WOYWW #294: This and That and a Pen Organizer made out of TPRs

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesdays seem to come around thick and fast these days! It seems only yesterday I wrote my previous WOYWW post. If you are wondering what the heck I'm talking about, just hop over to the Stamping Ground to find out.

This week, I'm showing you my desk as it was (after some careful rearrangement, hehe) on Tuesday afternoon. I'll show you some of my ongoing projects, as well as ones that I've completed since my last post. Just follow the links below if you want to find out more about any of them.

1. My Word of Inspiration Wednesday post titled "Smile and the whole world smiles with you" can be found here.
2. I completed my Documented Life Project page for week three yesterday and you can see it here.
3. I know I said I was not going to buy any new art supplies for a while, but books don't count. Right? (Come on, back me up here!) I've been wanting this for a while because I adore Dina Wakley's carefree style and I already have her first book, Art Journal Freedom, which I love. This book contains step-by-step process descriptions of several gorgeous projects. I'd really like to learn to use white space the way Dina does. It's currently £11.89 on Amazon, the lowest price it's ever been and just about as much as I'm willing to pay for a book of its kind.
4. This is an initial sketch for my new LifeBook project. It's supposed to be a "bonus" lesson, but it looks like a proper big project to me that will take a couple of days to complete. I'll show you the completed piece next week!
5. This is a quick and simple project that I saw on YouTube posted by Sylvia Tabor. A genius way of reusing toilet paper rolls (TPRs) and shipping boxes to make a pen organizer. I've found a box that fits eight rolls perfectly - I don't even need to glue them in.  I'll just have to decorate the box. It will be perfect for storing all my gel pens currently stored in that purple make-up bag on my desk, which is not really suitable for this purpose as I can never find anything in it.

Update: I managed to finish my pen organizer last night, so I can show it to you today. I used my gelli prints to cover the box and reinforced the seams with washi tape. I also put some washi tape around the rim of the TPR's. It's so practical and I'm already using it for pen storage and there's even enough room to store my 2" brayer as well. Thank you Sylvia Tabor for such a brilliant idea!

Thank you all for popping in today. If you're visiting through WOYWW, please make sure you leave your number so I can return your visit!

DLP Week03: The Colour Wheel

The theme for week three of the Documented Life Project was the Colour Wheel. The prompt was a quote by Georgia O'Keeffe "I've found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn't say any other way".

I've created a double page inspired by this challenge. The first is an actual colour wheel, which I've always wanted to do and this was a good opportunity to try and understand the relationships between colours a bit more.  The second is a colorful page of paint splatters with a quote which I've loved ever since I first saw it in my friend, Cindy Wirl's blog header.

"Life is a great canvas and you should throw all the paint on it you can"

Double-page spread for DLP week 03

1. The Colour Wheel

I used ready-mixed colours from the Caran D'ache Neocolor II watersoluble crayon range to make this wheel. These colours are only representative and may differ from the "official" colours in the colour wheel. I've included a little study underneath which will help me remember some of the colour relationships.

• The analogous relationship uses two or more colours next to each other on the colour wheel.
• The split complimentary is a combination of any one colour with the two colours immediately next to its compimentary (the complimentary being the one directly opposite).
• Triadic is any three colours equally distributed around the wheel (for example, the primary colours blue, red and yellow form a triadic relationship.)

If you would like to find out more about colour relationships, I recommend this web page.

2. My main project

For my main project this week, I used an inexpensive (unbranded) set of neon spray paints, which I sprayed and dripped randomly on my page. The good thing about paints as opposed to inks is that they are permanent once dry, which allowed me to use colours on top of each other, which normally would have blended into mud. I dried each layer before adding another to make sure they wouldn't mix.

I used white acrylic paint for stamping on top of my paint splatters and added my quote. I outlined the text with a black fine point marker and added some doodle circles as well.

It's a very simple page but I really like how it turned out. Although, I must say, at first I didn't like it, so much so that I tore it out my journal. I'm not sure what possessed me! When I added the white stamping, however, it began to grow on me. I think the stamping has really transformed it. 

Note to self: Do not rip out a page until it is completely finished and you have decided that you definitely, without a doubt can NOT live with it. Luckily, I was able to stick the page back into my journal by painstakingly repairing the rips along  the spiral edge with tiny bits of masking tape. Who would have thought that was even possible!

Tag: Queen of Hearts

This was my December tag for the tag swap within the Google Community Creating and Sharing Mixed Media Art. The theme was RED, and we could create anything as long as the main colour of the tag was red. Now that my tag has been received by my swap partner, I can share it with you.

