Bird Cage Reverse Canvas ~ Donna Salazar Designs

 I am back this month with a Reverse Canvas featuring Donna's Bird cage and Botanique Patterned paper. I was really happy with how this turned out! I have had a very busy couple of weeks trying to get ahead so we can go on a family holiday to New Zealand next week! I am sooo looking forward to the break!

 The mesh around the edge of the frame is like a florist mesh, I stuck it to the edge of the frame then painted over it!.

 I love this little birdie in here! He was just perfect!

The steps for creating this finish on the bird cage is as follows!

Step 1: Paint the bird cage pieces black

Step 2: Once Dry ink over the black with the Pewter Mix'd Media Inx

 Ink Both Pieces.

 Step 3: Sprinkle the Jasmine Mix'd Media Inx Embossing powder over the ink and Heat set.

 Step 4: Sand and distress to give a worn and weatherd look.

 I have used 3D foam tap to attach the two pieces together, slightly bending the front of the cage to give it a curved look. At the center of the base of the bird cage there is several layers of the foam tape.

Materials:

Clearsnap

Mix'd Media Inx -Truffle, Pewter

Mix'd Media Inx - Embossing Powder - Jasmine
Smooch Spritz - River Mossy

Spellbinders

Girlie Grunge Labels

Want2Scrap

Designer Embellies- Bonnies Birdcage

GCD Studios

Botanique Collection

Other Products:

Mesh
Bird/ nest & flowers
Chain
Prima vintage trinkets
stick
gesso
Kaiser colour paint - Sea Breeze

Adhesives
Helmar Tiger Grip 
3D Foam Tape!

Tools
Heat Gun

 Thanks for dropping by!
Have a great day!
Cheers
Michelle xx

Mobile phone pouch ~ Donna Salazar Designs

Back again, this time with something a little different! I have been walking for awhile and always take my mobile with me, It's a necessity out here when you walk the back tracks with the snakes & dingos etc around. I also use it for tracking our distance etc too. Anyway I don't always have a pocket on my clothes to put it in and have to hold it or put it in my bra.
Then I had a brainwave to this problem when we had to use the canvas and denim this month. So I had a play and come up with a mobile phone pouch! It is perfect, small and light enough to be comfortable and out of the way when I go walking.

 Steps for Making This Mobile Phone Pouch ~

Step 1: Cut 2x canvas rectangles approx 10.5cm x 14.5cm then spray with Smooch Spritz (Green Olive, River Mossy, Candle Glow) Then lightly mist with water to soften the colours.

 Step 2: Fold over one end and machine stitch some lace along the top of each piece.

 Step 3: Next I stamped the Swirly Doos Stamp and the Mossy Miz'd Media Inx on each piece.

 Step 4: Now take a piece of canvas approx 6cm x 6cm and fray the edges. Then I sprayed a little of the Candle Glow Smooch Spritz on the mat and sprayed it with water. Drag the edges of the canvas square through the ink on the mat to colour the edges.

 Step 5: Stamp over the canvas square with the Mossy Inx and the Dear Sir Stamp. Emboss with clear embossing powder.

 Step 6: Using the Spellbinders Mix'd Media Elements cut the bird out of the denim, it didn't cut all the way through the denim but left a good impression to cut around with my scissors.

 Step 7: Next sew around the denim square then sew the bird to the square before sewing to one side of the pocket pouches.

Step 8: Finish off by sewing around the outside of the pouch with a zig zag stitch just in a bit from the edge so that you can fray the outside edge of the stitching. All I did then was cut two small slits near the top edges and threaded a strip of denim through and knotted off each end.
I finished off by stitching a button to the top center with some thread.

It works a treat! I am really happy with it! :)

Materials:

Clearsnap

Mix'd Media Inx - Mossy

Smooch Spritz - River Mossy, Green Olive, Candle Glow

Spellbinders

Mix'd Media Elements 

Want2Scrap

Designer Embellies-Denim

Designer Embellies- Canvas

Stampers Anonymous Swirly Doos - DS2025
Dear Sir - DS4128

Other Products:

Lace
Button
Thread
Denim Strip

Clear Embossing Powder

Tools

Craft Knife
Sewing Machine

Thanks for dropping by!
Have a great day!
Cheers
Michelle xx

More Art Journaling and a Catch up & a little Dusty

We have had a couple of big weeks with a lot happening, I have been flat out trying to get all my deadlines up to date so we can go on a family holiday next week. It has been massive with 10 projects created and 10 lots of processing done and two video tutorials in two weeks. The creating part is fine its all the materials lists and tutorials and photos to edit that take a lot of time. I am not a very fast scrapper and can spend a day or two on a layout or project, but the most time consuming part is taking the photos of the projects, editing them in photoshop then uploading to blogs and doing up the materials list with the links. Then you have invoicing for the magazines and posts to schedule. So I think I have well and truly earnt a well earned rest!

