'Tranquility in the centre of town"

I love photography and my daughter (a few years ago) said she would pose for some photos when we had the time, so one day we made time after a highland dance class and I took some photos of my daughter  in a parkland area in the middle of town. It was so tranquil, you forgot that the busyness of the town that was just a stones throw away. When I saw the 'Scrap Around the World' February Mood board I knew it had been the perfect challenge and opportunity to scrap it. The colours were perfect and the tranquility in nature that was portrayed in the photos fit perfectly with what I envisioned for this photo. I chose to use a 8"x 8" canvas as my base so I could hang it to share it with my friends and family.

Anything Goes- February 2015 Challenge.

I also decided that I would also enter this canvas into the 'Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge' February Challenge  as I have been watching this site for a while and had being inspired by the design team artist and up to now haven't had the opportunity to enter.

 Items used included:
8"x 8" Canvas from Cheap as Chips
Mont Marte White Gesso, Impasto
Acrylic paint: white, Black, Mint, Brown, White and Green
2 Crafty Chipboard- Interlocking grid pattern
Twine
Mixed size assorted flowers and leaves
Small glass bottle
Beads and glitter mix
Embellishment button
gcd Studios- Mix'd media paper stax2
Stencil

Firstly I layered white gesso thickly to give the canvas texture, then added a layer of  the 2 shades of green being scrapped on with an old rewards card as a scrapper, and then another layer of white gesso. I mixed some of the beads and glitter mix in with lots of 'Impasto" and then using a spatula I spread the 'Impasto' mix over the stencil. I sped up the drying process with my heat gun. With a small needle nosed bottle with a mix of Impasto medium, paint (mint and black) and water I made swirls and splotches over sections of the canvas.
As I waited for it to dry, I painted the chipboard with brown, black and white acrylic paint, and cut a piece of twine to make my circle which I will place behind the photo.
After placing the assorted flowers and leaves together and gluing them down I used the mint acrylic paint to paint all of them, using the brighter green to add some colour depth and then when dry, dry brushed some white gesso onto some areas to give the flowers some highlights. I added some small white fine foliage, and added some green paint into the bottle, painting some gesso onto the outside to give an aged appearance, and then glued it into place.
After adding the twine and gluing the chipboard down I glued some thick cardboard behind my matted photo so to give it height. I painted some white gesso and mint paint onto some torn mix'd media paper and stuck it behind the photo too. To finish off my canvas I added a 'life' button embellishment and some extra beads and glitter around the edges of the flowers and chipboard.

Thankyou for coming over to see my challenge entries for "Scrap Around the World" and " Another Freaking Scrapping Challenge" I really enjoyed doing these challenges and being inspired by all the amazing artists/ design teams on these blogs. Also a big thanks to Fiona Paltridge who has been inspired my scrapbooking for a long time.

The Dynamic Duo- 1-2-3 challenge February layout

My Scrapbooking buddy Fiona and I enjoy getting together when ever we can, sharing a glass of wine with assorted cheeses, scrapping and camping to name a few, so I thought the 1-2-3 Challenge this month was the perfect opportunity to scrap a canvas of us together, The Dynamic Duo.

 

Items I used included:
Canvas from Cheap as Chips
Dylusions Ink: London Blue, Postbox Red, Lemon Zest, Black Marble
Kaisercraft chipboard letters
Old Dymo labeller- black tape
Cork Chevron Arrows- Calico Studio
Washi tape assorted
Stencil- Donna Downey 'Poppy Collage'
6"x6" Kaisercraft paper pad.
Mont Marte Modelling paste and White Gesso
gcd Studios- Mix'd media paper stax2
DIY Shop cork hearts
Black cotton
Ultra fine black Sharpie marker.
Glitter Ice Stickles from Kaszazz
 

