Not that cranky...

My good friend Paul pointed me to a great blog called cranky birds where some fantastical creations are on show. They are birds that emerge from blobs of paint or ink with the addition of some doodles and linework.I just had to have a go, so, last night I made some inky splodges with Distress stains - I used some of the new colours which arrived last week...Picked Raspberry, Evergreen Bough, Peacock Feathers and Shaded Lilac in this instance. Here are a couple of the sheets that I inked.

 I have to admit that I didn't get much initial inspiration looking at these - they were much less "blobby" than I wanted really. However, after looking at the left hand one for a while, a creature did begin to make itself known to me. Here's my initial pencil sketching in of a shape with a few details added in black ink....

A bit further along with my doodle.I added more linework and some details with Promarkers......

And here's my finished creature with some text added. As I said...not that cranky! The bird looked too cute and cuddly to be angry, so I just chose words that seemed to suit her.

I had been going to submit my drawing to the Cranky Birds site, but she's nowhere near grumpy enough! Please do take a look at the Cranky Birds blog to see some really furious characters and find out more about the creator of this great idea. I've done what I call "Cloud Watching" doodles for many years, but the Cranky Birds are a new one on me. Thanks Paul!

I must also thank Paul for helping me to sort out my problems with blogger - it was so blooming obvious what I was doing wrong but, of course, I was over complicating things. So, back to decent, eye friendly sized text again - yay!

Well, it's almost dark outside, so I am going to take a look over the fields and see if I can spot the two Barn Owls that my neighbour has seen over the last few days. Mmmm, there's a definite bird theme going on here!

Darkroom Door

Hello folks, it's been over a week since I posted and I just do not know where the time went. It must have slipped silently past me while I was concentrating on something else. So, time for a catch up now.

I had an email from the lovely Rachel Grieg late last night to say that she has now posted the first of several projects that I've done for Darkroom Door as their guest designer this month. I was very honoured and delighted to be asked, especially as I'm a huge fan of DD stamps. 

If you're lucky enough to have met Rachel you'll know why she's one of my favourite people. We only meet up once a year at the Stitches trade show, but we always have a lot of fun and she's a hugely talented photographer and designer. If you'd like to take a look at my creations, just check out the Darkroom Door blog. There will be more added later this week.

Meanwhile, nearer to home, I had a lovely couple of days meeting everyone at C J Crafts in Edgeley and at Card Crafts in Lancaster. Lots of familiar faces and, talking of faces, my friend Paul came along to see me and later in the afternoon he decided to do a bit of altered art on one of my photo cards! 

I love it and it's going into my new Smash album as a special memory of the day and my bonkers mate! Coincidentally, Rachel took the photo that PI used for my cards though she might not recognise it now!

Well, I don't have so many pictures of the weekend to share with you as I'd hoped because a/ I didn't have much time to take any, b/someone half hinched some samples (gggrrrrr) and, at Lancaster, just before I packed away I managed to spill water over a pile of my cards and tags completely ruining some of them......my lovingly blended skies ended up with giant bleached out clouds floating over them! Oh well, these things happen. 

Here's a card that seemed to appeal to a lot of folk though

 I used my new Winter Country Scene stamp to create the landscape with some masking and inking to make the evening sky. I used one of the little shrub images in the set to frame the scene - just stamping with Archival Coffee, adding red dots to accentuate the berries and finally dotting Diamond Stickles over to add a touch of sparkle. I placed the hills low down on the card so I'd have room for the main element which was created using the Tim Holtz Bigz Die "Hanging Sign"with one of my new Christmas messages stamped into the centre. I used black bazzil card spritzed with gold Perfect Pearl mist for the hanger and a khaki shade edged with Vintage Photo distress ink for the sign. 

As I was discussing with everyone over the weekend, I (yet again!) forgot about the distress ink coming through the white acrylic paint I added to the sign to represent snow! Even when I'd gone back over it with Enamel Accents in white and then more paint, the Vintage Photo crept through....it's darned good stuff! However, I have come up with a cunning plan to avoid this in future (it's not like I don't know it does this but I always get so involved in what I'm doing that it slips my mind every time) involving....Glue n Seal...what else?! Anyone who's seen my demos recently will know that I can't stop harping on about what a great and very versatile product this is. So, next time I will cut the sign out and then paint Glue n Seal where I want the snowy effect to be. Once dry I can then do my distressing around the edges as normal but I'll now be able to wipe the excess away from the Glue n Sealed areas so there will be no ink to bleed through the white paint - brilliant! (The Glue n Seal that is!).

