Shelley Beach

Shelley Beach is a favoured place.  

My beloved and I should frequent it more often, but when we do, we reveal in walking gently in search of treasure - he with a camera lens and I with a pocket to collect.

Joel captured this lovely shot of shells immersed in water and when I received Darkroom Door's 'Shells' background stamp a while back,  I wondered if they might combine together.  

Yesterday I had time to play...

needless to say, we've made a date!

We're off to Shelley beach!

Hooray!

Darkroom Door supplies:

Shells Background Stamp

Seaside Vol. 1 Stamp Set

Strings of Hope

February's ATC swap theme over at Darkroom Door in February was 'Tied Up With Strings'.

I had a wonderful time playing with DRD's 'Carved Pods' and their 'Coffee Stain' eclectic stamp, along with ink, paint and textiles to create this ATC.  The canvas was given to me by my dear friend Jhodi, who had buried it in her backyard for a while to 'age' it.  It was just perfect for this project and I feel pretty inspired to buy some canvas and bury it too!

Gum Trees - Darkroom Door

Out in the front yard we have this huge gum tree, it's one of my favourite things in the garden, bringing welcome shade, providing a haven for local birds and an abundance of leaves, twigs and gumnuts!  Nearby are other favourites, a paperback and bottlebrush, which also bestows gifts I love to use when creating.  Spending time in nature and working with leaves, twigs and seed pods brings inspiration, joy and connectedness with God, the ultimate Creator!

Before creating these pieces, I set off for an early morning hunt, gathering a wide variety of leaves of different shapes, sizes and colours AND also was thrilled to find a few acorns along the way too!

I also painted watercolour paper with coffee.

To create the first piece, I painted a page of text with gesso and when dry stamped a Darkroom Door 'Gum Tree' image using black ink.  I then stamped Darkroom Door's 'Coffee Stain' eclectic stamp three times using dark brown ink onto torn coffee stained watercolour paper.  I then stitched the gum tree and coffee stained paper together.  

I then stamped the sentiment onto a gum leaf with black ink and heat set.  I layered a number of leaves and bottlebrush nuts together, tied up with raw silk and affixed to work.  Finally this was mounted onto a huge leaf.

This ATC was created in a similar way, but this time I added a acorn cap with a sweet little Darkroom Door 'Photo Booth' image.

Poppa and Poppy

Recently, I've been working on my family tree, searching for long lost ancestors.  It's been a thrilling experience, every time I link another member to it, I feel a sense of connectedness to the past and I can't help wondering who this person was, what life was like for them - their joys, sorrows and challenges and whether or not I've inherited a thing or two from them!

I've also been reminiscing about my Poppa and his beloved youngest sister, Poppy!  We once took a family trip with Poppa to visit her and I can still recall the joy it was for them to reunite face to face.

So I thought I'd dedicate this little ATC to Aunty Poppy and my precious Poppa!

I've created it using Darkroom Door's 'French Script' texture stamp and 'Poppies' rubber stamp set 

1.  The main images were created using the 'brushless watercolour technique'.  Colour 'poppy stems' using Distress Markers (Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn), lightly spay water mist over the image and stamp onto ATC (watercolour paper)

2.  Colour 'Small Poppy' using Distress Markers (Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet and Seedless Preserves), once again, spray with water mist and stamp onto ATC.  Using an Aquash brush, colour the poppy using the ink from stamped image and by scribbling the same colour pens onto an acrylic block, pick-up the colour with the Aquash brush to add depth of colour to the poppy.  Add a touch of purple to the poppy stems too and heat set.

3.  Colour just the flower section of 'Small Poppy' with the Wilted Violet Distress marker and stamp directly over the image to add finer details to the flower.

4.  Scribble 'Old Paper' Distress ink onto acrylic block, pick colour up with Aquash brush and colour around the images to give an aged appearance. 

5.  Once dry, stamp 'French Script' using dark brown ink and the word 'Hugs' with black ink.  Swipe edges of ATC with dark brown ink.

