Sunday, December 28, 2014

Heart...

Have you ever just gone one way with something and had this idea and then gone off in a completely different direction. That's what happened with this.


I had all these little tags that I had made one day just to try them out different sizes and had reinforced the holes at the top with stamped file folder leftovers.. The tags where also just a mop up index card from a dylusions spray day...  I stuck the tags on some dripped on and painted music paper and used my new spot stamp from Typo on some other watercolour paper, its a cute little stamp that I am going to get a lot of use out of.. Some Tim Holtz washi tape is on there and I also used 2 prima stamps for some little stamping details here and there. Sewed up and down on it and this was all going to go on another completely different page.. But then something else caught my eye and thought the heart looked so much better with it.. The backgrounds on these are both done with Dylusion sprays and when I do that I always get about 6 big index cards of leftovers to play with so the heart got chopped out of one of those and I doodled some swirls for it to sit on.. More stamping with 2 Prima stamps with Tim Holtz peacock feathers distress ink and some black Momento ink. I had a lot of fun stitching all over it randomly and liked the way it turned out.. So thought this was the perfect wording for this, even though I had just used this phrase on another page, I had definitely trusted my heart.

Going to enter this over at Simon says stamp blog Wednesday challenge its anything goes.

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Merry Christmas...



Every year I try to make another little homemade decoration for my tree and this year it was these little bottle Christmas Decoration with Christmas sheet music folded inside it. Bit of glitter in spots and stripes on the bottle and some silver stars inside the bottle.  Gold and silver ribbon attached to the top of the cork with Helmars 450 quick dry glue.  Quick and simple decorations to do.. 



As it is Christmas Eve here in Australia I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope you have a lovely time catching up with Family and Friends. 
I am entering this over at the Simon says stamp blog Wednesday challenge its anything goes..

Merry Christmas 
Sandy :)

Sunday, December 21, 2014

12 Tags of December Tag 5 and 6...

Over on Rae's 12 tags of December  I thought her tags where so cute. The step by step tutorial that she explains with such great photos is so easy to follow.. That I just had to have a go.. 
I had a whole box of manila folders that I brought from a office supply store closing and selling off everything super cheap so I snapped up a box of 100 and have been looking for a project to use them for.. So out of one manila folder I got 13 tags 2 x 3 inch..  I will not go into much detail as Rae's Tutorial covers it all.

Tag 5 
I used the washi tape on cardstock and punched out with a circle punch to get my centre of my flower..  Got out my hardly used foam flower stamp for the yellow flower  on the right bottom corner and then doodled around it in black and white pen.. The harlequin stamp is a Tim Holtz stampers anonymous stamp.. More reused painted wipes for the bottom of this. I run it through my swirly edged cutter it cuts really well and gives it a bit of interest.

Tag 6
I am loving digging into my scrap paper and ribbon stash to find bits for these that match.. Linen fabric all frayed and gathered for the frill at the bottom of this one.

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

12 Tags of December Tags 3 and 4...

Over on Rae's 12 tags of December  I thought her tags where so cute. The step by step tutorial that she explains with such great photos is so easy to follow.. That I just had to have a go.. 
I had a whole box of manila folders that I brought from a office supply store closing and selling off everything super cheap so I snapped up a box of 100 and have been looking for a project to use them for.. So out of one manila folder I got 13 tags 2 x 3 inch..  I will not go into much detail as Rae's Tutorial covers it all.

Tag 3 
I used my France Papillon design cube stamp to add a few little dots, love my little cube is sits on my desk such a handy little stamp. The chevron stamp is one I carved myself. I so wanted to use that little dragonfly ribbon, I had not even opened it, so it was great to finally find a spot to put it. I just had to go with purple with the brown. The middle to the flower is a piece of washi tape on card stock, then I punched a circle out of it. Lots of doodling on this one.