Oh yes, I used four Idealogy jump rings and some brass coloured chain from my bits and pieces box to connect the hanger and sign. The hanger was attached with 3D foam and this allows the sign to "swing" below it - you could add another message behind the sign of course. I really like this die set...could make a nice pub sign for mens cards!

Monday was spent with Heather, visiting our mum and then having soup for lunch at one of the local garden centres which had their Christmas displays up....

 ....this was in the entrance.....the deer were animated, the lights were twinkling, the snow was glistening and, never mind the kiddiwinks, I was entranced! We both love looking at all the decorations and Heather likes to add a new bauble or two to her tree every year so we did quite a bit of oohing and aahing. I couldn't resist picking up a cuddly polar bear and trying out the Venetian mask though I evidently don't even know where my own eyes are!

Sadly, the polar bear didn't come home with me and, in fact, we both resisted buying anything....for now! 

I hadn't really ever done much decorating at Christmas (as an adult) till last year as there really wasn't room in our little flat for trees and such like. So I absolutely loved putting the festive touches to the house in 2011 and we got a second tree to add to the one that mum and dad used every year. I bought a few fresh decorations for the new tree and they will bring back some very special memories when I hang them this year. I think this is what makes these baubles, little figures and ornaments so treasured by us all - they each have a story to tell when we bring them out every year. I know there are some really old, battered and faded ones in the boxes in the attic, but they will take their place on the tree along with the sparkling new ones, each reminding me of Christmases through the years, from childhood to now.

Well, that was Monday and yesterday was a drawing day. Though at times it felt more like a blank paper day and the eraser was in use more than my pens. Still, I made some progress and the artistic equivalent of writer's block comes and goes. The trick is to press on regardless and work through it.

This morning I was up early to go for a blood test (nothing but water all evening and this morning - miserable!) and arrived five minutes after the start of the walk in session only to find the waiting room absolutely chock full of people. So I had about an hour and a half of hanging around before my two minutes with the nurse! Then back home to get on with doodling again before having this break to post here. 

So, having chatted about my week so far, it's time to feed my two tearaways before getting back to the drawing board for a while longer.

PS I seem to have more or less got to grips with daft new bloggery whatsit, but am still baffled by the text size. Even more so that one paragraph in this post refuses to stay the dark blue I use but keeps reverting to light blue even after several attempts to correct it, and is also, very bizarrely, the text size that I want - even though the whole post is done using the same setting! I give up.

PPS Of course, as soon as I added the PS, the rogue paragraph righted itself colour wise and went back to the miniscule text of the rest of the post just to make me seem like a mad woman.

PPPS!  More of my projects on the Darkroom Door blog now.

And the cat got up & slowly walked away...

What a mixed up day for weather it has been here in Lancashire. Raining this morning which then turned into bright sunshine and a very warm atmosphere and then more rain this afternoon which very quickly became torrential. Does anyone know where I can buy Gopher wood from as I am seriously considering building an ark if it carries on like this! This was the view from the side of the house earlier...well, at least the lawn is looking lush now, but just look at all those puddles!Needless to say that Thomas and Tara have been inside all day, so, once I had packed my case ready for tomorrow's demonstration day in Kendal, I went into the conservatory with pencil and paper where Tara was lounging on one of the chairs. Of course, it's an unwritten cat law that if a human approaches with either a camera or drawing equipment you must lull them into a false sense of security by keeping very, very still....right until the last moment when you must then keep changing position, yawning, cleaning paws and so forth. For the ultimate feline superiority moment, give the human a withering look that says "How dare you imagine that you, a mere human, could capture my beauty...", then simply get up and walk away.
Of course, Tara is well versed in all these things, so she suddenly decided that being a fidget was what she wanted to be. She kept glancing at me, keeping still just long enough for me to start something and eventually she jumped down and sashayed through the door! Still, I got a few scribbles done and, unless you're drawing a cat from a photograph, that's about the best you can hope for. A few images then, with one that does capture her sweetest expression reasonably well. I must thank Paul again for convincing me to do some sketches to share on here. Check Paul's latest creations where he's been drawing on tags. Great idea! Of course, I'm always drawing for work, but these "extra curricular" doodles are just for pleasure. David always liked to see me drawing, so I know he'd be pleased too
I've been cranking the Big Shot handle again this morning and here's another tag that I finished earlier. The photo doesn't show the colours very well, which are more teal and lilac in reality. The "Joy", trees and sript (on the deer) are from Andy Skinner's Christmas stamps and I used a snowflake border embossing die across the tag before blending Distress ink over it. I added white paint and glitter to the trees for an extra festive flourish.I really like the Bigz die with the two deer - they remind me of the old Babycham character! By the way, the tag is on the heather again (just before the downpour) and I should point out that my sister Heather, was not lounging in the garden whilst I draped tags over her yesterday....as she pointed out, having put a capital "H" on the word did make it seem like a possibility!
Well, I can smell the aroma of a perfectly baked potato, so I had better sign off and fill it with tuna and celery before it gets a bit too burned. Hope to see some of you in Kendal tomorrow and hope it stays dry.

