Winter

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #148

Winter

Our challenge theme over at International Art & Soul is 'Winter' has been chosen by CraftyGirl, the challenge will run for 5 weeks over the festive season.  

I have made a snowman box all ready to put some sweets in for a Christmas gift.  He is made out of plywood which I painted and then cut on my laser.  It amazes me what you can do with wood, even making it bend around rounded shapes like this snowman by cutting it with single staggered lines which allows the wood to act like those plastic net bags you get oranges in.  All the elements were also cut, painted and decorated then glued to the snowman box.  I can't take credit for this design alas as it was a free pattern download from 3axis.com.  what a wonderful freebie he is and thank you to the creator.

This is rather a sad post as it is the last from International Art & Soul.  We are closing our challenge now as it has run its course.  The challenge was set up 6 years ago so the design team from Stitchy Bear could stay together as many had been on the team for several years.  StitchyBear came to an end very suddenly and we, as a team were not ready to move on so IA&S was a stepping block to allow us to catch our breath and continue crafting within our super friendly, low pressure group.  International Art & Soul has done its job, been there for us and watched us grow and move on in our own time.  

Fancy Fold

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #147

Fancy Fold

Our challenge theme 'Fancy Fold' has been chosen by Maggie.

Loving that I have now conquered how to cut paper/card with my laser without setting fire to anything lol.  Just a simple card from me this fortnight but a bit of an experiment in cutting the butterflies.  I used double sided card so when the folded butterflies had their half wings folded back a pattern detail was seen which tied in with the yellow base I used behind the cut layer, the same backing was seen through the design butterfly cut.  To finish off I stamped and gold embossed the gold butterflies and sentiment.

Christmas Card

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #146

Christmas Card

Our challenge theme 'Christmas Card' has been chosen by Christine.

I coloured a Dr. Digi image for this card called 'Christmas Cheer' which you can purchase here.  The background papers for this card are ancient and from when I joined my first DT many moons ago.  The paper is part of a pack by Panda Bear who at the time was selling through the Stitchy Bear Store.  A simple card I know but a bit of fun and I hope it made you smile :) 

Happy Fall Y’all

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #145

Happy Fall Y’all

Our challenge theme 'Happy Fall Y’all' has been chosen by Debbie.

For this challenge I have made a round easel card.  I cut the leaves, text etc. on my electronic die cutter and glued to the leaf design printed card I had.  To finish off I added a small orange bow and used a real acorn, it is a bit big and bulky alas but just had to be used as it seemed the perfect accessory to hold the top section of the card up when opened.

Orange & Black

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #144

Orange & Black

Our challenge theme 'Orange & Black' has been chosen by Chriss.

I don't do Halloween lol but this design was so cool so had to give it a go.  My lovely daughters don't do Halloween either but there rather like this so have taken it off my hands and between them decided that one will have it one year and then the other the following year hahahaha.

I first treated and painted my 2mm MDF boards in the 3 colours needed.  Next I cut the design out on my laser and then assembled and spray varnished.  Nothing complicated here, just needed a wee bit of time to complete :) 

Wood/Trees

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #143

Wood/Trees

Our challenge theme 'Wood/Trees' has been chosen by me.

I made this multi layered laser cut design for my daughter and DIL for their Christmas, they wanted some wall art which followed their country and wood decorations in their home :)   The wall art is approx 39cm in diameter and made out of poplar ply which is very light.  After each layer was cut I then wood stained using dark oak, rosewood and golden oak.  Such a pleasure to make this for them and see it up on the wall too.  Alas I can take any credit for the awesome design which was created by Laser Cutano who make designs not only suitable for laser cutting but also for electronic papers cutters too.

Transport

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #142

Transport

Our challenge theme 'Transport' has been chosen by CraftyGirl.

A few weeks ago I published a post showing the clock I made my grandson Jay for his birthday and this fortnight I am sharing the card I made to go with the clock.  When I first got my laser I tried to cut card/paper with disastrous results then go totally side tracked with other projects.  It was fab to find a bit of free time to experiment again and with my gained knowledge I have cracked the card/paper cutting, happy days.  I designed this card using black card which had a white back to which I applied distress inks to make it green.  Next cut the design on the laser with a few extra trees which I could then stick onto the card, just for a bit more contrast.  So chuffed and giving myself a pat on the back now ROFL.

