A new technique

 As some of you may know I belong to Bristol Urban Sketchers.

A couple of meet ups ago I was chatting to a very talented young lady who was using oil pastels and tissue paper to create a sort of print impression.

I was so impressed I remembered that I have some oil pastels and tissue paper at home so thought I would have a go.

First I coloured the tissue paper with oil pastel

then I used a biro to sketch my design onto the tissue paper

then you lift the paper to reveal the picture.  

I really like this effect and its something I think I will experiment more with.

Kyla

WOYWW

Hello peeps, its Wednesday again so that can only mean "What's on your Workdesk Wednesday" when we bare all for the lovely Julia (see here for details).

After being on my hols for the past couple of weeks that means that my desk is bare, apart from my tags and ink pens that I take with me on holidays/day trips to leave some "art abandonment" or "free art friday" pieces (search for these two phrases on facebook to see the awesome art people from across the globe leave for people to find.

My 'Man Bites Dog' cards this week are 'Rare Missing Movie Stuns Judge'-ooh I like this headline.

Happy crafting

Kyla

WOYWW

Just a quick update to show the lovely ATC (and envelope) that I got from Shaz Silver wolf.

Now we all know how clever Shaz is when it comes to crafting (I have used many of the techniques she has shown over the years) but I love the background especially. 

Shaz, they are in pride of place on my wall in the craft room! 

Kyla 

Wedding Card

I waited to post this photo.  As well as the Royal Wedding last weekend, it was the wedding of a good school friend of mine, Kev to Clare (sadly I couldn't make the wedding).

I wanted to make a personalised card and since they are into comic-con and music I thought the backing paper was quite arty and reminded me of vinyl records.

I die cut the birds from cardboard and hand coloured them with promarkers.

The letters are also die cut and have a thick gold enamel covering and I added a heart brad as a finishing touch.

Hopefully the happy couple have opened all their cards by now, if not-SURPRISE!!

Kyla

WOYWW

 This is no ordinary Whats on Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Today is the 9th Anniversary, 9 years ago the lovely Julia set this up and its been running ever since.  We bare our desks and get new ideas for crafting and storage along the way.  We have made friends both virtually and also in real life at some of the WOYWW crops.  Yes, Julia really did start something amazing.

So on my desk this week is my June page for the 365 Journal challenge nearly ready ahead of the start of the month-go me!!!

Also are 4 ATC's that I made ready for the swap.

I only made 4, one for the person on the list and 3 more, it was a lot less stressful than trying to make loads as I have done in previous years.

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week are 'Prez stuns lady heiress'-now that is no surprise!

Happy WOYWW

Kyla

Bristol Urbansketchers monthly meet up

Just a quick update (trying to update via my phone so who knows how this will turn out)! 

The weekend saw the monthly meet up of Bristol Urban sketchers. A fantastic group I have belonged to for a few years and we are growing in size.

This time we all met at the Underfall Boatyard at Bristol docks.

Some fantastic things to sketch and a great place just to sit and watch the world go by as it's a working boatyard as well as pleasure boat trips.

A lovely couple of hours sketching then we all meet up for drinks or a spot of food and chat and swap sketch books and personally I learn a lot of new techniques too.

Happy crafting

Kyla 

Brusho's

 I decided to play with my brusho's again.

I only have 2 (moss green and grey) but I find that they are two really useful colourways.

I thoroughly wetted some watercolour paper as its thick enough to take quite a lot of water and sprinkled some on, swirling the paper to let the water run with the colour.

When it dried (I gave up waiting and turned my heat gun on!) I added some watered down mica in gold and spritzed it on, flicking it across to add a subtle shimmer.

How has you used Brusho's?  Has anyone tried them on fabric (that may be my next test)?

Happy crafting

Kyla

Mermaids for free

If you popped by my desk on Wednesday you may have seen a roll of paper and some backing paper (on the left hand side of the desk).

This is what I made from them.

I am not a great one for cute cards but I spotted some girls wallpaper samples with mermaids on and thought a free sample would make a couple of cards and as a bonus I was able to use some of my 12x12 scrapbook papers as backing papers.

I managed to make 3 cards from the free sample in total, not too bad and saves me buying any cute toppers or backing papers (that to be honest I would struggle to use for anything else and I like my stash to be multipurpose where I can).

Wallpaper samples can make some really great cards and is a way to keep costs down and add them to stash you already have to help use up those papers etc that sometimes we just fall out of love with and struggle to use.

Do you have any top tips to use up stash that maybe you have fallen out of love with?

Happy crafting

kyla

WOYWW

Wednesday seems to come round really quickly some weeks!

Not much happening on my desk this week as the glorious weather means outdoors jobs needed doing (cleaning and reproofing decking etc).

But I have some new stash, those two black and white pockets on the right hand side are two sets of Graphik Line Markers in Black and Sepia.  

I am always on the look out for new markers for my sketching and these two little sets seemed ideal so I have been waiting until they were on offer and this weekend Cass Art had 20% off everything so I grabbed the chance.

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week are 'Missing Blonde Teen Tricks Singer' - well, who knows what that could mean?!

Happy WOYWW

Kyla

Bullet Journal

So as I showed in my last post I keep a 365 Journal (I have been doing it for years following Kate Cranes challenge), and in that I keep a small note of something that has happened that day.  However, last June I decided I needed something that showed me a month at a glance for home (I have a filofax for work) and after spending some time on pinterest (by some time of course I mean a few days!!) I came across the bullet journal.

I tried various different versions but after about 4 months I decided that this layout suited me perfectly.  One the left its a calendar to note key events, appointments etc.

On the right I have a To Do list, longer term list (things I need to remember at some point to do) and key points for the next month (sort of a "carry over" list).

I also have a habit tracker (top right).  This is a small box I shade in if I have completed one of my daily habits, weight watcher tracking, 6000 steps, if I have had alcohol, meditation, sleep, weather and any Rheumatoid Arthritis issues/flares.

I still have a ton of lists around the place but this is a useful "in one place" reminder.

Have you found something that works for you to remember?

Kyla