ALTERED ART AND A LOAD OF TAT

Gingersnaps.....

2012-01-29T09:59:00.001Z

My second tutorial is now on the Gingersnaps blog - if you are feeling a bit rusty in the arty sense - hop over there and take a look

If you have a go, please leave me a comment either here or on GS and I can hop over to your blog to take a look

Happy Rusting

Dogs Dinner to Gourmet Meal..

2012-01-25T20:24:00.001Z

In my last posting I mentioned the online course that I was doing and I was rather unhappy with the result I had with one lesson - not one to screw anything up I decided it may be OK if I cut it up and used it on smaller projects.

Here is the Dogs Dinner

and here it is cut up, made into tags and ready for Hels' Birthday Sunday Stamper Challenge which was 'Eyes'

The flowers were also cut from the same background - pretty happy with them now, not sure though what I will do with them.... what do people do with all the tags they make? I could add them to a journal page or make them into a greetings card, but TBH I dont 'get' tags (sorry Mr Holtz)

Talking of a Dogs Dinner - I am now no:1 Mum as far as Marzie is concerned, just baked her some Liver biscuits and you should see her tail wag!!

Oooohhh Happy Bloggy Birthday.....

2012-01-22T15:24:00.000Z

It seems I share my 'birthday' with Hels Sunday Stamper Challenge - and it was only whilst I was checking my blog roll this morning and I read Hels posting that it reminded me that it was my blog birthday sometime in January - Ooops it is today and it would have been nice to have had something arty to blog about - but I haven't - mojo has gone abit awol of late, plus it seems that everytime I book myself a few hours in the craft room something else happens or needs immediate attention. I am rather behind on the Strathmore online class as well, so I decided thats what I would do today - sat down to watch the video but I am sorry to say that last weeks class didn't inspire me - I had a little go today but nothing I am prepared to share, unless you will allow me to fib and say it was done by Marzie the dog, whilst she has all four paws tied together and eating her lunch - cos it does look like a Dogs dinner - in fact her dinner looks alot more appetising!
So my 4th Birthday is passing by without celebration - maybe tomorrow when the rather small craftroom/office is not filled with husbands trying to do work and small boys supposedly doing homework but sulking because mums presence prevents him from sneaking onto some online game or iplayer and teenage daughters hilarity at her Mums frustrated bad mood, I will get some mojo back and join in Hels' Birthday challenge!

I will just leave you with a sneak peak of my next tutorial with GingersnapCreations
should be up on the site before the end of the month, so keep popping over to their fabulous site!

Can you guess what it is yet??

PS if My Darling Daughter happens to spread the nasty rumour that's in the midst of her mums bad mood she washed her paint brush out in her cup of tea, this is obviously not true...... not true in the slightest .........................................

The Ghosts are out

2012-01-10T16:48:00.000Z

My Tutorial for Gingersnaps is now up on the Gingersnap Creations Site - please take a trip over there to have a look, I hope you enjoy, If you have a go at this technique please send me a link to your blog so I can take a peek x

Just a short post, I'm busy working on the next project

Thank You

The Story Continues

2012-01-07T23:02:00.001Z

Its been a while since I have added a page to my ‘Octopode Story Book’ but I hadn’t forgotten about it – I just couldn’t find my desk over the Christmas period and when I finally did I messed it all up again getting involved in other projects.
I was going to tidy up my desk today, which was covered with the detritus following the first part of the online course I started last week (thank you to everyone who commented on my last post, esp the honest constructive criticism – much appreciated x) and my project for the Gingersnaps tutorial – which is now finished and written up and awaiting publishing next weekend – OMG I stunned myself by being so organised
.
Before I tidied up – I thought I would save tidying and then making a mess again by getting out my storybook and completing a page amongst the mess
Here it is… changed the words I planned to use because Lilys digi image had such a surprised look on her face …

There are few decent white pens on the market (that I have found anyway!) The course I am doing is being run by Traci Bautista and she uses a white correction pen with a fine tip – absolutely brilliant and only about £3!
If you haven’t read the whole storybook and don’t know what on earth it’s all about– click on the tab at the top of my blog and you can see all the pages (so far) in order

Before I go here are a couple of sneak peeks of the Gingersnap tutorial – don’t forget to hop over next weekend and check it out

Can you guess what it is yet???

