Flowery Journal Page

Realised I haven't shared in detail the journal page I finally finished and shared on Wednesday in WOYWW?  So here are the details and close-ups

 This is the finished page.

I started with stencils - Crafters Workshop mini daisy cluster and mini flower frenzy and distress inks (squeezed lemonade, wild honey and picked raspberry) and some stamping (Dylusions from the Doodle Parts set) in more distress (mowed lawn, picked raspberry).

Edged the leaves with a black Sharpie marker.

 Close ups,. The words are from the Dylusion set Word Love.

Dina's Lonely Girl again as the centrepiece. I love her!!
Lightly coloured with pan pastels and mowed lawn round the edge.

Poppies for Brenda

The oh so talented and poppy mad Brenda has a challenge on her blog to make something with poppies or using the colours of poppies. As I too am a fan of the poppy (would love to recreate the Cadbury's Flake advert with the poppy field... if I could just find one!) I had to have a go.

I have made a fairly simple card using one of my favourite poppy stamps (I have a few!) This is by A Stamp in the Hand

I stamped the poppy image on white card in grey ink (Memento London Fog) so I could use watercolour pencils over the top to colour the image. Not sure if you can see in the photo but I added some blue shading round the edges too. The sentiment is from the Art Sayings stamp from Sam Poole for Creative Expressions.

Brenda has a Sir Stampalot voucher on offer for one lucky winner, and there are a couple of days left to take part.

Ok, off to watch some Olympics - wasn't the Opening Ceremony fantastic? It probably worked better if you understand your British history, but I did history to A Level so....!!! There are some images burned onto my brain, wonderful stuff, well done Danny Boyle and everyone involved.

Tag it On - Alice

Welcome back for another recipe challenge from Dragons Dream - Tag it On - this fortnight, May wants us to follow Alice - the rabbit and a situation..... but first, let me add my thanks for your great entries to the steampunk recipe last time. Also to welcome our latest DT member, the incredible Tracy
Metcalfe

This was a struggle for me as I have no Alice themed stamps, couldn't even find a rabbit stamp!! So it had to be my Graphic 45 'Halloween in Wonderland' paper pad....

The pocket watch stamps I used are by Rubber Stampede (top one) and Just for Fun (bottom one) - the situation is being late... which I nearly was for this DT spot, lol!!

Hope you stop by and catch the other DT offerings (they are fab!) and find time to join in - you have 2 weeks again.

WOYWW 164

Hallo, happy Wednesday to you.... and time for another mega tour of the world's creative spaces. Julia has the link and all the info here 
My floor space today has the finished journal page from last week that I still haven't blogged about - so that means you get to see it first! Also, my at long last altered torso (which was blogged about here ) that used to lie on top of some of my paint tubes often seen in rear of shot!!

Underneath the torso is a part done journal page (another one!) using the Dylusion mushroom - or probably toadstool - stamp.

The ribbons are from Monday when I watched the Olympic Torch run through Sutton, this is from one of the sponsors (Lloyds bank)






and this is my photo of the torch bearer - yes I know he's past me, the one I thought I'd taken as he came towards us didn't actually take! (and there were loads of people in my way too)

The crowds were huge, the atmosphere fantastic and the sun blazing hot! It was well worth taking a day's holiday to stand and watch, and now I can't wait for the Games to start! As lots of you know, I am really keen on sports, so my TV is going to be on for hours and hours (once I get home from work)

I didn't get to visit many of your desks last week, sorry about that, I will try harder this time!

Crafty Boots - Babies

Welcome to another Crafty Boots DT challenge. In celebration of the imminent arrival of various DT babies, Kerry has chosen the theme, 'babies'.

Now, I have a really cute stamp of a wicker pram that I wanted to use, but do you think I could find it? That will be a big fat NO then.... mind you I didn't move all the drawers of stamps..so this is my alternative!

It's a House Mouse design - here's hoping all those babies sleep like - babies!!!

Coloured it with water colour pencils and added a little of the shaded lilac distress ink round the edges of the congratulations and the stamped image before mounting it on a lilac card base. Good luck with the births, girls!!  

