One World One Heart 2011

Hellooooo and welcome to my blog and to the final One World One Heart event. My name is Hels Sheridan... I am addicted to all things inky and crafty... I hope you enjoy your stop at my blog!



I took part in the OWOH event for the first time last year and loved every minute of it and I made some lovely blogging buddies along the way... Here is the "door prize" which will be shipped to one randomly chosen comment...




For this years One World One Heart event I have made a metal hanging using Ten Seconds Studios metal, tools and molds and Studio 490 stamps. I won't go into great detail on how I made it because I know how many peeps join in so there is a lot of blog hopping to be done, so I won't hold you up :O))



I wanted the piece to be heart themed to go with the whole event title and also added the word art in there too... just because that is what unites us all on this ever so special blog-athon.




I hope you like the piece I made, please do leave me a comment and a way of contacting you in case your name is picked to win this hanging... oh and do let me know if you are joining in with the event too and I will hop on over to see your blog :O)) I will be chosing the winner totally at random... and I will ship the prize worldwide too :O))





Thanks for looking... enjoy this wonderful phenomenon... and...I would just like to say a THANK YOU to Lisa who has organised this for the past five years, I am going to miss it!! TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stampers - Week 64 - King

Morning Stampers!

Thanks for all your entries last week, it was great to see your interpretations of the theme

A brand new theme again this week, and a song title to one of my all time favest ever ever songs... King - by UB40 for those of you scratching your heads LOL

I got metalled up again...I cannot seem to leave this stuff alone you know, it is totally addictive!




I altered a 5" x 5" canvas, firstly painting it with the lush paint from Claudine Hellmuth (which is available from The Artistic Stamper) and then added some Viva Precious Metal paints over the top. The stamping was done using PaperArtsy images, oh, I so love the new Mini cat...and the Castles and Crowns range too :O)) The metal is gold...and by SpellBinders...and it is fab to work with too! I made the little message myself using a fine tipped Sharpie marker and handwrote the words and then went over them with a pointy tool (note again the use of technical terms LOL)




As ever with the Sunday Stamper, to join in all you have to do is make a piece of artwork, combine the theme and stamping into it and then leave me a comment on this post so I can pop and have a look at what you have made.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Hels x

Inky Metal Art

Hey Peeps,

I had a lovely day yesterday; Linda came over to play and we got all inky and messy and played with some metal and Alcohol inks and this is what I made.



I ran the metal thru the Cuttlebug, using embossing folders and then sploshed some Kuretake Alcohol inks on to the metal.



I used mountboard to stick the metal to and then applied these to an 8x8 oil board that I had also alochol inked and also done some background stamping.



Thanks for looking :O))

Hels x

Journey Into (metal) Art

Morning,

I have been playing with my Ten Seconds Studio stash again and made this little hanging piece.



I used mountboard for the backing; cutting it to 8" square and then using a prime coat of Gesso. Once dried, I painted with acrylic paints, making a distressy feel to the piece and using a bubblewrap stamp to make little marks on the surface and an old credit card (one I hadn't melted LOL) to make lines on the edges.




The metal squares all have 1 1/5" sqaure mountboard bases and the metals I have used are the Kiss Me Pink and Chocolate Brown ones available from The Artistic Stamper. I used a variety of techniques to achieve the patterns, using texture plates, moulds and freehand drawing using the tools.




The centre piece has a base of 3" square mountboard and I used Grungeboard letters under the metal to make the Art word. The Journey Into was written onto copy paper with a Sharpie, flipped over and then traced using a refining tool. I refined all the edges and then did a little freehand decorating.




The surfaces of the metals were all sanded and distressed and then I applied Espresso acylic paint over the top, wiping off and then buffing up to get a nice finish.

I assembled all the pieces using silicone glue and on the centre and random pieces around the edges, I used more glue so I have a raised effect.




Finally, I used a little coat hanger, available here and added some beaded ribbons along the bottom as a little fancy finish.

This piece took aaages for me to make as there is a lot of work in each square but I loved making it and love the colour theme.

Thanks for looking

Hels x

Metal Art - Part 2 - The Finshed Project

Hello again,

Following on from yesterday's post when I waffled on about my new addiction with metal art, I have got the rest of the photo's etc to show you now.

Now, where was I? Ah, yes, the embossing bit. I used my Cuttlebug and embossing folders to achieve the embossed effect on each of the metal squares. I used a small sanding block and a brass brush to remove the alcohol ink from the raised parts of the embossed pieces, this created a really nice contrast. On the plain aluminium pieces, I used the brass brush to make a swirly pattern.




Once I had finished playing with the metal squares, I backed them with Killertape and then popped them onto the 2" square pieces of Foamboard I had previously cut out.




I then moved on to making the bits and bobs for the niche in the middle of the piece. I had previously painted this niche with silver Adirondack Dabber but I was not happy with the colour of it - it just looked too bland when the metal pieces were assembled on to the rest of the board. I decided to use a Pearl Dabber and painted roughly over the top of the silver to try and get a contrast. Still no good - it looked too boring and there wasn't really any definition. The little boxes I had made were just lost in the middle there. Mmmm, what could I do to make them stand out a little more? Well, I took a risk, bearing in mind that I had spent hours faffing about and you know how it goes, you spend ages with something and at the last minute you make a boo-boo and end up ruining it all? Well, I took the risk and out came the black Dabber. I used my finger to apply the paint onto the inside of the little boxes but ... argh...it was too much!! Eeeeek, I panicked and immediately tried to wipe off the black paint with a babywipe. But hang on...what is this? It is actually sticking to the bits of the box where I had applied texture Gel....ohhhh, this is looking more like it I thought to myself. What I had actually done, I have now found out, is "antiqued" the silver boxes! Hey, I am well chuffed that my risk paid off!




