Wednesday 31 December 2008

WEEK 1 ART JOURNAL CHALLENGE 2009

As promised the gilded kitchen towel paper instuctions...hope you will have fun with this simple but effective paper....
Gilded Kitchen towel paper
1 Paint sheets of kitchen towel inks will give more vibrant colours but paint works just as well make the paper towel wet with paint and then squeeze and add as many creases as you can...crisper towels will give a better gilded effect smoother towels l usually print and stamp

2 Carefully open the wet paper towels out so they can dry but dont flatten the creases
3 The more creases the better but plainer sheets can be printed and stamped (examples to follow )

4 Gild paper with gilding paste on your finger or dry brush with gold paint...brings out all the creases in the paper and adds a lot of depth to papers


5 When the gilding/paint has dried finish off by ironing flat...use a warm iron not hot it burns the paper and makes it really fragile

6 Add iron-on interfacing if you want to stitch the paper gives a far stronger paper
7 Make into a hard cover by gluing to thick card ready to use the coptic sheet and christmas cards as the signatures (leaves of journal/album)
8 Video link for the coptic stitch.... a brill book binding stitch suggested by a new on line friend Marcy..
Have Fun Everyone
more photos of example of the paper to follow all week

Tuesday 30 December 2008

ZENTANGLES..I'm hooked!!

Started a box of zentangle doodle fillers
Today lies in practice. My life is a work of art in progress and my purpose is worthy of appreciation, attention, and effort.



oooh didn't post yesterday!...not sure how that happened....did a lot of Zentangle research lots of peeps doing variatons on a theme with them.....had thought about doing a set of my own fill in doodles found one of my favourite Art journallers had beaten me too it lol


Also found the 'DARLING' perfume box is exactly the right size to take the cut tiles being 3.75"square...perfect thanx Kylie

Sunday 28 December 2008

ZENTANGLES POST 2 ANOTHER ART JOURNAL PAGE


Played with the Zentangle 3.5" square kept the original and added it to the trash art journal orange page...also copied it 4 times and glued them together and filled in the gaps also added it to the orange pages of the art journal.....will work on the double page some more


also did another double page in the NEWSPAPER journal about 'QUESTIONS'





ZENTANGLES

http://www.zentangle.com/index.php

Thanx Marcy....yet another gem of information......love their concept and their art
Would love to do one of their seminars...wonder if they do anything in the UK?

Questions questions questions.....hehehehe and more questions dont ya just love them?

EDIT: Nothing as yet in UK but mail from Rick saying a trip to UK always welcome hehehehe they have friends in the south so maybe we'll get a seminar sometime soon then...fingers crossed

Saturday 27 December 2008

PAPER QUILT

Preview photo of technique for 1st week BEAUTY FROM THE BEAST ART JOURNAL CHALLENGE 2009
Made from kitchen paper and brown paper painted gilded and stitched

CHALLENGE 2009....BEAUTY FROM THE BEAST ART JOURNALS


Been thinking about this one and peeps are asking questions....add to this blog or start a new one?.....mmm not sure yet...watch this space

Need to make a few lists l think...ideas floating in the head not good, stops the creative flow hehe
1st art journal wll be the coptic stitch and christmas cards...as inspired by a new friend on yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lovethisjournal/...Thanx Marcy for the coptic video link
The LTJ online magazine link is.... http://www.lovethisjournal.com/

After watching the coptic st vid.... l thought it would be a great use of the christmas cards....so that will be the BEAUTY FROM THE BEAST CHALLENGE 1

WEEK 1: CHRISTMAS CARD ART JOURNAL ...coptic stitch
WEEK 1: PAINT TECHNIQUE...kitchen roll paper

Found my folder in the attic just before christmas...... hundreds of sheet of paper and what l did with it......must be about 7/8 yrs old now...won a competition with one of the small quilts

Friday 26 December 2008

GOT TO BE A SCRAPBOOKER...

Had a wonderful IL DIVO boxed set.....and they always say the cardboard boxes are best hehehehe....thanx Phil
FANTASTIC box/photo album/picture frame/and fantastic music too...got to be a scrapbooker who designed this set.....love it and the music too lol
No photos yet but 4 beautiful 'TROLL' beads off my son...thanx James
some fun games of scrabble and lots of food and drink....

thanx for a wonderful Christmas day love you all xx

Thursday 25 December 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE


lots of Pimm's


brand new Scrabble...great fun



All in all a brill day....
with a bit of baa humbug from the boys!!



lots of pressies



lots of colour in the dining room


Hope it was a great day for all....just having 10 mins to myself after a wonderful fun and people filled day..hugs to all

