Art Journal Sharing Thursday

It's my favourite post of the week, time for a bit of Art Journal Sharing Thursday.

My Art Journal Share this week is all about another habit that I'm trying to turn into a regular thing and that is sketching. I've shared a couple of sketches here on my blog in the past, but I would say that I'm not a confident sketcher, I'm trying to change that with regular practice.

I'm trying to do a sketch a day in one of my handmade books and a managed in January but it has got a bit spotty in February, naughty girl! 

I must say that I really enjoy it, particularly if it turns out even the slightest bit decent!

If you happened to have had a copy of Issue 91 Papercraft Essentials from February/ March last year you might recognise the sketch above. I made two Easter-themed altered sardine tins for that issue and this was one of them. I sketched it in January this year for a bit of fun.

Finally this one is a sketch of a mini-stapler, just in case you weren't sure!

Are you a sketcher? Do you keep a sketch book as one of your art journals? I would love to see it so do leave a link if you have posted about it on your blog.

Thanks for popping by and sharing on Art Journal Sharing Thursday.

Kim

Christmas In A Sardine Tin Tutorial

Putting up our Christmas decorations this weekend I came across a project that I did last year for Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft.

Some of you might remember it, I had a step by step tutorial for it too but the tutorial only went up on the Design Memory Craft blog and I thought it might be fun to post it here on my blog.

I've added some more details to the tutorial here but if you want to see the original post then pop on over to the Design Memory Craft 2012 12 Days of Christmas, Day 5: Christmas in a Sardine Tin.

You Will Need:

Sardine Tin - empty and clean!

Gesso

Card - white

Old sewing pattern tissue

Fabric

Gingham rubber stamp (optional)

Glue

Water spray bottle
Bulldog clips
Cocktail stick

Colour:

Deep Scarlet Red 219 Stamper’s Big Brush pen

Dark Chrome Yellow 109 Stamper’s Big Brush pen

Leaf Green 112 Stamper’s Big Brush pen

PITT Gold 250 Artist Pen

PITT Metallic Green 294 Artist Pen

Metallic Mint Gelato

Metallic Gold Champagne Gelato

Step 1 - Prepare The Tin

So you have eaten the sardines, or feed them to your cat, cleaned the tin and dried it, now you need to prepare the inside ready to stick on the fabric. Either cover it with gesso or use a sturdy multi-purpose glue to stick on some white paper and let it dry completely before starting the next stage.

Step 2 - Prepare The Fabric

You can use any fabric you might already have and if you have a nice patterned fabric already then trim it so that it is bigger then the tin then move on to Step 3.

I decided to use a blank loose weave canvas type fabric and decorate it myself. I stamped a pattern on it using the Gelatos and Stamper’s Big Brush pen.

Step 3 - Cover The Inside Of The Tin

Paint the inside of the sardine tin with glue and start pressing the fabric into the tin. Smooch the frabic up into each of the corners and take your time covering all the walls.

Bulldog clips or clothes pegs come in handy holding the fabric in place whilst the glue dries.

Step 4 - Make Your Tree

Cover some card with old sewing pattern papers and cut out your Christmas tree shapes. Then use your colouring materials to colour the pieces. The Gelatos and Stamper’s Big Brush pen work well because they are watersoluble so are translucent and you can still see the sewing pattern

You can add a bit of sparkle too with a metallic pen like the PITT Metallic Green 294 Artist Pen, I've skimmed it over the edges and along any folds in the papers. 

Make a little star using the same method then round the tree over a pen and stick it in the tin.

Step 5 - Make The Banner

Stamp or write your sentiment and colour a cocktail stick. Wrap the sentiment strip around the cocktail stick and glue it into the tin. Then make a little heart cut from coloured card to finish the make.

Hope you enjoyed this project revisit. Now I'm wondering what other Christmas scenes I could put in a tin, what do you think?

If you like this tin, please do checkout some of my other tins:

Kim

Heads-Up, Shout-Outs And News

Hello lovely Arty fluff bundles, I hope that you are all doing ok this week, getting some creativity done in-amongst all the other demands on your time!

