'Pru' the Art Doll

Good afternoon and welcome, today I would like to share with you the making of 'Pru', my first attempt at an art doll. Inspired by 2 challenges I would like to link her to;

  The Creative Carte Blanche  2 theme Metal, Lace and Corrugated Paper link here, and

 PaperArtsy's challenge Art Dolls link here. 

The video on the PaperArtsy blog was excellent and gave me the idea for construction.

To begin with I made a frame for the dolls skirt from wire and then attached this to a piece of wooden doweling which would become the centre part of the complete doll.

I stood this in a cotton reel while I was preparing everything, but managed to get Hubby to cut a block of hard wood and drill a hole in the centre for the completed Pru.

Next I painted several dictionary pages with the following colours of Fresco Chalk Paint; 

Chartreuse, Zesty Zing, beach Hut, Pumpkin Soup and Inky Pool.

 Then gave them a light spray with Perfect Pearls Mist in Blue Patina.

Once dry the pages were torn into strips along with some blue vellum and some white lacey Japanese paper and the skirt was then constructed using PVA glue. 

Then I made a template from some scrap paper to stamp the material through.

The centre flowers are from Jofy 12 and the leaves around the edges are from Flora and Fauna 3.

This was then embroidered and beads were also sown onto the flowers.

A corresponding heart was cut from another piece of fabric for the back of the body.

The face was stamped onto another piece of fabric using stamp set LPC 010.

This was lightly coloured using DI in tattered rose, trimmed to fit a small polystyrene ball and then the mauve felting wool was attached using a felting needle.

Now it's time to assemble the doll --- 

the 2 hearts were stitched together leaving a gap at the top and the bottom so that it could be threaded onto the doweling. Whilst stitching I added a small amount of toy stuffing and added a large pipe cleaner for the arms.

Wooden beads were threaded onto the pipe cleaner and the ends of the pipe cleaner were then threaded back into the centre of the bead forming a loop for the hands.

A metal charm was sewn onto the point of the heart.

A bow was made from some antiquey lace and attached to the back.

A metal cog was placed on the doweling before attaching the head. Wire and pearl beads were then added for a tiara. 

The book was made from a piece of stripped corrugated cardboard and the page was taken from a dictionary with the definition 'Art'.

You might be wondering why the name Pru ---- no particular reason other than when I was popping the head on that was the name that came to me!

She might not be as 'Quirky' as some Art Dolls but I had fun making her and she will sit in my craft room and keep me company while I create.

Now I'm away as the sun is shinning and I must do a bit of gardening. Thanks for stopping by and getting to know 'Pru'. Take care and have a good week whether it's working or 'playing' Jane x

"Miniature Art"

Hi, and welcome to you, hope your Saturday is ticking along nicely. Today I am going to share my entry for PaperArtsy's fortnightly challenge titled ' Topic 4 Miniature Art'. Do click on the link to view not only a video describing various types of miniature art but to see the DT's beautiful works of art that inspired me to have a go ! here.

For this I used a mini MDF tag which measures 4.5cm x 3cm and started by giving it a coat of fresco chalk paint in Pea Coat, then a coat of crackle glaze and finally a coat of Nougat.

Then I sanded a small off cut of clear shrink plastic and painted it with Very Berry and when dry stamped in Archival Watering Can using the word spring from the stamp set Bloom.

I then cut the plastic to the right size and shrunk it with a heat gun.

Next I masked off various areas of the tag and gave them a very light coat of various translucent paints which I lightly dabbed off again with a damp baby wipe.

The stamping was done in Versa-fine onyx black ink using stamps from sets LPC030, Bloom, Jofy 13 and 43.

The leaf at the top of the tag was stamped in brilliance pearlescent ivy.

The little bird was heat embossed with clear powder and the beak painted in Zesty Zing.

For the face in the centre I added a little Blush to where I felt the main part of her face would come but left the remainder of the background unpainted. Her eyes were given a dot of sakura belly roll pen and the lips painted with Claret paint. The hair is made from unravelled hairy string!

The watering can had a touch of Pewter paint added to give a slight sheen.

Then I decided to give the girl a hat ----- this I crocheted using some fine cotton and started with 5 chain and worked 5 single crochet but then I tried and unpicked it several times so I don't know what came after that.

Then it was back to the shrink plastic and this time I used the frosted version so didn't need to sand the surface first. The flower head was painted first with Spanish Mulberry and the stem in Evergreen. The flower pot was painted with a mix of Autumn Fire , Chutney and Zesty Zing to get a terracotta type colour.

The top was finished with some fancy yarn, white beads and a small copper flower which I found in my stash.

This photo was taken with the tag on top of a pot of treasure gold to give an idea of the finished size.

I have never done anything in miniature before, I must say it's certainly more challenging and time consuming but great fun -- so if you have a spare couple of hours do give it a try and join in with the challenge over at PaperArtsy.

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear your comments, thoughts or tips. Take care and enjoy your weekend.  Jane x

Little Wooden House Inspired by Jo Firth-Young

Happy Wednesday to you all and today I would like to share a small wooden hanging house that was inspired by one of PaperArtsy's designers Jo Firth Young. To view her trio of houses click on the link
here

As I didn't have any wonderful house frames like Jo I decided to construct one from some wood off-cuts found in our garage. I drew the shape I required first, then marked it out onto the strips of wood and cut them with a saw.

The edges were sanded and then the pieces of wood were stuck onto a thickish piece of card with pva glue. once dry this was then cut round with a craft knife. The house measures 12cm high and 8cm across.

I then drilled a small hole in the top from which to hang from.