Tag 4
I found this one such fun to do I made 4 of them at once.. Once I started on those Gesso spots I just could not stop. I liked just doodling around them its very subtle but stands out much better than it shows up in the photo. The pinky flowers are tissue paper I had been hording it. It sparkles and is so pretty. More reused paint filled dried baby wipe under the doily piece. I ran it through my cutter to give it a swirly edge.  I used a Tim Holts Stampers Anonymous stamp, the harlequin stamp for the diamonds at the bottom edge. 

So hope you are enjoying my tags and don't forget to check out my tag holder wall hanging.. 

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Wall hanging for tags...

Over on Rae's 12 tags of December  for the first day of the challenge Rae made a great folder out of an envelope so she had a great spot to pop her tags in.. I thought what a great idea but thought I would take it one step further and hang mine up but with the same sort of idea just changed it a little.. 


I again used my supply of manila folders and painted them front and back with the Gelli plate adding layers.. Then I got out my stencils and added shapes and colour to add a bit of pop here and there with the blending tool and distress ink.. Because I had mine separate unlike an envelope I was able to sew over all my washi tape making the slots that much sturdier.. I added fabric and lace at the top and bottom its sewed between the 2 manila folders and also added some dowel and a string hanger at the top.. I can still fold this in half as on the other side it still has a closure to fold it up like a book with a brad that I can pop the string around. I like having it hanging on my wall, it will be a great motivation to keep doing the rest of the tags so I can have it all full.

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Saturday, December 13, 2014

12 Tags of December Tags 1 and 2...

Over on Rae's 12 tags of December  I thought her tags where so cute. The step by step tutorial that she explains with such great photos is so easy to follow.. That I just had to have a go.. 
I had a whole box of manila folders that I brought from a office supply store closing and selling off everything super cheap so I snapped up a box of 100 and have been looking for a project to use them for.. So out of one manila folder I got 13 tags 2 x 3 inch..  I will not go into much detail as Rae's Tutorial covers it all.

Tag 1
I used my hand carved stamp for the stamped image on this.
Some of my printed art work I cut out for the bit at the right.. 
The fabric at the bottom layer I used is some linen that I frayed the edges and rubbed some pink and white paint on.

 Tag 2
I used a dried baby wipe for the tie at the top of this.  I cut it into a strip and also sewed a little piece under my lace. The red chevron is a piece of washi tape.

So just showing what I am up too will post the rest of my 12 tags over the coming days

Have a great day
Sandy :)


Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Trust your Heart...


Today I used one of the pages in my journal that I rub the stencils off to clean them off.  So there was some black hexagons and some pinky coloured circles on the page.. I thought something that goes on here will have to really stand out.. I always like drawing these trees in black so I drew one of those with my paint pen.. That was as far as I got then I got stuck and moved onto another piece of art on a big index card.. That was going along fine till I did some stenciled lettering on it and it all smudged.. I hate it when it all goes smudgy.. So then I thought hmm I really like bits of this and I never waste painted papers so I started cutting it into hearts. You can always use painted hearts on all sorts of art projects. I have tin of houses and hearts to use. So I still had the tree page sitting there looking at me. So I drew some lines off my tree grabbed a heart punch and started using all the bits of the left overs to punch out hearts.. 
I added a bit of washi tape with some little circles on it and that great Prima stamp that I am hooked on at the moment with some black Momento ink.. Used one of the bigger hearts on the other side to tie it all together on some dangled swirls and added the words "Trust your heart'.. I went around all the hearts with my stabilo black pencil and then water and added a few bits of white pen doodling.. So hope you like my leftover mistake page of hearts.. 

Have a great day
Sandy :)



Monday, December 8, 2014

Cherish the Moment...


Another fun one to do. I am loving doing separate pages and being able to sew my layers onto it.. 
I started with a layer of Gesso with the Dylusions harlequin stencil.. I then sprayed with Dylusions orange and yellow and blended all around the edges and over the Gesso with Tim Holtz distress ink, tea dye.  Then some splatters with purple, orange and blue Dylusions. Stamped with my new Prima stamp with black archival ink love those little circles. Then more stenciling this time the Dylusions letters with Brown archival ink.. 
Collage is done with the Kaisercraft, Authentique and the craft paper is stamped with a Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamp.  I then sewed all around everything with my sewing machine, my favourite part to do at the moment, other than the inky bits.. I typed 2 whole pages of all different quotes and printed them out onto card stock from my printer.. So these are such fun to just pick one and add it onto my pages.. Distressed all the edges of the collage elements and then inked them all with more of the tea dye distress stain. The photo that I used I got from The last door down the hall freebies - siblings so cute..

