A while ago, out of curiosity, I picked up some Derivan Matisse dry medium ferrous powder. Apparently it can be used to create magnetic coatings when mixed with varnish, but I was far more interested in its rusting abilities. I could have just mixed it up and painted it on some card to test it… Continue reading Rusty box
Series: Wanderlust 2021 #29 A few weeks ago, as we were approaching half way through the Wanderlust year, a survey about the course dropped into my inbox. Filling it in got me to thinking about how I was feeling about doing it this year and looking back at the projects I completed when I did… Continue reading Wanderlust: tag booklet
Series: Wanderlust 2021 #05 This is the second bonus lesson from Kate Crane and this is the one that really let me make use of the backgrounds I'd made for a bonus lesson from Wanderlust 2019. Those backgrounds had been made with the idea that they would become the basis for journal pages, but I… Continue reading Wanderlust – junk journal
The combination of feeling utterly uninspired and also wanting to avoid a repeat of last year's slightly misjudged Valentine card design left me in a bit of a quandary as to what to do for this Valentine's day. Doing nothing was definitely not an option. I remembered that I had a couple of robot picture… Continue reading Valentine robot
And we're back with Anneliese Bates (Instagram) for the last week of the Wanderlust "steampunk" theme. I had put off doing the steampunk lessons because, after having a quick look, I realised that most of them were going to be more time-consuming than the average art journal page. Not only that, but I would have… Continue reading Wanderlust: steampunk palette
Because I just didn't have enough to keep me occupied catching up with the Wanderlust classes, I decided to take Kasia Avery's 3 day Daily Emotions Challenge. The decision was driven by curiosity more than anything else. I love the art side of art journalling, but I've always shied away from the journalling part of… Continue reading Daily Emotions journal
This was the last lesson of the Wanderlust "rivers" theme and we were back with Kasia Avery (website, Instagram). I was working out of order here. I'd put off starting this lesson because it felt like it was going to take a while to do. Rather than just a single page in an art journal,… Continue reading Wanderlust: concertina flow
The fourth week of the "Faces" theme and the last of this theme's guest instructors: Anneliese Bates. I have to be honest, I'm really not that keen on this project. I was never much of a fan of dolls even as a child and this falls into that slightly creepy category. Technically the face is… Continue reading Wanderlust: spoon doll
I wasn't happy with the first incarnation of this panel. The end result was so far removed from my initial idea that I classed it as a failure, not a "throw it in the bin" failure but still... Nancee disagreed and said nice things, including that it reminded her of "some old time Christmas ornaments/lights".… Continue reading Rework: golden drips
I wasn't sure whether I was going to post this. But I set up this blog with the intention of using it to record all the cards I made — initially as a reference for myself — and while the card making has expanded into mixed media and other arts and crafts, there is still… Continue reading Golden drips
The sun and moon resin piece had been floating around my craft room waiting for me to get some waxes to colour it. But I hadn't really thought any further ahead than that so, once coloured, it continued to float around for another couple of months waiting for me to turn my attention to it.… Continue reading Sun, moon and stars
My other half took one look at this and named it "floralarm" — "because it's a floral alarm clock thingy"... The project was driven by a desire to try altering something other than a jar and to use more than a couple of the flowers I've apparently been hoarding from my Craft Box subscription. Tim… Continue reading Floralarm
This is a coming together of many different experiments, all in lovely lovely purple (and gold). People often say that you don't get good at anything by just watching other people do it and, obviously, you do have to stop and actually try it yourself at some point. But I have absorbed so many tips… Continue reading Make a wish in purple
Another "let's try out a product" project. The product in question being the Viva Venezio stone effect kit. And I have to say, I'm really rather happy with how it turned out, especially for a first try. I gave the jar a coat of white gesso to give the paste something to stick to and… Continue reading Shell jar
I'm trying to use some of the supplies that have been sitting unloved in my stash. I've pretty much given up on ever catching up with all the stamps, dies and stencils, but I do hold out hope that I can make a large dent in the backlog of paints, embossing powders and other colouring… Continue reading Butterfly colour drips
Crafty Rat 