Wednesday 24 December 2008

MEET LETTUCE


The latest addition...he/she has been slowly taking up residence...oh not another cat!!! lol
no idea where he/she comes from collar with a bell so belongs to someone but Lettuce obviously not happy
Becoming less nervous about being a stranger in our family.......have managed to scratch his/her head and he/she doesn't run off now when caught finishing off the boys food or sleeping on the sofa in the kitchen
Love your white whiskers...sooo cute and although nervous does seem to be very friendly


decided on one large bed for the boys as they usually sleep together anyway..not sure what to make Mr T

All of the SS pressie..love it thanx Vicky lol

Mandarin trifle, Nigella's chocolate mousse and some short bread to make today aswell as turning the 'craft room' into a dining room for Christmas day and decorate it
HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE TO ALL


Monday 22 December 2008

GOOD HANDS.....

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the places and moments that take our breath away......AND YESTERDAY SURE DID THAT

Decided to clear the path and the road of leaves and grass (should be done by the management company..l'll be sending them the bill!!)...every year l have to complain and every year we end up doing it ourselves

Yesterdsay was the day BUT.... as we were about fnishing off a shovel full of leaves really did take my breath away chest pain l've never felt before and and l hope never again too.....couldn't take a breath without unbelievable chest pains frightened Phil to death and he did the 999 thing

Two wonderful ( and very dishy) paramedics arrived and plugged me into their machine lol...thank goodness all was ok no idea what l'd done but all readings were A OK...and the ability to breath again returned

GOD DID THAT MAKE ME FEEL OLD....definately need to sort out my health regime now!!!

Paths n road look good though!!!!...cutting the hedge and edging the grass the paths are now almost 2ft wider.....l'm sure the management co. will be pleased with the bill!! lol

Sunday 21 December 2008

OFFENSIVE ANGELS.....BAAAA HUMBUG


Just reading a posting on one of my groups...saying B&Q wont sell angels because its not politically correct to do so!!!

Absolutely baaaaa humbug complete madness!!

Well this is mine and she's perched on top of my tree!!!



Saturday 20 December 2008

RECYCLING CHALLENGE FOR 2009


1st doodled pages...will gesso and cover each 'page' with art journaling quotes and memories information lists and daily thoughts......

INSPIRATION HIT ME YESTERDAY SO MADE A NEW AJ.....from all the paper rubbish l found l was throwing away....

The challenge...HOW MANY OF THESE CAN I MAKE AND FILL IN 2009?

THE RAW STATE.....

Made from packaging......


business envelopes, pamphlets....


out of date paper work


and christmas envelopes

Friday 19 December 2008

MY ALPHABET ART JOURNAL


Had sort of forgotten about this alphabet art journal....only the beginnings but one of my favourite pages

Picture 2: another doodled page in the newspaper art journal

Picture 3: ART IS A WAY OF LIFE WHEN YOU DO WHAT YOU LOVE..... WORK AND PLAY ARE ONE

I GOT A NEW BOBBLE BUSTER!!


Bought one of these when we went to the Lake District in the summer...WONDERFUL piece of gadgetry....wore it out hehe saw them advertised on TV so bought a new one
If you dont have one BUY ONE....absolutely brilliant the before an after results are outstanding......clothes that have pilled are magically transformed and look like new again!!!

Thursday 18 December 2008

KNOW YOURSELF MAYBE

DOODLED COVER OF THE ALTERED BOARD BOOK SO FAR

couldn't fnd my coloured pens last night...only problem with tidying up!!! lol


"I am not who I think I am and
I am not who you think I am,
but I am who I think you think I am."

GOETHE

Wednesday 17 December 2008

BAKEWELL BLUE TARTAN PATTERN.

'Painting is easy, getting it right is the hard bit'.......Danny Byrne

BAKEWELL BLUE TARTAN PATTERN 
US Terms
2 strands of dk, worked as one.
5mm Hook

If your dk is a thicker one then you might need to use a 6mm hook. I have used merino a soft pure wool for my blanket but you can use all acrylic or a wool/acrylic mix.

This New tartan pattern will have the addition of a narrow light and dark stripe to join the blocks. 

It is also a slightly bigger granny square, achieved by using the 4tr, and not 4dc, so you don't need quite so many squares to make a reasonable size blanket.


NEW TARTAN PATTERN
Finger Wrap of 8 wraps
ROUND 1: ch3, [counts as first tr], 3tr, ch3, 4tr, ch3, 4tr, ch3, 4tr, ch3. sl st, to complete.

JOIN AS YOU GO, replace the 2nd ch, in corner as a sl st, to join the the completed previous square.

JOIN First corners in the ch3, 

when adding the second row of squares sl st, into the space between the first 2 squares,


when insetting a square into a corner, sl st, into the middle square


ENDS
Using a finger wrap will ensure you don't have any ends to start with, 
they will all be hidden inside the stitches, so the only ends you will have will the the finish ends, 
Turn to the back of the square, work as one thread.
Thread into a bodkin and sew into the stitch and around the centre circle.

