OMG!! I Loved today!!!

I've been a bit grouchy this last week as I couldn't get any time to myself to relax and do arty stuff, but today Chunky Monkey went to school...and stayed!!! All Day!!!

Hubby went to work, and stayed.....all day!!!

So I got to play :D Baby niece's (xmas pressie) dolls house arrived and baby sis says "would you mind building it for me and keeping it til xmas eve?" Ha! Could force myself...heehee!

Then to top it all off, the post man brings a gift from Magaly!!! I won a book mark from her last month, and it arrived in a rather large packet.....cos it came with a book!!! I love books....I love Faerie folk lore.....I love Magaly :D !!! And it smells divine...! THANK YOU MAGALY :D

So, what did I play at?? Another of Amy's free classes :D

This week she has been showing us how to make a 3/4 portrait with a tilted head.

I prepped a double spread in my altered book by gluing in a photo of some crazy paving made from broken headstones.......(I know it sounds ghoulish, but it was actually a beautiful area in an old church yard, and the paved area had a bench and rose beds)

On the opposite page I added white gesso, but not before noticing a section heading that said "Withers The Future". I don't know what it was referring to, but the words seemed to fit the page I was planning.

I then used Amy's "4 eyes" method to place a tilted face .
Added a bit more detail and rubbed out guide lines.
I think she has an oriental look :)
I added colour with watercolour pencils, then blended with a "damp" brush.
Next I gave her blue/black hair.
I LOVE HER!!! I know it's not cool to blow your own trumpet....but I am thrilled with how she turned out :D
I had to give her something to look at, so I added some collage images I won from Katina Wright as a prize for Inspiration Avenues "Wings of Inspiration" challenge last month :D

This one is a cherub and some butterflies carrying a crystal ball. I have added crackle glaze to the ball(but I couldn't wait for it to dry :S)
I emphasised the broken pieces of stone with black pencil, and wrote between them with a gold pen.
The butterflies are also from Katina :D

(oops! Took that picture before I added the writing:S)

Hope your day has been as joy filled as mine :D XXX

Linking to The Butterfly Effect: Broken Pieces hosted by Priti

El Gato que esta triste y azul.......but rocked my world :D

Had a bit of a stressy week, with Chunky Monkey managing to get most of the week off, but it did give me plenty of time for crafting......:D

But what really made me smile this week was when my Bubbles by moonlight pic reminded Leovi of an old song, and she/he(sorry Leovi I don't actually know if your male or female, how weird is that?) left me a verse from the song in my comments box.

I searched tinterweb to find the full lyric and artist (Roberto Carlos, aka El Rei, the King of Latin Music!!)

The song is called "El Gato que esta triste y azul" which google translates as "The Cat who is sad and blue!" How perfect is that for my fold-out page title???!

And the beer bottle top hubby treated me to this week....."Blue Moon"...and he squished it for me too :D
So the sentiment goes to hubby...cos" Life with you is Stardust and Moonbeams"

I hid the song lyrics (translated into english by google :S) inside the page

The little strip at the top reads "the cat is in our sky"
and included a pic of said Roberto Carlos from the 70's/80's :D

This is how it looks folded-in :D
So yet another big shout out for Amy and her free classes at Flutterbye.ning, for keeping me sane this week...well...as sane as I can be ;P

And thanking my baby niece for reminding us of the magic of this season...we took her shopping for trimmings and she was totally awestruck with all the trees and bling :D

So those are the things that Rocked My World this week....how was yours?

:D XXX

Moonlit Kitty

After seeing lots of people making cards with stitching on, I bought this diddy sewing machine so I could have a go......that was about a year ago now...naughty Gina :(

Anyhoo, Amy had another free class in which she stitched a piece of fabric onto card before painting it....*dig out machine* :D
gather bits of fabric card, and one of the pages I cut out of my altered book to stitch dog pic in last week( for I had a cunning plan!!!), and stitch all 3 layers together....
works better if you thread machine 1st......:S
Yay!!! Stitching....and it only took 3 attempts at threading :D
Next....loose control of devil beast machine!!!
but at least all the layers are stitched together haha!
Draw Kitty (yes Amy, I drew a kitty for you! Don't get used to this, it's a treat!)
Paint over fabric with cheap acrylic paint(use very little water as the paint will bleed )
I was going to paint a moon, but then I got to thinking bubbles...by moonlight :)
So the kitty is now called Bubbles!