So, with new found confidence, I added some black paint to the metal pieces but I think that I could have left more of it on the pieces but I played it safe, well, it was my first time!!

For the niche, the little boxes I have mentioned are actually miniature box lids which I cut down to be level with the depth of the niche. I had gesso'd them and added texture gel to them just to make them stand out a little more. I filled up the larger of the two with a couple of those heavenly ickle vials that The Artistic Stamper sells. I put loads of pearly seed beads into one of the vials and the other was filled up with some mini beading, which, when I put it in the vial, twisted on itself so it has made a coil. The other box is filled with a little piece of an army uniform that I picked up on a car boot - it was all yukky and dirty so I covered it with silver Krylon and then stuck it to the inside of the box, I added a little pearl in there too which was from an old dressing up box earring.




The stamping in the niche is done using Tim Holtz stamps and a couple of wordy stamps I have but don't know who they are by. I stamped, using black StaZon, onto dressmaking pattern paper, then I watered down some PVA glue and pasted the paper into the niche. I didn't want the stamping to be too over powering so I stuck to simple and bold words and I think it really worked.




Finally, I assembled all the little squares into place, added the thin strips over a couple of edges and that was it. Project completed!




I am really pleased with the outcome of this project. Sometimes, when I sketch a design, when it is finished it looks nowt like what I intended, but with this one, it is exactly how I wanted it to be. I keep looking at it and seeing little bits that could have been done better and differently but hey, it is a first attempt!

And, this makes me more chuffed than anything, when Grim came home from work that night, he saw the piece and said he really liked it and wants it for his study! How happy was I???




Anyway folks, if you are still awake and still with me, thank you for reading my posts about this - I know I have waffled on but I am really excited to have a new addiction and that I managed to make something all on my own without anyone telling me how to do it. Now I have the DVD, I will be able to make other things too....so I am off to get cracking on my next project, which is all sketched and ready to be made!

So here it is:




Thanks for looking, again, I would love comments about this piece being as I am new, and if you have any tips etc, I would love to read them.

Hugs Hels x

Metal Art - A New Venture!

Hello Peeps,

I have mentioned a couple of times recently that I was lucky enough to receive some Ten Seconds Studios goodies for Christmas. I hadn't really got a clue how to use them though, so I decided to have a little play and see what I came up with :O))

I had seen Linda from LB Crafts doing a demo at the Ally Pally show in September but only managed to stay for a couple of minutes so I just took what I had seen and kind of developed it from there.




I started off with some aluminium foil and used various colours of Ranger Alcohol Ink to shade the aluminium. I picked Red Pepper, Wild Plum and Slate for one batch and Meadow, Lettuce, Pesto and Slate for the next batch. I added couple of drops of Metallic Mixatives to add a little depth too but once I had finished I realised this was a waste of time cos they don't really show up on the finished pieces.

I have now invested in the DVD so I can see exactly what I am supposed to be doing - I had missed out a few techniques that I can see would have looked great on my project but that just gives me an excuse to make something else LOL




I used the coloured aluminium foil with my Cuttlebug embossing folders - wow, they really do work brilliantly and I just loved the effects that I got from them.

This post is probably going to go over two days as I have lots of photo's to show you - and loads of waffle too!!






I hit upon the idea of making something that is similar to what I tend to do with canvas yet I didn't want to waste a canvas by covering it all with the metal. A couple of months back I was in Lidl and saw they had a big pack of Foamboard on sale for a really cheap price. I had not heard of this before but thought it would be an ideal alternative to mountboard as it is a little thicker. I started the project by cutting a piece of Foamboard to 8" square. Next, I cut some smaller pieces to make a frame around the outside of the 8" piece, as I wanted to create a niche in the middle. I then cut out 12 2" square pieces which would form the bases for the metals.




Once I had all the outer pieces cut, I stuck them all together to make a base and frame. I was naughty and used Glossy Accents for this - it is the best for gluing this type of thing and whilst it is expensive, I have yet to find something that is as good.

I primed the base with white Gesso and once this was dried I painted over it with silver acrylic paint. I used Adirondack Dabbers as their silver is perfect, creamy, shiney and sparkley. Whilst I was doing all the painting I decided to leave off 3 of the 2" squares and I used some Gel Medium to make splodgy bits where the 3 would have been, so they look as if they have fallen off, if you know what I mean!




I am popping a few piccies of the finished piece on to the post now, there is still a lot to say so I will leave the post here and return tomorrow with the rest of the waffle and the finished piccies too.




Thanks for looking - this is something totally new to me and already I am addicted! I have just got the DVD as I said, and also I have some new tools coming my way as I really want to get stuck into this kind of crafting.

I would love your honest opinions, by the way, I don't know if anyone has any hints and tips they can give me about working with metals....all would be greatly appreciated. :O))

Hels x