My Creative endevours have moved





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MY NEW ART BLOG HERE I would love your company.

A New Year and a New beginning... I have created a new blog filled with old and new art. It is time for me to focus on something new. I will be leaving this blog open for inspiration and so I can look back at what I have achieved in the future but I will be adding no further content here.

Sunday 28 February 2010

Something Completely Different Challenge -Time

Week 40 challenge at SCD is time and I made this atc during my playtime with Chriss and Debbie. The background was stamped with diamond and tree stamps by Crafty Individuals and the gorgeous lady is one from a set of stamps by Tanda stamps. I 'think' the letter and word stamps are from the Artistic Stamper but don't quote me on that...lol
I often wish that as I've bought stamps I should have put them into boxes or containers marked with where they originate from... BUT I am much toooooo disorganized for that... hey sometimes I don't even know how I manage to get myself out of bed and dressed of a morning!!
Have a fab day all
hugs
Chris xx

Saturday 27 February 2010

art journal page

This is a page in my art journal that I did in January when all the snow was on the ground. Pretty colours to warm and cheer me up. Don't mind looking at the snow cos it's pretty but I hate it when it turns to dirty slush...uuuurgh
Seems like we have more to come 'n' I hate the cold so guess I will just have to dress up warm and create some more eh :D
I got my Tim Holtz TSV yesterday but I haven't had time to play as my Sister and niece are staying with me for the weekend and oooooooooooh I have got itchy fingers!!! It's WONDERFUL woooowweeeeee ;-)
hugs
Chris xx

Friday 26 February 2010

Oh what a wonderful week I've had.....

I went awol to spend some fabby dabby crafty time with my bestest crafting buddies Chriss and Debbie and OMG what fun we had!!! Laughing till our sides ached and having muchus fun with all kinds of crafty bits. I will save the best till last so hope you don't get too bored (long post lol).

The lovely talented Debbie (Shariati) shared some stampbord pieces with us and I was in Heaven having a play with this as it's the first time I've used it....

new addiction coming into play me thinks. Don't usually like small cos of my sausage fingers but I just loved doing these little inchies :D


We sloshed around with inks, paints, colour washes and all sorts of goodies but as I can't bear to waste anything... I had to use the huge bits of kitchen roll that we had mopped up some of the inks with...to create a background. Waste not want not eh!!

It was really therapeutic to stick down all the torn bits onto a new sheet 'specially as there was no plan and no telling how it would turn out. Mind you I was bound to create something wonderful in my puddy cat night attire that I lived in for most of the week...lol Well we weren't going anywhere further than the craft table and I like to be comfy.

I was however banished to the builders yard for ciggy time... I know... I know.... filthy habit but I just can't help myself. Naughty pic this... makes me look 107 pmsl... but I had just washed me hair and needed the turban and bodywarmer along with the coffee to enable me to brave the cold air while I had me fix (was under glass I might add so not braving the elements altogether)

'n' here was the result of all me sticking 'n' gluing... not entirely fabulous but I liked it...

and it worked well as a background for my circular tag...just love the texture of pieces like this.


We were a bit naughty on the food front too cos Chriss kept feeding me magnum ice creams.... yuuuuuummy and as I said before I can't waste anything so the lolly stick became the wings for my paper button fairy...lol I'm having withdrawal symptoms now I'm home BUT I'm waiting for my TSV from QVC YEEEEEES I'm getting Tim Holtz new book and I'm just sooooooo excited!!!!!!!! I got an email today to say it's been sent out and I am hyperventilating at the thought of getting it... whoooohoooo playtime here come ;-)

If they've had time there should be more evidence of our crafty days together on both Chriss' and Debbies' blogs so if you get chance do pop over and check out their pics :D

Thanks for looking

See you soon

hugs

Chris xx

Thursday 18 February 2010

Art Creations Friday

This is my entry for Art Creations Friday challenge. When I saw the challenge photo I just loved it and had to have a play.
My little angel was having a ball playing dress up, silly hat.. funky bracelets and oh those eyelashes rofl!! Wonder who's party she was getting ready for :D
hugs
Chris xx

Wednesday 17 February 2010

6"x4"artcard- House of Birds

I just LOVE this new bird stamp from Crafty Individuals and the beautiful shrine effect stamp that I have used in part for the roof and base of my house of birds artcard.


