Crafty As L

In the Visible Image fans Facebook Group, each month, lovely Jane organises an ATC swap and gives a theme to follow.   This month’s theme is “All About Books” and gave me the perfect excuse to use a page from one of the French novels I got from a swap box whilst on holiday in France – I left them an English book! To begin, I blended Mustard Seed, Peack Feathers and Salty Ocean Distress Oxides through the A to Z stencil. I glued the ATC onto the back of the stencilled page and carefully cut around it and set it aside to dry.   From the remaining page, I tore a strip and glued it onto a 5¼” square of white card.   Once dry, I stamped and clear heat embossed some of the elements from Free Your Imagination . I wanted the book pages on top to be white so I stamped them again on a scrap of paper, fussy cut the two centre pages and glued them in place. Using the remaining scrap of the stencilled page, I stamped and clear heat embossed the sentiment.   I cut out eac...

This past week has been about remembering those who served and, sadly are still serving, in the various wars.   We were delighted to have our dear friend, Dougie, a WW2 veteran, staying with us for a few days and we had some lovely trips out together.  My crocheted poppy  wreath  was also dug out of storage and hung on the front door. On Monday, it was my Visible Image DT post which remembered the role of animals during conflicts.   I go to a local art group on a Monday morning and I didn’t have anything sketched so I had a go at copying a painting I saw on Facebook which accompanied a very poignant poem called “One Thousand Men Are Walking”.   I can’t credit the artist as I can't find the name anywhere.  Anyway, here is my version. On 11 th , Project 71, the veteran’s group where I volunteer, were invited by the Royal Navy to a remembrance service followed by a lunch in the wardroom at HMS Excellent on Whale Island.   One of the ve...

Our Visible Image Design Team theme this week is, appropriately, Remembrance.   For my project, I’ve created a spread in my art journal representing purple poppies to remember the animals that served during wartime.   I’m not sure that cats contributed much to the war effort but since cat paw prints are all I have, they are representing all the animals that served. For the rolling hills background, I stencilled Mowed Lawn, Dusty Concord and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks through the Curves stencil. Next, for some texture, I used the Particle stamp and Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink, using 1 st and 2 nd generation stamping. To represent the poppies, I used the flower images from Total Chaos and stamped them in Versafine Onyx Black.   I also stamped the scribble along the bottom to symbolise barbed wire. The poppies were coloured using metallic watercolours.   These paints tend to obliterate the lines so I went over them afterwards with a black Posca p...

It was my birthday last month and I received beautiful handmade cards from ladies in the UK and all over the world through a Facebook Group that I run.   As I was opening all the envelopes, I noticed that there were some very interesting stamps so I kept them to one side whilst I worked out what to do with them.   My art journal came to the rescue!   I arranged the stamps over one of the pages and glued them in place using Ranger Transparent Matte texture paste, applying a layer over the top too to ensure the stamps were well adhered.   I left this overnight to dry. I trimmed off the overhanging stamps.   Sadly, the Netherlands printed postmarks were dissolved by the adhesive which left some bald spots. I used Visible Image Birthday Wishes to add a little stamping in the bare areas and die-cut a few hearts from a scrap of gold inky glittery card which were glued randomly around the page. To finish, I applied some white Ranger Crackle Paste with a spatul...

My projects this week are the card and ATC I made for the Visible Image October ATC swap which had “Autumn Vibes” for the theme.   On the day I made these, it was blowing a hoolie and multi-coloured leaves were swirling all over the place, which inspired my makes. Using the Autumn Leaves stencil, a variety of Distress Ink pads and small blending brushes, I layered the leaves to cover the ATC. To give a little shadow to create dimension, I painted on watered down Gathered Twigs Distress Ink around the edges of the leaves and also painted on some leaf veins.   For some sparkle, I spattered on gold watercolour paint and edged the ATC with it too. Whilst the ATC was drying, I turned my attention to the accompanying card.   I began by stamping the large tree from Into The Woods in Versafine Clair Pinecone ink on kraft card.   I sprinkled a little gold embossing powder on, knocked off the excess and then added clear powder and heat-set. To make the tree canop...