52 Pages 2011

Page 5. Encourage.

Definition = Give support, confidence, stimulation or hope to (someone).

We all start out with great intentions, some falter and fall by the wayside. Sometimes we lose our way in life. Do you need encouragement right now? who will you turn to? How will they give you the boost that you need?

CHA

A couple of weeks ago my lovely friend Kirsty said she was going to be going to CHA to demo Promarker pens, and asked if I would draw a couple of manga images, for her to take to the demo with her. If you have never heard of them, they are very similar to Copics, check out all the Promarkers and other goodies on the Letraset site.

I love my promarker pens, so of course said yes. I am by no means a great artist, but I love drawing manga. So here are the 2 that I did for her.

Sketch 1.



Outlined , using letrasets fineliners.



Layering the colours.



one steampunk warrior finished.





The second one gave me somewhat of a headache, I ended up doing the whole thing 3 times, and in the end it didn't turn out how I really wanted it to.

Sketch.

Outlining.

Beginning to colour.

Finished.

Kirsty should be in USA now ready to do her demos, hoping she has lots of fun.

52 Pages week 4

Here is my page.

First i glued book pages to my blank carstock, then used random background stamps on it. Next I lightly coloured it with a wash of neocolor.



I glued on some torn up patterned paper, and some stamped images. I blended the edges of the images into the background with neocolors,and acrylic paints.



Added my text...and done.



The back is stamped and coloured, and then my journalling hand written onto paper and torn out.

Did you join in with the watercolour class yesterday..if not where were you?

We had such a laugh, and everyone did some great work. You can still have a go, get your copy of the Iris outline from Dede's blog, and then watch the videos on how to colour it.

Video part 1.

Video part 2.

Here is my effort, with the first wash.



Some shading and outlining.



and the finished piece. Lots of mistakes, but too bad for a first ever watercolour.

Over the past 4 weeks I have been working through a free workshop from The Strathmore Workshops.

This first workshop of the year was put together by Pam Carriker, with 4 easy to follow videos.

First week we had to collage some images onto our page.



During the second week, we added some shading and colour.



Week 3 saw pattern and colour added to the background.



Week 4 involved doodling,outlining,more shading and all finishing touches.

So this is my finished page.

check out the Strathmore site and sign up, they have another free workshop starting in march.

Do you fancy a little watercolour workshop for beginners???

My lovely friend, and amazing artist DEDE, has drawn a flower outline for you to use. On Wednesday 9am (USA EST time)( which is 2pm UK time) Dede will be hosting a live,online show in which she demonstrates how to colour the image using watercolours.

The show will be on Ustream, it is free to watch, and you don't even have to sign in...but if you do, then you get to join in the chat as well...which is always lots of fun.

Dede's Ustream channel is HERE.

So, firstly go to Dede's blog...up there, first link....and right click and save the Iris flower outline. Find yourself some cheap children's watercolour paints, and also some watercolour pencils.

You can do one of 2 things with the outline, print onto medium weight card and paint straight onto that...

or print onto scrap paper and then trace onto watercolour paper. This is what I did, as I wanted a pencil outline that I could rub out.


1. I printed the flower outline onto scrap paper.



2.Turned it over and scribbled all over the back with a soft pencil.



3. Flipped it back over and lightly taped it to my watercolour paper.




4. Then I traced over the printed outline with a hard pencil, this transfer the softer pencil underneath onto the watercolour paper...and voila, I now have a pencil outline, on watercolour paper and I can paint directly onto this.



I do hope you will join us on Wednesday, it should be a lot of fun.

52 Pages2011

Page 4.Build.

Definition=Establish and develop (a business, relationship, or situation) over a period of time .

With a solid foundation anything can be achieved, this is especially true of relationships.Are you building right now? How are your foundations? Maybe you are not building, but mending? A strong friendship can take the knocks and come back stronger. What can you do each day to build or mend?

52 Pages wk 3

Here is my page.

Background coloured with neocolors, then words, a photo and 'ticks' glued on.

Next add shading with pencil and oil pastels.



Add watercolours over the pastels ( they will act as a resist)

Burn the photo with a heat gun till it bubbles.

Rub gold all around the edge.



Back...neocolors, oil pastels, watercolours and gold...plus journalling. This gold is very shiny, can't possibly get a good photo of it.



Add a paper rosette, reminding me to love ME!

Sorry for weird angle, it was the only way to show the gold.




Go HERE and see Donna's page.

We have finally cancelled the SS carers, they were coming here for 10 mins on a morning and again for 10 mins at tea time to empty and clean the commode. I am happy to say that Ian can now get up the stairs, very slowly, but he can do it. He is spending more time on crutches now and less time in the wheelchair, so it seems we have turned a bit of a corner. He also started hydrotherapy this week, so that should strengthen his legs so that he can get back to work. The next step is for him to be able to get in and out of a car.

To say thank you to the 8 carers that were coming in over the past 17 weeks, we gave them each tins of biscuits, I also made a card for each of them.

The cards were based on layout sketches that Kirsty posted on her blog a couple of months ago.

52 Pages 2011

Page 3. Acknowledge.

Definition=Recognize the fact or importance or quality of …

Acknowledge yourself, what makes you so wonderful, beacause you are you know! What are your best qualities, how have you strived to achieve these positive traits? It’s OK to think that you are a good person, that your work IS good enough. What do YOU like about YOU?

52 Pages Wk 2

here is my page for wk2 of my 52 pages, the prompt word was 'Filter'

see the button ^^^ up there for all the prompt words and questions, I will add them all in there as I do them so they are all in one place.


