We'll always have Paris

Not too long ago I passed the YMCA charity shop in my local town and they had a frame in the window for £2.  It was one of those awful ones (apologies to anyone who has one and loves it) that people used to have in their bathrooms.  It had a wooden frame behind the glass that was used as shelves to have tiny bales of towels and toilet rolls on.  It was a bit like a miniature version of a bathroom.

When I asked to see it, the guy in the shop showed it to me like a fine bottle of wine.  You shoulda seen his face when I told him I wasn't bothered about the front, but turned it over to look at the back to see if I could take it to bits.  Once we got home, my Mam and I wasted no time in ripping into it.  My Mam had to get a screwdriver to the glue under the little ornaments to prise them loose.  Far to dangerous in my hands!!

I'm gutted I didn't take a photo of it in its pre-enhanced state!

I didn't bother sanding the frame or gessoing it as it had been painted with a matte paint.  I used a Stewart Gill Byzantia paint in a blue (the name has come off the lid so no help with the name) and painted 2 coats.  I then used a Stewart Gill Alchemy (same thing with the lid) over the top and accidentally rubbed a little of the paint off while trying the move the frame.  It must've been serendipity as the result was a little of the pinky-peach colour that the frame was originally showed through.  I quickly rubbed some more off before the paint dried!

I painted the wooden frame insert with silver Stewart Gill paint as I wanted it to show off what was in the compartments not fight against them.

I had a bought a miniature Eiffel Tower for 50p in the infamous ex-catalogue shop where I got the mannequins.  I decided the turn the wooden frame so the 'shelves' were vertical and placed the little tower in one of the compartments.  I then borrowed Jo's Paris Postcard stamp plate by Elusive Images part of Graphicus and stamped the cathedral onto acetate before putting variegated metal leaf behind it.  I bent it to fit into the other compartment.

For the background which is attached to the board at the back of the wooden insert frame, I used a piece of paper that came in a Graphicus Guild paper pack.  I creased the paper slightly before sanding it and using a Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.  I spritzed some water onto it too before attaching it to the board.

The glass at the front of the overall frame had to be thoroughly cleaned before I stamped a couple of swirls by Creative Expressions on in Timber Brown Stazon just to take the 'starkness' of the glass away.

Once I had assembled the frame I had to tape the back board to the wooden frame insert and use silicone glue to glue the insert to the larger frame.  It took an awful lot doing, strength not being my 'strong' point (LOL!!!) and then I had to leave this overnight to dry. 

I wanted something on the front of the frame, but not words, so I used a technique I learned from Lynn at Graphicus.  I took 3 Prima white flowers in complimentary sizes and sprayed them Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Tattered Leather.  I dried each of them thoroughly with a heat tool before patting them with a Versamark ink pad.  I sprinkled platinum UTEE over the flowers and used a heat tool to set the UTEE.  The result is a flower that looks like metal.

And this is the completed frame.  Sorry the photo's not great but glass tends to reflect!!

It looks really gorgeous with light shining on it (even if I do say so myself LOL!!!)

Klimt inspired necklace

A couple of years ago Graphicus released 4 DL plates of baubles for Christmas.  I loved them all, but was really torn by the Rennie Mackintosh inspired one and the Klimt inspired ones.  Jo bought them all so I just used hers.  As soon as I saw the Klimt ones I knew I wanted to make a necklace with them.

I first stamped each bauble onto sanded clear shrink plastic using black Stazon, then punched a hole in the top of each one using a Crop-a-dile before shrinking them with a heat tool.Once they were shrunk I stuck them to a sheet of double sided adhesive and cut them out.  I re-opened the hole by putting the tip of a pokey tool through it (be very careful here as I managed to poke myself in the finger LOL!!!). 

 Once that was done I took the backing off and put variegate metal leaf (don't know what colourway it was) on the back and sealed it with a varnish before putting jump rings through each hole and putting it onto a cord.

Sorry the photo's not too good.  The flash bounced off the metal leaf (note to self - take photos of objects with metal leaf in daylight!!)

Creative Road Canvas

I decided I wanted a large canvas to go on the chimney breast wall above my bed.  I got a 27" x 19" canvas to paint.  I knew I wanted to put smaller canvases onto it and decorate them.

I began by putting shades of orange, red and yellow Lumin Arte Radiant Rain  onto the canvas in 3 curved stripes.  This didn't work, so I pained over the whole thing with the same orange as I had used originally.  Unfortunately it didn't cover the red very well, so I used a Stewart Gill colourise in orange and roughly smooshed that over the top.  Then I sprayed Sticky Fingers Fireworks Orange over random portions of the canvas.

Happy with the overall effect, I realised that the colour was almost the same as my bedroom walls and it would just sink into them rather than stand out!  So I hand painted (eek!!!) a frame around the edge of the canvas in a blue Stewart Gill Byzantia paint.  The colour labels have come off the lids of most of my Stewart Gill paints so I don't know their names!!

I got my smaller canvases and placed them onto the larger one to get the placement and sizing right before I painted them - 2 in green Byazantia, 3 in blue Byzantia and 1 in a lighter shade of orange (can't remember what!).

This smaller canvas (left) was the orange one and I made some basic Grungebord flower.  I drew a flower to use as a template onto paper before cutting it out and drawing round on the Grungebord.  I painted them in shades of purple before assembling and using an aqua coloured bedazzles for the centres.  The stems are Grungebord too.

This canvas on the right was done by stamping Paperartsy stamps onto Ten Seconds Studio (TSS) metal in Periwinkle and Appletini using black Stazon.  I then put an Humungo adhesive sheet onto the back of the metal and put it onto cardboard.  The sheet provides a kind of 'cushion' for you to using an embossing tool to go around the stamped lines.  You have to do this before it is cut out as some of the lines are the outside of the image.  I cut it our and used Glossy Accents to stick it to the canvas and had some pieces over the edge to add interest to the overall effect.

This canvas (left) was painted green and I applied a small glittered rub-on of an angel to it with some effort.  The rub-on did not want to stick to the canvas, but I managed with a little perseverance.  It looked too pristine so I distressed using a Tim Holtz Craft Scratcher to scratch pieces of it off.  Then I put a acetate frame from Tattered Angels around the small canvas to finish it off.

All of the other green and blue painted canvases were decorated with TSS metal using the same technique as above using the same colour metals to tie it all together.

So if you're still with me after reading that l-o-n-g post, here is your reward - the finished canvas which has pride of place on my wall!

Hope you've enjoyed this little look at my art.