Vintage goodies from Debi

I recently won Debi's giveaway on her blog at Life In My Studio, and was thrilled to bits because I just love vintage , especially in the form of crochet lace trim, doilies, millinery flowers, and cabinet cards....... oh and I also love, love
Vintage postcards, velvet ribbon and trim, pretty forget me nots and last but not least, bling, bling, bling :)
Thank you so much Debi, I will make great use out of these as soon as I get back to some collage work, I feel the need to work with fabric collage now when I see the crochet, the flowers and the trim, it has really inspired me :)

Goddess of Delight ~Mixed Media Portrait

"When you least expect it, delight comes into your life"
Author unkown

I didn't think I would be back to post so soon but I finished another mixed media painting in between other things going on here at home. This is a small 5x7 canvas and I wasn't quite sure how she would turn out but I think she does look a bit Goddess like.
As always there are a few things I am not happy with, but I think that is how you learn for next time. She has been distressed again, her face is roughed up. I think I am going to have a go at a much smoother style face next, I like the distressed look, but just for a change.
Here is a close up of the turquoise, it has gold running through it. I didn't want to say turquoise hair, you could look at it as hair if you want, or a scarf on her head, maybe even a sari which my Eastern Indian neighbors wear sometimes, they are usually in the most beautiful, brightest, sheer fabrics, and this reminded me of one when I was finished so I added the beaded trim at the top. Fun, fun, fun :)
Suzi teaches us to push it and I was so afraid to drop paint down her face, but I did and it's not too bad. She's crying tears of happiness because she just brought delight into someone's life :)

I have a busy time coming up. Today I am going to the lawyers to sign the papers on a small condo we have purchased in Toronto, we take possession tomorrow and I am so excited because we are renting it to my daughter and her boyfriend. They have been living in the most horrible apartment building for over a year now and I am so happy to get her out of there and that area she is in. I will tell you more later, it is the tiniest little place, but perfect for them. Gotta go.....

And the winner is..........

The winner of my blogaversary giveaway is #31 Lisa from Simple Journeys :)

Thank you all for your lovely comments as always and congratulations to Lisa.
Have a great Monday........

Mixed Media Portrait

My first mixed media portrait on an 8x10 wood canvas.
The girls face and torso has been distressed with molding paste and some sanding, her hair is also textured with the molding paste. This is the first time I have used it and I just know I will be using it a lot now, I love, love, love it.
My background is first textured with paint and gel medium, and I used my trusty heat gun to dry and bubble it a bit, then I mixed paint with gel medium again (love that stuff) and stamped with those big foam stamps and an old thread bobbin.


The Goddess and the Poet class is over now but I have to tell you it has been an amazing 6 weeks, I have thoroughly enjoyed it, and if it interests you at all you can now register for the next class which starts September 1st.

A number of you have asked about the type of heat gun I use. It was a freebie from my husband who hasn't used it in 23 years. He bought it back then when we were stripping paint from baseboards in an old house we were renovating. Yep we used to do all that work. What were we thinking?
It is a Black and Decker heat and strip and it get's very hot, so I just have to be very careful, but it's perfect as I am impatient for things to dry too, I just want to get on with it while I am in the mood :)

Have a great weekend, I will be back on Monday with a winner to my giveaway...

Blogaversary Giveaway

Today is the 1st anniversary of my blog, so I am celebrating with a giveaway. I have covered a journal using papers, tea dyed muslin and printed fabric which almost feels like vinyl, I am not quite sure what it is but it was a nice creamy color so I used it to print this lovely birds nest and the Chinese Proverb.
I finished it off with some vintage buttons and the sweetest Queen Bee charm. Hope you like it :)

The pages inside are lined and blank for you to write on.
I am also including some of my home made Fall potpourri which includes my own cinnamon dough leaves, pumpkin and an acorn. (bowl not included)



I want to thank all of you for your support through my journey in art over the past year since I started this blog. I had my old blog too for a while, The Rose Cottage, and some of you who visited me there are still around, which is just wonderful. I decided to make this blog somewhat less personal and more about my creative spirit and I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting some really beautiful women and have really connected with some of you on a more personal level and become good friends. It has been a great outlet to share my own creative spirit and enjoy yours through our blogs, you are all creative and you all "get it", that is the need or the passion we have for our craft, if it is art work, decorating, photography, writing , I think we all feel safe to share with each other. Isn't the blog world just the best?

Just over a year ago I started dabbling in mixed media and altered art when I was the creator of the ECS community on ning. We had a little group there and we did weekly challenges and I have to especially thank, Sherry and Carolyn for encouraging me from the beginning of this new journey. You always encouraged me to go outside my box and try it, don't think about it too much, just try it, and I did. I still am :) I am forever trying new things and that is the beauty of art work, the process, the time creating something is so special.

To be entered in my draw you must have a blog, and all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. I will draw a name using the random number generator on Monday August 24th.
Enjoy your day and I will see you soon :)
Lynn

Meet me in the garden , and it's HOT

Happy Monday friends :) I just love Mondays, always have, even when I worked in retail I usually had Monday's off, so it's like a fresh new start to another week, and this one is going to be hot, hot, hot. We have, in Ontario, finally come into summer weather when it is already close to September, with temp's up to 30c (84F) but with the humidity feels a lot warmer.

My hubby has taken this week as vacation, we are just going to hang out together, nothing special planned yet.

So, about my canvas, nestled amongst the thyme. I have been so unsure about it, and would love to hear your comments. I used a combination of moss green and tan among other things and blasted it with the heat gun. I thought the lace around her neck looked like the vintage doily I have used, which I painted a bit with some twinkling H20's, which is hard to see in the photo.

