February Craft Space Envy

A video for you this month!

It's pink. No wait it's PINK!!!

I like the embellishment centre and the cubes look great for storage!

My Labyrinth inspired WOYWW

So what is on my desk today?

Well, this is a page in my art journal. I started creating it for myself as my own private piece but I may display the finished article in my book. Did I mention I have written a book? Well I have and I am just in the process of getting it proof read by the lovely Emma from Kombi Media and then I am going to start looking at publishing. As it is something a little different I thought it might be a good illustration for the book. We will see.

Anyways here it is, part finished obviously and still needs a lot of work.

I love the film Labyrinth. Always have and always will. Anyway I was feeling in a strange mood and the songs kept popping into my head which resulted in me pinning labyrinth pics on pinterest. My painting above is based on this photo of Sarah:

I shall probably put some song lyrics around it or quotes from the film. I am not sure yet but I am just loving the process anyway.

Depending on how it goes I may or may not share the finished piece : )


For those of you that don't know what WOYWW is, basically you take a picture of what is on your desk, no matter what that might be, good, bad, finished or messy. You take a picture of it, post it on your blog and then link up with everyone else taking part here: http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-is-woyww.html

Exciting News

Some exciting news today. I got an email from Society6 (where I have my shop) to tell me that my "who do we love the sea" artwork has been put into their featured products section. That was so exciting for me as I feel like I am getting somewhere. Slowly. It means a lot considering it was not that long ago at all that I even thought about having a little shop. Gosh!

If you haven't seen it pop on over to Society6 and take a peek!

To think all it takes is a bit of confidence and a belief in yourself to go for it and not worry what others may think!  I am glad I decided to take that risk and put a bit of myself out there in the World. I urge you to do the same x

WOYWW - A mess and my new journal!

Another Wednesday and so another What's on your workspace Wednesday. I love taking part in these but more over I love having a good nose on what everyone else is up to over here.

So what is on my desk today?

A whole heap of a mess that is what! My Mother in Law came round the other evening with a carrier bag full of cards left over from Christmas and thought that I might be able to use them in a crafty project. She was certainly right. What you can see on the desk at the front there is my new art journal I have made using greetings cards. At the bottom of this post is the You Tube video for Jennibellie as this was made using her tutorial.

Also on my desk I have my PVA glue which I have used to stick it all together with. Next to that is my printer / scanner which I was using earlier to scan some of my artwork. Behind that is my pink and brown sewing box. To the right is my kindle with a couple of pretty papers on top. To the right again is my vase of red roses that my gorgeous hubby bought me for valentines day. Then more papers, and my filofax, scissors, pen and some keys. A whole jumble of a mess but I don't think you are having fun unless you create a mess!

So some more close up photos for you...

Firstly of the flowers as the are lovely. Excuse the brightness of the photos, the sun is streaming in and I have to have the curtains closed a bit else I can't see!

 

I have bound my own journals / books a while ago before I came accross Jennibellie and her tutorials. I had watched her greeting card tutorial and thought I must save some cards for this (saves them going to recycling) and then they turned up which is rather timely as I have nearly finished my current book!

And now close ups of the journal itself...

In her tutorial, Jennibellie paints her cards to remove the designs and writing. I decided to cover mine in leftover scraps of scrapbooking paper and book paper as I will use this as an art journal it will provide either a nice colour or textural element to the base layer or I might even gesso over the page as I go. Not sure yet.

 

And that's it. It looks complicated but is relatively easy and certainly something that I will do in the future!

If you would like to make your own greetings card journal, check out Jennibellie's video below.

Book Review - Taking Flight

Remember I said that I was taking part in the Flying lessons course, well this book is by the same Author, Kelly Rae Roberts.

The book "Taking Flight" is great for anyone starting out and well actually anyone who wants a kick up the backside to re motivate and enegergise themselves. It is very well written, and also lots of writing which I loved. There are lots of pictures too but lots of writing so a book that you can really sink your teeth into. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to spoil it but I urge you to buy this book I really do.

You can expect, inspiration, motivation, lots of techniques where Kelly gives you step by step instruction on how to create a whole piece. I also loved the sections from other artists.

Just buy it, you'll love it!!

And here is my video review of the book too...

**Please note this is my own personal opinion and I have created this review myself to share with others. I have not been paid, sponsored or endorsed by anyone to create provide this review** 

WOYWW inspired by Little Raven Ink - Earth Nymph!

Another "what's on your workspace Wednesday"! Yay!

So what is on my workspace today? Well here you go:

Basically today I am scanning my artwork that is in my journal. My journal is falling apart and paint and "stuff" is going through the spine onto the previous works and I just want to scan them all so that I have a record of them so that if the book does get totally destroyed I have a copy of everything. I know a lot of people don't do that, they just don't worry about the messes. I don't normally but there are some artworks in there that mean a lot to mean and are precious and well quite frankly I just don't want to loose them. So it makes sense to me even though it might not to other people.

So in the book there, the first one you see was last nights creation and I will show you a bigger version at the end. Yesterday I was playing on the internet and I came accross this video on youtube. Please watch it, it  is definitely worth it!

I love Courtney's work, I have seen it somewhere before and fell in love with her little nook dwellers as she calls them. They really call out to me and I love them so much. I don't like to copy other artists work for stuff that I share publicly as I don't think it is fair at all. However, Courtney made this video and as a result I have now joined Art Geeks and WOW! the group is full of lovely inspiring people which I am just loving trawling though. I have been looking for a community to become part of and well this is it for me. Fabulous!

Anyhow I digress. So after watching this vid and already loving her work I decided to have a little go for myself. I love the deer antlers so I knew I wanted to incorporate them into the doodle. So off I went and this is the result:

I have to say I actually really love her and she warms my heart. She actually evolved into some sort of Fawn or Earth Nymph in the end because I just couldn't work out what I wanted to do past her head and her. But you know I love that I was struggling because I really like how she turned out.