I printed out a whole page of them to use I love those old sepia photos. 
So just more inky fun and sewing with collage elements and lots of layers.. 

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Flat Susan and WOYWW...

Flat Susan arrived 2 weeks ago from her busy big city time with Eliza from Queenartoypia she has been made my Neet and I popped my name down for her to come and visit and see the sights and boy have we been out and about since.. Flat Susan sure has been around so thought the first stop should be a coffee at my favourite coffee shop. Flat Susan was helping me make a list in my travelers notebook of all the places she wanted to see while she was in Geelong and the Surf coast.. Follow Flat Susan
Two salty old sea-dogs from different eras sit 
out the front of the Cunningham pier.

The first stop on our sightseeing tour was to the Bollards at the Geelong waterfront. The colourful bollards are the work of artist Jan Mitchell. Jan was commissioned by the City of Geelong to transform old timbers and piles from a city pier, demolished in the 1980's. Jan turned over 100 of them into remarkable works of art.. They are all along the bay waterfront and also at the Melbourne airport. I was lucky enough to stop by a few times and watch her paint them and talk to her myself she was a lovely lady. Sadly she passed away in 2008 but what a legacy of work to leave behind. 
Flat Susan is sitting in the bottom of the parrot cage.. 


Lifesavers bit hard to see but Flat Susan is on the front ones right shoulder.

This houses the carousel unfortunately it was
shut at the time.


Above and Below depicts members of the Volunteer Rifle Band playing in Geelong's first band recital in 1861.. Flat Susan sat on the music stand looking at them all..
We have done a lot in the few weeks that Flat Susan has been with us.. So many photos so will split it up into 3 blog posts. Hope you enjoy her posts. We are enjoying her stay with us she will be zooming off to Spain this Friday. But before Flat Susan goes we are off to the Surf coast beaches tomorrow.. 
Corio Bay Geelong Victoria Australia
The Bollards are all around the bay area

..in my opinion!

I am posting this on WOYWW too as I know many people follow flat Susan from there.. 
Have a great day
Sandy :) 

Monday, December 1, 2014

Change...


Last night I watched a great youtube tutorial from Nika in wonderland I loved the circles, so I had to have a go at this one.. I showed this to my friend Tamiko and she said it looks like she was peeking out from under the water.. So then I stamped little bubbles on it.. It was fun but I am terrible at waiting for gesso to dry, I get impatient, it adds lots of texture when I am popping my finger in it to see if it is dry or not.
NeocolourII for the circle colour over the gesso.. The bubbles are a France Papillon cube stamp.. The circle stencil is from Typo.. I edged it all with Tim Holtz distress ink Peacock feathers. 
The quote is from Wayne Dyer and thought it was just right for these pages.. "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change".

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Create art every day...


Had fun in my art journal today with these pages I watched this France Papillon Youtube tutorial and was all inspired to create these pages.. 
I started with mod podge on some loose pages and then stuck some old sewing patterns on them for my background.. Then went around the edges with walnut stain.. I used a stencil and some black dylusions for the hexagons. I used my mini tile stencil and some gesso to add some little white details. Then I cut some linen and frayed the edges and covered it in gesso.. I had this spotty paper piece left over from the Authentique paper pack, love those papers. I stuck it all on with Helmars tacky glue then let it all dry.. Then I used my sewing machine and did lots of stitching.. Great thing about having loose pages I get to sew on them.. Then to finish it off I printed out the words, went around them in walnut stain and did some white paint splatters. Put some little brads in for some detail.

Its the last day of Art every day month so linking this up my little tribute to a fantastic month of art.. 

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Saturday, November 29, 2014

A Dream...


