Artist Trading Blocks

A couple of weeks ago I was supposed to demo and teach at the Craft Barn Extravaganza sadly due to debilitating back problems I was unable to do so. I have apologised to Sandy but would like to do so again and to apologise to all of you who booked on my class and to thank Rachel for stepping in and taking my class for me. The medication has started to work and I am feeling a lot better.

Eileen Hull designs scoreboard dies for Sizzix. Her 'Artist Trading Block' dies are proving to be very popular and I wanted to show you my examples to demonstrate how versatile they can be. The wonderful paper artist Su Blackwell inspired me and this led me to create the butterfly block whilst my collage by numbers artwork was the basis of my collage box.

I had a lot of fun creating these and I hope you like them.

Lina x

Mixed Media Hearts

I recently taught a mixed media class at the Craft Barn. I want to thank the eight lovely ladies who spent the day with me playing and creating art, they all produced beautiful canvases. As promised here are the photos of my canvas and card.  Hope to see you all again soon.

Lina x

Dress Shoes

I am guilty for neglecting my blog and I can't offer an excuse other than I have been making the most of the amazing weather that we have had this summer.  However in the last couple of weeks the nights have been drawing in and as the children have started a new school year the summer is well and truly over.

Last November my post of my baby shoes proved to be very popular so I thought that I would show you these girlie shoes that I designed and made at the same time.

Lina x

The Psychedelic 60's

I have got some amazing news! The great British Sixties Society Photographer Philip Townsend and good friend of my husband has kindly given me permission to use any of his images in my artwork. Wow!

I created this psychedelic background with shaving foam. If you haven't tried this technique you must give it a go.

I used a plastic food container and I lined it with plastic wrap (cling film). The reason that I did this is that it is easier to remove the foam from the tray and throw it away leaving it clean and ready to be used again.

I sprayed some inexpensive shaving foam into the tray. You need around 1" depth. I then selected two ink colours. You can use Dylusions or Ranger Colourwash sprays.  I sprayed a few squirts of ink onto the foam and then used a wooden skewer to draw some patterns. Then I laid a piece of cardstock onto the foam and pressed lightly making sure that that there was complete contact.  I removed the cardstock and scraped off the foam with a plastic ruler (you can use thick card), wiped off any excess with kitchen paper. It's that simple but so effective.

When dry I transferred the image onto the card. I chose this image from one of Philip's fashion shoots from 1964. Please visit his website for a trip back in time.

Lina x

Watercolour Week At The Craft Barn

 

It's Watercolour Week at the Craft Barn and I was delighted to be asked to be a guest designer for a couple of weeks.

I demoed at the Extravaganza at the beginning of June. What a wonderful weekend, it was lovely to catch up with the other demonstrators, see old friends and meet new people. Thank you to all of you who came and sat and watched me play and to the staff who worked incredibly hard making sure that we were all looked after.

I created these artworks using the Imagination Craft Decoupage stamps. Please pop over to the Craft Barn Blog where there is a step by step tutorial. 

Have a great day and thank you as always for your lovely comments which are always greatly appreciated.

Lina x

Mixed Media Profile

I haven't posted anything on my blog for a while as my mum and dad have been in hospital. Life has a way of reminding you of what is truly important by putting things into perspective. I'm blessed and thankful that I still have my parents with me.

A couple of friends came over recently and we worked on drawing profiles. This is the result of my efforts. I still keep looking at it thinking do I add words or more stamping? It's always knowing when to stop. Having said that I may look at it in a couple of weeks time and decide to carry on.

To create this artwork I used multi medium matte to stick down Tim Holtz's Melange tissue wrap onto a 12x12 canvas board. I then painted a thin layer of gesso over the surface and wiped off any excess with a baby wipe and dried this with a heat tool. Then I used Paper Artsy's Fresco translucent paints in claret and south pacific to add colour and still be able to see the tissue. I drew the profile onto the canvas and painted the whole image with white acrylic paint. This gave me a base to work with. I drew her features and painted her with acrylics.The scarf was cut from patterned paper and the butterfly was cut from a Tim Holtz's die using grunge board to give it flexibilty. I then covered this with patterned paper and embellished it with a few pearls. I put moulding paste through a honeycomb stencil to add texture and rubbed over this once it was dry with acrylic paint. I finshed the artwork by randomly stamping over the surface using archival inks and Stampers Anonymous stamps.

Phew! Hope that this all makes sense.

Lina x

Shabby Chic

 

This is my very late entry for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge. This week the theme is 'Shabby Chic '. I created this artwork by covering a large tag with Prima Botanical papers and aging the edges with frayed burlap and gathered twigs distress inks. I mounted this onto a piece of board which I also covered with patterned paper. I then cut out smaller tags using my Cricut machine and aged them in the same way. The embellishments used on the tags are charity shop finds in the form of broken jewellery pieces. It's surprising what you can find in charity shops, I buy old necklaces and bracelets and then keep all the pieces in jars. I use them to make key rings or as in this case add to my artworks. I also used a Tim Holtz ideology type charm, dies, and stamps not forgetting an old postage stamp and a piece of old lace. I was pleased at how this turned out, I think it has a prettiness about it as well as a vintage feel.

Lina x