Wednesday 31 December 2014

Annie's Christmas Tree Board

At last I have the chance to share with you
Annie's finished board.
A fabulous tree, I love the dark tree against
the blue crackled background.
 

 
 
Below you can see the board with lace
to outline the shape of the tree and before
Annie glued all her buttons, flowers and all manner of goodies on,
she then covered the tree with black paint and used
various Treasure Gold pastes to highlight
all the elements, adding a Snowman and Reindeer.
 
 
Here is a close up of a section where you can
see lovely teeny fairy lights strung across the tree
along with hints of glitter here and there.
 
 
 
I hope everyone had a great Christmas, we did.
Now to look forward to see what 2015 will bring.
 
 


Tuesday 16 December 2014

Mini Christmas Canvas (Two) decorated on both sides

Hello again and yes with another Christmas Tree Canvas or two
With all the boxes of stuff open in the craft room
I decided to decorate a small 8" canvas
on both sides to place on a shelf or windowsill.
 
I covered the canvas front and back with black gesso.
Gluing all the elements to sketched shapes for the trees.
I then covered these with black gesso and highlighted
with various Treasure Gold pastes.
Finishing with tiny red rhinestones.
Here is the result which now sits on our dresser.
 
8" Christmas Canvas
 
 
As you can see I used a stack of buttons on the front three trees above
also around the frame at the back of the canvas below.
I splattered white paint around the background and over the reindeer.
 
 
Rear view of 8" Christmas canvas
 
The inspiration for the canvas above came after completing another 8" canvas
made for my son and daughter in law to take over to her parents
in Finland later this month, did I say that I find making them 
just a bit addictive.  
 
Here is the canvas which will be bound for Finland on Sunday.
For the base I glued a mesh over the canvas before covering
with gesso and gluing the elements in place
 


 
 
 
 
Margaret's Christmas Boards
 
I am very pleased to also share these photos of two lovely boards
which were finished at home after our last workshop. 
I believe Margaret has used various die cut leaves and flowers
 to great effect, the baubles look very festive.

 
Margaret's Tree Board

 
 
Both boards are wonderful Margaret.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday 2 December 2014

Jane's Mixed Media Christmas Tree Board

Hello again, I am back to share this fabulous board by Jane
which she has now completed since our workshop
and kindly sent me these photos.
I love the way Jane has used small red baubles mixed
with pearls, washers, cogs and all manner of goodies.
The white background really enhances the cogs and the tree.
 
 
 
 
As you can see from the photo below, Jane finished her
board and drilled holes from the front to back and
inserted tiny Christmas lights, how fab is that?
 
 
 
Here you can see a section of the board in more detail.
A stunning festive board Jane!
 
 
Until next time..


Monday 17 November 2014

Mixed Media Black Christmas Tree

Hello again, here is my last tree board,
I could not decide which colour to use or background. 
 It started out as blue then red and finally
I chose to go with Liz's idea of black.  I painted
everything with black gesso stippling the board to give
more texture. 

I used not only metal flowers and other items but I
also buttons of all sizes.  I love the result.
I attached all the items with hot glue and then gilded with
Treasure Gold using 3 different colours.
(close up)
Lastly I felt it needed just a little more and added the red stones
coloured with a Copic pen. 


I have enjoyed this series of festive boards and I still have a
multitude of buttons and junk to attach to something else! 


Saturday 15 November 2014

Christmas Wreath Board

Back again with my finished Wreath Board.  I realised near the end that there was
a danger it might be more oval than round, having the doily base came
in very handy to keep to the shape intended.
 
 
 
 
I used a large paper doily (with centre cut out)  glued this to the board as
a base and guide before adding two coats of
gesso followed by paint.  I then used a large crackle stamp with
white paint for the background.
 
 
 
 
 
I glued all the various metal bits, other die cuts I had
covered with metal paint or gilding paste to give
a metal finish.
 
 
I added colour with ink sprays, alcohol inks, gilding paste and
acrylic silk paints. Glued accent beads to all the gaps.
 
 
 
 
Back later with my latest Christmas Tree Board but in black!!!!
 
