Another Journal Page - Appreciate Beauty

When I was using the modelling paste for my ALAD/ASAW journal page, I wiped some excess on my square journal (that I'm loving)

Yesterday was time to add to it. 
I thought I'd taken a picture of just the stencilled background, but hadn't.   I sealed it with clear gesso as I didn't know then what was going on top, but didn't want the colour to soak into the paste.

The colour is Portfolio pastels, chosen randomly

 I blended the colours with a baby wipe, and then spritzed the page with water and dried it.

I loved the reaction of the portfolios over the paste

 but it was bright, so I added a coat of white gesso, using not the brush in the picture but my Prima silicone brush.

Stencilled the wildflowers with Paperartsy Little Black Dress paint - Tim Holtz stencil (the big one, not a layering one)










Created a Distress Oxide background on Paperartsy Smoothy card - various bright flowery colours.

Die cut the TH wildflowers
Over the journal, I stencilled (Crafters Workshop) , ringlets stencil in blue and green distress oxide, but it doesn't show up much
so used a stencil brush and pounced some blue and green on as well.

Spent ages gluing the diecuts onto the background, getting very sticky in the process.
Added a border of walnut stain and black soot DO ink to the page.

 sound some TH Big Chat stickers for my title/quote and outlined it in a black ecoline pen












Finished page

Dragons Dream Team - Tag It On - Autumn Leaves

Hi gang, and welcome to another challenge from the Dragons Dream Team - Elizabeth is setting the theme this fortnight, and it is Autumn Leaves.

I started with a size 10 tag and some wrinkle free distress with Mowed Lawn mostly, and some green Bistre powders too.
I stamped the words which are from JoFY31 multiple times in black archival ink

 the leaves are die cut from a sheet of card which I painted randomly with various orange red and yellow Fresco paints - Brown Shed, Tango, Autumn Fire, Smoked Paprika and a little Guacamole and Limelight.

I then stamped a scribbly circle (EEG07 in black, all over the card, and infilled with dots (ELB24) in Red Geranium archival before die cutting the Tattered Leaves and movers and shapers (Tim Holtz) as many times as I could from the sheet (A4 size) (forgot a photo of this stage!)

 kind of randomly dropped the leaves on the tag and the glued them down, used 3d foam for some to get some depth.

close up.

Loved this theme, Elizabeth, especially as I made it a day after a(nother) trip to Kew to see the Autumn colour (check here!)

Hope you'll enjoy it too, and please join in - don't forget to use at least one real stamp and you do need a tag!

Crazy Birds!

So, as you may have seen on Wednesday, I was expecting the Crazy Bird die set to arrive... and it did.  lots of little pieces, beaks and eyes and wings.. as well as the actual bird shapes... So on Friday I eventually sorted them out and matched them up.. and cut them...

It's a fair bit fiddly lining up the die with the stamped image (and keeping it in place when you put the top plate down on top, so you get them cut properly (legs, especially)... I think I'll treat myself to the magnetic platform for the Big Shot which apparently helps lots ( this may be a cunning sales ploy, but I somehow think it will help!)

This is what I used them for first time out.

 some white bits showing between the legs as you see... used my Inktense pencils to colour them in some crazy colours...

used bits of 3d foam pads to add the wings and beaks and eyes to the bodies.... ( swore quite a lot at this stage!)

 decided on a double page spread, painted with gesso first, then Dolphin, a Deco Art Satin paint.. not used this before, was surprised how thin it seems when it comes out of the bottle..

gave it a good shake though, and it seems to cover quite well.

Stencilled Prawn Fresco through the Finnabair circles stencil, just round the edge.
Left the stencil in place and stamped in Watering Can, the large text-y background from HP1501

laid out the birds... made sure they were "grounded" either on a circle, or another bird...
did some background stamping with the honeycomb from JOFY30 also in Watering Can, just extending a little into the journal

 stamped Dina's sentiment in black archival, then glued the birds down

wanted a few more circles to match in with the stencilling, so inked the single text-y circle from HP1504 in Watering Can , and the row of circles in Prawn Fresco, over the stencilled areas.

had fun with this, not sure I'll be doing much layering with some of the beaks/eyes as they are so small and you need a teeny tiny bit of foam pad to fix them to the body... but I like them!!

