Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Pick A Stick Challenge [January]

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Gah! It’s so frustrating when you write a blog post and then there’s a glitch and it’s gone and even the saved drafts don’t seem to exist any more… so for the second time of writing:

During the week I was invited by an online friend I got to know through the Creative Chemistry 101 classes a few years ago to join a new art journaling challenge group she was organising. The Pick A Stick Challenge Group on Facebook is open to anyone who would like to join in and is an active art journaler. The premise is simple: each month, ten sticks are drawn at random from a pot of prompts covering media, styles and techniques. The only other stipulation is that you layer your page in the order the sticks are drawn. That is where the process becomes a little more tricky!

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Altered Art
New Year’s Day Project: Card Collage

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It’s the annual Christmas Party for my studio regulars tomorrow, and traditionally we do a project that upcycles the now defunct Christmas cards and wrapping paper. This time I thought we’d do a little home decor piece ready to pack away with the decorations to bring out again next Christmas. Here’s my example, created in a Tando Creative Mini Printer Tray (laser cut greybeard).

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Nouveau Border

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It’s been a little while since I’ve done a step-by-step for a border pattern, so I thought I’d add to my art nouveau inspired tangle patterns. Use as a corner piece or expand the leaves and tendrils to increase the border length, throwing in the odd flower for interest and break up the lines.

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Gothic Buds

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Another tangle pattern, this time drawing on Gothic architecture for the inspiration. The stippling can be either very annoying or very therapeutic depending on what sort of pen you’re using! I recommend a soft tip on a stack of paper if you value peace and quiet, or a hard ballpoint nib straight to the paper on a hard surface if you’re dead set on annoying someone in the vicinity…

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Hope

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I wasn’t at all happy with my finished page yesterday… so I tried again today using what I had learnt from my experimentation. Keeping with the ‘3+1’ theme, I switched the same complementary colours. I am so much happier with the outcome – a cleaner, fresher, more impactful page.

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Do or Do Not

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I watched ‘Empire Strikes Back’ last night amongst the Star Wars furore that seems to have broken out this week. As Yoda is training the young Luke Skywalker, he comes out with this often quoted adage: ‘Do or do not, there is no try’.

Well, that tied in so nicely with my plans for next month’s art journal session: we’re going to try do some colour theory in a lesson I’m going to call ‘3 + 1’. There are several regulars at my art journaling sessions that say they ‘can’t do colour’, so I will be encouraging them to use a colour wheel to pick two complementary colours and then add the colours either side of one of them to make up the ‘3’. As an added bonus, we’ll also be mixing the colours using the three primary colours of paint by DecoArt.

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Deco Baubles

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Now I have stopped making items for sale at the Christmas Fayre, I’ve turned my relatively idle hands to working out a few more step-by-step tangle patterns. Inspired by various designs, this is the first of several to come. I love how the repeated geometric pattern forms a bauble shape in the negative space – hence the name.

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Kindness is like snow

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I’ve been forced by circumstances this week to not have a creative outlet, and I’ve come to realise that’s not a good idea! I’ve snatched time though, today, to practice the Gelli Plate technique I’ll be teaching in my Art Journaling Session on Monday evening. There will be spaces available – if you’d like to come, just get in touch.

[Monoprint panels using Chipped Sapphire/Stormy Sky Distress Paints and white acrylic paint; background from cleaning the brayer; text in Posca white acrylic marker.]

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About me
I’ve got a new role!

News released today from Craftwork Cards:

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We are delighted to announce the appointment of Neil Burley as our Social Media Manager.

Neil has been a key part of our Design Team for the last two years and there is no doubting his amazing creative skills. He has made so many fabulous, inspirational projects for us and now he will also be working with us to coordinate the various social media sites we use, including our blog, Pinterest boards and Facebook page.

Neil will be working closely with Julie Hickey, Design Team Co-ordinator, and the Design Team as a whole to bring you lots more beautiful inspiration, sharing their top tips and techniques, step by step mini tutorials on how to create some of their fantastic creations, and much more! There will be links to our collections too, making shopping much easier for you.

We have lots of exciting plans for the new year, but we would love to hear your ideas too! Please email them to Neil at socialmedia@craftworkcards.com.

Welcome to the Craftwork Cards team Neil!

 

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