Post credit cut scene.

All decent scifi/superhero film has a cut scene at the end of the millions of credits that feel like they go on for a fortnight? in good tradition here is ours....

the credits are really all just about money... and following sad passing of Leonard Nemoy, the geek in me found joy at the request from the Canadian bank asking people to stop spockifying the $5 notes. the rebel in me had to just have a go.... printed the notes in full colour, drew on the rough outline and then coloured in with fineliner - not as good as some, but will look nice in a UFO somewhere.

have a go yourself, although I haven't managed to figure out how to mess with the UK notes yet,  so for the moment I just keep searching for more inspiration. Check out these 

INTERNATIONAL DAYS:  Yesterday was international superman day and in his honour I created these little cards, for a time I was addicted to creating 6 word story round ups on my favourite movies/superheros so these cards will be getting added to the collection.

just an hour or so work, mainly used waiting for things to dry, first draw out the logo very lightly, and paint with my favourite tool the drawing gum, leave to dry, and then lightly roughen up in some places so there are no perfect lines.  sprayed dylusion inks on a glass mat with some water and slapped the paper down right over the top. leave to dry.  then rub off the drawing gum and sketch out your superhero. colour in with a black pen and KAPOW a mini watercolour effect card.

GIVEAWAY NEWS!!  

finally I get to tell you who won...

 just to let you know Lou has picked the winners as: 

Sarah Harris: Slaughter house 5

Emily Kate:  Loki

Frances Wybrow: Discworld Chunky

all that is left is to thank everyone for taking part, its been wonderful to see the beautiful art that is being created in all its different guises    

and to know in this mighty big world, universe, and ether we are not alone.

I'll post this on FB and contact the winners directly for a £10 voucher of their choice from either Country View Crafts or Art from the Heart.

let us know if you have any ideas of any interesting 'days' coming up and we;ll see if we can do a project to match, and I'm sure we'll be back long before Halloween.

Laugh, love, live long and prosper.

jas x

LOC #80 upcycle/recylcle

Hello

Sadly this is our last LOC lay out for a while as other personal commitments have meant we're leaving them, but that doesn't mean you can't still play with them on their weekly challenge site.

with it being scifi month I went with this image  from Oddball art company she's a cute little believer that wants to be taken away.

The recycle bit comes from using cardboard from a beer box which I painted roughly in silver,  I then splatted some drawing gum on it and painted over it again with a mixture of violet and paynes grey (currently my favourite colour of all time) once its all dry, just rub over with a soft cloth and all the tiny splatters come away to give a very busy galaxy effect - helped a little bit with some teeny tiny stars.

I upcycled some metal self adhesive tape from the DIY store (thank you Chris!) and turned it into the Moon and Earth by dry embossing (using an tiny embossing tool) the design from the back and front to make the craters stand out,  then colouring with some black posca, I did the same with the earth but used glass paint to make the colours shine.. I also cut out a flying saucer but for the life of me can't find it, so that will have to be added later.

The lady herself I coloured with my usual watered down crayola pens, added the odd hint of metallic pen to give her boots and goggles a space feel.

finally stencilled the wording with silver paint and ran around the letters with a pen to make them seem more joined up.

Don't forget, there is only a day to share your sci-fi/geeky/fantasy creations here or on our facebook group for a chance to win crafty vouchers worth real money.

jaz x 

Loc #79 Lacy sunshine

Hello

Well this little sweetie was just too good to miss with it being sci-fi month, he's from Lacy sunshine and he's called Sleepytime Danni. Part of the challenge was to only use black white and one other colour, so purple it is.

I used the gesso technique I highlighted during my last 'thats still no moon' scifi post. added a cute dragonish comment. coloured with my usual crayola pens and added glitter.

Don't forget there's still time to participate in our craft vouchers giveaway - we've extended the deadline an extra week and have finally had some entries.. there is a fb thread where you can post your entries or you can add a link to your work here

its still scifi May month and I can't wait to see what Rebecca has up her sleeve for us this weekend

Have a good one

Jas x

scifi month continues or aye aye, thats still no moon!

Olo...

With international yarn bombing day less than a month away - 11 June 15 don't cha know - I thought it was time I got my act in gear,

My crocheting seems to have picked up the pace a bit since I started with my monsters around Feb. and since then I've done a couple of sci-fi related items.

The latest of which is my Death Star cushion

Left: First death star pre Kaboom right: second half built effect DS, on either side of the cushion.

 As much fun you can have with 2 balls of metallic silver wool from the £1 shop, (I probably would have used less if didn't double up so it doesn't end up holey,) this pattern, a 4.5mm hook and a few hours.