Things evolve......

2012-01-03T19:54:00.000Z

In a moment of pre christmas 'no mojo' panic I signed up to an online course with Traci Bautista

Doodles Unleashed - Mixed Media Techniques

It started on the 1st of January and I eagerly watched the video that night, Traci makes it all look so easy!

Well here is my first effort from week one - not sure if I like it or not, not sure if it is over worked or not worked enough? But hey its all a learning process thats what its all about.

This is how it started out.. Traci sprayed through stencils and masks with acrylic paints in a spray bottle, I didnt have any spray bottles so used colourwash sprays.. ummmmm BIG mistake because they arent colourfast are they! So when I went to add the next layer of Acrylic paint, it just moved the colour around and muddied up the colours

Wasnt going to waste the first sheet of my precious 300gsm watercolour paper, so had to think of something.

So I gave the whole thing a rough layer of clear gesso.. which as you can see has changed the whole look of the thing

Once dry, I went over it again with some masks and sponged on the acrylic paint - rescued from the bin

As you can see from the first (but final) picture I played alot more with it, following the video demo, all great fun and very therapeutic - the course is free and I think it is still open to subscribe, so why not have a go!

http://www.strathmoreartist.com/workshop-reg.html

Kids back to school tomorrow - bittersweet, I will miss them (and the lay-ins) but bonus I will have more time to play, and afterall I have a tutorial to work on!

What a Great Start to 2012....

2012-01-01T19:49:00.000Z

The begining of a New Year - and what a better start to the year than to be asked to be the monthy Muse with GingerSnap Creations - Right out of the blue I was asked if I would like to be a Muse... well there is only one answer to that... A Great BIG YES PLEASE!

I am looking forward to sharing a couple of tutorials with you all on their blog, later this month - but in the meantime why not pop over there and see what exciting stuff they get up to - and maybe join in!

Also the 1st of January I am starting an online Mixed Media course - 2012 is going to be a fabulously creative year, I can feel it in me bones!

Wishing you all a Very Happy Creative Year

Nicks

xxx

Happy Christmas to you all

2011-12-17T23:15:00.000Z

Again I will start this post by saying, I havent posted for ages...

I haven't posted for ages. I could give you a list of explanations/excuses,

but you will have heard them all before, so I won't.

My only crafty contribution to Christmas 2011 are these Christmas Tree's made from old magazines. Mrs Bessie made one and I thought they were so cool I had to have a go. I am not a lover of Christmas Decorations and would be quite happy with just a tree, I have a positive hatred for tinsel, I hate it more than peel offs and devils dandruff aka flowersoft. My husband however just LOVES everything tacky where Chrimbo Decs are concerned and this is a bone of contention each year, but we have finally compromised and Matt is becoming the new Kirsty Allsop.... We have nice twiggy garland type things hanging from every possible place you can hang things from and he bought about a zillion glass vases and filled them with various things like nuts, fruits, lights, sweets, baubles, candles, fir cones, holly etc.. you get the drift - and my magazine trees adorn the hall table - looking all very festive and only one bit of tinsel is in sight (fair is fair he didn't ask for the foil garland things to be pinned to the ceiling)

Ever since we got married we have bought one tree decoration a year, two since both children have been born... we try to find something that is significant to that year

This years tree decoration is possibly my favourite

Just like my favourite dog!

If you would like to have a go at making a magazine tree, Mrs Bessie first got the idea from

http://leemills.typepad.com/just_like_martha/2008/11/a-recycled-christmas-tree-by-lilly.html

make sure you take a look at the rest of her blog, its fab!

Happy Christmas to you All and a Happy Creative New Year xx

Flagging Mojo

2011-11-27T13:00:00.000Z

I am still alive I promise, Just been a bit of a drought on the old mojo/creative bit of my life recently. hopefully its just because I have just been caught up in being real proper grown up daughter, Christmas and doing things like completely emptying the loft of 23 years of c***. Plus being a woman with a woman's brain doesn't help. My lovely husband is working very hard at the moment and I do the whole guilt thing about 'faffing about with paints and inks' whilst he is out at work and when he is home there are always other things to do. Stupid thing is he loves to see me creating something and hates it when I have a dry period and cant understand my guilt feelings, he says he will never understand women, and to be honest I dont blame him!

