Inspired by Suzz

This week, Suzanne Czosek is back with Paperartsy sharing her latest ideas.

On Tuesday she made a beautiful background using stamps from HPTX01 and some beautifully painted flowers from HP1009.  Today, she has painted a frame with a mixture of Dylusion spray and Snowflake Fresco paint....oh my what a lush colour she created!

I have decided to combine both techniques and made a card.

I made the background in the same way Suzz did - grey ink (I used Mememto London Fog as that is the only one I have)
with the stamps from HPTX01

I mixed Snowflake white paint and a tiny bit of Calypso Teal Dylusion (one of the new ones, and it's lush!) on my craft mat, and then stamped up the flower from HP1005 and stamped it on my background, twice "inking" it up in between and then without re-inking to get paler second impressions.

I then used the flourish stamp from HP1005 and the same paint/dye combination and rolled it to get partial impressions, randomly across the background, and also the splatter stamp from the first set.

I trimmed the background to fit my card, and then smudged the London Fog stamp pad around the edges of the background to highlight the edges.  Tied a piece of ribbon at the bottom of the card and foam dotted the background to a card base.  I stamped one of the moths on a spare piece of plain card using Aquamarine archival ink as I'd run out of my dye/paint mixture, and stamped a sentiment to finish.

WOYWW 195

Hi again - time for another catch up with Julia and the crafty spaces of the world - check here for the lowdown on WOYWW.

so, Sunday just gone saw me up bright and early to catch my train (which was late, of course!) to London and for the tube (metro/underground as you prefer) to catch the train to Stevenage - it was time for Stamperama again. (see the post here for what I got up to)

I indulged and crossed off a few items from the wishlist (which is huge!!) as you will see! (here's a peak if you don't have time to read the whole post from Sunday)





The show was in a different hall within  the leisure centre to it's usual one, more space (much more comfy floor to stand on, they had some protective covering down so our legs and feet were slightly less achy at the end of it to often!

I didn't see any other WOYWW badges, though maybe they were underneath coats (I had to remove mine and carry it as it was warm inside)  but did catch up with lots of familiar faces, even if I couldn't put names to them (one of my weak points, that!!)

Once I got home I unpacked my booty and subsequently have had a little play... oh, those new Paperartsy stamps are fun!! And so much more to come too....

...like this one - it got "left behind" because for some reason it hadn't been fully trimmed and Leandra kindly said she'd do it and post it on - so it arrived on Tuesday, along with my Craft Stamper.

The green painted chipboard on my work mat, is a work in progress - Fresco paints of course - and I'm going to add loads more colours and some of my new stamps...


As you know, for speed and because I get up at silly o'clock in the morning, I write these posts on a Tuesday night... so if you check Tuesday's post, you can see how the green splodges turned out!
I know I've sent you all over the place elsewhere on my blog, but if you go to Julia's  she'll sort you out with some more desks!  And don't forget to check out the pages on the side of her blog, for news about the June WOYWW crop and the ATC swap!

The Beauty of a Garden

Tonight, my paint took to a piece of grey chipboard (like Leandra was using on Sunday) and the Lin Brown stamps again.

 it started like this - all very green! - when I brushed on the excess green paint from yesterday's journal page

Too dark. Needed more colours.... but first to knock back all the green. Don't ask me which greens - most of the ones I have!!

I was intending to make this multi coloured.... or at least not all green.... but...

 applied a wash with watered down Honey Dew over a dampened surface...

Added more greens - limelight, hey pesto. more knocking back with a baby wipe, sprayed water and dabbed it off...
Added stamps from the ELB02 set, in paint,  (clean your stamps straight away!) and punchinella from Sara Naumann's set ESN08 in coffee archival randomly, rolling the stamp to get partial images.

Knocked it all back again as before (scary, covering up all that colour but Leandra's right, it works.....)

Top layers! (finally you say!) Stamped the tulip straight onto the background, with Pansy and Eggplant for the head, Honeydew, Tinned Peas and Hyde Park for the leaves.

The leaf stem from Lin's set, stamped in Cobalt archival round the edges, then I 3d foam mounted the spare leaf and tulip from Sunday, stamped on black card. Offset the tulip over the direct image.

