing to me - The Tour de France!!!  I watch it every year and love it but this year was *very* special - we had a British winner in Bradley Wiggins.  So of course my page *had* to be about that.


First a little explanation.  The Tour de France is a bicycle road race around (surprisingly enough) France.  It starts with around a couple of hundred riders and raced over 3,497 km split into 20 stages over 3 weeks.  The final stage every year is ends in Paris with the riders racing down the Champs Elysees and past the Arc de Triomphe.  I find it absolutely exhilarating to watch and I'm constantly in awe of the riders fitness levels!  Bradley Wiggins was the overall winner and received the coveted Yellow Jersey.  Mark Cavendish won the sprint on the Champs Elysees to notch his 4th win there and he's a Brit too!  And so onto the page.

After gessoing the page I scribbled a blue Aquacolour crayon over the page and activated it with gesso to have an almost blue sky look to it.  I took a couple of photos (I know miracle for me!) but the colour didn't show up to well.  I found a free image of the French flag fluttering in the wind on-line and used a glue stick to stick to the page.

I then stamped the bicycle from one of Sir Tim's clear stamp sets around the outside of the page using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and stamped one bicycle in the white portion of the flag in Dandelion Memento ink to signify the Yellow Jersey.





This is when things started to go down hill somewhat and my MS came to play.  I desperately wanted to enter this challenge especially as I was doing a page about the Tour but I sort of struggled from here on in.  So this isn't exactly what was supposed to happen but I think it turned out OK.

I wanted to put the logo for the tour into the page somewhere and found it on-line and sized to what I needed and printed onto tissue paper.  I stuck to the page with Golden Gel Medium (matte).  








Once it was dry I found I stamped the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe from Paris Culture stamp plate by Chocolate Baroque onto the background using Black Archival.  I found some more free images on-line of Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and the peloton going into Paris.  I printed these out and stuck adhere them with glue stick.  I stamped some bunting and stamped the letters of the riders names into it.  I coloured Brad Wiggins name in Squeezed Lemonade DI as he won the Yellow Jersey and left Cav's white as he is the World Champion at the moment.  I decorated some of the bunting with Union Jacks which I drew free hand with Promarkers and stuck them on with glue stick.  I finished the page off with the 'We'll always have Paris' stamp from the Paris Postcard stamp plate from Chocolate Baroque in Black Archival.

If you like the idea of Journaling, why not come and play with us at Journal Journeys.

Thanks Dawn for organising this again!

Journal Journeys Challenge 09

This month Dawn over on Journal Journeys set us the challenge of 'torn paper'.  I *love* torn paper.  I try to use it on my cards so that when I stick something on wonkily, it doesn't matter ;)


Yet again Dawn made a fabulous page and it took me a while to figure out how to follow it in my own style.  Then I remembered a couple of cards I had made a while ago using mulberry paper and the idea had arrived!


Firstly I tore up red, yellow and orange tissue paper and adhered them to the page with Golden Gel Medium.  Then I dribbled Golden Fluid Acrylic in Phthalo Green (blue Shade) and used a Speedball Brayer to brayer it across the surface.  








The colour was nice but I wanted more depth so I dripped more Golden Fluid Acrylics in Phthalo Blue (green shade), Hansa Yellow Medium and Cobalt Teal separately onto sections of the page and rubbed them in with my finger.  I like the colours much better and it gives it some interest.

Next I searched til I found my stash of Mulberry Paper and drew basic circular flower shapes on various colours with a wet paint brush and tore them out.  Then I drew some centres and leaves and tore them out too.  I stuck them to the page with a Zig glue pen.  Now on the cards I've made before I followed instructions from the PaperCraft Inspirations magazine.  They made poppies with the paper so the glue didn't show through on the black Mulberry but it does on the yellow centres I had so I had to stick some gems on to try and hide it.


I drew stalks on randomly with a dark green Promarker.  It didn't show up to well but I like that.  Black would've have been too harsh and I stuck the leaves on just to fill gaps really!