Anyway, I decided today that I really wanted to make a card for a lovely crafty friend of mine who's birthday it is this week, and whilst I was in a 'waiting for it to dry' stage I finished off a page for 'the' book that I started a few weeks ago. I really liked the background so didn't want to cover it up with too much stuff, plus the page is rather textured, which makes it difficult to stamp onto, so I went with the school blackboard. A bit ironic because it was school that quashed any idea that I was artistic because I couldn't draw and that is what this book is all about, interestingly I was talking to my DD's art teacher at her options evening and she said she had heard the same thing from parents so many times - fortunately these days kids are encouraged to create is very many other ways.

Right... off to see if the glue has dried!

Its a Dog's life,,,,,,

2011-11-03T09:02:00.002Z

Art isn't just for humans, as I found out when i left a project on my desk, whislt waiting for some Gesso to dry. I was trying to create a nice textured background by applying gesso through a mask... Marzie obviously thought it wasnt textured enough and that it needed a few paw marks on it - she then decided that out floors needed a few gesso pawprints on it - that is how we realised we had a puppy artist in the house!! FYI its easier to clean gesso off wooden floors than it is dog fur/paws.......

Dog art!!

I rather like the fact that our family pet has had a paw in helping with 'the book'

I rather like the fact that our family pet has had a paw in helping with 'the book'

After the gesso had dried, I coloured it using Brusho and Colourwash sprays and dribbled on some gold metallic alcohol inks. I was very very happy with the result and didn't really want to cover it up with images plus since it is quite textured it would be tricky to adhere paper images or stamp directly onto it, so I did consider leaving it and just adding text. When I want to stamp onto altered art projects I often stamp onto white tissue paper and use PVA to stick the image onto the project - the PVA makes the tissue paper seem to disappear. However I wanted to use some digi images on this page. I experimented by taping some tissue to a piece of very thin card and putting this through the printer.... works a treat!! mmmmmmm I can see loads of possibilites using this technique! For someone who was rather anti Digi stamps, I have done a complete U-turn!!

I heard the quote I have used on this page on a podcast I downloaded about journalling - sorry I cant remember the name of the person so I cant credit it - but it hit a chord with me and i think it applies to art not just journalling - you dont have to fill the whole page, just make your mark!

I haven't joined in with TOFFC this week as I couldn't really fit in the Halloween theme, but I thought I would share with you my son's Halloween pumpkin....

Our House... in the middle of our street

2011-10-25T12:34:00.000+01:00

You can't beat a Madness song!

and the lyrics fit in well with my young girl...

I remember way back then when everything was true

And we would have such a good time

Such a happy time, such a fine time

And I remember how we'd play, simply waste the day away

We'd say nothing would come between us two dreamers

On this page, I used some crafty notions spray paints that I received for a DT project a while ago, stunning colours but unfortunately the spray bottle was useless and didn't spray beyond one or two uses. So they have sat on my shelf unused which was a shame. So for this project I poured a little onto a palette and applied them using a baby wipe (again a Kate Crane tip!)

I am entering this into TOFF challenge which was 'Houses' - along the path between the two houses it reads

Follow your own path for all art is valid.

Before I go..

Q. what is the first sign of Madness?

A. Suggs walking up your driveway...

ha ha always makes me laugh, but then I am easily pleased...

So Create...

2011-10-23T14:41:00.001+01:00

Create like there is no tomorrow, Create as though there are no Critics....

I have been watching Kate Cranes' DVD's again for the umpteenth time, I just love her work and this book is heavily influenced by her style, I love the way she uses circles alot in her work, I love circles too, but I tried hard in this page to give the circles a miss - and it was hard! Trying to develop a Nicks style rather than a Katesque style

So now its time to ......

2011-10-22T19:35:00.000+01:00

and so it continues, gawd at this rate I am in severe danger of actually finishing a project! How many unfinished projects have you got on the go (or not actually on the go but hidden away) ?

