Tag Archives: stamping

Caribbean Cool

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Caribbean CoolHello friends

I hope you have all had a good weekend, mine has been busy.  Spent the last two days working in the Heritage Centre in the Cemetery helping to set up an exhibition on Royalty and Ryde for our two Open Days next weekend.  There is still quite a lot of work to do but nevertheless we made good progress and it will all look good.   Now we just have to hope some people turn up to make it worthwhile.

The spread above is about my wedding on February 2 2007, I’ve written about that event before so I won’t bore you with the details again, except to say that I absolutely love the Island of Tobago and in particular the quiet fishing village of Castara.  Our wedding was just before sunset on top of Mount Dillon overlooking beautiful Castara Bay, it was perfect.

To make the spread I first covered the pages completely with images cut from magazines, all the images were predominently an intense blue – the colour of the Caribbean sea, then I lightly gesso’d over the top, stamped and stencilled in red, yellow and green also colours of the Caribbean, and blue fishes.  Then I added three images;  the ‘Welcome to Paradise’ sign was on a tree outside Cascreole beach bar (where we had supper after our wedding), one image is of the wedding party – two locals, Susan and Horace Jackson (Horace was one of the witnesses), me, T and the lovely minister Brent Hart, the photo was taken by Paul T’s best man.  There was no-one else there.  The third photo is of one of the many beautiful sunsets you can see from the beach at Castara.  The blue heart is a die cut baby wipe I had used to wipe some blue paint.

This spread makes me happy.

It’s my Dad’s 90th birthday on Wednesday and we are going out for a meal to celebrate that night so I probably won’t be able to post anything until next weekend.

I’ll be thinking of you all and I’ll be back as soon as I can.

Big love

AJ 🙂

The Journey

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The JourneyHello friends!

I hope you are having a good week.  Mine is going fine.

For this spread in my 6×6 journal I started with a page that had some horrible dark green paint on it and the opposite page had dabs of pink ink.  Not a great combination!   I collaged copies of old maps and papers from the Papermania Bookprint collection onto the pages.  I coloured them with Inktense blocks and water.  Where I had used Mod Podge to stick the papers down it acted as a resist to the colour – a nice effect.  I finger painted the whole spread with an ‘eggyolk’ yellow acrylic paint and then added the circles by stamping brown acrylic paint using bottle caps.  I thought it needed some contrast so I stencilled blue acrylic paint through punchinella and a big dot stencil.  Finally I added the words using brown Stazon and a set of tiny letters I purchased at Hobbycraft a while ago.

Making the spread was a bit of a journey, I had no idea where I was going with it when I started and I wasn’t sure where I was when I finished.  It was good fun though 🙂

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Big love

AJ 🙂

The Moment is Now!

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The Moment is NowHello friends!

Happy Wednesday to you I hope you are all well and happy.  I am fine, but I’m feeling physically exhausted at the moment – in a good way I think.

I’ve been doing something completely different at work last week and this week, it’s interesting but tiring for me.

This is a spread from my 6×6 journal.  I started by collaging some images I’d printed but because my printer was running out of ink the colours came out really strange.  Rather than throw them out I decided to use them as a base for a journal page.  I also ripped up some of the local newspaper the was lying on my work table and stuck that down too.  Then I finger painted with blue acrylic, I used a handcut stencil and some blue distress ink then I over collaged with scrapbook paper and the quote which I hand wrote.  I know I should credit the author, but I’m sorry I can’t remember this time.  Finally I overstamped with a paisley stamp and black Stazon and a flower stamp and blue Stazon and I edged the pages with the blue ink too..

Right, I’m off to bed now to get some rest before another busy day of site visits.

I’ll be back soon.

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

Be Grateful to People Who Make us Happy…

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Be Grateful to People Who Make us HappyHello friends!

I hope everything is good with you.  We are in the middle of a Bank Holiday weekend in the UK and it’s unseasonally cold.  At least it has stopped raining for the time being, but a little warmth and sunshine would be appreciated… maybe tomorrow?  I mean we are well into May now!

This spread is from my A4 journal.  You are probably getting the idea by now that one of the things I love to use in my art is torn paper – books, adverts, old maps, receipts, scrap book paper, etc. I just love paper!  I also love script and especially script I can’t understand.  I can only speak English so all other languages look fascinating to me.

I also like the idea of my soul blossoming, so thank you Marcel Proust for the lovely quote.  Fortunately there are quite a lot of people in my life who make me happy.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

Bunting

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BuntingHello Friends

Tomorrow I will be posting my April (finished) and May (ready to go) pages for the 366 Calendar challenge, but I wanted to post something today, it being Sunday and my usual day for posting on my blog.  So here is some bunting I made yesterday for the Jubilee Celebration event Ryde Social Heritage Group is holding in the Heritage Centre in Ryde Cemetery on 26 & 27 May.

