Happy New Year...

I hope that everyone has a great time, however you choose to celebrate or welcome the New Year in. I pray that, beyond personal wishes and goals, we can work together to lessen the fear and hatred that has blighted this past year and go some way toward that seemingly impossible dream of peace. Love and blessings.

Happy Christmas wishes

Like many other people this year, I'm not posting out Christmas cards and am using the postage costs towards buying gifts which we collect at Church for homeless and disadvantaged people. 

So, I've made an attempt at creating a photoshopped, digital card which is a small triumph for me as I really struggle with digital imaging! 

I really hope that everyone will have a wonderful Christmas and that we might all look forward to a more peaceful and happy new year.

Christmas Canvas

Here is a fun project that there's still plenty of time to make for Christmas. I do like having things other than tree ornaments and tinsel that I can bring out each year to adorn my walls over the festive period.

Even if you are nervous of painting this is a very achievable canvas so I hope you'll give it a try!

The snowman is created using my "Winter Wonderland Snowman" stamp set (PICSA6451) available from stockists of Personal Impressions products. I stamped him onto white card and carefully cut him out. Note that if you don't want to include the word blocks on his body, stick strips of masking tape over them, ink up the stamp then remove the tape before stamping the image. (Clever eh? Not really!)

I placed the cut out image onto an 8" x 8" canvas and drew around the shape and then applied DecoArt Media Line white Gesso over the canvas, leaving the snowman shape clear. I find it best to smooth the gesso into the snowman outline so that there isn't a harsh stop line. I used DecoArt products throughout except for a black Archival ink pad.

I then applied DA Crackle Paint over various areas of the canvas, some thin and some thick - the thicker the application, the heavier the crackling will be. Set aside the canvas to dry and, whatever you do, don't use a heat tool to try and speed up the process or the gesso will bubble and the crackle paint will not work. I usually place mine in a warm spot and keep checking...patience!

Meanwhile, we can turn our attention to the snowman. Using the Translucent White Fluid Acrylic, paint over the snowman's face and body - I use a soft brush that is just damp.There's no need to add water to the paint as it's very fluid as the name suggests. You will still be able to see the stamped details through the paint so you are effectively just colouring in the image - easy! Here are the colours of Media Fluid Acrylics that I used for the whole project...

Continue painting the snowman in your choice of colours. I like to use ball ended tools in various sizes when I add the facial details in black as this gives a nice round shape - you can use the end of a paintbrush too. Remember to paint the edges of the image to cover any white card that may show otherwise.

Once the canvas is dry and has nicely crackled, you can start to paint it...I added a row of simple trees and a sunrise to mine. Just have fun with the colours! I also smoothed Metallic Silver over the crackled areas and immediately removed the paint with a baby wipe which just leaves the silver in the cracks.

I painted on the words and extra snowflakes using Titanium White and a fine brush.

Once you are happy with the background, glue the snowman to the space that you left on the canvas - DA Matte Medium is ideal for this. Make sure it is well stuck, especially around the edges. I like to add some shadow around the image so that it looks grounded...simply blend colour that is slightly darker than the background around the snowman's outline. 

Next, apply a couple of coats of Soft Touch Varnish over the snowman, allowing it to just go over the edge of the cut out image which will nicely seal it to the canvas. Whilst still wet, sprinkle in a little Glamour Dust for extra sparkle!

Use a spatula to apply Snowtex to the base of the canvas to give a really snowy, textured surface for the snowman to stand in. Again, a little Glamour Dust looks very festive. I then mix Snowtex with gesso to let it down a little before using a small brush to add snowy details to his hat and the trees.

I really hope you'll give this canvas a try...using the stamped image separately in this way really does make it much easier!

Back....

Hello strangers! I'm hoping that some of you will have been catching up with me on my Facebook page (which isn't one that you have to join) but apologies for my absence. This has been a combination of being run off my feet, a flagging keyboard that means typing takes about seven times longer than it should  and a very annoying page that keeps dropping down whenever I am trying to post...IQ Options, whatever that is, but I cannot get rid of it and it prevents me from using my page properly.

I really will try to get back on here as much as I can, but please bear with me and do pop over to my FB page if you can!

Christmas hanger

Morning everyone, just a quick post with details about my workshop at Samuel Taylor's in Leeds on Saturday 18th July. We'll be making a card and triple hanger with a Christmassy theme.....

.....something like the ones shown here....

We'll be using my gilded layering technique and a range of lovely products.
If you would like to join in with the creative fun, the cost is £30.00 for the day.You can book directly by clicking the link to Samuel Taylor's workshop page here.

Winging it!

I have another step by step project on the DecoArt Mixed Media blog....this time a winged goblet. I'd had a rather nicely shaped glass sitting on my shelf for a while and knew that I wanted to give it a makeover. It was after watching a Harry Potter film on TV that this idea came to me!

Hope you like it....you can find full instructions and a materials list here.

Colour therapy

After feeling rather glum, I felt in need of some colour therapy and created a very simple journal page last night to cheer myself up a bit! I was given the kick start I needed by Mel who created  these pieces ...they just shouted at me to go bold and bright!

I stuck some book paper into my Moleskine journal before applying white gesso over the two pages. Once   dry I brushed on DecoArt Media Line Fluid Acrylics in Quiacridone Magenta, Cobalt Teal Hue and Diarylide Yellow, just allowing the colours to merge and create whatever fresh shades they would!

I quickly added some Titanium White circles (the old bottle lid trick) and quickly flicked water over the surface before dabbing with a paper towel which removed some of the colour intensity in certain areas. The Fluid Acrylics are waterproof when dry, so you can't hang about!

I added some handwritten words and lines in black and some extra detail around the page edges with my white pen. I use my dictionary pages quite a lot....

So, just a very simple journal spread but one that gave me a much needed lift.

A little different to the page that I created a few days ago, which was full of crackles, more muted shades and allusions to pressure and depression. I feel I may go back to this page yet, but am leaving it for a while to see where it decides to take me!

On Saturday 25th July I'll be teaching a full days workshop at Craft Range in Burnley, where we'll be creating two Mixed Media projects, concentrating on using Deco Art Media Line products. We'll be creating some aged and distressed finishes and here are some sneaky peeks of what we'll be up to....

 ....not giving too much away! Various mediums and paints will be involved though....

.....to create two different projects....

If you fancy coming along, the cost is £25 for the day, including materials and lunch. Please contact the shop directly to book - 2, Boran Court, Network 65 Business Park, Burnley BB11 5TH tel: 01282 833091.