Tag and ATC Swap

I recently took part in a tag and atc swap and the results are now winging their way to the recipients. So, here's what I made to swap.  The theme was 'faces'

 I failed miserably to take any step by step photos..

 crackle on the first tag, though I can't remember what colours I used... think Dolly Mix is on top.. Stamped "David" on book text

 Paperartsy script background in ?? Fresco over Antarctic, I think! (should have written this when I made the tags!)

The stamps are a Judikins cube stamp I've had forever and haven't used in longer, but I love them!!  Used an alphabet stamp for the 'create'

ATCs.  hmmm Tim Holtz stamps - the left one coloured with gelatos I think... glass bead gel on the one on the right, over the 'dream'

Dream...

Good Morning and welcome to 2015!  You find me playing in my journal for the first time in ages - I was bored yesterday evening waiting for the firework display from the banks of the River Thames in London - which were fantastic - and so I got out some sprays..

I had some daubs of black paint on a journal page, and took the Deco Art Media sprays - a red, and a turquoise shimmer (which really does catch the light now I can see properly this morning!) and white shimmer too.

 lots of drips and runs - these media paint sprays drip so well!

Cracked open my box of Gelatos and used a red and a turquoise round the edges, blending with a barely damp paintbrush

 Stencilled Little Black Dress Fresco paint through a Crafters Workshop stencil (Mini xoxo) round the edges and spine.

Stamped two of the images from TH Winged Things II on white Smoothy card (Paperartsy) and cut them out, coloured the wings and crown with gelatos and fixed to the page.

 Outlined the stamped images with a black Sharpie pen, then added some white shimmer splatters by just flicking the end of the mister spray (now need to clear up the stray splatters...)

Determined to play more in my journal(s) again this year - this is a good start
I'm entering this to the Country View Challenge - new things - as there are lots of new things here (sprays, stencils, stamps gelatos )

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! 

DragonsDream - TIO - M and Holly

So, the end of the alphabet... this fortnight was Jax's choice at Dragons Dream and she took M, and holly.  Very festive...Here's my tag.

 I started with brushos on my tag, but forgot to take a picture of this stage.
I used Emerald Green and Lemon and let them drip a bit to cover most of  the tag.

I stamped the "Christmas Carol" (Tim Holtz stamp) onto some Paperartsy tissue, with black archival.

It's too wide for the tag, so I tore it to fit and glued it with matte medium

Stamped three of the pairs of holly leaves (also Tim Holtz) on thin copy paper and Library Green archival ink and cut out.
I added some red Liquid Pearls for holly berries.

tied some red velvet and organza ribbons, and then dripped some scarlet brusho and spritzed with water, and dripped it over the tag.


My "M"?  haven't you guessed?  it's Music... Christmas music (or Manuscript) at that!

Come and see what my talented team mates have dreamt up over at Dragons Dream Team.
Hope you have all enjoyed playing along with our alphabet challenge this year, we can't wait for the next round of tags!

See you soon.

Dragons Dream - TIO - X and Purple

Hi, and welcome back to the Dragons Dream TIO  for our penultimate tag in the alphabet challenge... boy, that's gone fast!  This fortnight, it is my supremely talented team mate, Julie Ann, who was "lucky" enough to pick (i.e. be left with) X - probably one of the hardest letters in the alphabet to depict... The twist is to use purple...

I sprayed my tag with the crushed grape Dylusions spray.  not before I'd picked up and sprayed a tag with after midnight by mistake - oh well, got a blue tag ready for another time now!  

Got a somewhat patchy coverage (made worse by the flash on the camera!!)   Used the two skeletons from my new super sale bargain price Tim Holtz set (mini halloween) and heat embossed them.