I bought some blank cardboard die cut flags and a pack of Portobello Road papers from Papermania and I got some Union Jack material and some red ribbon from the local habidashery shop.  I painted one side of each flag in either red, white or blue acrylic paint and added the RSHG logo.  At first I tried to cut a stamp of the logo from an old mouse mat, it wasn’t bad, but not good enough so finally I cut a stencil  and I stamped RSHG on all the flags and then inked the edges.  Then came the fun part – decorating the front of the flags with either material or paper.   My mum gave me her sewing machine a while ago and that made everying so much easier.  I am pleased with the results although I am a little worried that the cardboard will rip where the machine needle has made holes.  The bunting is for indoor use only.

We are having the kind of weather that makes people complain, high winds and lots of rain.  I really don’t mind this kind of weather because it means I can stay in my art room all day and not feel guilty that I should be outside enjoying the sunshine.

I hope you are all having a great weekend.

Big love

AJ 🙂

Have Beautiful Dreams

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Have Beautiful DreamsHello friends!

Warning: the last two sentences of the third paragraph are a bit rude, so please don’t read that paragraph if you are easily offended.

I hope you are having a good weekend, I am and I am also managing to get a few things done so that’s good, it eases the pressure a little.

The spread above is from my A4 journal.  I painted the pages with some really old pink and orange fluorescent paint I found in my art box (it must be at least 20 years old).  Then I stamped the pages with a Tim Holtz reflections script stamp and a Tim Holtz heart.  I added some gold leaf to one of the pages.  Then I collaged with scraps of paper of all sorts, some images of vintage ladies, some die cut dots, and various other pieces I found in my stash.  The lovely quote is, I believe, by Eleanor Roosevelt and it is to remind me that if I follow my dreams all will be good. 🙂

On Friday all the big bosses came for their meeting, it was strange, for most of the day they were crammed into the meeting room (which was really too small to accommodate the numbers that turned up) and it must have been very uncomfortable for them.  At lunch time they came out and ‘talked to the troops’.  A buffet lunch was provided which I had been tasked with providing.  I am not sure why I was asked to sort it out as catering is really not my speciality.  Anyone who knows me would tell you that.  I suspect it was more to do with the fact that I don’t have a pair of testicles and all my colleagues do.  I’m thinking of asking my mum to knit me a pair 😉

The lunch time chat was really more of a case of ‘the troops’ complaining about how things are run and some of them were quite aggressive.  All the managers acted very professionally, were very reasonable and promised to look into every complaint.  It remains to be seen whether or not they actually do.  After a couple of hours they said they had to go back into their meeting and asked if anyone had anything else to say.  No-one said anything and I thought ‘someone needs to say thanks to them for coming here today’, so I forced myself to say something.

As soon as I started speaking a felt a rush of blood from my feet to my head, I was hot, felt like my face must be the colour of a beetroot and my voice was really shakey, to the point where I almost couldn’t get my words out.  I did my best and I hope it was good enough.  I think it’s important when people make an effort that they are acknowledged and thanked.  It’s one of the complaints we make about our bosses – they never say thank you to us.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I’ll be back soon.

Big love

AJ 🙂

The Power Within

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Hello Friends!

I am really enjoying the weekend and hope you are too.

We had a fantastic meeting of the local history group yesterday and afterwards I went to a felt making workshop to help make squares for a ‘Friendship Quilt’ that will be displayed in Ryde Library for Ryde Arts Festival at the end of June beginning of July.  I made two squares that were only ‘squarish’ ha, ha, ha.  Lovely group of people and we all had fun.

The spread above was made late last year for 21 Secrets 2011 in Tamara Laporte‘s workshop called Collage Paint Soul.  Do you know about Tamara?  She is lovely, check out her blog.

My journal page already had Adirondak Colorwash spray on it from where I had put a wet stencil between the pages and I collaged scraps of paper with inked edges on top, and two images cut from a magazine to make up a girl.  Then I painted over the top with acrylic paints and stamped with various stamps including a Tim Holtz number stamp and I also used some glitter glue.  The thing I loved about Tamara’s workshop was learning that you can take a face from a magazine and paint over it.   I am hopeless at drawing people and faces, and clearly I need more practice, but this is a good way to learn.

I know the head is far too big for the body, believe it or not that was intentional.  Years ago I did an photo/art project called ‘The Big Head Project’ it involved taking photos of people’s faces, printing them out super large on my printer, cutting the face out and sticking it on cardboard to make a mask and then taking another photo of the person with the Big Head.

Here is an example, the colours look odd because the film was cross-processed.

I added the quote from Lord Buckley to finish off the spread.  Here is what it looked like before I started painting:

That’s all for now, I’ve got to get on – places to go, people to see, things to get done.

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

 

Let’s Play! Blog Tagging!

