Thursday 26 January 2017

Alchol ink on glass pendant video tutorial by Margaret Brackley


Hello my friends!  I have a special treat for you today.  My alcohol ink workshop posts have been some of my most popular with all of you.  What's not to love about those beautifully vibrant inks.  One thing I have mentioned is how stunning the glass pendants always turn out.  My friend, Margaret Brackley teaches the alcohol ink workshops that I have been featuring on my blog.  She has started a YouTube channel and I am so happy to share her first tutorial!  If you enjoyed looking at the photos from our workshop, you will love this video.  If you like alcohol ink, you will want to subscribe to her channel because she creates wonderful works of art  using a variety of techniques, and this is just the first of more tutorials to come!
Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you check out Margaret's video.
Have an awesome day everyone!  xo

Monday 23 January 2017

New "Tags" page and up-dated "Paintings" and "Cards" pages



Hello my friends!
I don;t have a post for today, but I did want to let you know, for those who may be interested, I have added a new page to my blog, "Tags".  I did many tags last year for the One Little Tag Craft Challenge, all of which are posted on my blog.  I thought I would do a page of tags so that it could easily be scrolled through for anyone who likes tags or is looking for some tag or card inspiration.
I have also added some photos to my "Cards" page and my "Paintings" page.
Please have a look if those are of interest to you.
Have an amazing day everyone!  xo

Friday 20 January 2017

Stamperia Demo and Haul - I thought it was only available in Europe, but it's available in Toronto!!!


Hello my friends!  
This is a post about another product that I am so excited about!  I had seen a few videos using  Stamperia products on YouTube.  I knew it was a European company (from Italy) and I figured I would never get my hands on any of it.  Some of you that have been following my blog may know that I belong to a few different art groups and associations.  The club I am most closely involved with is Ajax Creative Arts.  It is my job within the club to organize demos and workshops.  One of the other members of the group, Lydja, approached me  a while back and told me that she worked with  someone who would be interested in doing a workshop or demo at our club.  I spoke to Nahla on the phone and as she was describing the product, I discovered it was Stamperia!  I was so excited!  As far as I know, she is the only distributor, at this time, in North America!
So on Wednesday afternoon, Nahla and her lovely daughter came to our club to introduce us to the Stamperia line of products.  The catolouge is quite thick, this company 
offers a multitude of products.  They have paints, sprays, pastes, gorgeous collage and decoupage papers, stamps, stencils, transfers, transfer gels, a wonderful crackle paste, patinas, and the list goes on and on.
These products can be used for mixed media, art journallung, crafting, decorative painting, home Decor, fabric painting etc. etc.  etc!
Nahla brought a few samples of some finished projects and did a great demo for us using a variety of different products.  We only had a couple of hours, so we steered the demo in the direction that we thought would appeal most to our artist members.  but there are so many more things for the creative soul to try.  I have added a couple of links below to videos I saw before I had even spoken to Nahla.  There is a mixed media canvas and an art journalling page, some of the things I was interested in.  But I encourage you to visit the Stamperia website, there is a link above, and search Stamperia on YouTube for many great videos, if you are interested.
Please enjoy some photos from our demo.  I had asked Nahla if she could bring in some product that we could purchase.  What you see in the pictures are just a tiny sampling of what's available.  We had a lot of fun looking through the beautiful papers, stamps, stencils, paints, pastes etc.  I was surprised were reasonable ans comparable  with similar products more widely available here..  I guess I just assumed that because they were imported and shipped from Italy, there would be a higher price point.  Sometimes it's nice to be wrong! 
We will be planning a workshop soon! (which I will also share)

Please excuse all the mess in the background.  Our art club also shares space with a theatre group who uses the space as a prop drop-off ground (please also excuse my annoyance, lol)







We took a little break to allow for some drying time and had some fun looking through the products that Nahla brought.




These are the goodies  that I purchased (to start with!)




This crackle paste is different finish than any of the others I have tried, so I am looking forward to trying it.  It might be fun to combine it with different  crackle mediums throughout a canvas for some different textures










Here is a mixed media canvas video by Nicoletta Zanella using Stamperia products.
Here is an art journal page using Stamperia products by Vicky Papaioannou who's work I just love!

Well, Nahla casually mentioned that she was heading to a trade show in Arizona this weekend.  I'm so jealous, she is off to CHA!!!  That is one show I would love to go to. I hope she has a wonderful time, I'm sure it will be a lot of fun!

Thank you so much for stopping by!  i hope you have enjoyed hearing about our demo and will check out Stamperia.  Have an awesome and creative day!  xo

Thursday 19 January 2017

Jane Davenport Haul!!! and Happy New Year!!!



