365 Somethings 2018 - Week 52 & Round-Up

Hello Everyone!

So much for good intentions, life got in the way of art in the last few days! But I did manage to create my final set of teabag art for week 52 of IHanna's 365 Somethings Challenge.

I chopped up some old playing cards, and made collages with some slide folders and Tim Holtz word stickers.

And here's a photo of nearly all of my teabags. Some were used on Christmas cards like the star ones top right.

Here are the missing teabags in case you were wondering...

All I need to do now is thank you for the amazing support you have given me in 2018, and to wish you all a very blessed and creative 2019.

Much love,

Alison xox

365 Somethings & Kasia's Advent Calendar Challenge 2018

Merry Merry Christmas Eve to you all!

First of all, I have the final page to share for Kasia's Advent Calendar Challenge. For Day 24, she asked us to write down our Christmas wishes.

I made a grungy page with collaged book page scraps and teabags, scrapes and spots and stencilled paint. My Christmas Wish is for Peace and enough food and water for everyone in the whole world.

And, here are my teabags for 365 Somethings Week 51.

Christmas trees cut from Gelli Plate prints, cut into four pieces, then mixed up. I added some sequin stars to the tree tops.

Wishing you all a very happy and blessed Christmas and 2019!

Alison xox

365 Somethings 2018 - Week 50

Hello Folks!

Today, I have seven more pieces of teabag art to share with you, for week 50 of IHanna's 365 Somethings Challenge.

I stencilled some snowflakes with paint, then simply stapled a little collage of fabric or tinsel with a postage stamp (torn from envelopes containing Christmas cards).

Only two weeks left of this wonderful challenge!

Happy Monday to you all,

Alison xox

365 Somethings Teabag Art - Week 49

Hi Everyone!

Here are my seven arty teabags for week 49 of IHanna's 365 Somethings Challenge.

I went back to my favourite little collage technique of stapling some scraps to the teabags. The stars were punched from Gelli Plate prints, and I added a glitter glue outline to them.

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

Alison xox

365 Somethings - Week 48

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Today, I have some more teabag art for IHanna's 365 Somethings Challenge. These ones are for Week 48, and are a little bit festive, in fact they've already been turned into Christmas cards. I have to admit I made a whole load more, as they're small, flat and cheap to post.

I hunted through my stamps, and found 7 different star designs. The two top and two bottom are by Birgit Koopsen for Carabelle Studios. The middle left is Crafty Individuals, the middle centre is Dina Wakley, and the middle right is by Seth Apter for PaperArtsy. They're all stamped on various Gelli Plate prints.

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison xox

365 Somethings - Week 47, and A New Friend in my Craft Studio

Happy Monday morning everyone!

As it's Monday again, I have my week 47 set of teabag art to share with you for IHanna's 365 Somethings Challenge.

For this set, I crocheted some snowflakes in different shades of 4 ply cotton yarn. I stamped a wreath (Artemio Stamps) onto the teabags, then used a snowflake brad to attach the crocheted snowflakes.

Then I simply adhered the teabags to 4x4" card blanks to make some more Christmas cards. I would like to enter my cards in That's Crafty's Winter Wonderland Challenge.

And finally, let me introduce you to Angus the guinea pig, my new craft studio buddy. On Saturday, I took pity on him at the animal rescue sanctuary where I volunteer, and decided to adopt him. He was so timid at first, but today he finally found his voice again...Squeak Piggy Squeak!

Have a creative day, and thanks for dropping by,

Alison xox

365 Somethings - Week 46

Hi Everyone! Thank you for all your kind messages on my last post. It appears I have an autoimmune condition and will have to take medication indefinitely. It's good to know what I'm dealing with, and hopefully the damage won't be too bad.

Today I decided to try out some festive designs on my teabags for Week 46 of the 365 Somethings Challenge. They may well end up on Christmas cards!

Thanks for visiting,

Alison xox

365 Somethings Week 45 & A Journal Page

Good Evening Everyone! I'm here tonight with my 365 Somethings Week 45 Teabag Art. These were inspired by the beautiful Autumn trees, which still have leaves on them mid-November.

