Monday 29 June 2015

I've been busy

My word - it feels like forever since I blogged!

I've been really busy planning 3 new classes for His Kingdom Come on altered books.

I'll be giving more information in the next couple of weeks but I didn't want my wonderful readers to think I had forgotten them.  So for now here is a preview of the classes.


And here's a page from my finished book.  The theme of the book is The Promised Land and is based on Deuteronomy 8:7-8 

Such fun to make.

Come back to find out more.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice


Saturday 20 June 2015

His Kingdom Come Blog Hop

Welcome to a very exciting blog hop. Today His Kingdom Come is celebrating the launch of a brand new Faithart stencil & mask line “Praise Him” designed by Diane Marra.

His Kingdom Come has created tools to draw you into God’s presence and lead you deeper into creative living. Faithart tools help us create art with the intention of connecting with God.

His Kingdom Come faithart tools help you exercise the artistic gifts God has bestowed upon each of us. These faithart tools allow you to work together with God to discover the creative, holy and abundant faithart He has placed upon your heart! Join His Kingdom Come in creative expressions of faith!

His Kingdom Come showcases faithart products designed by Christian artists who know and love God and are passionate about sharing their faithart! Our faithart product includes canvas ephemera, stamps, stencils/masks and Thermofax screens.

A team of talented HKC artists have come together to launch these exciting new stencils & masks. This blog hop is your chance to get to see how these artists have used them in their faithart.

It doesn’t matter where you start within the blog hop. Or you can start at the beginning at His Kingdom Come. Each blog has the complete list of participants.

His Kingdom Come
Diane Marra
Penny Bragg
Pearl Brown
Bernice Hopper - that's me!
Mary Brack
Kathy Shaull
Tricia Berg
Paula Parkison
Shonna Bucaroff

As you visit each blog you will be given a letter eg. D. When you have collected all the letters they will make a word. When you have worked out the word email Bernice with the word. We will randomly choose 4 people who have the correct answer to win a free stencil of their choice. All entries must arrive by Noon (Pacific time) on Tuesday 23rd June.

The letter to collect from my blog is E.

I used the digital version of Praise the Lord.   The mask from the Praise the Lord stencil & masks set will also work for this technique.

I downloaded it and printed it onto copy paper and then cut out the image.

In my journal I took my pen for a walk - that's right just like when we were kids!  Then I painted one colour of paint in various places.  You could if you wanted to doodle in the shapes before you add the paint.

I used Dylusions Acrylic Paint.  You could use any acrylic paint or use inks.   I added a second colour and then a third one.

And then some pink and some turquoise.  By doing one colour at a time they had time to dry so I didn't get mud when I painted colours next to each other.

I placed my cut out image (or you can use the mask if you have it) and held it down.

I brushed black paint from the paper image onto my journal page.  By brushing the paint from the image it ensured that the paper didn't move.

I peeled off the painted paper and turned it over and pressed it onto the other page.

At this point I could have taken a wet wipe and pull the black paint across the page so that some of the coloured background still showed.  But I decided to paint the whole thing black.

I used a white Signo pen and a Dylusions Journal Block to draw wavy lines around the page to make a border.

I drew lines inside the wavy lines.  They probably need to be gone over again!  Then I drew some more wavy lines with the Journal block and wrote out Psalm 100:4.   I used some Screen Painting paint that comes in a tube to put dots between the words.  I could have used Stickles instead.
I could doodle on the figure with a black pen or add doodles to the border at a later time.


We hope you are as excited as we are about this new product line from His Kingdom Come, an online creative community, a place where you can find encouragement, share your heart and receive prayer and inspiration!

To join our community please visit His Kingdom Come

Prize winners will be announced on the His Kingdom Come Blog on Wednesday 24th June.

Thanks for stopping by
Bernice

Wednesday 17 June 2015

Creative Hearts Awake pt 2

In no particular order!  As I said yesterday I am blogging about the conference in no particular order.

On Sunday morning we had Forest Church.  Those of you who have primary school age children in the UK will probably know about Forest School.  Well, it was like that but on a Sunday!  It was announced as a playing games type session.  But you didn't have to join in if you didn't want to.

So I was at my Eeyor-ish best
and didn't join in!
 
I watched from the sidelines.