For this page I downloaded yet more of Lily's images - this time the Artist collection - here is Andy Warhol having his 15 minutes of fame - have you had yours yet??

What did the Angel say?

2011-10-17T10:03:00.001+01:00

Thank you everybody who left kind and encouraging comments on my last few posts about the 'book'

Here is the next chapter. I am always inspired by Paula aka Journal Artista, and this is a fab technique that she has YouTubed

Using Gesso and Colourwash which gives a ghosting effect, I have used it before using a black background like Paula does in her video, that is where is comes into its own, the effect I have here is different but I like it all the same.

I am always looking for different ways to add text to my journals but often go back to using random letters cut from Newspapers and Magazines

The great thing about jouranlling and such like is that you can spend as little or as much time on it as you like, its your work and there are no rules - most of my pages take a day or two but I only do a few minutes at a time and keep coming back to it, or sometimes a whole page takes hours or just a few minutes - its how you feel at the time and how much time you have. No excuse not to do Art!

Thank you for looking - if you are new here you can catch up on the whole book by clicking on the tab at the top of my blog

Have a fabulous day xx

Page after Page...

2011-10-14T14:24:00.000+01:00

I have spent any spare time I have had since the weekend (which isn't a lot admittedly) playing around with a few more pages for the 'storybook' - Lily did give a sneaky peek of this week's TOFFC and as it fitted in well with the next page I wanted to do I cheated and did it last weekend, then the next page fitted with Hels Sunday Stamper, but of course I couldn't blog any of the pages until today (day of the Friday Challenge) - so here are the next four pages in order. You can see the whole book (as it is so far) in order if you click on the tab/page at the top of my blog

entry for TOFFC - Black and Orange

entry for Hels Sunday Stamper Challenge - Orange and Blue, I am not happy with this page, maybe its just the page but it may also be the colours - way out of my pleasure zone - but hey, to fit in with the ethos of the 'book' it had to stay

Another reason I love these digi stamps... you can alter the size!

I used a rubber stamp for this page, it was actually a bit small for this page hence the reason my angel is sitting in his rightful place on a cloud

Thank you for looking - next installment coming soon !

WOYWWAWOL

2011-10-12T06:12:00.000+01:00

Hanging my head in shame, I have been Absent Without Leave for weeks! Life has been akward and without mojo, but the mojo has returned at long last..

Here is my desk which never really looks any different - its either tidy (ish) or a complete mess, today it has a WIP in the guise of a page in my Octopode Story book - obviously it has a long way to go yet!

On the floor you may spy a bit of tat awaiting some kind of transformation to take place to it - its a bit from an old TV my long suffering OH was dismantling in order to use it in a play he is directing ATM.

Well thats about it for today, I promise not to go missing again - off to Fat Club this morning and then I will be back to have a nosey around some other desks

Have a good WOYWW!

Music To My Ears......

2011-10-07T17:49:00.000+01:00

It's Friday, and what does Friday mean??

It means its time for The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge!

This week it is 'Music' so I have done another page to my storybook, every time Lily sets a challenge I have to tweak it a bit, the synopsis is still on track.

Good Old Lily was ultra efficient today when she got back from her hols and sent the images I had ordered whilst she was away, seemingly as soon she walked through the door, so I was able get going as soon as DS had been collected from school - by the time DD and DH were home, the music theme seemed more and more fitting as there appeared to be a three way battle on who could have their music on loudest - ACDC in one room, Cheryl Cole in another and Dizzy Gillespie in the third... I gave up with trying to listen to James Morrison on my ipod!

The 'ladybird' digi has been changed a bit, I chopped off her head and put back at an angle, and I cut off her arms and replaced them, covering her ears, to make it fit in with the story better.

Roll on next Friday!!

PS Lily is offering everyone a freebie on her blog - so hop over there and pick it up

One Extreme To The Other!!!!

2011-10-03T19:40:00.001+01:00

After weeks of no mojo and therefore no creating and therefore no blogging, this is my second blog post of the day.... So I think this is a valid entry for Hels' Sunday Stamper Challenge

I have done a couple of pages for my Ocotpode Story Book, you will have to work backwards through my blog to read the whole 'story' but when its finished I will do a post with them all in order.

