Halloween House of Horrors

Hello and a Happy Friday to you all!

Today I have a special little Prima  project to share with you using Sandra Evertson's Relics & Artifacts resins. I love creating projects for Halloween, it's so mad and fun!

This spooky haunted house started off as a Prima Bird House Altered Metal Frame which I painted the outside of the house with gray chalk paint and added texture with Graphite Paste. The inside has been painted in black gesso used an empty Prima embellishment box as shelving which I've filled with some "creepy" goodies! Just to show you that you can alter your Prima embellies to fit into any project for any occaision .

A Relics and Artifacts skull was highlighted with a waterproof pen and suspended in an old jar which I filled with water tinted with Emerald Color Bloom spray - this is so simple but very cool!

I've used a Relics and Artifacts Figurehead which has been turned into a scary Beetlejuice style head with some help of watercolor pencils and we also have a R&A (severed) green hand on the shelf.

Check out the little bat made with Mechanicals wings and a brad... I upturned the fastening backs to create ears!

To make the spider webs I used PVA glue piped onto baking parchment, added Art Sugar glitter over the wet glue and left to dry. Peel off the dried "webs" and you're good to go.

 Just to show you that anything can be altered it's so much fun to try!


Memory Hardware - Montpellier Apothecary Vials 4pc 990619
Altered Metal Frame - Bird House 961336
Color Bloom - Sultry Shimmer Emerald 573928
Color Bloom - Vintage Metal Precious Stone 573812
Art Ingredients-Iridescent Mica Powder: Blue Opal Magic 963545
Archival Cast: Figureheads 941628
Archival Cast: Milagros 941581
Art Basics - 3D Gloss Gel (8 fl. oz.) 961381
Art Basics - Heavy Gesso - Black (8.5 fl. oz.) 961459
Art Basics - Heavy Gesso - White (8.5 fl. oz.) 961442
Art Basics - Soft Matte Gel (8.5 fl. oz.) 961428
Art Extravagance- Texture Paste - Graphite (8.5 oz.) 961497
Art Ingredients-Art Sugar: White 961800
Art Ingredients-Mica Flakes: Frosted 961749
Resin - Bugs 892524
Memory Hardware - La Vie Antique Cloches 990312
Metal Cast Iron Shabby Chic Treasures  892418
Art Ingredients-Micro Beads: Black 962555
Mechanicals - Wings 0962432
Watercolor Pencils - The Basics 576714

Spooky hugs,

 

Inspiration Monday #5

Hey-lo dearest! I hope you are all in fine fettle. I have a quick shot of inspiration for you today before I head off back to my busy week! This Monday our inspiration is a bit of visual fun - Halloween. Now I don't really "celebrate" Halloween but I just love the orange, black, pumpkins, skulls etc. and find the time of year so inspirational. It brings my ideas out in abundance.

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But of course it doesn't all have to be about the gruesome; we can draw in the colours,textures and more more subtle elements to our projects. Just look at the fab colour scheme from this pumpkin photo, beautifully warm and Autumnal.

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Which season or time of the year inspires you? I'd love to know :)


Check back later in the week for a project very much inspired by this post....stay tuned!

Bye for now

 xxx

Inspiration Monday #4

A warm hello to you all!  I hope you all well and had a good weekend and are raring to start the week off in creative style.

For this week's inspiration thinking a lot about hands and their place in the creativity process, aside from the obvious part.

So are they part of the process or part of the artwork? Well personally I think both. Some of you will know I'm not shy of getting covered in paint, inks and general art mess. I use my hands as a mixing palette, as paintbrushes, I rub shade and mould with them thus in turn they become part of the artwork. Which is pretty cool when you think about it don't you think?

Getting stuck in and using those mitts in every way can be very therapautic and often you can get much better results my using fingers instead of brushes, knives etc.

Sure it can be annoying sometimes having hands stained with multitude of colours but no matter. And surely that's part of it and for me, part of art.

 Are you a hand brush / palette person? Would love to know!

xxx

It's Prima Day!

Hi everyone

Today is officially Prima Day! And we have a treat instore for you over the Prima blog today, where we have a TON full of inspiration  Our fab design team are showcasing an array of projects on their social media so hop over to their blogs >>here<< and be inspired!

For my project I've created this card using the new Garden Fable line. Aren't the colours just luscious? I think this collection is especially perfect for birthday projects and if you love flowers and pastels you will love it :)

I started of layering squares of  Garden Fable "Blushing Floral" paper onto the card base then highlighting the edges with Prima watercolour pencils, which really makes your projects pop. I used an acetate overlay which I stenciled with the Jamie Dougherty Circles stencil and highlighted again with water pencils.

The Graden Fable brads are divine and I used these to add a textured border along crystals and silver Art Ingredients micro beads. I softened the colours by brushing white gesso over and adding some
iridescent mica powder . This is a great way of adding a beautiful shimmer over embellishment.

And don't forget to visit the Prima girls blogs to join in the fun!

 Robbie Herring - http://robbiesphotoblog.blogspot.com
Mona Pendleton - http://cupcakescreations.blogspot.com/
Joanne Bain -  http://scrappinforme.blogspot.com.au
Jessy Christopher - www.jcchris.com
Fran Westmoreland - You are here!!
Robin Shakoor - http://robinshakoor.blogspot.com
Tiffany Solorio - http://stampingattiffanys.blogspot.com/
Melissa Phillips - http://lilybeanpaperie.typepad.com
Maiko Miwa - http://maikomiwa.com/
Riikka Kovasin - http://paperiliitin.blogspot.com
Camilla Ekman -  http://camillaslillasida.blogspot.com
Song Li - http://creationbysong.blogspot.com
Patti Hamil -   http://mypiecesoftime.blogspot.com
Céline Regnier  - http://ptitesmimines.blogspot.com/
Helen Tilbury – http://helentilbury.blogspot.com
Ania Hababicka - www.encza.blogspot.com.