Birthdays

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #141

Birthdays

Our challenge theme 'Birthdays' has been chosen by Chriss.

For my card this week I decided to make a mandala stencil and have lots of fun with Ink Oxides.  It has been ages since I made a physical card, think that is because playing with my laser cutter seems to have consumed most of my time so it really was a play day making this card :).  I started by designing the stencil on Illustrator and then cut it out using mylar and my laser.  From there it was onto playing with the inks to make a pretty pattern.  Oh so relaxing, I had a ball.  To finish off the card I added some gold pen details, die cut the sentiment and added some flat back pearls.  My youngest daughter saw this card and loved it then asked if it was her Birthday card.  It wasn't but as she loves it it is now hahaha.

The Colours of Fruit

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #140

The Colours of Fruit

Our challenge theme 'The Colours of Fruit' has been chosen by Jennie.

I was wondering what to do for this card and then at some stupid time in the morning the light in my head switched on ROFL.  Needing some chair time while my body woke up I set to colouring the Candle Poe image digitally.  Normally I just use a regular paint brush for colouring but this time I tried the charcoal brush and just used black paint with varying densities of opaqueness.  I did switch back to a regular paint brush for the skin and candle as I wanted those bits smooth and added colour for the candle stick and candle.  I saved the image as a transparent .png and then finished off the card design in Illustrator where I added the colour backgrounds behind each Poe image giving the overall effect of an Andy Warhol look.  I just love how this creation has turned out, so different from my usual and great fun to do too :) 

Happiness

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #139

Happiness

Our challenge theme 'Happiness' has been chosen by Hazel.

You certainly sent me off on a thinking journey with this challenge Hazel lol.  So many things make me happy.  In the end this challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to use a laser cutting design I have had for a while - Mandala Yin Yang by Laser Cutano.  Happiness to me is balance in life so the Yin Yang is perfect.  Next it was onto choosing colours and for that I used one of my wedding photos as that was the happiest day of my life, still married after 42 years and still best friends :).  I hate waste that makes me unhappy ROFL so I designed the hearts, my first layered cuts that I have designed which would fit on the nicely on what would have been an off-cut of my prepared boards.  I really did only have scraps left of the 600mm x 400mm boards so no waste worth worrying about (the Yin Yang mandala is 390mm diameter and the hearts 230mm).  The boards were treated with MDF sealant and then painted with acrylic paint.  After assembly a couple of coats of spray varnish and all done.  

Here is the wedding pic I used to get the colours from.  The blue was from the carpet, the green from the orchids, the 2 pinks were a mixture from the flowers, bridesmaid dresses and the outfit my Mum wore.  The brown was from highlights in hubby's hair :) 

Masculine

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #138

Masculine

Our challenge theme 'Masculine' has been chosen by Maggie.

I made this last year for my grandson for Christmas.  He loves his biking and is such a dare devil :)  Alas last week he had a wee mishap when doing a jump and a tree got in the way, ending up with a broken wrist just in time for the Summer hols bless him, he is not a happy bunny.  Anyway, back to the clock, I designed the clock as large as I could for my laser bed so it has a diameter of 390mm.  The base layer is MDF which I painted grey with acrylic paint and the top layer is black acrylic.  I bought the clock mechanism which came with silver hands, these were then coloured with alcohol inks which I have discovered stick to the metal really well when dried.  A very successful Christmas gift which Jay is still enjoying, he says the ticking sends him to sleep lol.  

Red, White & Blue

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #137

Red, White & Blue

Our challenge theme 'Red, White & Blue' has been chosen by Chriss.

Red, white and blue are such a great colour combination.  Although I am not American I did think of doing a 4th of July card but instead opted for something a bit more random.  The digi I have coloured is a real oldie created about 9 years ago by one of our DT - CraftyGirl while we were all part of the StitchyBear DT.  I think I am feeling a bit unsettled at the moment with everything that seems to be happening in the Western world at the moment - the Boris bashing in my country, the shootings and reversal of the abortion ruling in the USA, Russia being the iron fist bully - I know Russia is not in the West but it is directly involved in something I feel deep down is so very wrong.  I should add here that is is not the Russian people who are wrong, it is the power hungry I oppose. Anyway, these 3 countries all have red, white and blue flags, all 3 need peace!!  Sorry to be a bit downbeat and political here and no offence to anybody intended, just my thinking behind the creation of this card.  