I have read alot recently about people stealing Digi Images, this is an abhorrent thing to do, it is actually stealing and affects people's livelihood. This also includes sharing images with your friends, images that you have legitimately bought yourself, even if it is a best mate. Having said that, when I went down to see Mrs Bessie a week ago, she asked me to show her how to buy, download and use Lily's Digi Stamps. This I did, and then I coloured a couple we printed off using my new Promarkers I had bought that day at Ally Pally and brought the images home to use myself, this would be naughty but since I have now bought the self same images from Lily's Etsy shop I think its OK. I hope no-one ever steals the lovely Lily's lovely images, she is such an entrepreneur she deserves better treatment than that - Go buy them!

I have been a bit of a stranger to The Octopodes Factory's Friday Challenge recently, but I am back on track, This weeks challenge is MEN, who said you cant have a male Angel??

I had a play with some of my AP purchase on this one. I was a bit confused by the new Picket Fence (white to you) Distress Stain. Jennie AKA The Artistic Stamper gave me a quick demo but I can't really remember what she said (note to self pay attention to Jennie) but I had a play today (I hear there is a video by Sir Tim, but I like to have a play myself and then look to see how it should be done)

I did some zigzags on the white background and then covered the whole page in Barn Door Distress Stain, as you can see it reacts differently. A rather naive play but it has great possibilities. I also had a play with a new 'Scribble' mask I bought from LBcrafts - going to be one of my favourites I think!!

UPDATE... I have added a 'page' so you can see the book pages in order,
click on the link at the top of the blog if you would like to take a look xx

September came and went...

2011-10-03T11:41:00.002+01:00

and during the month i was extremely slack in doing my journal page - so slack in fact, although I had started the background way back in August, it wasn't until towards the end of the month I finished it but there was no sign of any daily entries. I really didn't want to fall even before I got to the last hurdle of Kate's calendar journal challenge, so I decided to just do a few 'highlights' of the month. Not that September had many highlights but that's another story!

So here it is in its very humble state (although I do love the background, so maybe its karma that there arent too many words covering it up!)

The old mojo has disappeared but I am hoping to find it again soon, so I hopefully wont leave it too long again before I am back sharing some old tat

I will leave you with a thought though...

When life gives you lemons, make Lemonade..... and PUT VODKA IN IT!

AWOL and its not August anymore! TOFFC and something maybe creepy

2011-09-05T19:55:00.000+01:00

Well the kids are back to school on Wednesday and time has gone so quickly, we've had a lovely busy last 6 weeks but consequently that means I haven't had much time to blog, not that there would have been much point because I haven't had much time to do anything arty. I have been a good girl though and kept up with my for Kate's Calendar Challenge,

Quite a bit of this month's entries were done on a campsite and I had taken limited supplies, so there is a lot of doodling done on this page - also just noticed that I didn't outline all the Day tags on the middle row - but hey, August is done and dusted now so they can stay like that.

Sorting out all the washing and ironing and everything else that is needed for two weeks on a very wet campsite has kept me busy since we returned, but as our electricity was cut off today for a few hours I had time to play - gosh you don't realise how much you use the sparky stuff when you are getting inky - no heatgun, no computer for digi images or creating text and most importantly no kettle!

But I did manage to do Chapter 6 for my own personal 'story book' which fits in most weeks with Lily's The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge

This week was Stripes - not clear from the photo but other that the 'frame' which I have created from some gorgeous Japanese Washi Tape (as seen on Kate Cranes DVD)

Now... if you were walking along Branscombe Beach a couple of weeks ago and saw one middle-aged woman with her much prettier daughter, struggling along with armfuls of rusty metal - then that was me and my DD. and if you did why didn't you stop to help rather than just give us rather bemused looks?

This pile started off with a small piece of metal I picked up, which looked interesting - then there was another bit , and another and another - Between us, DD and I came up with an idea for a project using these bits and pieces....... Then eeeeekkkk.... we realised what we were collecting, all pieces from it seems the same car, now this spooked me a bit, is this the outcome of some poor soul who drove their car over a cliff somewhere?? Not sure now how I feel about using them, but we brought them 300 miles home so I reckon I will get over it (I think)

Thats All Folks.. Toodlepip!