Firstly I sprayed the top of my canvas with water before spraying each colour individually, to make each run down the canvas the way I wanted I sprayed extra water if needed. When dry I turned the canvas and using  a spatula I smeared modelling paste over my newest stencil.
The next layers added were the strips of washi tape which I softened with white gesso and the mounted selfie photo of Fiona and I took on one of our cheese and wine nights onto paper from the 6"x 6" papers and a piece of torn dictionary paper from the Mix'd media staz2 collection (I used 'London Blue' to colour the edges).
The cork heart and chevron arrows were painted  with Dylusions ink 'Postbox Red'/ 'Black Marble'. As the with the word 'Duo' after covering it with white gesso first to ensure the brightness and same effect as the background. When the heart was dry I covered it with Glitter Ice Stickles.
 To finish off the canvas I traced around the heart and word with the Sharpie marker adding squiggles etc.

Thanks for coming over to check out my canvas, this was my first ever canvas and I thoroughly enjoyed making it and look forward to doing my next one.

WW1’s February Challenge with Celosia Orange!

 Orange is my favourite colour, and my grand daughter loves to take photos, you guessed it my camera is also orange. Imi always asks if she can use my camera, I love seeing her looking through the lens of a camera, taking snap shots of the things in her world. It's amazing to see her zoom in close to see the tiny details and learning all about the art of photography.

List of the resources I used:
Monte Marte Modeling Paste, White Gesso and Impasto
The Crafters Workshop 6"x 6" 'Mini Viva La Art' stencil
Mix'd media Stax 2 Donna Salazar designs papers
 Kaisercraft Collectible die cuts 'Mister Fox'
Dylusions Ink 'Tangerine Dream', 'White Linen' and 'Black Marble'
Stamp 'Reason/Season' Kaszazz
Staz On- Black
Studio Calico Wood Veneer Cameras and People

I sealed my paper with Impasto first, I find this helps keep the white paper stay white when I photograph my paper and my ink and paint spreads well.  Using my 'Viva La Art' stencil I placed modeling paste over it with a metal spatula from my wonderful new metal spatula set. When dry I used 'Tangerine Dream' across the top of my paper making it spread and drip by spraying it with water.

I stamped sections with my script stamp and then painted my wood veneer people and cameras with white gesso and 'Tangerine Dream'. While they dried I tore some paper from my Mix'd media stax 2 paper and also painted it with white gesso as it was originally of an antique colouration. I gave my photo a small black matting and cut a small piece of cardboard and glued it on the back to lift it off the page to give more depth to the layout.
I placed the paper behind the photo, place my cameras and people in a random pattern around the photo and then added my 'Life' photo wheel. To finish my layout I splattered some 'Black Marble' and 'White Linen'.

Thanks for coming to see my "Life Art" entry for White with 1 - White with Celosia Orange. I loved making this page from the photo editing for my photo to the use of different elements I used.

Off The Rails Scrapbooking January Tutorial- Paperbag Gift Bag.

I always forget my shopping bags when I go to the shops (here in South Australia we have to supply bags or get charged for plastic or paper bags), so I have accumulated quite a few paper bags over the last year. This Christmas I decided to make gift bags instead of using wrapping paper (they can be seen on my blog), here is my tutorial on my Paperbag Birthday Gift Bag version.

I started finding the products I needed:

 Stencils: Tim Holtz 'Arrows' and The Crafters Workshop 'Mini Kaleidoscope' .

Stamps: Prima rectangular stitching, Alphabet blocks brought from Lincraft and 'Season' from Kaszazz.

 Mont Marte Modelling paste

A selection of scrap and 6"x6" papers: Kaisercraft 'Kaleidoscope' and 'Random' Crate Paper Co

Ranger Glossy Accents

Staz On Jet Black Ink pad

Dylusions Ink Sprays: Lemon Zest, Bubblegum Pink and Crushed Grape. White Linen and Black Marble.

Distress Inks: Antique Photo, Black Soot and Peeled Paint.

and of course 

a paper bag.

Using the Dylusions spray inks I randomly sprayed ink over the 'mini kaleidoscope' stencil which I had placed on the top right hand part of the paper bag. I removed the stencil carefully and dried the ink with a heat gun. Replacing the stencil slightly off centre to the previous position I spread modeling paste over the stencil this time.

