Pay it Forward 2008

I know, I did it once already. But now I'd like to do it again!

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow, or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. So basically, if you comment and you’re on, I’ll send you something crafty that I’ll make!

Once you sign up, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be recipients of your handmade work. I'm getting paid forward by Chris Bennett (http://cab53j.blogspot.com/) and thought it would be fun to pay it forward to you. I will check my blog daily to see who the first three sign ups are, and if they've joined this Pay It Forward exchange, they will be the recipients from me. Make sure to leave your blog address with your message, so I can check your blog. I will also need your email address so I can contact you for details of where to send them.

Connected ATCs

I am hosting a 'Connected ATCs' swap,
where 4 ATCs make one large 'picture'
but where each ATC also stands alone.



I am not sure if I have achieved this to my own satisfaction,
I guess I will hang onto these for a couple of days
to see if I can improve them.

The clock in the middle is a printed transparency.

31 May - I have added some watch parts to these,
and like them much better now!!!

Tip in page - Men

Sweetpea is running an ongoing
Tip In page swap on CC Swaps.
This month's theme is 'Men'.

The background is a mixture of several fluid acrylic colours
and white gesso, dabbed onto the page
with a scrunched up magazine page.

It is stamped with a BellaRosa 'medieval text' stamp
in Brilliance Galaxy Gold - this is very subtle - and
also with a Stampers Anonymous stamp in Brilliance Coffee Bean.

I took a photo of a costumed interpreter at Caernarfon Castle
last week, and decided he was an interesting man,
so I printed him onto transparency and added him to the page
with a couple of brads.

The quote finishes the page, it reads
"You cannot teach a man anything; you have to help him to find it in himself"



The back of the page uses the same background,
stamped with a Rubbadubbadoo medieval male head stamp
in Brilliance Coffee Bean, wings,
and topped with a print of Michaelangelo's "David".

The quote on this page says
"A man who has no imagination has no wings".

Deco Books

I've been working on a few deco books, trying to make each very different. I also wanted to experiment with some of the paints, techniques and unused stamps I have in my stash! All these pages had to feature the word 'art' somewhere on the front - and it's more obvious on some than others!



This is a double page spread for Chrissy. I painted the pages with Golden iridescent copper paint, stamped the veining with Brilliance galaxy gold, the spotting with Stazon turquoise, and embossed the main stamped images (Crafty Individuals, Diva Impressions, Art Specially for You) with Moonglow midnight teal embossing powder. The hearts were punched from glossy black card sprayed with Radiant rain gold. The pages are edged with Golden's gold mica flakes.




The front and back of Fiona's page. I painted the page with Golden micaceous iron oxide, which has a gorgeous subtle shimmer. I stamped the veining with Brilliance platinum, then added the images. The fish (Curtis Uyeda at Paula Best) is stamped and embossed in gold, on black cardstock, and the little girls (Diva Impressions) are stamped and embossed in white, on paper which had been sprayed with a range of shimmery colorwash sprays.





Carol's pages were washed with watered down colorwash sprays. On the front page, I doodled with a white pen before washing, and it acted as a resist. The image on the front is stamped and embossed with Moonglow midnight obsidian embossing powder, the then dragonfly is embossed for a second time using Kaleidoscope embossing powder - this is sparkly and changes colour the longer you heat it.

The back of the page is overstamped with Stazon turquoise and Invoke Arts stamps - which I purchased while I was with Carol in Portland last year! The photograph is one I took earlier this year, and it is backed with some tyvek and framed with part of a Crafty Individuals image stamped on transparency. The 'forever' stamp is Cat's Life Press (I think!).

Photograph for Trish's ArtBuzz challenge

Trish Bee:

http://artbuzz.wordpress.com/

wants evidence of pictures taken of "something that moves you or catches your eye, something which looks artistic, a natural beauty which hasn't been staged or posed in any way. No people or pets for this - try to think of every day objects or things in nature…it could be the leaves on the ground, flowers, clouds or even litter on the floor."

I took a few pics and thought I'd share them with you!




A stone in the wall of a ruined castle - Dolforwyn Castle near Montgomery, Wales.

I love the way the stone has crazed,
and how the crazing is white and
a stark contrast to the deep grey of the stone.



A churchyard next to the sea - at Dyffryn Ardudwy, near Harlech, Wales.
This looks so atmospheric. I love the sea,
and would love to be buried next to it when I die.



A window at Valle Crucis Abbey, near Llangollen, north Wales.
I love the texture of the carved stone, and also the view it frames.




Shalllow water on a beach on Anglesey.
If you look closely you can also see a small jellyfish.
I love the texture and the reflections off the water.

Free collage sheet

I created this collage sheet today,
from photographs I have taken over the last year or two.

(click to enlarge)

I have uploaded this as a low resolution jpeg to save webspace.
If you would me to email a high resolution file to you, sized to print onto A4 paper,
please leave a comment with your email address.

Little Beauties - Birds

Little Beauties are nice little handmade embellishments. I am running a series of themed 'Little Beauty' swaps over on CC Swaps yahoo group. The latest theme is birds, and these are winging their way across the Atlantic to Idaho. I hope my swap partner likes them. Some feature shrink plastic, some have transparency overlays, one is stamped onto a very thin slice of wood, and one has a kitchen towel background - it was sprayed with Radiant Rains spray and all the mica settled into the channels of the pattern.

(click on the image if you want a more detailed view)

Deco book spread

The owner of this book wanted a double page spread.
The previous pages were sea-themed,
so I took my inspiration from that,
and continued the theme...

Stamps are by Stampington.

Remember you can enlarge the image by clicking on it.

Round Robin book, 2nd spread

This is the spread I did in Linda's book.

Linda chose the colour yellow for her book,
with an option to include 'garden colours',
and a sub theme of doors.

I have never worked in yellow,
and found it quite difficult to
think of an attractive design.

I looked at the spread Linda had done in her own book,
and it had images of daffodils and a poem by William Wordsworth.
I decided to use the themes of flowers and poetry.

Once I had found the poem for the left hand page,
all about the wilderness and weeds,
by Gerald Manley Hopkins,
it led me to adding pressed leaves and
flowers - all grown in my own garden.

And once I had settled on flowers,
sunflowers seemed appropriate,
so I printed a sunflower stained glass image
onto a transparency and framed it with copper tape,
which is used for tiffany stained glass work.

I added a tag which has an appropriate
poem by William Blake on it,
and attached it with wire so that it can be
easily lifted and turned over to read the second verse.

Double Deuce Dare

I was sent a number of items in the mail,
and had to create something using at least 70% of them,
then send it on to a named recipient.

Sounds easy. Unfortunately, my muse
took one look at the items and ran away!
I am not really comfortable creating in a 'vintage' style

This is what arrived:




Anyway, this is what I created - a decorated tin:



A booklet to go with the decorated tin:









I hope the recipient likes it!