a crazy little thing called Donna's CJ.....

It's circle journal time again - and what a joy to take my turn with Donna's most excellent desert island disc box:

Isn't she a beauty??

The premise of this CJ is slightly different to most of the others doing the rounds - instead of a book with pages, we have a box with little file folders for us to fill - and instead of choosing a song to "artify", Donna has done the choosing for us.

This worried me a little to start with, but as it turned out, the song I was allocated - Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen - was exactly the one I would have chosen for myself from what was left on the list, so all's well there.


Working on my entry kept me amused over a snowed-in weekend, I've had a lot of fun with it.



Here's my file folder / envelope thingy:

I've given Freddie some sparkly jewels in his crown, they suit him :)

Inside the envelope:
















The brown outer wrapper with the hearts on comes off to reveal my "crazy little thing called love" in all his glory:

Cute isn't he, in a slightly demented, evil-looking way :)  I drew him in India ink with a nib pen and coloured him in with watercolours.  There's Diamond Glaze on his eyes to make them nice and shiny but you can't really see that in the photo.

This part opens up to reveal some stamped lyrics from the song, and my little sign in tag/disc

<--------






















And on the back, a stitched double heart:

And here's all my bits together:

Like I said, it was an enjoyable one to pull together

But the fun didn't stop here, as this isn't just any old circle journal, this is a COLLABOR-ART circle journal (please don't sue me, Marks 'n' Sparks!) - so that meant I also had free licence to play with all the previous players' work..... I love this part :D

I added a "USA" button to Donna's Blondie entry, to go with her I <3 NY sticker:

For Sherry's tribute to a song by 'Louise and the Pins'?  What else but some colour co-ordinated safety pins?

<----







And finally, I couldn't resist adding a literal Primal Scream (aaaaaarrrrggghhhh!!!!!!) to Pam's rendition of the band's logo:

Archived: COLLABOR-ART FABRIC PRAYER FLAG Project

Signup by 8th February 2013
Posting Dates : 1/3/13, 29/3/13 and 26/4/13.
This is a freestyle collaborative art project.
For background and inspiration check out the Prayer Flag blog HERE .

No pictures, I'll let you enjoy a bit of googling for research and inspiration.

The idea is that the finished flags will be displayed outside so please consider this when working on your layer.  The base should be reasonably thick fabric, a heavy cotton/calico works well.  I can confirm acrylic paint works well as a base layer but does gently fade over time.  Plastic bags are great to use and sewn into the flags make a great waterproof finish.

The flags can be of any genre, spiritual/prayer like is NOT essential.  I was thinking more URBAN ART.

Each flag should measure 5 inches x 8 inches. The top inch should be minimally decorated, so if people want to fold it back to make a pocket with which to string it, they can.  There will be 3 layers  to complete the flags.  The one you start is NOT the one you'll get back.  If you want to do more than one please add your name to the list again.  I'll check  the list and mix it up a  bit if I think its necessary.

Please email the person below you on the list for address details etc.

So the plan is:
Month 1:  Cut out flag, 5x8, apply a base layer.  POST  1st March 2013
Month 2:  Embellish/add to the flag you received.  POST 29th MARCH 2013
Month 3:  Add the finishing touches to the flag you received. POST 26th APRIL 2013

Please make the flags WORD free.

Just to confirm 1 sign up means 1 flag.  I've tried to keep this as simple as possible, hope it all makes sense and everyone enjoys taking part.  You know the drill, add your name to the list below.

