Art Fun With Pascale

On Friday, my friend Pascale came over for a day of art fun, yes there was a bit of talking involved as well but we did manage to create a piece of art each! We both started with a canvas board and used some Lindy's Stamp Gang Color Shots to create a wash as the background. I kept building the background with many different colours and then stamped the foreground with Donna Downey's Poppy stamps from Unity. I stamped these with Gelatos and Big Brush pens from Design Memory Craft. Overall I'm quite happy with my piece of art. Pascale turned out a beautiful piece and what was great was that we started with the same idea and materials but ended up with pieces that looked very different.

That's it for now, but I will be back this arvo with my entry into Lindy's December Colour Challenge after my family and I have played mini golf.
bye for now, Helen

Travels Have Come To An End!

Hello, hello .... I am back in the land of Aus and ready to get crafting again. I had a wonderful time travelling the globe. Firstly I went to Surabaya, Indonesia on a school trip which was amazing. I even managed to find a scrapbook shop or two there! Ten days after returning to WA my mum and I set off for England. We had a marvellous time travelling around England and Scotland and we managed to clock up over 5000 miles (8000kms). There was even a side trip to Holland to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins which was lovely.

One of the many highlights was taking part in a two day abstract art course at the Newlyn School of Art. I had a fabulous time and learnt a lot. This is one of pieces that I painted there.

There were many other great parts of our British holiday which included visiting family, driving through the Yorkshire Dales and the Cotswolds, making new friends (hello Debra), visiting friends (hello Marita), visiting the Derwent pencil factory (yes I know I'm a nerd!), going to two craft shows and visiting Leandra at the Paper Artsy headquarters. What I did miss though was my 3 males and my craft room. Luckily I indulged and bought a lot of craft supplies and even tried to create a time or two. This is one page I created using Paper Artsy paints.

When I got home I got the urge to sort my craft room - wrong urge for sure as it is in such a sad state at the moment but when I have organised it and tidied it I shall take a few photos and let you all have a look. I did flick through my journals and found some pages that I am proud of that I haven't shown before so here goes . . .

This one was the start to my owl canvas range.

Today I was back at Made With Memories teaching my art journaling class. Today's page was a Christmas inspired piece . . . 

Our previous month's page was this one.

Well that about does my update for now. I am planning on making some more videos which will be uploaded soon so stay tuned.

Bye for now,

Helen

Art Journalling Class

Hi all,

I have now taught 3 art journal classes at Made With Memories in Rockingham and I am loving it. I am getting a nice group of regulars who are enjoying the journey with me. These are some of the pages we have created so far.

I have another class ready to go for October 6th but then there will be a little break as I am jetting of to the UK with my mum for a 6 week holiday. I have a class book with Dyan Reavely and a 2 day abstract art class organised. I can't wait!

Well that's it for tonight.

Take care,

Helen

Creative Fun with Donna Downey

Hi all,

I'm feeling very lucky at the moment as I have had one fantastic day creating and am getting ready for my second. Donna Downey is here in Rockingham, teaching at Made With Memories, and I am taking all four classes with her. I am having a blast! It's fun being the student for a change.

Yesterday the first class was about painting with stencils and we made a largish canvas. Here is where we stopped after creating the background layer:

Then we came in and stencilled over the top and added paint, highlighting some of the background. I got a bit carried away and forgot to highlight much of the background as I was having so much fun playing and mixing paint. Here is my finished piece:

The second class was working with different Faber Castell mediums - gelatos and big brush pens. Must admit I am not so in love with that finished piece, main reason was I made myself use a different colour palette then my normal and I am not happy with the results. Live and learn. Great class just not happy with my finished piece.

Well that's it for now, off to get ready for today's adventure!
Take care,
Helen

Layouts

Hi all,
2nd post in one night!! I took in some recent-ish layouts for Judy Made With Memories to display in the shop, she is wanting to have inspiration up along the walls and me being me I gladly gave her some of my layouts to hang up. All of these have been completed in the last 10 months. In no particular order here they are:

 Sorry about the quality of the photos but I quickly snapped them with my iPhone rather than my good camera. I also gave Judy one about Ben, don't think I'm playing favourites but Ben doesn't let me take his photo as much as Sam. The layout was the one where he is making a gingerbread house, I shared this one here months ago.