Actually, if they had been described as activities rather than games I might possibly have joined in.  Forest Church took place in Walkden Gardens which was a real mix of formal and informal and I wandered around taking photos.  Which, as you know, is something I really enjoy.  So here are some of them.










These last two photos are of Karl Fletcher painting the foxglove.

Do you ever have church in the open air?

Do you join in with games?

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice
 
 
 





Tuesday 16 June 2015

Creative Hearts Awake

At the weekend I went to a conference in Sale, Cheshire.  It was called Creative Hearts Awake - releasing the gift of creativity.  While I was there I met up with some other members of His Kingdom Come - Carolyn, Sarah & Karen.  Fran was there too but not when we took the photo!

I think there will probably be more than one blog post about it but they won't be in the order of the conference timetable.

On Saturday afternoon I went to a Creative Writing workshop led by Tim Watson.   He talked about poetry and we worked our way through a short booklet he had put together and then got down to writing.

I have written some poetry in the past but then stopped.  Recently I have felt that I should start again but just didn't know where to start.  Of course the answer is to just do it but that didn't happen.  I needed a kick start and Tim provided it.

After the four of us taking part in the workshop had done an exercise together we were given half an hour to take one of the other exercises and write something.  I was planning to come back early on Sunday because I wanted to be at church to hear Rob preach on Honour - the first part of 5 weeks on the Culture of Jubilee Church.

And before I hear what Rob had to say I wanted to write something about the 5 words that we are using to describe the culture of the church: Honour, Courage, Authenticity, Passion and Family.  Here is what I wrote:

Jubilee. Jubilate!

Honour.
Bring honour to your name.
Bring honour to your people.
Respect. Love.
Support. Encourage.
Hold in high esteem.
Release the gifts. The spiritual gifts.
Release the talents and the skills.


Jubilee. Jubilate!
Rejoice before our God.
Jubilee. Jubilate!
Take our joy to the people.
Take our God from the confines of the church
Reveal him in the marketplace.
Rejoice.

Courage.
Risk taking. Stepping out.
Speak.
Find my voice.
Speak out.
Go to the town.
Go to the nation.
Go to the world.
Pray.
Pray risky prayers.
Jubilee. Jubilate!
Rejoice before our God.

Jubilee. Jubilate!
Take our joy to the people.
Take our God from the confines of the church
Reveal him in the marketplace.
Rejoice.

Authenticity
Being me.
Accepting me for who I am
Made in the image of God.
Accepting you for who you are
Made in the image of God.
Each different.
Accepting one another.
Living transparent lives.
Encouraging one another
Helping one another
One anothering.
Iron sharpens iron.
No shame. Just truthful lives
Jubilee. Jubilate!
Rejoice before our God.

Jubilee. Jubilate!
Take our joy to the people.
Take our God from the confines of the church
Reveal him in the marketplace.
Rejoice.

Passion
Kingdom
Kingdom of Heaven
Kingdom values here on earth.
Wholeheartedly.
Wholeheartedness.
Pursue. Pursuit.
Run after God.

Jubilee. Jubilate!
Rejoice before our God.
Jubilee. Jubilate!
Take our joy to the people.
Take our God from the confines of the church
Reveal him in the marketplace.
Rejoice.

Family
People joined together by our love of God.
Not nuclear.
Not 2.4 children.
A body of people together.
A tribe. A village.
Single. Married. Divorced. Brothers. Sisters.
Children.
Related by blood.
Christ's blood.

Jubilee. Jubilate!
Rejoice before our God.
Jubilee. Jubilate!
Take our joy to the people.
Take our God from the confines of the church
Reveal him in the marketplace.
Rejoice!

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

 

Saturday 6 June 2015

The 2015 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt: The List!

Last year I took part in Rinda's Photo Scavenger Hunt.

At the beginning of the week Rinda launch this year's hunt.

There's only two rules to remember: no submitting photographs taken before the start of the Hunt (June 1st) and have fun.

I've copied Rinda's list here - perhaps I'll join in earlier than I usually do.

