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All work exhibited here is my own design, unless otherwise stated, in which case I shall have credited the original author of that work. I am thrilled to be able to share my designs with you but would appreciate that you respect that these are my designs and do not copy and place them anywhere else online or use them for your own personal gain in any way.


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Sunday 7 September 2014

The Mirror Crack’d - 01 Anything Goes

I have a brand new blog launched just yesterday for all your mixed media/altered art style challenges. There is a fantastic global team of very talented ladies and we can be found at The Mirror Crack’d.

Our very first challenge is nice and easy and is an Anything Goes challenge. So as long as it isn’t wholly digital, or a card, and is mixed media or altered art we would love to see it.

I have never made anything like this myself, as I am a bit too regimented with how I create. I struggle with things that aren’t uniform and symetrical so whilst the new blog will be challenging all sorts of people (I hope) it will also be challenging me too!

Anyhow here is my very first project, which I hope you will enjoy.

01 Anything Goes Finished

It’s a place mat! And it started life looking like this

Place Mat 01

Ugly looking isn’t it! I was after something I could practice on that wouldn’t cost a fortune, like canvasses or art journals and I spotted a whole big box of these down the local recycling centre. £2 for 40 of the large mats, 30 slightly smaller and around 20 coasters ….. not bad eh??

However they do require some work to make them ready for creating with. As I could well imagine paint etc. not wanting to stick to that shiny surface, so I set too with my little Black and Decker sander (boy was that messy) and removed the patterned layer, and white layer beneath to reveal the mdf or ply (not sure which) base.

Place Mat 02  Place Mat 03

After it was prepared I applied a couple of layers of gesso and left it to dry out fully.

The next step was to colour it with gelatos, apply a few random stamped images, and also stencil the text about ‘best friends’.

Design 01

As you can see, I intended this to be a portrait design, but in the event it ended up as a landscape one instead, so the text was on it’s side.

I had to emboss the stamped images too, for some reason the Distress Ink just didn’t want to dry against the gelatoed background. I also used a damask stencil and wiped away some of the gelatos to reveal the white gesso underneath.

I could see that nothing was gonna stay put so I gave it a good spray with inkjet fixative before going onto the next process.

Design 02

I stamped up and coloured in all these fabulous Doo Lally Pip images from Lindsay Mason, in bright shades of copics and then glued them on with mod podge. I also created the sentiment on my pc and stuck that down too, but it didn’t look finished. I have to admit to being scared I would completely ruin it if I went any further. Normally with a card it wouldn’t worry me, but it did take me a long time sanding down the place mat to start with and I didn’t want to waste all that effort, but I bravely went on after some encouragement from my team!

01 Anything Goes Finished

And this is what I finished up with….. I added some glitter glue to their clothes, I darkened some highlights with Faber Castell Big Brush Pens, applied some areas of texture paste, some in gold pearl, some in white, some with the same damask stencil I used to remove the gelatos earlier and some random stencils from Tim Holtz and other people. The texture paste in white ended up flattening down a bit when it dried, which was not the look I was going for so those areas I went over with the big brush pens and then rubbed the ink off before it fully dried, so there is just a hint of the colour.

I also added a few little stamped insects. It’s not exactly a work of art, but for my first attempt and bearing in mind how buttoned up I normally am, I was quite pleased with it. I do hope as the blog evolves so will my crafting!

Anyhow please come and see what the rest of the team have created, I promise you it’s not as poor as my effort, and if you are so inclined then why not join in the fun and enter something of your own?

