DragonsDream - #175 Tag it On - J and Die Cuts

This fortnight is the turn of my team-mate Elizabeth to set the theme for the latest challenge at DragonsDream - and she wants us to use the letter J and die cuts.

I went at this from a couple of angles.
I painted a piece of poly-cotton with Slate Fresco (one of the new shades from Jo Firth-Young's second Limited Edition boxes) and let it dry.  I applied a layer of Fresco Crackle Glaze and went out for the day...
When I came back, I added a thick(ish) layer of Turquoise Fresco (from the same set) and let the cracks appear...

worked much better than the last time I tried this on fabric!

 I die cut a tag from the crackled fabric and set it aside while I die cut some leaves from a sheet of paper from the  Prima "Cartogropher" pad. I used the Tim Holtz Garden Greens die, and the Spring Greenery decorative strip, and used a bit from each.

Stamped Joy from an alphabet set (Paperartsy) and edged with Turquoise Fresco.

Before I mounted the layered tag on a card blank, I added some ribbon.

Hope to see lots of beautiful die cuts when you join us in this fortnight's challenge - don't forget you need to use at least one stamp and a tag.

WOYWW 275 - playing

Hello again, thanks for all the lovely comments last week.  It's time for another WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday)

You catch me mid journal page (well actually it's finished now and blogged too, scroll down if you have time)

all neutral shades and textures.
the page on the right is from when I was away at Lin Brown's - this is silk screen printing, I just haven't done anything with it yet.

Recently had to spread out my Paperartsy stamps into a third box..(to the right of the blue one)

and another arial shot.


I'll be round to see what you've been up to, as soon as I can.

Journal play - out of my comfort zone

I seem to have made this journal page in very neutral 'Jo Myhill'  colours, quite unlike me - it just developed!!

I started by using various light shades of Fresco - Hint of Mint, Concrete, something creamy, Vanilla maybe... I knew I should have made a note...

I used a piece of paper from the Prima Seashore pad, cut into pieces as shown, and cut a piece of hessian into pieces too (bought this way back at the Craft Barn in June with Lin, and only just used any of it!!)

Anyhow, I layered them up and stuck them down with matte medium.

 Added some grunge paste through a stencil and some Glass Beads texture gel , left it to dry overnight when it changed from clear...

 to this funny  brown where it overlapped the paper... hmmm not very fond of that!

so I decided to hide it - had some leftover die cut leaves from the same Seashore pad, in a blue/cream check pattern, stamped the Memory Box drift flowers on the papers using Potting Soil and orange Blossom archival, and dry brushed the grunge paste with hint of mint (over the background) and mushroom (over the paper) to lessen the white

found another little square of the check patterned paper, and stamped a drift flower on it, edged the border with walnut stain distress ink' and filled the space in the middle of the page.

Used one of the sentiments from Sara Nauman's ESN09 on some white Smoothy card, and edged it with Broken China and Walnut Stain distress ink..

Quite like this page, it's very restful, I can see why Jo likes neutrals so much!!

Thanks for looking.

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

cheep cheep....

Been playing in my new soft covered journal with this and that... and the new JoFY paints and Darcy stamps...

 my first page is my two gelatos, in  a sky blue and brightish green, over stencilled grunge paste.

 I stamped one of Dina's scribbly birds at the bottom,in forget-me-not archival ink (Wendy Vecchi's) and whilst the ink was still wet, I blended the edges a little with a damp brush.

Had a die cut leaf from the Tim Holtz die which I painted green and edged with a green Portfolio pencil, stamped words from the Scribbly Birds set.

and at the bottom, used some glass bead structure gel . (had this ages, never used it before!)

 the right page I started after the new Limited Edition JoFY paints and the Darcy EDY10 set arrived yesterday...
painted the page turquoise, stamped the flowers, painted the centre of the hearts with Chalk Fresco so I could the translucent Cherry Red over the top, and the stems I painted in Sage

 some not too careful painting caused me to re-outline the hearts with a black micro pen, added the birds and text from the same stamp set.

WOYWW 274 - September?!

Hi, deskers... welcome to another new month.... (really?!!) and time for WOYWW again... You'll be surprised to see that I've been shopping again!!

 Some colour bloom sprays, the new JoFY paints and Darcy stamps... this purchase was delivered to me at work yesterday -  and the Dylusions clear ones are a blog comment prize from Art from the Heart (yes, another win, can't believe how lucky I've been lately - this was from a couple of months ago but there was a delay sending it as my email went astray)

so I had to try out the new JoFY paints - the right hand side is the turquoise - it's fabulous isn't it!

the page on the left I started yesterday, (Monday lol!) and will show fully in a post soon.

I'll be round to catch as many of your desks as soon 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