ABAA - Something to Crow about

NOW TRADED



Thhis is my entry for the Awfully Big Art Adventure Something to Crow about.

It is a set of 4 atc's showing the clubs, spades, diamonds and of course hearts from a deck of cards.

I used vivid inks and stencils to create the shapes , stamped on the birds and edged the cards with black stazon to match the colour of the birds. then stamped on the quotes.

Thanks for stopping by my blog

Lots to do challenge - Stitches

I would like to enter this atc for the Lots to do challenge - Stitches.

I love the expression on this guys face as his missus stitches his trousers........hes very brave, I wouldnt be able to resist pricking him with the needle, hehehe.

I used a double piece of card and stitched around the border with a sewing machine, used distress inks to colour it and then added the image text and picture of a packet of sewing needles.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

ABAA - Canvas Art

This is my entry for the ABAA framed canvas challenge.

I was lacking inspiration for my canvas and after a really busy week was feeling very pressured to create something this evening before the deadline.

I took inspiration from the English poets book that I bought for 30p in a charity shop when we made the wooden blocks last year, wanting to do something in a similar vein i decided to start there.

I found this picture of Robert Bridges and instantly fell in love with this image of a man who looks so troubled. I dont remember ever noticing it before, but i feel it has alot of depth.
Its a picture that provokes thought for me, and i am extremely pleased with my finished result.

This will now hang in my sitting room, where i can always see it. I adore it and havent been this happy with a piece of my own work for such a long time.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

INTERNET PROBLEMS

IT IS VERY POSSIBLE THAT I MAY LOSE MY INTERNET CONNECTION FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS AT ANY TIME NOW.
I AM IN THE PROCESS OF TRANSFERRING TO SKY FROM AOL, AND THEY ARE EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS.
IF I GO MISSING AND APPEAR NOT TO BE BLOGGING IT IS ONLY AN INTERNET PROBLEM AND NOT THAT I HAVE STOPPED BLOGGING.
I AM SORRY THAT THIS MAY CAUSE PROBLEMS AND I WILL NOT GET ANY NOTICE TO BE ABLE TO INFORM EVERYONE, SO PLEASE BEAR WITH ME IF I SUDDENLY GO OFFLINE . THANK YOU.

I have just had it confirmed that the loss of my internet should only be for a couple of hours at most and from Thursday 5th feb I should be transferred to my new supplier.

My new email address will be jaqiswany@sky.com


Thank you.

Lots to do , Framed Challenge

This is a framed picture that I made for a friend , hope it qualify's for this challenge.

A selection of inchies, decorated with mini rubber stamps, german scrap, grungeboard and a couple of mini pictures.

David's Story

Pop over to Dotties blog, she's reading Davids story to Poppet.........

Lots to do Challenge - Keys

This is my entry for the lots to do challenge this week, and the theme is Keys.

Although it still need some finishing touches, photos and stamped quotes etc im happy with how it has turned out so far and can only look better with some personal items in it.

It has various keys throughout on the pages , and i liked the idea of giving it a clear front cover so that the first page was protected but showed through to create a decorated cover look.

Thanks for reading my blog

Awfully Big Art Adventure Bottletop

Firstly I must apologise at the poor standard of this entry.
I am cross with myself that this is the best I could come up with.

I have tried without sucess to flatten numerous bottletops , chipped my craft hammer and cracked the plate on my cuttlebug ( they dont go through the cuttlebug) so im afraid my effort ended up being just a basic atc with a bottletop on it.

My inspiration has been packed away with the christmas decorations i think !

Agh..........better luck next week hopefully !

Draw for me Dad !

It didnt take much on sunday to get my son David to agree to draw his son Joe a picture of his favourite transformer.



Joe watched in amazement as his daddy drew freehand his picture.



It wasnt too long before it was finished , and Joe was over the moon with the finished result



A little signature just finished it off nicely.

Awfully Big Art Adventure Sign Challenge

This is my entry for ABAA challenge for this week which was to make a sign.
Sorry its taken me so long to get it done this time , Im still not working on full power.
My sign says 'try' to remind me that i must not give up before i have given it my best shot , and not to give up because i just think I cant do it.
Thanks for reading my blog.