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Life is a Game, Play itHello friends,

It’s time to play 🙂  My friend Cat at seaskystone has tagged me in a game of blog tagging, and I’ve decided to play along. 🙂

The Rules
…you must post the rules
…answer 11 questions the tagger posted for you
…create 11 questions to ask the people you tag
…tag 11 people
…let them know you’ve tagged them

Here are the questions Cat asked and my replies:

  1. What’s the first art you remember making as a child? A roman style plate made of papier mache at infant school
  2. Pick a bouquet: Roses or wildflowers? It would have to be cultivated roses as wild flowers should be left where they choose to grow.
  3. Do you speak more than one language? Sadly I only speak English and I’m not even very good at that!
  4. How many unfinished projects are on your art table? It’s hard to tell as it is so cluttered, but there are at least 5 projects on the go at the moment!
  5. Peanut butter: extra crunchy, crunchy or creamy? Crunchy 🙂
  6. What’s your “if-you-were-stranded-on-a-deserted-island-and-could-only-have-one-song” song? Oooh this is difficult, I think it would have to be song called Afraid of the Dark written by my husband about 30 years ago.
  7. Reading preference: fiction or non-fiction?  I’m not reading much at all at the moment, but when I do read I like both fiction and non-fiction it’s the quality of the writing that counts.
  8. The smell of bread baking, or the smell of freshly ground coffee? Definitely coffee, I’m an addict.
  9. In five words or less, what does creativity mean to you? Expressing the inner me.
  10. What animal do you think you most look like? A pig
  11. What art techniques have you never tried, but want to…? Scrap metal sculpture.

And here are my 11 questions:

  1. Which artist (dead or alive) would you most like to have a 1 to 1 with?
  2. How do you silence your inner critic?
  3. If you could only use three colours which would you choose?
  4. If you could own any one piece of art in the world (money no object) what would it be?
  5. What is your most treasured inanimate possession?
  6. Given the choice of fruit or chocolate which would you pick?
  7. Where in the world would you most like to visit?
  8.  Is your art room tidy or messy?
  9. What gets you up in the morning?
  10. What makes you laugh out loud?
  11. If you could time travel which period or event in history would you like to experience?

And these are my Tagees, chosen from blogs I visit regularly and love (and not duplicating any chosen by Cat).

  1. Wendy @ a girl and her brush
  2. Alicia @ altered bits
  3. Gretchen @ creativity in motion
  4. Eileen @ The Scrap Pit
  5. Mary @ Time for Dabbling
  6. Nancy @ Delight-Filled Leaves Art
  7. Dana and Christopher @ St John Studio
  8. Brian @ a paper bear
  9. Sami @ Luna
  10. Elizabeth @ The Glowing Wheel
  11. July @ Itsaworkofart

I have checked the links and they work OK for me, but if there are any problems please let me know.

Please Note: There is no obligation to play along, I know people are busy with other stuff, so please don’t feel pressured because I tagged you, I just love your blogs so I wanted other to see them too.

The image above started off as just a purple glittery page, I didn’t like it so I drew black ovals all over it, didn’t like that either, so I took some of the lovely vintage pages Alicia sent me, ripped them and coloured them with blue distress ink and stuck them on, beginning to like it a bit now, then I got some gesso on my finger and drew around some of the black ovals and around the edges of the page, like it even more now. Then I took some printed vellum ripped and inked the edges with purple ink and stuck them on and dripped acrylic ink over the page.  Finally in honour of this game I printed the quote on.  Finally I really like the page and hope you do too 🙂

Big love

AJ

Life is Good

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Hello Friends!

We changed the clocks this weekend so tonight it was lighter for an hour longer, the weather has been glorious and everywhere there are signs of spring.  I took my parents out for a drive this afternoon and the magnolia trees have just come into bloom, they look beautiful.

The page above is from my A4 journal, it looks a little ‘muddy’ as there are loads and loads of layers of gesso, acrylic paint, scrapbook paper, some Tim Holtz stamps and then more of the same.  It took a lot or work to arrive at something I was happy with – sometimes that’s how it goes.   The words sum up how I am feeling at the moment.

At the beginning of the month I said that I knew of 2 exciting things happening in March and the first happened last Friday.  My local history group was invited to a Royal event, the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the 200th anniversary of the passing of the Ryde Pier Act.  I think that my American friends will be much more impressed by this than any of my English friends.  I don’t know many English people who are ardent Royalists, but it was great for my hard working team to get some recognition for all the unpaid work they do researching and documenting the history of our town.  Prince Edward (the Queen’s youngest son) was very pleasant and easy to talk to and we had a fantastic day.  If you are intersted you can read about it here.

The second exciting thing is going to be the Party on the Pier next Saturday, we did it last year and our historical display attracted many people.  We are looking forward to having another wonderful day.

I hope life is good for all of you.

Big love

AJ

Out of the blue, I found you

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Out of the Blue...Hello friends, happy Wednesday 🙂

I created this bluish spread with gesso, Derwents Inktense blocks, a Tim Holtz reflection script stamp, some scraps of scrap book paper and edged the pages and the papers with irredescent purple ink.  The phrase ‘Out of the blue, I found you”, kept coming into my mind so I stamped it with some tiny alphabet stamps I got from Hobbycraft.

I was thinking how lucky I was to meet my soul mate when I was still at school and how over time (over 40 ears) the relationship has changed in nature but is still constant and true.  Then I found this amazing quote by Sir Hugh Walpole.  You probably can’t read it from the image but it says:

“The most wonderful of things in life is the discovery of another human being with whom one’s relationship has a growing depth, beauty and joy as the years increase.  This progressiveness of love between two humans is a marvellous thing; it cannot be found by looking or by passionately wishing for it.  Its a sort of divine accident”

See you soon

Big love

AJ 🙂