Craft Barn Q&L - Faith/Harmony

Today seems the final Craft Barn Q&L challenge - it's been a bunch of fun and I have a journal full of great quotes, a random win and a wall of fame page!! 

This last quote or lyric is to use Faith or Harmony (or both)  This is my page.

 Background is brushos - turquoise, ultramarine at the top and leaf and emerald greens at the foot.  I smooshed the colours with a brush to blend and cover the pag, then when they were dry, spritzed white shimmer DecoArt  Media spray through a dotty stencil, but due to the slightly wrinkly page it's gone a bit splodgy, so I blotted it with kitchen towel.
love the shimmer though, (sorry it doesn't really show up)

 I wanted to use "David" by Tim Holtz as he was itching to be inked and thought he could be the subject of the quote, I stamped him on white card in black archival ink and stuck him to the page,
then stamped greenery (both from Tim Holtz sets) firstly in Fern Green along the foot of the page, overlapping David slightly, and the second in Potting Soil archival inks,

The bare branch at the top, is a Stampscapes stamp, stamped in Potting Soil and Black archival inks.  I filled the top, again overlapping the branches to get depth and to aid with the quote..

which is,

Hopefully, David is living in harmony with himself and the universe!!  Thanks for looking, and thanks to the Craft Barn for a great year of challenges, can't wait for January to see what's next! 

Craft Barn Q&L 24 - Heart/Risk

I look forward to the alternative Sundays when a new Craft Barn challenge is announced.  I look forward to finding a great quote quickly wherever possible, that I know I will be able to illustrate in my journal...

I don't so much look forward to fighting with the computer to keep the internet connection alive but that's my fault for (still) not ringing my provider to moan about it!

However, I have my quote, "words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart" - a Shakespeare quote again today; I have my journal page!

 I have kept it really simple today. I used part of a Stencil Girl stencil, and Iced Spruce distress ink to outline the heart in the middle of my page.  I also used  Iced Spruce to stamp a Paperartsy script stamp (my favourite, MN61) inside the heart to continue the theme of the quote

After removing the stencil, I then used the Art is stencil by Crafters Workshop (I think this has to be my favourite ever stencil) and randomly applied Evergreen Bough through parts of the stencil, around the heart.







I wrote the quote, with a black Sharpie marker, as shown, taking the actual words of my quote, as a guide

so, as I say , a really simple, quick entry today.  Am linking to the Q&L challenge here 

Craft Barn Q&L - 23. Friendship/Journey

Hello, hope you are having a good Sunday.  The new Craft Barn challenge for their Q&L reaches no 23. The prompts are Friendship and/or Journey.  Searched out a few.... have quite a lot of stamps with 'journey' on them... but I really liked this quote by Aristotle "Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies".

 I started by stencilling Ice Blue Fresco paint through the large numbers template from crafters workshop

 then, stamped the image by Tim Holtz onto the journal page, and again on scrap paper.  I cut out the main image and added some colour to the dog and layered it over the journal

 stencilled some leaves with Grunge Paste in the corners and when dry, added Pan pastel


typed up the quote on scrap paper and glued it to the page.

 This came together really quickly, and I love this image of the little boy and his dog, which quite fortuitously has a "friend" definition as part of the stamp.

Just wanted to say a big thank you to the Craft Barn (and the random.org) for pulling my name out of the hat for the prize for the "nowhere" challenge - it was fun spending the voucher yesterday!

Craft Barn Q&L - 22 - Moon/Sensation

Afternoon, welcome back!  Been a bit of a crafting flurry here the last couple of days, finally got started on the Christmas cards! (scroll back to the previous two posts) and I have some more to share today. First, though, it's the Craft Barn Q&L challenge - Moon and/or Sensation

My first thought was "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's... then I googled for some quotes, and came across "Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star" attributed to W Clement Stone - and in various similarly worded versions, to several other people too.  I liked that, so decided to switch tacks.

After another masterboard's worth of Christmas cards, I settled down with my Brushos - well I had to play with new toys, right?!