The Lots to do Challenge

When ever i make anything it always feels alot better if it has a specific meaning to me.
This weeks challenge at The lots to do Challenge was to produce a piece of work which included some use of newspaper.

I searched and searched and all the text I came across was of awful stories and accidents that had touched peoples lives, or politics etc all depressing topics.
I didnt want that kind of text in my work I wanted something that i could have some connection too.

And then I found it.......The centre pages of the Sunday Post newspaper contain quizes, sudoku, crosswords, but most importantly "The Broons and Oor Wullie" cartoon strip.
My dads brother Tommy Lavery took early retirement with heart problems but had always been a fantastic artist. He had often had small cartoons published and for a while drew the cartoon strip "Uncle Charlie " in the Sunderland Echo newspaper. He signed all of his work 'Thos' so if you have any old papers you might have some of his work.
After his recovery he was employed by the Sunday Post and was the actual artist who drew both the Broons and Oor Wullie. He didnt write the stories , he just did the drawings. They would send him the scripts and he did the drawings from those.
Sadly he has passed away now but everytime I see these cartoon strips he especially comes to mind. So this piece of work is for my Uncle Tommy as on this occasion he was my inspiration.
Thank you for stopping by my blog.

Biro Drawing

I have just found this and should really have posted this on my birthday.

My son drew this ELVIS for me years ago one night whilst watching tv. I loved it and it has been in a frame ever since. He doesnt draw very often now which is a shame as i think he has a talent.

Christmas Gifts made with the Bind it all

Before Christmas I bought myself a Bind it all. Its Dans fault really ......after watching his amazing demonstration , he made it look so easy I just had to have one. Thank you Dan for the introduction I love my Bind it all.

Anyway moving on.....
I wanted to make something for my 2 sons for Christmas, but as they re both in their early 20's it was hard to think of something that would be cool !
They are constantly having a laugh at my expense as to the amount of time I spend crafting. When I saw the Bind it all I had an idea for my sons......








My eldest son David was only 7 years old when he wrote a story which was televised.



David entered a competition to write a story for 'JACKANORY' and he was lucky enough to be one of the winners.



He was overwhelmed that both our local newspapers the 'The Sunderland ECHO' and 'The South Shields Gazette' both came out and did a story about his achievement.



David asked if it was at all possible could his story be read out by Christopher Timothy (from 'It shouldnt happen to a vet' ) which was one of his favourite tv programmes at the time and he was lucky that they granted his wish.








I had kept a photocopy of the original story in an old fashioned type of scrapbook and we also had a video of the actual screening of the story.
The BBC were kind enough to do the artwork to go with the writing which gave the whole thing a much more proffesional feel.
I had stills of the artwork done from the video to use as the images for the book.





I put everything together in order , mounting the pictures onto pages which I had shaded with inks to match the colours in the pictures.



I used an old typewriter that used to belong to my dad to type the actual story to give it an older feel.


The book came together very well. I was quite excited to see it in book form and hoped he would be pleased with it too.



I ended the book by popping in some closing facts and I also stamped inside the back cover with a ruubber stamp which says
" Imagination is more important than knowledge" by A Einstein.



David was really pleased with it. I will make lots more books with my Bind it all, its a great machine and I really enjoyed this project.
I did a different book for my other son , but thats another post. If you watch Dotties blog , davids actual story will be on there soon in a different type of post ( if anyone is interested in knowing what his story ws about) Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.

I have just been asked by Hilda to add this button and give this new site a mention. The Lots to do Challenge is a good idea, so why not stop by and take a look.

Above is an atc I did a while ago and sent to Jessie a friend in South Africa for a trade but its in the theme of "Time " which is what Hilda has set this week.
Pop over and take a look and why not join in, Good Luck Hilda, hope you get lots of visitors

Influenza

Sorry everyone for not blogging.
Im afraid i have had an awful cold since before Christmas which just got alot worse on boxing day evening.
After being in the house for 2 weeks now and in bed for the last week the doctor called yesterday and told me i had influenza.....
What a great start to the new year eh ! At least I havent had any hangovers over Christmas and New year .....
Hope to be back crafting soon and will hopefully get caught up with Dotties blog too. I apologise Ive missed a couple of challenges too.
Hope everyone had a great time x