Happy New Year! 2018

Well somehow a couple of years has gone by! I'm a terrible blogger! But it is 2018 and here I am,determined to start this blog properly,with regular fun posts,that will not only be about my art and creativity but also about living with Scleroderma,as these two things make up the majority of my time. So if you could bare with me, I'm going to give this a go! See you soon for my first official post of 2018!
Sending you lots of love and peace
Alex
xx

7th March 2016! And Andy Skinner's competition x

Well hello!
Over a year has passed since my last confession blog and I must apologize! My health has been troubling but one thing that has seen me through is ART!
My reason for starting again is the one and only Andy Skinner!
On Andy's Blog he has a new competition with a fabulous prize,and as I am attending my very first workshop with him in April in Coventry,with the Ministry of Mixology I would very much like to win a selection of the materials,paints and stamps to use on my weekend away!
As stated here on Andy's blog the theme for this challenge is Bold and Bright,using some of Andy's decoarts products.
I have some of the wonderful Americana satin acrylic paints,lamp black,lipstick and turquoise.
So I created a background with the turquoise,and using a die cut leftover as a mask,painted the lamp black through it,using varying pressure to create a textured image rather than solid.
I then decoupaged a butterfly over the angel to give a feeling of movement in the wings,and another butterfly lower down. I used both the lipstick colour and black to spatter around the focal points. A sentiment was stamped on to the the turquoise paint and torn out,and glued to the surface.
The vibrant lipstick colour makes such a bright statement that I couldn't resist painting it onto some card and using it as a mount to echo the splatters!
I love working with these paints,the quality is excellent,and they have an opaqueness that is brilliant,with a subtle sheen in the satin versions. I can't wait for my workshop!
Here are some pictures of the works in progress and the finished piece.
Thank you for reading and best wishes to you
xxx

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!

Hello there!
Although it is actually raining at this moment,the theme for this weeks "Less is More Challenge"   is a lucky dip and the lovely team has picked a seaside them!
Here is what they say:

We have another song theme which this time is... 

I do like to be beside the seaside!

Anything with a reference to the sea or the beach or things nautical will be fine as long as your creation is Clean and Simple!

So here is my seaside card,and I now feel like a holiday as I haven't managed to get away this year.

I masked off the card to create the beach and sea,with distress inks of tumbled glass and wild honey,with a gentle edging of the blue for the sky. The stamp was one I had in my stash stamped with black archival ink,and I coloured in the stripes and spots with red gelly pens so they have a lovely glaze.
Hope you enjoy it!
I wish you all a happy and creative week!
Alex
xxxxxxxxx

Where did nearly 2 years go?!!!!

Well I just can't believe that nearly 2 years has passed since my last confession.. post ;) . Well Scleroderma,operations and life in general took over. So I am claiming back a little bit of me time. And thank you to the team at  'Less is more'  for dragging me out of my cave..with a simple sketch challenge!
Here is the challenge:

We haven't had a 

SKETCH

for quite some time so here's a simple one for you to have a play with!

So I have had a lovely time playing with this layout and produced 2 cards! I am like buses,nothing for ages and then 2 come along at the same time !

Here is the 1st one:

On a plain white piece of card I blended distress inks wild honey and tea dye,stamped a lovely meadow scene in sepia archival ink and sprayed with cosmic shimmer 'Sunlight mist'. I then stamped a butterfly in versamark and embossed with bark WOW Embossing powder. I then added a little bleach to some water and 'removed' some of the colour from the butterfly to make it stand out. The Sentiment was embossed in bright white WOW powder onto a remnant of the second card which followed exactly the same process but with distress ink in Peacock Feathers.Wild Honey and Peeled Paint. So essentially I swapped over the sentiment from each card.

I hope that made sense,it has been a while!

Here is a close up for you....

And here is card number 2!

and a close up!

So I wish you all a happy Sunday and I look forward to looking at everyone's cards. With lots of love

Alex

xxx

Oct 28th 2012

Hello there!
I have been very lazy and not added to my blog for quite some time! I resolve to try harder!
I had my creative juices prodded by this weeks challenge at 'Less is More' .
Here is the brief:

Week 91 Sketch 7

We haven't had many sketches since beginning "Less is More". It's difficult to think of original designs which can be interpreted in a variety of ways, yet keeping to the Clean and Simple ethos.

We have one for you this week which consists of  band down the card which in turn is sub-divided into three sections. 

You may add a sentiment if you wish and the sketch can be rotated if that orientation inspires you.

We must be able to spot the original, simple sketch however.

And here is my card!:

 

I have to admit my home looked like a bombsite after making this card!I couldn't stop experimenting with new things !So I embossed,the shades of card with hearts and then picked out lettering with an embossing pen and heat embossed with WOW vanilla white. I used the same powder to emboss the scrolls,and tried my new posca pen to make stitches!

Lastly a happy birthday sentiment embossed in Bark WOW powder on corresponding card tones.

Great fun!

Whilst I was in the mood I made this photo frame!The butterfly is made from grunge paper..my new toy.

So that is it for today!
With Love and light x

Hello Mum!

Hello to my Mummy (and Andy!) who has started to follow my blog!
Mum makes the most beautiful quilts and I will be putting up some pictures of them soon to show you!
With love and light x

The wonderful Craft Barn has a giveaway!

Hello!
As a follower of The Craft Barn, I am giving you a link to their fabulous Giveaway competition!
Find the blog candy HERE!

A great source of supplies,The Craft Barn is also the place to go for classes.I am hoping to go to my first one in September,a birthday treat to myself!
Any on with the crafting!
Love from Alex xx