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