Creative Hobbies Project. Sneakers with Sharpies.

This is a project that I did for the 

Creative Hobbies magazine, Issue 10. 

The Pilot Frixion Pen is a miracle. 

(those are the red lines on the tekkie)

As you can see, you draw what you want, colour 

the drawings with your sharpies. Outline the 

images with your black marker and then make

 the red lines disappear with the heat of a hairdryer. 

I used surgical spirit to blend the colours.

Unlike the decoupaged tekkies, these are waterproof

and ideally suited for kids.

Altered Suitcase

Here is the sweet little suitcase.

It will be interesting to see how the suitcase will age, 

because there are a few different surfaces 

that I painted with the same paint.

The inside was done with paint, serviettes and gel medium.

After the market I will use the suitcase to display 

my handmade cards.

Have a lovely week!

No Rules

As part of my Colour therapy, I decided to have no rules

while doing this project.

Rules gives us direction, but it can also

be very limiting. 

I have no formal art training so I kept my ears and 

eyes open when reading articles as I started on my journey

of paper crafting. 

So on these pages my only guideline was to keep it colourful,

If you look closely, you will see a lot of techniques.

It doesn't really matter what you do, the main thing is you 

need to enjoy the whole process.

I printed a lot of  my favorite quotes, cut the words out and

pasted it where ever I felt like.

I used stamps and stencils and inks.

Glitter, (as always) in many forms and ways.

Pens and sprays.

Everything that made me feel good and that looked good!

I chose water colour paper for the pages, because it can take a 

lot of beating and still survive.

Some places the colour from the back side came through, 

then I worked with it or around it,

but as I said, no rules.

This is a form of Art Journaling. Have a look at this website 

to see the professionals do it.

http://stampington.com/Art-Journaling-Summer-2014

Try this yourself and use all your "stuff "and techniques.

It is relaxing. It is therapy! Create with no rules.

I will post more pages and show you how I will 

transform these pages into a book.

Maybe sew it, or bind it.....

don't know yet.

The Old Brown Chair

This chair has been in the family for many years, always standing

 somewhere in a corner and not looking very attractive. 

I decided to give it a face lift and place it in the powder room of the studio.

The chair still has its original label underneath the seat.

It says: The Globe Chair Factory Ltd. Durban, with instructions 

on how the chair should be treated.

I gave the chair a light sanding and glued two pieces of wood together.

After painting the chair with two coats of  Annie Sloan's Provence,

I then decorated the back of the chair using a stencil and an oil paint stick. 

I finished it off with a coat of clear wax and then a small amount of 

dark wax to give it the antique look.

If you look closely, you will see the small differences 

on the corners and on the back board.

My next project is to paint the small table and four chairs

that my dad made for us to have tea parties with our dolls.

My niece's daughter is two years old and soon she will be having tea parties

with her dolls and she needs a table and chairs.

Keep crafting! x

Colour Therapy.

Sometimes you need to have fun. 

I was feeling down and knew I had to do something, so I did my own colour 

therapy. I started this project a while ago, but could not get further than the first two pages.

So what I did was to take out the brightest colours in my Distress stains and

Distress ink pads. Put them all in front of me and started inking my craft sheet.

Then I sprayed it with water and put the paper face down in the colour. 

Sometimes it needed a bit more spritzing, sometimes a bit more ink.

I did all six double pages and then left them out to dry.

After they were all dry, I coloured the white spots with 

water soluble crayons. So now the paper is ready for the next step. 

Don't ask me what the next step will be .....

maybe some stenciling, some stamping, some texture paste

 and then a bit of journaling.

 All these papers are folded in half, so 

I will be able to make a book out of them. 

I feel better and if this doesn't turn out to be the project of the year,

it doesn't matter, I had fun !

The ideal gift for a teacher?

As most of you know I was a teacher for many years

and was also involved in the sport for the disabled,

so a clipboard was on of the things you could never 

leave behind on a sports day.

I also decorated a few clipboards during my serious scrapbooking days.

But now is the time to revamp them all!

Some of them had to be stripped, some of them had to be cleaned,

but I like the revamped look.

.

I painted this clipboard with Old White and then stenciled

on it with Coco. I also painted the metal clip.

To finish it off, I sealed it with clear wax and 

then did the "dark wax thing".

The colour combination for this board is Old Violet and Paloma. 

Hand painting over the the stencil with a tiny brush, gave it some more character.

Then as always, a little bit of sparkle had to be added.

The clipboard was sealed only with clear wax.

My niece is having her birthday soon and she is also 

a teacher. She will get a turquoise clipboard with white polka dots.

I would love to see her reaction....

I think any teacher would like a funky clip board.

Silver leafing on Paris grey.

Here is another small project that I did a few techniques on.

This little tub I had to sand a bit. There were a few spots that had a bit of old glue on it.

Then I glued on the embellishment and started painting.

My favorite colour...: Paris Grey.

The inside I painted with old White.

 I applied the silver leaf and then finished it off with

a coat of Dark wax. 

Know it holds all my colour samples. 

Keep crafting!

Polka dots on an old tin box.

This is a small tin box that I had for years!!

So when I started painting everything, this box was a victim.

I was in such a hurry that I did not take a 'before' shot.

But this is the 'after' and I think dots look super cool.

It really goes to show that you can paint on any surface.

If it is new tin, I would wash it in warm water with 

dish washing soap and a little vinegar before I start painting.

Take out "the stuff " and paint!

Polka dots for Valentines.

Herannies is a craft shop in Centurion.

You never walk out of the shop empty handed.

Karin gave these hearts to me and said that I should see what I can do with them.

So they were on my table for a while and today 

I finished them.

They fit in perfectly with the whole grey and white look of the studio.

Of course they are painted with my new favorite paint and

the dots made with the back of a pencil, dipped into the old white paint.

Finished off with a coat of clear wax and they were ready to hang.

Happy Valentines!