Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Recovery....Recovered!

Hello everyone,

First of all a big Thank you to all those who have left me comments and who have emailed me out of concern. I must say it has been a tough time but there you go, Im feeling so much better now.But it gave me a lot of time to think about many things, to ponder about things we might not think about in our normal daily busy life. So I have had a chance to look back at my life, and it was a fantastic journey throughout.I would like to thank my parents for everything they have ever done for me, my mum who was the best mum ever(still is)and my dad, no matter how strict he was, has given me ONLY the best. Thank you Ma and Pa for always allowing me to be who I am(though sometimes I had to be 'tamed' so I don't be too much of a trouble!) and most importantly thank you for letting me do Art as my studies even though maybe Maths would have been what you wanted me to do, but to let me do what I want, that is something I will always owe you!!!!It means so much to me.Okay I know I am going on and on but , I dont think I have ever told you how thankful I am to have had the priviledge of being your daugher.

My sister,naz, who has really looked after me during my recent difficult time, I do not know how I can thank you for what you have done but I know I will never be able to thank you enough....And my husband who is wonderful in his own way, supportive in his own way, and all my friends who have prayed for me.Some friends I coudn't get back to but will do so as soon as I can.

Okay now I have also think about my future and I think now I know what I want to do with the rest of my life.I won't say much but let's just say that 'Special Educational Needs' is one subject that fascinates me as much as 'Art and Craft' does! Now, there was nothing that could be compared to my excitement around the Art subject...until I discovered SEN. It has taken me about two years to understand this field in Education but the more I learn the more I want to know, the more I want to do...So I (think), I know where I am heading.I say think only because I fear I do not get there.So a mixture of Art and Craft & SEN is the recipe for me:)

I am also grateful to all those who have brought a spark into my lives, friends lost and found, new friends, and those whom I have never met.

That's all from me for now.Bye and speak to you soon!

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Beautiful Belle

Hi everyone!

I would first and foremost like to talk about Belle....You can read everything about her HERE. I first came to know about her from Sheila's Blog.I still remember, the first time I came across a blog was Sheila's one and she was my inspiration to start my own. I find her work to be truly beautiful and inspiring. And , when she decided to raffle a stamp for Belle, it blew me away. We all crafters know how much our stamps and other stuffs mean to us, don't we? Now Sheila has been doing a raffle a day, just in the hope to raise some money for Belle. And the stamps are amazing, absolutely beautiful. Isn't this just a wonderful opportunity for us to get hold on some amazing stamps, while helping someone out there??Please support Sheila in her mission as I was really impressed with the kindness of her heart and her generosity, its simply amazing. It's good to know that there is one angel out there who makes life so beautiful.I hope you will support her.

Now, just a little note from me. I won't be able to blog as regularly as I have been recently but will be off only for a short while, maybe a few days while I am sorting a personal matter out. All I need is your prayers....But I have done some projects which I am hoping my hubby will put up for me, so , you might still see new stuffs on my blog. I am on the mend and I need couple of more days to be up and about.

Thanks for reading and please do not hesitate to leave a comment as I love reading from you.

God Bless!
xxxx
Tassy

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Altered Art- Beeswax on canvas




I have made this altered canvas which is 20cmx15cm by trying out beeswax using melt pot.To be honest, I didn't expect the final to look like this.For some reason,I didn't expect the candle to dry out as opaque.I thought they would be clear, crystal clear.But anyway, I have used again some lovely images (C1-174) from Crafty Individuals , including the clock, butterfly and girl face The frame rose and roses are from Tanda Stamps. I started by aplying some Distress ink in tea dye colour, and on top of this, I have applied some Distress ink in red brick colour. Then I have stamped some images on the canvas. I have also stamped some images on a nice background patterned paper from crafty individuals which you can find HERE. I found this paper to bring a very natural touch to this project as I wanted to bring some colours within the faces. Then after I have arranged my images and when I was happy with the layout, I took everything off as I knew what will come on first and what will come last, I started to apply the melted beeswax which act as a glue. I noticed that the more beeswax you apply , the more opaque it will appear. I used a foam brush to achieve some lined texture as well. And voila! I quite like this little piece of Art and it was really easy.I hope that this has inspired you to do an altered canvas.

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Valentine Card

I have first of all folded an A4 size card in half. I have distressed the card with Distress Ink, tea dye and fired brik. I haven't really done distressing before so I didn't achieve what I really wanted to but hey, there is no specific rule about it anyway, so I thought it was alright. Then I have stamped some swirls images from Figgy pudding set(Basic Grey) and heart stamp from Crafty Individuals with versamark. I then chalked over with earthy colour chalks(browns and reds).
I really wanted to try out faux soldering demonstrated by Suze Weinberg in her Melt Art Made Easy DVD and by Tim Holtz in his An Altered Journey DVD. The minute I saw it I knew I would enjoy doing a project using this technique. So this is my first attempt at faux soldering and stamping into Ultra thick embossing enamel, platinum. Check out Cre8tive online and craftathome for fantastic offer on Melt Art. I was very lucky to get most of my products from the Marketplace on UKscrappers.....It was a bargain I consider myself very lucky to have came across! And I did get a few other bits and pieces from the other above mentioned websites and the service was excellent.

I have used the Microscopic Slide Size Acetate:Ephemera Acetate 1 from Crafty Individuals. These are ideal for the project I was doing.The Acetate comes with a white sheet of paper, so I cut the image I wanted to use, with the white sheet of paper. Then I have stamped some swirl images from the Figgy pudding set(Basic Grey). I over stamped lightly with the free stamp that comes with the craft stamper magazine.I have used black ink all along but because the acetate has some colours on them, when I laid it over the stamped images, you have this nice medley of images and colours. I then did the faux soldering using my thick platinum enamel which has melted in the melt pot. Fun, fun stuff!I wrapped some maroon fibre around it and stick it onto a red card which I have punched, rounded on top and straight border punch at the bottom.I matted and layered onto a maroon card. I have used some microbeads around the top edge to give some tactile effect to this part of the project.
I absolutely like this part of the project, specially this lovely heart embellishemnt which I have made by pouring some melted UTEE onto the non stick crat sheet, then I stamped a heart simage, with intricate design, into the warm UTEE. I held on for a few seconds then remove my stamp to reveal this beautiful image. Stamp was a freebie from Crafty Individuals . This is such a cute little stamp which can be used for Valentine, Mother's Day, Friendship, Vintage...the list goes on.





I was quite pleased with this project. I finished off with a Hero Art Stamp which read Love to you. The patterned paper is from Basic Grey and I wanted to do some matting and layering since the size of the card is quite big. Here you go, I hope this inspires you to try some 3D effect on your card.

Ive got an award!


I received this from Suzanne over at her amazing blog....Thanks Suzanne and good to see you back!