I Have a New Site

I have moved to the following site Mixed Media Fun. See You There!

Nanny J

I have been so delinquent about blogging, not one blog in April. My excuse is thatI have been dealing with a death in the family and I have been sick.

It has been a difficult April!

Nanny J (unsure of date)

On April 1 my Mother-in-law Mrs. Joan (Dinn) Jamieson or as we all new her Nanny J passed away. She was 92 years young and she passed away at her home. Yes she was living alone! We had visited her the day before, Easter Sunday.  Gary's sister had brought her to church and we all had lunch. She really enjoyed having us all there.

Nanny J and I had become  close over the last 15 or so years. When Michelle was sick I think she realized that what religion you were did not matter (I was brought up United Church).

 I enjoyed visiting her every Sunday and she would talk about her life on Meresheen Island. This is something she started to do when Michelle became sick.

 Over the last few years she started to loose her sight and her hearing.  Arthritis started to cause her pain and she was having difficulty walking, which is something she loved to do. Even though she had her difficulties she would not leave her home and she really wanted to die there............................. she got her wish

My Sundays are not the same and I miss her. she was so looking forward to Matthew's wedding. She attended his engagement party in September.

Nanny J and Sharon (Gary's Sister) at Matt's Engagement Party

Michelle now has her Poppy Pitt, Uncle Doug and now her Nanny J. We love you and miss you Nanny J

Spend time with your family and show them your love. Time passes so fast.

Take Care
Marg

Fun at Tina's

Yesterday I went to my friend Tina's and had a blast crafting. Tina is a wonderful full off life friend and every time we get together with our friends (Meshell and Sara were there yesterday) we laugh!

Tina was so creative yesterday that I have to show you one of the pieces she made. (She gave me permission)

This canvas is 4" by 12" and just blows me away!

The colours are so warm and when I look at it I feel happy!! Tina you are a wonderful artist.

Here is Tina with her canvas wearing her inspirational fascinator!!

Thank you to all my friends for all the joy they give me. Laughing is such fun!

Get together with your friends and have some fun!

Take Care
Marg

Keeping Track of Life Class

In February I started taking a class at The Paperie called Keeping Track of Life (KTOL) instructed by Krista Wells. This is a scrapbooking class and I decided to give scrapbooking a try.

In this class we are suppose to keep track of what happens every month. I decided to scrapbook pictures  I had taken when my children were young.

In 2000 Michelle received a wish when she was sick from The Wish Foundation Canada, Her wish was a Disney Cruise. So the whole family went to Florida for our trip. We also spent two days at Universal Studios and had a great time as a family. I decided to start my scrapbooking with these pictures.

The first month I decided to do our 3 day visit to Disney World.

Waiting for a boat ride to Animal Kingdom

Magic Kingdom

Here are my pocket pages

I have found out I do like to scrapbook. I really enjoyed doing these layouts. The way Krista approached this project allows me to use my imagination and I like that.

I am now working on March I have the layout almost finished. I know what I will be doing and for me that is the most work. Hopefully I will have the pocket pages done also................. not sure what I will be doing but I will have them done by next class in April. I am determined!

If you are not a scrapbooker join a class and give it a try you maybe very surprised!

Take Care

Marg

Doing Sara's Yearlong Class

I am doing Sara"s Yearlong Class at The Paperie. The is a monthly mixed media class which is suppose to be about what is going on in your life  on a monthly bases. I decided to do my album on my oversea trips.  This class is a challenge for me because I am not a scrapbooker and this is getting me to use my love for mixes media with scrapbooking. Sara is so supportive in my approach to this class.

In the first class in February we did a canvas page and a two page layout. I got my canvas page finished but I am still working on the two page layout.

My canvas is about my visit to Ireland. I used many different products for this page Golden Reg Gel Medium,  Viva Inka Gold,Viva Modeling Cream, Golden Acrylic Paints, Inktense Pencils, Beeswax, Stamp block and Rangers Archival Ink

I loved using the small Studio Calico Wood Veneer Alphabet Darling Dear for the cities I visited.

This months class I missed (my dog got sick and had to go to the vet). Sara told us she was going to do the album cover so I did it at home and I had a lot of fun doing it.

 I used a lot of products. The products I used this cover are Golden molding paste, clear tar gel, acrylic paints, Viva inka gold and modeling cream, and Luminarte Silks.

Here are some close ups.

I used a variety of chipboard letters for the all the names. also used veered wooden suitcase.

I love the way the colours swirl in the clear tar gel and the veneer wooden planes

Doing this class is going to be fun and a challenge I am looking forward to doing it!

My challenge to you is to get out as many products you have and have fun creating!