I also made my first crocheted surprise gift for a friend who had seen this dude on fb and fell in love, this pattern was from here

and finally as a birthday pressie how about the beautiful baymax from big hero 6. I challenge anyone to watch it and not cry. 

As I've been having so much fun I have 3 mini crochets to give away, a Marvin (from HHGTTG) head, a Baymax head, and a teeny tiny baby death star like this one:

all you have to do is leave a comment here or on our FB page for a chance to win. 

And talking of winning it seems like everyone has forgotten about the chance to win real craft vouchers from either Art from the Heart or Country View Crafts.  Meaning you've an even better chance of winning :)  

We honestly couldn't make it any easier, any project with any thing remotely not real, is in with a chance, show us your myths, monsters, or magical beasts, space, superheros and everything in between before midnight on the 25th May.

Talking of mythical beasts, I'm taking part in a tunnel book and themed mine around the Discworld.

This is how it looked setting off

the cover isn't as detailed as it should be but I was worried it might get damaged a bit as it circles the country so I plan to finish it off on its return.

as you can see lurking at the back of the book is an eye, I wanted it to be a bit like a dragon so I dragged out my new favourite stamp (creative expressions), flooded it with a couple of layers of gesso and left it to dry for a couple of days.  Once it had well and truly dried I gently peeled it off the stamp, and was left with a sheet of flexible embellishment, hopefully resembling dragon scales.

I added a bit paynes grey acrylic, dusted heavily with mica, painted some varigated blue gold leaf to create the shine in the eye, added a cabachon and fabric for an eyelid and voila:

I wonder what stamps you have that would make fabulous gesso embellishments?

pop back next week to see what else we've been up to and thanks for looking

Jas x

An Ininkz Link-up

LOC That craft place

Hi All

Emergency creation of this lovely lady from the craft place... the challenge title was bling it up, and although she doesn't have copious amounts of glitter or gems, she does a have more than a little sparkle and a whole lot of shine. and comes alive under a flash !!

the background was painted with gold acrylic, and then was sponged through a stencil with a mixture of copper and paynes grey.

I then drew the very rough panelling and studs on the background with a copper posca. she was coloured in with my trusty crayola pens and a little bit of water. and lots of metallic gel pens.

no one on LOC quite knows who was supposed to be doing her, but i had fun and glad to have her in my collection.

join us again tomorrow for more fun with scifi. and don't forget to upload your makes for a chance to win vouchers - with non yet uploaded you have a decent chance of winning.  You can now use this link up tool to participate.

stay shiny

jas x

They're HERE....

The first post to welcome you to the start of scifi month. oooooweeeeooooo.

Where we are celebrating a host of things scifi related in some (possibly vague) way.

This month I've been making some bleached t-shirts - using some very cheap cotton tees.

This is my favourite of the bunch, a silhouette of serenity from firefly sailing?!? into the universe. and away from the word 'shiny' in circular Gallifreyan. Total geek overload, but I like it.

So grab your sticky backed plastic, a spray bottle of diluted Milton *other bleach products are available, a smidge of imagination. and join me while I have an absolute ball.

Firstly get an idea of the design you want to create (game of thrones vs starwars design for example) - or use someone elses (with permission) in my case from my brother.  Adjust the contrast so you just end up with a stark version and print it out in mirror image.  Stick your image loosely to the paper side of your sticky back plastic *this means when you cut it out to stick on its the right way around. and start cutting.

As this had wording, and I wanted to keep it correctly spaced, I laid some scruffed up masking tape (so its not very sticky) on the image and put my lettering down on top of it... then peeled away the paper backing and stuck it to my t shirt. I used a sheet of cardboard from a box down the middle so it lies flat, and so I didn't accidentally bleach all the way through.

Once I'm happy with the positioning, and everything is well stuck down, I very carefully unpeeled the masking tape leaving the plastic firmly stuck in place.  filling a mini spray bottle with clean water *mines about 40 mls, and dropped in some bleach, for my black tops I ended up using a full tablet of milton per the 40mls, but for the other coloured tops below it was around 3/4 of a tablet, you really just have to spray and leave it for a bit to see if you have it strong enough, however if you're using a strong liquid bleach no more than 50/50 mix. will do the trick.

when spraying use some kitchen towel to dab away any access puddling on the plastic, then wait, and wait and wait a little more and finally:  Ta dah..

as soon as you are happy with the colouring, remove the plastic and the cardboard and drop it in some cold water to deactivate the bleach. rinse it through and put it in the washer on its own or only with other bleached items for the first wash. then dry and wear.