I have some heads-up, shout-outs and news to share today, but I will admit I am starting to the lose the plot a bit so if I am repeating myself I apologise!

So the heads-up first, the new issue of Papercraft Essentials, Issue 88, has been in the shops for a week or two.

The lovely Editor for Papercraft Essentials, Lee Jepson, let me riffle through my stationery supplies for this one and boy was it fun! Yeah, you all know I have a bit of a paper and pens fetish - 'coz you all have one too - don't deny it! Hope you enjoy the article!

Practical Publishing have a new website, by the way, and you can buy single magazines directly from them through PayPal by the looks of it! That is quite cool.

*****

The shout-out next and this is a shout-out for the lovely Anneke De Clerck from Some Fiddling On The Kitchen Table who has made some wonderful Christmas themed altered sardine tins, wow, how gorgeous! So thought my fellow sardine tin altering enthusiasts might enjoy taking a peek at them.

*****

And now the News... I'm patting myself on the back (sorry for the shameless self-promotion *sigh*) - I made runner-up again for the IndigoBlu round in the Craft Stamper Stamper of the Year 2012 Competition and I'm tickled pink - big grin! 

Ok enough of that unbecoming bragging!

And onto the next bit of news that might interest my fellow paper-obsessed friends. The Papermill have invited a few bloggers to come visit their mill in the beautiful Lake District and I'm lucky enough to be one of those bloggers. I'm hoping to take some piccies and share my day with you in the near future so keep your eyes open for that and if you love your paper and card then pop on over to the Papermill blog.

Ok lovely hoppers, I'm off to finish up a make and get some step by steps ready, so I will catch you all later.

Kim

Christmas In A Sardine Tin

Who is up for Christmas in a Sardine tin? Yep, I've been altering sardine tins again, I just can't help myself! Well I did make David eat quite a few so I have some empty tins stacked up ready to use. 

For this one I fancied seeing if I could cram Christmas into my tin using the Red, Green and Yellow Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft^® Mix and Match colour sets. So it is quite a traditional Christmas!

I've done a little bit of stamping on fabric and used some of my collaged card too. 

But you can find out more from the step by step on the Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft^® blog if you fancy finding out how I got Christmas into this tin.

Thanks for dropping in.

Kim

Sunshine In A Tin

Morning Sunrays! I've mentioned a couple of times here on my blog that I've been making a project for the lovely Julie Kirk's A Month Of Sunrays theme running on her gorgeous blog Notes On Paper. 

She posted the project last week but for anyone who hasn't had a chance to visit Julie's blog here is my finished altered Sardine tin:

I had this image of a large yellow sun rattling around in my head a few days before Julie contacted me, I think that it was just waiting for A Month Of Sunrays!

Sardine tins are great to work in, I think I will have to do some more and you get to see what I've been eating LOL!

The inside of the tin is covered with Washi Tape and the sun is made from it too. So I might have mentioned Washi Tape a few times on my blog *cheeky grin* but I am besotted with the stuff and use it everywhere. I think I get distracted by all the pretty colours and little designs!

If you haven't popped over to Julie's blog yet then please do go and take a peak and you still have time to enter the Ribbon Girl Blog Candy if you are quick!

Catch you later!

Kimx

A Month Of Sunrays With Julie Kirk

So yesterday I waved my sardine tin under your noses (LOL - did you see what I did there?) with the promise to show you the finished project later.

Well the project is now ready for inspection over at Julie Kirk's gorgeous blog Notes On Paper as part of her A Month Of Sunrays.

Here is a sneaky peek to whet your appetite for sardine tin altering! Wow so many of you are sardine-a-phobes! Don't worry once the fish are gone and you have washed the tin there is no smell!

But for the whole project and to see what I did with the wire checkout Julie's blog. 