6.  Embellish with cross stitches and lace.

Darkroom Door products used:

Stamps:  Poppies rubber stamp set and French Script texture stamp

Distress Pens:  Old Paper, Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet and Seedless Preserves

Aquash Brush - fine

Planting Happiness

Darkroom Door's Gardening Vol. 2 surprisingly lead me to painting and embroidering upon canvas.

The basic technique was as follows:

1.  Layer Gesso onto a small panel of torn canvas.  

2.  Stamp image (i.e. watering can) onto canvas.

3.  Paint image using acrylic paint.

4.  Re-stamp image over the paint and heat set.  I'd recommend using a stamp-positioner if you have one.  I didn't and it was a bit tricky.

4.  Embroider stems and flowers.  I used lovely variegated threads by DMC.

5.  Stamp sentiment, affix to card and embellish with lace.

Don't be too worried when you don't end up with a perfectly crisp image.  Stamping on canvas can lead to a more painterly effect.

I used simple straight stitches and colonial knots to create the pot full of flowers.

Random dabs of green helped fill out the second flower pot and I added some dashes of green onto the pots to balance the work.

Simply Stitch

Darkroom Door's Stitch Word Block stamp is FABULOUS!!!  This is the first time I've worked with a word block stamp and it was so much fun!

I stamped the image onto a vintage dressmaking pattern with a navy ink and used this as the centre point for the card.  All the papers are from the same dressmaking pattern and have been layered and hand stitched together.

I used the sentiment from Darkroom Door's stamp set 'Stamper' and altered it to say 'buttons' instead of stamps!  The word buttons along with the letter 's' were used from the word block stamp.

I have a huge collection of buttons, so it was wonderful to put some of them to use to embellish my work.

Here's a mini quilt I created.  First I stamped the word block stamp onto dressmaking tissue paper and added the Singer sewing machine from Darkroom Door's Dressmaker stamp set.  I then layered the stamped panel onto fabrics and embellished it with hand stitching and lace.

Grown With Love

Darkroom Door released their lovely Essentials 18 Collection towards the end of last year.  Here's a mini quilt I've created using some of the fabulous images from the Gardening Vol 1 stamp set.

It's a lovely set to use when making cards or gifts for friends or family blessed with a green thumb!

I enjoyed playing around with some Sculpey clay to create some flower pot buttons and embellishments.  They were pretty easy to make.

I used VersaMagic Jumbo Java to stamp the flowerpot image.  I then very gently heat set the ink before cutting around the image with sharp pointed scissors and then baked the button following the manufactor's instructions.

I enjoyed adding some hand stitching as I often use a sewing machine, but the texture of the canvas seemed to draw me towards simple embroidery stitching and who was I to argue!

Summer Breeze...

Happy New Year and welcome to 2016!

Those of us living in the southern hemisphere may well be thankful for a cool summer sea breeze on those steamy hot days!  We haven't had too many yet, but I'm always thankful for the blessing of a cool breeze.

Darkroom Door is once again hosting an ATC exchange throughout the year - yay!  I know I've said it plenty of times before, but it is always a thrill to receive an ATC exchange in the mail.  If you'd like to participate this year, visit here for all the details or contact me and I'd be happy to explain more about ATC's with you.

Summer Lovin' is the theme for January and the above is my ATC inspired by the lyrics from Seals & Crofts, 'Summer Breeze'.

May the new year bring you much love, joy, peace and a cool summer breeze whenever you may need it!

Blessings xx

Fragile Life

In Your Heart - Jigsaw Exchange

In September, I revisited the friendship theme for Shaz.  She has a lot of love in her heart and really loves and cares for those around her.  She's a faithful prayer warrior and a faithful friend!  She's also a pretty fantastic education assistant!

This first piece was inspired by her love she had for her darling dog, who sadly passed away this year.      

What a faithful friends can be found in the furry world!

The special bond and friendship of mother and daughter, when good, is like no other. 

And the friendship of girlfriends are to be treasured!

Little Songbird - Jigsaw Exchange

August's jigsaw challenge was for Jenny again.  The sweet stack of birds and foliage stamps are by Prima.  I bought them on our honeymoon in Jakarta 3 years ago and have only just got to putting ink on them now!

The gemstones are really tiny in actual size and originally created to add long to mobile phones.  I'm often using them to add a lovely final touch.

Smile - Jigsaw Exchange

In July, I was once more focused on Trish's theme, 'Life is an Adventure'.  This time I imagined Trish and her husband Rod travelling around Japanese and soaking up the culture!

I have a small but lovely collection of Japanese paper, so I dipped into that as the starting point.  The Gorgeous Darkroom Door image from the Kimono montage paper collection, along with the Kimono wordstrip and Japanese script from the Kimono Vol 2. stamp set were the perfect things to complete my little Japanese adventure!

I would love to visit Japan one day, but I think I would be too tempted to take an empty suitcase and a large pocket full of cash.  All the beautiful paper and washi tape and fabric and, and, and many other delights would be calling me to take them home!

Click! Click! - Jigsaw Exchange

Something beginning with C is the great thematic challenge that my friend Ellie presented to us!

Ellie's a great memory keeper and is often taking photographs in her daily life.  

C is for... Children, clear (film strip), chum, companion, comrade, calendar, light control and celebration...

C is for... Camera, click and capturing special moments!

Delight In Truth - Jigsaw Exchange

'Typography' was the theme chosen by my friend Susan.  She's a wonderful high school English teacher and has a great love for words, especially the Word of God.  Susan uses her words to encourage and inspire not only her students, but her friends.  

On the second puzzle piece I've used part of a stamp designed by Kristen Robinson and have simply adapted with a snippet of vintage text.

Words are powerful and can be used to share the truth of God, as well as support, teach, encourage and inspire those around us.  May we continue to learn to use our words wisely to love, encourage and spur one another on!

Youthful Dreams - Darkroom Door

Darkroom Door has just released another amazing series of texture stamps.  I love the versatility of texture stamps and keep them close at hand to add another layer of interest to my work.

Today I'm sharing with you the first artwork I created using the Polka Dots texture stamp.

1. Firstly gather together a variety of neutral coloured papers along with a pretty floral.  Then add a small image to use as a focal point (I used a butterfly postage stamp), a paper doily, fabric scraps including sheer organza, leather, buttons and calendar washi tape to your collection.
2. Stamp Polka Dots onto a small panel of vintage paper using taupe coloured ink.  Use a variety of papers and the stamped panel to compose the first layer of work.  Affix some panels with glue stick and others with washi tape.  Stamp Polka Dots in another section of the work (I did a second generation stamp to give a faded appearance.
3. Add other layers of paper if required and add machine stitching using a complimentary coloured thread.  I used circular motions of sticking to tie in with the Polka Dots stamp and doily.
4. Stamp quote from Darkroom Doors 'Enjoy Life' stamp set onto doily and gently heat set the ink.  Affix small focal image to doily, along with fabric scraps, lace and a button to embellish the doily and add to work.  Embellish the rest of the work with a leather heart, button and lace.

Darkroom Door Supplies used:

Texture stamp - Polka Dots

Stamp set - Enjoy Life

Other supplies:

Various patterned and vintage papers that coordinate well together

Ink -

Sewing machine, heat tool, thread, glue stick, paper doily, buttons, lace, postage stamp, fabric scraps and washi tape

Exploration - Darkroom Door

Darkroom Door's Polka Dots texture stamp was the inspiration for this journal page.  Polka Dots is so striking when inked in black don't you think?!  

1. Stamp 'polka dots' three times - first, second and third generation stamping on the lower section of vintage paper panel to add a variation in depth of colour.  I used paper from an encyclopedia.
2. Find a black and white image of a person, trim it so that their eyes are the focal point.    Position this in place and stamp a 'top hat' above it.  Add a thin layer of white paint just below the face, when dry stamp 'airship'.  Add a touch of taupe paint to help blend the paint to the colour of vintage paper.
3. Stamp 'New York sign' on plain vintage panel, trim to size and affix to work.  
4. Layer work onto another piece of torn vintage paper, torn black scrapbooking paper and a thin layer of card (small than the other panels - to add strength to layers in preparation for machine stitching).  I added red ink to the torn black scrapbooking panel for contrast of colour.
5. Add matching stitching to frame and make connections between the elements on the page.
6. Stamp '31' using red ink, trim to size and add to work.  Affix postage stamp to the lower section of work. 
7. Layer work onto sheet music, encyclopedia paper and cream card.  Stamp 'exploration', 'adventure' and 'small cog' twice to complete work.  

Darkroom Door products used:

Polka Dots texture stamp

Steampunk stamp set

Other supplies:

Vintage papers (encyclopedia, sheet music), cream card, black scrapbooking paper, ink - red and black, sewing machine, threads - red and orange, acrylic paint - white and taupe, postage stamp and double sided tape.

Japanese Garden - Darkroom Door

Once again I've been having a great time playing with Darkroom Door's new collage stamp, 'Arty Mosaic'.  This time I've used it to create a background on canvas.

1. Paint two layers of gesso onto blank canvas board.  When dry add layers of warm white, titanium white and skin tone along with a dash of paynes grey.  I painted with my fingers, but a brush may make less of a mess.  I find it easier to control and blend the paint with fingers.
2. Stamp 'large Japanese script' on top right section of canvas.  Then stamp 'Arty Mosaic' onto white tissue paper using beige ink and heat set.  Cut apart the image into three sections and use clear gesso to affix to the left hand edge of canvas.  Go gently as the paper is delicate.  I roughed up some of the edges with my finger nail once it was down to give it a distressed look.
3. When dry, add a light layer of white paint over different sections of the canvas.  Affix beaded lace scrap to lower right section of canvas using clear gesso. 
4. Add floral Japanese fabric (paper would work too).  I cut around some floral pieces and added it to the layering, using clear gesso to affix.  You may like to blend the fabric in the lower section of the canvas by swiping coordinating stamping ink and dashes of white paint, heat setting as you go.
5. Stamp 'orchids' using beige ink onto canvas and heat set.  When dry, add a thin transparent layer of gesso over the blossoms - this will act as a placement guide when gluing tissue paper orchids in place.  
6. Stamp 'orchids' once more onto white tissue paper using beige ink.  Heat set the ink, fussy cut around the blossoms and affix each matching blossom to image on canvas with clear gesso.  I found I needed to add one more tissue paper blossom to help balance the work.
7. Stamp 'Geisha' direction onto canvas with black ink (to help with placement of tissue paper image) and once it's dry, add a layer of white gesso over it.  Stamp 'Geisha' onto tissue paper with black ink and fussy cut around image.  Affix to work using clear gesso.
8. Stamp 'love script' onto small fabric scrap of silk and add to top right corner of work using clear gesso.  Add any additional pearls to complete work.

Darkroom Door products used:

Collage stamp - Arty Mosaic

Stamp Sets - Japanese Calligraphy and Kimono Vol. 2

Other supplies used:

Paint - white and clear gesso, white titanium. warm white, skin tone and paynes grey

Small canvas board, beaded lace, Japanese floral fabric, white tissue paper, silk fabric scrap, pearl sticker

Fun In The Sun - Jigsaw Exchange

'The Beach' was the chosen theme for Amanda in our jigsaw exchange.  

I think I feel most carefree when strolling along a beautiful beach soaking in the suns rays, feeling the fresh breeze against my face and listening to the soothing, rhythmic crashing of the waves.  Mind you, quite often it's quite chilly in my part of the world and the sky's are overcast, the wind is howling  and the sand is flying into your face - but there's still something wonderful about the beach.

I must admit that I love to stroll hand in hand with the one I love along our beautiful coastline!

It's looking good outside my window this morning!!!  Think it's time for me to have some fun in the sun before my holiday comes to an end!