I've also made these harry potter esq tshirts

 the mischief managed design is in the bottom right corner on the back of the I solemnly swear tee.

and as I was careful in cutting out the letters for the above design, I was able to line them back up again using the masking tape trick and transferred the whole negative image of the design onto a second tshirt. 2 different looks for the same amount of work.

Finally I have a Dr who weeping angel design ready to stick. but I can't for the life of me find the tshirt its going on... if you've any idea where it's hiding drop us a line either here or on facebook. 

Also remember to show us your project* for a chance to win real life craft vouchers. (*see previous posts or facebook for terms)  You can now use this link up tool to participate.

Stay shiny

Jas x 

Scifi month is nearly here... the excitement builds. or is that just me?

So here are some of the details we've been promising,
Allegedly May is a big month in the scifi world, you have May the force forth, at the beginning and international towel day (HHGTTG) & discworld/Terry Pratchett day on the 25th. To help celebrate these events and just the month of May in general, every weekend one of us Weirdies will be posting something with a nod to the genre.

I'm sure we can come up with plenty to pique your interest, with something for everyone from a hardcore fan to someone with no scooby at all, and even more thrilling than the usual odd (or is that odd usual?) give away we will also be running a challenge with
real life crafty vouchers to be won!!! 

To be in with a chance to win we want to see any sci-fi* related things you've made, post them to our FB page or link up to the new inlinks tool any time between 12.01am May 4th and 11.59pm May 30th, and we'll announce a winner on May 30th.
*Rules:
It has to have something 'other worldly' whether that be mermaids, monsters, mythical creatures, be it star wars to star trek and everything in between, general fantasy, space related, vampires, steampunk, superheroes or just generally geeky - in the true spirit of the genre everyone is welcome..

You can either play along with us and have a go at something we've inspired you to create or even show us something you've already made...but as to what you make - the sky is no longer the limit.

Come join the fun and stay shiny

Jas x

enough said for now... talk about a teaser. :)

LOC good/bad luck #69

This week at Left of Centre Challenge blog the digital stamp sponsor is meljens designs, I picked bad-spell to go in with a good luck/bad luck theme. you should check out the designs as shes having a closing down sale..

Its and 8x8 card base, and is made using caught in crystal effect using floor polish, mica paints/powders against acetate and a tissue - i had great fun playing. 

shes coloured using waterbased childrens pens and a water brush, topped with glitter glue.

we're also making 6 word story ATC, this is my version of the frog prince, with the same background, I chopped off the wizard hat and replaced with a crown charm.

the above image is the same ATC photographed without and with a flash, this shows the depth of colour and shine/sparkle hidden in the mica.

its a really fun technique although i would definitely open a window or too..

The theme over at LOC is good or bad luck, why not have a play and enter one of your pieces, you don't have to use a stamp from the sponsor, in fact, you don't need to use a stamp at all, check out the other entries for inspiration and have fun.

thanks for looking, 

jas x 

unloved monster

Hi All

I've been watching too much craft tv and there seems to be an upsurge in crochet on there so I decided to give it a whirl.  I've never so much as picked up a needle before, but very quickly got bored with making little squares, within a day I'd found this cuties pattern and a couple of youtube videos, around 50g of DK wool a 4.5mm hook for him and 3.5 for the eyes and days later I have this little fella.

 looking at the pattern site now I've gone a bit rogue with the ear placings and the tooth is a bit big but all the better to eat me with.

 Twerking it by the looks of how shaky the pic is, but he wanted to show off his tail.

the eyes I adjusted from a pattern here: the blog makes 3 different disks which you sew on top of each other, but they were too bulky and didn't look right with him being so small, so I just did them as one continuous circle, changing the colours as I went, 

when I stuffed him he didn't like sitting down, so i made a food free version of a beanbag, heavier than a polystyrene one, and stuffed it in his bum, he now sits and keeps me company.

Hope you like him and enjoy the rest of your weekend

Jas x

Say it with ceramic giveaway

Hi all

Recently there was a plea from Sarah - our friend at Free Art Friday, Swindon for more artwork including some that could go out this weekend.

I've been playing with some glass/ceramic paints lately and found some bargain tiles, add those with a dash of stencil playing and mwah a plethora of heart and love festooned pieces to give away.

I measured up my tile and printed out the wording I wanted, adhering some lightly sticky backed plastic I had lying around to the tile and traced the design onto it.

being very careful with my very sharp scalpel I cut out the design, slowly peeling away the letters as I went, tiding any nicks or edges. 