She has a wonderful blog full of lovely things so you might want to hang out for a bit. There is also some A Month Of Sunrays candy up for grabs and you can join in the A Month Of Sunrays fun on Pinterest too! What a fabulously sunny idea! Thanks Julie for having me along for the ride!

Have a sunny day you all!

What Is On Your Work Desk Wednesday (WOYWW) - Sardine Tin!

YAY! Wednesday is here again! Welcome WOYWW hoppers, nice to see you all!

Ok so I spy on my suprisingly tidy desk...A Sardine Tin, some wire, some Washi tape:

Any regular viewers to my blog will know I'm a bit of a sardine tin altering nerd. This one is going to be for Julie Kirk's A Month Of Sunrays.

Tune in later to see how it turns out.

Meanwhile back to Wednesday - go check out Julia Dunnit for more WOYWW fun!

Sardine you later!

Kim

[EDIT: p.s. I get the Washi Tape from Washi Tapes]

How You Getting On With Those Sardine Tins?

I've been altering sardine tins again, this time for a swap over at UKStampers. I loved the first one I did in April and this one was just as fun! I've called it 'In The Frame'.

At the moment I'm just altering the inside of the sardine tin as I like the juxtaposition of a little unexpected world inside an everyday object.

The gent is from the Artistic Outpost Steampunk stamp set available from Quixotic Paperie.

If you are very sharp-eyed you might also spot the gears accessory stamp that comes with the Kraftin' Kimmies Stamps Lavina stamp.

Now there wasn't really a Steampunk theme running through my head when I made this, I was more focussed on the frame within the tin. But I have added a chain to the mica plate and rusted some of the Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Sprocket Gears for the counterpoint to the framed man. 

I used newspaper and Gesso on the inside of the tin and added colour with ZIG Art and Graphic Twin.

Have a fun Saturday.

Kim

Are You Crazy About Sardine Tin Art?

I am! Ok so you guys are going to start thinking that I have some sort of Sardine Tin obsession - it is just coincidence - honest! But you got to admit it Sardine tins are perfect size for a little bit of altering into art? Don't you think?

I've recycled this tin with a Spring theme and using a variety of stamps available over at Make The Day Special and Ippity Inspiration.

So all you need is an empty and cleaned sardine tin, the clouds are stamps from the Unity Adventures In Happiness (which is on sale over at the shop!) and for the flower I used the {Ippity} Gurnsey Gingham and {Ippity} A Bit Of Burlap. The colouring was all done with ZIG Art and Graphic Twin Pens from Kuretake.

So you wanna make one now don't you? See I knew it!

I've entered this little guy into the Spring themed challenge over at Alter It Monthly.

I would love to see your Sardine Tin Art so don't forget to come back and tell me about yours and I'll come and have a look!

Happy Sardine Tin Fun.

Kim

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

Sardines? Sardines? So what is with that ~20 year old Tin of Sardines?

No I haven't gone mad (?), but I just thought that after last week's What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday that I might give a little explanation about the Sardines! I did got lots of queries (and suggestions) about them. 

Thanks Doone for suggesting that my ~20 year old tin of Sardines and your 10 year old tin of spam should get together to make 'Spamdines' - Tee Hee!

Ok so the 'Sardine' story:

*Ahem* (Clears throat) Well the story behind the Sardines is...It demonstrates the sense of humour of my wonderful parents as it was a gift from 'Father Christmas' one year in the 80's as a stocking filler and I've just kept them ever since - well they are quite pretty :)

They live in the Kitchen but as the Kitchen often becomes my 'Painting studio' they sort of live on my workdesk!

Have fun with your WOYWW and don't forget to visit Julia for the list!

Kimx

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

Wednesday. Midway through the week and time to catch up on our messy workspaces. Yep, It is What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and only some of the things in my piccy today are used for making art! Can you guess which they are?

Nope, I'm not too sure either! Eeek!

Have a fun WOYWW and remember to pop on over to the Julia over at the Stamping Ground to join in.

Kimx

p.s. still haven't found the biscuits...maybe I accidentally glued them to something? Oops!