Chapter 5......

2011-08-11T20:20:00.000+01:00

Didn't think I would get to play along with with TOFFChallenge this week, but the plan for today didnt work out, so I had an hour of two to myself, and what better way to spend it than to go into my poor neglected craft-room?

So here is the next page for my 'book' The Challenge was Girls Girls Girls - well I have done 'Girl' sure I will be excused a small stray from the title.

Be sure to hop over to http://toffchallenge.blogspot.com/ to see the other fab entries - Lily has given a heads up for next week's challenge, seriously dont think I will get to play next week as Mrs Bessie is hopefully coming to stay and I have some VIP's coming for the day on Saturday, but then I said that last week!

Happy Birthday My Foul Friend ....

2011-08-06T12:32:00.000+01:00

Whoops sorry I meant FOWL friend.... Kathy aka Ducklady share a mutual love of feathered things and craft. Not a duck or a chicken to be seen on this altered book, which is now a fully functional clock though.

There are a few niches cut around the sides of the book, with some pulley out things

Including an old slide - not telling you what the picture is

and a 'drawer' made from a matchbox

and a door in the cover

Terrible picture of inside the door - this was where the glossy accents splurged into as I mentioned in my last blog post - was at the time of posting still a little cloudy, hopefully it will dry out over time, but there was more in there than I intended! - filled with cogs, accent beads and bits and pieces

Hope you had a lovely Birthday Kathy and were properly spoilt - sorry about the bit of tat entering your lovely home - dont forget which cupboard you shove it in, cos we may be passing your house soon and I will be in to check!

July Journal Page

2011-08-01T22:52:00.001+01:00

Gosh it has dawned on me that when I started this blog I was all browns and gold and copper, things have certainly coloured up since then, but I am digressing, here is my completed July Page for Kate's aka The Kathryn Wheel's Journal Challenge, seven months down only five to go

August's page is not quite finished, but I wont forget what my entry is for today, just had a lovely evening on the beach - it was our 24th Wedding anniversary today and what better way to spend it than having a fish and chip supper and a walk along my beloved Norfolk Beaches with my beloved, my beloved son and beloved dog (no beloved daughter cos she is spending a few days with her beloved Grandma)

The weather has been a zillion times better than the last walk I shared with you!!

and so it continues

2011-07-31T20:01:00.000+01:00

I had to change track a bit for my 'book' after Lily posted this weeks TOFFChallenge, which was 'Sunshine'. Matthew's Aunt once told me a lovely story of when her son was young and he did a picture of something rather unrecognisable. As pictures are always important to children you should never ask what it is, because that should be obvious, so she said 'how lovely tell me all about it...' his reply? 'Mum..... its a scribble'

However this fits nicely into my plan, so I used it.

Over on Hels Blog, the Sunday Stamper challenge is 'sunsets' so I am hoping this will be ok to enter for that as well. As I usually forget to actually include stamping in Hels challenge (and that's whats its all about) and she lets me get away with it, I am sure she will allow a sunshine/sunset entry. If she doesn't I will just sulk and steal all the cheesy things that she loves, not that I am petty or anything.....

I did try to tidy up my craft-room, but got distracted by a project that I must get done PDQ, my top tip for today is not to squeeze your bottle of glossy accents too hard, cos if you do the top bit comes off at quite a speed and goes everywhere, including your face and is a bugger to get off!!

I will leave you with that thought!

Chapter 3.....

2011-07-27T11:57:00.000+01:00

and so the story continues, we another page I have done as part of TOFF challenge spots and dots..

Havent posted for a while - in truth I cant actually get near my desk, its time for a serious tidy up!

But also it has been hectic here for the last couple of weeks, plus we managed a short break away on the north coast of my beautiful county - weather wasn't too kind to us, but we still had a great time and Marzie enjoyed her first trip away camping

is this really summer??

My dream house... very Jonathon Creek!

Marzie and her mistress

But it was all too much for her master..

Right... I am away to see if I can find a desk and then I will make a start on part 4.....