Inspiration Seeds: an altered art assemblage

Posted on 2nd April 2015 by Neil

I recently undertook a house clearance, and one of the items that caught my eye was a wooden caddy that had been used for many years to keep tea bags in:
I decided this box needed a new lease of life, and rescued it from the pile destined for the tip. A quick discussion in one of my Tuesday evening groups came up with the suggestion to make it a seed storage box. After a bit of a rub down, addition of some moulded embellishments and some cut and layered lettering, I painted everything with Americana Decor Chalky Finish in Lace:
I then decided to age it, and covered it in tarmac and left it over night to ‘set’ before cleaning it back to get the vintage look.

It was at this point the seed of an idea took root and I decided that it would become a ‘seeds of inspiration’ box and went on to cut out and make matchboxes, pillow boxes and seed packets ready for my collection. Over the past few weeks I have filled, labelled and collected and here present my altered art assemblage ‘Inspiration Seeds’:

Now when I have a creative block, I can dip into my box, and with just a few items can hopefully spark off the next piece of creative genius.

What I did at the weekend…

Posted on 30th March 2015 by Neil

This gorgeous bird started out as a £1 plain brass charm at the start of Saturday morning. It’s only 7x5cm in size, but had the dimples ready for the cloisonné effect additions of Stickles Glue (Stardust, Peacock & Lagoon), Juniper Liquid Pearls and some Glossy Accents. So by the end of Sunday, this was the final result. I need to make sure I get to the rest of them, so I’m staying quiet as to where I found it!

I also completed two more art journal pages – another for my Carabelle Studio stamps demo, and the second featuring new stamps from Tim Holtz. This page had several layers of paint and distress stains to start, and then I augmented it with the ‘Pretty Like A Flower’ stamp, with distress markers. It’s the first time I’ve used PanPastels to tone down a background, fixing with a quick hairspray. Which by the way causes archival ink to swim about, so the gesso layer got thicker to cover that learning moment…

Iridescent watercolours really make the embossed butterfly zing – but beware when drying the previous page – the embossing remelts and distresses both the artist and the facing page somewhat!

Mixed Media Sketchbook Cover

Posted on 23rd February 2015 by Neil

In between various quilting tasks and undercoating MDF clock bases, I’ve also been working on this mixed media sketchbook cover makeover, in the Finnabair style. I haven’t been to any of Anna’s classes, but did get to see her demo’ing her new media range, courtesy of Prima, at the Notions stand at the trade show last week.

The sketchbook is hard cover, and I made the mistake of forgetting to put the texture paste down before sticking the ephemera in place (but I think I got away with it). A gesso layer melds everything together and stiffens paper flowers. There’s metal trinkets, moulded paper clay, buttons, beads and bingo tokens as well as chipboard inches. Colour initially started in pinks and purples, but as the piece developed, the pinks receded and blues came in. Products include Inka Gold, Cosmic Shimmer Matt Chalk Acrylics, Liquid Pearls, Viva Decor Pearl & Paper Pens, Dreamweaver Embossing Paste and various stencils.

Oh and I used my new Bosch Glue Pen as well to stick things down with (thank you Kathryn & David!).

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Sandy Toes Beach Hut Clock (for Jones Crafts)

Posted on 16th December 2014 by Neil

This month I have the gorgeously summery ‘Sandy Toes’ collection from Kaisercraft to play with. I also got sent a Candy Box Crafts Bird Box Clock Kit to work with… So I combined them both to make this beach hut themed clock.

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Greeting Card Art Journal

Posted on 15th December 2014 by Neil

I’m meant to be recording tutorial videos this week, but have been kindly handed a cold and laryngitis… so I’m catching up with some of the things that don’t need a voice to action! This is another project that has sat in the corner of the studio for most of the year that I decided to finish for my altered art demo day last week. I’ve upcycled various greeting cards that were saved from birthdays and Christmases into a functional and hard wearing art journal.

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Artist’s Palette Assemblage

Posted on 6th December 2014 by Neil

This project started several years ago as an impromptu challenge with another crafting artist – it’s had bits and pieces done to it in between other projects, but with my altered art demonstration day today at Coleman’s Craft Warehouse, it seemed the perfect time to get it finished and on display!

Made with a Tim Holtz Configurations box, a free wooden palette and various bits and bobs gleaned at pound shops I’ve tried to include both colour, texture and materials used by an artist. Now all I have to do is find somewhere to put it!

Altered Art Baccy Tin

Posted on 27th November 2014 by Neil

I once smoked cigars, back when I had money to burn. Cigar boxes are great for altering. Then came the career change and I switched to an occasional pipe, and no longer were boxes in ready supply. Instead I have an increasing pile of round tobacco tins, as I was sure I would find a use for them (other than hoarding screws in them that is). Well yesterday I had a spark of inspiration (I blame the new medication) and I’ve spent some time using skills with a piercing saw that I picked up at college. A pierced celtic knot allows the contained pot-pourri pong to escape and gives tantalising glimpses of the bits ‘n’ bobs included. Perfect piece of pungent upcycling!