I painted my teabags with Cheddar and Ruby Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylic, then stencilled leaf patterns with Gilt DW Acrylic. I stamped the PaperArtsy leaves onto gessoed music page, cut them out and glued them to the teabags. I wrote 'leaf' a few times with a black gel pen, then inked the edges with black archival ink.

I decorated another teabag, and used it on a journal page. I haven't had a lot of time for art journaling lately, it felt good to make this page.

Music page, tea-dyed gauze, corrugated card, my teabag art, and a Tim Holtz phrase sticker, and I couldn't resist a few watery paint splashes.

I have the dentist in the morning, but I hope to make some more art tomorrow. I've missed it!

Wishing you all a great evening,

Alison xox

365 Somethings - Remembrance Teabag Art

Hi Everyone! As you can see, Remembrance is still on my mind. I'm taking my crocheted poppy brooches down to the Royal British Legion stand this afternoon, as they having been selling well.

For my 365 Somethings' Week 44 Teabag Art, I put together some tiny collages, painting poppies on the punched circles, and stamping some relevant words. I also added some splashes of red acrylic paint to represent the French poppy fields.

Here's a closer look...

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison xxx

365 Somethings Week 43

Hello Everyone! As usual, I have some Teabag Art to share with you today, for Week 43 of I Hanna's & Daisy Yellow's 365 Somethings Challenge.

I got inspired to use some images of eyes, by Tiffany aka Southern Gal's live video on YouTube today. I cut the eyes from magazine pages, adhered them over stencilled chalk paint flowers, then just doodled with pencils and a white paint pen.

Hope you've had a creative day too!

Thanks for visiting,

Alison xox

365 Somethings - Week 42

Hi Everyone! As promised, I'm back again this morning, with my teabag art for 365 Somethings Week 42.

I must say, I really enjoyed putting these together! For each teabag, I stapled together some small pieces of map, music sheet, notebook page, and envelope, then simply stapled each one to a teabag. I found some Friendly Plastic charms, I'd created using moulds many eons ago, and used them to embellish the collages.

Here's a close up of the dragonfly...

And I really love this leaf... appropriate for the season I thought, and suitable for the Moo-Mania Autumn Challenge I hope...

Thank you so much for dropping by,

and I wish you all a wonderful week!

Alison xox

365 Somethings - Week 41

Hi Everyone! 

This week I experimented with using some clear tar gel on my teabags. Whilst they were still wet, I dripped some alcohol inks on, then left them to dry for 24 hours. The tar gel made the teabags transparent, so I painted the backs with white gesso. I outlined the alcohol ink colours with white paint pen. I added collage circles and word stickers, then finished with black pen outlines around them.

The clear tar gel was an interesting experiment, I've had it in my stash for a long time!

It's wet and dark and miserable here, but my cold is gradually going thankfully.

Happy Monday,

Alison xox

365 Somethings - Week 40

Hi Everyone! I forgot all about my teabags this week, only remembered today! So here's my teabag art for week 40 of the 365 Somethings Challenge.

I still had my acrylic inks out from my last post, so after I'd prepped the bags with white gesso, I brayered some brightly coloured inks onto them. Then I added one drop of black acrylic ink to each bag, and had a lot of fun tipping them to let the ink run randomly in different directions. I used a white paint pen to add marks, then finished with splatters of gold acrylic ink.

I'm still doing the 31 Products Challenge, but at the moment I'm building up a page with different products daily, so I'll share the steps when it's finished.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison xox

365 Somethings & 31 Products Challenge

Hi Everyone! I'm back after a lovely week away in The Derbyshire Peaks. As well as lots of fab hiking, we got to spend time with our lovely children. And to top it all, the weather was amazing.

So today, I'm catching up with a couple of weeks of my 365 Somethings teabag art.

First of all, here's week 38. Jo of Let's Art Journal asked me if I had used washi tape on my teabags. I hadn't, so this is what I used on these ones. I added some book text, outlined with Posca paint pens also.