The top of the page looked a little bare so I tore a butterfly out of the Mulberry Paper and again the glue showed through the lilac wings, so back to the gems.  Gems are just *the* best things for filling up blank space and saving a project like this. 


I drew the antennae on with a black Promarker with the small tip added.


And here is the finished piece.  I really like the texture underneath the paint.

Thanks for organising this again Dawn :)

MS Trust Art Show

I promised you I would show you my piece from the MS Trust Secret Art Show when it had sold.  I forgot to take a photo so Jo from the MS Trust very kindly sent me a scan of it.  And here it is

The butterfly is from a (now sadly) discontinued stamp plate by Elusive Images.  I stamped it onto the heavy watercolour paper that the MS Trust sends you when you show interest in creating a piece for the show.  I embossed it with a silver embossing powder andpainted it with Twinkling H2O's, then used a yellow Ecoline Ink to colour the background.

The sentiment was also on the stamp plate but I needed it to be bigger, so I printed onto to tissue paper through my printer.  I have a Kodak ESP printer and the ink dries very quickly on all the things I've tried through it so far.  As long as I tape the tissue to a piece of cartridge paper it prints fine.  As the ink dries very quickly you can use gel medium to adhere it to the background which is what I did here.

It sold on the first day of the sale.  How chuffed am I ?!?!?!

There are still some pieces left.  Please have a look.  Its a great cause very close to my heart (for obvious reasons!!)

A Box for Julie

A while ago whilst I was having a pedicure Julie and I got to talking about how she needed a box to keep clients jewellery safe whilst they have massages in her room at home.  She couldn't find one that was suitable so I offered to decorate one for her.

I found this box on Happy Daze and sent for immediately.  Julie has teal as the main colour for her business and I know her room is cream so the colours were nice and easy to decide!  I first gesso'd the entire box, inside and out.  I maybe should have sanded it but it seemed smooth enough already.  I then used Claudine Hellmuth Studio Classic Teal to paint the whole box.  The box had its clasp already attached and painting round it was quite difficult but thats where baby wipes come *really* handy.

I created the scalloped edge using one of Sir Tim's On the Edge dies (Scallops).  I used paper we were given at the Graphicus Paradise Retreat in 2009 (its still really fresh in my memory) to use on a Italian inspired Diptych book.  It was perfect for this project.

I originally tried to stamp some baroque style swirls directly onto the box but they just didn't work so I had to cover up my mistake and the scallops were it.  But they weren't quite tall enough so I put a Grunge Paper swirl over it too.  I painted all of the Grunge Paper swirls with Golden Titan Buff.  Its one of those colours I bought when Graphicus closed and when I got it I thought I'd never use it.  Its one of my faves now!

The littles feet that I put on the box are small wooden balls that Jo and I bought in the sale at Hobbycraft.  Another purchase that I thought 'that'll come in handy' and they finally have!  Painting them was fun ;)  I stuck them on with silicone.

For the sides of the box I used the scallops again and put shirt buttons on with silicone.  I tried to choose different styles of button but eventually just put some of them on upside down to change the look.

For the top of the box I used swirls (Elegant Flourishes die) and flowers (Tattered Florals die).  I covered both sides of some Grunge Paper in the same paper as the one I used for the scallops using Glossy Accents to stick it and then used the die with my Cuttlebug.  I shaped the flowers and the paper started to come off a little, so I ended up covered in Glossy Accents trying the stick it back down!  As the paper was coming away it started to show more Grunge Paper so I diluted a little Classic Teal and Titan Buff and painted a wash over all of the flowers.

I used buttons for the centres of the flowers.  I stuck the swirls on with Glossy Accents and used silicone for all of the flowers.

I gave the box to Julie last week and she loved it.  Job done :)

A post to help my state of mind

 I went to see my Neurologist a couple of weeks ago and after examining my legs which, I thought were getting weaker, he told me that I am on the cusp of Secondary Progressive MS. This was a *huge* shock!!!