I’m going to risk embarrassment and enter my efforts here:-

Altered Eclectics – Sept: Anything Goes
Art By Miran – #14 Anything Goes
CMD challenge – Everything Including Copics was used
Copic Marker Europe – #13 Anything Goes with Copics
Crafting By Designs – Sept: Anything Goes
Dragons Lair Design – Anything but a Card
Moo-Mania & More – Recycle something
Rhedd’s Creative Spirit – Sept: Anything altered art Goes
Scrapper’s Delight – #29 Anything Goes Twist New Beginnings…… first challenge on my new blog?
Simon Says Stamp – Sept: Stamp It and Blog Hop

LIN W

21 comments:

  1. Wonderful recycling.

    Thank you for joining us at MOO-MANIA & MORE

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  2. Love your make Lin, it's great to try new things, isn't it? I'm just starting out with mixed media makes & I'm loving it......any excuse now to get inky & messy lol! Off to go check out your new blog.
    hugs Jo x

    ps - I have candy!
    http://mycraftingcorner-jo.blogspot.co.uk/

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  3. What a fab creation!
    So glad you shared this with us at
    MOO MANIA & MORE Challenge .
    A war welcome to you - I real would love to see you soon there-
    GREAT BLOG!

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  4. This is fabulous - love it hun..Thank you for sharing with us Altered Eclectics this month and hope to see you in future challenges
    Hugz Elaine aka Ellapu x

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  5. This is beautiful Lin! What a wonderful rainbow of colours and I love the stamps you chose! Wonderful idea adding the fixative, it turned out fantastic! Congrats on your new blog, BTW! hugs :)

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  6. Wow, amazing transformation! I love those characters, had my first play with them last weekend.

    Thank you so much for leaving a lovely comment on my blog

    Happy Monday!!!

    Hugs from

    Bridie@BGPayne Crafts

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  7. Fabulous what you have done with a placemat!!! Wonderful colors. Thanks so much for celebrating STAMPtember® with us and playing along with the Stamp It Challenge over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog this week :)

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  8. I don't care what you say Lin lol! I love it, the colours, the texture and the images.
    Happy crafting, Angela x

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  9. I love the colours you used, Lin!

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  10. I applaud both your recycling efforts and your latest challenge blog. I love both Moo Mania and The Mirror Crack'd so I was very impressed with your recycled mat. You got them for a great price, but the cost of getting one workable may have deterred you from using that same product again. I applaud your sticking with it, even when things looked difficult. That's a true sign of a mixed media artist. And of course I love how you put so much color into your art.

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  11. What a fantastic placemat Lin, it was a ugly one but you have transformed it to a very beautiful placemat, thanks for a great challenge and a sweet comment on my work.
    Anni

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  12. Such a brilliant transformation Lin! Your new background is amazing, the dining table is looking so different now, no doubt! Thanks for your lovely comment, take care, Ira x
    Ira’s Crea Corner

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  13. lovely placemat, i just wanted to say thank you for your comment on my card, however i am sorry i cant answer your question about the embossing folder as i bought a bundle of crafty goodies from a car boot and that was amongst them, so sorry. again thank you for your comment. take care xx

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  14. Definitely a vast improvement over the original boring one! LOVE it! Thank you for entering your project at Rhedd’s Creative Spirit. Sammy-x

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  15. I haven't really gotten into the techniques and mindset of mixed media yet, but I love this style, it's so fun with the mix patterns and colors, well done!

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  16. Oh my goodness--I'm so impressed with your determination! Your efforts were surely worth it--such a fun transformation!

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  17. That's an amazing creation, I really love these images from Stampotique.

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  18. All these fashionable ladies are terrific (my favourite is the one second from the right) and the allover picture is great fun and colourful with lots to look at. You certainly made life difficult for yourself in your first mixed media piece by battling with the placemats and starting with your sander! Love your new challenge blog.

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  19. This is gorgeous! Love your idea of recycling too. Thanks for joining us at Dragons Lair Design. xx

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  20. This is such a fun and colorful piece! I am new to mixed media, too, and really appreciated your kind words and encouragement on my bee/sunflower box. Looking forward to the second challenge at The Mirror Crack'd!

    mirror

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Thank you for leaving a comment. I enjoy reading each and every one and appreciate that you took the time to leave one. If you have a particular question you can always click the 'email me' link in the sidebar. Lin

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