Next, here are my week 39 teabags. PaperArtsy's Topic 17 Colour Challenge is A Box of Eggs. I used Fresco Finish acrylic paint and Sara Naumann stamps.

Birgit Koopsen has set another challenge on Instagram called 31 Products Challenge. The idea is to use a different product every day in October. The first product I decided to use was Dina Wakley Scribble Sticks, and I used them on an art journal page.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison xox

365 Somethings 2018 - Week 37

Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend. I'm here today with my teabag art for Week 37 of the 365 Somethings Challenge.

I began these ones with a base of white Fresco acrylic paint, then some turquoise and green, all applied with my finger. Then I sponged black acrylic through a Seth Apter stencil, then applied crackle paste through a PaperArtsy stencil. I cut out some butterfly girls and hats, and used matte medium to adhere them. I finished with a black gel pen border and a base for the girls to stand on.

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison xox

365 Somethings 2018 - Teabag Art - Week 35

Hello Everyone!

As promised, I have another set of teabags to share today, and these are for week 35 of the 365 Somethings Challenge.

These teabags started with a coat of clear gesso, then I added some PaperArtsy Fresco Acrylic with my fingers. I used a plastic cross-stitch aida circle to add some white acrylic, then stamped with various PaperArtsy images (Tracy Scott & Darcy Marshall). I re-stamped the images onto gessoed music page, cut them out and glued in place. I added a little colour, then finished with a Tim Holtz word sticker.

Here are some close-ups of the different colour combinations. Which is your favourite?

Have a creative day,

Alison xox

New Job, A Fantasy Calendar, & Some Teabags

Hi Everyone!

It's been a bit quiet on the blog for a few weeks, but I'm finally back. We officially have an empty nest now! Our son moved up to Manchester two years ago, and our daughter, after 4 years of Uni, an 8 month SE Asia gap year, and just over a month back at home, has now moved up to Derby to live. She started her grad scheme job with Rolls Royce today, and here's the card I made to wish her good luck. The pearly embellishments came from a pair of sandals that she bought on her travels, and wore out!

Next, and I'm late with this one! It's my art journal calendar pages for September. I normally have an Autumnal theme for this month, but the warm weather is still here, so I made a Summery spread. Perhaps I can fantasise that the Summer will last forever, and link my spread to Yvonne's 'A World Of Fantasy' Challenge at Art Journal Journey?

And finally, a whole week late, I have my teabags for Week 34 of the 365 Somethings Challenge to share. I used foil transfers on these ones, stamped some script, added some Tim Holtz phrase stickers, then flicked some white paint. They're extra sparkly as they were still a bit sticky in places, so I added some fine glitter.

Well that's me nearly caught up. I'll be altering some teabags for my week 35 Somethings tomorrow, so watch this space.

Have a great week,

Alison xox

365 Teabag Somethings - Week 33

Hi Everyone!

Today I'm sharing my Week 33 teabag art for the 365 Somethings Challenge.

These ones were fairly simple, stamping with Dina Wakley stamps and Fresco Acrylic Paint, outlined with a fine black Posca paint pen, then finished with a Tim Holtz rub on. I really love the blue and brown combination.

Wishing you all a wonderful week,

Alison xox

365 Somethings - Week 32

Happy Monday Everyone!

Here are my latest collection of decorated teabags for IHanna's 365 Somethings Challenge.

I began with adding blue acrylic paint with my fingertip, then I used a Carabelle Studio background stamp with black archival ink. I stamped with white paint and Stampendous stamps, then finished with a word sticker mounted onto burlap. 

Wishing you all a creative day,

Alison xox

365 Somethings Week 31

Hi Everyone!

I'm going to quickly show you my slightly late 365 Somethings teabag art for week 31, as it's so hot sitting at this flipping laptop!

A scrap of book paper, some black acrylic paint, a scrap of teabag paper adhered over that, then some white paint pen marks and a little red paint pen heart added. Inspired by some art on Pinterest.

I'm off to find some cool evening air in the garden!

Alison xox