 I worked on a piece of Paperartsy's Smoothy card, and used Ultramarine, Leaf Green and Emerald Brushos - a mixture of sprinkling the Brushos onto dry card and spritzing, and then more spritzing the page in the dry parts and dropped more Brushos into the water.  This is my first play with them (apart from a short play at Lin Brown's when some friends and I went for a workshop in August)

A long search ensued for a moon stamp - I still think I have a different one, but couldn't find it... this is part of a stamp that depicts "twinkle twinkle little star) but I just cut the moon out. Hence you can see the face under the Pewter paint (no silver!) (Fresco)

For the stars, I stencilled Pewter paint  through a stencil and cut out 3 stars










I wrote the quote on a spare scrap of card, and stuck it to the page.

Decided it needed somebody or someone to be aiming for the moon, so stamped the little people (Stampscapes) on another scrap of card and trimmed them and glued them to the foot of the page.

Quite pleased how this came out, entering the Craft Barn challenge here 

Oh, and the third masterboard Christmas cards? These are they!

 just used Cherry Red and Chalk Frescos, the tree is by Woodware and is just repeatedly stamped in Library Green archival, first and second generation stamping.

So that's another 12 from another sheet of paper, I'm well on the way now.

Craft Barn Q&L 21 - Nowhere/Hug

This fortnight's Q&L challenge from the Craft Barn is Nowhere/Hug.  Whilst my lyric flew straight into my head, I did check out some quotes too, and found a couple I really liked.  But, sticking with my first instinct "Nowhere Man" - the Beatles, of course. I decided to keep it fairly simple, with a Sixties kind of feel...

 I started with a layer of gesso, then Antarctic Fresco, before stencilling Turquoise through the 12x12 Burst stencil (crafters workshop)

I stamped my small Umbrella Man on a scrap of paper, omitting his umbrella, and cut him out, sticking him to the centre of the stencilled pattern.

I knew I wouldn't fit all of the words in, but wrote as much as I could, as neatly as I could!

Rectified a mistake which I spotted as I was uploading the photos...

Entering the Craft Barn Q&L challenge here

Craft Barn Q&L 20 - Destiny

Last week when I was enjoying the sights and delights of Port Sunlight, the new Craft Barn Q&L (quotes and lyrics) challenge was announced - Destiny and/or Gift.

I only had time to start my research on quotes this morning as it took me a couple of days to recover from that trip, and then we had a work outing on Wednesday to see Evita (after dinner at Ramsey's Savoy Grill!!) and it took me a couple of days to recover from a fabulous - late - night out!

Anyhow, I decided to play with some of my new goodies - as you do!

 I applied pan pastels to my journal page, I used yellow/oranges with some blue - and my new colourless blender, which is fabulous fun

and my Lavinia toadstools

then came a bit of a disaster and I should have started again really... I wrote out my quote, that was ok.  but I attempted a flourish by hand instead of searching for a stamp..

 so out came a Kaisercraft border

I also attempted to use some Chunky White Embossing powder to create some star effects in the background, I think I need to practice this!

but overall, it has turned out reasonably ok...

Entering the Craft Barn challenge here

Craft Barn Q&L 19 - Patience/Better

Just before I left for my (second) day at Ally Pally on Sunday I saw the prompts for the latest Craft Barn Q&L challenge - Patience and/or Better.  I didn't have time to start looking for my quotes until a couple of days later, and of course my last entry used better quite by chance as well as that prompt of Easier, and there were lots using Patience that I liked;  but rather than just re-enter the previous page again (grin!) I went with "Positive anything is better than negative nothing" attributed to Elbert Hubbard.

I took a piece of 12x12 tissue bought from Paperartsy and brayered on some Frescos (no step by steps , oops) I used Vanilla, Pumpkin Soup, Zesty Zing, Chalk, Haystack, Autumn Fire, Cheesecake and Caramel... not necessarily in that order...
before stamping using Pumpkin Soup and Snowflake, using Sara Naumann and Ellen Vargo stamps for Paperartsy

the petal by Ellen Vargo,  in Potting Shed archival
- and then I cut it all up into strips...