I feel like I'm in a washing machine being tossed around.  Its the same feeling as I had when I was first diagnosed.  Its the 'not knowing' whats gonna happen and having absolutely no control over it in anyway.  I like to be in control if I can and its taken me 10 years to relax (slightly) into the 'not knowing'.

I knew I was getting slightly worse but nothing has prepared me for this.  I have a great relationship with my Neurologist and we have been totally honest with each other and once I calmed down at home I realised that I'm pleased he told me.  At least my legs still have strength in them so I know they're not gonna collapse which has given me more confidence.

All of the problems I'm experiencing now, like the pain and stiffness in my legs, is a result of damage that happened when I was first diganosed.  The second time I went into hospital I literally couldn't walk and now my MS has decided to have another go at that part of my brain.  But at least now I have my wheelchair.  I'm so pleased I got it before all of this happened.  I can't imagine what it would be like to have the do that now on top of everything else I'm feeling!

I had a few bad days where my mind has been all over the place.  So after nights of not sleeping properly I decided to journal it out.  I found the picture in my bit box where I keep loads of pictures from magazines when I was looking for something for the Spring page.

I used water soluble crayons for the background and a white Sakura Souffle pen to draw lightening onto the background.  I needed to wite down how I felt but ended up just writing what you see here.  I *know* why the journal page was made and I know what I was feeling.  This has helped me enormously.

I used a stamp that Jo gave me for my birthday a while ago and it sums up my life beautifully.  I stamped it onto tissue paper and used Golden gel medium to attach it to the page. 

Its taken me a long time but I think I have my head round it now.  I am the same person who walked into the clinic as walked out.  Nothing has really changed apart from a name, but its a name that can literally strike fear into you.  I'm seeing a psycologist from the Pain Clinic tomorrow and my counsellor on 2nd April so I can let rip then ;)

Thank you for allowing me this little therapeutic indulgence.

Journal Journeys Challenge 06

At the beginning of the month Dawn posted the new prompt for the Journal Journeys Challenge.  This time, very appropriately, its 'Spring'.

I knew I wanted the page to be really fresh with lots of greens and yellows.  Now you know me by now.  I either take a glut of pictures or forget to take any.  This is a forget kinda thing!

Here's the finished article.

I did the background at home using Derwent Inktense blocks in 2 shades of green and a yellow.  I smooshed them around with water, dried it and took my journal to the Art Club.

I found the picture of the snowdrop in a Living North magazine that someone gave me.  it has *the* most fanatstic photos and this photo of the snowdrop is perfect as they are truly Spring to me.  I applied the picture and the wording using Golden Gel Medium (matte).

The wording is from a short story by Hans Christian Andersen aptly called The Snowdrop.  Its a lovely tale and worth a read.  I printed on tissue paper which I put through my printer taped to an A4 sheet of copier paper.  Because I have a kodak printer and the ink dries incredibly quickly you can put anything wet over it and the ink won't bleed.  Fab for doing gel transfers!

The stamps I used are clear one from...erm...Martha stewart....Anna Griffin...someone like that.  And the word stamp is from Inpression Obsession clingables and suits this page perfectly.  I always wonder how those gorgeous snowdrops manage to bloom in such adverse conditions.  I guess Hans Christian Andersen explains it all

Happy New Year!!!

After my relapse I decided to take it easy for a few weeks to get myself pulled together.  I finally feel ready to craft again and that was exactly what I was doing yesterday - huddled in my craft room with my new Slanket on, listening to an audio book and getting painty!!

I got 2 craft books for Christmas ( along with a lot of other stuff) from Jo - Surface Treatment Workshop: Explore 45 Mixed Media Techniques and Art at the Speed of Life.  The Surface Treatments gave me the kick I needed to start creating again and I started to read the the second one on Christmas Day.  For once I am taking notice of what the author is telling me to do to try to save precious time in our crafting habits.  So yesterday I created most of a journal page and loads of backgrounds for a journal (or smash book) that I made last winter out of recycled packaging.

