Ooh nearly spooked myself!

Hello my crafty friends, I hope you are all well. I am so enjoying the beautiful colours of Autumn; It is still quite pleasant, here in Essex, colder, but most days are bright. I like October, as its cold enough to change the colours of the trees and plants, but not too cold to make them drop. Then there's Halloween, and the excuse to indulge our darker, shadow side in our crafty makes.

This leads me to let you know, that a new challenge starts today at That's Crafty, and the theme is Haunted/Halloween. Believe me, there's some very spooky inspirations over on the blog from my team mates, so pop over there and have a look, if you Dare!

And of course, if you enter the challenge there's the chance you could win a £20 voucher to spend in the shop. So come on! tune into your darkness and let your creativity go wild.

Here is my creation for this challenge.

        

I used a 6x6 grey/white board and gave it a coat of Crackle Paint. Once dry I applied Fresco Acrylic Paints in Blue Oyster with a brayer and then using Caramel randomly added the colour, again with brayer and then edged the board with French Roast.

                       

I love how grungy this looks.

I then added some stamping from HP Halloween 03 from Paper Artsy using Archival Ink. I sprinkled on some Neutral Bisters and spritzed with water letting it drip. I dabbed most of it off just leaving a thin layer. I wasn't keen how the headstone looked like it was floating, so using a black Stabilo All pencil, I added shadow and depth which gave the appearance of being in a room. For the skulls on the floor I used Stained Wallnut Embossing powder to give some texture. 

                         

For my next element I used a face I had painted in my journal. I shrunk the Picture and printed it off the size I needed. This is the face below. You will notice that I cut it from its background which I liked but did not fit with the room.

                            

Once I stuck it in place with Matt Medium from DecoArt, I started to work on the background. I know that's  all back to front, but in this instant it worked. 

                 

  

 I added some stencils from That's Crafty to the side and back wall, which I think is very effective.

Below we get closer to the ghost popping out of the wall. The red drips are Media Mist from DecoArt.

                         

 Well there you have it. I hope either I or my teamies have inspired you to play along. Don't forget to follow the rules to be in with a chance. Looking forward to see what you all make. 

Take care Hugs Debs xx

Deborah's Designs

Let's talk about Christmas

Hello and welcome everyone, today I'm sharing some more new stencils from That's Crafty. Their Dinky Stencils really are a treasure. I won't give too much away here, but I will give you peep. You can all the details here.

I'll be back tomorrow, as its time for a new challenge on the That's Crafty Blog. Wonder what the theme will be...

Take care Lovelies and I'll see you soon. Hugs Debs xxx

Deborah's Designs

I thought I'd blog the faces

Hello everyone, this is just a quicky about a digital face. A few days ago I drew this face in an app called Procreate on my iPad.

 

I have to say I was very pleased with her, and thrilled when I saw that Leandra from Paper Artsy had used the face as inspiration on the blog, as the Current Challenge is Faces. You can see the post here, and on Saturday I had a painted face on the blog which you can see here.

Well anyway, I printed the face off and coloured her with soft Pastels, I didn't get the whole face as she is actually quite large.

I loved the effect of the pastels. I actually forgot how much I love pastels.

Next I took a photo of this, and took it into another app called Brushstrokes. It's a great app for changing the colours etc. And this is what I got.

I am going to use this as a reference photo to see if I can recreate it in paint. So watch this space...

 

I'm going to enter this into Kim Dellow's Show your face, which is my second link this week. Kim invites us to link to her site each week where we can see other artist's work. It's a great community full of inspiration and support. You can check it out here

So it's faces everywhere at the moment so why not join in and have some fun. Take care and I'll see you soon, Hugs Debs xx

 

Deborah's Designs

Whimsey winter scene

Morning everyone and welcome, thanks for popping in this morning. It s a quick post to share what I have been working on for the last few days.

It is another digital piece but I may recreate it with real stuff if I ever get the time, lol. I hope you like it.

And here is the video

As always I'll be back soon, you take, care hugs Debs xxx

Deborah's Designs

Broken Doll

 

Hi everyone, I'm so excited, tonight one of my girls is on the Paper Artsy Blog. If you don't know the theme is Faces and its is one of my favourites.

There has already been some wonderful inspirational faces this week, you have one more week to get your faces in the challenge. If you are the lucky winner you will recive a £50 voucher to spend in store.

So the face I am sharing is that of a broken doll. She was dropped long ago down a dark flight of stairs but cannot remember when or where. She just sits it the corner waiting to remember...

You can see the full details and lots of photos on the Paper Artsy Blog

 

 

Thanks for popping by, take Care Debs xx

 

 

You can see more of my art here:

blog. FaceBook Twitter Pinterest

I am regularly teaching Journal workshops at Birds In The Barn in Marks Tey Essex, the next one is October 24th. Please link above for details, how to book, etc.