 Gluing it to my journal as shown... I used matte medium, under and over the strips to seal it well.


Typed my quote on a piece of thin card and cut it into individual words and glued them to the left page.

 I did wonder about putting a focal image on the right page, but can't decide what, so for now, it's blank!

entering the Craft Barn challenge here 

Craft Barn Q&L - 18 Childhood/Easier

Evening!  Finally got round to looking for some quotes or lyrics for this morning's newly announced challenge for the Craft Barn Quotes and Lyrics challenge; I found a few I liked so decided I'd start working in the journal and see where the page took me, then pick one of the quotes!

 Last week I received 3 Prima Colour Bloom sprays that I bought following my weekend away at Lin Brown's, when I fell in love with these gorgeous colours!
I have Cobalt, Glistening Waves and Sunshine. I spritzed the page with them one at a time.

Took out my Tim Holtz stencil that I've never used, and mixed Cheesecake and Chalk Fresco paints, stencilled across the bottom of each page.

The stars are a Crafters Workshop stencil, I used Peacoat (opaque) Fresco.

The little stamps are by Technique Tuesday and I hand wrote my quote
"Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better" (Jim Rohn)

 half on each page, with a medium nibbed Pitt pen.

The shimmer in the sprays is a) hard to photograph but b) beautiful!!

Linking to the Craft Barn Q&L challenge here

Craft Barn Q&L - 17. Peaceful/Grace

I missed the launch of the Craft Barn Quotes and Lyrics challenge last Sunday as I was away.  I had a look during the week for a suitable quote or lyric, using either 'peaceful' or 'grace' and was struggling...

Then this morning I looked again and came across this quote by novelist John Updike "Rain is grace, rain is the sky descending to earth, without rain there would be no life"  I really like this, it's meaning is quite deep if you stop to think about it....

 I used a mixture of Frescos for my sky - Antarctic and Chalk, I wanted a really pale sky... the to find the rain... I spritzed some Fresco (Beach Hut I think) mixed with water. For the earth I mixed Guacamole with Limelight and then blended Guacamole with some of the leftover Antarctic for the middle ground.

Please forgive the bad case of wrinkles!!

I stamped the Tim Holtz grasses, forgetting I'd already used these for an early Q&L page, but it's too late now!

the rain wasn't really prominent enough, so I added some drops of blue Izink ink and spritzed it with water to run down the page.. blotting it before it got too intense.

The birds in amongst the grasses are die cut from the Memory Box resting birds set. (I love these birds!)

and I typed the quotation out on lightweight card, leaving enough space to cut it into sections.

Entering the Craft Barn Q&L challenge here

Craft Barn Q&L 16 - Family/Thing

My second challenge of this now sunny again Sunday, is for the Craft Barn Quotes and Lyrics challenge - the 16th.  We are to use either Family and/or Thing... much searching of quotes.. lots of quotes include the word thing , and indeed family, but none really grabbed me... I turned to lyrics. One was already going round (and round!) in my head, so I decided to stick with it!

The resulting page though, is the second incarnation of what I intended.

I was going to use a different stencil but couldn't get it looking good, so painted the entire page with the Fresco Mudsplat that I'd been stencilling... too dark, so mixed over it with Nougat... didn't really like that so added some Chalk with a babywipe.

Stencilled the 6x6 Stencil Girl bird in a church window, using Black Soot distress ink.  Stamped  two of the Dina Wakley Scribbly Birds in archival ink, and painted them in Caramel Fresco, watering it down, to it became more translucent than it is.

Wrote the song lyric - or at least, the first two lines of the chorus, in a Stabilo Write-4-All pen at the top.  I did take some close ups but my computer refuses to rotate them for you, so have left them off!

Entering the Craft Barn challenge here 

Craft Barn Q&L 15 - Mind/Ignorance

Time for another Craft Barn Q&L challenge - this fortnight, the song lyric or quote is to include the word Mind, or Ignorance (or both).  I went for a quote by Confucious "Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance"

 I brayered my journal page with Peacock Feathers distress ink which gives an almost stippled look to the background.