I am afraid there is a bit of a glare from the sun over the beautiful, magical image, created digitally by the talented Terri Kahrs at Pringle Hill Studio.
Thank you Terri for sharing your digital art for us to use.
You can click on photos if you want a closer look :)
Enjoy your day, and I will be back on Wednesday with a blogaversary giveaway ....
Lynn

B For Bird 6x6 Canvas

I have been so involved in learning to draw and explore journal pages this past six weeks , that I am really ready now to work on other things again. I don't know where the time has gone to. I realised during the Goddess And The Poet class that I love playing with texture, I really love, love, texture. So I took a 6x6 canvas and started to play.
All created with 15 year old Delta Folk Art paint, yep, it really is that old, gel medium and a hot heat gun. Sprayed with gold glimmer mist and rubbed with Old Wood Distress Ink pad. Not sure why they call it that because it's quite blue.

Click on the photos for a closer look.
The bird is from Vintage Stamper's Freebies

Thought I would share the last sketch I did too. I like her look, long nose, long neck, dreamy eyes and lucsious lips, kinda how I would like to look :) Yeah, in my dreams maybe....

Before I go I wanted to let you in on a giveaway, that is if you didn't know already. I have been blessed to win two giveaways recently and would love to win this one, but that just doesn't seem fair LOL. Head on over to Pringle Hill Studio where my blogger friend Terri is having her blogaversary giveaway. Better hurry because you only have two more days and you don't want to miss owning a piece of her work :)

Keep on bloggin'
Lynn

Regal Blog Award

Presented to me by Her Grace the Duchess of Tea and in her own words...

This insignia is in recognition and appreciation of the bloggers role as followers and daily commentators of Rose Tea Cottage and for having vision, knowledge, charm and humour on their own blogs.

Thank you Duchess I am honored. I am also honored to receive any award presented to me, only I don't usually post about them because you are supposed to pass them on and I feel rather uncomfortable doing so. I have done so in the past because I felt I should, but I have had to stop doing things just because I think I should and be true to my own feelings. I hope you understand. What I usually do is post them in my side bar with the name of the lovely person who has honored me with the award.

I have posted this award today not only because it is unique and it is not a transferable award, but also so I could explain myself on this matter.
I used to have a "no tag" logo in my side bar too, and took it down because I felt it a bit harsh. I know, I am just being my polite old self, but I thought it was ugly too, and who wants an ugly button on her blog ?

If you have yet to visit the Duchess, you may find her charming, beautiful, interesting and informative blog at Rose Tea Cottage. If you love all things British, you don't want to miss it.

I won a beautiful giveaway :)

Can you believe this? Just look at what I won. Yes, all of it.....

I still can't believe I won all of the beautiful items here so generously given away by Marydon on her blog at Blushing Rose Boutique to celebrate 100 followers.
It was wonderful to recieve the package yesterday and open all the beautiful goodies. I think a lot of my creative friends would really love this lovely tea book journal, shown below closed. So soft pretty and simple.
Open it up and look what is inside. Pockets with recipe's for tea's and punch, a great place to store those special recipes :) Wouldn't this make a beautiful gift?

How about the frosted ornament with tea cups on it, just beautiful. I collect tea cups, or I did, I have kind of stopped over the past six months, so this giveaway was perfect for me.
I think you can see in this photo too a really romantic looking organza sachet filled with bath salts.
I wish I had a better photo of this altered spoon. I think it is very creative, turned into a tiny vase. Marydon and filled it with the pretty flowers.
The other flowers you see are candle holder decorations and in the most beautiful colors, and the small hanging sachet heart, I just am in love with. I love anything in white battenburg lace, I love sachets and I love hearts, it is already in my Rose Cottage bedroom.


Gourmet tea's, vintage cup and saucer, vintage spoon, not to mention a beautiful hand made tea cozy, I feel so blessed.
Marydon has a shop filled with beautiful items, also named Blushing Rose Boutique so if you see anything here maybe you can find it right now in her online shop. Lot's of tea time related items too :)


Did I mention jeweled sugar? I think this is so neat, I have never had it before and I do take sugar in both tea and coffee. It looks too pretty to open :)

I thank you from the bottom of my heart Marydon, this is so generous of you, and I was soooooooo shocked when I won, nicely shocked of course :)

I now have to think of a giveaway for my one year blogaversary in 12 days, keep following so you won't miss it :)

Have a great weekend.
Lynn

Journal Page #2

I am so excited about this class, I am learning so much and really going outside my box, especially with this page. She was a sketch in my cheap sketch pad and then ripped out and glued to the journal. She is then covered in gesso so you will see a lot a lot of texture on her face.
If you click on the photos you will see close ups and what I mean.

I have used a lot of other texture effects on the page too, and yes, her eyes and lips are metalic purple :)

I felt a spiritual connection to this girl somehow so I decided to stitch the little cross to her collar, which is a piece from an old crocheted doily.

I am very pleased with the outcome, infact I love her. I don't often say that about my work but I do :) I wasn't, and still am not sure about the stars, I could go over them later or add something else too, that's the fun part to keep adding more and more.

There is another technique to try using all one color, so I may do that next, but Suzi is posting this week's class this afternoon and we are going to be doing a portrait on wood, so you never know, I may do that first. Should be interesting :)

Thank you all for your comments on my first journal page, and I am happy you all enjoyed Coopers post below, he brings joy into my life every single day :)

Have a very creative day,
Lynn