Simple Altered Album Tutorial

Hello and Thank you for popping in to visit.

I thought I'd share a quick tutorial with you.

 An altered album I did this week.

There are plenty of leaves falling off my tree, so I gathered a few and used them on the cover of the album.

I covered the board with Jo Sonja All Purpose Sealer and let dry.

I covered the board with Texture Paste and pushed the leaves into the paste while straightening the leaves.

On the back of the Album I used Texture Paste & Stencil.

Hold the stencil firmly while spreading the Texture Paste over the top.

It's a bit like icing a cake. Let both pieces dry thoroughly. 

I used a brush mix of Jo Sonja Pthalo Green and Warm White and painted over the whole design, (front and back covers) make sure to fill in the small crevices around leaves. This may need two coats. Dry.

Use Burnished Copper and a stiff Hog hair bristle brush and dry brush technique, paint this over the leaves and board.

I made some areas like the leaves and edges heavier.

Do you know what Dry Brush Technique is?  Load the brush with paint, wipe it all off on a clean, dry cloth. When you can no longer see paint coming off the brush onto the clean towel, then its ready to apply to your painting.

I also applied the same colour and technique over the back of the board.

When I was happy with the covers, I painted them both with a couple of coats of Jo Sonja Decoupage Varnish.

This is a heavy, durable Water based, Gloss Varnish.

Perfect for this kind of Art.

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial, please feel free to share it with your friends and blogging buddies.

Sold my painting

Thank you for popping in and visiting.

I appreciate everyones comments and I will reply if I can.

I entered this painting into The International Flower Show held last week in Melbourne.  A first for me at this show and it sold!  I was absolutely thrilled.

Its painted on a Gallery Canvas 50 x 60cm and I used Jo Sonja Artists Paints then glazed over in Archival Oils.

I spent Saturday at the show with my friend Lee, looking after the 400 plus paintings (walking the hot floor) and taking inspirational photos!

Here's a picture for the artists that journal!

Creative hugs, Anna

Pages from my Journal

Hi, Thank you for popping in to visit.

Latest pages from my journal.

Some are inspired by whats going on in my life

 Some are inspired by Effy the Wild who is conducting a twelve month free Journaling course.

 The words on this page were sent to me via email from a dear friend.

I love Purple and Gold together.

This page was also inspired by something going on in my life.
Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate and will respond to all comments.
Creative hugs,
Anna

More Journaling

Hello, Thanks for popping in to visit.

I've been working in my B.O.D.'s journaling.  Here are a couple of pages.

Here is a page dedicated to Uncle Tom who recently passed away.

He was a great man who achieved soo much in his life.

Have you noticed how more people seem to be journaling? 

Everyone journals for different reasons-painting, drawing, portraiture, mixed media, some pouring their heart out and using it as therapy, some for inspirations.

Do you journal?

I Journal for a few different reasons:

-I love to create and I can fill books without having to worry where I'm going to put my next painting.

-I use it as therapy, and work out lifes issues on pages.

I can carry my books (I do have a couple on the go at the same time) and supplies to most places with me.  In fact we are going away in a couple of weeks and I'm planning on which supplies to take with me.

Creative hugs,

Anna

Naughty blogger

Oh dear, look how long since I've posted. Such a naughty blogger and very unlike me to be naughty...
I could go on and on about my personal life and how busy I've been but I'm sure you don't want to hear it.\

I have joined Effy Wild's "Book of Days" which is thoroughly enjoyable and just what I needed to kick start the new year.
I know we are in February, however the first month of 2012 I had very little creative time for ME!
Effy is free, easy to follow journaling and shows video's on all sorts of multi media ways to journal and throwing glitter around as she goes!

Here are a couple of pages I've created inspired by Effy. 

Need more practice with writing...

I probably haven't done justice, so please go take a peek for yourself-AND it's all free  

I've also been following Jan Fox Designs, 52 Playdates!

http://janfoxdesigns-52playdates.blogspot.com.au/

Jan puts a new video every week about Mixed Media.

So fun and easy to follow!

Take care until next time, Anna

Hi, Thank you for stopping by and visiting.

I've been missing from blogland recently with lots going on at my place, spring cleaning, polishing, and organising my son's 21st Birthday party.

Ohh, so much to do and not much creating time.

When I'm not organising, I seem to be in a bit of a slump.  Not sure if its the warmer weather or I really needed a break from day to day stuff.

Anyway, I've posting about Kerryanne's latest 'Creative Planner'  This should really help kick me into first gear and get the  creative idea's flowing.

You can read all about it here at the below link-
http://www.shabbyartboutique.blogspot.com/

Creative hugs, Anna

From 2011 to 2012

Hello to my Family and Friends,
What a year 2011 has been with many ups and downs, Happiness and sadness. 
I've met, made and kept some wonderful friends through blogging and I appreciate you all!

My Mum was here for a few months getting her health back into gear!
The past few weeks have been very hectic here with gift making and presents to buy and give.
My Dad falling and breaking a few ribs the week leading up to Christmas then this week we lost a friend to a massive heart attack.  He was only 47 years old without any medical condition or complaints of pain. 
I'm feeling very emotional at the moment because myself, family and friends are very close to that age and he was such a caring, genuine, family orientated bloke! My sympathy goes out to Kellie and their four children.
Rest in Peace Adam

Roll on 2012!
My oldest son is turning 21 years old.
We are having a small party on 21.1.2012
He says 'small party' Yeah right-He's list has blown out to 120 guests.

