Monthly Archives: February 2011

Art journal week 8 Books

27/02/2011art journal, books, ukstampers weekly challenge week 8Jackie

What a difficult challenge this one has been. The ukstampers week 8 challenge prompt was Books and you had to include:

list your top 5 books, what and why
use a quote from one of them on your page
use an old book page as your background

So here is my page: although I did not use a quote from one of my chosen books I added an old Chinese proverb instead.

Inks: Memento Tuxedo black, versamark with clear embossing powder, Distress inks Black soot, Fired brick, frayed burlap, old paper, Forest moss
Card: Old page from torn from My altered book project (a PD James one I think), white card, parchment type thick paper
Stamps: Non sequitur Grave tidings, Graphicus bookmarks
Other: Adirondack color wash Pesto, Chroma jewels Slate and Forest, Walnut ink, Metallic rub-on gold

As a child I enjoyed reading books, as a teenager my reading fell by the wayside as I had far more sporty and outdoor things to do. It wasn’t until I had an enforced and rather long stay in hospital that rekindled my affection for reading. Buying new books is such a pleasure but I don’t have room for any more so I have made a rule that if I buy a new book then I must give one of my old ones away. These 5 books have made it to the section of books never to be given away (amongst quite a few others).

Around 1986 I found The Way of Wyrd, Tales of an Anglo-Saxon Sorcerer by Brian Bates. A Christian scribe is given a mission to learn about Pagan beliefs and to accomplish this he becomes a Shaman’s apprentice. This is a fascinating account of some of the beliefs around that time.

Aztec by Gary Jennings is an epic adventure story of an Aztec man. It took me ages to get through it and in places I found it rather difficult but it is a fascinating account of the way Aztecs lived. There is a bit of everything in it.

Then comes Post Mortem by Patricia Cornwell. Kay Scarpetta uses forensic science to track down killers. I was studying Biological science at the time I found this book and very nearly chose forensic science as one of my subjects. This was the first of many crime thrillers I have now read.

Ship of magic: The Liveship traders by Robin Hobb. What can I say – each and every one of her books (written as Robin Hobb) is magical and transports me away to another world of magic, mystery, dragons, serpents, Rain Wild River…..

Mort By Terry Pratchett. Need I say more… the Discworld series is amazing and I read this one first where DEATH takes a vacation and he takes on Mort as his apprentice. This is so funny and makes you want to read all the rest of the Discworld books in any order.

I wanted to add Delia Smith’s Complete Illustrated Cookery Course too as it is my most used, most dog-eared cook book. The trouble is I have many more ‘favourite’ books that I couldn’t give away too numerous to mention. I enjoy reading cookery books and gardening books just as much as I do novels.

Art journal week 7 Colour

24/02/2011art journal, ukstampers weekly challenge No. 7Jackie

And here is my week 7 art journal page for the ukstampers weekly challenge.
Week 7’s prompt was Colour:

what is your favourite colour and why
use this as your main background for your page
add a doodled border to your page

Ok if you haven’t already guessed my favourite colour has to be green. I have to have a plant in every room so that I have some greenery to look at. If I don’t have a plant then I have a picture of a plant (is that sad). My favourite room in the house is the conservatory which used to be pretty full but I am trying to cut down on the number of plants now and most of them are ferns. Although I love flowers I like foliage even more for the fantastic array of shades of green.

As I was making this I learned the hard way that if you use masking fluid on cotton rag handmade paper it just rips the surface off when you try to remove it (I should have known that really, just wasn’t thinking). Still I just carried on and the ripped surface just adds more texture.

