WOYWW #617: da Vinci inspired tea bags and resist techniques

Oops, I almost forgot to post today. I'm off work for a week and in holiday mode, which upset my regular routine. Last day of school as well before the Easter break - it will be nice to take things easy for a while. Lucky I have my photos prepped, so I can throw this post together very quickly. Here's a shot of my desk at the weekend. I was working on my new batch of teabags again. 

Here's a closer look at the backgrounds as they developed before I added da Vinci themed washi tapes accented with some gold paint (only six of them as I had made the seventh as a trial piece earlier). As a finishing touch I added the numbers and some phrases from book text, which I thought were fitting in with the images. We're up to #56 now so past the halfway mark for the #the100dayproject. 

Also this week: the new challenge in the Mixed Media Emporium Facebook Group was Resist Techniques. I had two contributions: first the faux batik technique, which involves removing the clear embossing with a hot iron. I first posted about this technique here. My new experiments can be seen below with various stamps and variable success:

The second technique involves brayering a layer of gesso over an embossed surface which acts as a resist and then inking the paper with distress oxides. I also posted about this technique in more detail a couple of years ago here.  It was a good reminder to revisit these techniques as I had forgotten all about them! 

This technique also works with texture paste and crackle paste. This is an impression of a stencil I got when I cleaned it on a piece of scrap paper and later inked it.

Oreo was a bit upset last week when I posted that photo of a deer instead of him. He's still feeling a bit grumpy about it as you can see - not talking to me (note one of his eyebrow whiskers fell out again - they come and go at regular intervals):

That's all for today! Have a Happy Easter everyone! xx

WOYWW #616: Whimsy houses and crackle texture

For once, Wednesday seems to have  come around quite slowly this week - not sure why. Perhaps because there were so many things happening last week: Shaz's farewell on Friday (I didn't lose it until the very end of the ceremony when it was time to say goodbye), frantic revising for my son's mocks this week (even though they're not doing proper GCSEs, they still need to take exams and he needs all the help we can give him), getting my Covid jab on Saturday (I got my invite just after I posted on Wednesday, I didn't expect it to be so soon). So it was a busy week, and to use Julia's words, let's seize the day and make the most of it! 

Here's my desk shot from yesterday afternoon. I didn't have as much time creating as I would have liked, but I still managed to keep up with the 100-day challenge and the prompt in the Mixed Media Emporium FB group, which was crackle. This one went a bit wrong, as you'll see, but I still had fun playing (note to self: do not put crackle paste over a still wet layer of texture paste on a canvas - it will just peel off)! I did meet the challenge though - if this does not "crackle" I don't know what does!

I've also finished my weekly batch on teabags for the 100-day challenge (featuring the whimsy houses I planned to do for last week before changing my mind). They're ok I guess, but I don't like them as much as I did the previous ones. I still have to decide what to do for next week. We're at the half-way point and this is where people usually give up - and I can see why. I'll just need to get through the hump and carry on! 

Here's a closer look at one of them. I used gelli prints for the paper piecing and dug out my Caran D'ache watersoluables for the shading

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Spring has definitely sprung and clocks are going forward this Sunday! It won't be long before I start complaining about the heat - for now it's still quite chilly and we even had frost the other day. Don't you just love the blossom on the trees at this time of year! 

We had a special visitor the other day - some of you will have seen this photo on my Facebook. He just wandered into our garden, stayed a while and then left. I wonder where he is now? I hope he's safe and will have a happy life. He could have stayed with us if he wanted! I took this photo through the glass - I didn't want to scare him away. He came very close to the house.

Hope everyone's safe and well! Happy WOYWW! xx

WOYWW #615: Change of plans - TH paper dolls and mixed media textures

Wednesday again - I fell into a comfortable routine when I do most of my creative endeavors on the weekend ready to post to my blog on Wednesdays. I even managed to tidy up my desk - but only enough so as not to scare the mojo away. It's since been messed up again, but I wanted to show you a "tidy" version. I know many of you wouldn't call this tidy exactly, but it is for me: 

There has been a change of plans - I was going to make little houses for my 100-day teabag project, but I ended up with a background that didn't quite work with them, so I took them in a different direction. Tim Holtz paper dolls to the rescue! 