Now for cunning plan....use the kitty pic to make a Fold out page in my altered book!!
Gessoed both facing pieces for future decorating, and laced outer edges together with 3mm ribbon....
AMY!!!! I did a Fold out!! :D Yay me :D
Hope you enjoyed this bit of silliness :D and remember....make sure your layers are dry before lacing together or your pages won't fold out ;)

If this appeals to you, check out Amy's Cat Class (it's free!!)

Time for Tea....Altered Popjes

The title of this post relates to the cute doll faced girls drawn by the lovely Manon, who recently gave a free class at Flutterbye.ning.

I decided to make one of these girls for this weeks Butterfly Effect challenge of Tea/Coffee, and put her in my altered book:D

I simply covered my page with this scrummy piece of Tim Holtz design paper, which cried out to me "Time for Tea?"
I drew a pencil sketch of the doll face(didn't show up enough on photo) and started too colour with promarkers....

Painted over with a layer of watered down gesso.....
then added black outline.....all as instructed by Manon :D
But I picked up the wrong pen...and the black ink bled every time I caught it....
so I very carefully built up the colours with markers and gesso(making sure each layer was dry)
got "miffed" at all the smudges and coloured over with pastel pink.....
before adding a final layer of gesso. Not very happy with the finished surface, but we all make mistakes...doesn't mean it's useless.....
I thought "surreal", and made her into a teapot :D
I painted the dp with a dry brush and gesso to age it a bit more, and over stamped with a fabby tea cup stamp that was a gift from Stef aka Glitterbabe, using TH's distress inks in faded jeans(blue) and Aged Mahogany(red).
The fabric was from a Dezinaworld Treasure Lucky bag, and I thought it would make a pretty outfit for afternoon tea :D
And every teapot needs a cosy :D

Here she is in my altered book.....
and I think she turned out pretty cute :D

Enjoy :D XXX

Yay! 3 more journal pages for Darcy..and a poem what I wrote :D

Still on catch up with my art journal pages for Darcy's 52 Pages Challenge, so here goes with the next 3 :D

Page 31: Compromise

I have chosen to stop compromising with my life, after all, none of us knows how long we have got. Don't keep putting of til tomorrow what YOU want to do today!!!
Page 32: Discover (what did you learn at school)

I learnt that I am very good at "reading " people :D If I choose to call you friend, believe I truly mean it :D
Page 35: Wilderness

This dp made me think of swirling icy winds. Possibly Arctic/Antarctic, possibly depths of space. But then I added a bit of coloured pencil as it started to speak to me of the vast emptiness of sky, filled with the spectacular wildness of the Northern lights :D
For all 3 pages I used some free papers I got from Magpies Nest, cutesy of Inspiration Avenue (just added a hint of colour to the blue and white swirl)

The next page I need to work on is called "Author", which reminded me of this poetry book I made a few years back
And I thought I'd share one I wrote about this time of year, while making Christmas gifts. I think most of you have someone you could read this too :D

Yuletide Joy

I screwed up my eyes

and snuggled in bed,

to dream of the heroes from books that I've read.

Of hiding from Dragons

in caves that are dark,

or drifting through meadows to the song of a lark.

Warm, balmy evening

walking on sand,

while my heart skips a beat

as he's holding my hand.

In ballroom and sparkle

I twirl and I dance,

just hoping he'll spare me

one soft, sultry glance.

Sat in a station

the train I will miss,

as he's bending towards me....

I wake as we kiss.

But I'm glad that I've woken.

My dreams all came true.

I won't pine for a stranger....

My hero is you!

Enjoy :D XXX