Hello my friends and Happy New Year!  Things have been a little crazy around here and I can't believe t's already the middle of January, and this is my first post of the year..  I hope everyone is great, settling into 2017 and anticipating lots of wonderful things this year.  I don't really make "resolutions", but I do have a mental list of some things tat I'd like to try this year.
Last year was a year for several new things for me.  I have to admit, I'm a little "old school" when it comes to technology, but I'm trying!  I started this blog last January, my first and only (so far!).  I still don't really know what I'm doing and have a lot to learn, but I am having so much fun with it.  I love sharing with all of you.  I love seeing that people from all over the world have stopped in to have a peek at what I have been up to.  I think it is so amazing to feel connected to people in so many countries.  My original intent with this blog, was to share my art and cards with my sister, who I haven't seen for several years and who lives 3000 miles away.  I had text Kerry some photos of of cards that Ii had been making and she was interested in trying some as well.  I thought this would be a great way to craft together.  We could speak on the phone and them I could show her what I was talking about in my blog and share different ideas and techniques with her.
I also joined some FB groups for the first time.  The first one i joined was  the One Little Tag Craft Challenge, (which is continuing this year, in case anyone is interested in checking it out)  So I made tags for the first time, which I really love making.  The idea behind the challenge was to try and make on little tag a day, just to stimulate your creativity.  Once a day isn't always possible, but that doesn't matter.  To be honest, I haven't made a tag yet this year.  I started off really well last year but sometimes life gets in the way of art projects, or sometimes other art projects get in the way of tags.  It still didn't matter, you can jump in and out as much as you like.  But I have to tell you, it really kept me inspired.  So you will find many many tags on my blog.  I also joined some great Google communities.  I have found that people are so kind and supportive and it is so motivating.  So thank you to any of you who may be a part of the FB groups and G+ communities I am in.  I will share links at the end to some of those wonderful groups I participate in.
I know I am a little slow with my technology, but I have set up an Instagram account.  I haven't posted anything yet, but once I get going I will share that as well. So that was one thing I wanted to do this year. Another goal this year is to do some crafting videos, so hopefully I will have some of those to share on my YouTube channel as well.  I have never done any art journalling, that is something I'd like to do this year.  There are other little creative challenges I think I will be trying throughout the year as well.
I hope you are inspired to try some new creative endeavors this year.  I would love to hear some of the ideas on your list.  It might spark even more new interests for me, or others that may read this.

NOW, without further adieu, let's get to Jane Davenport!!!  I was so excited to see so many YouTube videos showing that her product was now available.  Then I was disappointed, because there was nothing at my local Michaels (I believe this is exclusive to Michaels) and when I searched Michaels Canada, nothing came up for Jane Davenport.  Alas, I thought, it must only be in the US.  Well, I did not give up my search and I am so happy to report that the Jane Davenport line IS also in Canada, although it is not at every store.  I was also very pleased to discover that they were not a crazy price point, (especially with coupons!) and some items were quite reasonable even without the coupons.
What I am sharing is a collective haul from a couple of different Michaels stores spanning a distance of 4 towns!  I have not tried any of this product yet, and I will be sure to share with you what I think of it when I do.  Most of the reviews (all actually) that I have seen have been good, so I was pretty confident making my purchases  There are many more items in the line, including water colours, pens journals, rub-ons and more.  I will probably get some more things down the line, but I did manage to  get most of what I wanted.

I am excited to try these pencils, they supposedly play very well with paint and other media

I actually have a lot of Gesso and matte and other mediums that I use in my  painting, but I thought I would try these anyways.  They are a handy size to keep with my crafting supplies

All these stamps were a very good price point, in my opinion.  They were $8, or maybe even $8.99 (Cdn), so probably even less in the US.

This stamp set is going to be so fun to play with, creating different faces!


I am also looking forward to giving these a try, especially the white, I am always on the hunt for good white pens for mixed media.

How cool are these!

Funny story, my friend Lynn was with me for the majority of my Jane Davenport hunt.  We were both looking for the stencils but couldn't find them at either store.  Lo and behold, when I got home I discoed that the stencils were in with the paints.  It did say that on the packaging, but we missed it in our excitement.



I am looking forward to giving my new stash some creative love.  However, I am also busy painting as I will be displaying my art at the Ajax Town hall soon, and I am hoping to have some fresh new works, which I will share.  So, now that I have all my Jane Davenport goodies, before they sold out, I will reluctantly have to put them aside for a little while.  But next month, I'm sure I will have someting to share, so make sure to check back.  It would be great to hear what any of you, who have the new products, think of them.

Thanks so much for stopping by, here's to a wonderful creative year together! xo

Here are slinks to some of the different groups and communities I have been enjoying, I hope you can check them out.
One Little Tag Craft Challenge , Facethescraps , Creating and Sharing Mixed Media Art ,All Things Mixed Media Art! , Krafters Kommunity , Card Making Haven