Judy also gave me a challenge, a pack of older papers to make a layout out of. Well I accepted the challenge (of course!) and this is what I came up with . . . 

 Well that's it for tonight. My house shows are nearly finished so it's off to bed ready for school tomorrow. . . only 33 more work days before I jet off to Surabaya! Not that I'm counting :)

Take care,
Helen

Lindy's Stamp Gang August Colour Challenge

Hi all!

Even though I didn't make the design team for Lindy's Stamp Gang I still want to join in their monthly colour challenges as I love their sprays as my 'small' collection can attest to. Plus it does't hurt to show them my brilliance now does it!

Anyway, I turned to the next page in my journal which I had already started by making a hot glue tree and giving it a layer of light yellow paint (this was leftover from a mixing for another page and I didn't want to waste it).

I bought a textured rolling pin from a local cake shop and tried it out with some texture paste, unfortunately it didn't quite work out how I imagined it but it did leave an interesting layer of texture. I then painted the tree with brown paint, Viva Decor Ferro (copper colour), some sprays and then black paint. Sprays used were:Mission Bells Brown, Cattail Copper Brown, Milk Chocolate Brown .

Following this I layered the background with a number of sprays, I was inspired by the photo of the lake for the colour challenge and wanted to create my own take of it. Sprays used were: TiffanyLou Blue , Tainted Love Teal , Hag's Wart Orange , Pretty in Pink Pink , Jazzy Jivin' Purple and Passionate Plum .

Next came the flowers in the foreground. I used a teal Twinkling H20 and then painted the flowers with white paint with the best paint applicator around - my finger! Into the centre of the flowers I added some drops of Pretty in Pink  and Jazzy Jivin' Purple sprays. I used my black Big Brush pen to highlight the stems.

To finish off I added some embellishments, some words in my tree as well as 2 Studio Callico wooden birds and 2 brads that have images of bees on them. Can you see the little bug hiding on one of the flowers?

And that's it my finished journal page. Hope you like it.

Take care,
Helen

I've been playing . . .

Hi all,

I still chuckle when I start with this as I'm not that sure many people are actually reading my blog but I live in hope that someone or another is actually following along on my creative journey  . . . . Hi Annette and Marita!

Well this last week has seen the return to school, Term 3 for us in the land down under. I do not really have a huge countdown ticking off the days until I catch a plane first to Surabuya (school trip to East Java) and the days after my return another plane on my way to the UK with Mum, just a little countdown!!! Getting excited as I only have 39 teaching days left until February next year . . . you just have to love long service.

I have finalised my classes for the UK, I am going to complete a class with Dyan Reavely YEAH can't wait, then I have a two day workshop at the Newlyn School of Art on abstract art. So my long service trip will be both touristy and arty!!

Anyway, this week I have been spending my nights working on my travel journal for the UK. I am using a Simple Stories Snap album and the Urban Traveller range. Here is a little look at the front cover and the first divider inside.

Last weekend I participated in a class taught by Jen from Dusty Attic, at Made With Memories, and she showed me an ATC she had made with the chipboard zip from her store. Well this got me inspired and I promptly bought the zip and then this afternoon I created this layout about Ben. It isn't often I complete pages about Ben as he doesn't particularly like his photo taken, so when I get a good one, like this one, I just have to do something with it.

I've used my old faves and new faves on this page. In particular, Lindy Stamp Gang's Cattail Copper Brown and Afternoon Delight Denim starburst sprays and Viva Decor Ferro - Blackberry, and lots of chipboard and wood bits from Dusty Attic and Prima. Here are some close ups followed by the layout, please excuse the lighting but I just had to upload it as I like it so much and I couldn't wait for tomorrow and better natural light.

 

What the photos don't really show is the dimensionality of the layout and how the zip is raised with all the embellishments popping out. I tried to make the piece look like a hoodie with it's own breast pocket.

While Facebook perusing last night I saw Donna Downey's photo of her and Dyan Reaveley and just had to comment as I am taking classes with both of these super talented ladies in a matter of months. As I said earlier I am booked in with Dyan at Art From The Heart in Harrogate, UK in October and I am partaking in 2 days of workshops with Donna at Made With Memories in Rockingham, WA (my local scrapbook store) in late August. I'm one lucky arty lady:)

Well that's all for tonight,
take care everyone,
Helen

The End is Nigh!!