Added the flora and fauna words in leftover paint, and the solid small flower from ELB02 in Pansy.

Took all the pictures... thought there was something missing...

so inked up "the beauty of a garden" from Lin's stamps, half at a time, in black archival..

not sure. Have I ruined it? don't know...but it's done now!!
Perhaps I should have stamped these words on white card and fixed them.... or perhaps they're too solid a font.
(edit - I think white card would have been too stark a contrast, but I think I should have found a text stamp with a more curvy font for contrast).

The Fragrance of Flowers

So today I had to play with my new set of Jo Firth-Young stamps purchased on Sunday. I tell you, I stood in front of them for so long trying to decide which set to get - I could only get one this time - it was hard, they are all so gorgeous!  (I went for JOFY 12 but also used the earlier flower release, JOFY 09)

The background to the journal page started with some paint left over on my craft mat, namely tinned peas and (I think) honey dew. or it may be vanilla. It was yesterday, and I've forgotten, m'lud!

I stamped the images in black archival and painted them with a selection of colours - London Bus, Zesty Zing, Beach Hut, South Pacific and as a base for some of the flowers, watered down Stone. The leaves are a mixture of Hey Pesto, Lime Light and Hyde Park.

 

I used one of the single leaves, the criss-cross hatch (stamped in Memento London Fog which is a soft grey colour) and the sentiment from JOFY 12  I also used along the grass, but which doesn't show up in the picture, the little stones, also in London Fog.

I was so busy doing this page, that I missed the 7pm launch of Suzane's latest project on the Paperartsy blog, but I've caught up with it now, and it is another beauty!

Now, to re-heat the cup of tea that has got cold... laters,  peeps!!

First go with the gorgeous Lin Brown tulip!

Well, after recovering from the joys of Stevenage, I had to have a go....

I started by stamping with paint on black card, as shown so well today by Lin.   The set I have is Eclectica  ELB02.

I used Honey Dew, Tinned Peas and Hey Pesto for the leaves/stem and Honey Dew, Pansy and Egg Plant for the flower head.  I wasn't too happy with my first (2) attempt but 3rd time was a bit better! (though the stem is still a little patchy - need to practice with this technique!)

For the background, I pounced a mixture of Vanilla, Honey Dew Tinned Peas and Hyde Park on the tag. I sanded it back a little, and pounced some more round the edges. Then I stamped the 'flora and fauna' from the stamp set, in both Honey Dew and Tinned Peas

I used the leaves from the stamp set and hyde Park, stamping it across the top corner.

I used one of the spare tulip heads and cut out 2 of the petals and 3d foam mounted them to the main image.

Stamperama, Stevenage - report

Well I see from my twitter feed you all very impatient to see what went on - as you know I don't have a smart phone so can't tweet while I'm out!!

Got there just as the doors opened for advance ticket holders (my train to Victoria was late, so I missed the connection I planned at Kings Cross)

the show was in a different hall (bigger) to usual which made for more space but I didn't know where Lin and Leandra were.... but I found them and more or less, there I stood all day....

Here they are, hard at work!

 Leandra was painting on greyboard and it looks amazing....

safe to say, the stand was mobbed early on!

 Leandra hard at work with paint and Jo's stamps

Coke spillage!!

 Leandra's fab work!

 Lin's stamps - this tag was gorgeous - painting on the tag, on black card - look how the images POP! can't wait to try this!!

more of Lin's work

and more! the lace stuck in between individual petals - fab!!

another of Leandra's

 the artwork on the stand

and my stash! i did also get one of Sara's journalling sets, but it hadn't been fully trimmed (Leandra says that was down to Mark... so I have left it with her to trim and send on to me)

Now, is that quick enough a report - I have been in 20 minutes.... can I drink my tea now?!!

(Dirty) Martini anyone?

I had some time to play today and decided to start a page in my Dylusion journal this time.

 I thought I'd taken photos more as I went along, but...!!

Used Dirty Martini and Funky Fuschia mainly - love the slightly sludgy tones to the Dirty Martini - but a little of the Fresh Lime and Bubblegum Pink too.