 

Deborah's Designs

Face for Friday

Hello everyone, welcome! As always thank you for popping in, I do love it when you all visit. I haven't been able to visit as many blogs as I would like lately, but I do try to catch up with you all. Many of you will understand that working full time, running a home, (even if there are only two of us at home you'd think I had a whole family to take care of lol.) and crafting, there is not allot of time left.

Well today is Friday and those that know me, know I try to link to the lovely Kim Dellow's Show your face. I try to get there every week, but sometimes life gets in the way.

This week Kim was over on the Paper Artsy Blog as their topic this fortnight, is faces. Yes I know. faces are everywhere! But once you start I know you will be addicted. Kim shared a fabulous face on the blog with a tutorial so pop along and have a look.




I recently signed up for an online class with Ivy Newport and Robin Laws, called Paint and Pixels. It is a great little class that's demonstrates mixing digital with your own art. I love this idea! So I have been playing on the iPad during these older evenings. Here is what I came up with this week.

I do love drawing digitally as you can correct mistakes so easily. I also find very useful as a practice tool. And as always with Procreate ( I also used Repix in this creation) there is a video which is produced automatically so you can view your process. I have attached it below, but it is also on my You Tube channel.

Well that's me for today but pop back tomorrow as there is another post due around 7pm but shhhh it's a secret!

Take care all hugs Debs xx

Deborah's Designs

Still playing with Stencils

Hi everybody, thank you for visiting me today; it's my turn at That's Crafty to share my latest creation.

Here is a little peek, you can read the full details here.

 

Have a lovely day, I'll see you soon take care, hugs Debs xx

 

Deborah's Designs

Vamp by digital

Hello everyone, thanks popping in as I have a quick journal page to share. Those that follow me on social media sites know that I love drawing and painting faces and recently I've added digital drawing too.

Today's page mixes this up, I drew my girl (with a bit of Hallowean included) on the iPad, printed her off twice one large and one small. The small one I transferred to my page and the large one I stuck to the page. I added some stencilling to finish the page.

Here is the video

Well that's me signing off for tonight. You all take care, I'll see you soon

Hugs Debs xxx

New Challenge at Mixed Media World

Hello everyone it's me again and this time I'm sharing my inspiration for the new Challenge at Mixed Media World and the Theme is Anything Goes on Wood chosen for us by the lovely Mo or Massofhair as she is known. Mo has become a very good friend of mine but unfortunately she hasn't been well for a while so I'm hoping seeing all the creations inspired by her idea will cheer her up.

To enter please follow the rules, link your make via the linky and you could be in with a chance of winning a prize from one of our sponsors which this month is a the Artist Trading Post who kindly will give a £20 voucher to spend in store, how fab is that.

Here is my inspiration but there are lots more on the challenge blog from my teamies

I took a wooden heart and added lots of textural pieces with embossing powder and then painted over the top with Crackle Paint.

 

I punched out my flower shapes using we r memory keepers punch board which is fun. I'm still experimenting with the flowers which I'll share another day.

I painted the flowers with Fresco Finish Acrylic paint and then sprayed them with spay paint which has Mica in it to give a lovely shimmer.

 

I finished of with a butterfly and some rusty wire. My sentiment is from large chit chat stickers with a coat of glossy accents over the top.

I had fun with this, so thanks Mo :). I hope I have inspired you to have a go, looking forward to seeing what you make. Take care all hugs Debs xxx

 

Deborah's Designs

Mixed Media Haunts Challenge

Hello everyone and welcome. I've been playing with my decoart products and decided to make a piece to enter the Haunts challenge. I've got a bit of a problem though I cannot find where to link it to the challenge so if any of you can direct me I'd be very greatful. It's probably staring at me but I cannot see it. Anyway here my piece.

 

I used a large white /grey board from That's Crafty and sprayed it with black Media Mist from DecoArt. I then added some Andy Skinner Stencils in black Media Fluid. And sprayed some Red Media Mist over the top.

I made my body from chicken wire which I dipped into Pearl UTEE that had some blue added to it. I did this both sid to build some texture on the wire. I then wrapped it in rusty wire added he heart and head which is a Finnabair element from Prima. The wings I rusted using one of Andy Skinners technics.

The bats are a Dinky Stencul from That's Crafty and the sentiment is white texture paste through Andy's Stencils.

 

Here are some close ups

 

 

Well I hope I find the link but if not I had fun which it is all about. Take care dear followers and friends and I'll see you all soon hugs Debs xx

 

Deborah's Designs

Boys will be boys

Hi everyone and welcome, thanks for stopping by today as I have a project to share using an Acrylic substrate. I made it for inspiration for the new challenge over at Thats Crafty whose Theme is boys will be Boys. You have a chance to win £20 voucher to spend in shop wow! How fantastic is that!

Acrylic Plaque

.

I worked on the plaque in reverse order, for example, the feature was added first, then the rub ons colour and then crackle paint. I then sealed all this with two coats of soft Matte Medium.

