Wanderlust Book - prompt 11 - What am I passionate about?

It has been a while since I made time to get any challenges or activities done for the Wanderlust online course by Everything Art... a few weeks ago, the Wanderlust Book prompt was "What am I passionate about".... after spending another morning at my favourite place I was blogging the photos and thought... oh yes that fits!
I spend hours at Kew, I go as often as I can, nearly always on a Saturday morning unless something else gets in the way - check out my photography blog  if you want to see some very photo-heavy posts - and if you want to know more about Kew Gardens check their website here. And, if you can, go visit!

So this morning, I created this double page spread in my Wanderlust book.

 I used some DecoArt paints that my friend Sam gave me for my birthday, and Chalk Fresco to create some blurring of the colours.  I used my fingers... those of you who know me, will realise this is very different for me!

 I spent some time blending and wiping and smudging with the Chalk Fresco before starting to add some elements to the page..

including some stamping (Paperartsy stamps, by Ellen Vargo)

and some leaflets from Kew

The Hive is their latest attraction and is wonderful. (see my blog for photographs - I don't have a printer so couldn't print any to add to my journal)

 

 added some more little flowers (also Paperartsy) in archival ink and some white highlighter markings on the flowers













the bees are by JoFY for Paperartsy

I had heaps of fun with this, hope to catch up with some more of the lessons very soon!
Thanks for looking.

WOYWW 372 - Welcome back, Julia!

Phew, what a scorcher... England is gripped by a mini heatwave, with temperatures in the upper 80's and humidity and overnight sticky hard-to-sleep conditions..  I hate it!    Serves us right for moaning at all the rain we've had over the early part of the summer..

Anyway, it's time to write my weekly WOYWW post - and as the title says, welcome back to our beloved leader Julia,  still recovering from her surgery but able to take back the reins from her (and our) good friend Jan.  

Of course it's been too hot for crafting but I did splash a bit of paint around at the weekend with my new JoFY stamps (new to me anyhow)

stamps still haven't made it away, as you can see!  I'll get round to finishing the pages once the weather cools down...

I was hoping to have another new set to share with you, from the Everything Art range for Paperartsy, released last Friday through the Wanderlust course I'm still following (but not doing anything for at present!) No doubt as always, it will arrive during the day on Wednesday - still give you something to see next week!

I went to Kew again last Saturday and spent 4 hours there, the results are here but I warn you, 4 hours = hundreds of photos ! so I'll understand if a Wednesday isn't the best time for you to catch up with them!

Have a great day, stay cool (or keep warm depending on where you are!) 

Catching up with Wanderlust

I am on top of watching the weekly video lessons but not putting paint or ink to paper... I have two Wanderlust book prompts for you today, weeks 8 and 9 (I am not going to do them out of order..)

Week 8, the prompt was "my future"... I freely admit I am finding the "prompts" extremely vague and hard to find inspiration... however, this is my future.. "Anything is possible, right"

 I applied a layer of heavy white gesso on the journal page and spread loosely with a palette knife, then added Frescos China and Zucchini, spreading them with the knife too, to give an uneven coat of colour. I liked how the white shows through.

I dribbled some Infusions across the middle, spritzing with a very little water.  Added a line of fluffy blue/white fibres and some lace, fixing it with some soft paste. Smeared some coarse texture gel above and below, and let it all dry.

 Spread fibre paste through a brick stencil (Crafters Workshop) and mixed Mudsplat and Cinnamon Fresco and dry brushed the bricks.

added some more fibres at the top and a ribbon and more lace at the bottom, added some script stamping (Paperartsy Mini 61) in a toning blue and green, so that the script barely shows, stamping randomly without a block.

My focal point is the  black die cuts (Memory Box dies, I love both of these, the Prim Poppy and one I've had ages but never used before, Bella Bouquet.

 the title is another Paperartsy stamp, from a Sara Naumann set.  My Future - Anything is Possible, Right?  well, we'll see.

The inspiration for the mechanics of this come from Alison Bomber's beautiful project here







Prompt 9 was "What am I most grateful for"  another one that is meant to get us thinking but it's not the kind of introspection I do... so I just used some new stamps and some old scraps (got to get rid somehow...) and this is the result. "Peace"

I starting by tearing an old dictionary page into random pieces and also an old book page, glueing them to the background.  Had some watercolour paper I'd been playing with Infusions on, and a new Paperartsy stamp, added that too

 added some Zucchini Fresco, some infusions, spread them around a bit with the paintbrush and some added water,then added more paint, think I used Mushroom, Chalk, Limelight and Chartreuse  In between some of the paint I used a dry brush with gesso, I didn't want anything too bright.

when I'd been die cutting the flowers on the other page I had done some in book paper, these are very flimsy but I added them to the page too.

The title is from a Paperartsy set, stamped in black archival top and bottom corners

I also added the stamp from the watercolour paper in Leaf Green archival, at the bottom

only two more book prompts behind now... and a "few" lessons...

More Wanderlust - Birgit Koopsen class work "Follow your Dreams"

One of my very favourite lessons so far in the Everything Art course, was the one by Birgit Koopsen, last week.  She used an image transfer as a focal point, but as I don't have a printer, I just went with the rest of the lesson.

 Birgit worked over mop up paint in her journal - something I often do, but because my Wanderlust projects are all in a Kraft journal specifically for the purpose, there are no mop up pages, so I just painted colours and stencilled paint, on the page.

 adding some pop of orange and yellow before adding some stamped images.

all paints except the orange, are Frescos, the orange is a Decoart








I took the large scribbly circle and the larger flower from two of Emma Godfrey's plates for Paperartsy, and stamped them randomly on the background before the scary bit..

 painting white over the rest of the page to leave the pop of background layers peeking through

 then comes the writing and doodling.  I was doing this yesterday, on the anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, so took some of his more famous lines from plays and wrote them round some of the shapes.

 and the name of the class

had a total ball doing this one and would like to say a big thanks to Birgit for a great class.

