All This Book Altering and Journal Wrecking …

All this book altering and Journal wrecking is having a profound and very freeing effect on my artistic endeavours. I’ve started this experimental journal …. and the first thing I did was cut a hole in the cover!!

The title I made from recycled magazine images and the flower from an old newspaper. The inside of the cover I created from an old book page crumpled and inked with alcohol inks.

The next page, Learning Curves, I cut the title from a magazine article. The facing page has a torn magazine image and some crumpled inked paper together with an aperture cut to accomodate the butterfly image which I stamped on the waste I cut from the cover of the Journal. [this is recessed within 4 pages]

On the next page I have used a complete newspaper page cut down to fit, then I coloured it with water colour pencils. I gave it a wash with water and shut the book to transfer some of the colour to the facing page.

Although it wasn’t planned, I seem to be documenting my work in this journal … it will be interesting to see how it develops!

Wrecking Havoc!

On Saturday morning ….

… this book landed on my doormat. If you’ve never heard of it, check out the website! I think it’s a really brilliant piece of creative inspiration. Since it arrived I’ve been busy following instructions on how to wreck it! Here are a few of the pages I’ve worked on so far 🙂

The Instructions Page was coloured with water colour pencils, brushed with water, imprinted on the opposite page, then stamped for added texture.

Following the instuctions I attached to the Office Supplies page: treasury tags, staples, paperclips,hole reinforcers, labels, post-it-notes, elastic bands, corrugated card and large split pins !

I had great fun poking holes with my pencil in this page. I drew some flowers on the page, then brayered some ink over it all to give it some colour.

It’s becoming an addiction … I just don’t want to stop!! So watch this space for further developments!

Take one Vintage Book …

Take one vintage book, a sharp knife, some sharp scissors, a photo of your choice, a word to sum it up and a few embellishments, add some lumiere paint and a huge dose of inspiration from Kelly Rae Roberts in her book Taking Flight … and this is what I got 🙂

It took a lot of courage for me to cut the book up like this … I was brought up to respect and almost revere books by my schoolteacher father … so damaging a book in any way goes right against the grain for me … but I’m really glad I took the plunge! Dad might be turning in his grave, but I’m really pleased with the new life I have given to this old book!

Inspired by Meringues!

At a recent business seminar we were given small gift boxes containing tiny meringues from Head in the clouds. The meringues were delicious … but I have to admit … it was the boxes that appealed to me the most!! I had to find out how they were made and have a go at reconstructing them. This is the result 🙂

I’ve been so busy working lately that I haven’t had much time to get messy so it was a real treat to play with these boxes!

Take one wooden picture …

Take one wooden picture, some magazine illustrations, a celtic knot frame (yes it is the same one you’ve seen before!), a mixture of alcohol inks, some lumiere paint, a few grains of perfect pearls powder, an enormous quantity of mod podge, and a graphite pencil – mix well making sure to get your hands covered in all of the above ….

… get a massive dose of inspiration from one of your favourite artists [I just started reading Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts … and this is what I got!

I’ve been meaning to try my hand a some mixed media collage work for ages. I’m quite pleased with the result of my first attempt. I hope you like it!

Embossed Celtic Knots …

I haven’t got around to creating any new knots yet, instead I used the pattern I created to make an embossed frame from aluminium sheet. I thought it looked a bit bland when it was finished so I coloured it with a mixture of alcohol inks and staz-on ink pads 🙂

Then I got the embossing bug and started playing with some words!!

Celtic Knots from ‘Thursdays with Earl’!

I have been following ‘Thurdays with Earl’ on the Jessica Sprague website for quite a few weeks now and have really enjoyed the different lessons he has taught. Last week Earl taught us how to make Celtic Knot Designs, something I have wanted to have a go at doing for ages!
So I drew my grid, then carefully followed the instructions (except I changed the shape!) with this result ….

But when I looked at it … it was just crying out to be blended in with something else. So I tried it with this …

Then I just had to do something messy after all that concentration. I used a pop-up butterfly template from RobertSabuda.com then got out some newspaper, clingfilm, alcohol ink and blending fluid. If you haven’t tried squirting alcohol ink onto cling film… you really should!! It’s very messy – hence the newspaper, but if you lay your paper on top you get some fabulous results! This is mine … framed of course by my Celtic Knot Frame!!

I have great plans to try out some more complex knot designs … so watch this space 🙂

A mess, a scan and some blending …

It started with an A4 sheet of acetate. I added a generous covering of pva glue followed by a dash of alcohol ink, some lumiere paint, a few sprinkles of glitter and some torn pieces of newspaper. I covered this with three layers of tissue paper (and some more pva glue) then left it to dry overnight!! This morning I assembled my own collage stamp using a selection of unmounted stamps stuck on a large piece of perspex and stamped the front of the acetate using a staz-on ink pad. Result …..

Most people would stop there …. but me …. I had to scan it into the computer …. and then I had to try blending it with something else!! I think it looks quite good blended with last nights Sail Collage. There were two that I really liked …


What do you think?

Inspiration Wednesdays

Yes … I know today is Thursday … I’m a little behind this week! But I was inspired by Donna Downey’s Inspiration Wednesdays post to create this collage.

I created the background back at the beginning of April and scanned it into the computer to use as a base for some of my designs. To be honest … I had forgotten all about it until I came across it tonight when I was hunting through a pile of paper looking for something to use as the starting point of my collage. I’ve just started playing with torn newspaper in my designs, and that was where I began this picture. The rest just seemed to follow!! The sails and flowers were added with tissue paper and I did some finger painting to blend the collage into the background.

More Blended Images and a mini-book!

I’ve been really messy with glue and paint and glitter …. but I think the results were worth it! I scanned the results, then blended them to create these images.

I was inspired by this episode of “Thursdays with Earl” to make this mini-book. It’s made from a single sheet of 12×12 card and I have covered it with a mixture of papers I have designed and tissue paper!