Art and Craft News

Every time I see the crazy birds, cats and things by Tim Holtz I grin from ear to ear. They're such adorable, groovy and nutty characters that its hard not to smile! I just love them all :)

Remember this groovy picture of a collection of artwork from early 2015? It's from the blog of Tim Holtz "Simply Bird Crazy" blog post when the Bird Crazy stamps first arrived on the scene.

Its a great example of what could be made using the nutty adorable birds, one of my favourite stamp sets. They can be used for so many different and varied events and themes, especially when they're used with the Crazy Things stamp set!

Here are more creations that I find really inspiring...

This first one is by Anna-Karin. It a great example of using the Distress Micro Glaze, Distress paints and Dina Wakley acrylic paints together with the Bird Crazy dies. Its a fantastic piece of art with lots of fabulous texture and wonderful colours.

One thing to note about the instructions on the Sizzix blog...
Use whatever you have on hand - scissors (if you don't have the dies) and any old cardboard box for the background. Most boxes still use the corrugated paper in between the smooth outer surface, simply peel this back to reveal the textured card.

For the background - You could also use plain cardstock run through the embossing machine to create texture.

I prefer Strathmore watercolour paper as it doesn't pill or fall apart if you use too much water. For the technique they've used for colouring the birds (sealing the white card and dragging the paper through the ink on the craft sheet), you could even use regular cardstock (like Bazzill, the textured side) and let it dry completely before putting the birds together.

This next one is from Richele Christensen aka California Art Girl. Richele has created a variety of greeting cards using the Bird Crazy stamps and die set with some fantastic backgrounds. Her colour combinations are wonderful and the mix of elements is fantastic. So inspirational!

Love the colour combos in this card, well I would - green is my favourite colour! The green spots emphasize the gorgeous greens and blues used for his feathers / body. The layers of cardstock are given additonal attraction by use of string (twine).

This bird is just like me when I'm painting - splatters everywhere and different colours all over the place! Loving this card alot :) 

The third artist, Bobbi Smith of Vintage Muse Designs, has such an incredible way of mixing colours, backgrounds and textures with 3D elements (paper tole). Check out these few samples then hop over to her blog for all the others.

All Tim's Crazy Birds, Cats, Dogs, Things, Crazy Talk and their friends, the Snarky Cats are all available at Art by Jenny.

I hope this post has inspired you to get out your Distress markers, inks and Crazy Bird stamps and have some fun. I'm here if you have questions or need help :)

Happy Creative Day!
:)
Jenny

Life does get busy at times, but there is always time for art! I'm a tad behind with my swaps but I've finally finished and posted off this art journal page.

The theme is "country" and so I chose to do something that related to the gorgeous Aussie koala and our amazing day and night skies.

In Australia, we have koalas who love the city life as well as those who love the peaceful life of the countryside. I was inspired by a painting I saw in Pinterest ages ago called 'Night and Day' by an unknown artist.

My painting was created using Winsor & Newton watercolour paints and Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils with highlights using the Chameleon's black detailer pen. You can recreate this painting using any paints and pencils you have. At the end of this blog post I've added a few links of my favourites.

When I first went to write this blog post I was going to just say watercolours, but then I often get asked what brand and type, so there you go :)

The paper in this journal is regular art paper so not the best for water but as long as you don't go overboard with smooshing the paper while its wet, its ok.

I started with lemon yellow and dashes of red, then more yellow... then remembered to get that groovy texture that I love about watercolours, I must let it dry before adding more. So I moved over to the other page and used a sky blue and Prussian blue with splatters of Indigo. Then left it alone while I made a coffee.. that's the hardest part of watercolours - the waiting till it dries! 

With the hot air gun in a cupboard somewhere (that safe place!), I used the hairdryer with the diffuser attachment and blasted the pages until they were dry. Only took a couple of minutes :)

After the backgrounds were dry, I added a bit more blue, indigo, yellow and red with splatters of water to break up the colours.