I'm also the lucky winner of Vikki's gorgeous vintage stocking. http://www.sewusefuldesigns.com/2011/12/simply-christmas-guest-post-and.html
Click on the link to check it out.
Thank you Vikki!

I wish all my friends love, happiness, health, fun filled, creative year in 2012
Big hugs,
Anna

Christmas Gifts

Hello, thank you stopping by!  I've been busy making Christmas Gifts for family and friends.

I've made a new centre piece for our table this year using Air Dry clay.  I rolled out the clay, cut out heart shapes and stamped Joy, Peace, Love & Hope in Red and Green.  While the clay pieces were drying, I picked a branch of a small tree and painted it gold.

I set the branch in the pot with Plaster of Paris and sprinkled the top with Gold glitter.

If you pop on over to Kerryanne's blogspot she has a tutorial on clay tags. I'll be linking to Shabby Art Boutique link party.

Every year I make my guys a personalized gift tag.  This year I've decided to add pictures of their cars.

Yes, they are mad about their cars!

My son's girlfriend has been around for nearly two years, so I thought she deserves one as well.

These are the back of the tags which I used Opals embossing enamel and pressed the stamp into the last coat to emboss the tags.

These are some other tags I've also made up for Christmas.

WARNING~If you are family or a friend, you may want to turn it off now or you won't be getting any surprises.

This is for a male friend of ours.  Do you know how hard Men are to buy for? well as I'm trying to make a lot of gifts this year my task is even harder.

This is what I've come up with!  Using Lesley Riley's Transfer Artist Paper and a new cushion

This is his truck that I sneaked down and took a photo of, printed it onto TAP and ironed it onto the new cushion cover.

My sister and brother in law have just moved into a new house and they're going to have a french theme in their lounge. 
 Graphics Fairy kindly gives a lot of  fabulous designs each day and I copied these pictures from Karen's blogspot.  Thank you Karen for being so generous!

This is for another sister and her hubby for their Christmas gift.  It's 90 x 60 cm Canvas.  I used all Jo Sonja paints and Texture paste for this design. 

I also made a Journal for my niece, however I forgot to take photo's and I probably wouldn't show you anyway because that sister is a snoop. lol

Yesterday, I caught up with a couple of good mates for brunch.  My clever friend Lee made us a gorgeous, creatively, painted bag.  Pop on over to Lee's blogspot and have a look at the photos!

Lee also gave me a new Papermania stamp set called Urban Stamps and made me a lovely handmade card.

 Thank you Lee, Much appreciated.

 We must do it again Soon!

I'm still working in my studio making gifts, so I hope to be back soon to show you more.

Are you making any Christmas gifts?  I'd love to hear about them.

Creative hugs, Anna

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Hi blogging friends, Thank you for stopping by and visiting me.
Are you getting into the Christmas Spirit?
Do you like making gifts and cards?
I like to make gifts and this year I'm starting early!

I have a very easy step by step tutorial on a Christmas card design to show you.

Here are the basic materials.  Heavy cotton or linen fabric and a plain 210gsm card.I'll show and explain the other materials as I go along.

 I pulled some threads out of the edges of the fabric because I like the frayed look.

I basecoated the card in All Purpose Sealer.

Then using a large flat basecoating brush I applied a couple of coats of Soft White or Warm White acrylic paint.

I used a stiff hog hair brush and painted the fabric with Napthol Crimson.  The hog hair is easier to push paint into the weave of the fabric.

 When the Soft White was dry I applied a thick coat of Decor Crackle Medium using a hog hair brush.

When the fabric dried, I used a Kaisercraft Christmas Stamp and patted into the VersaMark stamp pad.
While the stamp is still wet, I gently shook White Embossing Powder over the top.  Shook off the excess powder and heated the stamped area with a heat gun until I had the shiny, embossed look. 

When the Decor Crackle Medium dried I used a dry sea sponge and heavily sponged Pine Green paint all over the card. 

Using a dry sea sponge loaded heavily with paint, will give you larger more defined cracks.  Make sure your sponge is loaded with paint and start in one corner and work your way across the card.  Try not to go over wet paint as this will lift paint off rather than make it heavier.

To add a bit of lust, I used Rich Gold and a dry brush technique over the crackled green surface.

 I sewed the fabric to the card using a swirly pattern with a mixture of gold through a coloured cotton.

 This is a close up photo of the finished card.  I hope you have fun making your Christmas gifts.

All the paints and mediums used were
Chroma, Jo Sonja brand I'd be happy to answer any questions regarding these paints or mediums.

Please feel free to share this tutorial with your friends.

I'm linking this blogpost to Kerryanne's 'Simply Christmas' at Shabby Art Boutique.

Creative Hugs, Anna

Giveaway at Lynn's place

Lynn at Trash to Treasure  
http://trashtotreasureart.blogspot.com/ is having a giveaway with some gorgeous, creative pieces on offer as well as BONUS stamps!

This is just one of the gorgeous pieces on offer!

I've been a follower of Trash to Treasure for some years now and Lynn always amazes me with her artistic talent.  Pop on over and check out Lynn's blogspot.

Creative hugs,

Anna