Do come and check out what the rest of the amazing DT has made.

Simon Says - No Rules!

This week, the challenge at Simon Says Stamp is - anything goes, no rules - make what you like!  Hels Sunday Stampers challenge is 'Bits and Pieces' - great song - and to use embellishments. So I decided to combine the two.

I had an unexpected afternoon off today and though I should have been doing a couple of design team pieces, found myself - finally - altering this torso I have had hanging around naked for months (years actually, I bought it at least one year ago, if not two..)

 Started with a layer of gesso then Paperartsy Fresco paint, 'pea coat', added a layer of crackle glaze and top coat of 'honeydew'  and waited for the magic....

 Once the paint had crackled, I added a sash - a piece of toning patterned ribbon from my stash, and made a belt-come-pinafore  from some blue skeleton leaves, and tied some fibres round the waist.

 Painted some metal wings with a light wash of the pea coat blue paint, and dried, (they fell off before the glue had dried, looks like I stuck them back on a bit wonky!!)

Finished it off with a fabric flower embellishment (Wendy Vecchi's Blossom Bucket range) that I lightly coloured with some blue distress ink, and a philosophy tag pinned into the waist.

Found a bit of natural light in a window to get some photos!

Off to link this up now, Simon Says are offering one lucky entrant a $50 voucher....

WOYWW 163

Hallo, it's time for the mega blog hop that is Wednesday workdesk day, WOYWW - week 163 (despite the lovely Julia thinking last week was....) Having had quite a productive few days at the end of last week, I haven't done a lot since - but there are a couple of part done journal pages (again!)

 Got as low down to the floor as space allows me for this shot - which is, not very! You get to see the mess behind the craft mat though... a pile of part inked tags and atc's and bits and pieces...
Not at all sure where this journal page is going - I may just abandon it... for a while at least.

This one is a bit bright and funky - started with a couple of flower stencils (crafters workshop) in squeezed lemonade and wild honey, and a touch of picked raspberry... and some leaves in mowed lawn.

It needs a bold central image - not sure what yet, may have to go with my fave Dina Wakley 'lonely girl' or the 'silhouette script' girl I used in the previous page above! I'll probably also doodle on the solid leaves...

The one I was working on last time is finished here 

I'll try and catch as many of your desks as I can this week... have a good one!!

Spritz & Flick - C of C 2, challenge 13

Time for another Compendium challenge hosted by the lovely Linda, from Tim's Compendium of Curiosities volume 2. Challenge 13. Spritz and Flick - one of my all time favourites, so easy and such fun! Check it out on page 42.

I started with a piece of manilla cardstock trimmed to the size of the texture fade I wanted to use on top, and used distress inks in seedless preserves and picked raspberry on my card.  Spritzed and flicked with water until happy and then embossed (it is from the fancy and floral frames set)

There is more of the seedless preserves on the card than really shows up, but I just cannot get a decent photo. Used Tim's butterflies stamp in black archival as my central image.

Added it to a square card, and a vertical greeting finishes it off. 


The wonderful people at Simon Says Stamp and sponsoring a random winner with a $25 voucher and given how many wonderful new things are coming out at CHA that are now on my wish-must-have list I would love to win, but good luck everyone!!

EWV challenge 46

Thursday sees the email arrive from Lori, list mom at the Everything Wendy Vecchi yahoo group, launching a new challenge. This week we are working on page 33 of book 3, and the instructions are to start with a circle base and incorporate 3 buttons.  Both Lori's sample and the one in the book by Wendy, are fabulous.....

So, after a Dr's appointment (routine mammogram) and a haircut that I nearly forgot about (lucky my hairdresser comes to me!) it was time to play....

I went for the Art Parts as Wendy does but deviated from the original as I wanted to be different...

 I covered the base with a piece of Basic Grey paper, knocked it back with gesso to reduce the brightness of the colour, so the stamping I wanted to do would stand out more.  Used the weeds (left and right facing) from Wendy's sets Botanical Art and She Created Art.

