Postcards to Colour

 A friend of mine will be out of action for a few weeks.

She is very crafty and she does a lot of quilting and embroidering, 

but she also does paper craft.

So to keep her mind occupied while her body needs healing

a few friends decided to give her something that she can do 

when she feels up to it and to keep the creativity going.

I have no clue what the others are planning but this is my contribution.

She was the one who started the Postcard thing a while ago, 

just before the Post Office went on a huge strike.

She made Postcards for her friends and posted them.

We waited months, but we knew something was in the post and

then the joy of seeing your name, handwritten on the front of a 

letter or Postcard, it is always exciting and special.

I used this Penny Black stamp and black Archival ink 

to do the stamping on the white paper.

 I then cut a 12" x 12" piece of double sided paper in to 6 pieces. 4" x 6" each.

I made sure that when I cut the paper that this image was left intact.

 Then it was time to stamp an image that could be coloured in
and paste it on the back of the postcard.
(which is the front and which is the back?)

Here I used stickers, cutouts and rub-ons to decorate the postcards.

If the paper you are using is not sturdy enough, use two layers 

and glue them together.

On the very first photo, you can see a 

black and white image peeping out to the right hand side. 

That is a Primamarketing Paintable Paper that I cut up into Postcard 

sizes. Paper from my stash that I've had for years.

The image on the paper was printed on watercolour paper

so I just stamped the Postcard stamp on the front and the back

has this beautiful image that is ready to colour.

All you need now is your Aquarelle colouring pencils and a water-pen.

I will make sure that she has everyone's addresses

and some stamps before giving her my gift.

Enjoy the weekend and stay warm!

Working with inks and stencils in my Art journal

I chose red and purple and a little bit

of blue for these two pages,

but remember...

anything goes!

Supplies:

Craft sheet

Water spray bottle

Distress ink pads

Applicator tool

Distress Spray Stains

Stencils

Texture paste

Baby wipes

Archival ink pad

Stamps

Micron pen

paint brush

Ink up your craft sheet with the distress inks

by tapping the ink pad on the craft sheet.

Don't overlap your colours

because you will contaminate you ink pads.

Spray the paper you will be using 

and the craft sheet with a little bit of water mist. 

Put the paper face down onto the ink on the craft sheet.

Move the paper around and when you are satisfied with 

effect let it dry.

If you are not happy with the flow of the colours, spray the

paper so that the colours can run.

Spray the paper with a bit of Distress Spray Stain 

to highlight some areas.

Stenciling:

Use the distress ink pad and an applicator tool to apply the ink 

over your stencil and onto your paper. 

Always use circular movements to get a better effect.

Texture Paste:

Use washi tape to secure the paper and the stencil.

Spread a small amount of texture paste over the

stencil. Lift the stencil carefully and let the texture paste dry.

You can use the applicator tool to colour the 

texture paste areas.

Now your pages are ready to journal the

words of wisdom that comes to you.

If nothing comes to you... stamp something that has meaning to you.

Colour create and have fun!

The Dummy Fairy

 I got a call from my niece this morning.

Her little three year old decided it was time 

for the fairies to come and collect her dummy and... 

could I please make a Fairy ?!

I had to make her in a few hours.

Drying time included.

 Pinterest  came to my rescue!

I started off with bendable wire and some paper napkins.

I peeled off the back of the napkins and tore it in to strips.

I then used gel medium and a paint brush to 

'mummify' the wire shape. 

You really put the strips on like bandages.

Now I have skipped a few steps, but this is the final

product, with a little crown, two layers of 

petticoats and a top layer of the original paper napkin.

For the story to hold water with a three year old....

the baby fairies now needs the dummy and 

that's why it will never come back.

For the link and a great tutorial go to:

http://stariy-chemodan.livejournal.com/73705.html

The real Grey Ladder

Welcome to the new blog!

These are quick photos of the ladder.

Maybe I should take a photo at night when the lights 

are burning...

I played around on Picasa to get some kind of effect to 

show off the ladder a little bit better. My studio is very busy

and to get a good shot of the ladder can be tricky.

This ladder was made by my grandpa over 90 years ago.

They lived on the farm Rosendal in Stellenbosch. He farmed

with fruit and grapes and vegetables and they lived in a  

beautiful farm house.

He obviously had to make a plan to stabilize the ladder 

and the ladder was painted a few colours over the years. 

This is what the farm house look like today.

When my grandfather passed away, my dad "inherited" 

the ladder. My dad is now 89 and the ladder was put into storage for quite 

a few years. So when we built my studio I took the ladder out of storage and 

hanged it from the roof in my studio.

So there you go...

The Grey Ladder 

Art Journal Classes

Art Journaling is a way to express yourself....without

any criticism.

There are no deadlines, there are no rules.

You can use what you want 

and create what you want.

These are my absolute basics. 

A4 Heavy duty mixed media pad

Micron pens

Glue

Aqaurelle pencils

Water colour paints.

If you feel like creating, writing, doodling, drawing, scribbling,

painting, stenciling, texturing, gluing, spraying, stitching,

cutting and playing..... you are invited! 

We will start off with one class a month. 

One for the girls who can make it on a Thursday

and one for the girls that can make it on a Saturday. 

Here are the dates:

Thursdays: 

18 June

16 July

20 August 

17 September

15 October

19 November
all classes 09:00 - 12:00

Saturdays:

 20 June

18 July

 22 August

19 September

17 October

21 November
all classes 10:00 - 13:00

I will teach you the basics:

Where to get inspiration

how to create a background

how to use the different products

and a new technique each month

The aim of the class is to learn how to be comfortable to create

and find your own style.

( if you don't have a style yet, don't worry!

if you miss a class, don't worry !)

 Available for class use:

stencils
stamps

die cuts and machines

embossing folders

punches

and all the other non consumables

You need two things to start with:

A4 mixed media paper pad (photo)

Micron pen. 0.4

Reply by e-mailing me.

I hope you all look forward to start expressing
yourself on paper!