Soooo This weekend we are going to NewZealand for a family holiday. We are just going to Queenstown then will take it from there! I can't wait! Some real downtime and R&R and some Skiing and site seeing too! Wiliam has two mates who are going too and will be staying just up the road from us so they will have a ball on the slopes. This will be our first real family holiday away since Wil was 8 and he is now 17. So long overdue.

Leonii is still overseas and will meet us there next week. I am so looking forward to seeing her again she has been overseas since the 21st of May. She had at her Europe Contiki tour and is now in America visiting her friends. After 4 planes from London to her destination she got off the last plane to find out they left her bags at San Fransisco. Then she discovered she left her wallet on the plane. Luckily they have it and she can pick it up on her way back through. But all is good we were prepared if anything like that happened and she still has other cards on her and copies of everything.

As well as being a busy couple of weeks it has been an eventful couple of weeks.
Wil hurt his wrist at football last year and even though it was not a bad injury at the time, nothing a bit of strapping didn't fix anyway. Well after 6 months he has been complaining on and off about his wrist still hurting , so After Xrays, MRI's & specialists appointments its not good news! He will need to go to Brisbane for surgery to repair ligaments that have been damaged! It is a bit worrying! One of the ligaments on the outside of the wrist is damaged and one is detatched, there are still no guarantees even with the surgery.  One plus is that its not urgent and can wait until after our holiday.

Then to add to the saga of the past couple of weeks I found one of Leonii's cats with a big hole in her side, so off to the vets we go, poor Xena ended up with stitches that ended up being 7cm long. The vets think she chaught herself on a fence or something. Just hoping she has healed enough before we go to get her stitches out!

More Art Journaling - I am really enjoying doing these it really is an escape into creativity.

This first one represents how I still feel wrapped in chains of insecurity, little by little I am working my way through it, but it doesn't take much for those insecurities to creep back in. I still struggle to see in me what everyone else can see. I know I just need to start believing it more! Hopefully through all this soul searching I will find peace and acceptance. I just need to break down the invisable barrier once and for all!

The Dusty Chains were perfect for this, and the little chains were off a Dusty Fence.

This one speaks for itself! Enough said! LOL

I can often get side tracked trying to multitask while doing a dozen jobs at once, here I need to learn to let go of the daily junk that keeps interferring with my Goals and Dreams.

This one is to remind me to believe in myself!

Thanks for dropping by! Bring on the holidays!
Have a great day/ night
Hugs
Michelle x

Just Be You * Dusty Attic*

Another Catch up for Dusty! Another one of my gorgeous daughter from a photo shoot we did at the beach last September holidays. I really must start scrapping more layouts of Wil, poor boy gets left out a bit. Girls layouts are just so easy and the photos seem to go with everything.

Materials:


Dusty Attic :Scroll Border #1 - DA0219
Swirl Vine #2 - DA0621
Decorative Keyholes 8pk - DA0224

Paints: Adirondack Dabber Paints - Snow Cap

Lindy's Stamp Gang - Starburst - colour shot Cajun

Luminarte - Red

Inks - Versa Colour - Laurel Leaf, Teal

Papers - Colections, Bella, Kaisercraft

Pink Paislee - Mistables PP

Alison Ellis Glitter - Blue Ice, Shimmering Teal
Baby Wipes - Hand Made Flowers
  Lace, Muslin, Amreican Craft Brads, Metal Flowers, Paper Roses.

Dusty Attic ~ June ATC Challenge ~ Birds/Flight

 Dusty Attic now have a monthly ATC Challenge! The Mini Dusty Attic pieces are perfect for these!
Junes ATC challenge is Birds/Flight

I have used the Dusty Attic Chipboard background and the new Crane #2.
I saturated the wings with water to seperate them then painted them with gesso. I used the water colour pencils to shade the wings, beak and feet.

Materials:

Dusty Attic
Crane #2  - DA0712
ATC Frame - chipboard - DA0663

Other

Glimmer mist - Bell Bottom Jeans

DSD - Botanique PP
Beads & Sequins
Gesso
Water Colour Pencils

Thanks for dropping by!
Have a great day!
Hugs
Michelle x

Take the Leap ~ Dusty Attic ~ Canvas & Textured Modelling Paste Background Tutorial

 I have really been enjoying playing with Canvas's lately! This canvas is featuring the new Dusty Attic Birdcage and Flutterbies. I also have a tutorial on creating this background, that came about purely by accident! I had coated the background of the canvas with Modelling Paste then as I was moving a bag of stuff over it I dropped it on the canvas and when I lifted it up I went "Ooooh! I like that" so wola!! Love this textured background finish!