Painted the frame with French Roast Fresco paint, and then lightly covered it with Old Gold Fresco (Paperartsy) Sanded it lightly to distress it a little.
Used the large background stamp from Accents for Art to stamp round the frame. The sentiment is also one of Wendy's.

Stamped the butterfly - which is a free cover stamp from the Craft Stamper,on some of the same Basic Grey paper and cut them out. Used one of the large scallop trims, painted in the same way as the circle, and fixed them all together, adding the butterflies and buttons, (remembering to thread them as Wendy hates unthreaded buttons!)
Do come and check out the group, join up and maybe join in - there's plenty of time!

Simon Says Challenge - Layered

I know, I am back again - can't believe this will be post no 3 for today. Sorry!!
This week's challenge set by Simon Says, is right up my street... "Layered". again, how we show the layers is up to us.  I have gone for literally, layers, in my journal. I have managed 10 at least!

This is the finished page.

 (1)  Gesso, (2) texture (Terra paste)in the corners, then also gesso'd.
(3) Masking tape - randomly applied.

(4) Fresco paints - Pumpkin Soup, applied with a brush, then partly wiped off with a baby wipe,  French Roast applied just randomly with a baby wipe, then (5) stencilling through the reverse chicken wire (as someone who saw this on my WOYWW desk yesterday said, it looks like honeycomb). Think I used vintage photo for the stencilling, I forgot to write it down.

More stencilling  - does this count as (6)? with the sequin waste stencil.I say yes! Layer  (7) stamping - Dina Wakely 'grungy circles' in coffee archival ink.

Layer (8) Dina Wakely's Lonely Girl, stamped in black archival on Paperartsy crackly tissue (a friend gave me a sheet of this on the way home from the Craft Barn the week before last - thanks Kay - I must get some of this!) and coloured with pan pastels on front, and then painted white on the reverse to make the image stand out. (do 2 layers of colour count as 2 more layers?.....)
(9) Butterflies -(Wendy Vecchi stamp) on a piece of cardstock, and coloured - distress inks and then painted with Paperartsy Fresco paint in pewter. (2 more layers of colour?! or am I pushing the count here!!)

finally, two pieces of (10) text (from the Art Sayings plate by Sam Poole.
Thanks to Simon Says for this fab challenge, I really had fun playing...I know there isn't an extra competition for the number of layers, but I had fun piling them on......and once again there is a $50 voucher for the amazing Simon Says store to one lucky winner....Thanks for looking

Considering Steampunk - a TIO recipe!

Hello, welcome to another challenge for Dragons Dream Tag it On. It's Monique's turn to choose a recipe this time, and hers is "considering steampunk"; your ingredients for your tag are: Fantasy, Inventions and Victoriana.  Don't forget to use at least one real stamp. Thanks for all your scary tags last time!

I had a bit of trouble finding some suitable images but hope these fit.  The paper I used to cover my square tag, is from the G45 Steampunk Debutante collection.

I washed over it with some gesso so it allowed the images on top to show more.  Added some images from a couple of Tim's stamp sets,  and some idea-ology and a watch face (cracked, to show it's age... ahem it got broken in my pile of bits and bobs. )

I have used pan pastels to colour the card I stamped the images/text on, so it's not too stark against the background.

Used a bit of the film strip over a piece of the leftover G45 paper in the bottom corner.

Sorry if this is full of spelling mistakes, I am typing this watching the Wimbledon Men's finals - bit distracted!

Come over to DragonsDream to see what my colleagues and been up to!

WOYWW? 162

So, what is on your workdesk Wednesday? It is time to spill the beans... Queen Julia will be inspecting later...

I went to Newbury (in the rain, of course, this being the wettest British summer I can remember.... I have been going to the Artstamps show at Newbury for years and years - and NEVER remember rain - it is normally such a gloriously hot day.) However, I went.  I am not sure if it's my style that's changing but there wasn't as much there this year that grabbed me.  I may not go next year....then again I might!  It may be that I had such a fab time the weekend before at the Craft Barn...There were certainly fewer stands than normal..... but here is the stash pile (well, you have to, don't you?!)

