A blooming busy day!

Ok so I've got the blogging bug this week!  I've got two weeks off and I have full intentions of making the most of it.  

I've had a busy old day today all the usual chores,  out for a power walk with my daughter and a family gathering.  I even managed to squeeze in a bit of time in the craft room.  I took some inspiration from Donna Downey, her flower paintings really are amazing and I am often in awe of her work.

I had a canvas board which I had prepared with some texture paste and never got any further so decided to have a little play.  For my background I used Dylusion paints and inks.  I painted my flower with liquitex magenta quinacridone and Dylusion White linen.  The leaves were painted with cut grass layered with some other liquitex greens over the top.

That's it from me for today.  I hope to be back some time soon.  I love to hear your thoughts and comments.

Crafty hugs,

Clare X X X 

Home is where my heart is at

Happy Easter to you all.  Well in true bank holiday style the weather is a tad damp so I decided to find my own blue skies.

I spent the afternoon Dylusion dallying  on a small canvas.  I then had a doodling frenzy. (My favourite part)

As I previously said I used Dylusion paints for this project and doodled away with my posca pens.

Thank you for stopping by today.  Wishing you all a happy Easter holiday.

Hugs,

Clare X X X 

Intuitive me

Hi folks, I finally feel like I'm on the mend and the lurgy finally leaving me so today I dug deep to look for some crafty mojo.

Following a class from wanderlust with Flora Bowley I encountered on some brave intuitive painting.  This is painting without anything in mind but just going with the flow.

I just basically went for it using my favourite Dylusion and Dina Wakely colours.  Me being me, I couldn't resist doodling in some details.

 

So here is the finished article.  Not sure if I can cope with painting so freely but I certainly enjoyed the process even though at a couple of points I nearly washed out my brushes and turned out the light in the craft room.

Thanks for stopping by today I love to hear your comments.

See you soon for some more crafty goings on.

Hugs,

Clare X X X 

Trying my hand at stamp carving

Hi I'm back today to share with you my recent goings on.  As some of you already know I have been busy taking part in quite a few online classes which I have really been enjoying.  It has been great fun learning lots of cool new ideas and techniques.  One thing I have noticed is that lots of designers who run these classes design and carve their own stamps to use on their projects.   So you know what?  I decided to have a go.

The unique sentiment stamp 'imagine' is from Visable Image http://visibleimage.co.uk

I know it does sound daunting but the process really was quite pleasurable and not at as difficult as I first imagined.  I had already been doodling earlier in the week and so decided that I was going to turn my doodles into stamps. From my note pad I traced my doodles onto some tracing paper and then transferred this to the speedball easy carve lino.

Using my carving tools I carved around my creation.  I inked up my stamp to test and see if any more lino needed to be removed.   As you can see on the photo below there are still small areas that could be removed.   As I have made these stamps to incorporate into my own projects and they will mainly be used in backgrounds I am quite happy for these little imperfections to stay.

As you will see from the photo they didn't turn out exactly as the doodles but nether the less I was happy with my first attempt.  I decided that some of these stamps would be used in one of my DT projects here is a sneaky peek of the background to see the finished project you will need to visit A Sprinkle of Imagination Blog.

Here are some links which you may find useful:

A Sprinkle of Imagination Blog.

speedball easy carve lino.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I love to hear your thoughts and comments.

Crafty hugs,

Clare x x x 

Funky flowers

Hi folks, alas it is sunday night and I have got that monday feeling creeping in but I have managed to find some me time today to play in the craft room. I have been working on a canvas with Dylusion paints in the background and Dina Wakely acrylics over the top.

 

First I created my painted background with Dylusion paints using lemon zest, squeezed orange and bubblegum pink along with some markmaking with the above colours and white.

 

I roughly drew the blooms and leaves, filling in around them I blended on some Dina Wakely Night and white acrylics.

 

Finally I doodled with my black and white Posca paint pens. I love doodling, I find it so relaxing and very easy to loose myself in a bit of a trance!

 

Thank you for stopping by, I love to here your thoughts and comments so feel free to leave one below. I do hope you have had a fabulous weekend?

 

Painty hugs,

Clare x x x

 

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Back to the drawing board!

Hi bloggers, this year has seen a change in direction for me. I have always been primarily a card maker but I discovered art journaling a couple of years. I am always so far away from any of the classes that I wanted to attend so decided to sign myself up for a couple of online classes. The first one Wanderlust and the second being Bad Ass Art journaling.

 

I am really enjoying branching out and trying new styles. The above project is a cityscapes. I did this in my large Dylusions art journal inspired by Robin Mead. I used mainly fresco acrylic paints along with some Dylusion paints. I doodled away with my posca paint pens.

 

Another project I completed yesterday was this little lady. She is certainly a little wierd and wonderful and hugely out of my comfort zone. I know that I am going to have to try things that I wouldn't normally choose to do but I know that I will take something with me from each lesson. This project was inspired by Nicci Battilana

 

 

I have quite a few painty projects on the boil at the moment and look forward to sharing them with you very soon.

 

Happy crafting,

Clare x x x

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Upcycled Love Birds

Well it's that time of year when things start to get a bit lovey dovey and I thought that I would share the love with my DT post for A Sprinkle of Imagination.

I recently found a couple of old coasters, you know the ones with a cork back, well they were in a bit of a sorry state and very nearly ended up in the bin! I had a lightbulb moment and decided that I would give them a bit of TLC.

I gave them both a coat of gesso and painted my backgrounds with Dylusions paint. Using Dina Wakey pebble heart stencil I blended through the contrasting colours I had used in the background. Using Dina Wakely Scribbly Birds stamps I stamped my him and her birdies and painted them using Dina Wakely heavy body acrylic paints. I added some doodles using my posca paint pens and gave the coasters a couple of coats of clear matt varnish to protect them.

So there you have it, my upcylcled coasters ready for a valentine cuppa! Who said romance is dead?

Happy crafting,
Clare x x x

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