More stamps and a couple of AJ pages

I have been busy, busy, busy making stamps! I managed to get the soft carve rubber from the shop Lawrences. I phoned them up and told them there was no way I was going to pay £14.99 for postage just because it was to the Isle of Wight and after a little heated discussion they agreed to send it to me via Royal Mail.

The soft carve rubber is a lot smoother to carve but I am finding it more difficult to get fine detail on it over the lino.

Anyhow, heres a photo of the stamps I have made so far.

I cheated with the 'confidential' and 'fragile' stamps as I cut the words out on my cricut and then traced around them. All the others I have drawn.

AJ page 'fragile soul'
using acrylic paint, my stamps and white pen

AJ page for Lughnasadh using my corn, poppy, bubbles and bird stamps.

TFL

Sami x

Aug calendar

Here is my August page for the calendar challenge over at Kates blog.

I wanted my page to reflect Lughnasadh which is a pagan celebration of the first harvest of the year. I made the corn and poppy stamps (see post below) as I couldn't find any I liked. I used Dylusion paints and sprays and various texture stamps for the background.

Check out Kates blog to see loads of other calendar pages.

TFL

Sam

Lino cut stamps

I have been making handmade stamps all weekend!

I needed some wheat and poppy stamps for my August page of the calendar challenge and couldn't find any I liked anywhere so decided to make my own. Luckily the one and only art supply shop on the Island had the tools and the lino, which was excellent as once I've made my mind up to do something I have to do it right NOW!!

I had done lino cutting before, many years ago at school, so I refreshed myself by watching a couple of youtube videos,( picked up some good tips such as heat the lino first as it makes it softer and turn the lino rather than the tool) and got started.

Here are the results.

Test stamping on printer paper

I am really pleased with how well they have turned out!

Now I am after some STAEDTLER MASTERCARVE CARVING BLOCK which apparently is a lot easier and smoother to cut. I have only found one UK site (Lawrences) that stocks it and they were going to charge me £14.99 for delivery because I live on the Isle of Wight...hello, we are still part of the UK and Royal mail and parcel force charge no extra to post here!!
So if anyone knows where else I can get it from in the UK please let me know!

TFL,

Sami x

Handmade art journal

I bought this old bird book a little while ago to turn into an art journal. I finally completed it last saturday at the Wight Craft Circles monthly crop.

I removed the pages of the book then made 4 folders, each with 6 pages, to stitch back inside. I used different types of paper, fabric, lace, old text, music sheets, maps, pages from an old stamp collectors book, old patterns, digi download images and stamps to create each page. I used lots of sewing on the pages for more texture.

I aim to paint and draw and write over each of the pre made pages. I don't know yet whether I will have a theme for the book...I am thinking inspirational quotes or just using it to write down day to day stuff.

Here are the photos.

Front and back

(I was going to decorate the outside but have decided I prefer to keep the original look of the book)

The pages

A maya road envelope stuck to the back inside cover

Ledger paper, tissue tape, downloaded images (from Ceremony) and stamps

Downloaded image and TH glassine paper

An old pattern

A pull out section, butterfly printed on tissue paper, string and old music paper

Tabs made with a tab punch from Stampin up (I think!)

Front cover

Thanks for looking,

Sam x

July Calender

Hello! Just wanted to share a couple of art journal pages and my (late) July calender page for the challenge over at Kates blog. I had done it on time but had not had a chance to post it yet.

On this page I have used a download from Ceremony on the left hand side. On the other side I layered up some book print then stamped an image on to a single sheet of tissue paper. I used gel medium to stick it down and also over the top of it to make it see through so you can see the text underneath, mirroring the download. I used acrylic paint, distress inks and more stamps.

This page was acrylic paint, spray inks, TH masks and distress inks and stamps. The dressmaking dummy was again from ceremony. I printed butterfly wings onto blue tissue paper so they came out translucent when stuck down.

Here is my July calander page. Not as happy with it as some of my others as I didn't really have a theme for this month, still I am pleased I have kept up with it even if I always seem to be late posting!

The Wight Craft Circles 5th retreat is coming up soon and we have decided to open up a few places this year.

