ARC April

Welcome to the April book review. I hope you have all had a good month. I was over the moon to actually meet 3 of you gorgeous bloggers at the Ally Pally show in London. I was blown away by how many people came up to say  hello, good job they did as I am so rubbish and never recognize anyone.

So my review for April.

The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman

This book started pretty well, quite gripping in fact in the first 3 chapters or so. But soon after that it became boring, though only for 2-3 chapters, then the pace picked up again. This up and down feeling continued throughout the book, 2-3 really good chapters followed by 2-3 rubbish ones that were tedious and hard to get through. I found myself skipping paragraphs.

 The story builds again in the final chapters, though I felt I was going to be in for a disappointment, there just wasn't enough pages left to conclude the story..and then it ended. It was only at this point I found out that this was not a stand alone book, but that there was a sequel. I am now in a quandary, a bit loathe to buy the second book, as I really can't say I enjoyed this one. But on the other hand, I feel I have only read half the story and I want to know what happens.

As for the story itself, it is quite a harsh fantasy (no magic)and not for the faint at heart. There are some very unpleasant scenes described in great detail, involving physical violence towards young boys. To clarify , it is a 'war' setting and the boys are being trained as soldiers, but that training is quite brutal. But we do fall a little in love with the lead character, as I guess we are supposed to. We feel his pain and confusion even though he is a cold blooded killer. I was left wanting things to work out well for him, I could not begin to guess whether they do.

So, very mixed opinions on this book. I think if  I see the sequel really cheap I will get it, to see what happens, but  I am not going to go out of my way to go buy it.

My journal page..

When ever I do a project involving paint or ink i always wipe off the excess into a journal or onto scratch paper, while they may not be the right colours for the basis of a new page they do add layers. 

So the base of this is an old wipe off from a stencil and a faint image of a stamp. I added red ink to signify the bloodshed in the book, and the sand coloured criss-crossing drips for the paths the characters take thru the desert.

Next I made some ratty stencils. 

Stencilled 2 of them with black paint.

I added a chevron stencil in 2 colours, using an Andy Skinner stencil. It was quite stark so I knocked back the whole page with a translucent aqua paint. Leaving the rats uncovered.

I was a bit stuck at this point, and wasn't sure what to do next. So I added  a sunburst behind the rats, again with an Andy Skinner stencil...then a border using cream,blue and red paint..over which I added a stamped border.

My next stage was to cut a sword stencil, just from cardstock. I scraped wall filler through it and left it to dry. I wanted it distressed looking so I made sure that I did not smooth the wall filler out, but left it ridged. 

Once dry I coloured it with Treasure gold wax, then added designs stamped using Stazon ink. 

On the other page I wanted to paint a girl, but also wanted to include a map. So I sketched her out and then transferred the sketch to a book page that had a tactical map on it. 

once painted she was cut out and added to the journal, with a 3rd ratty stencilled over her.  Then I needed somewhere to hide my printed review. The pages in this book are quite thin, so after each completed page I glue it to the next page. So before doing that, punched out a finger notch and glued a small envelope between the two pages. 

Here you can see where the review just slides in..

close up of the sword texture..

the map showing through the paint on the girl..

The final page with title added..

Products used..

Adirondack spray inks

Crafters workshop stencils

Andy Skinner Stencils

Artiste Craft paints

PaperArtsy Fresco paint

Treasure Gold

Neocolors

Here is where you link up, add your name and a link to the specific blog post where we can find your review and artwork. 

Have your tickets ready please...

I adore vintage ephemera, especially tickets. I would love to have a roll of old bus tickets lol I have simple ambitions hahaha

Recently I was pointed to this video, in it the lady decorates and paints some die cut tickets.

Aren't they the loveliest tickets you have ever seen? I immediately wanted to buy the die....

BUT THEN..

the wonderful Dana made this video showing how to make blank tickets without the need for a die..

All you need are strips of card, a pattern wheel and a hole punch..simples.


So I made loads of them, some in smooth card and some in watercolour paper.

I contacted Dana to say how brilliantly simple her way of making them had been, and asked if she wanted to swap some. 

These are the ones I made for her, the flower ones are more vintage style and are on watercolour paper. The bottom ones are more modern and funky, done with markers on smooth card. 

Here are the gorgeous tickets that Dana sent back to me. I just love them, thankyou. 

working so small is definately a challenge, but I love how they all turned out. 

why don't you give it a go, and better still swap some with a friend. 

Giveaway winner

The winner of my April marker giveaway is...

Number 12 on the list is Shirley, please get in touch with your details so I can pass them onto Letraset. Your prize will come directly from them, x

Birthday Card

Today I had my first play with GRUNGE PASTE.. from PaperArtsy.

