AASG- Favourite Author/Story/Poem DAJ, February Challenge

I am actually the one that suggested the theme for this months A.A.S.G. Deconstructed Art Journal page swap challenge, and I am the one that has been the most slack in getting it done! I have recently been a little obsessed with Alice in wonderland, more so since the Tim Burton movie version came out. Not with the movie or book or plot but the characters and the depth to them that has been given by being played by certain actors or written by certain authors.  Of course, I had GRAND plans in my head of what i wanted this D.A.J. to look like with Stamps, paint and die-cuts...and then I had to go back to work...The bills need paying right? Before I knew it, the due date for the project had rolled around and all I had done was stick my background page onto my card stock and do the outline and lettering in Sharpie!
I had just purchased a gorgeous set of Japanese solid water colours, called Kuretake Gansai Tambi. My first REAL set of water colours. They were almost too pretty to use. My first step was to fill out the colour swatch on the inside of the lid (which was covered in a green linen with the name embossed in Gold).

After that I thought why not? So I painted the background to this piece using these watercolours and watched it come to life. I love how you can still see the text of the dictionary through the colours.

 The other side is dedicated to one of my favourite childhood authors Enid Blyton.  I blended the background with Distress Paint and a baby wipe, then stuck on a photocopied picture of Mrs B I found off the Internet. Then I just doodled in the names of some of her famous books. Voila! Hope you get some sparks of inspiration from this.

AASG- You and Me Swap

I belong to a really great Australian Art swap group on Facebook, with a really fantastic, supportive bunch of people. I actually stumbled across them  on the 'interweb' when I started googling art journals as a serious thing for the first time last year. Anyway, that's an art journal story for another time.

So.. In this Facebook group, People organise art swaps of all kinds including Digital, ATC's, Printing, DAJ's and even our kids get to take part in Junior swaps (which my son and I just ADORE!).

This post is about a swap called "You and Me." You were to pick 6 items from your stash including , textures, fabrics, stamps etc and send 2 lots of these to your assigned partner. When you get your package from your partner, you were to create 2 Index Card sized pieces of art using at least 3 of those items and anything else from your own stash you liked. Simple right?? I thought so...until I realized I had created 3 different versions of this art without adding the required amounts of received elements each time! I'm still not 100% happy with it, as it was a frustrating process,but followed my old rule "When In doubt, Bling it out" and that raised my happiness level a little.

Supplies I was given: Damask print brown paper bag, script washi tape, some metallic rubber mesh, gold ribbon, poison stamped images and a metal embellishment.

 I started with student grade acrylic in purple my favourite  colour.

Then using Gesso and a Prima damask Stencil to add some texture to the card.

It looked a little busy so I then used a baby wipe to smudge it a up. I took a lot off the middle as that's where I wanted to place my stamped image.

I printed my quote on plain paper and cut it into strips which  I then inked up with Tim Holtz Distress ink in Bundled sage.

 I then cut the strip into words and stuck onto the washi tape. I used Faber Castle Pit Pen in brown to create shadows around the edges.

Using the Tim Holtz Mixed Media Die set #1, and the Big Shot I cut the patterns on the top and bottom of the cards.

I had embossed the Stampotique Brand ,Angel image in black glitter and silver straight onto the card but because of the nature of the stamp, it all melded together to look like a silhouette instead of being detailed....so ...

I wasted more time using some clear crackle texture paste and leaving it to dry, I figures it would act as a sealer over the tape and wording as well. While this dried, I stamped the image onto CopicBlending paper...but again, way too much black showed up and the copics would only show up properly on the shadows. Then I used water colour pencils (yes.. I went there..on alcohol blending paper) and cut it all out when I finished. 

I then stuck her on with foam tape, a bit over to the right so the original embossed outline showed a bit underneath.

Then I stuck on all the embellishments.. 

Here are the finished cards. There are slight differences to them but still glad I got them done in time.

Until Next time:)

Debs.

Hello Me! 

I can't believe I forgot I had created a blog! So much has changed since I started this but at the same time so much hasn't changed. We are back living in Perth again and our years in the bush were some of the best we have experienced as a family. I lost interest/passion for scrap booking for awhile but I knew I still wanted to create things. While I was in Leinster, a friend took me down to "the Cottage" in Leinster where some ladies were giving Quilting classes. I had tried to do this by myself previously but with no guidance. I had bought all the "wrong" fabrics for quilting and struggles to understand the sewing jargon like seams and nesting and grain of fabric. So going to the Cottage for lessons was the highlight of my week.

My Daughters Quilt called Kite Flight! I made the quilt top and a lovely lady called Margaret Cooper from Margaret Cooper Quilting, did the sandwich quilting on her long arm machine.

My son Jake's quilt with a Squares Squared pattern.

 I met such lovely ladies who inspired and taught me. We were given the opportunity to transform the Cottage into an Art and Craft Cottage and an Op shop combined. A committee was formed for this not for profit organisation, and this little cottage became my second home in our remote community. I helped coordinate and facilitate Card making, School holiday art and craft for the kids and mixed media/painting workshops too. During this time, We organised artists to visit as well. A most memorable lady Cher Shakleton from Shackleton Galleries, came and taught us how to "throw clay" on our Pottery wheels.  I learnt so much form this lovely lady! which reminds me... I must try to get in touch with her now I am back and say Hello!
Anyway, too much has happened and time gone for me to try and cramm it all in here, so I will just continue to blog about things from this point and hope for the best.
Cheers,
Debs!