I used a gelli print as the basis of my design. I covered a regular shipping tag front and back with this print. Here you can see the Gelli pattern on the back of the tag.

 The front of the tag features a Queen of Hearts playing card ripped in two and distressed and a face moulded from polymer clay and coloured with mica powders. (My son thinks the face is extremely creepy, but creepy is allowed in mixed media, isn't it?)  I also added some sari ribbon and corrugated cardboard as layering mats and some metal charms (crown and heart padlock) for accents. I cut the two hearts out of chipboard and coloured them with oil pastels (sealed with hair spray). I also used oil pastels to colour the word tiles. As a finishing touch I inked the edge of the tag with black archival ink.

This was a rather experimental piece for me, a bit different from my usual style, but I had lots of fun making it!

WOIW Deliverance: Smile and the whole word smiles with you

Time for another Word of Inspiration Wednesday post, courtesy of the Kraafters Kommunity on Google Plus. The word this week is DELIVERANCE.

It is quite hard to disassociate this word from its religious reference, and for someone who looks at religion from a philosophical point of view, I had to go back to the dictionary for a linguistic definition:

the act of being rescued or set free, synonym: liberation

OK, here's my take on this. I believe we need to be liberated from our own negative thoughts and low expectations to allow ourselves to be happy here and now. Our negative outlook on life causes our life to be negative in return. If I feel bitter, angry and hateful all the time, the world around me will mirror those feelings and my life will be filled with bitterness, anger and hatred. However, if I look at the world with love, joy and happiness, all sorts of wonderful things start happening. Essentially, we need to fall in love with life! And one way of doing that is to SMILE.

Hence my sentiment for this challenge: Smile and the whole world smiles with you.

Here's how I built up my page:

• I started with a layer of gesso, which is indispensable when you're working on a type of paper not suitable for wet media, in my case medium weight kraft paper. 
• Next, I applied a layer of Gelatos, blending some blue an purple shades with a little water.  
• I used some white stamping with acrylic paint on top of the Gelatos adding some splatters and drippage as well. 
• As an experiment, on top of the white acrylic drippage I ran a few drops of dylusions ink. Miraculously, the ink followed the path of the paint, which created a cool white border around it. 
• Next, I cut some shapes out of Gelli prints and doodled on them with a white pen. 
• Finally, I added my quote and some black outlines with a Stabilo All pencil.

Here are some more photos below. I hope you find my page inspirational and start smiling at the world, so the world can smile back at you!

LifeBook Week03: Art saves me every day

One thing I love about LifeBook is that the lessons are posted on a Monday. Perhaps not surprisingly, Mondays are the least popular day of the week. However, since I've been doing LifeBook, I find myself looking forward to Mondays!

This week's project by Joanne Sharpe was to design a page with lettering and a complimentary image using watercolour paints and pens for outlining.  I did something very similar (minus the lettering) when I first started this blog. In fact, it was my very first blog post. This is a rather forgiving technique - you can't really go wrong with it! Just sketch your shapes, fill them with watercolours and then outline them in a sketchy way with black (and optionally white) pens.

The supplies I used for this project were the following:
Daler - Rowney 140lb 12 inch x 9 inch Hot Press Langton Gummed Pad

Uni-Ball Eye 157 Fine Black Roller Ball Pen
Uni-Ball Gel Impact UM-153 White Broad 1.0mm Rollerball

Derwent Inktense Blocks

I've changed the composition and the quote from the class material. I saw a similar composition in Joanne's book 'The Art of Whimsical Lettering' which inspired my design. I'm pretty sure the quote 'Art saves me every day' comes from Tamara Laporte. I chose it because it is very true for me too. Art does save me from gloom and depression, especially at this time of year. I do get down sometimes, but it's only temporary. I always bounce back with lots of creative energy. Art gives me a direction, a purpose and something to look forward to and be happy about. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

WOYWW #293: Recap and a tree wearing a jumper

Hello desk hoppers! Wishing you a very happy WOYWW! I hope this week's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday finds you alive and kicking. I found myself in-between projects on Tuesday afternoon, when I normally photograph my work station, so instead of showing you an empty desk, I decided to show you my most recent projects, as a kind of recap for the first two weeks in January. If you just want to see the tree wearing the jumper (as per my title!) just scroll to the bottom of this post! (To those of you visiting from the US: a jumper is a sweatshirt!)