The material I used

Acrylic Placque from That's Crafty

Media Fluids, Crackle Paint Matte Medium from DecoArt

Feature picture found relatives, rub ons, washi tape from Tim Holtz for Ranger

Some close ups

I love these chaps especially how they follow you with eyes

 

There is some great inspiration from team mates on blog so please try to get over there and have a look. Out with the paints, inks and stamps and Play lol. Good luck!



Take care all, and I'll see you later with my Face for Art it Friday, so don't forget to pop back!

Hugs Debs xx

New Face for Art it Friday

Hello you lovely lot, yah! it's Friday. I'm so looking forward to this weekend, not that I'm doing anything special, but I just love cozy weekends with no plans. It's what we call a potter weekend. We thought about going away but decided to just potter. So, I'll be doing some arty stuff, sorting the garden, playing with Kasmir my cat, you get the picture! What are you doing this weekend?



I'm sharing my face created to link to the lovely Kim Dellow's blog. Kim invites us each week to link our faces for Art It Friday where we all share our own work. We can draw paint scribble to create using any medium of our choice.the only rule is it must be own work. So this week I've gone all digital.

I love to draw on my iPad as I can do it anywhere, such as in my bed,lol. It's a great way to practice as you can quickly correct mistakes. I have dabbled here and there but a few weeks ago I joined an online class called Paint and Pixels by Ivette Newport and Robin Laws. I love love love what you learn to do. Here is a link if you would like see what I'm on about.

So here she is, there is a video that shows my process below. Towards the end I do something that turns it into a negative style image, even though the picture remains black and white.

So there you have it. I hope you get to play along too. Take care hugs Debs xxx

Deborah's Designs

Journal board

Hello everyone and welcome. Here is a peep of my project over at That's Crafty today. The full details can been seen here. I'm so excited as I got to play with new Dinky Stencils released this week.

Take care and I'll see you soon Hugs Debs xxx

 

Fab Day and a winner

Hello every, thank you for popping in. How's your day been? Ive been busy today playing with secret things shhhh....more will be revealed next week.

I felt tired today so didn't play along as I wanted to, but enjoyed what I did. Before I go any further, time to name the winner of the braclet and box which is Sandie Cottee. Thank you all for joining in. There were 10 entered in the draw.

Okay now onto the makes I demoed at Birds In the Barn on Saturday. A big thank you to all you ladies that popped in, it was great chatting with you all, and showing you the different techniques I use. I would also like thank Janet, for her lovely message she sent me when she got home, which I've shared below.

'Hi Debbie. Thank you for a wonderful afternoon at Birds in Barn. I'm already covered in paint and enjoying every minute. Bought loads of paint stencils and stamps oh and the grunge paste. Can't stop smiling thanks to you xx Regards, Janet'

How lovely! Here are the samples, all on White/ grey board from Paper Artsy. Dylusions Paint 3 stencils Grunge Paste, Treasure Gold and ELB 22.

 

It was great fun; I'd also like to thank you Janet and Karen at Birds In The Barn for looking after me. I hope to see some of you on 24th at my Journal Workshop.

Take care all, see you soon Hugs Debs xxx

 

New Face for Art it Friday

Hello  all and a special welcome to my new followers, thank you for joining us. I hope you enjoy the journey. I hope you are all okay out there and looking forward to the weekend.

We have another perfect Autumn morning here in Essex. I do love Autum with its beautiful Pallet of colours.  Autum and Spring are my favourite seasons. Mainly because of the colours they bring. Summer and Winter I find less colourful, Summer dilutes the colours and Winter is full of shades of grey, well at least 50. 

Anyway enough waffle, what you have come for is to see my Friday face. Many of you will know that on Fridays, the lovely Kim Dellow invites us to link our faces to her site. This is my face for this week

I like how taking photos from different angles can give a photo more interest. Below is the same face but I think she is now snarling...

                              

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend take care all, big hugs Debs xxxx

Texture

Hello everyone and welcome. Today is the first day of the new Challenge at Country View Crafts and the theme is Texture. Go take a look at the wonderful creations my teammates have created to inspire you.

 

 

 

Using several colours of Gelatos I scribbled on my page and activated the colour

with water.

Then using a stencil from both JOFY07 and Lin Brown ELB05

both from Paper Artsy, with Fibre Paste from Golden,I created my feature

 

I let this dry and then painted it with Fresco Acrylics Paints from Paper Artsy

Finally I added an outline.

 

I hope I have inspired you to enter the challenge, and I look forward to seeing what you make. Take care for now and I'll see you soon. Hugs

 

Tulip and Butterflies

Hello everyone and welcome. A big wave to all my new followers, thank you for joining us on this journey. Today it's my turn over at That's Crafty. Here is a little peep, all the details can be found here.

Take care and I'll see you soon Hugs