Well the end of school holidays that is . . . what were you thinking I meant? The kids are back to school tomorrow so I must curtail my wayward sleeping habits and get to bed early tonight, 3 am is NOT a good time. This was my bedtime each night over the holidays as I was busy crafting and playing Tomb Raider on the boys' PS3!

Going through my photos I came across these of a few canvases I made a while ago.
This one I made for Made With Memories as a design team piece earlier in the year.

This one was inspired by a piece that Christy Tomlinson created.

On the weekend I taught my monthly art journaling class at Made With Memories and I stepped the ladies through this piece.

Well that's it for tonight, have a good day tomorrow everyone . . . I will!

Take care, 

Helen xxx

Lindy's Stamp Gang and You Tube all rolled into one!

Hi all,

Well I did something new this week . . . I made my first video tutorial and it has now gone live on YouTube.
Here it is.

I made the canvas for my friend Linda, for her birthday present, and I made the video as my application for the design team entry for  Lindy Stamp Gang July Colour Challenge and here is the link for the Design Team Call

Lindy colours used for this challenge are:
Starburst Stains:
Creme Brulee Cream
Silent Night Silver
Frosted Forget-Me-Nots
TiffanyLou Blue
Delphinium Turquoise
Maidenhair Fern Green
Frosty Forest Green
Cotton Candy Pink

Magicals:
Cotton Candy Pink
Rudolph's Nose Red

Hope you all enjoy it, don't laugh too much at the Aussie accent!

Take care,
Helen

Photos

Well here goes, hopefully can attach photos. Will add others also.

This is it, I've used cardboard boxes for the trees, balsa wood for the fence, bits of corrugated metal for leaves, Collections owl, Viva Décor 3D stamp paint and Lumiere paints, old ABCs for texture in background, Prima Engraver text stamp, rosebuds and bolts for flowers and big brush pens and gelatos for shading.

A canvas board using Neocolors, Golden's glass bead gel  and Donna Downey stamp. Hand drawn design using black pen.

Journal page, had many layers underneath they created a good foundation as that is the best place for them. Layers of modelling paste, Lindy Stamp Gang sprays buttons and metal embedded into embossing paste and other bits and pieces and a page containing a photo of me. They are generally quite rare and by the way that is a reflection on my forehead not some weird skin discolouration.

 I signed up for Christy Tomlinson's She Art 3 and this was my first attempt of a face on canvas. Faces have always been a no go for me as my Year 8 art teacher told me {a long time ago} that I was wasting my time in art and should not continue with it and at the time I was painting a face. Anyway I quite like it but my darling husband did suggest that I stick to my other style.

I've had a couple of days to myself and what did I do - craft?? not really I spent the time tidying and reorganising my craft studio. This is only part of the room {it should be our formal lounge room but as the only female in the house, not counting the dogs and cat, I figured I needed a craft cave and this room was much bigger than the spare room I had previously inhabited. Although being at the front of the house Greg wanted me to keep it tidy all the time and sad to say it is a rare moment when it looks like this!} but the green/teal unit is my pride and joy. The manual arts teacher at school wanted to get rid of it and I suggested donating it to my craft room, he said as long as I could get it home I could have it. Well I was definitely thankful that day that I live on the same street as school, so one afternoon my darling sons and I pushed it home. It did create a bit of interest and comments with a few "Trust you Helen" chucked into the mix but I now have my lovely refurbished unit holding lots of my art supplies right behind my desk. I am basically a lazy crafter and if I have to get out of my chair to reach supplies than more than likely it won't appear on my work. So I have streamlined and reorganised so that I have as much as possible in arms reach.

Well that's it for now. I will be updating soon with some of my creations from the school holidays. Have a good day,
Helen xx

I'm back . . .

Oh my, this is the second time I have tried this today. Our lovely computer just got rid of my last attempt, I would like to say it is because it is Windows as I don't have any of these issues on my Apple but that wouldn't be very nice of me so I won't.