I have been having problems with my blog not being able to link it to certain things, so now it is all sorted out.  I have a few things I have not posted on my blog this one is like the other smaller stretch heart one I did.  I had such fun layering that one so thought I would do a larger one in my other journal. There is a challenge in a facebook group I am in called "Mixing it Up" to do a grateful or thankful page and link it up in the month of November.  The prize is some pan pastels. This is all collage left over bits and pieces.  I used one of Teesha's collage sheets and some of Tim Holtz washi tape.. I found a great quote on instagram so I wrote it on the page and then stenciled over it in Tim Holtz walnut stain ink and a circle blending tool..  


Just some fun play with Neocolor II I did in my journal.  I used a waterbrush to blend it all around then did some stenciling.. I used some plasterers tape and some Gesso under the hearts.. The hearts are a Gelli plate printed on deli paper.. I went around them with my black Stabilo pencil and a waterbrush.. 

I am all out of order with popping these on art every day month. I have been doing something every day but these are the 2 that are finished.. I have had such a busy month lots of family things going on..

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Life and a cat...


Love my cats so thought it was about time that I popped one on a journal page.. I drew this cat in my sketch book a few weeks ago.. I coloured it in last night with watercolour pencils and thought, oh think she needs a page to sit on.. So this was another of my squish pages. Its leftover Dylusion sprays squished in my art journal.. I added the letters in black and put the cat on there and thought yep she suits it on those colours, but what to put on the other page?  She so looked like there was something interesting over on that page.. So thought hmm string how do you draw string? So after looking at some pictures of balls of string, I drew this painted it and stuck it on there too.. She looks like she is contemplating that string now.. Then to find a quote, found this one and thought yep perfect.. Life is like a cat playing with an endless ball of string.. 

Day 13 of Art Every Day Month.

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Artstronaut...


I have been having more fun with some collage today.. I used some of Teesha Moore's collage sheets. I had lots of fun after being all inspired today with new collage sheets from The Artstronauts Club.. Teesha had a picture of a really long heart that she did and I thought oh look at all the layers on that.. So I had to have a go at my own version of it..  The paper under the heart is so textured it is hand made paper and has fine grainy pieces of plants in it. Just lots of layers of different papers on here... I found that little helmet in a magazine and have been saving it for this page, as it is the last page in this journal.. I was looking for something that would go with it and I thought the heart was great fun to do with all the layers.. I drew the legs and arms on paper and cut them out and collaged them on..  I went around it with my brown Neocolour II's to give it some colour and blend it all together.. 

So Day 11 over at Art every day Month
I have done something every day so far just don't seem to get time to do a blog post done every day.

Have a great day
Sandy :) 



Sunday, November 9, 2014

Something Wonderful...


More fun in my travelers notebook watercolour book.. I took one of my journal pages and copied it on my printer as I really liked the red and black print. Cut circles out of it for my flower middles.  I used the mini tile texture stencil, that I had used on the journal page over some of my watercolour background, just to tie it all in.. I also drew her arms on a piece of paper and collaged them on as I wanted them to sit over the wings.. Lots of doodling and pen dangles. 
Quote "By being yourself you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before" by Edmin Elliot.. 

I am entering this over at November Art every Day Month its day 9.

Have a great day 
Sandy :)

Friday, November 7, 2014

Circle fun...


Hi all, just a bit of fun in my art journal today.. I used one of the squish pages, you know when you get extra spray ink on a stencil from something else and you squish it into your journal.. You get some great backgrounds to play with that way.. This was a circle stencil that I had sprayed with Dylusions.. Then I filled in some of the circles with neocolor II, and used a waterbrush to smooth it out.. Went around it with the stabilo pencil in black and then thought hmm its a bit plain. So I then added the mini tile texture stencil with black ink and added a tag.. I gave the tag the same treatment but instead of the dylusions I just used the neocolor II's.  Inked all the edges with black ink. Then I watered down some Gesso and splashed it all. It was a fun page to do. I am trying to leave a bit more of the white in my backgrounds and not cover everything up..  The tag has the words from a stamp from Kaszzaz it say's 'It's the little things'. 