A busy couple of days

It's certainly been a busy weekend and still the Olympic closing ceremony to go...which I think I'll enjoy in parts rather than the whole from the sound of things. This post may well continue after the ceremony has finished, in which case I'll let you know what I thought!

Firstly, to prove that I have actually been doing some crafting work, here is a photo, as promised, of a couple of the new samples I've made using Tim's dies and the Big Shot. I'm also using Andy Skinner's Christmas stamps so have incorporated some of them on the right hand card. I love the prancing reindeer, though the way I've positioned the two on one card makes me wonder what the standing one is saying to the one flying over his head - and not a vaulting pole in sight!I created the background by masking off the bottom of the card using torn paper and then stamping the tree three times with the bottom either less or more on the mask to give varying heights - Andy's tree is so well designed that it looks perfectly natural however much you chop off the bottom. Distress inks of course for the sky and then I lightly pencilled round the inside of a roll of tape for my circle before filling it in with a brush and water and dabbing off to give a rather dramatic full moon.The left hand card is created using the negative of the prancy deer and using Distress inks through it onto watercolour paper. It looked very boring though, so I spritzed some water over it and then heat set it once I was happy with the amount of blurring. It does give a rather nice wispy, fantasy look to the image though you may have to enlarge the picture to see the effect properly. I'll have both of these cards, plus lots more of course, when I'm at The Paper Warehouse in Kendal next Saturday 18th so if you're coming along do say hello and take a peek.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of my friend Paul's company as he came to visit me for the day. We had a wander, a bite or two to eat and a lot of conversation which was just what the Doctor ordered. Paul brought a couple of his journals to show me - you can see some of his drawings, sketches and journal pages on his blog where you'll see that he's been dipping into an EDM challenge (Every Day Matters) that has been a good starting point for inspiration. You can also find the link on Paul's blog. I think I may just join in on an occasional basis...it would be quite good to be able to share some drawings rather than keeping them top secret as I normally do! Speaking of which, I am working on new designs so there is more work going on than it may look like reading my posts!
So, after the lovely sociable Saturday, today began with my trip to Church where another Christening was part of the weekly service. Really enjoyable and the Vicar is a dab hand at pouring lots of water over babies heads without making them cry. He can't resist picking them up to introduce them to the entire congregation - very sweet really!
After a brunch in the village cafe I had a brisk walk home and got changed into my outdoor, tatty clothes to get cracking on that darned wall. I'd had to buy two more bags of concrete as I ran out due to that well meaning neighbour...ggrr! It's turned into a pain of a job as the bricks were splitting and the jumble of rubble refused to make any kind of anything that looked half like a wall. Still, I persevered, chopped some bricks into the right odd sizes and managed to rebuild (in a fashion!) a couple of feet using the last of the first bag of concrete just as it started to rain. As you can see, I had to do a quick cover up job.... ...looks like a proper building site!
I came in and did some more drawing and took a few photos and then the sun came bursting forth again, so out I went to carry on rebuilding. Unfortunately, I still don't have enough concrete - it doesn't go far I must say! So, I have done as much as I can and, although I can just picture David's expression and hear him saying "you're doing it all wrong!", I'm pretty chuffed at how it's going. I will post a photo when it's done, but let's just say that I don't think I'll be taking up bricklaying on a professional basis anytime soon! The whole thing will probably collapse the minute Thomas walks along it!
The last treat of the day came as I was just putting my tools away and heard an almighty roar in the sky. I'd forgotten that the Red Arrows were flying over Blackpool today so I had a grandstand view from the lane. They really are incredible.
Well, I had a pause for dinner and it's still just the lead up to the closing ceremony, so I'm going to grab a coffee, park myself on the sofa and put my feet and the volume up. It's been a terrific Olympics after a few little setbacks and I think it's taken most of us by surprise how well it's all come together - I admit to having been one of the cynical ones. I was cheering for Mo Farah last night especially knowing that David admired him so much and would have been cheering along as well. It's certainly been an emotional event one way and another and, of course, it's not just about the actual sport but the whole coming together of so many people in such a positive and peaceful way. If only that spirit could be kept going after the games (including next week's Paralympics) are over.