First of all I gesso'd the journal page as it had some Krylon ink coming through from the previous page and while my sponge brush was dirty I gesso'd all of the pages of the recycled journal.

You can great texture on the page by pressing the end of the sponge onto the page.  The bubbles that come from the sponge stay raised when it dries too!

Next I dripped Golden paints Pthalo Blue (Green Shade) and Pthalo Green (Blue Shade) onto the pages and used a Speedball brayer to roll the colour around and blend it.

The names of these colours always make me smile.  Why is the blue, green and the green, blue??  I'm sure there's some rational explanation but I don't really care so much cos I *love* these colours especially together!

I wanted a complete contrast to the image I'd chosen for the page.  Its a picture of Dita von Teese from one of those glossy magazines a neighbour gives to my Mam and I rip up!

For anyone who doesn't know who she is, she's a Burlesque dancer and if I was fit and well, I'd love to try Burlesque. 

The gold on the outside of the page is Golden paints Irridecent Gold (fine) and is sponged through small hole sequin waste.

The page isn't finished yet and I'm sure how its gonna end up, but I love it so far!

And here are some of the backgrounds I did.  You can see that I used the same colours a couple of times meaning I only had to wash my tools once.  Its common sense but Art at the Speed of Life has really brought it home to me.  Bit dense you see ;-)

And I'm intending to keep my baby wipes and use them in art too. Here are my first 3!

So here's to a new Year that is Happy, Healthy and Crafty for all of us!!

Elements of Art Journaling final pages

Well its been a long time coming but I've finally finished The Elements of Art Journaling course.  Not that its been a chore, but I've just not felt like doing any crafting for a while.  It happens every now and then and I say I can't be bothered but its more than that.  It usually means I'm too tired to do anything.  And that's how its been for most of this month.

Anyhoo, here are my final two pages.  The first is the fire page.  For this page Effy told us to art to music.  This is not unusual for me, as anyone who knows me will attest to.  Then she said to just enjoy ourselves and make a 'hot mess'.  Now this is more difficult for me as I'm a perfectionist and messes just don't come easy.  So I started with red Ecoline ink and blew it around the pages.  Good basis for a messy page....or so I thought.

I then painted Stewart Gill paints in cerise on one page and orange on the other.  This is when I realised my mistake.  Ecolines are water based and they just ran and mixed with the paint.  Ah well...lesson learned.  Once I got the pages painted I closed the journal and squished the pages together and it gave a lovely texture.  This is where I stopped and thought about the words associated with fire.  One of them is anger.

I realised I am ANGRY!!! 

I've always said I was frustrated or irritated but now I know that all this time I have been angry.  I'm angry at my MS for what it has and is doing to me and there are other things I am angry about too but this isn't the time or place to go into them.  So I wrote it all down and burned the paper.  And as I watched the pieces of ash float away into the sky I started to feel calmer.  So to symbolise this I charred the edges of pieces of book pages and arranged them into a 'fire' on the pages and drew tendrils of golden smoke coming the from the fire.

The last page is the Spirit Page.  This was all about celebrating which virtues we possess now or would like to possess in the future.  Again, being British, I struggled to admit what I possess.  So my Mam got out the drinks coaster her and my Dad had bought me a few years ago and between us we decided my virtue is inner strength. 

I did a search on line for the Goddess of Inner Strength and it kept coming back to Sekhmet, the Egyptian warrior Goddess but she was also the Goddess of healing.  As I adore Egypt and everything to do with it she seemed to be an appropriate Goddess for me!

I drew a face using instructions I got from Art, Heart and Healing.  Its definitely worth checking as its a FREE course!!!  As I liked the face I'd drawn and didn't know if I'd be able to do another one I photocopied it and used the copy for the journal page. 