Have a great weekend

Inspiration Monday (Tuesday) #3

Hi lovelies. I am back today with a later than planned Inspiration Monday, or more accurately Tuesday ;) It's all very busy busy here, along with an unwelcome dose of Autumnal virus, eugh. Soup and cocoa it is for me this week!.

Anyways, we are on to week three of  inspiration which is this awesome list of ways to stay creative.  It's very relevant to me currently and I think most of us can relate to having struggled with distractions and creative blocks at some point.

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Most of the points are great but I've picked out five that I think are especially useful and inspirational, which can be a challenge at times for even the best of us.


7. Such a useful point! How many times have you been going square eyed, pushing and forcing it to work and not really "seeing" it anymore? Once you come back to a project the next day or in a few hours there is opportunity to get a fresh angle and some perspective. I find a brisk walk always helps!

12. Being open...this is a fabulous point. Being open is one of the most important things you can do to open up your creativity. Being receptive to new ideas, new styles and techniques. Even using colours that you don't usually gravitate towards and be terribly refreshing - one of the best mottos is in for a penny in for a pound...

23. Which leads nicely onto this one: getting out of your comfort zone. Why stick to the same old? Never feeling slightly freaked out by trying something different (ie out your zone) will not breed creativity. Go with something new, be bold...you have nothing to loose trying it!

26. If something doesn't or isn't working it's a good tactic to learn to be able to regroup and start over. You know deep down when something isn't all happening and more often than not easier to scrap it and go again.

I would love to know what you think!

Have a fab week

Watercolour Wonders

Hello sweeties!

It's no secret that I love using watercolour details in my projects and on today's   Prima blog feature we show you how easy it is to do. I've created two quick start to finish tutorials for you today; colouring stamped images and creating a beautiful background effect.

Simple yet so effective, the videos illustrate how versatile and fun Prima watercolour pencils are! A tip is to use gesso as a primer for your project as it really helps when adding water to the pencils to move the colors around the surface more easily and also to protect the paper.

In the first video I created a background using watercolour pencils, gesso and a stencil. The end result is below :)

For the second tag I've used Finnabair butterfly stamps along with watercolour pencils and gesso.

Finished off with a sprinkling of Art Ingredients glitter.

 Enjoy the videos and I will see you again very soon!

Hugs,

Pedrolino

Hello again lovelies! I'm here today with your Mixed Media Place fix and I have a fun little altered creation for you today. Meet Pedrolino!

We all have some off-beat fascinations don't we? One of mine are with vintage clowns and pierrots, especially pierrots known as a melancholic qualities. There is something compelling about them, so full of drama and quirkiness. I had an old dolls face which I thought would be perfect for altering for such a purpose as this and I rather like how the end result has finished up crossed between a pierrot and medusa.


I really enjoy creating altered 3D objects and personally find it opens my mind to creativity more than anything else. 

My starting point for this project was an old dolls face and a star shaped tin which I found in a junk shop. I flipped the tin upside down and adhered a Mechanicals cap and pendants to the tin topped with a cotton reel using 3D Gel, the ultimate for sticking heavy embellishments!

I found myself pulling seasonal colours into the project using yellow and gold toned chalk paints on the project then brightening with a beautiful flashes of watermelon pink.



I added a feather painted with mica powder and Silkes along with coiled wire decoarated with Finn star brads behind the flower head .







For the pierrot's face I used a black fine liner pen to draw the make up then added colour with a brush of oil pastel pink - just like using real make up like blusher!

Around the base of the tin I sprinkled black micro beads onto 3D gel then toned the colour down with mica powder and gold Silkes paint. For the finishing touches I added some flowers highlighted with gold.










Have a wonderfully creative day!

xxx

Inspiration Monday #2

It's Monday again already huh? Greetings to you all! I'm back here today with the second installment of Inspiration Monday, with a slightly different form of inspiration.

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This quote was a find from Pinterest and has stuck with me this week for a multitude of reasons and got me thinking about the need for failure in order to (eventually) achieve an objective.

 I think sometimes we all need a reminder that most things, especially any form of art or craft is not something you can just be perfect or successful instantly without some mess ups along the way.


Do your sit at your desk despairing over the project in front of you? Trying and trying and it not working out? Well that's OK... and this is where our quote comes in. Often to get good at something you need to have "failed" more times than you care to remember, mess up, practice, mess up practice etc etc.

Maybe there's a disapproving voice in the back of your mind saying you're a bit rubbish if you don't get things pitch (or picture) perfect first few times around. But that isn't realistic is it?! Creativity is fun when you try things without actually being too hung up the end result. I made it, I've learnt something from this experience, I'll do this that or the other differently next time - then move on.

Nor is it about sitting at your desk and creating the best thing ever every time. I used to think this in the past, but then realised when creating it's often more about the process rather than the end result. The more processes you go through, the better your overall work will be and the more "gems" will pop up. A win!!

I hope you can find some encouragement and inspiration from this week's quote!

Wishing you all a happy and creative week

Festive Workshops

Evening everyone, I hope you've had a great week. I am uber excited to be teaching this 3D Christmas snow dome project, full of festive fun and techniques at Pink Tulip Creations in November.

 

For further details and booking tel: 01527 852052 / click here for info


Hope to see some of you there!

 Hugs,