Wrote xray in white pen in the space on the tag, which immediately picked up the purple colour from the spray.  Of course I intended that to happen, it's a shade of purple now!!  It looks whiter in the photo than it does in real life!!
Finished with some chunky purple fibres from my stash.

I know Julie Ann will have made a beautiful, elaborate tag for her entry, because she always spends a lot of time and effort on her tags - but time is against me this time so it's a quickie here!!  Do pop over and see what the rest of the team have dreamt up for this challenging letter!  See you soon.

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!

WOYWW 284 - a little bit of this and that

Welcome along for another What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday... I'll start, this day after Armistice Day, with a closer look at the photo of my Dad that was sitting on the workmat the other week,

together with one of my Mum - that's her, sitting on the top of the Spitfire - she served in the Wrens, as an Air Mechanic, working on the Spitfire. This would have been taken some time after 1944 as that's when her service record shows she was enlisted. Hopefully you can enlarge it to see it a bit closer - I look very like her, though Julia thought I looked like Dad. (I can see lots of my middle nephew in him, the more I look at this photo now)
Dad served both in the Army and Navy. This picture was taken at Christmas 1942, as it is noted on the back, when he was in the Navy.
On my desk proper - well actually not, it's the kitchen counter - some flowers I received at work on Monday, from a grateful client whose mortgage application I had helped process to a happy conclusion. It's so nice to be appreciated and to receive a thank you!  And yes, of course I saved the bow! I nearly saved the pretty cellophane, but had to tear it too much removing it!

 

 the "desk" proper on the floor - my normal place of work, as most of you know (and as is stated in my blog header) - and some more new stamps (yes, Mary Anne, MORE!) I took advantage of a post on Facebook from the Stamp Attic announcing further clearance offers, and - erm - snapped up 5 more sets!! Well, it would have been rude to have ignored such bargains!


Finally, another photo from the Tower of London on Saturday

the stunning poppy installation to commemorate the First World War and the 888,246 British and Colonial servicemen who lost their lives. Several of you have visited the post I published on Saturday  and I make no apology for the number of photos I shared on it!!
This weekend I need to crack on with some more Christmas cards as after my spurt the week before last, I've not done any since!  In the meantime, I will get to as many of your desks as I can.

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 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

WOYWW 241

Can't believe it's Wednesday again and time for another WOYWW. Report to Julia for all the details (just in case you've been on a different planet and don't know what WOYWW is...)

Today I can show you the new things that I was waiting for last week - the jumbo Tim Holtz tattered floral die (the large flower is a whopping 5 inches across)
The bubbles stencil is by Finnabair (Anna Dabrowska) for Prima and I've been trying to get this for ages, the paints and other bits were in a sale...(i.e. had to be done)

The tag is where I was playing with the distress paints, and the die cut leaves are actually left over from my DT piece for Dragons Dream which will be up later on today.

I'm coming down with a cold so dozing myself with Manuka honey and hoping to get rid of it before it's really taken hold, I don't want to be ill!

Have a great WOYWW and I will try to visit you soon.

Dragons Dream - Tag It On - with a song...

So May's theme this fortnight, for DragonsDream is to have a Song of your choice, to use blue, bird and a crown on your tag.

I scoured my memory banks (and Google, lol!) for songs with birds in the title... and chose one I love, (there's a bit of a Rock Chick in me!!) - Free Bird, by Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1975.

I painted my tag with a mixture of Baltic Blue, Mermaid and South Pacific, Fresco paints.

Then stamped the grasses from Tim Holtz Urban Tapestry in the Fern Green archival ink (Wendy Vecchi for Ranger) .  The bird is Wendy's too, from Let Your Art Have Wings set, stamped on white card and coloured with Squeezed Lemonade, Rusty Hinge and Black Soot distress inks.  The crown is from my stash and is tied into some fibres at the top of the tag.

Hope you have fun with this challenge, good luck!