I used Watering Can archival ink for my stamping, Tim Holtz images with second generation stamping for some of the ???'s







I used the Paperartsy mini stamp on a piece of smoothy card and painted the image with watered down Dolly Mixture Fresco, and Beach Hut for the glasses.

I wrote the quote on my page with a Pilot drawing pen, going back over the letters to get a slightly thicker lettering.

and finally edged the page with Black Soot distress ink.

Entering the Craft Barn challenge here

Craft Barn - Q&L 13 Path and/or Horizon

I really had fun making this page for the new Craft Barn Quotes and Lyrics challenge, announced this morning.  Once again I've used my brayer, Fresco paints and gone to town!

I used light brayer strokes, starting with Quacamole and Moonlight,

and then Antarctic and Butternut, before going over lightly with Chalk.






I was using a Memory Box wild flower stamp for a tag yesterday, and I wanted to use more - I have a few, (ahem!) but chose just two -  Hero Arts "real dill" and Rubber Stampede "solidago sprig"

I have very few distress markers, but luckily two of the ones I do, are Wild Honey and Bundled Sage, which I used for the solidago, and then used Shaded Lilac distress ink and the Bundled Sage pen, for the dill. I stamped these across both pages, and love how they appear out of the softened background.

I used a Stampscapes leafy sprig for the top border, as it was lacking in something, and Mowed Lawn distress ink

My quote is by Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Do not go where the path may lead,
Go instead where there is no path, and leave a trail"

I typed this onto copy paper and trimmed it for my pag.

 I did add a Stampscapes grass cluster for the bottom, but the Bundled Sage is very light and it barely shows.

All in all, I am really happy with this page, and am entering the Craft Barn Q&L challenge here 

The Craft Barn Q&L Challenge - 10 Music and/or Passion

Last week saw the latest Craft Barn challenge but as it was later than usual I couldn't get it done until today. I decided what to do, though during the week - and for the first time this challenge, I've gone for lyric.  Kiki Dee's "I've got the Music in me"

 I wanted to do something with the Dylusions silhouette stencils, since you get the positive and negatives - and my idea was born...
I used Peacock Feathers distress, for my background,

 and in the "space",  Shaded Lilac

 we'll fix the white gappy bits later...

I put the outline back over the page and stamped my music background in the silhouette ("I've got the music IN me", being the lyric)
I used Ranger Watering Can archival ink so there wasn't too much heavy black because my next step, was to..

write the lyrics round the silhouette.  I used the Dylusion stamp block to draw wavy lines in pencil on my page, but having to keep the pencil lines faint so they could be erased, also meant I couldn't see where they were, so my writing still went a bit astray.. I wrote the lyrics with a medium nibbed Pitt Artist Pen, then drew the lines in, in bold, and went over the lettering again to make them more prominent.

All in all (apart from one mistake which I've almost managed to get away with) I'm quite pleased with this...

Entering the Craft Barn Q&L challenge here 

Craft Barn - Q&L 4 - Age

A new challenge was set today in the Quotes and Lyrics Craft Barn series. Age, or Marriage.

I chose age, and a quote by Mark Twain - "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter"

 I started by spray mounting two pages together as the paper is so thin. This caused some wrinkles.. which go with the theme I guess!

I coloured the page with Wild Honey distress ink - the colour is much more even looking in real life, I promise!   I used the Jo FirthYoung stencil round the edges,and London Bus Fresco paint, adding some highlights with Blood Orange and Claret, and then some Chalk (new colour)

 the criss cross is also a new stencil (Crafters Workshop) - Walnut Stain distress ink.  The flowers are a Memory Box die, coloured with Pan Pastels, adding some of the green around the criss cross patterns too.

I used an alphabet stamp to spell out age, distressing the edges, and hand wrote the rest of the quote.

I really do promise the colour is better blended that it seems!  Linking to the Craft Barn Q&L challenge