Then using a cut up pan sponge, I stippled my pebeo vitrail paints in rose and red/gold on the white tile, the fantasy moon paint on the black, peeling away the plastic as soon as it was fully covered - Don't wait until it dries, don't attempt a second coat.

Ta'dah finished tile - now these will stand up to a gentle washing and drying but probably can't be used as a regular coaster, if I was wanting repeated use I would give it a quick coat of resin to protect it.

a just because gift for a friend, stippled greengold vitrail paint with 'I heart brains/zombies' depending on how your thoughts are leaning that day..

Because I have a few spare tiles left, in case you can't get to Swindon or manage to find one when you're there, I'm offering a bespoke giveaway, 

by my counts there are 6 designs in 4 colour ways, add a comment to here or on our FB page for a chance to win your choice.. 

whether you say something nice or just what colour/design you want by 12.pm Thursday 19th, the winner will be announced in Friday 20ths LOC post.

Enjoy your weekend and keep an eye out for more un/loved up posts

Jas x 

Left of Center weekly challenge #63

And another couple from Jas for the lovely Left of Center using stamps from Lacy Sunshine.  I love them both but I am particularly digging the barbed wire one. The quote and what she's done with the skirt are a perfect marriage.

the backgrounds were created using Tim Holtz layed stencil gothic, and modeling paste, one all over in a uniform way, pattern matching as she went, painted with watered black acrylic and then rubbed over with bronze. secondly the stencil was used in patches, painted with emulsion paint in dusky plum, dry brushed in grey, sanded over then again rubbed over with bronze acrylic.

both images were painted with watered down crayola pens.

Well, that's all for now but we will be back soon with some Valentine's specials.

Take care.

Bex

LOC Weekly challenge

Hi

Just a quick post from me, as I'm a last minute substitute for Rebecca.

This week is sponsored by www.Bugaboostamps.com with the theme for kids.  This stamp is called Skelekinz cupcake stroller, although in my defence I didn't know that when I printed it, and I thought they looked more like ice creams oops.

Background paper is an old basic grey in bubblegum pink, I lightly painted some glitter paste on to some bubble wrap to 'print' a spotty sparkly background, and brushed some grey emulsion around the edges.

Next I printed the image in different sizes and flipped a couple so that I could have extra ice creams dotted about,

and I found the quote on my pc from a previous etsy purchase here.

thank you for looking and bye for now.

Jas x

LOC weekly challenge

Hello and happy new year from me,

Sorry I haven't been around for a while but this is my first LOC challenge and its good to be back.

This weeks theme was animal instinct from the oddball art company, and I couldn't resist this little fella.

I created 2 layouts, both using hand cut stencils, using heavy weight acetate I printed and cut my designs to fit.

coloured in the backgrounds, added some sparkle and embossing, a quote or two and created these two cheeky chappies.

Not very left of centre but just enough weird to qualify.

thanks for joining me,

jas x

Lights Part II & gift ideas.

Hello

Just a quick post from Me before Rebecca takes to the stage at 4.

Yesterday I turned a tea light, doll parts and some vellum into a lamp, well finally my second attempt is dry enough to share.

Going back to the base idea of using a solar powered light I used a glowing globe as my base to create a nod to my favourite seasonal film, and this iconic image from Tim Burton's A Nightmare before Christmas.

starting with the top of the globes I drew around the top of a cup to create the moon shape, and drew the swirl.

Once I was happy with the shape I used my Pebeo Vitrail paints in transparent white for the moon, parma for the swirl, deep blue for the sky. leaving it to dry between layers

once dry I used Posca to draw Jack and Sally, add the snow effect, finally adding Rock candy stickles.  Putting them back together and letting them glow. 

I've also been busy getting Christmas presents ready, including making t-shirts of quotes or sayings we've used during the year as pyjama tops or Christmas jumpers. 

This year for me is a SANTA IS REAL hotfix glitter fabric t-shirt. 

and

Last years gift made with printed t-shirt transfer paper.

It's a personal alternative for the traditional Christmas Eve Pjs.

I am entering this into the Corrosive Challenge Blog for anything goes.

This is entered into the Altered Eclectics Challenge for the countdown to Christmas.

Thank you for looking and come back later to see what Bex has in store. 

Merry Christmas Jas x 

Let there be lights...

Ollo and Seasons Greetings, Welcome to the Weird Scissors Christmas Weekender.

