Altered Art: After Magritte

Posted on 16th November 2015 by perfectly4med

On a recent trip to Norfolk, I was lucky enough to get to a very reputable cigar and pipe shop and bought my first Meerschaum pipe. For those not in the know, these are carved from a white mineral, and naturally colour as they bake with successive smokes. They’re not cheap, and to keep them safe, they come in bespoke cases. They’re particularly handy for smoking outdoors as they don’t burn through like wooden ones can when wind keeps the embers constantly alight. Imagine then my horror when on first smoke there was a sudden crack noise, and the bowl left the stem.

It seems that every now and then, there are flaws in the mineral that aren’t obvious, and being quite thin walled, the pipe just gave out. The dealer replaced it with absolutely no fuss and I’m pleased to say the replacement pipe is giving me a great deal of pleasure as I have my downtime.

Long story cut short – I now had a pipe case with no pipe. It was too nice to throw away, but not easy to find another use for. I remember seeing Magritte’s ‘Treachery of Images’ and loving the surrealist observation decided to make my homage. Thanks to a friend who is considerably more knowledgeable about French than I am, I was able to add my own tagline: ‘This is not a pipe either’. I plan to send the canvas to the great guys who dealt with me so helpfully, and hope they (and their customers) enjoy the joke.

[Acrylic on canvas, Liquid Pearls Onyx, found object. 20cm x 20cm]

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Mass Production Line: The Burley Christmas Cards

Posted on 14th November 2015 by perfectly4med

It’s that time of year again. That time when you’ve designed this year’s Christmas card, and it’s time to make all 75 cards that are apparently required. So, a mass production line swings into action. Here are some tips:

When heat embossing large numbers of images, consider getting a teppanyaki hot plate (top right). Cover with a heat resistant non-stick sheet, turn up to a temperature where the embossing powder just melts, and then as you stamp and add the powder to each piece, the previous piece is melting. Slide the piece off with the end of a paintbrush as the embossing powder finishes melting. Occasionally you may need to push the card to the hot surface (again with the end of a paintbrush) if it has curled up.
Liquid Pearl dots love to cling and merge to the next one if wet. In my mass production line, I dotted in the same place on each holly sprig before leaving the set to dry. After a minimum of an hour, I did the next dot on each sprig, and left them again. Finally the third dot was added in the same fashion.
TOP TIP:
If your Liquid Pearls is misbehaving, warm it up on a radiator or in your pocket. It become less viscous, flowing better and forming nice domes.
Assemble in batches – and take a break between batches to stretch, change your attention, and generally improve productivity. And prevent boredom!

As to the finished result – you’ll have to wait and see. Especially if you’re one of the lucky 75 that receives the real thing 😉

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Half A Pound of Tuppenny Rice… and a few socks

Posted on 1st November 2015 by perfectly4med

I’m still in making mode for the church Christmas Fayre… and inspired by yet another Facebook shared video, I have three snowmen families gracing my studio table, one of which has chosen this as their official Christmas card. Nobody mentioned that sports socks are now rarely just white, seemingly requiring colour splashes to be able to match them up when mixed in the gym bag. Good old George at Asda came up trumps though 🙂

And prices have gone up since rice was tuppenny… with each family weighing in at 1333g of Basics rice, that’s more like 3lbs of rice for £1. Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.

And the pompoms, despite a wonderful gizmo to help, still took an hour to make and sew on. I think it was worth it though for the finishing sparkling touch.

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From the archive: ‘Autumn’ mixed media canvas

Posted on 28th October 2015 by perfectly4med

I’ve been clearing out the detritus that was my study, and found a 16MB flash card – that shows how long the pile has been sitting there as my smallest now is 16GB! On it were a few photos of this project. This is one of my first mixed media pieces – I made it at least 8 years ago. Combining acrylics, UTEE, Liquid Pearls, Stickles, gliding foil (back when it was in sheets not tubs), die cut or punched Bazzil card stock, translucent plastic, and distress inks. I added words later, such as ‘autumn’, ‘fall’ and ‘leaves’. Perfect piece to share at this time of year. As Albert Camus said ‘autumn is the second spring, when every leaf is a flower’.

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Raining Cats & Dogs Cards (for Jones Crafts)

Posted on 18th September 2014 by perfectly4med

As well as the extraordinarily large layout I did earlier in the month, I’ve used the Graphic45 Raining Cats & Dogs Collection to make four cards from what was left over from my kit sent by Jones Crafts. As you might expect, all the papers complement one another and are ideal for matting up. Embellishments are a cinch with the die cut chipboard tags and there’s also a couple of sheets of die cut card stock with folders/envelopes with matching inserts. Quick edging with Walnut Stain Distress Ink hides those annoying white edges and I’ve added faux brads using Onyx Liquid Pearls. Hey presto, four cards for the pet lovers amongst your friends and family. The Cat’s Meow card is 8×8″, the other three are 6×6″.