I first dropped spots of Golden Pyrolle Red and Hansa Yellow Medium paint on the pages and smooshed them about with a Speedball brayer.  Once they were dry I used the yellow paint on a clear stamp of bubble background and stamped it randomly around.  I then added drops of Golden Titan Buff paint and smooshed that with the brayer.  It ended up looking almost sandy.

I bought some papers a while ago which feature Egyptian images and used the black one with golden sarcophagi all over it, cut into strips, for her hair and a one with pyramids in neutral colours, with a little more Titan Buff over it, for her dress.

To bring both pages together I sponged Golden Iridescent gold paint over the whole thing.

I used a dipping pen to write the wording.  Its the first time I've done this (as you can tell by the big glob of ink on Sekmet's name), and I'm really pleased with the results.

I got the Ankh that I used on her head from a Zuzu, a blog buddy of mine, and coloured it golden with the same gold paint.  If you get a chance stop by her blog Zuzu's Petals Altered Art 'n' Stuff.  Her work is amazing!!

So there you have it.  The Elements of Art Journaling course.  It has been a revelation for me to do this course as it has helped to open my eyes to who I am and to make some decisions I would ordinarily have shied away from.

For anyone who would like to do this course it will be available as a Self Study course on Wild Precious Studios.  You have to join the Studio but it such a welcoming, nurturing and inspirational place to be part of.

Legs and cool boots!!

My spasms have stopped (YAAY!!!) but I have really painful legs at the moment (UGH!!!).  They feel like lead and walking is really hard work for me.  I can get relief from pain killers but they knock me out so I'm trying to get by without them.  Its a different pain from the neuropathic pain that I'm using my TENS machine for.  This is like toothache from my hips to my toes on both legs!

I decided last night I had to journal about it after cutting some more bits from magazines.  So I cut out loads of pairs of legs and used Golden matte gel medium to stick them down.  Then I used a stencil and sharpies to write the word 'LEGS' and just spilled the rest of it.  It really helped to take my mind off the pain!!

Jo was here for a cuppa one day last week and we had a look at the Clarks shoe shop website sale.  She was looking for boots with higher heels than I can manage but I spotted these little beauties and, of course, I had to buy them!  Would have been rude not too!!  They're the original desert boot design with retro animal print suede.  The suede has a texture like real animal skin and is just FAB-U-LOUS!!!

I can't wear my Dr Martens boots anymore as they are too heavy for my poor legs to cope with, but these little babies will do just fine instead of the Docs!!!

Yumminess and journaling

I ordered some yarn from Flamboyance Yarns last week as Carrie has offered to knit me a scarf.  I needed to get some 4ply or sock yarn for the scarf.  When Carrie tweeted that Flamboyance had 20% off all yarn for one day only I rang her and we chose the yarn.

The one in the right of the picture is for my scarf and the one on the left is fibre for spinning.  Carrie has a spinning wheel and I'm gonna try and do it myself and is I can't manage, Carrie will do it for me.  This is gonna be fun!!!

Aren't the colours just yummy!!

As I've not been feeling too well I've ordered loads of crafty books and have a little bit of mojo reappear!!  My spasms have all but stopped now, but I'm still so tired so I've done a little bit of journaling to cheer myself up.  I still can't sit at my craft table for too long so I've pretty much done these pages in fits and starts.  But that's the beauty of journaling - you don't need to do it all in one go!

This first page is my first attempt at layers.  I originally wrote a letter to Martha (my gorgeous cat who died in May last year) and it made me so sad each time I saw it that I wanted to cover it up.  So I started with a couple of layers of gesso, followed by some watered down yellow and ultramarine Golden paint.  Once that way dry, I used torn book pages and used gel medium to stick them down.  Then I used white acrylic paint to make marks over the pages with bottle caps, credit card edges, the lid from a large Malteser tube and a texture stamps that I found in the kiddies section of an craft store.  I'm really pleased with the result.