Candy winner & a step by step

Thank you to everyone who left a comment since I posted my Blog Candy. I've used a random number generator to pick someone from 1 - 22, simply going from top to bottom of the comments. The number that came up was 15 which corresponds to Redanne. Well done! Please send me your details and I'll post out your DD kits as soon as possible. I'll organise another Candy soon, so please do pop by again for another chance.

1 Random Numbers 15 Specs: This table of 1 random numbers was produced according to the following specifications: Numbers were randomly selected from within the range of 1 to 22. Duplicate numbers were not allowed. This table was generated on 3/1/2012.

If any of you are coming to the Leigh show this coming weekend, do come and see me at The Stamp Hut stand. I'm concentrating on Gorjuss stamps as well as a few of my Build a Scene sets along with Ranger inks. I've been busy doing lots of colouring this week and here are a few more of the cards that I'll have with me at the show....... .......I find the characters very soulful as I said in my previous post, partly because of the lack of mouths and noses. I do know that some people find that a little weird, or even creepy, but it's very easy to add simple features and look how it totally changes the feel of one of the characters and makes her look cute rather than thoughtful..... ......all you need is a fine black pen! Thank you to Paul for the link to my blog. Paul said that he had bought some Ranger Glue n Seal after seeing me at Stitches...all he needed was to remember what I did with it! I know Paul was joking, but I thought I'd post a step by step in case anyone else would like to try this technique which Joanne and I came up with together when she came over to help me with my show samples. So, here goes!
Firstly, stamp your chosen image onto decent quality cardstock and colour with your chosen medium...Distress inks, water based pens, Promarkers etc...... Now heat the image to make sure that all the ink is fully dry and set.... If you don't heat set the image you may find that the colours will run during the next stage. Using a fine brush, carefully coat the whole image with Glue n Seal. Be sure to cover every bit of the image and try not to go outside the lines. I recommend a fairly stiff, but finely pointed brush for this as the Glue n Seal is quite thick and you want to achieve as smooth a finish as you can......... allow to dry, or, if you're as impatient as I am, heat set! One of the great things about Glue n Seal is that a thin layer won't be affected by heat. If you use the heat tool, allow the image to cool down as, when warm, the surface will feel slightly tacky to the touch. Now, blend Distress ink over the cardstock. No need to skirt around the image - that's what the Glue n Seal was for!.... ......Take a darker shade of Distress ink and, starting on top of the image, blend outwards to give a halo, or shadow effect, and blend in any other colours that you wish..... .....now take a paper towel and rub over the image to remove excess ink and reveal the original colours. If you want the colours to really pop, use a baby wipe, being careful not to let it go onto the background as Distress inks will react to the moisture and will lighten. I find just using a corner of the wipe to add a little moisture and then wiping over with dry paper towel works best..... ....and here's the finished result. No more fiddly cutting out to stick to a dark background, or trying to colour around an image! The tags that I did for Stitches were mostly made using this technique...... I really hope you find the technique useful and will give it a try. At Stitches I was using Glue n Seal Gloss, but I have now used the matte version which also works.
Let me know what you think and Redanne, don't forget to send me your details!

