Welcome to today's Guest Designer, Nikki!

It's time to welcome today's Guest Designer, Nikki Acton of Addicted to Art! Nikki was the DT winner of the Winter Wishes challenge and was therefore invited to join us as a Guest Designer. Let's move on to hear from Nikki!

Hi everyone I am Nikki from Addicted to Art – it is a pleasure to be asked to be a guest at Frilly and Funkie. I live in Hampshire, England. I am currently not working but my past careers have been in Sales and Marketing and the charity sector. I have a cat called Frankie who, despite being slightly strange, is great company. I am afraid she is a bit of a one person cat and is terribly unfriendly to visitors which can be a little embarrassing! I enjoy crafting with others and love attending workshops and crops with friends. I am also fairly active playing badminton, running and going to the gym. I have been crafting and blogging for just over a year. However I have done different forms of art over the years from watercolour painting (badly) to very contemporary, conceptual art (sound and video). Discovering the freedom of mixed media, journaling and card making has completely got me hooked now and I can’t imagine life without it. I suspect I was definitely more of a Funkie than a Frilly last year but I seem to have embraced the frilliness a little more recently and was pleased to see the theme for this challenge.

I decided to make a little wall hanging and took a piece of hardboard measuring 20x10x0.5cm. I made sure I added a hanging device to the back and covered in gesso. I used paper artsy chalk paints on the wood and added some background stamping in archival. I stamped a wonderful lace stamp on some card and carefully ripped to fit my base and then added  some ink. I took some mesh and coated with Gesso and then Distress Paint to give it a variegated colour.

My flowers are made using Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die. I prepare my cardstock in advance by wetting and scrunching it up and leaving to dry. I then lightly ink over it – as the paper has been screwed up this highlights the lovely, subtle texture. Once complete I die cut various sizes and added a little more ink to the edges before creating my large flower and some smaller ones.

Some of my leaves were created in a similar way using the Garden Greens die and the individual ones were pre made and just inked by me. I added some lace, some pearl string and seam binding. Finally, I stamped one of Tim Holtz ‘Simple Sayings’ and carefully curled the card for added dimension on the project.

Wow Nikki, your project is stunning, thank you for sharing it with us ! I'm sure you'll agree that this has provided even more inspiration for the current challenge 'Winter Blooms'. 

Welcome to today's Guest Designer, Nikki!

Today is the day that we welcome our next Guest Designer, Nikki of A2A - Addicted to Art. Nikki was the DT's chosen winner from the 'Stencils and Texture' challenge. So, let's move on quickly to hear from Nikki and see what project she's sharing with us today.

Hi everyone, I am Nikki and I live in Hampshire, England. I work for my local hospice and apart from crafting enjoy sport, although my newly acquired crafting pursuits seem to be taking over! I started crafting just over 5 months ago after being introduced to it by a friend, when I popped to her house to borrow a Halloween costume! When the pupil is ready, the teacher appears.

Over the years I have explored art in different forms but was quite disillusioned and hadn't done anything for a few years. Seeing Cath's work and very healthy stash of goodies I was inspired! I love the vintage style, getting messy with inks and paints and exploring different techniques. It is a pleasure to be asked to be the Guest Designer at Frilly and Funkie and I hope you like my project.

When I was informed of the theme for my appearance as guest designer I was relieved! Time after Time or clocks is a topic I enjoy working with and more importantly I had some stamps and dies that fitted the subject. However it is quite daunting being a guest designer for the first time so I did feel a little under pressure at first – then I realised I can only do what I can do, so relaxed a little. I hope you enjoy my work.

I decided to make a wall hanging using a chipboard frame. The overall size is 10.25 x 8.25 inches with the aperture 7x5 inches. I wanted to age it so used Paper Artsy Fresco Finish paints and crackle glaze. It started off quite pale (stone), but I later made it darker adding Chocolate Pudding paint and Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

For the panel inside the frame I took some card and just starting adding various bits and pieces; old die cuts, stamped material, book pages etc. I realised this needed subduing a bit so added a watered down gesso wash and some subtle Paper Artsy paints to tone in with my embellishments. I die cut 3 clocks (Cheery Lynn Clock w/Angel wing) and proceeded to add more Fresco paints and finally some aged taupe embossing enamel. I then cut them up and added them to the border of the inside panel.My butterfly (also Cheery Lynn) was changed several times before I was happy with it – finally I just painted it with Chocolate Pudding and added UTEE.

 

I try to live my life each day and this is the message I wanted to convey, it is easy to make our happiness contingent on future events - when really all we have is today – so the time is now! ‘Live for the Moment’ was stamped on a book page distressed with walnut stain and mounted onto a piece of die cut corrugated cardboard which I painted, distressed and inked. I love my new Heartfelt Creations – Once upon a Time stamps – so I proceeded to stamp and die cut some clocks to embellish the frame. I treated them all differently with inking, paints, gilding, mica and embossing powders.

Many thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing all your creations.

Nikki

I'm sure you'll agree that Nikki's project is fantastic! It definitely gives you even more inspiration for the current challenge, 'Time After Time', and if you enter you too could be joining us as a Guest Designer.