Take Care
Marg

Meshell's Quilt

Here is Meshell's quilt. She sent it a week or so ago but I have been busy trying to be creative.

Thanks Meshell for sending the picture. I Really like your quilt cannot wait to see the final quilt.

Marg's Quilters

Well last Monday I taught my second quilting class and I am so proud of what these ladies accomplished. They all pretty much finished off their quilt tops.

We all met at the The Paperie........ plugged in our sewing machines and after replacing needles and figuring out fabric choices stared to sew

There were a total of 6 ladies sewing and pressing for 4 hours.

I am missing a picture of Meshell's quilt because she sewed hers in a different order. Her colours were great and as soon as I get a picture I will post it. 

Here are some of the finished quilt tops

These ladies were amazing and so much fun to be around. I am so looking forward to next month and this time I do plan to bring cake! Thanks Wendy for bringing the cupcakes.

Spending time with fun people is the best!!

Take Care
Marg

Happy Birthday Michelle

   - Michelle age 3 years

Happy Birthday TooYou!

Happy Birthday TooYou!

Happy Birthday Darling Michelle!

Happy Birthday TooYou!

Today would have been Michelle's 27th birthday and I miss her. At age 15 she new who she was. She had no fear and always took on a challenge knowing she would win and she usually did. I got to know her so much during her illness and even after 11 years when I make a decision I always think of her. Mom and Dad miss you and my heart overflows with love for you. Happy Birthday My Sweet Girl!

Getting Ready For Quilting Class

Last month I started teaching a quilting class. The first class was at my house but do to insufficient space The Paperie has been very generous in letting me use their place. Hope to one day in near future have more space at my place (should after Matt gets married). The class will be once a month and it will be on the first Monday off the month.

Some off my friends have been wanting to learn to quilt so this is really for them. I am really excited about introducing one of my great passions to my friends. Hope they enjoy.

So for their first quilt we will be making a Strip Quilt. It is very simple and not a lot of alignment necessary so there will be less frustration. Here is a sneak peek.

They get to choose their own colours.

I am really looking forward to Monday. I have everything ready. Just need to buy some cake!

Is there something you are really passionate about  that you would like to share with your friends? Set up a date and enjoy sharing!

Take Care
Marg

At this Moment

At this moment

-Getting ready for the quilting class I will be teaching ......... what a mess!

Listening    To the so called quiet house with all it weird sounds when no one is around.
Wondering  What to have for supper?
Feeling       Contented
Drinking     My Organic Green Peacock Tea from Britannia Teas
Eating        Dark fruitcake
Wearing      My flannel pj bottoms and an old t-shirt
Reading      Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs
Wanting      A nice piece of dark chocolate cake with ganache frosting
Needing       A holiday in Toronto and someone to cut some fabric
Thinking      About what I have left to do before my quilting class
Enjoying      Getting ready for my quilting class
Weather       Cold and drizzling

Bust-Your-Stash/Use-it-Or-Lose-It Blog Hop

My friend Cathie asked me to be apart of her Bust-Your Stash/Used-it-Or-Lose-It Bog Hop. So here I am my very fist blog hop.

I do not do a lot of layouts but I do canvases.

I did a canvas class in 2009 instructed by Sara at The Paperie. I really loved doing this class and the canvas I made was for Michelle .........................


I like this canvas because you can change the picture easily. The picture is held in place with a covered clothes pin.

I wanted to go home right away and do a canvas for each of my boys. So I bought the canvases and painted them .............................

I bought some Paper...........................

Crate, Adornit and Sassfrass paper and this is a far as I got.

So I dug around and found all the 'stuff' to finish the canvases.

Chris canvas ..........................................

I used the Crate and Adornit paper for Chris's Canvas. I cut the paper in strips and layered them on the canvas using Golden Regular Gel Medium. I then covered all the paper in gel medium tinted with burnt sienna paint. I also distressed some of the paper using Ranger's Distress Inks.

Added a picture ............................

The picture really pops against the distressed canvas.

Matt's Canvas .....................................................

I used the Sassafrass Monster for this canvas. I distressed the paper with the distress inks attached them with the reg gel medium. I added  the monster with pop dots and then misted the whole canvas with Tattered Angels Chalkboard Glimmer Mist bought at The Paperie

Added a picture............................

This canvas is similar to the way I did Michelle's but by distressing the paper with ink and misting it I updated it to 2013!

I am so happy with these canvases. I love that I can change the photos anytime with no trouble.

