Set of Draws.

I have had this set of draws from Kaisercraft for a while. I had them painted in Gesso so I used some of the Helmar Tacky Craft glue to glue it together. I have used this before on these wooden projects and it always works terrific and holds so well.

I painted all the pieces with Gesso to seal it all.

I then ran a line of Helmar Tacky Craft Glue around all the back edges. I set some heavy books and my container of journals on it and let it dry.

Using some Helmar Decoupage and Craft Paste I tore up some music papers and glued them here and there on all the sides, top and back. Covering the joining slots.

I then painted it trying to leave a bit of the music paper showing here and there. Waited for it to dry and sanded the edges and some of the painted surfaces. I wanted it to look a bit distressed.Then using a TCW stencil I added some little detail with a make up sponge in some white paint.

To do the draws I added some music paper with some of the Helmar Decoupage and Craft Paste and then painted it. Folded the draws up and then painted in the crevices, making sure none of the cardboard was showing.

Then I grabbed the Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive  and glued the edges together. Just holding them until they stuck this takes just a few seconds.

I like to add a quote that I type up on my typewriter to my wooden projects. This ended up on the side. I added it using the Helmar Tacky Craft Glue.



I was looking for something to add at the top on the heart and found some thongs (flip flops) and the word chill. Thought it kind of looked beachy my project so thought that will be perfect. I have a beach house stamp, so continuing with that theme I stamped that on some cardstock with watercolour paint. I backed it with a bit of blue card stock that had been painted using my Gelli plate. It matched so thought that looked ok. I painted the word to match.and added a piece of Hessian under the work chill to make it stand out. Added some string that I tied into knots and to adhere this I added the Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive in dots under the knots to stick it down, it worked really well.



This was such a fun project to do and now I have a handy little set of draws to store some craft items away.

Have a great day
Vicki-Ann :)

Letter Journals...

Thought I would put a few of the pages from the Letter journals that I have been working on in the last few months and pop around and say hi over at Paint Party Friday  Have you had a look at all the amazing art that is posted over there.. No!! Well follow the link and have a look around. Everyone is welcome and we love seeing what everyone is up to during the last week. 

I had fun on these black pages at first I was a bit tricked then when I thought about how well the signo white pen works on black I just had fun doing lots of dangles.

Stamped on paper with my alphabet stamps and cut and pasted. 

Always fun doing circles. Scribbled words around them. 

More dangles added some Gelli plate printed hearts. I wanted to play with some Kaisercraft Die cuts. So I put them over the background and then painted and blended them in. 

All paint used was Decoart Americana Acrylics, they come in some fabulous colours and such fun to use. 

Have a great day

Vicki-Ann :)

Art journal fun...

I have been busy in my art journal just playing with my Decoart Americana acrylic paints. 

I just love doing circles and adding layers and layers of different paints till I get something that I think is done. 

Adding lots of stamps and stencils is one of the best parts. I so love adding splatters of watered Gesso at the end such fun to do. 

I have been using my mop up papers on my desk in lots of things lately and I used it in this one to add the petals for the flowers. Lots of doodling for the stems and this one I did live on Periscope. You can find the replay for it HERE at @sandybeachart.

Linking this up with Paint Party Friday

Have a great day 

Vicki-Ann :)

Helmar art journal cover

Over on the Helmar Creative Team page I created an art journal. I  have been joining in with Rae Missigmans doing the Art Marks 30 Day Challenge Rae announced during the week that she is doing another challenge in March so a whole new set of prompts.  So I needed a new art journal for the new challenge. So it was time to make another one.

First I grabbed my craft knife and cutting mat and cut my cardboard. So my cover ended up being 

8 1/2 inches ( 21.5 cm) by 5 1/5 inches (13.97 cm).

I used the cardboard backing that was with my paper. The cardboard is quite sturdy and I cut it in half. So that meant it was the perfect size for my book. The paper I use is Monte Marte Watercolour paper and has 30 sheets so I will get 2 books of 30 pages so it works out so well and the paper holds up to sewing really well. I punched holes 4 cm in from each inside edge. I spread Gesso over the cardboard and then painted with my palette knife. I used a stencil to add some details and interest.

I then placed some book and dictionary papers together with a bit of plasterers tape and tacked it together with some Helmar Tacky Craft Glue to hold. I added a little paint over the paper, so it matched in to the background. Let that dry a bit, then I sewed with my sewing machine in a zig zag motion. Add this to the cardboard cover on the background with the Helmar Tacky Craft Glue. 

Then on the inside I thought I would add some interest with some painted desk papers that I use to cover my desk when I paint. 

So I drew around it and cut it to size.

Then I spread the inside cover with the Helmar Decoupage and Craft Glue with the paint and glue spreader. I also added the Helmar Decoupage and Craft Glue to the back of the painted underpapers and used the paint and glue spreader to remove any excess glue and bubbles so I get a nice smooth finish.

I used some Payne's grey Decoart paint on the edges.

I then cut my watercolour papers to size and using the cover as a guide I punched the holes to suit and added the rings

Have a great day
Vicki-Ann :)

Art Marks 30 Day Challenge

I am joining in with Rae Missigmans #artmarks30daychallenge 

I made this journal with rings at the side in a class a few years ago and have never used it. I thought this would be perfect for this challenge, as I can pull the pages out to work on them separately. For this challenge Rae would like you to make marks. You kind of have to decide what kind of marks you like to make so look through previous journal pages and see what your marks are. Rae does give you a sheet to download with some of her marks she likes to use and the is another page to download with the prompts for the 30 days. 