Usually when I want to add texture in papercrafts I use Polyfiller/Wall filler/Spackle. It can be quite stiff to work with though, and it does dry quickly so you have to work fast. Grunge paste is a dream to use, it is smooth and silky and stays wet for much longer, giving you ample time to work into it.

I took my stencil and laid it over black card. Then I pushed some grunge paste thru, smoothing it out. I used a metal spreader, but an old credit card would work just as well.

I then took a Chinese script stamp, spritzed on a little water (as per the instructions on the grunge paste pot) I pressed the stamp into the grunge paste, released it and left to dry. Once dry I painted it with matte black craft paint. 

I then did exactly the same with some small circle punchouts. Dipped in paste, stamped and painted. 

Next I gently added ROSE QUARTZ treasure gold this fabulous metallic wax adds such an amazing effect to anything it touches. I added it lightly with a finger, and then left it to dry. After about 10 minutes I was able to buff it up with a soft cloth, this really brings out the shine. 

Finally I started to construct my card. I added a piece of origami paper to my card blank, and then cut flowers from a contrasting origami paper.  

I added the small circles of treated card to the flower centres. 

I then added the metallic looking dragon. 

At an angle you can really see the shine..

just look at that scrummy texture..

Doodled Hair

I often get asked how to draw faces, and sadly there is no quick way, it takes a lot of practice. But this does not mean you have to create faceless art, here is a simple but very effective way to create a doodle portrait without having to draw the face. 

First grab some magazines and look for medium sized faces..

Select the one you like and cut out just the face, only the skin and ear if it is showing...no hair, no clothes.. Glue to a piece of smooth card. The piece I used is 160gsm. Use a pencil at first to sketch in some clothes and hair, they do not have to be like the original...Go wild, invent a fabulous new hairstyle...be a fashion designer and give her some great clothes. 

Now take your markers and colour in the shapes. What you are creating at this point is just a background, so it does not need to be super neat, or even well blended.  I used 3 pinks for the clothing, 3 blues and 3 turquoises for the hair. Always work in 3's, a light,mid and dark tone of the same hue. 

You can see I outlined the magazine area, on the side near the hair I used a thicker line, and on the outer side of the face I used a narrow line. You really don't want a thick black outline on that side of the face. I also took a blue-grey and outlines the whole image, and then using black I added a border to the edge of the card. 

The ideal pens to use for the outlines, and for the later doodling are the LETRASET FINELINERS

I started my doodling, varying the thickness of pen, from a 0.1mm right up to the 0.7mm, this gives me delicate areas and thicker darker areas. 

Think about  the area you are filling in, for clothing try and think of patterns that will make the area look like fabric. For the hair try and find curvy, round patterns.... unless of course you give your model spikey hair in which case use straight lines in your doodles.

For the background I used a very simple cross hatching pattern. Once that was done, there was too much white still showing so I added the grey circles into the background. 

Here is the finished piece, an easy doodled portrait, and no tricky faces to draw..

GIVEAWAY TIME

I have a pack of the brand new LIMITED EDITION PROMARKERS to give away..

That is 12 yummy new colours plus a blender pen...

To be in with a chance of winning  you need to 

 add your name to the following linky list. 

only names in this linky list will be entered. 

Babette blanket

Just a little update on my Babette Blanket... you can find the pattern HERE...

I have always been a knitter, my great-grandmother taught me when I was really small. I remember knitting clothes for my dolls, and I still have some patterns from back then. Knitting comes easy to me, i can sit and watch tv and make socks and not have to pay much attention to what i am doing...

not so with crochet..

I was taught to crochet when I was 15, by a friend who made gloves with tiny hooks and thin crochet cotton. I have never been able to master anything like that. I have mostly crocheted edgings on knitted garments, small flowers and other motifs, and I once made a red and white striped tunic.... all very basic.

when I decided to make a blanket, I first looked at knitted ones, but after working out the cost I soon realized that I just could not afford to make one. Then quite by chance I saw 3 friends all post photos of their Babette Blankets in progress. After investigating, I worked out it was going to cost less than half the price of a knitted blanket. So I bought the pattern, some yarn and got started.

After a few false starts, I was well away, surprised at how quick each square was to make. At one point I decided some weren't neat enough and pulled them out to redo them.


As I type this I now have 72 squares done....almost halfway.

I bought cream,tan,blue,grey and black for my squares, but to keep a uniform colour running thru the blanket I decided to edge each square in lime green. I already had 2 balls in my stash....the crisis came when I realised that I was going to run out of green, and it was a discontinued colour.....ohh nooeess

A couple of weeks of online searching and a few phone calls and I managed to get another couple balls of the green...Phew!