A Piece of Sky

Such a great day!

Today was a blast with some fun goings-on over at Facebook!  My clever friend Linda Baldock wrote on her status update this morning that if she got 100 comments she would post how to instructions for making her style of art dolls.  Of course I went ahead and put in a comment, and left it at that ..... for a while .... but couldn't help check in once in a while to see how th enumbers were going.  By about lunch time there were 51 comments.  And so I challenged myself to help get the other 49 required by the end of the day to ensure we would all get those step by step instructions she promised.  And the fun began.  I updated my status to encourage all who saw it to go over and vote.  I had to resort to almost spamming people.  I even called for all facebookers to join in the fun on our Scraptivate blog!

But the hard work paid off and voila - we got there!! 

So sometime tommorrow on facebook Linda will be sharing with us her art doll know how.  This is one of the things I love about this art .... its the community of people who are so willing to share their talents, ideas and friendships with each other.  It's precious, and I am blessed to be a part of it.

Ok, enough of the deep and meaninfulness!  I have some art of my own to share.  I have been working on this piece for a few days.  It's a colour scheme I wouldn't normally work with, but I gave myself a little challenge to try some new colours.  I think I am finally happy with the result.

There is something I just love about using fabric in my art.  It adds a texture and a look that simply cannot be recreated with paper alone, though I would be hard pressed to do a piece that didn't also involve paper on some level.  I really enjoyed the process with this piece, with the four little hearts representing the love I have for my art.

This piece will be taught as one of my Tile Collage classes on Saturday 17th July and again on Wednesday 21st July.  Click here for full details.  We'll be using calico, burlap, stamps, colour washes, book paper, scrapbooking paper, beads, tissue paper and paint to create the canvas.  There's loads of technique to learn in this class and I would love for you to join me!

Best I go and get organised for school and work tommorrow! 

Goodnight all
Natalie xx

 
 
 

Finally finished!

I have attempted to finish this piece a few times over the last few days and for whatever reason it just hasn't happened.  I managed to get a couple of hours this morning in the art room without too much interruption, so finally we have a finished class sample to share!

The crown is part of our new German Scrap range, just with a little rub n buff and a word from a Collections sheet.  I very much like the design of this crown - and it is the perfect size for tiles! 

More new German Scrap - above you can see our new Tassle Border, again with a little Rub n Buff for highlights.  This new border is certainly one of my favourite and was perfect for this canvas.

Here's the finished piece.  Just a little happy with it myself, I just hope my regular tile class girls like it too!  The torso is a Krafty Lady mould done with the white resin - the same one I showed you in my earlier post.

This class (Saturday 3rd July) is already heavily booked, there are only a few remaining spots.  If enough people are interested I am quite happy to teach this one on a Wednesday - if you are interested in a Wednesday class let me know by either leaving a comment on blog or emailing me at contact@scraptivate.com.au.

<update>  I have scheduled this class to run Wednesday 7th July at 10.30am.  Call 9444 6626 to book.

Hope to see you there!

Natalie 
x 

  
  

Fun with Resin

Oooh my goodness I have been having so much fun lately with resin!  This stuff is highly addictive and I can't seem to get enough of it (though it hasn't taken over my addiction to Diet Coke, lol!).

Here's a couple of pieces I did a few weeks ago.  I have embedded our tiny watch innards into the clear resin in bronze bezels.  The clear resin domes when it sets and gives a magnificent magnifying effect to the paper and parts embedded in it.  Love love love!

I have made a few but these couple are my favourite.  I am yet to use them on a project - perhaps a piece of jewellery or they may even form part of a canvas I am in the middle of.

I have also used this clear resin with the Krafty Lady moulds.  I first tinted it using Perfect Pearls.  Haven't got a photo of these ones but trust me, they turned out beautifully!

I have also been experimenting with using a rapid set white resin in the Krafty Lady moulds.  Now this I like!  The resin seems to pick up more detail then the Air Dry clay I usually use in these moulds.

Aren't they beautiful?  The resin only takes a few minutes to set before it can be demoulded.  The piece can then be sanded and worked with.  The large torso on the right has been finished with Liquid Gold Leaf which I have just wiped over with paper towel.  The smaller one on the left I actually sprayed with Hot Chocolate Glimmer Chalk sprays.  I sprayed it all over, then left it a couple of minutes, then wiped over it with paper towel.  The glimmer colour has settled into the crevis without colouring the rest too much - and I am quite happy with the result. You could do something similar using an acrylic paint, wiping off the excess just the same.  I guess in fact the possibilities are simply endless!

I am also in the process of altering some pieces of furniture in my art room.  So last night I took a boring old Ikea table (functional but somewhat uninspiring in its purchased form) and altered it with some scrapbook papers.  I basically went though my stash and pulled out anything that had a rustic or vintage feel to it (oh, hang on 90% of my stash fits that category, lol!).  So I ended up with a mix of papers from Collections, Graphic 45 and Tim Holtz and went ahead and tore up pieces to glue down to my table top.  I used Gel Medium to stick them down and also to seal over the top.

Once I had finished that part (about 2 hours later!) I dry brushed over the whole lot with cream acrylic paint.  Then it was time for some resin.

The resin was poured over the top and smoothed out a little using a palette knife.  There was a tiny bit of bubbling but nothing that a little warm air exhaled over the top didn't sort out.  Here's the result:

Now I have to do my other table!

Happy creating everyone,
Natalie x
 
  

Overdue Update

Oh dear - it's been almost a month since my last update!  I can't believe how time just seems to pass me by so quickly.  I haven't been well for about two weeks actually - I caught a nasty flu which completely got the better of me, as much as I tried to fight it.  So I didn't get as much creating done as I would have liked to during that time ... I do have some things to share though!

This is a frame I made using some of the new Collections products ... it uses inchies, twinchies and thrinchies.  I taught this one recently at the shop and will be re-scheduling it again to teach soon. 

"Women Who Create" - I am inspired by so many of them and often find myself getting lost in blog hopping to look at all the inspiration out there.  I am blessed to work with women who inspire me to create every day.

Speaking of these women - I had the pleasure of their company last night as we created together in the art room at Scraptivate.  Jenny made us some absolutely to die for home made pumpkin soup ---- mmm, delicious.  My creative juices didn't start flowing immediately (I actually find it hard to create with company sometimes) but they came eventually and I produced this vintage style box which I will be teaching 19th June.

The keyhole embellishments on this one are done using shrink plastic - such cool stuff and it brings me back to my childhood! My girls love watching me use shrink plastic - seeing the process as it is heated and shrivels up only to open and become a hard embellishment at the end. 

I am also working on an Art Journal at the moment - shabby chic style - which might become a new ongoing class at Scraptivate.  Would you be interested in weekly or fortnightly art journal page classes?  Leave a comment or email me and let me know!

That's it from me for today ... thanks for looking!
Take care
Natalie xx