1. A bouquet of flowers
2. An ornate door knocker
3. A person walking a dog (or other animal)
4. People playing a board game or card game
5. Architectural columns
6. A metal bridge
7. A turtle
8. Someone "plugged in" to social media
9. A tent
10. A college or university
11. A cellular tower or television satellite dish
12. A public restroom, bathroom, or toilet
13. A merry-go-round or carousel
14. A traffic signal
15. A flag pole with at least three flags on it
16. A panoramic view, taken while standing someplace high in the air
17. At least two people wearing matching outfits or uniforms
18. An overloaded truck, car, bicycle or other vehicle
19. A ticket booth
20. A natural body of water
21. A photograph of you with a sign reading "2015 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt". Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.
If you find something on the list too difficult, you may substitute one of the following items for any one item on the list, except for Item #21:
Alternative A: People eating outside
Alternative B: Someone holding an umbrella
Alternative C: A rocking chair

Check out Rinda's blog to find out the full details.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice


Thursday 4 June 2015

How to personalise commercial stencils and Thermofax screens.

This is the full tutorial that was feature on Create Mixed Media but with bigger photos.

Introduction:
Adding texture to pages with modeling paste is a really easy way to personalise a commercial stencil. Pick a section of the stencil that you really like, rather than using the whole image. The resulting page looks more as though it’s mine than the stencil designer’s.

I like to use lots of different techniques on my pages. I first learned to use a Thermofax screen with fabric paint on cloth. It is an easy form of screen-printing. It is a simple technique to transfer an image and you can have your own images created as a screen if you wish. I really liked how simple it is to do and how clear the printed image is on the fabric. It seemed obvious to try using artist’s acrylic paint and the Thermofax screen on paper and in my journal.


Materials list:
Substrate, pencil, gesso, modeling paste, plastic knife, stencil, acrylic paints, Thermofax screen, spreader (old credit card), Distress Inks, blending tools, cutter or scissors, pen, glue – I used Matte Medium. If you don’t own a Thermofax screen you could use a large stamp or maybe a stencil.

This journal page was inspired by a class I am collaborating on with 4 others called Faithart 101 at His Kingdom Come. The inspiration for each Creatives work is Psalm 139:23-24 and we have each produced a piece of work in our particular style.

1. Once you have gathered together all your supplies, start by journaling with a pencil on your page. You could use a waterproof pen if you wish. If you don’t like your writing (and who does?), covering it up as we will do, is a good way to express your thoughts without the writing being visible on the finished page. Put a thin layer of gesso over the whole page. If you don’t want your writing to show too much you need to put a little more gesso on. If you feel you’ve out too much gesso on, wipe some off with a wet wipe.


2. Choose where to put your stencil on the page. In the photo I have put it over the whole page but I only intend to put the modeling paste in certain areas. Using a plastic knife spread the modeling paste through small areas of the stencil. I don’t clean my stencils properly when I have used them and the modeling paste picked up the spray ink that was on the stencil.


3. When I removed the stencil the pink was rather too bright so I washed my stencil and dried it. I put it back over the page and scraped a very thin layer of modeling paste back over the pink layer. When the modeling paste has dried brush on a thin layer of acrylic paint. I used two colours – a pale blue and a pale green.


4. The Thermofax screen is made with a special material and the image is burned onto it. The ink will only go through the area that has been burned. Put the screen onto your page where you want to print.

Put a small amount of acrylic paint at the top of the screen and use a spreader to drag the paint down across the image.


I used an old credit card as a spreader.



This is the result of the first print on the left. I used black acrylic paint because adding black to a page makes everything ‘pop’. Move the screen a little and scrape some more paint across the screen. Wash the paint off the screen with warm water. Dry the screen before you use it again.


6. Using the same screen (now dried) put the screen in a different place on the page and scrape white paint through it. This will also help the image to ‘pop’. The Thermofax screen must be washed again so that the acrylic paint does not clog up the print section.


7. Print out the words you want to use on your computer. This is an opportunity to use any fancy font you choose. Colour the paper with Distress Inks and cut into strips or into individual words. Ink the edges of the strips of paper.


8. Glue the words to your page. Draw round the words or strips of words with a black pen.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice



Tuesday 2 June 2015

Woohoo!

Is it okay with you if I blow my own trumpet?

You might remember that a piece of my work was published in a book:
 
Well if that isn't exciting enough - today I am a guest blogger on Create Mixed Media.

Last week they had Carolyn Dube, who I think is amazing,  and this week it's me!
Squeals with delight! 

There's a full photo tutorial on how I made this page - how to personalise a commercial stencil - at Create Mixed Media.  I used Michelle Ward's 'Maltese Mix Stencil'.


Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice