Birthday pennant

Hi beautiful

My mum celebrates her 95th birthday this weekend. A usual birthday card just didn't seem grand enough. So... Introducing the birthday pennant!

Pennant 17" wide & 30" long

Mum loves bright colours and flowers hence the bold pink and yellow green!

Happy 95

I used the Scan N Cut to cut out the letters, numbers, petals and leaves from card stock. I followed Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's technique for assembling the flowers. (Dimensional flowers)

3D Flowers

The pennant is made from foam packaging about half inch thick - easy to cut. Over this a layer of tinted gesso to give some grip to the surface (and maybe hold it together!).

Yet something more was still needed for the background. Inspiration struck! Tea bags!! All those used tea bags I had begun collecting - their moment of glory had come. And Mum loves her cup of tea. The colour variations of the tea bags and their texture really worked well.  

So much adhesive later, the finished pennant. Mum is confined to her bed, so the pennant will be able to hang on the wall and easily read by her from there!

A fun happy project which I hope will bring a smile and laugh from my dear Mum.

Enjoy your making and creating.

Love

Cara 

Love how you do you

Hi beautiful

Busy and having fun again with a page of an old desktop calendar and odds and ends from my stash!

This page was a gorgeous rich red, really enticing me to play with it next. I had already painted the Christmas page with red acrylic paint.

Below is the almost finished piece. The layers were added over a few days, giving me "mull over" time as each section was added.

Almost finished!

Here's the order of layers.
1. Adhered a found torn piece of text page stencilled with impasto paste - just the right shade and size. Scraps of gelli painted papers added to edges.
2. "Love" tag - a piece made months ages ago. Embossed words on pastel background. A quote was added. (Later covered over.)
3. Die cut flower added.

At this stage, I could have stopped - it was nice and simple and flat - ideal for rebinding into the upcycled calendar. However, I realised this was my chance to "stretch" myself and take it to the next level!

3. Dried flowers, leaves, seeds were clustered at the bottom.

4. Tag "Love how you do you" was made with cardboard and quote compiled on computer (did a few more while I was at it!), printed and adhered. Piece adhered to Love tag, covering initial quote!

5. Plaster of paris heart and butterflies made and painted with green, blue and gold metallic acrylics.

6. Adhered to thick cardboard with wire used to hang. Accented edges with black distress ink.

Finished hanging

All good fun - using mainly existing items, just waiting to be discovered and used. And this time, I pushed myself to go further!

Enjoy digging into your stash....

Love
Cara

Nostalgic tags

Hi beautiful

I'm continuing on with my postage stamps delight, adding them to tags this time.  Both stamps are celebrating Australia's past - one the centenary of district nursing in 1985 and the second, for Australia Day 1984, shows Cook's Cottage, the home of Captain Cook's parents, brought to Australia and reconstructed in Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne.

Both tags are recycled "clothing" tags, coated with gesso and coloured with distress inks.
Pieces of torn text paper were added over the gesso on the "Sweet" tag with additional texture added using rubber stamps. The postage stamp is adhered to chipboard and sealed with clear accents.

Sweet

On the second tag, napkin tissue was adhered over the gesso base. Die cut chipboard buildings and a lamppost were added to depict Melbourne . The "M" stands for Melbourne. The word Melbourne has been stencilled and lies behind the embellishments.

One of a Kind - close up

One of a Kind

I've enjoyed combining history with mixed media on these two tags.

Love

Cara

Gelli plate joy

Hi beautiful

This week, I'm experimenting, trying out different ideas, taking inspiration from others. As we know, experimenting = (do + rethink + try again) * repeat.

Today my inspiration came from a post from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. In it she uses her gelli plate to create some lovely heart images.(Gelli masked prints)

It's been ages since I used my Gelli plate and I started out with great gusto, tearing up leftover pieces of gelli prints I had stashed away for just this day. I intended to make a mosaic type of foundation paper. Well the tearing into bits and pieces was very therapeutic! I had a beautiful bowl of colourful scraps to collage.

Laying out the pieces on an old calendar page, I realised this wasn't quite what I wanted. So - new idea #1!! Use colourful pages from another calendar. That done - phew! Next cut out shapes of letters, numbers from old manilla folders. All was ready!

My gelli plate had been patiently waiting....it was now her turn.

With great excitement, I slapped acrylic paint on the gelli plate with my brayer, put down a few shapes, laid down the prepared page, pulled and not what I wanted!! Realisation - acrylic paint does not like glossy surface. Idea #2 - the mask shapes looked great. So with more gusto, I gelli plated every letter, number, shape I had.

Idea #3 - combine number/letter with shape. Great result!!

Gelli plated shapes #1

Gelli plated shapes #2

Don't you just love serendipity! From trying something different, I learnt a few things and ended up with some delicious shapes to embellish my daily journal! Not to mention, a bowl of colour pieces just waiting to be glued......

Happy creating!
Love
Cara

Imagine - Wings to fly

Hi

Happy creating days!  

Having a break from the big projects this past week and playing with different media.

First up, a miniature dreamcatcher - petite and feminine. I had fun with this little creation - next one will be up sized!

  

A few layers went into this mixed media on canvas until I was satisfied. Words are "Wings to fly. Roots to anchor."

Front on version - thanks to hubby!

Enjoy creating. 

Love Cara.

 

A circle begins anywhere

It's another beautiful Saturday and the weather beckoned me to be outdoors. That's where I have spent the day - a wonderful indulgence to be sure!

Before leaping out of bed this morning, I grabbed a set of oracle cards - the card chosen was the Wheel of Fortune - the ever revolving circle of change. Also a book, Zen Stories and Paintings by Stephen Cassettari, provided the story for the day with accompanying quotes. Its theme was also change. The Cassettari quote I've used is "A circle begins anywhere". 

Doing the journal page was a welcome break from the mini album creations I've been working on. 

In layers, I roughly stepped through as follows:

1. Gesso on watercolour paper page. 

2. Torn illustrations and text adhered.

3. Off cuts of gelli plate pages adhered.

4. Script stamp randomly

5.  Gesso thinly brushed on and painted with mix of green, blue and black water soluble oil pastels. 

6. Stencilled texture onto arches with impasto medium.

7. Adhered people illustrations (coloured with pencils); clock and fleur de lys (made from mould); letter tiles (made from mould), words typed on paper.

8. Highlighted edges with black oil pastel.

Change is constant.

A circle begins anywhere.

Well that was fun! Remember change means we're alive!

Love C. 

Birthday booklet

Always wanting to try something different for a birthday greeting, I combined a miniature book and matchboxes for a sweet 15 year old.

Here is the finished book. 

Book tied with ribbon

The book opens to reveal a pocket holding two tags on the left inside cover and two matchboxes on the right hand inside cover. 

This was so much fun to make! Help from the following tools :-)

Dies: 

• Book: Susan's Garden by Susan Tierney Cockburn (Bigz XL)
• Matchbox: Tim Holz's Movers and Shapers (Bigz L)

Papers:

• Project Life - Becky Higgins: Sunshine edition (American Crafts)

Hearts made from moulds (long time ago!) stamped with butterfly stamp.

Other bits and pieces from "the stash". 

Potpourri in drawers; pearl studded spine

Drawer knobs even

 Wishing you happy days creating for those you love.

Cara

Time

Time is the theme of this mixed media assemblage. 

Being only a beginner using various elements and layers, I learnt a lot as I progressed. Layers take time and the final look and feel is an evolutionary process - for me anyways. I'm tempted to get a final look down far too early. The photos were a late addition and I really wanted to include them. Next time, I'd certainly plan around them from the outset. 

I've experimented with chipboard elements; adding realia - safety pin, an old hinge, a key, netting and painting with alcohol ink sprays and luminous acrylics. Love the rusty look that resulted in the clocks and cogs.

I'll use this canvas on the cover of a family history album. I love that my great grandparents feature in the piece.

Enjoy creating! 

Love Cara