You are my sunshine ....

...when Lily got this card for her birthday (cinnamon aitch ltd)I knew immediately what I wanted to do. 

A bit of cheeriness on a cold day....

Frosty Festivties ...

... there's been lots going on over at Jennifer's blog this weekend. There's still time to comment on all the inspirational ideas and take part in the challenges.

I don't do much in the way of Christmas crafting - a few cards, maybe Journal Your Christmas, but fancied making a canvas yesterday inspired by Jennifer's Canvas and I'm quite pleased with it. You can't really see very well but it's covered in glimmer mist and Stickles!

 

 

I cut out a few different trees before I decided on this, so there may be a few more canvases appearing shortly!

New She Art girl ....

... my little sis came to stay in half term and she was keen to do some crafting with me. She's particularly keen on mixed media canvases and so while she messed around I created a new She Art girl. I haven't done one for ages and loved the process. This was a great size to work on 4" x 12", didn't feel that I had too much space to fill.

A Make A Month ...

... for February.

A week ago I had a few friends come round and I taught them the little I knew about Mixed Media. I made these little canvases as an example for them.

It was great to craft in company and to see their own intepretations come to life.

Explore: Get Creating ...

... so today's prompt was to make something drawing on what we had learnt from the week. I decided to go with a She Art girl using the cut up map from a couple of days ago as a background.

This is the 8th girl I've made now but the first that is truely based on me.
Here you can see the map in the background.


I'm also going to make a LO at some point over the weekend with the picture I took yesterday.

Nourish ...

.. my friend has been seeing an acupuncturist who told her that she needs to 'nourish' herself more and I knew straight away what she meant. For a while now I have felt unbalanced in my life and that I wasn't looking after myself as much as others. Hence the lack of creativity.

So a couple of weeks ago I took a major life decision and resigned from my part-time from home work. The reasons are many and varied but I am so looking forward to spending the summer with the girls. My days will then be spent removating and organising the house so that come the weekends we can spend time together as a family. I will of course be allowing myself creative time outs!

I've found myself with some time this weekend as Lily has gone to Brownie Camp. It's her first time away from me and home (apart from having a few Grannie stays), I hope she's coping OK, the house is very quiet with just Mia. So a little bit of crafting was in order.

Firstly I've made a little bird for my stepmum as a post-op present. She's becoming a bit of a bird collector!


This is for Shimelle's Sketch of the Week which I've rotated.

Have a very busy couple of weeks coming up with the end of term approaching, final PTA events to organise and a family wedding. Then there's our summer holiday to look forward to - yipee!

More She Art ...

... I should have added to my weekend list to catch up on the She Art Workshop. I think my access runs out soon and I've still got the Week 3 videos to watch plus downloading all the pdfs.

The week 1 girls are still my favourite and I did this one for my little tweenager sis, so I've given her skinny jeans and boots. I had a much bluer canvas in my head when I started out but I love that the canvases take on a life of their own.

Canvas class ...

... my lovely and very talented friend Lisa taught a class at the Cocoa Daisy crop and here's my take on it. Looks a bit dull on screen but it is quite bright! It's 8 x 10 and I just need to find a little home for it now!

Layering ...

… just before Easter the supplies that I wanted to do the canvases for Lily’s room arrived. So between the two bank holidays I got to work and thought I’d document the layering process.


Background, paint and modelling paste:
Stamping:
The girls and blending:

More stamping, rubons and paint:

Working in 6x12 canvases meant that more of the background got covered by the girls than I planned. I also used some ink that bled when I mod podged, so a couple of lessons learnt!

Lily's delighted with them!

A bit of sunshine ...

... this is the third and last girl from Week 1's class. This one was the most difficult to come together, it's grungier than intended and I deliberated over the paper for her clothes. I also think she's got gorilla arms!

Hope you all have glorious sunshine for the Easter weekend, my brother and family is visiting which I'm really looking forward to.

Yes, they're addictive ...

... just as you said Steph!

Hannah - the doily on the last canvas was just a paper one I used as a stencil, nothing fancy!

She Art ...

.. my first girl.

Class started on Monday and I've watched loads of video since then. I wasn't planning on making a canvas yet as I'm waiting for some supplies to arrive - I want to make some for Lily's newly decorated bedroom - but I was just itching to start!

de-light ...

... so here's a companion canvas of my own design using what I had learnt from the first canvas.

And here the are together. The paint colours don't match exactly as I has to mix them up again (does that matter? Should I care?)

Just need to find a home for them now, think they're going to go in the kitchen.

And now for something completely different .....

... I have been really intrigued by the She Art pieces of work I have been spotting around the internet. So whilst I was looking on the Scarlet Lime blog I came across a tutorial that Christy had done for a mixed media canvas and I realised that I had the Frugal kit she used. So with a purchase of Mod Podge and a canvas I made this, it's called Spring Is In The Air.



I have never made anything like this before so I won't apologise for copying Christy's work completely (although my canvas is slightly smaller)!!


I love it and already have plans for a companion piece of my own invention!