High five & restraint

Restraint is the theme for Journal 52 this week & we even had a little tutorial link.... I did 2 pages on copy paper as I wasn't sure where I'd go with it!

I used a Paper Artsy die to make a stencil and applied orange, orange +touch of white, orange + touch of black to create a random pattern. 

The background was then filled in using black acrylic and I outlined the resulting shapes with a posca pen. 

The plain orange had some leaf style veining added with a black pen. I had some serious "spitting" problems with both pens!

My second page was done using the stamps that match the die and also the same stencil. This time I used DI dried marigold, spiced marmalade,rusty hinge. I added a fine line in sepia Pitt pen around the dried marigold shapes.

Then it was onto dlp where the challenge was to use at least 3 layers & the prompt: give me a high five.

Restraint must have rubbed off on me! Not a lot of colour to this one.....

I stamped some random script across my page (gessoed), used some acrylic tinted clear gesso through a chevron stencil. Once that layer was dry I stuck down some paper strips (scraps!) and after more drying time I used a new Labyrinth stencil with Victorian velvet DI.

I added a doodled strip of book paper to the RH page, stamped some 5s in seedless preserve on both pages as well as HOME because....well obviously I live at number 5.

I took a small kraft label from my stash & stamped it with a free house stamp that has been coloured, a small scrap od wrapping paper added along the bottom to represent the garden & then stuck it onto a piece of hammered watercolour paper that I had swiped through DI at some time in the past....

I wanted to add some texture to my tag but didn't want to use my sewing machine. Instead I used a paper pattern tracing wheel to create perforations around the edge & then did some chain stitch all around it using a Caron variegated thread.

So that's me all up to date with the journal pages, tomorrow is the first of march and Tim Holtz will be revealing his latest tag and I'm all clear and ready to rock if inspiration strikes :-)

Happy weekend to all.....

Challenges

It's time for a new theme over at Moo Mania....black bird and for this one I've got 3!

A Tim Holtz raven, a row of birds on a wire (free stamp) both of these are on mop-up scraps and the third, which is the bird cages, is in fact a piece of washi tape that I rescued from an envelope because I liked it!

It's also the 25th so it's Rudolph day and I have some Xmas cards made....

Yep! I've been busy using yet more paper scraps and also playing with a newish die! That's another 9 cards ready for December :-)

Off to link these so I'll see you again soon.....

Smile

New theme time at POSITIV>>-+->JOURNAL...smile

Kept it super simple, just added some paper to both pages (stash), added a small photo of my American children taken several years ago now, some strips of die cut paper, letters & a message on vellum that I was sent in a package of "happy mail" & a chocolate baroque flower.

I just love those smiles! It's hard to believe they will be 9 & 12 this April.

Squares

I just couldn't resist another repeating pattern page....antique linen,old paper,pumice stone, frayed burlap, walnut, pigma micron brown, Stabilo brown, inktense baked Earth, archival black, Signo white & Osmiroid black calligraphy.

Top left: Burlap bits + antique linen - crosshatched frags + old paper 

Top right: 2 home made stamps + pumice & frayed burlap

Bottom: Hero Arts row of five backgrounds

Greek key stamp in walnut & white signo

Inktense squares, Stabilo square outlines

Black wavy edge square (?)

Close ups....

Monday

And so another Monday is upon us, the last for February and our inchie challenge this week....SNAIL

Here are my inchie

And my ATC 

Repeat patterns

It's week 8 at DLP and we are on layers you will love / repeating elements/ it's worth repeating.

My gesso coated pages got a random covering of  Decoart sun yellow, distress stain crushed olive & some pearlescent yellow acrylic ( no details known!)

Out came the stencils (mini chicken wire & mini hexagons) I used scattered straw & mustard seed with the chicken wire and wild honey through the hexagons, I also did some of the larger shapes in gesso with a touch of yellow added.

I added some sunflower border strips, honey jar, hive & bee that were from some free papers

Stamped some hexagon shapes using Colorbox stylus.

Added some small bees around the pages + a queen bee / bee happy. All the bees have had their wings painted with tattered angels glim glam chandelier.

The larger hex were edged with dark wash & the stamped ones I did with a brown pen/damp paintbrush, I might go over those with a bit more water to tone them down a touch!

A bright page on a wet & wintry day....we've had rain, sleet & snow!

Journal 52 aromatherapy

Hummmm! Where to go with this? Oils? Candles? Perfume(a weakness of mine)?

Candles in jars

Cut out & stuck down with labels

"Lavender sprig" border done with distress paints (iced spruce & shaded lilac) & some dots in 2 shades of felt pen.

Friday

Yay, my patient is back home....he's snoozing in the chair in front of golf on the TV. So never one to miss a chance, I'm in the sunshine in my workroom!

