It’s nearly that time of year when we get all mushy and soft, cook a romantic dinner, maybe light a candle and pack the kiddies off to bed a bit earlier. With that in mind I’ve whipped up a few arty cards with a Valentine theme.
I took some pre-painted backgrounds and cut them into hearts. I think they look so pretty like that.
I layered most of them over a watercolour wash and flicked some gold paint here and there. The gel printed background was already quite busy so I left the heart simply gold so it would stand out.
We’re well into the beginning of a new year and it’s taken until now for me to get back to writing again. As with any new year I’ve spent the time planning and preparing for any new challenges this year might bring as well as reflecting on the events and non events of last year.
2021 was another year of highs and lows but despite them all I have great hopes going forward. I’ve spent time recently tidying the studio which turned out to be an excercise in re-discovering things I’d completely forgotten about. For instance, I came across a box of lino cutting supplies which had been sadly neglected. I cleaned it out, threw away a few bits of manky dried out rubber, and after rearranging the tools back in their little holder I had the urge to have another go at it. The bottom of the box produced a few earlier fails but on the whole I’ve had a positive experience carving stamps. As I’ve been organising some workshop dates for 2022 and deciding on themes I think it might be nice to get the Mosaik group interested in stamp carving too. It’s a good reason to get back into it again anyway and It’ll be a nice complement to their mini books and scrapbook pages. The whole set is looking far too clean don’t you think?
Getting rid of things has helped me to thin out my shelves so now I can actually see what I have. It makes for a much more calming space now. I didn’t really need a box full of pipe cleaners and sparkly green bobbles anyway! It’s off to the recycling for me and time to break out the smelly candles and relaxing music!
Embracing the fails
The month of January has been Image Transfer month for the Messy Monday group on Facebook. Along with its members I’ve been demonstrating a few of my own hints and tips for making transfers on the gel plate. This is one technique where luck plays a big part in how well you can get a good transfer as well as lots and lots of practice. I think as a demonstrator I felt a huge amount of pressure to produce perfect prints every time which in reality I wasn’t getting, or at least it didn’t feel that way to me. I keep telling the group not to give up on their fails because anything can be salvaged so I think I should practice what I preach and stop being so negative. Once I stopped being so hard on myself I started to think, it is what it is, my idea of perfection has to come down a bit and… actually I really like my prints, faults and all. So with that in mind I posted in the group the good the bad and the downright ugly because that’s how life is and not everything will turn out the way we hope. I think the group apreciated the honesty so they could stop feeling like their own prints were fails too and embrace the little imperfections.
It’s all very well having a stack of prints but the question is what to do with them? I know this is something the group would be eager to find out so I’ve incorporated a few into some projects which you can see here.
Cropped and enhanced with pencils, pens or paint, they can look so much better.
That’s it for now, I’ll be back soon with some more news from the studio.
What a fantastic weekend just gone. A massive thank you to everyone who came to my workshop on Saturday, it was absolutely wonderful to be back in the salle teaching again after a break of 18 months. Hopefully this is the start of better things ahead.
Leading up to the workshop I had quite a few printing sessions, just to make sure I got it right, so I thought I’d make use of some of the best prints and make a few cards out of them. I rarely give up on a print as even some of the truly chaotic ones can look totally different when they’re cut up into smaller pieces or die cut from.
Here are the prints cut and mounted onto card.
I can’t decide whether to add a small sentiment or leave them blank, it seems a shame to cover up these beautiful prints. I’ve still got a huge pile of prints to cut so I guess that means I’ll have a busy day ahead.
It’s been a while since I last made a mini album. A tidy and organize of my basement studio revealed some pretty papers which in truth I’d been squirrelling. All crafters have those special things they want to save for a special project but then when the special project comes up it’s always an opportunity to buy something brand spanking new!
With the Summer coming to an end and Autumn making itself known, I’ve realised I need to get a move on if I’m going to have a stock of albums ready for sale. Those ‘special’ papers were just what I needed to kickstart me into album production again. Coupled with some equally special papers which arrived from Paper Pen and Plan recently I think they look super cute.
Both of these albums have the same basic structure of 12x12x4cm hard covers with flaps and pages inside to lift, open or pull out creating a possibility to add an amazing 26 photos.
I love making these interactive albums and just can’t decide which size is my favourite. If you’d like to buy one of these albums, any others from the shop or have something made to order you can visit my shop here just click on this link.
Have a great weekend and I’ll see you here next week.
