Spotlight Designer - Riswana Fathima

Hello Everyone!!!

I'm sure that this months theme is giving you the edge to think about all those sparkly and shiny things you would like to incorporate in your projects and make then dazzle with shine!! Well, it's all about shine and sparkle this month.. right!!!

We have a very talented crafts person at our blog today and she's a lot regular in our challenges, Please welcome - Riswana

Hi crafty friends.. I'm very much delighted to be here amongst you. Thank you so much Team Lulupu for giving this wonderful opportunity of being a guest designer..

1. Tell us a little about yourself and your family.

  I live in the district of Thirunelveli, TamilNadu, the southernmost part of our country.. I've completed M.B.B.S and started working in a nearby government hospital 6 months back.. 

Still single and happily enjoying life, doing things I love :)

2. How did you become interested in crafts and what inspired you to start blogging?

  Art has always been an essential part of my life for as long as I can remember.. 

When it comes to paper crafts, I got very much interested after watching videos of Vicky Papioannou's art jounal layouts & Gabrielle Pollacco's mixed media works.

When i was searching online for craft supplies stores in India i stumbled upon Dr.Sonia's blog & it opened the whole new world of blogging to me..

Her blog is a treasure of information for any crafter...

3. What are some of your "go-to" supplies for crafting?

       There are lots.. I use my trim&score board, distress inks, waterbrush, embossing powders, stamps & fineliner pens quite often..

4. What is your favorite crafting technique?

     I always like to learn and explore new techniques..I give a try with many of them from CAS cards to mixed media altered art projects.. Art journalling has been my most favourite part of crafting so far..

5. How would you describe your crafting style?

       I love to sketch and draw & i always try to incorporate that in my works wherever possible.. I usually make a basic plan before I begin any project & try to work according to that.. But many a times I get carried away and end up with something totally different :)

6. How long have you been crafting?

         I've always been crafting in some way or other since childhood..  Paper crafting started a year back..

7. My signature style

          Haven't settled down to one yet. Still experimenting & in the quest of finding my own style.

8. Who are some of your influences? Who has been your inspiration?

        There are many awesome people who have been a great source of inspiration to me. My grandmother has been the first big influence.. We share the passion for crafts & her curiosity to learn new things even now always amazes me..

I'm addicted to watching youtube videos on arts & crafts.. Vicky Papioannou, Gabrielle Pollacco, Kristina Werner, Jeniffer Mcguire, Nichol Magouirk, Sandy Allnock, Nika in Wondeland,Tim Holtz, Mark Crilley, Vamos Art to name a few..

9. When not crafting , what keeps you busy?

     Work mostly.. Also, We are kinda a mini joint family, so there will always be many people around & time just flies by :)

I love to hangout with friends, Travel & photography when I do find the time.

10. What are you currently working on?

           Am working on my new project "1 image N techniques" wherein I'm trying to approach the same image with different colouring techniques. Quite excited about it :)

Here's another fun altered art project i made :)

It started with an empty conditioner bottle ;) 

I covered the whole bottle with scraps from a very old novel ( I got a set of 5 books for 5 rupees in Pondicherry!!) With mixture of equal amounts of PVA glue(i used fevicol) and water.. I find foam brush works best for this..

Then wound a packaging hemp twine around the neck of the bottle giving a good coat of glue to avoid frizziness & seal all the fibres in.. I added gesso randomly over the surface.

I used Dylusions paint (vibrant turquoise, fresh lime) to paint the bottle in random patterns blending all the way with a wet baby wipe.. Added some white gesso splashes.

Did some random stamping With kaisercraft texture stamps (faded dots, geo) & also the sentiment from Inkadinkado stampset with black archival ink..

Gave a coat of Mod podge gloss to seal the whole surface & to add that little shine..

For the embellishments, i made the flowers using the paper from the same old book following the classical paper flower making technique.. Inked on both sides of paper using distress inks (mowed lawn, broken china, peacock feathers) applied gel medium (camlin) to seal the ink..Then Cut a spiral out of it with Faber castell scalloped edge scissors & rolled into a flower..

Added a twin bow made of the hemp twine & a metal charm..

The big flower is made out of Papericious Teal Steal patterned paper collection with WRMK flower punch board.. (XS & XXS size) secured with a brad.. For the stem, Stuck green tape around a bendable wire & attached the loop to the brad.

 . Hence the flower sways beautifully which formed the inspiration behind the quote "Dance to your own music" :D

I hope you liked it & the steps were of some help :) I would be glad to hear ur thoughts on this :)

Thanks again for the chance..

Create. Have fun.

Wow, that was one awesome transformation!!! loved the altered look and feel of the complete bottle!! Thank you for sharing your lovely creation with us.

Do remember to enter into our current challenge here

Happy Crafting!

Manu