The next step was sketching out the tree. I used the black watercolour pencil for this and just kept adding branches and leaves until I felt it was finished... then added some more :)

The night time koala is sketched in grey pencil along with indigo, black and white. His nose and eyes were drawn with the Chameleon Pen. The moon was simply an arc of water from my aquabrush (waterbrush), pressing down with paper towel and repeating this process 3 or 4 times until I had a moon showing in the sky. After it was dry, I added a feint line with an indigo pencil to give it a bit of definition.

Sunset, just before the koala wakes for his evening stroll around his territory. The sun I actually left as a white spot. I thought of adding more colour to it afterwards but left it alone. The grass is simply the black and indigo pencils flicked about at various lengths - totally random.

The final part of this painting are my wording, the birds and adding a dash of water using my aquabrush to the tree trunk and grass, smoothing out the pencil marks.

Ta da! My painting is finished :) I actually really like this one. Its not often I like my own art so its a surprise when I do. Luckily art doesn't have to be realistic or that koala would starve - koalas are very fussy about what type of eucalypt leaves they eat.

If you have a go but get stuck or need help finding supplies, sing out anytime. I'm here to help :)

Thanks so much for visiting and reading my blog. I hope it makes you smile and inspires you to make time for art.

Happy Creative Day!
:)
Jenny

fyi ... Products used or are equivalent to what I've used are...
- Watercolour Pencils
- Paints and Paint Brushes
- Pens and Markers

Discover how simple it is to refill your Chameleon Pens and Mixing Chamber. Its really easy once you know how!

Contact me if you need help or have questions :) 

Video content © Chameleon Art Products 2015

Hello :)

The Dylusions delivery arrived yesterday and everything that was in the box has now been posted to their new homes. Thank you so much everyone! 

A few items were placed on backorder at my supplier but they will be shipped to me late April, early May. Watch this space :)

I'd love to say everything is all now instore but it sold out just as fast as it arrived! All that is left (until the next delivery) are 2 packs of colouring sheets, 2 sets of designer Archival ink pads, 1 pack of plain adhesive canvas and 1 pack of postcards. All Dylusions of course :) Therefore, I'm leaving most of it labeled "PreOrder" so you don't get confused. Any questions, just ask any time!

The Crazy Cat stamp sets are being released later this month so arriving with the delivery I just mentioned. Tim's cottages and roof tiles "Bigz Dies" are being released late May, early June.

Those groovy Frankenstein heads (dies) are available now (and other Sizzix dies) - let me know if you'd like me to order them.

Finnabair, more Liquitex treasures, Ken Oliver, Brusho Crystal Colours, Winsor & Newton paint brushes and the new Tim treasures will be uploaded to my shop on Friday, 8th - some instore now, others arriving late April, early May. Watch this space for details or the category "What's New" on the home page.

I thank you all immensely for waiting with me for these gorgeous treasures - but as we all know, anything by Dyan (and Tim and Dina) is worth the wait. I'll be sure to include something special in with your order to say thank you as well :) I really appreciate you, your time and your custom.

If I've missed anything or you have questions, please get in contact by email, message or phone (0428 898 120). Thank you! Have a happy day :) Jenny

Tim Holtz
- Tim's treasures are estimated to be mid April
- if you have a special request, let me know so it can be added to my list
- fyi, I'm planning on ordering a variety of treasures including the stamps, stencils and his groovy spinning and drawer storage
- I'll add anything I order to this category once I've confirmed my order
- Does anyone want to buy the mini Crazy Birds and Things? They look just as adorable and nutty as the originals, only much smaller!
- I've ordered the Crazy Cats stamps and dies :) Still not released but we're on the wait list now.

Dina Wakley
- I'm ordering the paints, stamps, stencils and media boards
... arrival estimated to be late April
- if you have a special request, let me know so it can be added to my list and this PreOrder category
- I'll add these to this category once I've confirmed the order

If you would like anything else (Dyan, Tim, Finnabair, Dina's, Wendy's, Darkroom Door, Zig, Hero Arts, IndigoBlu, Strathmore, Prismacolor, Derwent Inktense pencils or artsticks - anything at all - simply get in touch and I'll see when I can get them in stock for you.

Sing out if you have any groovy ideas, questions or need help!

Thank you!
:)
Jenny