Anyway  ....... finally I have made it back to blogging as I have been really busy at work (school) and am now on holidays. Mind you this second half of the year I am going to make time to blog and get my artwork out into the wide world. I have started trying to sell it under the name of "Youneek Art by Helen" we have a few pieces up in our gym  . . . ok not probably the best place but least lots of people see it and talk about it. I have also started teaching mixed media classes at Made With Memories and in August will return to teaching at Scrapbook Secrets teaching mixed media not scrapbooking this time.

Anyhooo, quite a few months ago (late February) I couldn't sleep as I had this idea of a canvas that showed a tree changing through the four seasons with one of the trees having an owl in it. {Out the front of our house and nearly every house in our street is a plain tree and I love how it changes and loses it leaves each year and this was the inspiration behind my canvas.} I had to get up and write my ideas down before I could sleep that night and then shortly after that I created part of the picture in my mind in one of my art journals. From here I further developed my design and created it on a 15x45inch canvas. This idea has become the basis of one of my classes that I am teaching at both stores, different versions but this idea.

I am going to save this post and then add the photo as this is what caused my earlier technical problem.

2 posts one night!

I also found some more photos of my artwork that I haven't posted, so here goes.

First one is of a canvas I painted and have consequently sold! That is now 2 pieces I have sold . . . does this actually make me an artist?!?

The second piece is one I made our dear friends, Preeti and Roger, when they recently moved into their new home.

These next two are ones I made December last year.

Well that's it, bedtime for sure now.
Night, Helen

Creative Week

Hi all,
(ha I laugh at myself cos at the moment I don't think anyone actually looks here it is just for my enjoyment! I may be wrong, I sure hope so.) Anyway I digress, this past week has actually been quite creative. Last weekend was a long weekend here in Perth and I got to enjoy the talents of Finnabair. I took part in a 4hour class at Scrapbook Secrets in Maddington and had a great time. Have a look at my page and Finn's.

Also during that weekend and this one I have managed to make another few pages and canvases. I created two pages for my March Design Team quota for Made with Memories and I used Graphic 45's French Country range. Sorry you'll have to pop into the store to see them as I forgot to take photos! I also created 2 canvases for Annemarie to choose from for my April class. This is the one she didn't select . . .

The other one isn't like this although it has similar colourings.

This weekend I also used my pan pastels and created this small canvas.

I am also taking part in Christy Tomlinson's She Art 3 online class and really enjoying it. Mind you haven't finished any girls yet. Am finally working on a background and hopefully will be adding a girl in the next week or so. Trying to fit creating in with work is hard, thank goodness I don't sleep much!

Would love to know if anyone actually views my blog or not!

Take care and enjoy,
Helen

Back Again!

Over a month missing in action! Well actually school started and I am afraid that although I have spent a number of hours each night at my desk it hasn't been in the pursuit of crafty goodness. Oh no it has been the dreaded programming and lesson planning for my class of Year 5 students. I did however walk away from school this weekend without my school books in the hope I will be able to create something. I do need to get my inner artist rocking as I am going to teach a mixed media canvas class at Made With Memories in April. Can't wait. I am so excited to be back teaching in the craft world, I have missed it. A few years ago I used to teach scrapbook classes at Scrapbook Secrets in Maddington and loved it, also worked on the shop floor which was fun!

Anyway, here is a canvas I made for my mum in late January just to show her how much I love and appreciate everything she does for us. I am really spoilt as Mum helps me with the housework, looking after my boys and just being there for me. Thank you Mum.

 

Well that's it for now, hopefully back soon with something else to show.

 

Night, Helen

Scrapbooking Pages

Hi friends,

I thought I would upload a few of my latest pages. One of my aims this year is to reduce the stash I have in my craft room. I really am trying not to buy any new paper as I am sure it's multiplying in my room! Having said that new pieces still seem to find a way in. Anyway not all my layouts I post will be the latest and greatest products as I am trying to reduce my stash, trying is the operative word.

First page is a Finnabair inspired layout.

One of my (many) weaknesses is stencils, I love them! I used the 12 x 12 Burst from Studio Calico to create these two layouts. When I traced the stencil for the first layout I carefully cut out each segment and it left the negative of it all in one piece, so rather than waste it I made another layout!

Thanks for looking,
see you around.