I chose a range of papers from my 6"x6" paper pads from Kaisercraft 'Kaleidoscope' and Crate Paper Co. 'Random Collection' and die cuts from one of the Kaisercraft collection and tearing pieces layered them using magic mount to raise the bird, 'love' die cut and words to give more depth and dimension.

I also used black and white cotton twine to frame the words. and curved the butterfly's wings to give it more dimension

 

Using the 'Peeled paint' distress ink to add colour to the modeling paste and with the 'mini kaleidoscope' stencil to add to the background behind the layered papers. I used the 'Antique Photo' to edge the layered papers section.

Using the wood block stamps I stamped 'Happy Birthday'  with Staz On onto torn pieces of the pink paper I had used on the layered section and edged it with 'antique photo'

I used the Tim Holtz 'Arrows' stencil and Distress ink 'Black Soot' to add chevron arrows to the background, also used the smallest 'rectangular stitching' stamp and Staz On and the 'season' Kaszazz stamp to add more depth. I place some black cotton on the bag under the layered paper and after gluing the paper down I splattered the 'Bubblegum Pink', 'Black Marble' and 'White Linen' to finish the bag.

Hope you enjoyed reading my Paperbag Gift Bag tutorial for Off The Rails Scrapbooking. Next time you get a brown paper bag have a try in making an unique gift bag for a friend or family member or maybe you can think of another way to re-use a paperbag.

Kraft Plus Challenge February 2015

Well after being inspired by Fiona and the other inspirational artists at Kraft Plus I though I'd go out of my comfort zone and use Kraft paper. I loved the colours of the this months Challenge so thought I'd give it a try.

I live in South Australia and am very lucky to have my family 30 mins up the road. My handsome grandson Zander loves to explore the computer as I am Skyping him, his sister Imi and my daughter Bel and quite often we can't see each other because of the right buttons he always seems to push.LOL. Even living close we talk and visit regularly but it's great to talk to them face to face whenever we want to, I love Skype. 

Now to my layout:

List of items that I used included:
Kaisercraft Patterns Kraft the flip side of  'Lace' Mix + Match Collection and Rub Ons- 100% Boy.
13arts- Ayeeda paint Matte yellow, green and coral.
Chippies- hearts/arrows 'Crazy Arrows' 2Crafty Chipboard
Stencils: Coffee splotch from 'Crafters workshop' 
Heidi Swapp- Little heart sticker
Random alpha stickers from the stash.
I made my own circle stencils
Black cotton
Word Stamp from Tim Holtz
Mont Marte Modelling paste and impasto texture paste.

I used the Impasto paste as a sealant over the Kraft paper to minimise the curling of the paper when I used mixed media and to ensure the brightness of the paint colours and not have them absorb into the paper and possible become washed out or bleed unevenly on the paper. 

Mixing paint into some modeling paste and using my homemade stencils I placed a selection of circles of different colours in a curve down one side and one on the opposite side in the lower corner.

In the large one I placed the heart arrow chippie onto the paper (with the large circle stencil over top) and then placed medium over it so when removed the imprint was left in the circle. 



In two sections I clumped together random  letter and number  alpha stickers.  When the circles were dry I used an Ultra fine black Sharpie to doodle around the circles and draw small circles between the coloured ones, trace around the alphas ( I removed a few to add more dimension) and around the heart arrow in the large circle.

I use a Tim Holtz word stamp and Staz On Black Ink to stamp sections around the circles. I painted chippy arrows and heart to add to my page and added the Heidi Swapp hear, cotton and twine under the photo and large chippy arrow. Finally placing the '100% boy' rub on to finish the layout.

I enjoyed challenging myself in working with Kraft paper and stepping out of my comfort zone. Thanks for coming over and checking out my new post and head over to the Kraft Plus Blog and check out the amazing design team and the entries. Hope I've inspired you to step out of your comfort zone and join in with this or other challenges.