The next page is something that just popped into my head one day when I was walking (carefully) downstairs.  I'm really pleased at the way it turned out.  I used music paper behind Darth Vader as I can't look at that picture and not here his music from Star Wars!!!

Journaling weeknd

I spent an amazing weekend last weekend with 8 incredible women.

I attended the Journaling Weekend at Graphicus in Barnard Castle with Jo, Lou, June, Janet, Lillian and Sue as well as Glenda and Lynn.  It was actually 2 workshops, but we all attended both so it seemed like a weekend workshop.

Glenda lead us during the Saturday and we began making a loose-leaf watercolour journal and colouring it with Golden paints.  During this time we each talked about why we wanted to journal.  This lead to very intimate and revealing circumstances for each us.

For the covers for the journal we scrunched copier paper, spritzed it with water and painted it with metallic paint.  The paper ended up extremely wet and had to dry til the afternoon.   We then stuck the paper to grey board using book binding techniques.  The board will eventually be stuck back to back with bookbinding fabric between to make the spine of the journal.

The pages for the inside of the journal were made from hot pressed heavy watercolour paper and coloured with Golden acrylic paints and lots of water!  We used stencils and spritzed the stencilled image with water to make it 'bleed', like the flower in this picture.

On Sunday Lynn lead us through writing in different styles in our journals.  We made another watercolour journal, but this time we folded the pages and stitched together in a very simple style.  We all used this as our practice journal.

Lynn had us draw circles free hand and then draw horizontal lines to make a circle.  We then had to write on these lines and draw circles round the writing in pen, then make some of the words stand out.  I found this exercise quite difficult as I hate my writing.  I used to be able to do calligraphy, but MS but paid to that. 

She then asked us the write in a circles so that the letters filled the whole circle.

Then we started to write in spirals.  Once I'd finished this one, in Lou's words, I found my writing.  I am so chuffed that this worked out so well.  I just want to write in spirals all the time LOL!!!

Next we looked at alphabets and how we could change them for different page layouts.  I chose the draw capital letters with hearts on the end of each line (the top alphabet) and dots on the each line (the bottom alphabet).  Now I am more confident on what I can do I am going to practice other forms of alphabet.

When we'd finished this we started on drawing letter and decorating it.  I chose to do zentangle-ish patterns.  As I've only just started to do zentagles I couldn't remember most of the patterns so I just doodled.

The whole weekend was an amazing experience.  We all became so close.  We laughed, we cried and we encouraged each other.  I doubt I will ever experience another weekend like it.

Thank you to all you lovely ladies.

Another workshop (don't do many at all, really LOL!!!!)

A couple of weeks ago Jo and I did a workshop at Graphicus in Barnard Castle run by the wonderfully talented Lynn called 'Creative Frames'.

The workshop was based around 2 frames with recesses in the middle, a piece of grey board, some dictionary paper, Grungepaper, some die cuts from Sir Tim of Holtz range and LOTS of paints and stamps!!!

Of course, as is typical of me, I never even thought about taking my camera, but Lou came to the rescue and took a couple of photos for me during the day.  Thanks Lou!!

First we chose some paint and a Distress Crackle Paint to put over the top.  I chose a Lumiere called Halo Pink Gold and Broken China in the crackle.  I painted the Lumiere all over the frame and recess and allowed to dry before applying the crackle using the brush in the pot.  It depends on how thickly you apply the paint as to what size crackles you get.  Thinly is small crackles, thickly in large ones. 

Lynn had cut us a heart out of Grungebord and embossed it with swirls.  We all stuck these onto a piece of grey board, cut to the same size as the frames, with Golden Gel Medium and stuck dictionary paper over it again using the same medium.  Once it was dry we coloured them with Distress Inks.  I chose Spiced Marmalade for the outside and Broken China for the heart.