If you want to see more Bust-Your Stash/Used-it-Or-Lose-It Bog Hop check out these blogs:

Cathie Reed (www.cathiereed.blogspot.com)

Deanne Clarke-Saunders (http://littlebitopaper.blogspot.ca/2013/02/bash-your-stash.html)

Karen Young (http://sitscrapandrelax.wordpress.com/)

Krista Wells (http://confessionsofatwentysomethingartist.blogspot.ca/)

Liz Davies (http://piecesofmyeverydaylife.wordpress.com/)

Sara Case-Strickland (http://sarathings.com/)

The Paperie (http://thepaperie.wordpress.com/)

Why not dig around in your stash and find something you wanted to do and do it!!!

Take Care

Marg

Product Wednesday on Thursday or Friday

A lot of things went bad for me yesterday so I never got the chance to show a product. So here is the product today. Acrylic Ink............................

Acrylic Inks are very fluid. They contain super-fine pigments which are suspended in an emulsion. 

 Like all acrylics the inks are quick-drying, permanent, and water-resistant when dried.

The Inks can be mixed with water to give a watercolour effect and still remain vibrant in colour.

I used 3 different brands of acrylic inks FW Acrylic Inks, Liquitex Acrylic Inks and Tri Art Acrylic Inks. The Liquitex and FW are very liquid but the Tri Art is thick. 

Here I put drops of the ink on a page ..............................

I lift the page and all but the Tri Art ink ran down the page.

I then added some water .............................

the ink flowed down the page a lot more ....... even the Tri Art.

As you can see the colours remain very vibrant.

I let the ink sit for a few seconds and the absorbed the excess ink with a paper towel................

the colours are still vibrant. 

Love how the colours bring out the texture in the gesso.

I mixed the inks with equal amounts of water and put them in Ranger Mini Misters.

They give a real nice mist........

even  mixed with water the vibrancy of the colours is great.

I added the water ink mixture to a watercolour brush and also used a nib pen with full strength ink ................

These can be used for writing and colouring. 

You can also paint with the ink..................

This picture was completely painted with Tri Art Acrylic Inks. They are very thick and it is very easy to paint with a brush.

You can also add colour to mixed media products ...................

I coloured the tea leaves (which were mixed with gel medium) with ink.

Acrylics Inks are great to use and  I have shown you just a few I have tried. To find out more about the uses of Acrylic Inks go to Nathalie Kalbach Arylic Ink online class.

Maybe you can give them a try and have fun.

Take Care

Marg

Spring Canvas

It is finally finished my Spring canvas. I have been working on it for 2 weeks trying to get it to my liking. I have used about 5 or 6 layers of acrylic paint to get the final result that made me happy.

I used many different products on my canvas to get the look I wanted ................

It was very exciting using all these different types products in creating my canvas. 

I used Golden Fiber Paste for the letters for Spring. 

I used my Sizzix Big Shot to cut the letters and then I painted them.

How I love to work with so many different products and anything I find around the house.
 My imagination really goes crazy when I get started on a canvas. Can't wait to get started on the next....................


One more season to do ..................... Fall!

Why not look around your house and see what you can put on a canvas!

Take Care
Marg

Dedicated to the One I Love

Happy Valentines Day everyone, Hope you all had a great Day.

This morning I was reading my friend  Cathie"s Blog and she reminded me how important our spouses are. What we have as a family would not exists without them. I would like to thank my husband Gary for being there for me. He is my support!!

I do not have a lot of pictures taken with us together over the years and especially recently.  Looking around today I did find a picture I had put in my art journal of us in Paris. I would like to share this with you.

I am planning to take more pictures of us from now on. 

 My life would not be as good without him. I am very mushy today but I think today is a day that allows us to feel this way.

Love You Gary !!

Make sure you tell the one you love how important they are to you and take a picture!

Take Care

Marg

Product Wednesday

This week I have decided to show you the product Golden Glass Beads  ...................................

This is a gel which has glass beads mixed into it ......................................

this gel is very soft. 

You can mix colour into the gel ..............................................

Here I mixed with some orange and yellow acrylic paint and using a stencil made the sun.

You can also put on an area to give it a bit shimmer as I did on this canvas  ......................

This is on my Canvas titled Spring ( I will show you the whole canvas later) It shimmers in the light!

The Bead Gel can also be spread thin on a craft mat a left to dry.

As a sheet of Glass Beads you could used it for many things ............ ice, glass or cut into letters. It is very soft easy to manipulate.

I coated the dried Glass Bead Gel with Golden Digital Ground (will talk about this later). I then printed on it ........................... I did this by taping the Glass Bead in place on a sheet of computer paper  with painters tape and then put in threw the printer..

This is the picture I used .............................................................

Here is the printed picture  ...................................

It is a very tiny picture but the detail is pretty good. 

I really love how it looks!

These are just some of the uses I discovered with this product and I am sure over time I will discover more!

Give this product a try and see what you can do! Have lots of fun.

Take Care
Marg