But it's put away now - well, as 'away' as anything gets in my flat! On my desk today (well, Tuesday night as normal, but it will still be there in the morning  today) is a journal page in progress for Simon Says challenge and these Artistic Stamper stamps I chose as a random prize for a card I entered in a challenge in June

 I just forced myself to mount them so they are ready to use soon! (don't you hate that job?!)

Lastly is a new tier to my blending tool spinner! a few gaps on it so I need some more blending tools, but I will rectify that soon...

Anyhow, you have desks to check out so be off with you, I'll catch you later.  That old jar of paintbrush water behind it needs changing, it looks a nasty sort of yellow colour (from the journal page above, obviously, it's not a specimen jar..............)

Bingo!!

It's time for another challenge at Crafty Boots. This week, we're playing bingo with Denise.

I've never done a bingo challenge before. so this was fun and exciting - though hard work choosing the row to go down.
Here are your options:



You can pick any row of 3 in any direction (straight lines!) or go for 'full house' and use all four corners.

I went with pearls, stripes and blue, and made a birthday card. I promise it is blue, it does look a bit greeny.... (see confession later on...)

The stripey paper is in a boxed scrapbook kit I have had for years and hardly touched - I think it came from QVC. It's by Papercraft 4 You. The scallop frame is from Craftwork Cards.

I coloured the embossed flowers on the frame with the only blue pan pastel I have (at the time of writing) - turquoise shade, which I also used to edge the stripey paper (making it look green...) I used liquid pearls for the flower centres  - this is the confession -after I finished whilst waiting for it to dry - I read the bottle - minty green it's called... oops!  Also used some "real" pearls from my bling stash on the corners.

Edged the frame and the card scrap round the sentiment (a really old Penny Black stamp) in the Summer distress ink Salty Ocean.

Sunday Stampers - Dreamer

Well, right now no doubt like most of the country I am dreaming that Andy Murray will win the Mens Final at Wimbledon... and Hels' Sunday Stampers challenge "dream" is perfectly named.... however I went in a different direction....

 Took a jumbo sized tag, covered it with a map of the Norfolk Broads (which I know is a favourite place of Hels', and aged it with old paper distress ink, edging round the tag with walnut stain.

Stamped the Tim Holtz hot air balloon - I'd love a trip in one of these.... on white card, coloured it with dusty concord and seedless preserves. found some purple ribbons to match the balloon.

and stamped the Dylusion 'dream' stamp on another scrap of white card, edged with pan pastel and mounted on black card and attached with foam dots for a bit of depth.

Now, come on Andy!!

Journal pages

I have a couple of double pages to share this time including the one I had on my WOYWW desk (floor) earlier. So we'll start with that one. I didn't do a lot more to it in the end - just the top, black layer!

Background is with Paperartsy Fresco paints - pumpkin soup and honey dew - stencils (Dylusions) with mocha mousse (alphabet) and gathered twigs distress for the border and the little dotty stamp (paperartsy)

I have two sized versions of the 'dream girl' - stamped each one on thin white card in black archival, coloured over with the lemonade distress ink.

The Tim "encourage your fears" I also have in two sizes, so alternated the large girl with the small text and vice versa.

Finished with the solid 3 leaf stamp (Dylusion) that I bought on Saturday, outlined in white gel pen.










The second set of pages is quite a lot darker than I intended! I began by pasting some of the tissue wrap onto the page, then used a wash of Fresco French Roast, which is one of the translucent paints but could have done with being watered out a bit further. I used pumpkin soup and hay stack as well, smooshing them all around to mix.

 Stamped the paperartsy new minis - the splodgy one and the bubbles one - in aquamarine and saffron archival inks
The text is also from a Paperartsy set, as is the butterfly, stamped on the plain side of a sheet of Tim paper!

Stamped the owl down the righthandside of the right page, in brown archival (coffee I think it is) - he didn't show up very well so for the other page......