She was created with a Pilot Permaball, Cheap-o kids colouring pencils for the face, pro markers for the hair which I then drizzled alcohol inks over so it ran down the page, gold stamp pad and sequin waste for the dots at the top, white POSCA poster paint pen and black archival ink and stamps. It took me minutes really and she makes me happy!

So as I say I don't like to really copy other people's work but on this occasion I am glad I did. I think it is OK when it is just for personal use in your own journal. I had created something very simplistic before I saw her video too so I might share those with you one day!

Anyway, thank you Courtney for inspiring me with your fantastic artwork. Love ya!!

On a side note, it is only a week and a half until my birthday (32 years young!) and I have been dropping hints to hubbyliscious about Prisma colour pencils and oil pastels. I know I am being cheeky, really cheeky as he is already taking me on holiday for my birthday but hey, a girl can ask can't she....

Finding vintage ephemera and then not using it!

At the weekend I went to the charity shop to drop off a load of books that I no longer wanted / needed. We are moving house soon hopefully so we are starting to slim down and when we looked at our books we realised we had so many that we are probably unlikely to read again so it made sense to send them on to someone who would.

I use book text quite a lot in my creations but the one book I have seems to be lasting me forever so I thought it was pointless hoarding more at this stage. Except...

Whilst I was in there dropping off I stupidly decided to have a puruse after all you never know what treasures you might find and inspirations for other crafty projects. I do love vintage books and thought vintage children's books would be lovely ephemera and make a change from the book I am currently using.

I purchased two Enid Blytons book for £1 ($1.57 for my USA followers) for the pair. Cheap as chips as they say. Thing is I now can't bear to use them as what I didn't realise is they are in immaculate condition. Normally when I buy children's books from a charity shop they tend to be ripped or drawn in, especially when they are old ones. But oh no these are perfect. I love books and cannot justify destroying a perfectly good book so they are going to sit on my book shelf looking pretty next to a Mr Pinkwhistle book I already had from my childhood.

Where vintage ephemera in the way of books is concerned, I think it is going to have to come from really worn out books!

Who else is with me on that?

Practice makes a whole lot better! WOYWW

Do you remember on this post I said that I was going to start practicing drawing faces. Well I have been. Lots and lots actually and I am really impressed with the way they are coming along.

I have found it really hard to draw black and white faces or faces just using a pen or pencil, yet when it comes to painting I am loving it. I find painting faces much easier because I can play with shading and tones. I just don't seem to be able to do this with just plain old drawing.

Anyway I thought I would just show you how my practise is coming along...

So this is what is on my work desk today for WOYWW. Both are in my sketchbook which I have been using for practise and experimentation. I don't mind how they look but I think it is important to look back on them and see your progress.

So what else is on my desk. Well my laptop that the sketch book is lying on, my kindle, my phone, my cartoon of Ribena. Love Ribena! My brushes, a water pot and my Reeves water soluble wax pastels which is what these two ladies were created using.

And it appears there has been an error with my scheduling as you have two blog posts today. Oh well never mind!

My sweet valentine

I have to say I am a bit of a romantic. I also have to admit that I kinda like the commercialism of Valentine's day. Not the really cheesy roses and smutty cards stuff but the more unique pretty handmade kinda stuff. I like a nice meal and a snuggle on the sofa with a film not the going out to a restaurant with lots of other couples stuff. I think what I like most is having a nose on pinterest and getting caught up in all the beautiful valentine's photography!

I was having a nose around on Etsy as I often do and I love looking at all the wonderful things people have created. So I decided to make a little treasury of all the little valentine's inspired things that I particularly like and things that are my style or would be very happy to receive if I had a secret admirer out there.........

Of course I had to include an art journal which is simply amazing and also my canvas lol!

To view these items click on the image and it will take you there!

Or click here!

Drawing faces practice

In nearly all my girl pieces the girls usually have no face or a face made up of just cartoon like eyes and pink cheeks. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly I quite like the cute kitsch feel of this. I have always drawn cartoony faces and I like the happy non complex feel of them. I also think that as soon as you give them a face you also give them a personality and you don't always want that. Sometimes you want the words you have added or the piece as a whole to do the talking not the personality of the girl. Does that make sense? I hope it does because it does to me! Oh and finally....because I pretty much suck at drawing faces. Simple as.

I hate it when people say "oh I can't draw". What rubbish! Anyone can draw you just have to either be taught or teach yourself and of course practice. If you want to do something you can with a little determination and practice.

Anyway just lately I have wanted to expand my creativity and the scope of what I am creating so I decided to get the sketch book out and my lovely set of Daler Rowley drawing pencils and have a go.

So this first one is just of a mouth and nose. I didn't feel ready to tackle the eyes just yet. But as far as faces go I was quite happy with this one.

And then onto the faces with eyes! My first attempt is utter pants and totally scary!

Ok so moving on... another one, this time I decided to add a bit of colour by using some chalk pastels.

And here is my final one for now. Getting better. Still a lot of work needed. I don't actually want my drawings to be life like but just a pretty and "stylised" face. Once that is pleasing to the eye and not something from a horror film!

So keep practicing is what I say and I will update you on my progress.

Latest Etsy Shop Addition: Making Mud Pies

The latest edition to my etsy shop is this little girl who would be far happier making mud pies!!

Everything about her is me. From her out of control big red hair, to the mud on her face and dress. I was quite tom boyish still now but in a strange feminine way I still love pretty dresses. No matter how hard I try to look neat and pretty I always end up getting grubby! Naturally this mixed media piece needed lots of grunge and drips and I really enjoyed getting my hands messy creating her!

Go to etsy to check her out