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

Product Wednesday

Fiber Paste 

One of my really favourite products is Golden Fiber Paste........................... 

It is a white opaque paste that has visible pieces of fiber that dries to a solid white opaque layer .....................................................

The reason I love this paste is because it is very versatile...........................

You can layer it on your canvas:

It has a lot of texture...................

Then it can be painted to look like grass....................................................

It dries hard and rough to the touch.

Fiber Paste can also be spread on a non stick mat and left to dry.

Here I spread a thin layer of the paste and let it air dry on the mat ..........................

I tried to have as little texture as I could.

Once dried the paste is easy to peel back from the mat. It can be made into anything you would like and even printed on.

The upper side is textured but the reverse side.......................

is smooth and there is really no texture. (had a little residue of pink ink spray left on the mat)

Here I made grass which I can use in a project ...........................

You can maneuver the paste if needed to give it some lumps and bumps.

 I do love being able to make texture.

By cutting the paste anything can be made........................... here I made a tree for a canvas

I painted part of the paste brown and the other part green. I then cut out the tree.

Here I put the fiber paste through the printer and printed out a picture of myself and my sister ................

I like how rough and textured it is.

I then stitched it onto some paper ...............................

I had no trouble stitching the paste to the paper and this would be good for a scrapbook layout.

I am really enjoying this product and looking forward to experimenting more ways to use. I will continue to update on the new projects I make using Fiber Paste...................I have a large jar ordered!

Why not get together with some friends and purchase some. Give it a try, maybe you can show me some fun ways to use Fiber Paste

Take Care

Marg

Expression Through My Art Journal

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-15

Everything Has Its Time

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

This has been a hard emotional week. I read the above passage at Doug's funeral. I am not a religious person but very spiritual. This bible passage is so moving I think I will always keep it with me.

In our immediate we have lost three family members and I found myself having to express this through my Art Journal. I find that Art helps a lot.

These three people, my daughter Michelle, my Dad(Pop) and my Brother in Law Doug will always be missed. I will just find yet another new path to follow. Isn't there a saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". I am starting to get my strength and with the help of my passion for art, my family and my friends. I will be stronger.

Hope all is going well with you and remember Art is a healer.

Take Care
Marg