..I took some of the pack of material (plain white cheap poly cotton) I bought at the Craft Barn, following (not very well for my first attempt!) Lin's lesson in how to paint it with the fresco paints. There'll be a decent how to on her blog here somewhere!

What's on your Workdesk Wednesday? 161

Well, here we are again! Wednesday morning... Happy July 4th to all my American friends.... So, are you ready for your Wednesday workout hopping from desk to desk?  Check in at Julia's for the launch pad..

My desk today sees me journalling with some new things I bought at the Craft Barn Extravaganza last Saturday, when I also met up with several crafty blogging twitters!!  So I suppose you want to see what I bought?  Well, I did share on Saturday but if you didn't see - here it is. Just a little shopping!!!

Hmmmmmm!!!!!!

 Also I recently got a couple of journalling magazines - thinking I may swap to one of these from Somerset Studio for a while. My Craft Stamper is also on the reading pile!

and this is the latest journal page I've been playing with! I'll do a proper post with some more details of this page later, when it's finished!



Anyone going to Artstamps Newbury on Saturday? I must remember my WOYWW badge!! I MAY try not to buy too much more stash... possibly!

In the meantime, have a great week - happy desk hopping!

Simon Says - sprays, spritz and stencils

Though possibly not in that order.  Today's Simon Says challenge shouted "journal" at me again.   We are to use sprays, stencils and spritzing, in any combination.

I gesso'd my journal page (as it's only water colour paper,anything wet just soaks through at once, and even gesso'd is has a tendancy to do so.  I used Dylusion sprays Lemon Zest, Pure Sunshine, Fresh Lime and London Blue, dabbing and rolling kitchen towel a la Dyan Reaveley and then smooshed the colours with some more gesso to further blend, lighten (in the case of the London Blue)  and spread them.

Oh.,I seem to have failed to take any pictures as I went along.... OK, so after I got the base colour as I wanted, I used my new crafters workshop stencil - reverse chickenwire - I LOVE this stencil!!! and peacock feathers distress ink, and then the Dylusions numbers stencil, randomly this way; that way, in walnut stain.
On to stamping... Paperartsy for the script (set code ID09EZ) in peacock feathers again, again turning the stamp so it's not to uniformly stamped. The flower is also one of the new Paperartsy Minis collection from Saturday, in black archival and coloured with pan pastels, I used some of the Fresco Satin Glaze with cut and dry to seal it.  Finally, I used the Dylusion words 'dream' and 'art' from the Word Love set that I also got on Saturday.  The 'dream' actually has a kind of dotty pattern to it, but it didn't stand out against the now very busy page, so I filled it in with my black Sharpie pen, to make the letters solid black.

Great timing for this challenge, with all my new "toys" to play with, so thanks, Simon Says.... and once again there is a fab $50 gift voucher up for one lucky winner.

Ok, gotta rush - got more new things to play with!!! Thanks for looking.

Blue and Green should never be seen...

together. so goes the old wive's tale. but Lori, list mum extraordinaire for the Yahoo group Everything Wendy Vecchi has challenged us to do just that - use the colour blue and some green dots.  Based on a piece of art from Wendy's 3rd book, page 17, but I have taken to my journal....

In fact, I was playing about in the journal anyway and it just occurred to me that without thinking I had used the colours required, so it was easy to adapt a bit!

This is the starting page - Dylusion sprays, but blotted to lessen the intensity. I have also used a new Crafters Workshop template that I picked up yesterday on my mega shop at the Craft Barn demo day.... in the lilac distress ink. subtle... very subtle. it is there!

 sorry, having trouble with the photos - it's a bit gloomy here today!

The stamps are Wendy's (to fit the challenge) from Funky Flower Art and I've used both forest moss and mowed lawn (the summer release) for the stem and salty ocean for the flower, although I used the stem randomly.  Finished it off with 'create' also Wendy's from Just Word Art in black.

Everything else is stencil (mowed lawn) - the numbers and circles (Fresco paint - Hey presto)
You can see too, where I over heated the gesso!! Still it's all texture...

it's a new challenge, so you have plenty of time to check it out.