I've been extremely busy these last two weeks. In 14 days I published 12 blog posts! That's some kind of record for me. I don't mean to spam, but I've got so many projects going on that I just have to keep posting! Here's my desk with some of my recent projects and my new love: Gelatos! (I'm on a self-imposed buying ban this year, but these were purchased at the end of December, so they don't count!)

Let's do a quick walkthrough:

1. My diary project for January is going quite well. I'm filling up the grids each day with colourful lettering. I'll share this with you at the end of the month.
2. I've finished my Celebration Jar for week two of LifeBook 2015. If you remember, I gave you a preview in one of my previous posts. You can see more of this project here.
3. I continue to take part in the weekly Word of Inspiration Wednesday challenge in the Kraafters Kommunity on Google Plus. The word last week was 'prudence'. You can see my post here.
4. I've also committed myself to the Documented Life Project. You can find this week's post here.
5. These puppies came last Friday all the way from the US. I wrote a review about them, which you can read here.

As you can see, I have a constant stream of projects in the pipeline, so I'm never lost for inspiration! I only hope I can keep up with them!

And finally, what you've all been waiting for here's that jumper-wearing tree! I took this photo in early January when we visited Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace. I've never seen anything like this before! It's made out of knitted or crocheted squares sewn together around the tree trunk and its branches. How funky is that? I bet all the other trees are jealous!

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I return every single visit, just don't forget to leave your number so I can find you! xx

Faber-Castell Mix & Match Gelatos Gift Set Review

I'd been wanting one of these Faber Castell Gelatos Gift Sets for absolute ages (or so it seems) but I couldn't get myself to shell out £60 for it. When I spotted a half price deal for £29.99 on Amazon (including shipping and taxes) it didn't take me long to make a decision! I know a good deal when I see one! I'm very happy with this purchase and feel so lucky to own this set. I decided to write a review to help you make a purchasing decision.

This set comes in a sturdy cardboard box, which opens like a drawer. It's lovely quality and looks as if it will last for many years. The Gelatos inside are nestled in a black tray with a velvet finish, which also feels quite sturdy and good quality. Apart from the 28 colours (as detailed below) you'll also get some accessories: 2 sponges and 2 paper stumps for blending, a water brush and a design idea leaflet.

Faber Castell Gelatos Gift Set - outside packaging

Faber Castell Gelatos Gist Set - inside packaging

I've prepared a colour chart to show the individual colours. The surface is a bit rough because I used gesso to seal my paper. This makes the Gelatos glide on and blend effortlessly, but you can also apply them directly on paper, canvas, textile and even wood surfaces.

Faber Castell Gelatos Gift Set Colour Chart

The metallic colours have a strong shimmer

What are Gelatos?

Gelatos are basically highly pigmented gel crayons. They're very creamy and melt into your surfaces like butter. They glide on smoothly and you can smudge them with your fingers or use some blending tools.

How can I use Gelatos?

You can use Gelatos in many ways. I like using them for creating backgrounds. This one, for example was created on a gessoed surface, where I blended three different colours together just with my fingers.

Gelatos are also great for outlining and shading. You can find an example for this in this project.

Gelatos are water soluble so you can use them like watercolour paints.

Gelatos are suitable for stamping as well, though keep in mind that the stamped images will not be as sharp and detailed as if you were using archival ink, but they're great for background texturing. Just mist your stamps with a little water and apply a thin layer of gelatos to stamp with.

You can also try using Gelatos over a stencil blending them with a sponge or your fingers.

Some people dilute Gelatos and use them in spray bottles, but I think it's a bit of a waste doing that!

Are there any drawbacks of using Gelatos?

There are a few things you need to keep in mind.

Because Gelatos are watersoluable, they will not be permanent on your surfaces. They will be affected by any wet medium on top. You can try sealing them with clear gesso or a fixative, but I normally only use them when I know I will not be applying anything too wet over them. They seem to be OK with gel medium, as long as you don't smudge it too hard.

Gelatos are wax-based, so it's very difficult to use any pens on top of them, especially on a thick background layer. Sealing with clear gesso might help, but it's best to avoid Gelatos if you plan to use pens on top. They behave much like oil pastels in this respect.

Conclusion

Despite these drawbacks, Gelatos can be a valuable addition to your mixed media arsenal to help you produce amazing art work. Like with any other medium though, you have to learn what you can and can not do with them, so you can use them to their best advantage.  Have fun creating with Gelatos!


Here's a video by Heather Kraafter from the Kaaft Shaak, who will show you Gelatos in action. She's also found a way to seal them with matte gel using a Gelli plate. Jump to 47:40 to see this!