CELEBRATE at A Vintage Journey - shabby vintage frame

Over at AVJ we are asking everyone to share what they are celebrating in their art and craft at the moment. I always think there is so much to celebrate and enjoy in the artistic and creative world we live in.

For me the celebration comes at many different times - often when I have created something I feel very proud of;  when I've devised a new technique that gives a great result;  when I see some of my artwork in print;  when I have finished a workshop and the attendees love what they have done or when I've simply had a fabulous session of creating on my own or with a group of friends.

This piece today was inspired by family. My daughter married about 15 months ago and I'd made quite a few of these shabby hearts for the invitations and for decorations at the reception.

As I am working with only one hand fully functioning (I've dislocated my left shoulder so that arm is in a sling) I thought I would use one to celebrate both family and all things shabby vintage.

Process steps - dry between painty layers
1. Seal a piece of greyboard with white gesso, dabble, dip and dribble some burnt umber paint,  add some raw umber around the edges and also add some splatters,
To break it up drag some random thin layers of gesso using the flat of the palette knife.

2. Tear and adhere some tissue collage papers. Sand the edges and blend in some brown distress ink. Add a little colour to the images. I used cadmium red hue, titanium white and titan buff.

3. Take the small media board and seal with a coat of white gesso. Scrape a layer of white crackle paste using a small piece of credit card type plastic, keeping it flat so it is an uneven layer. When dry dribble, spritz and dry a couple of different pink mixes , dry and repeat with titan buff. Sand and blend brown distress inks round the edges.

4. Take a deep shadowbox frame and adhere metal corners onto it., then stipple some gesso over the insides and outsides. When dry add a little watery pink to the corners then sand and distress the edges like before. Seal with a coat of varnish.

5. Assemble. To finish I painted a little TH star painted with the deeper pinkier colours to bring the heart into the feel of the whole piece. I chose a star because that is the symbol my daughter loves and for me has come to represent my children, their spouses and our grandchildren.

I also lifted the panel to give it quite a bit of height within the frame.

So let's see what you're celebrating in your artwork this month.
Pop over to A Vintage Journey and join the fun.

xxx

DecArt products

Media white gesso, white crackle paste, 

Media fluid acrylics - raw umber, burnt umber, used cadmium red hue, titanium white, titan buff.

Another red photo block

Two photos on this block again, Ken and me on opposite sides.

Process steps

Paint the whole block with desired colour - I mixed pyrrole red with burnt umber.

Mix a new colour and lightly brayer randomly over four squares. I mixed pyrrole red, hansa yellow medium with titan buff and a tiny amount of burnt umber. I left two opposite sides blank to take the photos.

Create another new colour and use a piece of card to dab into the paint and then onto the squares - this creates another random distressed layer. I added some black and white to what was left on my palate.

Randomly stamp some text with a lighter mixed colour - I added more burnt umber and titan buff to what was left on my palette.

Stamp a little texture with black archival.

Dab some neat pyrrole red over very lightly using the piece of card again.
Adhere the photos to the two blank squares and leave them to fully dry.
When dry sand the edges back to the wood, blend brown distress ink over and seal with a coat of soft touch varnish.

xxx

A red photo block

I have an old calendar block that had a Christmas image glued onto the top of it, so I removed it and am making some photo blocks to use as photo birthday months for the family.

Process steps

Paint all the sides with your chosen colour - I mixed pyrrole red, bunt umber and a tiny amount of black.

Dip, drip and dry four of the sides with a couple of different watery washes to create some texture.

Cover one of the sides with stamped tissue paper.

Stamp a large image straight onto another side using black archival ink.

Use a snippet of stamped tissue paper, a stamp and some stencilling on the third side.

Add more random stencilling in two colours and a stamp on the fourth side.

Adhere the photos to the two blank squares and leave them to fully dry.

When dry sand the edges back to the wood, blend brown distress ink over and seal with a coat of soft touch varnish.

I've actually added four photos and got two more blank blocks to decorate and add another 6 photos to cover all the immediate family.

xxx

12 cards of Christmas - #1a and a happy day

Hi All. For some reason the other day I decided I would do 12 different card designs for my Christmas box and for my Packhouse selling space. I have already done quite a few and bagged them up and put them in to sell but I need to go check to see if any have gone.

