WOYWW #422: Altered picture frame

So it was #421 last week after all, which makes it #422 this week! Of course, I'm talking about the sequence of WOYWW posts! Come and join this marathon blog hop hosted by Julia Dunnit, currently in its 8th year running! All you need to do is snap a photo of your arty desk and show us what you've been working on this past week. Here's what I've been busy with:

That horrible brown picture frame had a nasty waxy residue on it, as you can see in the photos. After two layers of gesso, I painted it turquoise blue and then added indigo blue on top of it, removing some of the top layer to allow the lighter tone of blue to show through. Here's a close-up of the texture I achieved this way:

And this is what it looks like after I popped our wedding photo back in the frame, where it originally came from, just in time for our 15th wedding anniversary later this month. We will probably conveniently forget it, just like we do every year LOL! 

There was another anniversary earlier this month - my blog turned 3 years old! I celebrated with this post and also changed my profile photo for something more recent. The old one was more than 7 years old and I realised I didn't look like that any more! 

In other news, here's Oreo lounging on three layers of cushions. These are normally on our garden chairs outside, brought in at the end of the day, in case it rains. How do cats manage to look so comfortable all the time? Makes me want to curl up and snooze!

Thanks for visiting today! Happy WOYWW! 

My blog is three years old!

I started this blog three years ago today! In many ways, it seems a lot longer! I started blogging on a whim, not really knowing what I was doing and where it would take me. Three years on, I'm so grateful for the wonderful experiences along the way: the learning, the joy of creating, the wonderful friends and soulmates to share with.

I've decided to do a compilation of my favourite projects this past 12 months. I did a similar compilation last year of my previous favourites, which you can find here.

Here are the full sized images, in no particular order: 

Envelope made from a brown bag (inspired by Roben-Marie Smith)

Journal page in my altered book journal

12th birthday card made from cardboard 

Painted canvas pouch

Altered bottle

Altered box

Recycled greeting cards inspired by Joanna Grant

Collage inspired by Roxanne Evans Stout

My first ATB

Erosion bundle inspired by Evelyn Flint

Altered clothing labels

Mini photo album from tarot cards

LifeBook ATC swap 2016

Journal page in my altered organizer

Rag journal cover inspired by Susie LaFond

Grungy gelli printed ATC backgrounds

It's lovely to look back on all these projects - each and every one of  them bring back happy memories of creating them. Hope you enjoyed the tour. Happy Sunday! 

WOYWW #421: Erosion Bundle Results (yay!)

I seem to be out of sync with the WOYWW sequence, but I'll follow Julia's lead and call this week #422. (Nope, it is #421, after all!) Which is the number of weeks this marathon blog hop has been going on and even continues while Julia is Stateside doing all sorts of fun things.

What a difference a week makes, hey? Unbearably hot and stifling last week, cool and refreshing this week - I know which one I prefer! And I don't even mind the rain! Over the weekend, I decided to open my erosion bundles that I'd put out in the garden back in February, inspired by Evelyn Flint. I blogged about them here and here. My bundles looked like this before I opened them:

Having learned my lesson from the sneak peek, I opened them outside expecting all sorts of residents to emerge. Sure enough, there were some spiders, earwigs and other tenants that I couldn't even identify crawling around. They have all been evacuated unharmed and are now happily living somewhere else in the garden. There was a lot of ooohing and aaahing on my part when I opened the packets, though neither my son nor my husband seemed to understand my fascination with the weathered textures and colours. My son thought they were "skanky" - I think, they're delectable! Each to their own - see, what you think!  

I'm totally in love with this process and will try it again soon. I can use these elements in collages and on journal pages or just admire them as they are. 

Thanks for visiting today. I lost my internet connection last week, just as I was doing my rounds, so it took me a few days to get back to everyone. If I accidentally missed you, please give me a shout! 

WOYWW #420: Heatwave!!!

