Watercolour Paint Along - Snow Scene

This week's paint along - the last of the three week sessions.   I wasn't too happy with this one, as the canvas was still a bit too damp when I  came to paint the clouds and the "bled out" a bit.   Lots of friends like it, and whose to say the clouds shouldn't be like that!  The just make it more atmospheric!  I was pleased with the trees and the snow though.

 

Jesmonite Phone Holder

 

I had this lovely mold arrive this week.  It is a holder for a mobile phone or I-pad, and is nice and sturdy.   I admit the finish wasn't quite what I wanted- I wanted more random "squiggles" on the top, but obviously I  needed the mixture to be a bit thinner - but you learn by experimentation.

I also wanted to try out a terrazzo finish, but was a bit wary of doing it for the "top" of the mold for my first experiment - so I did it on the underside - as you can see that was a success.

I now need to create myself some more different coloured terrazzo "bits", and experiment more.   Watch this space as they say!

Resin Geode

 

This is actually the "wrong" side of the geode, but I really like it - and was what I was trying to achieve.  Having trickled all the colours in in circles, I then blew on it to distort them,

Below is the "right" side, but not the effect I wanted - hey ho - resin has a mind of its own!

I shall add some more clear resin to the side I like, and perhaps add a bit of glitter at the same time.   I will share the result in due course, when my new glitters arrive.

Jesmonite Green Man

I had a play with some Jesmonite, and my large green man mold.  It has come out a treat.    I added a bit of Pebeo Gilding wax, and it looks a bit like old weathered metal, albeit it feels like stone.  The photo above was taken in shade, and the one below was taken in sunshine, which really shows up the detail of the mold.

 

Top coating some paint pours

I was going to apply resin to these paint pours I did a short while ago, but it decided to experiment with a Viva product, which although called pouring medium, I discovered was suitable for a top coat, and it states it is weather and heat proof.

It has worked very well and was a lot faster drying than resin!    It has really brought the colours to life, although you may not be able to appreciate the effects in the photos.   There is a lot of silver in the pours, and it is difficult to catch the effect in a photo.

I just love the colours in this next photo.

Hopefully you can see the silver in this last one!

 

Watercolour painting - windmill

Another hour's paint along session with Matthew Palmer on the Craft Store this week - a windmill.    Quite pleased with it - albeit the sails are a bit wonky!     They were ok until I decided they needed to be a bit longer - and the dodgy eyesight didn't quite line up the lines - lol!

Mindful Moodling with the grandchildren

 

Whilst the grandchildren were stamping and colouring, I used one of the mindful moodling stencils and played with some artistry inks, to show them what we could do with those, including adding a few doodles to them.

Crafting with the Grandchildren

Well there was a bit of normality in my life a couple of days ago - I had a couple if hours crafting with my two youngest grandchildren - the first time for nearly 2 years (thanks to lockdown!)  Now that they are two years older they are able to walk on their own to my house from their Dad's, which is very useful when he is working from home.

We did some stamping, and they used a set of little stamps to create figures. the first picture is the 12 year old's play.   She will coloru them at home.

and this was the 9 year old's play:

The 9 year old then wanted to use my new !mindful moodling" stamps and do some painting.  As you can see she didn't finish it, but again that will be done at home.    We also cut out some of the matching word dies.

Another Paint-along with Matthew lesson

This week's lesson on The Craft Store was a countryside scene with a path and poppy fields.  Not my best effort - but in my defence I couldn't find the paint-along kit I had purchased for the lesson -  I am sure in a safe place, but so safe I can't find it  (I know I ordered it, now I am wondering it it got lost in the post!)  ...
... so I had to improvise with the watercolour paints I had - and I didn't have the right blue or and orange!   Fortunately I had the right watercolour paper in my stash!

Playing with new goodies

 It seems I am into bright colours this week!

I treated myself to Lou Withers latest collection - "Mindful Moodling" as a birthday present to myself.

They arrived the other day, and I just had to have a play with some of the stamps.  No plan, just used a few stamps, and the grabbed some alcohol ink pens that I haven't used for a while and relaxed with some colouring, which although they are not my "go to" colours turned out to be quite enjoyable.   I also discovered some "wet look" pens, so I used these for the yellow swirls and then embossed them, which gave a different sort of texture.

There are loads of stamps, dies, stencil, rice paper and 12 x 12 papers in this collection - so that will keep me amused from some time.

I don't normally buy large collections like this - but I fell in love with them, and follow Lou on her FB page.   As you know I struggle with seeing the end of a pen, and doodle these days -  but these stamps are lovely, and do it all for you - all you have to do is colour them in and add a few doodles of your own if you so wish,

Playing with Casting Compound Again

 

I though I would try to create a geode with casting compound;   unfortunately my brain cell wasn't connected properly, and I forgot that I had to work from front to back, and put the colours in first and then the base colour!   Duh!  I realised half way through, so I just got a cocktail stick and did some swirls, and added some gilding flakes.   I will have to try again!
I used Jesmonite liquid colours, and although I only used a tiny drop, they are very powerful.

I had some left over compound so I used it up on this little candle holder/trinket dish.  I think it is a bit Clarice Cliff inspired!

Teddy Bear Card

 

A simple little Teddy Bear card crated in Craft Artist, for a great great niece who is absolutely teddy bear mad,

Blue and Green Anniversary Card

Back ground paper and dark blue mirri card from my stash.  Die embellishment was from my monthly Clarity membership die cut from pale green pearlised card  to patch the green in the background paper.

Sentiment from my stash, stamped on white card and mounted on more of the dark blue mirri card.