Inks: Memento Tuxedo black, Brilliance Pearlescent ivy, Adirondack Lettuce, Distress ink Peeled paint
Card: Cotton rag handmade paper
Stamps: R.S. Tapestry clear Fern
Other: Acrylc paint Sap green and Pistachio, spray inks Adirondack color wash Pesto and Ecoline Charteuse, Distress stickles Peeled paint, Thistle stencil (leaves), red pen, white pen, black pen, Tim Holtz mask Flourish, masking fluid

Printers drawer project (ongoing)

23/02/2011printer's drawer, shabby chicJackie

Remember this printers drawer from Last year? Well it now looks like the picture below.
In my first post about this project I said that I would keep the look of the wood, just clean it up a bit and not paint it. Ha ha as you see I have changed my mind slightly (master of understatement!). First of all I cleaned it, sanded it then painted it all over with a mix of Deep sung cream and Dark truffle. Not one single piece of wood is actually straight and each section is a different size. I did try to take out individual pieces of wood in order to increase some of the sections but this just broke the wood as they are all nailed in (at an angle). Once it was all painted I added Tim Holtz tissue tapes, bits of stamped tissue paper and old adverts over the sides and edges. I still didn’t quite like the result so changed my mind and went down the route of shabby chic. The sections are quite small so I will be using the drawer to display some of my miniature mice and other such little items.

I painted it all white then pale blue and did a bit of sanding again so that some of the wood, tissue tape and adverts would still show through in places. I have added some patterned paper to some sections and left some blank.

Here is a wee close up of one section which I will display a tiny pewter bird in nest pill box.

It is all taking rather a long time to do as I have found it rather difficult to position the tray in such a way to paint it without getting sore shoulders in the process.
Once it is all finished and on the wall I will take a few more photos.

Engagement card

17/02/2011card, engagement cardJackie

Here is a quick engagement card I was asked to make the other day. The engagement congratulations are on the insert rather than on the front of the card so I could put the love quote on the front instead. The delicate leaves and flowers signify the growing and blossoming love.

Inks: Stampin up Old olive, Distress ink Peeled paint, red pen for flower
Card: white card, Magenta Printempspassion Robin’s nest paper
Stamps: Stampin up Hopeful thoughts, sentiment (unknown)
Other: ribbon, tiny piece of gauze, tiny flat backed pearls, pearl heart

Circuit board Birthday card

14/02/2011birthday card, card, circuit boardJackie

I was given a few pieces of circuit board by John ages ago so that I could take the components from it to use in my card making. I have used the odd bit but I thought I would take a photo and use that instead for this card. I will take a few arty photos in future from different angles and maybe close ups to see if I can get a more interesting effect than just overhead. I have matted the photo with coppery coloured card and tape to compliment the copper circuitry.

Card: photo card, black, white, speciality two tone copper/green card

Other: copper spiral paperclips, copper tape, circuit board

Birthday card

14/02/2011birthday card, cardJackie

So Stuart – when are you doing the West Highland Way?
This is not the card I intended to do but I just couldn’t get my other ideas to work but I do like this photo – they both look so happy in it. They do a lot of walking together including hill walking, mountain rescue and geo-caching.

Inks: Memento Tuxedo black
Card: white aperture card, photo card, white card
Stamps: Aspects of Design 25 – Rambling 1
Other: map showing the West highland Way, bottle cap, diamond glaze, watercolour pencils

Valentine card

14/02/2011card, valentine cardJackie

We are not that big on Valentines day in our house but we do always do the card thing. Ukstampers are having a Valentine competition going on so I entered this card in.

[Doh!! I have just realized I haven’t actually used any stamping on this card!]

Inks: Alcohol inks: stream, stonewashed and sailboat blue
Card: white card, blue handmade background paper (see Fishes card a few posts ago for details), silver miri card (through the diamond Cuttlebug embossing folder)
Other: mesh, small square embellishment (middle replaced with a blue heart button), silver bradletz, silver embossing powder, printed greeting

Easel card for Tegan

13/02/2011card, easel cardJackie

I wanted to make a card that would hold a gift certificate and remembered Linda Elbourne’s article in the Craft stamper mag (Feb 2010). I made up a square one and used patterned paper for most of it with a little stamping on the front of the pocket. I wrapped the certificate with ribbon so it is easy to pull out.