Catching up with Wanderlust...

.. have fallen a couple of prompts behind on my Wanderlust book prompts, part of the Everything Art course.  This one, prompt 7, was "Everything I did today" and was going to be something completely different, as Monty Python would have said.

I brayered my journal page with Stone, Mushroom, Zucchini, Winter Green frescos leaving a patchy look to the background.  I lightly sanded it so I would be able to write over it better.

 I hunted through my Paperartsy stamps sets for some springlike flowers and stamped them in Watering Can archival ink, on the page.  It's a bit bumpy because of what's beneath it now, so got a rustic effect!   I also stamped some grassy images repeatedly across the bottom of the page, in both green and black





Rummaged through some old Kew photos (back in the day before I had a digital camera, so had prints of my visits! - this is from May 2009) but the blossom was evident last week when I actually went for the purpose of this page
 then wrote on my page

Regular blog visitors will know how much I love going to Kew, and I have some very happy memories of trips there.

Hope you like this one, now on to the next prompt!

WOYWW 357

Hi all and happy WOYWW to you again.  it's time for the weekly link up with Julia where we share our workspaces..  I had to take immediate action when a new set of Paperartsy stamps were launched on Sunday as part of the "Wanderlust" year long online course I'm taking part in through Everything Art and they arrived on Tuesday (today as I write!)

 I bumped up the order with a copy of Art Journalling, I love this magazine, I used to get it regularly but had missed it for a while.

and received the most recent one  from a different supplier, at the weekend!  Art From The Heart, you may recognise the snazzy wrapping!

So, lots to read and keep me occupied.

Not sure if it's Julia or Lunch Lady Jan who'll be hosting today - but it'll be one of them!

short and sweet from me, gearing up for the show at Ally Pally (Crafting at AllyPally) on Saturday- can't wait!  my credit card is ready!

Wanderlust Book Prompt - my past

Another tough challenge for the Wanderlust journal challenge but it's done. The prompt is "my past".  just that.. no more clues or hints or prompts.

 My Wanderlust journal is a 12x12 Kraft journal, but I painted the page white, then
started by stencilling flowers (Carabelle studios) over the journal page
however, decided the white background wasn't right, so painted the background black

I wrote the title in the middle of the black space and then picked some words names and places that have significance for me and wrote them on the page, then hid them all with paper flowers from my stash, toning them with the stencilled ones.

Found this really hard because I don't normally do written journalling.

yes, you can see the before too!

Wanderlust Book Prompt 4

It has taken me forever to think of something to interpret for the fourth Wanderlust book prompt for the Everything Art course.. "the bravest moment in my life"  - it totally stumped me.

In the end, I just started making a background in my Wanderlust journal; with heavy gesso and Infusions, those gorgeous new Paperartsy dye powders infused with colour and walnut crystals.

 I put some heavy gesso on the page scooping it out of the tub with an old credit card,and spreading it with a brayer.  I added some sprinkles of Infusions (you don't need a lot!)
and spritzed some water.

let it drip and run then spread with the brayer again - totally just playing  got some great marks in the gesso.

 I dried the Infusions quickly then so the colours remained and not too much of the walnut came through  I sealed the main areas of colour with a matte varnish, so they wouldn't re-activate with another wet layer of whatever would come next!



Left this overnight, hoping the next stage would come to me...



found some lace in my collection which is a kind of sage-green colour (one of the Infusions I used was the sage one) and cut some lengths for the side of the pages,
 added some torn book page painted with the White Fire Fresco (love love love this one)
and some fibre paste (mine's by Golden)  with a palette knife, randomly on the background..


Still not sure what I could interpret that I had ever done that was brave in any way...  but as you can see I have written something so...

Today is my bravest day!!

The white fire paint was looking a little bright, so I added a small amount of white gesso over the top, wiping it back with some paper towel to remove most of it... it tones in a little better now.



the next prompt is up now -   oh my it is another toughie!!  it may be a while before that one gets done too!

Wanderlust - Everything Art - February challenge

This online course I am following is great - I get to watch the videos as they come out but haven't caught up with all the lesson prompts... you can join up here 
However, the February challenge did speak to me.  We were asked to find a pattern in something around us that we liked, and use it as inspiration for a journal page

 I used the new scarf my boss gave me this week..

 and the new Coral Fresco

 with some crackle glaze and then lines of Snowflake and Carribean Sea Frescos

 and vertical lines of White Fire fresco (love this colour)

 and some pen work

and the new Everything Art stamp set

and some scribbly circles in aquamarine archival ink (an Emma Godfrey stamp)

love the coral fresco underneath the crackle layer!

Wanderlust book prompt 3 - write lots...

Friday saw another prompt in the Wanderlust Book challenge run by Everything Art.. "write lots" ...

Regular readers of my blog will know that my journalling doesn't usually include much writing, it's not my "thing" but in the interests of following the challenge... here goes.

Kasia made some great videos (it's not too late to sign up to this year long on line class - I'm already way behind

working in my large journal I've set aside for this part of the course, I added some black and white gesso to the page, and some torn book pages, pen scribbling.....

 added some stencilling (new Fresco colours - zucchini and white fire) and some texture fibre paste,
 drew some lines to write between

 and started writing...
I decided to limit my colours to black, white and green.

I can't for the life of me get a decent picture of the full page, sorry!

Despite the writing - not my actual writing, that's not too bad - the words mainly, being nothing much - I am pleased with this overall page.