I'm taking part in WOYWW three times in a row this month! And let me tell you, it is HOT in the UK right now - well, by British standards, anyway. I took this photo of my temporary desk in the garden on Monday working on a LifeBook lesson, but after that I had to move indoors as it was unbearably hot out there, even in the shade. If you want to see the finished project, you can find it here.

Other than that, I have a couple of pages in my new organizer to show you. They look very similar as I used the same paints and imagery, but they are supposed to be separate pages. The left hand side is the inside cover of my organizer. 

I took this photo while we were on a family outing in Evesham, Worcestershire. There's a possibility we might move there, so we looked around the town. This is the local museum and dates back to the 14th century!  

Could anyone identify this feather for me? I found it on my walk around the countryside. I'm hoping it's an owl feather, or something equally cool, like a hawk or a falcon. It would be good to know! It has the patterns of a tawny owl feather, but it's more pointed than the ones I saw online. 

Here's Oreo keeping cool on the roof over the garage last night. Now that we have to keep all windows open, he can get out there. He likes to observe the other cats from a safe vantage point. 

Happy Summer Solstice - enjoy the longest day of the year! 

LifeBook Week24: Self-respect

I hate to admit it, but my last LifeBook post was nine weeks ago! This was last week's lesson, by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, titled Fertilizer for your Creativity. I'm somewhat familiar with Julie's work as she was one of the first artists that I came across on my mixed-media journey, so I was happy to see her name pop up on the teacher list this year.

Julie's lesson included an exercise to transform negative words into something beautiful, so we started out with some nasty messages from our inner critic - and let me tell you - I didn't hold back! These words were written in large block letters all over the page, which were then transformed into abstract shapes and flowers. Mine are probably more abstract than necessary - it looks more like a flow-chart LOL!

I used my Inktense blocks to colour them. Julie used gouache paints, which I haven't got. I've ordered a cheap set to try them but it hasn't arrived yet. I think I managed to achieve similar results with the Inktense. Some outlining and doodling completed the process and voila, my negative opinion about myself were transformed into some funky, VERY abstract flowers. Here are three stages of the process: (I'm deliberately not showing the original words - too embarrassing!)

I added the word 'self-respect' as an afterthought as it seemed like a fitting title for my page. If you have self-respect, you don't continually slag yourself off, like I do sometimes.

I really enjoyed this lesson - it brought me back to my doodling roots. I'm easing myself back into a more regular blogging routine and hopefully I will be able to catch up with some of the other lessons that I missed. However, I do not intend to do all of them this year. At least I'll have something to work on next year without having to spend more money on courses. I think I have enough unfinished classes to last me a couple of years! 

WOYWW #419: A cheap organizer

Hello peeps! I'm here again for another round of WOYWW - the second week in a row, which is an achievement in itself. I managed to do some arting yesterday - here's the obligatory desk shot:

I was working (playing!) in a cheap organizer I'd picked up from The Works at the weekend for just £2! It's got lots of pockets, which is what attracted me to it in the first place. I'm not an organizer sort of person, so I'll just use it as an art journal and fill the pockets with tags and cards and such. I've already done a couple of pages, just randomly playing with paint. Not all pages need to have a "story" - sometimes it's just about the play. I'll have fun altering the cover later. It's nice and sturdy, so I'm thinking of a Finnabair-type collage for the cover. 

The £2 organizer!

First two pages

Detail shot

Detail shot

I've also found a great way to display my printed feathers from last week. Remember those mini buckets I altered a while ago? They're perfect for holding my feathers! I just stuck a bit of aluminium foil in them to hold the feathers in place - almost like a bunch of flowers. I need to paint some more feathers so I can fill all three of my buckets.

We've had some lovely sunny weather over the last few days. I just hope it won't get too hot. Any hotter and I start suffering. Here's Oreo enjoying a bit of sunbathing, making sure the rays reach all parts of his tummy, not worrying about his modesty. How does he not get overheated with all that fur?

Thanks for popping in!

Hope your day is filled with sunshine too!