The dates are Fri 23rd Sept to Sun 25th Sept

Totland Bay youth hostel on the Isle of Wight

Tickets are £45 (non refundable £10 deposit required)

Arrival and check in on the Friday at 3pm, check out 2pm on Sunday.

This is a self catering event, there is use of a big kitchen and lots of take away places nearby. Because it is a youth hostel we ask that you tidy and hoover your room before departure.

Tea/coffee/ juice provided.

There are no classes at this retreat, it is just an opportunity to craft away with friendly like minded people all weekend. We normally all go for a walk on the Sat afternoon to get some group photos (weather permitting!) either to the beach or up the downs.

This will be the 5th retreat we have run and may be our last as the youth hostel is due to close next year.

To find out more please go our blog.

You can see photos of the venue and shots of previous retreats.

You can also leave a comment for me if you are intrested.

TFL

Sami x

Back Home and some art!

Hello! I have been a bad blogger the last few weeks. Firstly, I am still having major issues with blogger. I have to log on through internet explorer if I want to post anything, but log on with firefox if I want to comment on anyones blog. I have tried everything anyones suggested to me but to no avail. As you can imagine it's peeing me off so I have just been avoiding it!

Secondly, we moved back home two weeks ago, so I have been unpacking and settling us back in. I did manage to find some time this week to do a little art.

This is an art journal page inspired by a canvas I saw on Pinterest (yes, I am addicted to that site now!) The original canvas I saw is pictured on this blog She had used rolled up pieces of paper and covered the canvas with them. I liked the idea so used it on the bottom of art journal page. I also used stamps, stencils and rubons and a little dragonfly transparency, and of course TH tissue tape which I love.

Also on Pinterest, my sister had pinned a quote I thought was really nice so I decided to do a canvas with the quote on. This was a canvas I had started for something else and didn't like so I first gessoed over it before layering with paint, stencils, spray ink, stamps, more tissue tape and white pen. I wanted to use thickers for the journaling but of course, I didn't have enough e's!! Thats why I bought a Cricut so used that instead for the wording. The other words were stamped onto old book paper and cut out.

I really enjoyed doing this and I am going to hang it in the porch as a daily reminder to my family!

It is so nice to be back home. We spent 18 weeks in a tempory 2 bedroom house. The kids had to share a room which meant that they argued on a daily (hourly!) basis. 70 % of our stuff was in storage all that time and it just didn't feel like home. I know we are a lot luckier than some people, we did have a roof over our heads, but I am just so glad to be home. The house looks lovely as because the damp was so extensive the whole of the downstairs had to be replastered after the damp work which meant that it is now all freshly decorated. We have new flooring, which we paid for ourselves which looks lovely (our old carpet was ruined by the damp). The housing association also put a new kitchen in, we were due this over two years ago but they wouldn't do it until the damp had been done. We have also decorated all the bedrooms so the house looks all new and shiny! I don't know how long it will stay that way with 2 kids and 2 dogs, but hopefully at least a few weeks!

Here are a couple of photos.

New kitchen

Front room

Craft room

Craft room.

The best bit about being home is I have my craft room back! Its freshly painted, I have lovely vinyl on the floor that looks like laminate but its a washed out blue colour that looks like beach huts. I have a blind at the window instead of an old curtain that was stuck to the ceiling with drawing pins! I have space to create again so hopefully my mojo will return!!

TFL

Sami x

June Calendar Challenge

Here is my June calendar page for the year long challenge over at The Katherine Wheel
I had completed last weekend but blogger has been playing me up so much I have avoided it all week! So sorry if I have not visited your blog!
I focused on Midsummer as my background for this page. I used Dylusion paints and sprays and made a sun stamp out of a potatoe to randomly stamp across the page. The words are from a poem I found on line, unfortunately no author was given.
I didn't cut out squares and stick them on this time as I didn't want to cover up the big sun in the centre. I drew each square on and then shaded around one edge to give each square a bit of depth.

Here is my completed May page if anyone wants to be nosey!
I am really enjoying this challenge and can't believe I have kept up with 6 whole months! Make sure you check out the other pages using the link above.
Thanks for looking,
Sami x