June's Guest Designer - Alison Bomber.

Hello our creative friends! Today we have a bunch of inspiration from one amazing artist - our June Guest Designer. Her original and colourfull projects are eye catching and inspiring. She knows how to work with media, how to create stunning texture and how to perfectly balance colours. Our Guest Designer this month is...

Alison Bomber! 

Here is Alison to introduce herself:

My creativity was never really on the visual side - I was more the words, music,
books, theatre type. When I became a freelancer in Spring 2012 after eight years at
the Royal Shakespeare Company as a Text and Voice Coach, it was supposed to give
me more time for friends and family. I had no idea that within weeks I would be in
thrall to a whole new creative passion - stamps/inks/paints/texture/stencils - you
name it, I want to play with it!  There's so much to learn, discover and explore.
Now I have to balance the two worlds - hence the name of my blog, Words and Pictures. So much for friends and family...

Now it's time for some beautiful inspiration from our Guest Designer. Sit comfortably because Alison prepared a real treat for you:

Hello, Alison here from Words and Pictures.  I was thrilled to be asked to be a guest here at Artist Trading Post, especially to play with stencils - one of my absolute crafting must-haves.  I enjoyed myself so much that I ended up with a trio of projects, and I'm delighted to share the first of them with you today.

 Believe it or not, this altered trinket box started life as a humble plastic container (cotton buds!) saved from the recycling bin. 

 I coated it with gesso, smeared on various gel mediums and crackle mediums so that there was lots of random texture, and then spritzed it with some DecoArt Media Sprays.  Once it was all dry I applied some texture paste through the fabulous Herbarium stencil by Kasia Krzyminska... with all those blues and greens, the botanical look seemed the perfect way to go. 

 I painted the textured leaves using various Fresco paints, and decided I wanted even more crackle, so I put a coat of Rock Candy Crackle Paint over large areas of the whole box. 

While that was drying and crackling, I started playing with adding co-ordinating paint colours to an oval bezel charm, using a toothpick to marble them. 

 That needed a long time to dry, but once it had I added some ChitChat stickers and a coat of Glossy Accents to seal it all in. 

 The final touch was to add some shimmer using various Treasure Gold colours.  The gilding really helps all the texture to pop. 

 I hope you like my Herbarium Trinket Box, perfect for collecting beautiful moments, and I'm happy to say that I'll see you again soon with another Crafter's Workshop Stencils creation.
Alison xxx

Isn't it gorgeous transformation? Thank you Alison for preparing such an inspiring piece for us and also I must say that I feel very honoured that you used my stencil. :)

Here are some of products that Alison worked with:

TCW548s - Kasia Krzyminska - Herbarium Template - 6"x 6"	Golden - Gesso 237ml	Golden - Extra Heavy Gel (Matte) - 8oz / 236ml	Golden - Regular Gel (Gloss) - 8oz / 236ml	Golden - Crackle Paste - 8oz / 236ml
Rock Candy 4oz. jar	Fresco Finish Acrylic - Beach Hut	Fresco Finish Acrylic - South Pacific	Fresco Finish Acrylic - Hey Pesto	Fresco Finish Acrylic - Space Cadet
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - ChitChat	Inkessentials Glossy Accents	Treasure Gold - Aquamarine	Treasure Gold - Emerald

Please remember that our new ATP Exchange Challenge has just started. And for all of you who need more TCW stencils we have a special offer: we are running a promotion which enables you to buy any amount of 6"x6" TCW stencils and receive free shipping.  

Simply place an order containing only 6"x6" Crafter's Workshop stencils and select "TCW 6"x6" free postage" from the shipping menu. This offer runs till July 12th. (UK customers only)
Please note, orders combined with any other products are subject to our normal postage rates, and are not part of this promotion.
Have a beautiful Sunday!

Altered Triptych on a hot day !

Hello, it's Sue here and after a few technical hiccups (thanks Windows 8!) I'm here to share the Altered Triptych class that I took on Saturday. It was a very hot day here in the UK but the  6 lovely ladies, and helper !, soldiered on regardless !

The ladies soon got down to business and lots of Fresco Finish paints were swapping hands on the table.

 Then it was time to do some stencilling !

 You can just see Elaine's fabulous project coming together on the above photo.

Once all the stencilling and stamping was done it was time to put together the embellishments including a metal rose.

 Things are really starting to come together now !

Unfortunately, time did beat us but Ruth managed to add all of her embellishments and I grabbed a quick snap ! The colours everyone used were gorgeous !

A really fun day despite being a little on the warm side ! A big thank you to Jamie for keeping us watered throughout the day.

Sue
x

When the Heart Speaks class

Hello! It's Sue here and today I'm sharing the projects that the 8 lovely ladies made who attended my When the Heart Speaks canvas class on Saturday 12 April. It was a day full of painty and inky fun !

Everyone here is concentrating on getting everything stuck down ready to paint.

Now it's all stuck it was time to get stuck in (pardon the pun!) with the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints. There was lots of layering and blending to create these stunning final pieces.

After all the concentrating and painting here is Pam's beautiful project.

This beautiful piece is Gill's, the greens with the red are so effective !

Sheila went for the hearts on the slant, which looks fabulous !

Ruth used the beautiful lilac shades and mixed her own colour of Dylusions for her wooden hearts too!

 

Paula chose the gorgeous turquoise shades with a little hint of black.

Karen started off with turquoise then changed direction to the more subtle blues, either way it turned out fantastic !

Rose created a gorgeous effect with the brown shades and also mixed her own colour for one of her wooden hearts !

Last, but by no means least, is Marilyn's beautiful project, the red hearts really pop.

The day was absolutely fabulous, lots of laughter and lots of messy hands by the end, which is always a good sign of a fun, crafty day !

There's still a couple of places left on the 24th May class if you'd like to join me. Would love to see you!

Sue
x

Altered Photo Canvas Workshop

I have had a fantastic day with some super ladies doing the Altered Canvas Workshop.

The idea was to Print onto Claudine Helmuth's sticky back canvas from a black and white photo then paint it or tint it with Paper Artsy paints. Some ladies brought there own photo's on a disc and Jamie printed them or they choose one from Jamie's collection.

Here's the room before the fun begin......

And during the fun........

Here's Mel's Super canvas, I think she has got the Treasure Gold bug as well, it works so well on Ferro and Metal oh and wood the possibility's are endless.

This is Sian's dream like picture, you can just make out the fairy dust in the photo's. So beautiful and it is her first time at crafting, she must be naturally talented.

And Jill's who brought along her own photo of a blue bell wood again a lovely picture.

Wendy chose to have a coloured photo printed. These are her beautiful grandchildren and the course was a Birthday present from her husband so she now has something to Cherish.

Shelia has a passion for Beach Hut's so it was easy for her to pick one of Jamie's photo's which was taken in St James in South Africa. Look at the waves at the bottom made from Moulding Paste and Treasure Gold. Fantastic.

We had a visit from a very special lady called Carolyn who could only stay for a couple of hours and as I left my camera at home we don't have a photo. 

Here's the group photo of all the lovely ladies and me. 

Our next workshop is called Take It Make It the premise is that we will learn how to use a digital camera, and be taught tips on framing, focusing etc and then go out around Wirksworth and take some pictures using the knowledge we have learnt, our favourite picture will then be used to create a canvas, with paints, inks, stamps, mediums, and more. Its a two day course and promises to be a lot of fun. So if you have had an SLR camera bought for you and you want to learn how to use it, this could be the workshop for you.