The background is handpainted onto canvas effect paper which I've grunged slightly with ink after painting. I used pencils to colour the background of the bird stamp because I like the random effect they give.
Thanks for looking
Chris xx

Tuesday 16 February 2010

Punchneedle embroidery

You know how I love to try different things to stretch my creativeness if you have been popping by my blog for a while and I just had to share this with you. Punchneedle embroidery is the simplest (and quickest) embroidery I have ever tried.
It is so easy to create your own design just by going with the flow and changing thread as you go. I had no design planned for this piece... it was just meant to be abstract colour but looking at it closely now it looks a bit like a flower...tee hee... don't know how that happened but hey I am well impressed. If you haven't tried punchneedle embroidery before you really must have a go... it's so simple even DG can do it (and enjoy it I might add). There are how to videos on you tube if you need to see how easy it is and to get you started. Although I am only a novice with this medium there is some amazing artwork to be found online and patterns too if you need to use them. I prefer to just play... why don't you try it...you could amaze yourself like I did!!
hugs
Chris xx

Tuesday taggers challenge-love is all around.

Last minute creation for this weeks Tuesday taggers challenge but I have been browsing through my files and discovered some digi stuff that I had long since forgotten about and thought it would be fun to create a little digi tag.

It was lots of fun to create and soooo easy... I like easy lol

Thanks for looking

hugs

Chris xx

Sunday 14 February 2010

The humble pencil...........

Oh how I have neglected that glorious implement in my crafting and arty endeavours :D I have used a fine liner pen for most of my doodles and it is soooooo long since I have used a pencil that it seems completely alien to me. The other day I came across a bag full and got it into my head that I wanted to try once again to draw a face.One of my biggest regrets in life is that I am unable to draw lifelike portraits of people. I would so love to be able to look at a photograph and realistically recreate it. I have tried and tried believe me but somehow the capacity to do this escapes me. Maybe I haven't got the patience it deserves to create a masterpiece of my Grandson or Daughter or maybe this talent is born to us. Whichever it is I will have to content myself for the time being with re-acquainting myself with the grey matter (the one in my hand and the one in my brain...lol) and seeing where the journey takes me.

This one ended up a wee bit freaky but Que Sera, Sera :D
hugs
Chris xx

Saturday 13 February 2010

Digital atc

I love working with digital images so much because at the touch of a button you can have such fun with them. The latest digital kits from Lisa's altered art are a joy to work (play...lol) with
Altering the size of this gorgeous romantic looking lady made this atc so different to what I usually do with layering and I loved the effect. The backgrounds and elements in Lisa's kits are amazing and offer you so many ways to create something original and unique. Love..love...love them :D
Hope you are having a fab weekend
hugs
Chris xx

Friday 12 February 2010

I had a dream....

well I usually have lots of them but this one was in colour and it was sooooo real. I dreamt that I designed a dress and sent it to...................wait for it.......................
Vivienne Westwood...roflmao..................AS IF!!!
Well anyway I decided to break my dream so I designed two... cos as usual I got carried away.
I WON'T be sending them to ANYONE...lol but thought I'd share them with YOU :D
hugs
Chris xx

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Art journal page

I wasn't quite as happy with this page due to the fact that I used oil pastels to create the background center and I found the colours a bit bland and they smudged a bit too much for my liking but hey ho 'tis a learning curve and an experiment that I probably won't repeat. I like bright better!!
Still I was quite taken with the bottom part of the page and I will still be happy to look back on it in my journal.
Have a fab day
hugs
Chris xx

Tuesday 9 February 2010

Actions speak louder than words.... art journal page

I know these pages aren't everyones cup of tea but I am fascinated with them. The things that come into my head when I start to create a page and the fact that I can just let it flow from me. It is so cathartic...even if it means nothing to anyone else it means a lot to me.
The sheer abandonment of creating just for creating' sake just fills me with joy. Sometimes I get stuck in a rut as most of us do from time to time... but sticking, doodling and colouring often get the creative juices flowing again so that I can move on to something more structured. Long live the coloured pen and glue stick lol
hugs
Chris xx

