Is this enough?

Hello there

What a morning I've had. I've been sat up here in my little room after a good long walk with the dogs, on a very cold January morning in the U.K. with tiny bits of sunshine thrown in. I've been watching Louise Nelson again but on Vimeo this time, as I watched her Jumpstart 2013 video last night and was so inspired by her style and Debby Lewis's take on her video too, that I had to create myself. I've probably said this before but so often I just get inspired and then that's it. Just sat in front of the computer getting inspired. How is that inspired? It only works if I actually get off my bottom and create. So guess what? I actually got off my bottom! :-)

I got a piece of packaging chipboard and coated it with gesso. I was even enough on the ball to remember to cut it down to 8x8in, so it'll fit in the album I want it to go in. How good is that?!! :-)

The next step has loads of layers, in a practical sense as well as in the layout sense. I spritzed, masked, blobbed and dripped all over the place. Although, no, not all over the place, as I purposefully tried to keep most of the design in the bottom right hand corner. 

It would be rude not to add some Perfect Pearls mist  :-)

Some crude banners I made by just rubbing some
ink onto some left over packaging material

Louise's main focus in the Jumpstart video is crackle paint
and the different products available to do it. I used a blue
Ranger one, as it's the only one I have!

This is a lovely mask but I really wish it was a stencil- the
negative of it is clear plastic, so I find it too hard to use.

I love the finished result, other than that stupid base banner - dozy me placed it too far out, so I had
to cut it down and made a hash of it :-(

To answer my original question; yes this is more than enough for me. It's nowhere near as good as the other members of the Creative Jumpstart but we're all at different places on our creative journeys, so I'm happy.

Take care out there

I'm not convinced

Hello there

Over on Creative Jumpstart 2013, Nathalie Kalbach shows a technique on video 13. Nathalie shows stamping on printer transparency paper. "Ok", I hear you say, "big deal!"
But Nathalie stamps using gesso. Yes, you read correctly; gesso. She uses a background stamp and shows how to make sure that your stamp is damp to start off with and when she uses Liquitex white gesso (which is runnier than others), it works, basically fine.

Right, for me to get on with it, NOW! I haven't even brushed my teeth yet and it's 09.30 but I am dressed :-) I love grabbing the bull by the horns and going with the flow. I had a couple of issues though, in that a) I don't have Liquitex white gesso and b) I don't have any printer transparencies but hey, since when has not having all the equipment ever stopped me?! :-)
I used Claudine Hellmuth's gesso and some acetate instead.

For those who don't know, gesso dries hard, quickly! So there is potential here to ruin a stamp if it dries thick in the recesses of your stamp.

After selecting a stamp that I wouldn't be heartbroken to lose, I get dampening it and then putting gesso on my craft mat and dabbing with a sponge and placing onto my stamp and then of course, onto the surface to be stamped.

As you can see, the results weren't amazing to say the least. I had thought before I started that I couldn't see the difference between using white gesso and using white stamping ink or embossing powder and I was proved right. I possibly used too much water to dilute the gesso etc but I'm not going to do anymore as it doesn't create enough of a difference in my opinion. I also tried it on some dark blue paper stock but it was no better on there. 

Take care out there and go grab a bull! 

I'm a complete Jumpstart!

Hello there

This is my first post using Google Chrome. I was having no end of trouble getting photos to upload on Blogger, so this was an option suggested to help that issue on the help and support pages. I've also worked out how to install icloud and use it's photo stream facility, which makes photo storage so much easier. Now all photos will be available in one place wire-lessly connected,  rather than over several different machines, needing cables to attach each one. Listen to me - real techy wizz! :-)

Not only have I been doing techy things, I've also been playing with gel mediums and alcohol sprays. This happened as a result of watching Creative Jump-start No.10 video by Nathalie Kalbach herself. It's a very basic video about using gel mediums as a resist. I've seen it all before but it is a good technique to use in this sort of project, which is designed to jump start people's creativity at this dull time of year (it's definitely dull in the U.K) 

A practise piece on copy paper over the Tim Holtz
flourish mask. It's looks so glimmery under the
light here on my desk, as the mist has SU's champagne mist in it

I've still not finished all the calendar pages for this year yet, so I played around with the  Claudine Hellmuth gloss medium on another month's page. Despite having seen May Flaum and others use mediums tonnes of times, I haven't actually played with it at all really. I created the stencils by cutting shapes with my Cricut out of acetate. 

The completed page for August

I was really chuffed to find this shape, which is perfect to use as a stencil.
It's a shape from the Don Juan cartridge, which I don't own but
it's the free cartridge available on Cricutcraftroom this week. 

I do love the glimmery effect the champagne mist gives to projects.
Glimmer without glitter is a definite 'yes, yes' in my book :-)

I haven't got a brilliant look on the stencilling but considering
they were created by all handmade items, I'm very happy with it.
It looks much better in real life too, I have to say.

Take care out there