What a wonderful weekend

I regard myself as being very fortunate in that I love my work, and a large part of the enjoyment it brings comes from meeting, and getting to know, so many warm and wonderful people at demonstrations, workshops and shows. This weekend was a case in point. I was demonstrating at Topaz Crafts alongside the very talented Jo, Gill, Mary, Jane, Brenda and Lindsay. Here is a bad photo of a stunning card, made by Mary, using stencil paste which she has cleverly glittered so that the sky shades through blue to white. The photo doesn't do it justice as the shaded glitter looked just gorgeous. These sumptuous, glowing cards were made by Jane and Gill, and Gill was also making some of Heather's beaded dragonflies - her book is on the left of the picture.And here are some of the cards which Jo was making on Saturday, building up "flowerscapes" to create these fantastic scenes. Again, my picture doesn't do them justice!Here are some pieces that I was making using the Paint Dabbers Acetate Transparency technique. It's really simple, but the effects can be gorgeous. Simply stamp your chosen image onto acetate - if using Black Archival ink you'll need to heat set it to stop it from smudging, so heat resistant acetate is preferable. Once the image is set begin applying paint over the image on the inked side. You can't be too pernickety about where the colours go as you need to work fairly fast here so that the paint stays wet for the next stage. Just dab the colours on, quite thickly, in the general areas that you want them. Now take a piece of white card and lay it on top of the painted acetate. Press it down and flip it over to see the coloured image. I like to use a brayer roller to smooth over the acetate to ensure that it sticks to the card. Simply leave it to set properly and the paint will have acted like a glue, adhering the card and acetate together. You can cut the image out, use as a basis for an ATC etc. I love this technique as you look through the acetate to the paint, so it has a very glassy appearance. Do give it a try if you haven't already.Here's my table looking less cluttered than it actually was! Nice cup of fruit tea there too! I stayed with Rena and Stephen (Amy's mum and dad) on Saturday night and they are two of the most special people that we have got to know in a long time. Over the two days so many people came along to pick up tips and techniques and we shared lots of smiles and laughter - great fun! Sheila came on both days and left me speechless (and David will tell you that this doesn't happen very often!!!) by bringing me a whole set of goodies for my birthday - along with some relaxing bathing treats she had made me a card, ATC's and three amazing book pages as you can see below. Aren't they gorgeous? Btw, the Alice ATC was from Sheila on Sunday as a bribe to go through Grungepaper flower making with her! (Not that I needed bribing I hasten to add!). So, along with all the generosity last week I felt very fortunate indeed!Next you can see the other ATC's which I received - clockwise from the top left they are by Elaine, Joanne, Sheila and Chris. Elaine had only just begun making ATC's so I got one of her first two - great fun isn't it? Joanne and Sheila's ATC's both had the same sentiment which was a weird coincidence. Chris has just decided to join in Heather's swaps, so I feel a bit guilty in choosing her beach hut card now, as Heather posted her latest swap theme is "Beside the Seaside", and I'm sure this one would have been perfect! So, thank you to all of you, including Paul, who I got several big hugs from! (they are always welcome!) It made for a special couple of days.

We have added two new workshop dates of Saturday 18th September, 1pm - 4pm "Matchbox Shrines" - this workshop will include Ranger techniques such as beeswaxing, distressing, gesso etc and we'll be creating a piece to hang on the wall.

On Saturday 23rd October, 1pm-4pm (and by request!) the class will be "Christmas Cute & Clever" featuring a range of my whimsical stamp designs. We'll be making cute cards with some interesting techniques thrown in!

Both of these workshops cost £20 - ring Topaz on 01254 356501 if you'd like to book. If you are interested, I am also hoping to run two extra workshops in the mornings of both of the above dates. The first being a repeat of the Ranger Mirror class, and the second being a repeat of the Fairy Doors class, as I have been asked specifically for these. Again, please call Topaz to enquire about these extra workshops. Should be fun!

What else has been happening? Well, many of you will already know, from reading my sister's blog, that my brother in law was attacked on Saturday afternoon whilst simply going to his local corner shop. Thank you for all the concern you have shown - Heather and Graham were both badly shaken by the incident, needless to say, but thankfully the yobs concerned were caught and are being prosecuted. I won't say what I would like to do to them. The week before that our mum had a very nasty fall which left her looking like something from a Crimewatch report, with her face all purple and swollen. Miraculously, she didn't break any bones and is as cheerful as ever - David calls her the "comeback kid"! I'm hoping that we have had our share of such incidents for the moment, fingers crossed.

I'll be adding new demonstration dates shortly, but this coming Saturday I will be at Jarrold's Department store in Norwich city centre. I'll be featuring Paint Dabbers, Alcohol inks, Distress inks, clear stamps and various "acoutrements", so hope to see you there if you live nearby. Well, this post has taken me ages, so I had better sign off for now. Lindsay

PS in case you miss the post below this one - my Blog Candy is now closed, and was won by MissD.