Mixed Media Monday - Something New

This week Barbara is guest hosting on Mixed Media Monday, and chose "something new" to challenge us with. This could not have been more opportune for me, with the arrival of my first grandchild, Lucy, last Tuesday! (See the post below this one). So, of course, Lucy and being a grandmother is new for me. But the real "something new" is scrapbooking - that is something I always said I'd NEVER do, but I really wanted to do something to commemorate the arrival of Lucy - I hope her parents like it! It's made in a wooden book cut into the shape of wings.

I'm a Grandmother!!!!!!

I am so thrilled! I have my first grandchild, Lucy! This beautiful little girl came to join our family on 5th January, at 6.34 pm. She weighed 2.77 kgs or 6.17 pounds. She is a tiny little bundle of gorgeousness - perfect in every way. Both she and her mother Bridget are doing well. However I think it will take my son, Allan, a little while to come down from the clouds! Then again, I guess I'm up there with him, grin!

Mixed Media Monday - Leftovers

Beth is hosting on Mixed Media Monday yet again (thankyou) , and has come up with another inspired idea for a challenge - "leftovers". I had so much fun with this! The doll's body is made from an empty stubby beer bottle that I enjoyed on Christmas day :-) I covered the bottle with some deli paper sprayed with color mist sprays that I had left over from another project. The piece over that is cheese cloth dyed in coffee, also a left over. Her necklace is made from the bottle cap from the same bottle and the collage was made with left over elements, apart from the gorgeous little gold bird charm. Her wings were cut from a soft drink can and embossed, then painted gold. Her buckle was made from the ring pull from the can, and the ribbon arrived wrapped around something I purchased online. The doll's head is from a plastic doll - with all the hair removed and then painted to look similar to a porcelaine doll and her hat is made from the same cheese cloth as the over dress. I named the doll "Second Hand Rose", for obvious reasons.

Mixed Media Monday - Least Favourite Colour

This week on Mixed Media Monday Beth is challenging us to use our least favourite colour in some way. While I don't really have a colour that I dislike, pink is something outside my comfort zone. I was therefore very suprised when I was digging through my stash to find just how much pink I actually have accumulated. Nothing in my painting supplies, though :-) This piece is done on a stretched canvas 8x10 inches or 20x25 cms, and is mostly fabric with a little textured paper and lots of embellishments. The square in the top left hand corner is Lutradur which I burnt out using a wood burning tool and the woman image was printed onto Lutradur as well. I have decided that when it comes to fabric art, pink is not going to be my least favourite colour.

Mixed Media Monday - Frosty

Diana is guest host on Mixed Media Monday this week, and she has chosen the prompt of "frosty" for her challenge. I didn't want to go with the obvious, Frosty the Snowman, even though he is adorable. Our Christmases are very hot here in Australia, so I try very hard to avoid snowy images in anything to do with Christmas. Anni peaked my interest in Dotee dolls a little while back and I've been wanting to try my hand at one ever since. So I went with frosty colours for my doll - white and silver. Because it's almost Christmas, I made my doll around one of my favourite old Christmas movies - It's a Wonderful Life - and the quote "everytime a bell rings, an angel gets it's wings". The body of the doll is a white cotton fabric over laid with a couple of layers of silver lace topped with a star taken from one of my Christmas cards. The wings are gold German scrap wings that I painted silver and she has a little "pearl" necklace. Her face was printed onto Lutradur and hand stitched on with silver thread. Her hair is wool sliver which I needle felted onto her head. Her crown was die cut from silver card and has some silver jewels on it. Her "tail" is made from silver beads and a silver bell and her hanger is white ribbon with a bead attached to that. I have named my Dotee doll "Dottie", the nickname we called my mother, so this is also a tribute to her :-)

Mixed Media Monday - Just Hanging Out

This week the very talented Heather is hosting on Mixed Media Monday, and her prompt is "just hanging out". Since most of my art hangs, I thought that would be nice and easy. Then I thought about how the emphasis is on "hanging" so I decided to make a wall hanging. I know my photo is a little crooked, but it does hang straight, grin! I'm still experimenting with "new to me" things and I'm having a ball. I'll explain each layer for those who are interested. The back layer is the heavy weight Fast 2 Fuse, which I painted with acrylic paints and stamped with a foam stamp and some lovely micaceous gold paint (by Artelier). Then the red layer is mulberry paper. On top of that the layer was made with Lutradur, which I painted with acrylic paint, "laced" with the heat gun and then added some gold foil. The image of the angel was printed onto Lutradur then edged with the gold paint. I love the effect of the printed Lutradur because it is a little translucent and the other layers peep through in a very subtle way. This was mounted onto a "wool paper". The hanger was made with a skewer and some wooden beads painted in the same gold paint. The swirls are chipboard painted gold. Then I just used some ribbon, a tassel and some beads (the gold ones painted) and a button to finish it off.

Mixed Media Monday - On the wings of love

On Mixed Media Monday this week Rosie has given us this fun challenge - on the wings of love. So many possibilities, and so little time! This is what I ended up with. The house is cut from a heavey weight Fast 2 Fuse and hand painted with four different water colours and distressed around the edges with distress ink. The laces were tea dyed, and the wooden number 2 was coloured with distress ink. The birds are chipboard, which I covered with fabrics. The house is about 23 cms or 9 inches tall. Such a fun challenge, thanks Rosie!