I have given myself another mini challenge to sew on all 30 pages with my sewing machine. 

This is my cover I might change this at the end to look more like something I would do.. 

I have used all Decoart Americana paints on my pages and I am loving trying out different colour combinations.

Day 1, Petal-like

I thought with the prompt of petal I kind of drew some petals like they had dropped off the flowers.

Day 2, Needlework

I used my hand carved stamps for this one and added some circles of scrapbook paper. 

Day 3, Concentric

Cut circles of dictionary paper and added a quote

I am very late linking this up with Paint Party Friday but am going to pop around and check out what people have been up to this last week. 

Have a great day

Vicki-Ann :)

Letter Journals

I thought I would show you what I have been working on since September last year when I joined a facebook group for letter journals. It's been fun and I have met so many fabulous people. I joined this group and when I did I thought everything I do I am just going to have fun with. No pressure just fun stuff and I really have had some fun. Some letter journals have themes but the ones I love the most are just the free style ones that I can just paint what I feel like on the day. So here are some samples of the work I have done in the 5 letter journals that I have done so far. I love my Decoart Acrylic paints and think that shows up in my letter journals.

These are the 5 filled letter journals that I have filled with some lovely art work from all over Australia, America and Canada. 

The following art is all mine that I have either done in my letter journals before sending them off or in other people's letter journals. 

I made my own stickers with my printer and joined them up with some fun pen work.

Think this one is my favourite cover of a letter journal.

The theme to this one was inspirational quotes.

Spring themed letter journal.

I had these numbers on my desk from a Typo bag it was a bingo card so I cut them up and collaged them on. 

Flower theme.

Painted some gum tree flowers for an Australian themed letter journal

I really enjoy this group and can see me getting quite a collection over the next year. I am currently in 3 more letter journal groups one international and 2 Australian. There is a maximum of 4 people in the group and it takes a few months for the international ones to get posted around. 

Linking this up with Paint Party Friday.

Have a great day

Vicki-Ann :)

Helmar

I was live on Periscope doing some Gelli printing on some deli paper and I loved the way this print turned out with the flowers. It was so pretty so I decided to use it in the background to make a small canvas for my Helmar Creative Team project. You can find more details and list of products used over on the blog at Helmar Creative team.

On Sunday I was live on Periscope doing some Gelli printing on some deli paper and I loved the way this one turned out with the flowers. It was so pretty so I decided to use it to make a small canvas. 

I used the Helmar Decoupage and Craft Paste and spread it over the canvas panel with the paint and glue spreader. Then placed my deli paper print over the top and used the paint and glue spreader to get any air bubbles and lumps out. 

I painted some music paper with some Gesso then painted the background with some Decoart paints using the paint and glue spreader. Then I stamped the Tim Holtz butterfly stamp on top of that. I put that on top of some canvas material using some Helmar Tacky Craft Glue waited for that to dry and then sewed it on the side with black cotton on my sewing machine. 

I threaded some twine through the wooden letter banners. Then tied some bows through 2 buttons to hold my banner at the sides. I used the Helmar Scrap Dots on the back of the buttons, as it was over the top of the twine so with the dimension this worked great. 

Using Helmar Tacky Craft Glue I placed my sewed butterfly panel on top of my canvas.

Any time I do a canvas I always finish it off with 2 coats of  Helmar Krystal Kote Matte Varnish 

this protects it from dust and fading and keeps it from yellowing. 

Have a great day

Vicki-Ann :)

Wood Art Bookmarks.

For more details, photos and a list of items used check out the Helmar Creative Team page.

I have been raiding our wood box again.  We have a wood fire and we get wood off cuts from a friend who builds staircases. When the wood gets inside I am always finding bits that I want to paint on. This time it was these thin strips of wood.
They are approx 8 3/4 inches, (22 cm) length by 1 inch, (2 1/2 cm) wide. They are quite thin ranging from about 2 mm.

I sanded the edges first and then it was just a layer of DecoArt Media Gesso and I was ready to let my imagine take over as to what to put on them.

I painted a tree for the background of the owls.  Then I drew 3 owls on book paper and painted the inside, cut them out and used my Helmar Decoupage and Craft Paste to glue them on the branches. Then when this was dry I drew the faces and outlined the owls.

I painted the cat and flowers with DecoArt Americana paints adding a little bit of stenciling with a TCW stencil for interest on the background.

For the third one I painted the background then used my Helmar Decoupage and Craft Paste to glue some half circles of book paper on. Then I doodled around the book paper to make flowers.  I filled in the petals with white Gesso.

I then got the fan brush out and did splatters (fun stuff) with watered down white Gesso on 2 and added black Gesso splatters to the flowers.
I then sealed them all with 2 coats of  Helmar Crystal Kote Matte Spray this keeps them sealed and protected from fading, yellowing and dust.
I think this project would work well with those wooden paint stirrers too.

Linking this up with Paint Party Friday. Hi everyone.. :)

Have a great day
Vicki-Ann :)