 


Thursday 13 November 2014

Mixed Media Christmas Tree Canvas and Pennant Swap

 

 
I had fun bringing together all my junk jewellery and lovely
metal flowers for this tree. I used a canvas as I did
not have a board before preparing for the November workshop.
Oh and although there are only two pearly dangles in this
photograph there are now 4 which looks better.
 
 
The preparation was exactly the same as for the wreath in my
next post but I used lace instead of a doily to
form the tree shape to show texture through the design.
 
 
 
I have used a photograph of this board for my Christmas cards this year.  Very handy!
 
 
 
NOVEMBER PENNANT SWAP
 
 
Now for the pennant swap pics, only two this time as others forgot to bring
theirs but will swap with each other by post.
 
Both of our envelopes were hand made. I used paper from
my gelli plate play days.
 
My pennant
 
Annie's pennant
 
 
I cannot wait to attach my pennants and hang them in my craft room
for inspiration, thank you ladies for all the swaps this year.
 
Back later with my Christmas Wreath Board.

Mixed Media Christmas Workshop

 
 
Another great day with crafty friends creating festive boards.
 
 
I supplied the boards and other supplies to decorate
two sizes.
 
The 12"square boards were for the Wreath Design
I had sealed all the boards with Jo Sonja All Purpose Sealer.
We used a large paper doily, removed the centre panel and used
this as a guide for the layout of the embellishments.
Once glued to the board and dry, we added two coats of gesso then
choice of paint for background.
 
Liz decided to use black gesso for her background
 and more work to complete later.
 
 
Tanya had a great time with her board and red metallic paint before
attaching her collection of goodies and the only one to
finish her board, well done.
 
 
 
The 12 x 18" boards were ideal for the Christmas Tree design.
I supplied some lace but some members provided their own.
These were cut and glued to the board to form the
texture background for the tree shape from a template.
Two coats of gesso covered the lace and board ready to
attach the embellishments.
Burlap used for the pot at the base of the tree.
 
 
 
Annie had exquisite lace for her background tree, far too nice
to cover.  Here she has laid out some of her
embellishments ready to attach and finish later.
 
 
 
 
Jan decided to use very intricate die cut leaves that she
had painted for her tree which she will add to later.
I hope to see it when she has finished it.
 
 
 
Margaret had taken the time to lay out her design and
removed them before I had a chance to photograph them,
another to look forward to seeing finished.
 
 
 
Jane had a wealth of baubles to use for her board
which is very effective.
 
 
 
Maggie again has laid out some items ready to attach
but will have a search at home to find more.
 
 
 
As you can see there is still a lot of work to do to finish
some of these boards and I look forward to seeing
and hopefully sharing them on here.
 
Thank you ladies for a wonderful last workshop for the year,
looking forward to seeing you all again in February.
 
 
 
Back later with photos of my wreath and tree boards.....
 
 
 
 


Saturday 18 October 2014

Maggie's Mixed Media Board

 
A beautiful board that Maggie
has designed in memory of her Mum.
This photo is not of the finished
board, but it looks fabulous at this stage.

Maggie's Board
 
That is it for now, will post if I receive photos of other boards.
Meanwhile I am running another workshop in November
with a Christmas theme collage on a board. 

Thursday 16 October 2014

Marion's Mixed Media Board

 
Wonderful board designed by Marion
incorporating photos from 1964 and 2014
Lovely colours used.
 
Marion's Board
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A stunning board and a lovely keepsake.
Up next.... Maggie


Friday 10 October 2014

Annie's Mixed Media Board

 
Another gorgeous board by Annie
A lovely seaside theme
Originally very blue, but Annie
toned the blue down as you can see
in the second photo.
I love the way she has used her photo and added
the names on the back of the director chairs.








Annie's Board
 
A wonderful board with attention to detail.
Up next....Marion 


Wednesday 8 October 2014

Jane's Mixed Media Board


Jane decided to design this board
as a homage to Lauren Bacall.
 
A stunning board, my photo shot of it
does not do it justice.  For some reason
it appears very pink, see the following
photos for more idea of colours.
 
Jane's Board




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A beautiful board with so many elements, most of the
flowers are hand made mixed with beads
and cogs.  Fabulous.
 
Look out for the next board by Annie