4 Legged Friends

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #136

4 Legged Friends

Our challenge theme '4 Legged Friends' has been chosen by me.

Are you a cat or dog lover or both?  I am both but these days just have 2 adorable cats, Bree and Jeeves.  They are Russia Blues and brother and sister, the perfect companions for us these days.  

I can't remember who designed this stamp, pretty sure I got it from Crafters Companion and it is by Sheena Douglas but not a 100% certain.  I masked the 4 legged friends once stamped and then stamped the background circles.  Next remove the masking and coloured the image with Copics.  A simple card to make but I do love how it turned out.

Summer

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #135

Summer

Our challenge theme 'Summer' has been chosen by Jennie.

Sharing a happy sunshine easel card today.  Oh how I love Summer with blue skies and lots of sunshine, just wish for a bit more than we are having at the moment :)   At least it is warm enough to have the heating turned off and save the pennies just now.  Have a feeling this winter if things don't sort themselves out it will be our log burning fire that is doing the majority of the heating in the house.  

Say it with Flowers

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #134

Say it with Flowers

Our challenge theme 'Say it with Flowers' has been chosen by Josephine.

This really was a labour of love :) :) :).  I coloured this digitally using Procreate more as a learning exercise so see if the way I do things could be improved LOL.  Learnt a couple of new things along the way which was great.  The image is made up of around 20 individual layers which I merged together at the end.  Last but not least, I added a quote by Victor Hugo.  Alas I cannot take any credit for the beautiful flower initial design as this is from a flower painting found on Google search.  I used the painting as my bottom layer as a shape and colour guide, this layer was then deleted when I was happy with my end result.

3 of Something

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #133

3 of Something

Our challenge theme '3 of Something' has been chosen by me (Mimi) :).  I just love bees and could not resist making this card after sitting outside in the sunshine and seeing my first bee of the year - so happy winter is over and warmer brighter days are here.  So to everybody who enjoys the sunshine, a bit of toast with honey etc. I hope you will always 'Bee Happy'

Had a bit of fun with the card, nice and simple but I do think yellow and black is such and awesome combination.  The card was made digitally where I had a rather enjoyable time plying with textures for the background paper before adding the digital stamp of the honey bees. Simple sentiment and then the addition of shadows to the layers to give a more dimensional look to the card.  

Things With Wings

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #132

Things With Wings

Our challenge theme 'Things With Wings' has been chosen by Christine.

This beautiful owl really was a labour of love :) I made it for my daughter's birthday as she loves owls, this one now hangs in pride of place in her lounge.  I bought the design from 'Laser Cutano Shop' and it is made up of 7 layers of different cuts.  I used 3mm Poplar Ply which is incredibly light for the bottom 6 layers which I then wood stained in different shades.  The top layer was originally cut using the Poplar Ply but, and this was my fault, I ended up having to use MDF which is stronger.  As I had made the design 39cm high instead of the original height of around 60cm the width of the the lines on the top layer were incredibly delicate and the Poplar did not work.  

Landscapes

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #131

Landscapes

Our challenge theme 'Landscapes' has been chosen by CraftyGirl.

I had a ball creating this landscape :) :).  After a very early wake up at 4 a.m., a game of Wordle and a couple of games of Suduko my head was wide awake.  What else to do but get a coffee and do some digital colouring.  This card colouring was created using Procreate and my finger (couldn't find my Apple pen and not in a mood to hunt for it lol) and finished off using Illustrator and Photoshop.  Love how it turned out, just luckily came together just like the picture in my head, hope you like it too.

Include an Animal/Crazy Critter

 

  IKEsWORLD

Challenge 155 - 

Theme - A/ G with an option of Include an Animal/Crazy Critter

 

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :) 

How adorable is this wee chappy using one of the images from Ike's Krazy Kritterz Set 2.  I coloured the image digitally using Procreate and then completed the end design using Illustrator.  I just love the colour combination of this card, hope you do too :) :) :) 

Include a Circle

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #130

Include a Circle

Our challenge theme 'Include a Circle' has been chosen by me.

This piece of wall art was designed and created for a customer who wanted something unique for her son and DIL for Christmas.  Her some loves curlews and DIL oystercatchers.  The customer also loves early morning walks along the beach so I decided to incorporate a sunrise in the background.  I laser cut the design once the drawing was complete and customer approved using 4mm Oak Veneer and mounted it on MDF which I had painted a neutral colour.