Lynn had die cut 3 Grungepaper flowers for each for us to make roses from.  I coloured mine with the same Lumiere paint and used Broken China DI just on the edges of the petals.  Once dry I stamped a Wendy Vecchi newspaper column stamp over it to add interest, before beginning to make the rose.  If you're interested in doing this, there are tutorials on YouTube.

Lynn had also given us a couple of swirls from Grungebord and the birdcage cut from a Tim Holtz die.  I again coloured these with the same Lumiere paint.  For the bird I used Viva Precious Metal paint in a blue, browny colour for the branch and finally gave it a golden beak.  I can't remember the exact colours I used.

I stamped a couple of phrases from Wendy Vecchi stamps in the recess of both frames and across the heart too and punched out some leaves using an EK Success Rock Fern paper punch, before the workshop ended.  It was over all too soon.  I was exhausted again, but it had been so worth it!!

A few days later I got to grips with finishing the frames.  I cut another couple of swirls from Grungepaper and painted them with the same colour Lumiere.  I'm really lucky to have some of Jo's crafting stash at my house at the moment as she is having a loft conversion and has had to move out of her house for a while, so I had the paint!  I made another flower from Grungepaper using a Nestability Peony die.  I again coloured it with the same Lumiere and DI I had used on the rose.

Lynn had given us some wire to hang the frames from.  I'm not particularly good at bending wire so I twisted it and used 2 swirls with leaves on the hide it.

Between us, Jo and I had managed to put the holes in the centre grey board using a Crop-a-dile Big Bite.  I lined it up while Jo pressed the lever for the punch.  I just don't have the strength now.  Before we left the workshop, Lynn had given each of us a key cut from grey board using another Tim Holtz die.  I had always planned on putting it onto the grey board with the heart on, but it just didn't look right, so I cut another Grungepaper swirl, painted it and 'dangled' the heart from it, although it is fixed in place with Glossy Accents.

I used the rose I'd made in the workshop (with Lynn's help) on the third frame with 2 swirls and more leaves.

I stuck the wing to the bird before sticking branch the bird is sitting on to the bird cage.  I tried to shape the cage a little first, but couldn't get the branch to balance on the cage, so I ended up sticking it on the back.  Not as pretty, but at least its stuck LOL!!!

I used some beads from one of Gran's necklaces to embellish the bottom of the cage.  My Gran had 2 of these necklaces that she used to wear regularly - one clear, one red.  She was wonderful crafter and could turn her hand to anything, so I think she'd be pleased that I'm using her beads for craft projects.

All of the frames and bird cage are linked together using Tim Holtz jump rings which are invaluable.  I now have it hanging on the wall in my living room.  It was quite difficult to find a place to hang it as it is so long, but it fits there really nicely.  And so to the complete piece...

I'm really pleased with it and its a lovely reminder of a great day spent with friends, new and old - Lynn, Jo, Lesley, Margaret, Bea, Joan, Rachel and not forgetting Lou who took the wonderful 'in progress' pics on the day.

Art and Counselling (part 1)

As I've already mentioned I'm seeing a counsellor at the moment to help with depression and also the wider aspects of my MS.

She'd been really interested in the crafting / artwork I do and she's asked me to take pieces along to the sessions.  During one session while I was feeling particularly irritated at life in general, but couldn't put my finger on what it was, she suggested I do a journal page around the feelings I had.  I went one better and did a canvas.

This is my 'Irritation Canvas'.  I really enjoyed making it and it really helped me get my frustrations and irritation out!

I started with a 30cm x 40cm canvas and painted it with and Ikea wax paint which is meant to be used on wood.  Then I scraped some it off with a spatula.


I used a Paint Dabber in citrus through some sequin waste (which took a lot of frustration out when I started hammering the dabber down on the canvas LOL!!!!).  Next I ripped a piece out of a magazine (the black piece to the left) which sort of felt like what was happening in my head and stuck it on with Golden gel medium.  I then went through my many pieces cut from magazines to find some words and I also found the cartoon image of the man tied up with string (bottom right).