I did include my prototype house-themed teabag on a journal page, though. Here it is, just thrown together on a messy background made with my mop-up sheets. I thought the newly-weds went with the house theme - I hope they'll have a happy life there inside my journal! The leaf is off my indoor parlour palm - I had used it for gelli printing so it already had some colour that matched the page. I guess it represents their garden. It also ties in with the facing page that I shared last week.

There was also an exciting challenge in the Mixed Media Emporium Facebook Group. This week we had to create "texture" so I came up with this random background on recycled packaging following some of the ideas presented to us:

Then I added some elements to finish it off.  The composition would have been better if I had planned it in advance, but I just let it evolve during the process, which is part of the fun and full of discoveries along the way.

That's it my friends. Thanks for the visit - I'll be popping over soon to say hello! xx

#614: Skeleton leaves, a mini bookcase and foam play

Wednesdays do seem to come around more frequently than other days! It's Wednesday again, so time to join in WOYWW over on Julia's Stamping Ground. Another photo-heavy post from me, but will try to compensate by cutting to the chase. So, here's my desk at some point in the last week - I can't remember when exactly. It has since went through many transformations and it is getting progressively messier. 

I was working on a journal page with skeleton leaves leftover from my 100-day tea bag project. I coloured the leaves with distress oxides. which gave them an interesting effect, accentuating the veins (click on the photo for a closer view):

The teabag on the page was my trial-run for my new batch of teabags, that I posted on Instagram on Saturday for #the100dayproject - we're over a third way through now! Here's the full lot, with a close-up of my favourite #29:

For the next lot, I'm thinking little houses! I have a prototype here:

I've also been very brave and cut up one of my precious Stamperia papers to decorate this mini bookshelf. I bought the kit before Christmas, if you remember. I've had it assembled for a while but wasn't sure what to do with it. I have four matching mini books to fill it with but that will take longer. 

In the Mixed Media Emporium Facebook Group we were playing with shaving foam this week. I didn't get good results with the marbling task, but I did some experiments with a stencil over the foam which resulted in this pretty cool effects on deli paper:

It was my birthday on Saturday - I know some of us share a March birthday, so many happy returns to those who do! My dad sent me this photo of my bother and I to mark the occasion - it must have been some time around '72/73 judging from our age. It was taken at my grandmother's house - I wonder what we're all looking at so intently? 

Thank you for visiting -  I'll be popping in soon if I haven't been around yet.

Wishing you all a creative week! xx

#WOYWW #613: Lots of hearts

I'm still on a creative roll and been working with hearts this past week. It all started with those teabags for my 100-day project and since I had some leftover heart shapes and tea bags, I also made a journal page with them. Here's my desk shot taken on Saturday afternoon (I think):

You can just about make out my teabag collection building up in the little box in the back. Here are some close-ups - first, I coloured the backgrounds with distress oxides before adding some torn heart shapes: 

My journal layout features bits and pieces that were lying around my desk - these are usually trial pieces that unsuccessfully auditioned for other projects - but ended up in a better position in the end! The layout started out with this background that was made with book pages I used to mop up the excess distress oxides from the tea bag project. 

Then I added some elements: tea bags, heart shapes torn from coloured tea bags/book pages and printouts from a dictionary page that I scanned in and tinted with distress oxides. I've also added some stencilling with crackle paste and typed a quote directly on a teabag. The white crackle paste picked up some of the distress oxides from the background (even though I thought I had sealed it!), which gave me the idea to add some more subtle colour here and there. 

And then there was the new weekly challenge in the Mixed Media Emporium Facebook group. We had to create something with the collaged masterboard we did last week. Well, I got into a bit of a pickle with this one LOL - but I think I managed to bring it back from the brink of extinction - with some hearts, what else?!

That's it in a not-so-small nut shell. I hope everyone's copying well as life is slowly beginning to return back to normal.  Of course, Shaz is never far from our thoughts... xx