The wood was then painted using a mix of PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylic in Nougat and Pumpkin Soup. The random stone work was stamped in Pumice Stone DI using a stamp from Jofy 12 stamp set.

The door was cut from a piece of Co-Ordinations card stock using Tim Holtz Artful Dwellings Die, lightly sanded, the knocker was stamped using  Crafty Individuals set 304 and embossed in pewter EP. The door handle is a small button.

The white picket fence was cut using Memory Box Wrought Iron Fence Die.

The ivy leaves on the roof were stamped and then cut out using Jofy 28 stamp set.

The leaves and flowers on the left hand side were stamped using Jofy 12 and the flower heads on the right hand side were made using Jofy 13.

Although its hard to see in the photo the flower heads were all cut and layered. I had real fun making this little house and I would definitely make more, perhaps add a chimney to the next one! They would make great fridge magnets, especially if someone was moving house and you added the house number or name.

Well I'm off to pick the ripe tomatoes in the greenhouse to make a batch of tom sauce to be frozen down for the winter months ahead ( hard to think of the winter while we are having such a fabulous September).

Thanks as always for stopping by and if you have a spare 5mins do pop over and see Jo's 3 houses on PaperArtsy's Blog.

Take Care and enjoy your week.

Jane x

Mixed Media Bunting

Hi everyone I hope you have had a good week. Today has been absolutely glorious here in Kent, blue skies, warm sunshine and the birds have been singing their little socks off!

Well todays entry was inspired by Lelainia Lloyd over on PaperArtsy's blog, to view her mixed media bunting click Here.

This is my version of Lelainia's lovely bunting and I must say I really enjoyed making it, so thank-you for the fab idea.

To begin with I chose 5 different colours of Co-ordinations card stock and cut 5 triangles using Sizzix Framelits Banners Scallop Die ( the largest die in the set). I then made a template of a triangle that fitted inside the die cut ones which left the scalloped border showing. Then I cut 5 pieces of smooth white card slightly larger than the template ready to be coloured with various shades of Fresco Chalk Acrylic paint.

Having chosen my colours I set to work with the brayer.

The white card was covered completely with Mermaid, then touches of Beach Hut and Snowflake. The circles were added by dipping the end of an empty cotton reel in the Snowflake and Beach Hut paint.

Started with Blush and then added some Spanish Mulberry and whilst still wet sprayed with water and dabbed with kitchen paper.

First I put down a coat of Guacamole, then added areas of Pumpkin Soup and Zesty Zing. Finally I stamped a regal flourish in the Pumpkin Soup.

Base coat of Nougat, then areas of Inky Pool.The Autumn Fire was added with a stencil brush through a piece of net curtaining.

No 5, base coat of Toad Hall, then touches of Guacamole, followed by small touches of Pewter. Once dry I mixed equal quantities of French Roast and Toad Hall and stamped the trellis from Jofy 12.

All 5 painted pieces of card were then cut using the pre-made template.

The left hand triangle was decorated using stamps from LPC030, the large stamp was stamped using Archival Sepia onto white card and then cut using a perforator. Indian Ink section from the largest stamp in the set was stamped onto blotting paper using Walnut Stain DI and once dry I dripped a small amount of red writing ink onto the blotting paper. The edges of this were torn and an old nib from a dip pen was then added.

The turquoise coloured one was stamped using the Bricks and Mortar 2 set, One Way was stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Crimson and then Glossy Accents added to the arrow. The houses were stamped in Archival Watering Can and embossed with clear EP. The detail to the houses was added using Sakura Glaze pens and a piece of bakers twine was added before stitching to the base.

The pinky coloured triangle was decorated by added some white gesso with my little finger in a dabbing motion to where I roughly thought the stamped flower would go. The flower spray is from HP1004 and was stamped in black Archival ink and embossed with clear EP. the centres of the seed heads were rubbed with Metallic Lustre in Black Shimmer to add some extra sheen. Grow was stamped onto some of the off cut card in black and then mounted onto black card. The grow stamp is from the Bloom set.

The MDF heart had a coat of white gesso and was then coloured with a mix of Adirondack Stonewashed and Archival Brilliance in Peacock. Then using the largest flower stamp from HP1004 stamped using Versa-Mark ink and white EP. Some Tim Holtz tissue tape was added to the triangle before attaching the heart and lace.

Last but not least, the small flower stamp and leaf from HP1004 was stamped in black onto watercolour paper. I then made up some washes of Toad Hall and Guacamole for the leaf and Zesty Zing, Pumpkin Soup and Autumn Fire for the 2 layers of flower and brushed these on. Once cut out the leaf had a piece of wire attached to the back so as to allow the leaf to bend over the edge. The flower had touches of Treasure Gold in Ruby and Renaissance added. The flower was attached with a metal brad.

The material used to attach the triangles is a length of natural coloured calico which I stamped using various stamps from Tops and Tails 6, Jofy 12 and HP1004.

At the 2 ends I added some twisted thin cotton and a couple of old carved beads.

The beads are stunning, if you look closely you can see a deer and the other one has a monkey. These were found in my Husbands Great Aunt's draw after she died many years ago and I have always wanted to use them in something. We believe they are carved from beetle nuts but the expensive ones would have been made of ivory.

Well if you stayed till the end I hope you have enjoyed reading this entry, I really enjoyed the journey and I am already thinking about a Christmas themed one!!!

So thank you to Lelainia, I would like to enter this into PaperArtsy's monthly inspired challenge, and if you have a few quite moments do pop over to their blog and see all the teams wonderful works of art.

Thank you as always for stopping by, all comments are much appreciated and hopefully see you again soon. Take care and have a good week  Jane x