I decided to finish my alphabet soup....a little over stamping & some stamped/inked circles the circles came in happy mail today & the Heidi Swapp stamps were also happy mail last year....some very generous ladies out there that I've "met" through DLP :-)

I'm linking this the Artist Trading Post alphabet soup challenge.

But I'm off on a different journey to the journaling one now as the dog is telling me it's time for his walk!

Playing

In a bid to switch off whilst waiting for news on Bill's surgery (to remove the metal post installed in dec 2012) I spent some time experimenting....

Some photographic paper (that was rescued from Aunties in the spring when we cleared out her flat) got the alcohol ink treatment, the metallic mixer left a dusty film on the paper so I wiped that off. I tried stamping but the stamp didn't work too well, so I went over the pattern with a gold signo pen & I also tried using versamark/EP....that didn't go too well either as the surface of the paper cracked as is visible in the purple picture (top right)

Bottom left is stencilling using the new Mini Pattern Strops (Balzer Designs TCW) whilst the one on the right is mini flower frenzy + doodling with gel pens.....it's bright is about all I will say about this one!

Then I went back to an alphabet soup page that I did ages ago but never touched since, I added some clear gesso then a coat of distress paint some dark wash pencil around the letters, washi tape (TH)....

Surgery has now happened & Bill is back on the ward, I've to call back soon to see if they are going to let him come home tonight!  

Back on here again soon, in between my nursing duties!

Play time

I was playing with some stencils the other day....and did a little doodling.....

Today my new order of stencils arrived from Blitsy....

More play time required soon!

Frida

POSITIV>>-+->JOURNAL time again and I confess that my heart sank when I saw the theme was Frida Kahlo. I am no fan of either her work or indeed her "beauty"....

Time for a trip over to Pinterest to see what I could find...a couple of images caught my eye :-)

So glad this is only a small journal (4.5x6.25")

I've smeared some acrylics on one page, cut out the head & glued it down & done some doodling - die cut letters for her name, hand written dates for birth/death.....I might add some flowers across the page under the portrait and then I'm calling this one done!

Text

Monday morning....welcome to a new week and a new inchie theme! Text is the latest word for us so here we go with inchie & ATC 

A piece of book page with random inks & stencilling, one of the many scraps....a little doodling and a stamp.

For the ATC I've used a piece of a bible in Pashtun that's been overstamped in gold with  Stampers Anonymous text & then gold EP. I've done some colouring with red, green & yellow felt pens used as watercolours.

Enjoy the start of the week & if you have chance go check out whe other entries at http://everyinchiemonday2012.blogspot.co.uk  

Busy with art

WARNING!

This post is heavy on photos so get comfy & pour yourself a glass of something nice!

Journal 52 has also gone with Valentine as their theme, I know, not very imaginative but it is valentine weekend so no bit surprise....

I was in Marks & Spencer yesterday and picked up the free recipe/news paper....so did Bill!

So when I saw this weeks theme I just had to go with the free paper! Here's what I came up with...

And some details....left hand page has red roses cut to size with a wavy edge pair of scissors, silvery letter stickers from my stash for our initials, fall in love is from the paper as is the white chocolate heart and the velvety red roses    For valentine's day. I've outlined the words & initials with a white signo pen.

The right hand page...

A strip of the chocolate hearts with some more white pen doodling, some hand written notes/dates + a free mini hearts stamped in red +red cosmic shimmer EP. The hanging heart topper was in my stash.

Go and top up that glass/cup and get those feet up because we are not done yet....yep! I really had a marathon session in the studio today as my brain seemed to be firing on all cylinders.

DLP is still all about layers with the challenge: covering up good stuff and the theme: going undercover......help said my brain....rummage did my hands.....but they came up empty when I went looking for some under papers that I had put somewhere safe (I later found them) . Take a big breath and throw yourself off the cliff then!

So here we go with the layers....gesso then yellow & neon pink acrylics

Then I wrote on the left hand page and followed that with some distress ink in black through a stencil...

Meanwhile the right hand side was done exactly the same minus the writing.

Time to tone things down a bit! I brayered some white acrylic....oops! I forgot about distress! So now we have some grey....ugh! I dug out an Indian wood block and stamped a few teardrop patterns across my spread with white acrylic. Once everything was dry I put some more gesso over the white.

I've doodled around the white stamping with my dark wash pencil/wet paintbrush - added some white Molotow circles through a stencil which I then outlined with black.

Added a trellis strip that has been cut from a page that I took out of a magic eye pattern book.

In my box of goodies I have some rather nice circle patterns that have come an assortment of people....all part of the joys of "happy mail" so I have added some circles, some complete & some cut down slightly, added more dark wash around them and added some wording.

Destiny dealt it's cards and...

So the planets aligned under the cover of darkness

And now that you are all utterly exhausted from all the photos I shall wish you a good weekend!

Happy Valentines to you all <3