The lines were created by accident.  I wanted to put some yellow on the canvas, but the paint dabber wouldn't dab, no matter how hard I hit it so I stirred it with a bamboo skewer.  In true crafting style I couldn't just waste the paint on the skewer so I dragged across the canvas and did the same with a Cranberry dabber and a skewer.

The canvas sits in my living room and is helping me to relax whenever I feel irritated!

A tale of two mirrors, well OK 4!!!!

I've been to a few workshops since my last post and have suffered the same, if not more, exhaustion.  Two were back to back, the week before treatment so you can imagine how tired I've been!

Anyhoo, onto mirrors.  Every crafter worth their salt has discovered the humble Ikea mirror.  Sold for around a pound, they can be altered in any number of ways and are a great substrate to use for just about any technique.  They come in plain, black and red (at the moment) and I have had at least one in each colour.


I've been to two workshops that used mirrors as their basis and we learned loads of techniques around decorating the mirror.

The first one was a while ago and was a 'Ranger Techniques Mirror' and dealt with the crafting goodies produced by Ranger for Sir Tim of Holtz, Suze Weinberg and Claudine Hellmuth.

First we painted the mirror using Claudine Hellmuth paint.  I chose blue, while everyone else seemed to choose light colours.  Then Lynn showed us how to pour UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel)  into molds, and onto stamps with a memory frame on top to create a framed piece of textured UTEE.  As I wobble, Lynn poured mine for me and as you can see the results are fantastic!  Once solidified, I dusted Perfect Pearls over the top to accent the texture.

Then we all chose an image from a pile of pages Lynn had printed out from various free image sites.  I chose a lovely lady and used Sticky Back Canvas to transfer the image using the technique Lynn had used during the Open Day (see previous post).  I left some of the 'lint' from the back of the paper on the image as I liked the way it looked!

Then Lynn showed us how to stamp on Sticky Back Canvas using Golden Gel Medium as a resist and painting over it with a wash to bring out the resisted image.  Unfortunately I just couldn't get my stamping to resist.  I did everything right and tried 3 times (even with Lynn watching me) and I still couldn't do it.  Absolutely no explanation.  I will try it again.  So Lynn had to give me one she had done.

I finished it off using fragments over stamped images, some alcohol inked and some sprockets and gears.

Next to the sprockets and gears is a UTEE flower made from a mold (made with mold 'n' pour) from an ornate button.

And finally the finished mirror.  Excuse the view of my spice rack in the mirror.  Its really difficult to get good light without things reflecting in the mirror!





The next mirror is done with wax.  This was in a workshop done last week called 'Waxing the Melt Pot Way'.

We started by choosing images from a pile Lynn had provided for us again as well as magazines.  Then we placed them onto the mirror to get the presentation right, then heated the wax up in our melt pots.  You have to heat the wood (or any solid substrate you're using) first so that the wax will adhere properly.  This must be done in between each wax layer too.  The paper has to be completely covered in wax by placing it in the melt pot and using tweezers to take it out and apply it to the mirror.  You have to burnish the paper between every paper layer to ensure good adhesion.

Once we done this and had all of our paper waxed to the mirror, we started to apply wax to the parts of the mirror with no paper on, with a natural bristled brush.  Then  we started to build up the wax on the corners on the mirror and add texture using stamps (they must be heated first) and and onion net, but anything can be used. 

We used Perfect Pearls and Bedazzles to highlight the texture on the mirror, and here is the finished article.  I haven't had the inclination to clean the mirror yet, so it still has dribbles of wax on it.  Also the pink feet you can see are from a Piglet beanie I have sitting on the top of my wardrobes!

And the fourth mirror I have to show you is one loosely based on one I saw in Craft Stamper magazine a while ago.  It uses Ten Seconds Studio (TSS) metal with alcohol inks to colour it.  I've made another 2 in plain silver as gifts since making this one.