I am linking this up over at Paint Party Friday

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Monday, November 3, 2014

Peerless watercolours...


I see a lot of people using the travelers notebooks and taking art supplies along with you..
I have a wonderful friend Sandee Setliff, who made me this terrific watercolour palette of Peerless watercolours. The ones I have are a selection from Joanne Sharpe.  It has a plastic cover that you just flip back to use the watercolours.. Just slips in the side of my notebook fits perfectly in the pocket.. You only need a waterbrush and you are set to go.. I use one of those waterbrushes with a water reservoir. Thought some of you might find this a handy little thing to have, it takes up no room. The watercolours are so pretty and very vibrant.. Here is the link to the tutorial from Jane Davenport on how to make it.. 

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Sunday, November 2, 2014

November is Art Every Day Month

Well its November and for me that means its time for the Art every day month challenge. I did this last year and it really got me into the habit of doing something arty everyday, even if it was just a layer or something small.

aedmlogored
I did the index card a day challenge and I so loved doing that every day so this one is just anything everyday for a month so that will be fun..

I have also joined the November challenge over at Jennibellie's its a 7 day background challenge.
So today I started the backgrounds for Jenniebellie's challenge.. 7 backgrounds in 7 days you add a different layer every day.. Thought these would make cool collage fodder when they are done, with all the layers they will be really interesting and I can pick out the bits I like and cut up for future collaged backgrounds. So I have 7 pieces of paper 4 large index card size, 1 is on the back of junk mail and the other 2, one is sketch paper and the other is watercolour paper.. The 4 Index cards I just collaged on some torn paper and the 3 Larger sheets I painted.. So fairly uninteresting so far but will be interesting to see how they develop over the 7 days.. 

Monthly Challenge

Have a great day
Sandy :)

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Creating...


My quote on here today was just what this page called for.. I just felt like collaging colourful bits of paper together to make that cool pole.. Its not supposed to be anything and that's ok.. As my quote says "Creating for the love of creating frees the soul".  I might go back and add more, but its done for now.. 
Teesha Moore collage sheets. Some of my index cards and my journal page art printed out and cut into pieces.. Watercolour background and Neocolour II Crayons.. Paint pen in white and black and the stars are a stamp from France Papillon..  

Have a great day 
Sandy :)

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Credit card insert for my notebook cover.

I wanted to have an insert in my notebook for cards so I found another great tutorial from Ray Blake Credit card insert  Well if you know me I do not buy anything if I can make it myself with what I have.. So though ok well I have made the inserts for the books and I had plastic book covers that I use to cut out stencils its really sturdy plastic that would do the job for the cards I thought.. So I have done a little picture tutorial on how I sewed it all together to make my card holder.. 


This is all my pieces cut out and ready to go.  My file folders already have 3 pre scored lines in the middle. So I just folded the outside 2 and measured from there to the size I wanted.. 110cm wide x 210 cm for the height for both sides excluding the middle fold.. So this was the size for my plastic for the cards, then I trimmed 10 cm off the length so it sat just inside the cover.. 

Next I grabbed a card and measured so it would fit and drew lines for my sewing.. 

Printed out some of my art work from my journal, cut to size and glued it to the outside.. 

Sewed the plastic in place with my sewing machine and then I trimmed the outside edges so it was all level.. 


Tried it out in my cover to make sure I did not have to make any adjustments. I made the notches in the sides with my circle punch so I can get my cards in and out easily like Ray did.. My circle punch so did not want to go through all this but It got there with a bit of persuasion. 


Inside view of my card holder with a few copies of my art work cut down to card size.. 




Outside of my card holder. I like the sewing showing but if you didn't you could always glue papers on after the sewing.. 









Top view of it all together I do like how it sits better with the wider middle part.. It seems to hold it all in straighter and neater, more even.. As 2 of my notebooks are watercolour paper they are thicker so think this would be the limit of how much my journal cover could hold.. I would like one of those plastic slide opening ones that you can pop bits and pieces in. Hmm I wonder how I could make that.. 

Have a great day 
Sandy :)