Anyway I wanted some fairly quick designs to get the production line going - here's the first ones using Tim's fabulous vintage Santa stamp from the yuletide set.

I've recreated the same design in other colour ways and you'll see them over the next week.

For the background I rubbed distress oxides and distress inks over the star embossing folder, spritzed it with water before running it through the big shot.

Santa was stamped and coloured with promarkers and cut out and I mounted him on paper cut with the stitched ovals dies, sanded and splattered with white acrylic paint.

A stamped greeting on a paper mount and some coloured ribbon finish it off.

********************

The weekend before last was my beautiful daughter's wedding so I thought I'd share a few photos. We all drove down to Cornwall where they had found the perfect venue called the Cow Shed, a beautifully rustic farm house with a barn and old outhouses that form the wedding venue.
This is the barn where the wedding ceremony was held. There was a small group of people in attendance, just immediate family and their closest friends.

This the old milking parlour where we had the reception and you can see it was all decorated with pretty lights and beautiful flowers.

 

Maddie and Tom make the most perfect couple and are so happy together.

 

Their bridesmaids were our granddaughters Ella and Maddison ......

 .... and Tom's brother and nephews were the best man and pageboys. They wore tweed and jeans which fitted the rustic theme perfectly.

 

 The tables for the reception were laid out ....

 

.... and decorated beautifully ....

 

.... and we had the most amazing caterers who made the most wonderful steak and chicken pies, with potatoes and vegetables, just what the bride and groom wanted.

 

It was the most relaxed and happy day for everyone ...

  

.. and you can see how happy they are together.

 

This is Maddie with Lincoln, our grandson, who was so good all day and mesmerized by all the lights and loved all the attention.

My son Ben, his wife Bev and our granddaughters Becca, Ella and Maddison together ...

... and Ken and I.
I think you can see how proud and happy we are of all of them.

Thanks for stopping by and taking an interest in my art and my family today.

hugs Brenda xxx

Happy Easter

Just popping in today to wish you all a 

HAPPY EASTER

and to share some photos of my little easter display I like to do each year for the dining room.

I love the images we collect for this time of the year and the gorgeous soft palette of colours.

Don't you love the hare, I think he is just magnificent and did you catch my Craft Stamper make? What about the cute duck with his folded paper hat and Mrs Bird with her fabulous blue hat and basket of eggs.

For Christians like myself this is another very special time of year in the calendar.

A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act. 

Mahatma Gandhi

Enjoy the weekend whatever you have planned.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Travel #2 - pages in my travel journal

I have a background for you today which started life with the intention of me making a card but it ended up being a page in my travel album which I want to get completed from our amazing family holiday to California last month.

Process Steps

1. Paint a thin coat of white gesso over your card, then drip paints (I used raw umber, burnt umber, burnt sienna and titan buff) ....

.... and drag across with plastic.

2. Repeat with the same colours going in the opposite direction.

3. Repeat with white gesso to tone it down.

 4. Next brayer over three colours (I chose phthalo turquoise, paynes grey and titanium white).

5. The dip and dry in separate watery washes of burnt umber and titanium white paint.

6. Cut the card to the size you require and use ground espresso distress ink with a blending tool through Andy Skinner's code breaker stencil and cut the clipboard pieces with the Tim Holtz movers and shapers clipboard die.

7. Add photo and embellishments of your choice, you could make that card if you wanted to.

This photo was taken down Main Street in Garden Grove, I've altered it using Photoshop Elements

It now sits in the background using the flaps from the clipboard die to keep it in place.

I also created a montage of group photos with our friends Joni and Leo ......

...... and finishing the pages with tissue tape and distress inks before sticking the two pieces in.

Here's how they look together.

This is my second inspirational piece for the current challenge at Country View Crafts where the new challenge called 'Travel' has been chosen by the fabulous Jennie. I am so happy to get some more pages filled in my travel journal which can be found Here. I hope you will be able to join us on our travels this month.

hugs Brenda xxx