Paperartsy - Bottles

The new challenge at Paperartsy, is to use bottles. We've already seen some gorgeous examples from the DT, painting them, running paint inside, adding painted tissue to them...
I have some little bottles similar to Tim's (have some of his too, but used these, they're cheaper if things didn't go right...)

Started by adding Dylusions paint to a 6x6 box canvas.. originally I thought I'd use the backside so I could use the frame edge for my bottles to stand on, but it wasn't working how I had in my mind... so I started messing about on the canvas side, no longer even sure if I'd still use it for the bottles challenge ..

 I painted it with the leaf green Dylusion paint, then added some areas of yellow, (no pics in progress, was too painty!)... added some white at the top of the yellow ... starting to get a bit of an idea...

I was adding the other colours just with the edge of the largest of the Dina Wakley brushes, getting a nice straight line of colour, just pouncing it onto the canvas.. very very loosely look liked a Monet-style waterlily pond... (without any of the skill)

painted a skinny bottle with Snowflake Fresco (it's about an inch and a half tall to give you an idea) and the small one - tried to squirt some of the heavy glass bead gel into it... not very successfully.. I guess it will dry clear eventually!!

needed a waterlily like flower for my bottle... rummaged through one of my flower drawers, and came across this one whose colours toned nicely with the canvas.

stamped one of the Lin Brown flower quotes onto white card and glued it to the canvas.
Entering the Paperartsy "Bottles" challenge here 

Black Gesso...

I am just settling down to watch the FA Cup final, but before I do, have a journal page to share... I started with black Gesso in the A4 Seawhite journal.  and Dylusion paints.  I wanted to see how they would go over the black .... lush is the answer!  See what you think.

I used the Emma Godfrey stencil with the chevrons, in pink and orange.

 then added the kind of egg shape stencil in the lime green.
outlined the chevrons in white Sharpie marker... needs more white., wanted words...

went for a Crafters Workshop stencil and Snowflake Fresco.

thanks for looking!

May Tag and ATC swap

Been meaning to write this for a while... the tags/atc swaps that I did for the May swap are now wending their way to their recipients so I think it's time to share my makes..

The theme this month was script. or words

 for the atcs I used purple and lime (a colour combination inspired by something Sam had done just as I was planning my makes... I can't remember what colours I used as I didn't make a note... I imagine the lime was Limelight.. the script background on the atcs is one of my favourites, from A Stamp in the Hand and then I stencilled some hearts using Deco Art  Texture Sand Paste   The top quote is by Kaisercraft.

For my tags, I think I used Mermaid.. but again, no notes..  oh no wait,  I used the Lin Brown limited edition paints for these... Caribbean Sea then! Torn book pages glued down first.
The butterflies are from JoFY32 and the big text are Invoke Arts, the little ones, Finnabair for Prima.
Coloured some white satin ribbon with Caribbean Sea fresco.

I made these quite early on in the month, next time I must write the post as I make them so I know what I've been doing... 

Dragons Dream TIO - Purple and Circles

Hello, and welcome to another challenge from the Dragons.. This fortnight, it's the choice of Catherine, who'd like you to use purple, and circles, on your tag.  This one was great fun!

 I started with a size 10 tag, and a Prima stencil, and Dylusions paint (crushed grape).  Then took a JoDY flower - stamped it onto the tag, and then just the heads onto book text paper, cut that out and painted it with Purple Rain Fresco paint, stuck the head onto the stems.. saves trying to cut teeny thin stems from paper!

 added a third JoFY round flower stamp and painted that - this one is on tissue, so it's painted Snowflake from behind to make the colour pop on front.

took a small tag and stamped a JoFY text, and added some more circles in the Dylusions paint (this is a Lin Brown stencil for Paperartsy)

Finished with some pinky-purple ribbon, edged the tags with the Dylusions paint (there was enough left on the cut and dry foam) and mounted the small tag with pop dots.

Hope you'll come and see what the others have dreamt up for you, and join in - don't forget to use one real stamp somewhere on your tag.

Happy Anniversary WOYWW 312

So, we have arrived at the 6th anniversary of this, the best blog hop in the world... and all dreamt up by Julia... You know what you have to do.. link up here and have fun!  Thanks Julia, for providing the wherewithall for this wonderful way to spend Wednesdays... and thanks to all of YOU for making it such fun and providing such friendship.
First, the "desk"...

 A pile of journals, (I've been working in the A5 one, and the A4 one is the one I worked on at crop, and I had to add a coat of varnish to the page, as something was making the pages stick together) and err.. oops a new Moleskine one I "just happened to see" at the weekend.. well it doesn't hurt to have spare(s) does it... underneath all of those are a couple of music books that Julia/Jan donated to a worthy cause and I'll do something "useful" with soon...

This was my pile of atcs I took to crop to swap (having kept one for my official swappee today, and one for myself)

As promised last week, I'll share a closer look at the ones I received at crop.

 Janet, Chris





Hettie (Sam) Eliza

Zoe, Julia

Elizabeth, Cardarian (Dolores)

 Jo (Twiglet), Annie (Wipso)





Kyla, Jan (LLJ)

Shaz, Nikki




Margaret, Mary Anne












Debbie (Tattered Rocks), Morti


Mine! (I forgot I'd got the "pre" shot, or I wouldn't have included it again here..



I think you'll agree they are all absolutely fabulous

So, this is a lot longer than it should have been, but I guess I'll be forgiven today Julia... Happy WOYWW everyone, here's to the next 6 years!