Easter Chicks or Rabbits

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #129

Easter Chicks or Rabbits

Our challenge theme 'Easter Chicks or Rabbits' has been chosen by Jennie.

I made these laser cut bunny rabbit cream egg holders using 3mm ply.  There are 3 layers to the design which are glued together.  The bunnies were wood stained, one on the left in Golden Oak and the one on the right with Dark Oak.  I then varnished the bunnies and glued them to their bases which had also been wood stained and varnished.

TIC- TAC- TOE

  IKEsWORLD

Challenge 154 - 

Theme - A/ G with an option of TIC- TAC- TOE     

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :) 

Line followed for the challenge is Lace, Free, Sentiment

How adorable is this brand new image in Ike's store, just can't help but make you smile :) :) The image is Tongues Out Tuesday cat and I decided to colour him as a Siamese.  I coloured the image digitally using Procreate, easier on the eyes these days lol. 

St Patrick's Day

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #128

St Patrick's Day

Our challenge theme 'St Patrick's Day' has been chosen by Maggie.

St. Patrick.s Day is not really celebrated here in England, come to think of it nor is St. Georges's Day - St George being our Patron Saint.  The only time I remember St Patrick being celebrated was with the nuns at school who would wear a shamrock thingy on their uniforms.  I decided to use the shamrock theme seeing it as similar to a 4 leaf clover and made a good luck card :). The base layer is black and I cut the frame and 4 leaf clover out of a bit of gelli printed paper I did some time ago.

Light and Dark

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #127

Light and Dark

Our challenge theme 'Light and Dark' has been chosen by Hazel.

What a great theme for a challenge chosen by Hazel :).  I decided to design some digital paper for this challenge using light and dark colours in keeping with the theme. I then added a positivity sentiment which loosely linked to light and dark.  Digital papers were designed using Procreate and digital card created using Illustrator.

Valentine’s Day/Love

  IKEsWORLD

Challenge 153

      A/ G with an option of Valentine’s Day/Love 

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :) 

Ahhhhh how can anybody resist a four legged friend bringing you a heart full of love :) :) :) For this card I used Ike's image 'Puppy Love' and coloured digitally using Procreate.  Just a nice afternoon relaxing with my feet up and Ipad to do this bit of colouring lol.

All About Love/Hearts

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #126

All About Love/Hearts

Our challenge theme 'All About Love/Hearts' has been chosen by Debbie.

It is rather nice to colour in a digi which I have not coloured for a few years :).  This image is Mamas love by Amanda Byron and I have coloured it digitally using Procreate.  Still getting to grips with Procreate, like Photoshop it is a very powerful program, a constant learning curve which makes it a pleasure to use as there is always something to learn just around the corner lol.

Get Inky

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #125

Get inky! (stamping and/or background)

Our challenge theme 'Get Inky' has been chosen by Josephine.

Yes, I got very inky creating this card lol.  Lots of stamping using stamps from the 'Creative Stamping' magazine which had just arrived, what an awesome set this month.  I first distress inked a piece of white paper, cut the sections to fit the card base and it was out with the black stamp pad and have loads of fun :) :) 

152 AG with option Include a Sentiment

  IKEsWORLD

Challenge 152

      Anything Goes with an option of Include a Sentiment

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :) 

For my DT creation for the IKEsWORLD challenge this month I have made a digitally coloured DL card to wish you all beautiful dreams this year, 2022.  I can't believe we are now in 2022, time is just flying by :)  

I created the card using Photoshop, adding an alcohol ink background image for the base and using Ike's Dreamcatcher image which I just love.  The image was coloured digitally and then I added the sentiment.  Simple I know but I hope you like it.

Anything But A Card

  International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over and join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #124

Anything But A Card

Our challenge theme 'Anything But A Card' has been chosen by Christine.

I designed these pet baubles and cut the design on my laser, the name text was also laser etched onto the bauble wooden section. These ones were gifts for my daughter and grandson.  Each bauble has a 2cm plastic 2 piece bauble which is attached with a paper fastener which can be removed and filled.  Nice and easy to put in a tiny gift in or, in future, when the inevitable happens, a memory of the beloved pet, in this case, a dog, 2 cats and a Bearded Dragon.  I do apologies for the photo, it was taken last minute just before I gave them to my daughter to hang on her Christmas tree lol.