Hope - an Art doll.

Evening peeps,

Today I'm sharing a creation I made for a challenge, and because I had this large cotton reel hanging around the house for the last five years..  I knew she would be an art doll, but it's taken until now for me to see how she would come to life.

The spark of inspiration came from the Andy Skinner/Tracy Weinzapfel collaborative Dare to Create challenge, called 'Skinzapfel', that they are doing in their respective facebook groups this month.  (Click on links on names to find groups).

The challenge was to create something a little bit Andy, a little bit Tracy.  So Hope was born.  Except of course there is a little bit of my brain in there too, hence the weirdness..

The body is a cotton reel, and the head a little silver plated photo frame from a cracker.  Both were treated to Andy Skinner's rust treatment, using Decoart Media paints and texture pastes.  The chain around her neck was done in the same way.  I used sand texture paste around the frame and the base of the cotton reel, which also had it's own texture to add to the rust feeling.  Her little 'arms' are Tando tree branches that come with the little birdies!  They too got the rust treatment.  This is the pic I shared a couple of days ago as a teaser, so you can see how she turned out now.

Her face is a print of one of my original paintings, and I just touched up her lipstick and gave her a coat of ultra matte varnish.  The flower's are from a masterboard I created in 'Tracy' colours, using Decoart mister's and media acrylics.  The little bird is a Tando Creative bird, and is sprayed in misters, and stamped in primary yellow with Andy's Toxic stamp set, the peeled paint/crackle effect.  The heart is also Tracy style, for the wing.

She has huge heart wings, which I glued dictionary paper to a metal frame, painted in pyrolle red, and coated in Decoart crackle glaze.  I didn't like the crackle effect at this point, it was too shiny.  I tried to antique it with the white antiquing cream, and again, didn't like my result.  So I repainted in pyrolle red, which led to a much more muted effect, and then antiqued with the black antiquing cream, which gave a nice grungy feel to her red heart wings.  (And those cracks are awesome!).  It's protected with a coat of ultra matte varnish.

The reason for calling her Hope, was that from all that rust, things can still grow.  So she has a little stem climbing up her body, painted in white gesso first, then Green gold.  It's doodled around in black micron pen.

The bird brings colour, as do the flowers in her hair.

I hope you like her, she posed a few problems for me but I'm happy with the outcome, and I thoroughly enjoyed the creative process, especially as it was so many ideas that have been bunched up in my head a while..

Right, I'm off to do some more rusting....  not personally of course...

Best Wishes,

Nikki
xx

Kevin's Gang & Diamond Resin for Indigoblu

Morning everyone,

Over on the Indigoblu blog today I'm sharing a make with their new Diamond Resin, and Kevin's gang stamp set.  I had immense fun making this, and didn't want to part with the necklace for my DT piece either.  Just going to have to make one for myself.

Diamond resin is a new two part epoxy resin which is crystal clear and sets hard, and is very easy to use.  I am a big fan!  You will need to visit the Indigoblu blog to see how I made these guys, there is a step by step over there for you, but here's a pic or two of the finished piece.

A bit closer - spot the dictionary pages I used? 

Right, I'm off to make more goodies for upcoming demo's, hope you like these.

Best Wishes,

Nikki
xx

Happy Easter

Morning all,

Just popping in to wish everyone a Happy Easter, or Happy weekend, whatever you are up to.  Hoping the weather isn't going to be too rubbish!

We've just celebrated Luna our staffie's 4th birthday, she had a cake, which of course she couldn't eat much of as it was a normal cake, hubby bought it so we could 'share it for her'...    Here she is closing her eyes and making a wish...

I want to get to take her out over the weekend, she loves her walks.  Apart from that it's a busy time at the moment.

I have some news too that I have joined Lindsay Mason's Design Team, mega excited to be using her fab digital stamps, and will show more of that later too.  I have a shiny new badge for the blog sidebar too :)

I'm working on a project to enter into a competition, it's the 'Skinzapfel' collaboration between Andy Skinner and Tracy Weinzapfel Stratton, using Decoart products.  I've been having fun with Andy's rusting techniques which you can find on you tube, they are brilliant.

I can't show you very much, as it's work in progress, and with other things going on it won't be ready for a couple of weeks probably, but this is a snippet of the rust.  It was a photo frame out of a cracker, in silver colour when it started.  This will be a slightly odd creation, as is sometimes normal with me....

I used Decoart paints, and texture sand paste for this, and Andy's new Toxic stamp set.  I'm pleased with the effect!  Can't wait to put it all together and show you, but it's secret for now.

I do have more news, but another time :)  

For now, have a good weekend,

Best Wishes,

Nikki

xx

Craft Stamper TIMI Challenge Reminder - March - Take a Stamp

Morning everyone,

It's reminder time on the Craft Stamper TIMI Challenge, and our theme this month if you haven't seen already is 'Take a stamp'.

Our sponsor this month is Basement Studio, and the prize is a 20 euros voucher.

Basement Studio, based in Luxembourg, is the brainchild of talented Craft Stamper Designer Jaine Drake. Full of fabulous mixed media products like paint, mediums, inks, stamps and papers, it is well worth a visit!

Our second winner is our Design Winner. This winner is chosen by our DT, who all vote for their favourite design from all of the entries. This winner will have their winning project published in Craft Stamper Magazine, (with a 2 page spread of their very own!), they will have a GDT slot for an upcoming challenge, and will also feature in their very own Winners Profile blog post! 

You can find all the information you need to enter HERE. 

Here's my inspiration, a little wall hanger, using my Decoart Media gesso and paints on the background, with doodling and background stamping, and then I used PaperArtsy's Fresco finish paints on the flower's, and stamped the centre's in stazon.  They are layered up to stand out.  I love this PaperArtsy Eclectica stamp set too, by the lovely Emma Godfrey.   The sentiments on this set are fab, and it's a new firm favourite of mine for my journal.  

I've used a chipboard background, and just punched holes in each corner with a cropodile, to attach the fetching gingham ribbon in pink to hang it by.  Just thought it complemented it nicely!  

So come and join us at Craft Stamper for the challenge, we'd love to see your work and you can see all of the Design Team's inspiration.  Why not pop past their blogs and see how they made theirs too?  

Have a good weekend,

Best Wishes,

Nikki
xx

Craft Stamper TIMI Challenge - March - Take a Stamp

Morning everyone,

It's a new Take it, Make it challenge at Craft Stamper Magazine, and our sponsor this month is Basement Studio.

The fab prize is a 20 euro voucher to spend in their store.

The theme this month is 'take a stamp', which means any stamp, and create something with it to share with us.  You can check out the rules HERE.

My inspiration for you is a simple necklace, made by stamping with Flitterglu and megaflake onto black stamping card, with the teeny backgrounds stamp from Indigoblu.

All you need to do is cut out the shape to go into the bezel, and seal it in with glue, underneath and all over the top.  Then I used Diamond Resin to coat the necklace, but you could use Glossy Accents or similar if that's what you have.

Once it's sealed it's ready to wear, just add a simple chain.

So join us at Craft Stamper this month, you can see all the team's inspiration over on the blog, and enter the challenge HERE.

Best Wishes,

Nikki K.