Lou x

Group1.
1. Lou aka Poshscot
2. Pam / Psychodiva
3. Sarah (Flo)
4. Pat

Group 2.
1 .Lou aka Poshscot
2. Pat
3. Sam (Luna)
4. Sarah (Flo)


Postings:

2nd posting 29th March   

Group 1:
Lou - posted 25/3 and 26/3 received from Pat
Pam -  
Sarah -  posted 27/3 and received from Pam 
Pat - posted to Lou 18/April

Group 2:
Lou - posted 25/3 29/3 received from Sarah
Pat -  posted to Sam 18/April
Sam - 
Sarah - posted 27/3 and received from Sami 


Final posting 26/4/13

Group1.
1. Lou aka Poshscot  rec'd from PAT Thank You
2. Pam / Psychodiva
3. Sarah (Flo) - posted final flag home to Pat 25/4, received from Pam 2/5
4. Pat - posted to Lou  Recd 27/4

Group 2.
1 .Lou aka Poshscot
2. Pat - posted to Sam  recd 27/4
3. Sam (Luna) - posted to Flo, received from Pat
4. Sarah (Flo) - received from Sam, posted final flag home to Lou 25/4

postcards

So here are the two postcards I received with just their backgrounds and these are now the finished product. 

They are now on their travels to their new owners.  

jean xx

These are the postcards as they arrived with Jean, having now completed my postcards that I received I think I know what I would have done different with these two bases - but everything in hindsight!  Thankfully Jean was able to work with the same

Virginia XXX

PURELY COLLAGE POSTCARDS

Good afternoon (evening or morning depending on when you read this).

This challenge definitely worked outside my normal comfort zone, I mean cutting up magazines is a norm, but no paint!!!! I mean NO PAINT!!!! After I'd got over that factor I battled with the bases and sent those onto Jean (which I haven't blogged as I'm assuming she will in due course) not quite sure I had done what I was supposed to but they were sent.  However, I wasn't the only one feeling a little out of their comfort zone as the post-it note from Sam who sent the bases to me proved!  However, she really shouldn't have worried - fabulous bases to work with!

These are the two as received from Sam, lovely and bright with fabulous perspective on this one!

And loving the sparkly sky on this one!

And here are they are finished (after fighting with them) this is the one sent to Jean

And this one to Sarah, who indicated that she liked the discworld look of it, partly intentional when I cut out the turtle but struggled to find four mini elephants for its back, so decided on fish in the sky instead!

I liked the leaf on this one, I found it already with the London skyline cut out of it.  I almost added a car, but it seemed a step too far - so left it as is and Sarah said she liked it which made me very happy because like I said I struggled with this challenge!

Introducing Clare with paint in her hair

Hi everyone I am Clare, mostly know as Gotpaintinmyhair. If I am a member of it I will always be under this name. I am almost 35 and live in West Yorkshire with my fellah and 4 rescue kitties that are now almost 7 years old. I found them abandoned by their mother and starving, they were about 4 days old then. I am the property manager for my Mum's factory and land, sounds glamorous but it really isn't! I also run her caravan and camping club certified campsite.

Art wise I am very much a mixed media assemblage sort of person, though I don't get time to do as much for me as I would like. I am one of the oldest serving design team member's for IndigoBlu stamps and will soon have a stamp line of my own coming out with them. I make samples for them for craft shows and Create & Craft TV. For the past week I have been up to my eyeballs in samples for CHA that I can't show yet until they have been made public.

I don't really have much art to show right now but here are a couple of older things.

Left is after altering right one is before

You can find me at

Blog:  http://gotpaintinmyhair.blogspot.co.uk/
Youtube:  www.youtube.com/user/Gotpaintinmyhair
Ustream:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/got-paint-in-my-hair
ETSY:    http://www.etsy.com/shop/Gotpaintinmyhair

New Facebook group

I think most of you have already discovered or been invited to the new Collabor-ART  Facebook group, but if not, here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/539328606079991/

This blog format doesn't really lend itself to chitter chatter, so the Facebook group gives us a better environment to talk about the various projects we are involved in on the site, or would like to see in the future - and just to get to know each other a bit more

Please do come and join us there if you haven't already :)

Sian & Nigel's Pair Journal

Here's my latest entry into "Attitude" which is my half of the Nigel/Sian Pair Journal. Attitude is what is says - a journal filled with examples of people or events that kick ass!

I have a suffragette memorabilia pack which I used for these pages. I admire the courage of these women and am grateful today for what they did back then! Nigel should receive it soon :o) TFL - Sian