For me I wonder what Christmas would be without lights and corny films? so I had a go at joining them together and created a lamp/light as a nod to a favourite Christmas film,

I first mulled over this idea after seeing this project:

North pole sign solar light

And although a neat idea its just a bit 'normal' for my tastes. I picked my Mam's favourite and created my own take on 'the' lamp from the beloved film A Christmas Story,

If you haven't seen the film, its a must! A heart-warming tale of a boy who only wants a bb gun for Christmas. I admit it's been years since I last watched it but it's one that has stayed with us and is mentioned regularly in this house, especially when any fragile parcels arrive.

I don't want to go into lots of detail and spoil the plot for those that haven't seen it yet, but essentially at some point a parcel arrives in a massive crate and out comes a lamp.

Take a doll, Paint shoe black if not already, remove a leg or two.  Using a hacksaw remove hip joint if necessary.

using a very fine permanent marker create fishnet style design on the leg.

Cut out 2 discs for the stand, one around a centimetre smaller than the other and 2 disks of foam the smaller size. draw around the sole of the shoe in the smaller cardboard disks and one of the foam ones, this is so you can push and glue the shoe into the base to give it stability.

Glue shoe to leg and leg to a sturdy circle base. 

Re-purpose a yoghurt carton (oh that sounds so blue peter!) and measure your paper shade, 

 while the leg is drying, cut out your shade shape from a thick velum, and attach frill and glue the pot to the top of the leg.  

when every things dry drop in a battery tea light, prop the shade on the top and let there be lights!

Heres the original, 

What do you think?? What shape will your new lamp be??

Feel free to leave a comment on the blog or on our facebook page for a chance to win.

This is entered into the Altered Eclectics Challenge for the countdown to Christmas.

Have fun, and be sure to check out the blog later today and tomorrow, and if I'm not around before then Merry Christmas and all the best for a healthy and Happy new year.

Jas x 

Floods, spoilers and even more to give away!!

Hello there!!

Well like buses you wait ages for one post and two come along all at once :)

A little while ago I mentioned Scott Wong's flood the streets with art part II on our face book group, asking if any of you lovelies out there were participating. If you have, please share with us on the Weird Scissors FB page so we can see what you were up to..

Here's mine:

Ode to Neverland, 5x7 dylusions painted background, glitter paste, image transfer of the Newcastle skyline silhouette.
My take on a firstcovers.com image.

These are a couple made with some of my favourite new paints.
This one:

Ode to Cinders,  5x7 canvas board, deep blue glass paint and lightening medium, with sand 'Moon' Paint, Gold foiling done with gedeo Mixtion relief.  Lashings of encased glitter with ' a dream is a wish your heart makes' quote.

I had the best afternoon playing with the different effects you get when you add the vitrail and moon paint together:

Starting with a blank 5x7 canvas board, I outlined my main silhouettes and painted them in Paynes grey. Using the Pebeo Vitrails paint (I only mention the name as I don't know if this technique works with other glass paints - I am NOT on commission, mores the pity :) ) in deep blue, parma, rose and turquoise, along with lashings of the lightening medium I painted the 'background' over the top.

Next while it was all still wet, I used the Pebeo Moon paint -in sand- and using a pin I pushed tiny little drops into the already painted background (see the first image). I left it to dry overnight and when I returned the tiny pin drops had spread out and mixed into the surrounding paint, the bigger the drop the wider the spread, really easy but quite effective. (see second picture) I almost wish I had risked doing more as in the overall image some of this is lost, but now I know for next time.  Once it was completely dry, as I didn't want the next bit to mingle, and summoning my inner Klimt, I went in again with the moon paint adding the odd rectangles over the top, and lastly after adding the quote in Posca I added the Gedeo Mixtion relief over the wording and some of the moon paint.

to create this : a Tangled ode.

You will have to forgive my photography skills it really isn't showing the mirror foiling to its fullest, it really is shiny...

My last art litter is one for the boys and geeks of all denominations, its a print of one of MessyPanda's designs, with permission and added glitter. :)

SPOILERS - All of the weird scissors will be celebrating the festive season with a weekend of twisted Christmas fun on the 6th and 7th December, accompanied by the new regular Left of Centre posts on a Friday.

GIVE AWAY - because I was playing with these new paints and I wasn't sure how they were going to end up I created multiples, rather than leave them out and about as I can't go that far, I'm offering to put one of each in a draw and I'll even let you pick which one,

Leave a comment on here or on our FB page by midnight 7th December, including which one/s you would be prepared to give a home too (Neverland, Cinderella, Tangled or Starwars) and if we end up with more than one request for the same one I'll draw names out of a hat. Winners will be drawn and notified on Monday 8th December 2014,