I started by spraying my cardstock and a coffee 'filter'. I used Dylusions sprays, very impressed them. As you can see I used a very high tech cardboard box/spraying unit!

I also used some stencils from book called 'Stencil Me In'



At this point the battery died, so no more stages lol just the finished result.

On the front , I layered up the sprayed coffee filter, torn up, onto the card stock. i stamped onto some other sprayed card, tore that up and stuck that along the bottom.

Then I printed out some i pod icons onto photo paper, cut them out and stuck them on, and finally layered on some strips of acetate that i had printed a circuit board onto.



The back, again is sprayed and stencilled. Then i added my cut out printed journalling. I spritzed the whole of the back with some 'Shimmerz'. I printed out a circuit board on photo paper and cut it into thin strips, this was glued around the journalling blocks to frame them.



Here is the paper from inside my spraying box, how pretty is that. I will leave it in there a couple more times and then cut it up to use.




don't forget if you are playing along, leave a link in the comments so we can see your work.

Today was my son's graduation ceremony, held in Durham Cathedral. This was for his Master's Degree, we already had one ceremony last year for his regular degree.

This is my outfit for the day, handmade hairband,brooch and bag.



This is me and my wonderful son, so very,very proud of him.



As Ian still isn't walking properly, let alone driving, he couldn't go to the ceremony. It would have been awfully difficult for me to get there on my own, but my great friend Razvan came to my rescue and took me there.




Another great friend Donna, gave me this award.



I'm not entirely convinced that I am stylish hahaha but thankyou anyway.

Apparently I have to tell you 8 facts about me and then pass this award on to 4 of my bloggie friends.

1. I love beetroot on toast
2.I hate yellow, not overly keen on pink either
3.I have difficulty sleeping, rarely any more than 2hrs a night
4.I love being outside at night, when I was a child, under 10, I used to sneak downstairs in the middle of the night and sit in the garden.
5.I have a not so secret crush on Noel Edmonds and Simon Cowell.
6. I hate football with a passion.
7. I love languages, i am currently learning romanian.
8.I would love to work in a morgue.

I am passing this onto these fabby people.

Effie.
Dede.
Rita.
Julia.

52 Pages 2011

Page 2. Filter.

Definition = Pass through a device to remove unwanted material .
Our lives are so full, too full. It is easy to lose sight of what is important. What do you need to filter out? Stress,noise,the computer,sweeties, alcohol,demands of others? When you take away all the excess, what do you hope to have left?

Please join in and leave a comment so we can see your work.

ooo we love a bit of recycling we do!

this is the Kraft type paper that was in the middle of the xmas gift wrap, usually it is a cardboard tube, but this year it was this lovely paper. I ended up with 2 of them.



Out of those 2 pieces, I was able to cut 8 rectangles...the size of these all depends on how big your covers are going to be.


At each end I cut a finger tab using a circle punch.




Don't throw away the leftover bits...




using the cardboard from the back of old notebooks I cut my 2 covers. Mine are 6x6, whatever size you cut, will dictate the size you need to cut for the pages inside. The pages need to be smaller than the covers.


I attached patterned paper to the outside of each cover, leaving a border of the brown cardboard showing. Then I placed them side by side with a 1.5cm gap, and attached a strip of the kraft paper. I turned them over and covered the inside with patterned paper too.

next I started making the pages/pockets. Each rectangle of paper was folded in half.

Attach half of one rectangle to half of the next rectangle. I joined them using strips of the leftover paper. I ended up with 7 pockets and a spare half a rectangle at each end.

The 2 end halves can now be stuck to the inside of the covers. Just a little glue around 3 of the edges, so that each one becomes a pocket too. Also a bit of glue in the spine will help keep the pockets in place.

After I had stuck these down, I realised it would be a pain trying to get anything into them, so I cut a deeper finger pull.

Next the pages. I cut tag shapes from an old book. I glued 2 tags together for each pocket, just to make them stronger.

Then I gessoed,painted,collaged,scribbled,distressed each tag. ( I used neocolours,prismas,graphitints,white acrylic and strips of patterned paper.)

these slip into the pockets. Each one can have a photo attached and some journalling.

I also attached some of this decorative felt to the front cover. It needs some more embellishment, and the pockets will also be decorated, but i won't do that till the photos are chosen. I will also add some sort of closure, at the moment I am thinking cord attached to the back which will wind around a big button attached to the front.

I would love to see what you have been recycling...

52 pages 2011 WK1

So this is my first page, using the prompt word 'Regenerate', see post further down for the definition and prompt questions.

First I coloured my page (cut using sizzix die) with Neocolor crayons and water.



Next I cut up and 'ripped' ( yes Dede, I ripped) some Basic Grey and added it to the page. I also added some presents and bow that had been on a xmas card. I stuck another strip of BG across the bottom.



next I drew my girl, jumping up out of the presents, I also added some mini xmas motif stamps.



I dry brushed some white acrylic over the page, added more Neocolours and also defined some areas with prismas.






I added the words, and trimmed the bottom edge .

for the back, I started by colouring with Neocolors first, then adding journalling outlines with a prisma pencil.




I typed up the word prompt, definition and promt questions, then also typed up my answers. I found a free typewriter font online, downloaded that and printed out my journalling.

I then cut it all up and glued it on.




1 down, only 51 to go. Click on the 52 pages button at the top of the blog to see all the prompts as they are posted.

New word prompt and questions will be up on Monday, please join in and leave a comment so we can all see your pages. My pages are approx 4 inches by 4.5 inches. You can do any size that you want, ATC size, maybe do 52 Tags, or work in a journal or boardbook, its up to you.