Inks: Adirondack Woodlands, Distress inks Tattered rose and Frayed burlap
Card: white, brown, brown corrugated, double sided patterned card Prima Flights of fancy ‘tiptop’
Stamps: fee stamp (from craft stamper mag.)
Other: Prima Camelot rose, tiny gold brad, flower brads, vellum butterfly coloured from the back, diamond glaze (on the clock face), ribbon, Stampin up book-plate

I coloured the certificate with more stamping and edged with the same Distress inks to match the card. Now Tegan, I have it on good authority that you will use the gift to put towards a clock!

Art journal week Friends

12/02/2011art journal, friends, ukstampers weekly challenge No. 6Jackie

As you have guessed the prompt for week 6 on the ukstampers weekly challenge is Friends.
Your page has to include:

Who, when, where
what is your most memorable friends story
use some kind of stencilling

The story behind the page.
I met Mairi while working at Debenhams restaurant and on the night of 10/03/85 we went out to a night club. This night is memorable for the fact that I lost my memory due to a head injury!
We didn’t have much money – enough for 1 drink and a taxi home. We left our drinks at the table, went up to dance and the next thing I remember was waking up in hospital.
Apparently: ‘I walked into the hospital alone and told the nurse that I didn’t know what happened or where I had been. There was bruising to the left side of my mouth, swollen lip and graze on my forehead and left hand.’ How I walked into that hospital I don’t know because I didn’t know it even existed. I didn’t know who I was or anything. When my memory did start to come back the first memory was pink and purple stripes. Mairi had been wearing stripy trousers! The next memory confused me for a while as I remember having a duvet but I knew that I didn’t actually own one. Mary (another workmate) had just given me one of her spare duvets after learning how cold I got at night. Eventually more memories came back but none of the actual night out.
What happened – I wasn’t drunk as I only had 1 drink.
Theories:

drink may have been drugged (Rohypnol)
fell whilst hailing a cab
face clipped by a wing mirror of taxi/ambulance/bus

Mairi told me later that we had had a good night out and I had gone for a taxi and she went home. We haven’t seen each other for years now as she works abroad but we do intend to meet up again as soon as she is back over here.

The grey background with white webbing spray portrays my little grey cells and the cogs are me trying to remember.

Inks: Memento Tuxedo black, Adirondack Currant, Encore silver with clear embossing powder, Distress inks Tattered rose, Black soot and Pumice stone
Card: White card, white paper
Stamps: Stampin up Sense of time and Wonderful words, Oxford Impressions Steampunk (little cogs), Technique Tuesday Hanging by a thread, Girls just want to have fun – unknown
Other: acrylic paint, white webbing spray, Tim Holtz stencils, mica (coloured pink using copic pen), white pen

Art journal week 5 Perfect day

10/02/2011art journal, perfect day, uk stampers challenge 5Jackie

At last I have made up my mind what to do for my perfect day page….I chose a perfect day in spring.
This is for the ukstampers weekly challenge and as you may have gathered I am a bit behind. The prompt for week 5 was – Perfect day and the page had to include:

what is/would be your perfect day
use some stamping
include an image

My image is a photo of cherry blossom on our patio which I used as the background for the page. In photoshop I added the text and a grungy mask (there is actually a pale pink background behind the mask but that doesn’t show up well here). The stamped images are the flowers in the top corner, 3 little frogs on the right and small leaves on the left.
The text reads: ‘the sweet scent of blossom drifting in the light breeze…soft fluffy clouds…little birds chirping all around…croaking frogs splashing in the pond…the fresh green of newly opening leaves…time to do nothing but simply enjoy…the perfect spring day!’

Inks: Memento New sprout, Stampin up Regal rose (stamped off)
Card: white card, white vellum (small flowers)
Stamps: from the Rubber stamp tapestry range
Other: Diamond glaze, tiny amount of flower soft on some stamens, photo of my cherry tree blossom, grungy mask from Jessica Prague, Prima pebble, dots of gold glitter, fabric butterflies

Cardesque

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