One end to deal with for each square.

COLOUR CHART
Blocks of 6x6 granny squares, make 16 blocks of 36 square as in this picture below and it will measure approx. 44" square. 


Placing each 6x6 square block with the Navy Blue to the centre of each set of 4 blocks, so the lighter pale grey is on the out side of the block
Then the next block will join together with the pale grey together

You can make you blanket as big as you want by adding more blocks, this one below is 36 blocks of 36square

OPTION 1: BLUE TARTAN
6 colours a very light colour [pale grey], a very dark colour [navy]
a contrast colour [soft lime green], 3 graduating shades of a teal blue, dark teal, mid teal blue and a pale aqua/teal.

THIS FORMULA will work with any colour
1: DARK, black, navy, dark green, plum, anything that is very dark, for this I used Navy
2: PALE, white, cream, pale grey, any pale postal shade, for this I used pale grey
3: CONTRAST, depends on what colours you decide to use, with this one i used a soft lime green, 
4-6: 3 gradient shades of one colour, for this Blue tartan i used teal 


You need 2 use 2 strands for each square, i find it best to line them up in the order they will be in the tartan, as you would a graph, in this order...
1: navy
2: pale aqua
3: mid teal
4:teal 
5: soft lime
6: pale grey
THE PICTURE ABOVE shows 10 shade and you can make your tartan with many more shades, but 6 x one round granny squares using US, TREBLES, will make a block that measures approx. 11" so 6 granny squares worked out perfectly for this blanket.

Each square is 2 strands the centre diagonal will be the same colour for each strand, 
but all other squares will be a mix of 2 different colours. I've used red to hi-lite the diagonal square in the same colour for both strands.
TOP ROW
1: navy, navy
2:navy, aqua
3: navy, mid teal
4: navy, teal
5: navy, soft lime
6: navy, pale grey

2ND ROW
1: aqua, navy
2: aqua, aqua
3: aqua, mid teal
4: aqua, teal,
5: aqua, soft lime
6: aqua, pale grey

3RD ROW
1: mid teal, navy
2: mid teal, aqua
3: mid teal, mid teal
4: mid teal, teal
5: mid teal soft lime
6: mid teal, pale grey

4TH ROW
1: teal, navy
2: teal, aqua
3: teal mid teal
4: teal, teal
5: teal, soft lime
6: teal pale grey

5TH ROW
1: soft lime, navy
2: soft lime, aqua
3: soft lime, mid teal
4: soft lime, teal
5: soft lime, soft lime
6: soft lime, pale grey

6TH ROW
1: pale grey, navy
2: pale grey, aqua
3: pale grey, mid teal
4: pale grey, teal
5: pale grey, soft lime
6: pale grey, pale grey

RED/ORAGE TARTAN

Same formula for this one except the contrast yarn is more of a gradient colour, so you get a softer more blended tartan look.
Lay out you colours in the same way and work them as the blue tartan.
I used these colours for my red/orange block
1: cream
2: pale pink
3: apricot
4: orange
5: cerise pink
6: dark purple 
As you can see with the repeated blocks you will b=get a softer more blurred looking tartan
4 blocks of 36 square, joined with the cream to the centre
16 blocks of 36 square, cream to the centre of each 4 blocks

4 blocks of 36 square, joined with the dark purple to the centre

16 blocks of 36 square, dark purple to the centre of each 4 blocks

Even when you have decided on you colours, you get to pick light to the centre or dark to the centre 
OR
You can use all 16 blocks the same way, so each block of 36 square is placed in the same direction...

this picture is with 25 squares per block
4 blocks of 25 squares placed the same way

You can join as you go for the blocks, just continue to repeat the sequence of colour 4 times for each row. 

NEW TARTAN PATTERN ADDITION 
Because this new tartan pattern is still in the one block, repeated photographically you can see a narrow light and dark line where the picture is joined..i liked that addition so decided to ad it to the new tartan pattern.
So this new pattern is going to have an additional block joining stitch,
 giving a narrow light and dark stripe between blocks.

I will add the joining stitch for the blocks as stage 2.
The border and finishing will be stage 3.

OPTION 3: MODERN BRIGHTS
To come in stage 2
Similar formula but with 11 colours, one or two colour only are used in both direction all other colours are different
OPTION 3. MODERN BRIGHTS: 11 colours needed for option 3.
Soft orange, Lime Green, cerise, brown, pale blue, pale Aqua, camel/tan colour, very pale lemon or soft lime, shocking pink, Oatmeal/stone colour, 
light jade green = 11 colours