Top tips:

Find stencil patterns to adapt – that way you know whole chunks you wanted to keep won’t suddenly fall into the bin
Remove all labels and adhesive from the tin before you start cutting
Use a decent piercing saw and a blade with high number of teeth per inch for a smooth cut – change regularly even if you don’t manage to break the blade
Use a jeweller’s bench peg to work on as it’s so much safer and easier
Regularly clean your cutting surface of the metal burrs – I didn’t at the start and that’s what has sanded off the gold around the edge
Mark the cutting lines on the inside of the lid and cut upside down as well – this reduces the bounce of the metal as you can hold it closer to the bench peg
Work from the middle out to help keep everything as rigid as possible
If you need to flatten out the final piercing, hit with a flat hammer onto a flat surface a couple of times.

Altered Art Celtic Style Box

Posted on 24th November 2014 by Neil

This started off as one of those ubiquitous paper mache boxes, approximately 3 inches square and found in most arts and crafts stockists. I’ve used real copper sheet (via Woodware stockists) and embossed it with celtic knot designs printed from internet sources, traced onto the copper and then worked with various embossing tools. The black background is just permanent black marker direct to the box. The raised areas are filled with Dimensional Magic from Mod Podge, though Glossy Accents does the job too. Once that’s dry, the copper ‘aged’ with a smear of black acrylic paint which is polished off when still wet. Once that’s all done it’s stuck down to the box with ultra tack sheet/tape. Another sample for my demonstration day at Coleman’s Craft Warehouse on Saturday 6th December.

It might seem quiet…

Posted on 1st October 2014 by Neil

It might seem quiet, since I have neglected to post on this ‘ere blog in a little while. For regular readers, you know this is probably due to me being silly busy and not finding a moment to update! Well, you’re not wrong…

I’ve been prepping and delivering staff training at Coleman’s Craft Warehouse on Viva Decor products (yesterday) and I’ll be there demo’ing there again for their Big Demo Day on Saturday between 10-4. There’s also two workshops (bookable via their website) on 25th October, when you’ll be able to get your hands all inky with the same products.

I’ve also launched an Art Journaling Session here at the Studio, meeting on the first Monday of the month – and it’s already full! The homework this month was to choose and journal a favourite quote… here’s mine:

Simple background to emphasise the extravagance of the colour in the word, and a bit of sparkle added with Stickles. Oh, and I didn’t hand draw the text in case you were wondering. I designed it on the computer, printed and then traced it out.

I’ve also been designing this year’s Christmas cards… Spoiler alert – if you don’t want to see what you might get through the door in a couple of months’ time, look away now 😉

Stamp is an oldie from Stampendous, embossed with WOW! Metallic Bronze onto watercolour paper. The dove is masked, the paper spritzed with water and then Purple Brusho sprinkled, teased and dried to get the nebular appearance. Oh, it didn’t quite look right in blue.

I also had the fastest sample turnaround ever yesterday afternoon – I got back in from teaching at 2:15pm, opened a package from Craftwork Cards that had arrived not an hour before, and was crafting by 2:30pm. Five samples in 90 minutes, labelled and packed and to the post office by 4:45pm for 9am special delivery (how much!?!?) for today’s Create & Craft TV shows with the lovely Julie Hickey. Phew!

And talking of Craftwork Cards, I’ve been helping out with graphics and the inaugural Project of the Month over at the official Craftwork Cards Fan Page over on Facebook. For details of how to make this ‘Christmas Kisses’ card, pop over to the page, ask to join if you haven’t already and look for the POTM header 🙂

Raining [Cats And] Dogs (for Jones Crafts)

Posted on 4th September 2014 by Neil

This month, for Jones Crafts, I have been sent the new Graphic45 Raining Cats & Dogs Collection of papers. At the risk of alienating half my loyal readership, I don’t really do cats… so it’s just raining dogs in this massive layout! I’ve used an Ikea Ribba 50x50cm frame to hold the layout, placing the main sheet behind the mount which is conveniently sized at 11½” square aperture. The pictures of Esther and her pups are mounted on the various complimentary papers, embellished with various of the die cut chipboard tags, cut out stamps from the Mr Whiskers page (omitting the cat ones, obviously) and layered paper ribbon from the Playful Pals page. A few paper flowers decorated up to more or less match brings the centre to the mount and breaks up the border.

I’ve edged everything with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and that includes ageing the gingham ribbon bows as well so they didn’t stand out quite as much. Oh, and a top tip – if you’re keeping the deep frame, remember the insert takes up quarter of an inch round the outer edge of the mount if you’re laying out away from the frame… And if I’d had a couple more of the centre sheets, I would have decoupaged several of the elements, such as the flowers and the stamps, and the lovely lady with the umbrella.

Hope this inspires you to work with the Collection – and work big!