  The New Dusty Attic Flutterbies

 

& The New Birdcage

 

Textured Modelling Paste Background Tutorial

 Step 1: Use a spatula and coat the canvas with a thin layer of modelling paste

 Step 2: This is where by accident I dropped a bad of fibers on the canvas onto the wet modelling paste.

 Step 3: Just lay the plastic bag onto the canvas and lift up.

 Step 4: Do this over the whole canvas

 Step 5: You can see the texture in the modelling paste. I dried this off a bit before inking.

 Step 6: I have used Smooch Spritz to spray over the modelling paste.

 Step 7: Once you are happy with the colour placement over the canvas you can leave to dry. I tipped the canvas on different angles to get the colours to run along the creases in the modelling paste. I have only just overlapped some of the colours to prevent them getting too muddied and blending into one colour. I used my finger to wipe the inks around the edges.

 Step 8: Using your finger and some Gesso, lightly wipe your finger over the raised creases in the modelling paste to highlight the texture.

 Step 9: Once you are happy with the colours you can leave to dry then decorate.

 

 I hope you enjoyed my happy accident! :)
 

Materials:

Dusty Attic 

Birdcage #6 -  DA0714
Flutterbies #2  - DA0713mini Birds #1 - DA0723

Dusty in Bloom - Cornsilk, Wild Moss, Smokey Blue & Leaves

Other

Modeling paste
White Gesso

Clearsnap - Smooch Spritz- Green Olive, River Mossy & Sea Breaze

Beads & Gauze
Kaisercraft Rubons & Bling

Thanks for dropping by!
Have a great day!
Hugs
Michelle x

Venturing into Art Journaling

A few months ago I started venturing into art journaling. I could never see the sense of them before as I tend to need a purpose to do a layout or project. But after having a play I sooo get it!

There is such a freedom of creative expression in Art Journaling. To have no reason other than to get out how you are feeling or what you are thinking is so liberating. Having no rules and just playing to see where it will go is a lot of fun and quiet relaxing. I have been on a personal journey for a couple of years now trying to work out what makes me tick and what has been blocking me. And how I can be a better person. Finding me opened up a whole can of worms that I have had to process and work through. I have never been able to put into words what I am feeling and have trouble expressing what is going on inside. From the outside I have been told I appear confident but from the inside I am anything but. I am still trying to overcome the self confidence and believe in myself more, but it has been a struggle. Just sharing how I feel here is a huge step for me. I tend to withdrawl into myself and hide away when things aren't going well, so I keep a lot bottled up inside.

I am also taking an online workshop with Christy Tomlinson at the moment doing the "Your Living Canvas" workshop. I am hoping this will also help me to work past some of my blocks and help me to find balance in my life.

I am going to attempt to get real here and share more of my personal journey through my Art Journal.  

This is the cover on my journal, I am trying to find the artist in me. I know I am good at what I do but have trouble defining myself as an artist. I consider myself to be more a designer showcasing products and techniques. I still feel very stiffled in what I do and hope that I can learn to create with true artistic expression and freedom.

This was my first page, which is self explanatory. Learning to create with no rules!

This is something that I am still working on, speaking up for myself and being able to say what I really want to say and not just what people want to hear is still a struggle for me.
I still have a few big things I am working my way through here and I still need to learn to find my voice. Excuse the W over the e on Be it is a rogue W, I didn't know was there when I photographed this. Anyway I still have some big things I need to discuss with people close to me which still fills me with fear.

 

Trying to instill the messages in myself to belive in myself and don't be afaid of change and to be set  free from the past! Basically trying to convince myself that I can do it!

Ok this is my first chapter in Art Journaling, I have more to share soon too!

If you haven't tried art journaling I absolutely recommend getting out a journal or piece of paper and just layer inks, paints, rub ons, stamps, papers, tapes etc etc. There are no rules, there are no mistakes that can't be covered with another layer of paint and colour! Grab a quote that speaks to you or just write what you are feeling. I was considering keeping my art journal private but I think sharing my journey will help me overcome some of my fears of putting myself out there.

OK All I need to do now is hit publish...... with hesitation..

Thank you so much for dropping by and taking the time to read this, I appreciate everyones beautiful comments you leave on my blog! It really does make my day and warms my heart!

Hugs to you all!!!

Michelle xxx