Monday 8 February 2010

Gothic Arch Challenge - Crackle

I had lots of fun with this weeks Gothic Arch Challenge 'crackle'. So much so that as usual I got a bit carried away...lol
The first arch had to be a bit on the 'love' thing as it's almost Valentines Day and I have done nothing romantic in my artwork of late so I thought this just might fit the bill. The words mean... "Remember Paris my love"... well I can't say I do cos I haven't ever been (cry...blubber...sniffle...maybe one day!!) Still waiting for someone to whisk me off me feet onto that private aeroplane (think Pretty Woman...heh heh).
Images are from Lisa's Altered Art (digital kits)

My next arch is a bit tongue in cheek... one of my sketches transformed digitally... 'tis sooo me.
I don't look like that(hmmmm although the hair thing sometimes goes on of a morning now my hair is long...lol) but I am definitely unique... one of a kind... and definitely a dreamer!!


Thanks for popping by...see you soon :D
hugs
Chris xx

Thursday 4 February 2010

Decorated button jar

I got some lovely shaped spice jars from Ikea some time last year with the idea of altering them to hold my supply of buttons/charms and or ribbons. Well I finally got round to doing one of them and I am going to love doing the others.
I used a gorgeous charm image from Lisas Altered Art as my focal point ...on top of some script paper doodled with gold.

I put some angel hair behind it so it would look a little bit more delicate...

and I finished off by decorating the lid of my jar with sticky ribbon, ordinary ribbon, mesh and half pearls.
Now all I have to do is find a home for it... think it's time to have some shelves put up :D Don't want to hide it away... I think it's much to pretty for that.
hugs
Chris xx

Artist Trading Club- February challenge.... Cookies

Donna (Cookie Sunshine) is this month's guest designer at the Artist Trading Club and she has named her ATC's 'Cookies' after the blog she previously ran. Her Cookies are made up of art she has previously made including doodling, paintings and images etc, digitally collaged and then other pieces added after printing out.
Well I just knew I was going to love this!! So I painted and doodled my backgrounds...
scanned them... added my own digital image stamp
printed them out on canvas paper....
added some rub-on words and extra doodling...
and also some bling... lol
Cor I just loved it...it was so much fun.
Have a fab day all and thanks for looking :D
hugs
Chris xx

Wednesday 3 February 2010

Playing 'Dress it up'

The other day my pal Chriss sent me a link to this fab blog where delight of delights... ladies are playing dress up and making all kinds of dresses...paper, fabric, mixed media etc. and OMG it took me back to when I was a young 'un cutting out the dresses from the 'Bunty' and then progressing to making my own with anything I could lay my hands on. I would spend hours cutting and sewing, sticking and admiring and I have been transported back to that glorious time. If you'd like to join in pop over to Margaret's blog here.
Margaret is challenging herself to make one dress each month... but well as usual when I get my teeth into something I couldn't stop!! I knew I wanted to use some Basic Grey papers that I bought a long time ago...I could picture them in my head.
My first dress is using one of my favourites and just had to have this bird as it's focal point.

Number two includes some lace effect paper and some more of my lace stash...
and I just had to add some half pearls and some bling :D
Number 3 is using vibrant colours with some soft muted pink.... I layered... decoupage style... some of the gorgeous cerise pink floral pieces from the paper and then made some shabby circles for more interest.
Finally (well for today at least... I'm addicted now..lol) I must've been having a sober moment ;-)
cos I made A SUIT. The paper was just saying... 'make me into a suit' honest IT WAS!!

A few half pearls for embellishment... a couple of paper cuts for interest and some patterned paper for colour and Bob's yer Uncle I was finished.
Errrm but after I took my photos I started again... told you I was addicted... so I've more to share but I have to keep you in suspense for a little while or you will be here for the next 24 hours scrolling down to the end!!
Hope you enjoyed the fashion show.
hugs
Chris xx

Monday 1 February 2010

Gothic Arch Challenge - Correspondence

This weeks Gothic Arch Challenge is 'Correspondence 'and I had to join in... as I had these lovely images from Lisa's Altered Art and I have been waiting for something gorgeous to use them on
and just for a change I've been using touchy feely stuff :D
This is a close up of those gorgeous images....

and I just had to show you a close up of this amazing lace that I received aons ago as a little gift from Karen at Scrapz I have had it forever!! but I couldn't bear to use it... I just wanted to look at it and stroke it lovingly. I mean come on...look at the g o r g e o u s bling encased within those special threads. ooooh I can't believe I used some but I had to so I could share it with you...lol
hugs
Chris xx