More Words for Paperartsy

The 'words' theme ends later tonight at Paperartsy but I couldn't let it pass without having another play in my journal, inspired really by everyone who's shared their art with us this last fortnight.

I wanted to have a muted, neutral colour palette this time, so used just Stone and Mushroom frescos, with a little Chalk too.

 I tore some pieces of book pages and stuck them to my journal with matte medium. The Russian and the pinky one were given me at the WOYWW crop last week by Chris, the other is from a spare copy of the works of Shakespeare

I painted in layers on the journal with Stone and Mushroom fresco, watering it down to make it a little more translucent over the pages especially

 stencilled over the whole page - this is a DecoArt stencil, and the ink is a MementoLuxe ink in Sweet Plum, it tones quite nicely with the vaguely pinky mix of Stone and Mushroom.

Stamped the Stampotique French scrip (by France Papillon) in black archival, then gave the whole thing a wash with Chalk fresco.

I wanted a vintagey type image for my central image, and decided to use this stamp of Westminster Abbey, stamped on tissue paper painted on the reverse in Pumpkin Soup with a tiny smidge on the windows, of Cinnamon, before adding some more Pumpkin Soup and then Snowflake so the image would pop once added to the journal.

 I added some stencilled texture sand paste, through part of a Crafters Workshop stencil  (screen print)
and found a suitable stamp, (eventually!) timeless treasures, which is what Westminster Abbey is.
 Sponged a little of the Sweet Plum ink round the edges of the journal.

Thanks for looking! Entering the Paperartsy challenge here.... now, F1 beckons..then footie..

WOYWW 311 - crop plus one or 6 minus one..

Welcome back to Wednesday (again!)  Seems so much has happened since we last met here... Julia would like us once again to link a short (yeah, right!) post sharing our workspaces this week...
But Saturday we met and we crafted and chatted and chomped on cake (amongst other things) - I've already shared ALL the photos here so will just put one or two here again in case you just want a taster or missed them...

 LtoR Dolores, Julia, me, Fiona, Kyla, Diane (Morti), Mary Anne, Hettie (standing in front), Fiona, (Lisa in front) Cindy, Debbie,Chris, Jan, Maggie. Sitting, Lisa Jane and Zoe.

(I really must learn how to crop my photos...)

I love this photo of Jan, and so nice to see her sitting for a few minutes!

I know I should really keep this photo of the atc's I received until the big day next Wednesday, and will share some close ups then, (the light is atrocious here this evening - taking these Tuesday evening - after a day of downpours, hail storms, wind, sun, you name it) -  but aren't they fabulous!







quickly to finish, some more new stuff -though,  as those of you who were there on Saturday know, these arrived last week as the Crazy Birds came with me...
(Julia, you were the only one I stamped them for, I made the others do their own!!)

WOYWW - The Crop

Evening all, got home from a wonderful day in a very sunny Wiltshire, and the third WOYWW crop.  As always, thanks to Jan and Julia the day was wonderful, full of laughter, chatting, cake, crafting, chatting, fabulous lunch, cake, crafting, chatting, cake.. you get the idea (gorgeous Lemon Drizzle again Fiona!)

No drama on the train journey this time to disrupt me.

 not sure I had enough to keep me busy though...

 very neatly packed on the way there..

 Hugs given, and atcs swapped, we settled down to crafting... that's my space on the corner, next to Chris, spreading out as usual (me that is!)

 Zoe and Lisa.

 the red white and blue - Shaz, Chris and Zoe. Zoe died her hair blue in honour of her beloved Bristol Rovers reaching the Play Off Final at Wembley tomorrow.

 Lunchtime!! Julia and Jan dishing up another fantastic spread... Dolores choosing

 and Debbie

Jan's hubby Gordon came in to do the ritual group shots....

yes, Jan, we can see you.  She was presenting Zoe with her birthday card and gift..

Sam (Hettie) working away, Fergus looking on.

here's the cake...some of it!

Zoe cutting her birthday cake - a Bristol Rovers one, of course.
Have eaten my slice as I was uploading the photos, it was gorgeous!

 here's the fun.

 Dolores and Mary Anne.. Julia is on tea making duty in the kitchen behind - a very important role!

 Jan, actually managed to sit and crochet for a bit.









Lisa Jane, Cindy ,Zoe and Lisa

I don't seem to have got round everyone to take more photos, sorry ladies!!

 and this is the crafting... I had an idea before I went, that I wanted to do a journal page celebrating WOYWW and the love and friendship we have all developed in the 6 years (in 10 days time) it's been running.

Used my new Dylusions paints... lush!  Some Prima Light Paste through a stencil,  chip letters,

 painted the letters and got some crackle going on them...

Cindy had the INSPIRED idea to get everyone to sign the page (sadly, Shaz had had to leave early to go to a wedding, so I wasn't able to get her to sign)

 it was a  great idea, Cindy thank you!! What a lovely memory of th day. (I'd better date it, so I don't forget!)

My second journal page used the Tim Crazy Birds which came the other day, on a bit of an abstract Fresco'd background and some pieces of book pages.

Coloured the birds with Portfoleo pastels..
Crazy birds indeed!

All too soon it was time to start packing up (much less neatly than on the way, but luckily it all went back in.. kind of... and the paints survived the journey home without leaking!
Thanks to everyone who was there (not going to list everyone, I'm bound to miss someone which would be awful) - looking forward to next year!!