New Painting

Hello All,

After completing my last painting I was inspired so much by the combination of textures and vivid colour that I dived straight into another and have managed to get it finished relatively quickly:

This one makes me feel like I am under the sea looking up to the surface at the light and pattern of the current. It is full of different textures and shimmery bits that catch the light:

Here is a detail of that texture. I didn't paint this as a commission, just for enjoyment but luckily it has sold nearly straight away.

I am now trying to focus on arranging some workshops as I haven't been able to fit them in now for almost a year. These are definitely top priority now! I have also been hired to deliver a children's autumn themed craft party next month so I have that to organise too.

I will be advertising my workshops via my website which you can link to from here so look out for them! 

Bye for now

xxxx

Tile Stamping

Hello All,

This week I was looking at tiles with my hubby and saw that you could buy some sample tiles for 50p. There were some really interesting patterns and textures and I thought they could make really good stamps for art journaling so I bought a couple to try out.

Here is one of them. I tried with ink but the print was quite faint so I had a go with some acrylic and I really liked the result. I think rubbings might be good from these too. I will definitely be looking for some more!  I used this pattern on a page in my altered book art journal and the result was really quite effective. Here is the final spread:

I played around with layering paint and pattern allowing some of the original text from the page to show through. I finished with the circles stamps. I was recently looking at art foamies which are a product in the states that look fab, really big chunky interesting foam shapes and patterns used for stamping. I would so love to buy some but the postage to the UK is really expensive. I decided to try and make my own instead, using a piece of card, some craft foam, scissors and glue. I cut out 24 identical circles from the craft foam and glued 6 onto the piece of card. I then kept gluing the circles on in layers over the top of the previous until I had 6 stacks of 4 circles. Once dry I tried it out with some paint and you can see the result. Simple but effective! I will have to try out some more complicated shapes to see if it works.

I do enjoy experimenting with different art products but making your own and using an everyday object in a different way is really satisfying, it sometimes takes a bit of thinking outside the box but, like buying a bargain, when it comes out right it is even better :)

Bye for now xx

Some Upcycled DIY decor

Hello All,

Well my creative frenzy continues and I am definitely into an upcycling crafty sort of phase. This coincides with a bit of reorganisation at home, I keep looking at every shelf and wall and thinking what I can make to improve this space. I went shopping and found in pound shops/charity shops/supermarkets bits and bobs to re-do,do-up and re-vamp as it were. Here is just a selection of what I have been up to:

Again inspired by Sealemon on you tube I took an old plain white mug I had already and had a go at some porcelain painting. It is a bit rough and ready but I quite like that about it and I love the text.

I found a plain cream blanket at the supermarket in the sale and some tea towels that I liked the pattern of. I got home and immediately set about making pom poms which I added to the blanket and I got my sewing machine out and sewed the tea towels into cushions. I love how these turned out, especially the blanket which was so simple to do!

This one has to be my favorite! The cushion here is made of a skirt I found at the charity shop. I liked the pattern but not the skirt itself. I cut off the waist band and cut the material to size before sewing it up and adding the cushion. To finish it off I added some tassels I made from some wool from my stash.

These are just a selection of what I have been up to, I really have the bug at the moment. I am looking at everything and trying to see what else it could be! I hope you like them and maybe are inspired to have a go at some upcycling too!

Bye for now! xxx