Spritzed some White Linen and let it run down the page. Black Marble through the alphabet jumble stencil (I really need the large one too!!)

Added some more White Linen and Funky Fuschia through the dotted flowers stencil, and some ghosting (i.e. with water) too.

I think this page needs one of the Couture stencils or stamps on it, so may have to get that when I can, and add to the page later!!

this is the page taken without flash, before the light went.... think the colours are better represented here!

Journal Pages

So I finished the journal page that was in evidence on my What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday post yesterday  - like so many of the comments, I always thought the bubbles looked like something from a night sky (indeed, that was my intention all along)  and I incorporated the tag that I made after watching Leandra's video (here)  (you want the stencil bump with fresco video)

The tag IS very like Leandra's but I absolutely love the colours - so I had to have a go for myself -  I made this ages ago and I can't remember what Fresco's I used, they aren't all the same as in her video.   I did a bit of dry brushing of Autumn Fire and Claret Frescos (translucent) over the 'moons' on my journal page, and wrote on it with the white Sharpie (as so many of you asked, I got mine here  I had no idea they were so hard to come by!)

And then I made another page...

First step - stamped the text (from ID08) across both pages, staggering the stamping, in black archival.  Painted over the pages with Pumpkin Soup and Haystack, wiped back with a baby wipe, added more etc!

Added some South Pacific to create a couple of background patches for the Iris (HP1204) to sit on.

Did some dry brushing with the leftover South Pacific randomly down the pages.

Added the dots randomly, stamping again in South Pacific.

Stamped the sentiment from HP1203 onto Paperartsy Crackly tissue paper in black archival and stick to page, wash over with Pumpkin Soup to blend in.

finally (see top pic) I splattered some Indian Ink from the end of a paintbrush, over the page.

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - H

I know, this is my third post today!!

The latest Craft Barn alpha challenge to be announced is the letter H.. It took me a couple of days to decide which word to go for (and which one I would be able to illustrate!!)

I went for 'heart' and here's what I did...

 I started by gluing a few pages together and cut a heart shaped niche out (I used a Maya Road chipboard heart to draw round)
and gesso'd the pages.

 I used Paperartsy Fresco paint in Claret to paint the whole page.

 I used some gold mesh to back the heart niche, and laced in some ribbon. Used my white Sharpie marker to write 'tug at the heart strings'on the page.

I used the cut out pages from the niche, and painted them with Old Gold Fresco paint, and edged the heart with Black Soot distress ink.

I stencilled some Ferro paste though the Leafy Vine stencil.before gluing it to my page.

The heart stamp was a free cover stamp from the Craft Stamper some time ago, and I love it (the fact that I had to hunt high and low for it, is neither here not there...)

The final touch was a chipboard 'h' which I painted with a gold krylon pen.

I really had fun with this page - thanks to the Craft Barn. You still have 10 days to enter, so pop over to their blog and check it out.

Dragons Dream - Tag it On #136

Hello, and welcome along for another challenge from the Dragons Dream.  May's choice this time - on your tag, we'd like you to use orange, purple, and butterflies.  Don't forget you must use one real stamp.

This is mine

I used Dylusions spray Squeezed Orange on a tag, then blended some Ripe Persimmon distress ink round the edges.

The leaves are from the Dylusion stencil and I used vintage photo distress ink.

I made the butterflies (stamp by Wendy Vecchi) by spritzing Crushed Grape Dylusion ink, on white card stock, and adding Dusty Concord and Seedless Preserves distress ink.

I used foam pads to mount the butterflies, bending the wings up a little to get the feel of movement, and added some Stickles for their bodies (Black Diamond)

The sentiment is also by Wendy Vecchi. Purple fibres are from my stash.

WOYWW 194

Welcome back to another journey through the workspaces here there and everywhere. Head Mistress Julia will show you the ropes...

So, What's on My Workdesk this Wednesday - week 194... Not a huge lot - a partly worked on journal page... so I decided to show you from a different angle this time!

Yes, I was lying down on the floor in the doorway!! At the front right are my Wendy Vecchi stamps and behind them a pile of (dirty!) stencils...which are on top of my Tim Holtz stamp plates.... and on to the craft mat... past the worn carpet and Ikea rug! Mind you don't trip over my heat gun flex... piles and piles of messy but much used, crafty stash!!

so this is the journal page I am working on.