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Couture Creations Dreamboat Collection at Creative Expressions (Part 2)

Posted on 23rd November 2013 by perfectly4med

It’s been a real struggle not to share these projects over the weeks that I have had the Couture Creations 3-in-1 Dreamboat sets – co-ordinating dies, embossing folder and clear stamps in one package. The sets were destined for TV appearance and there’s been a blog embargo until this week’s blog hop – but here are another five projects showcasing these fabulous sets! For full making details, continue reading.

AS SEEN ON CREATE & CRAFT TV over weekend 16th-18th November 2013.

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Couture Creations Dreamboat Collection at Creative Expressions (Part 1)

Posted on 19th November 2013 by perfectly4med

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Welcome to the Creative Expressions Couture Creations Blog Hop! Hopefully you got here from Pam Smith’s blog, but if you didn’t, here’s the start at Creative Expressions News Blog!

The Couture Creations Dreamboat 3-in-1 sets include coordinating clear stamps, embossing folder and dies that work together in so many different combinations.

And one randomly selected person commenting on this project before the closing date will win a fabulous prize package:
– Zentangled Saying Pre Cut Stamp
– Glitter
– Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
– Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shine Detail Embossing Powder

PLEASE NOTE:
THE PRIZE WINNER HAS BEEN SELECTED – further comments are welcome, but are no longer eligible for the blog hop prize package.

If you want to sign up to follow my blog, the widget is right at the bottom of the comments… and here is my project for the blog hop:

You will need:
Couture Creations Dreamboat: Doilies 3-in-1 set
A4 sheet Foundations Milk cardstock
A4 sheet Foundations Dark Roast Coffee cardstock
Ranger Liquid Pearls: Dark Chocolate
Cosmic Shimmer Embossing Powder: Denim Lilac Aurora
Cosmic Shimmer Angel Fibres: Enchanted Metallics
Cosmic Shimmer Specialist Acrylic Glue
Clear embossing ink (e.g. Ranger Perfect Medium)
A dark brown Distress Ink (e.g. Walnut Stain) and applicator tool

Use the largest die to cut out one shape from white card stock. Ink the lower of the two medium circles on the stamp with embossing ink and print onto the cut piece, lining up the stamp to the shape. Cover with embossing powder, tap off excess and heat set.
Repeat using two die cuts of larger of the two daisy type dies and emboss using the petalled circle toward the top of the stamp.
Repeat using two die cuts of the smaller daisy type die and emboss using the centre of the first circle you using in 1.
Finally, die cut two pierced hexagons and emboss with the pattern in the centre of the other medium circle on the stamp set.
Using the embossing folder, emboss pieces of Milk card stock – you need one of the largest circle (bottom left), and two of the medium circle above. Cut these out with a knife or scissors, leaving a small border.
Edge the embossed sections with the brown Distress Ink to soften them, then the embossed pieces as shown using foam pads. Top off the layer with a punched flower centre and add Liquid Pearl dots as desired.
Prepare the Angel Fibre background by laying some out on a clean sheet of paper and then laying another over the top prior to ironing over with a medium hot iron – you only need to do it briefly. If heated enough, a flat sheet results that doesn’t fray. If heated too much, it will shrivel and discolour. Attach to the Dark Roast Coffee card stock with double sided tape and trim to shape.
Cut a strip of Milk card stock and edge with Distress Ink. Cut a narrower strip of Dark Roast Coffee card stock and notch either end – stick down to previous strip. Cut two further brown strips, slightly wider, bend to make a bow and stick down. Add embossed and mounted sentiment and finally the two hexagonal embossed shapes.
Mount all the layers together and embellish as desired with Liquid Pearls.

Thank you for visiting my blog, please leave a comment below in order to be in with a chance of winning a prize!

Once you have done that, you will need to click here to visit Donna Ratcliffe’s blog.

To help you along the way, here is a list of the Blog Hop:-

Start page, prize details and how to take part: Creative Expressions News Blog. The blog hop started on Tuesday 19th November at 10am and ends Friday 22nd November at 5pm.

Thank you for taking part in our Blog Hop – good luck!

I’ll be posting five more Dreamboat Collection projects on Saturday, and my normal weekly post for Creative Expressions tomorrow (Wednesday). Keep coming back for creative inspiration 🙂

AS SEEN ON CREATE & CRAFT TV over weekend of 16th-18th November 2013.