It's based on one of Leandra's tags she has made in a You-Tube video which I hope to incorporate on here somehow!

So are any of you going to Stamperama in Stevenage on Sunday? I can't wait - Paperartsy apart from anyone else has LOADS of new products which they've been launching this week at Stitches (trade show) and some of which will be at the show on Sunday. I can't wait!!!

I'll try and remember to wear my WOYWW badge in case I see you!
Thanks for stopping by, I'll try and repay your visit.  There is a new TIO challenge at Dragons Dream, today; please come back later to see what we're dreaming of this time.

The Fresco Version

Well, the tag that Linda made looks gorgeous in distress ink, but like Sam and Kezzy I decided to do a Fresco paint version too! *** Check out the others at Paperartsy, here

After I applied the paint, I sanded the tag back a little and then stamped the Jo Firth-Young flowers.

The section at the bottom is nowhere near as red in real life as it looks here, as I used Rusty Rose with Claret over the top, but it does look quite red here. Anyhow, I used the larger of the flower stamps, and the grasses at the bottom. The scribbling is again done with my white Sharpie (and I love this pen!) I stuck it to the back of one of yesterday's tag, thereby saving black card!!

Don't forget to check the Paperartsy blog tonight again as Linda will be back with another work of art to inspire us! (and there are goodies to win too!)

*** Edit - Sam pointed out that she didn't use Fresco's - when I re-read her post she used distress paints for her second tag. (Note to self - don't speed read blogs!)

the Secret Garden

This week, it is the uber-talented Linda Cain who is designing projects for Paperartsy and she is once again using the divine flower set from Jo Firth-Young.

I used similar colours on my tag to Linda, but I decided that my first effort was too much of a copy rather than an 'inspired by' tag -

and although I love this - the white scribbling over the lines of Jo's stamps is a great effect - I decided to make another one, using different stamps.......

this one is with the flower from HP1009, the twigs from HP1008 and the text from HP1005.

I still used the bubbles from Jo's set, as I love this.

Hopefully this is more of my own take on Linda's gorgeous original!

Can't wait to see what she has to thrill us with tomorrow!

Crafty Boots - Out of your Comfort Zone

For the latest Crafty Boots challenge, Tracie wants us to do something that takes us out of our comfort zone - this is a really great idea, as I often stick to the same kind of things.

It can be anything you like - as long as it is different to your normal style -  but she has given some examples - if you do a lot of colouring, you are not allowed to, if you are like clean and simple, then go fussy.

Now, I used to do cards like this, but haven't for some time - there's colouring with pens involved! I used Promarkers - never used them before, but I won some in a blog giveaway earlier this year, and decided to try them - the pens are mixed with watercolour pencils for the colours I didn't have.  I 'fussed up' the card with some Prima flowers and some ribbon, too. I liked the Promarkers, too, they were really good to use.

The stamp is the Lavender fairy by Inca Stamps.  I love these, I have quite a few. Perhaps I'll use them again now I've rediscovered the colouring trick!!

Take Time to....

.... Swim with the fishes!
My great friend Gabrielle recently shared a journal page using these stamps and it sparked me off on this journey.

The text that goes with Jo Firth-Young's first flower stamp set for Paperartsy (I want ALL the new ones that Leandra has been showing this week!!)  is 'take time to smell the flowers' but I was messing about with Dylusion inks on a journal page and the stamp set when it struck me that it had an underwater kind of look to it... so dug out some little fish stamps...

I painted the images with Dylusions straight from the bottles, having removed some of the intense background with a wet paintbrush first, blotting with kitchen towel to remove the colour.

 It was adding these bubbles - I think they're meant to be floating seed heads - that made me think of the underwater theme.

 I handwrote (badly!) 'take time to swim with the fish' across the double spread.

Now, I'm not complaining after the dull, dark days we've had all winter - but just look at the shadows the sun was casting when I was trying to take my photos!!!! Isn't it lovely to see the sun though.

We should all take time from our busy schedules to do something different now and then!