Journal pages

DLP - not inspired by this one at all! Make a custom element / ride the energy of your own spirit ' Geraldine Roth'

Stencils/distress inks, some scraps, handwritten words.....the ink spidered due to the gesso & the pencil lines were a devil to erase :-(

POSITIV>>-+->>JOURNAL....meditation.....yep the French nor is still going all "deep & meaningful" on us & even suggested that we meditate before starting our page! I chose to sleep on it & now I'm just wondering whether or not to add 'to be or not to be'

I've used some paper that I remember buying from the student union shop at the Heriot Watt textile college in Galashiels -it's 6 years since I was there & I know I did not buy it the last year I was there!

I promised myself that I was going to use stuff for these journals & I occasionally manage to pull it off using all stash items....it sure feels good when I do.

The image is a download that I've coloured with watercolour pencils, just the circle behind the head is done with gold metallic paint.

OK, I'm off to contemplate my navel in front of the TV now.....see you all again soon :-)

Eggs

It's halfway through the current moo mania challenge so I thought I'd better share my eggs. 

This one is a free stamp on paper scraps that I've cut out & stuck onto a stencilled scrap...

Here I've used a stamp (Hobby Art) & coloured with felt tips, neon gel pens & the background is sparkly green topcoat nail varnish!

The third & final is done with another free stamp(black ink on gold wrapping paper) an inked & embossed scrap + a happy Easter  greeting 

Time to link this to www.moo-mania.blogspot.com   

Oak

Last Monday of the quarter! I'm at a loss as to where the year has gone....I have not even been in France where it always seems to fly by.

Enough on that, it's time for our new inchie theme oak

And I've gone from little acorns to mighty oak leaves

And for my ATC 

Spring

....cleaning is our theme for Journal 52:

I've been trying to clear some paper from my scrap boxes and thus meant I was all set to go on this one.

Snippets, small snippets & a stamped daffodil image that just needed colouring on one page, more snippets & some die-cut letters on the other.....

Hope the time change doesn't deprive us all of too much sleep tonight!

Remember

There has been a terrible tragedy this week that has happened just a few miles from where I usually spend my winters in France. Yes, I'm talking about the airbus that has crashed with no survivors.

And the latest news would seem to mean that the copilot deliberately crashed the aircraft with all passengers on board straight into the mountainside. I feel so terribly saddened for the families of all concerned.

I am participating in POSITIV>>-+>>JOURNAL which is a French site so I thought I would use that journal to mark this awful event.

It just so happens that Brenda Brown of http://www.bumblebeesandbutterflies.com  fame has done a post today about stamping on brown parcel tape. I hate the stuff, it always sticks to the wrong things!

I did like the idea though so I decided to try stamping on some kraft paper tape I have that is normally used in picture framing.

Here are a few photos of the steps, I got involved & forgot to keep taking them!

Some smears of gesso, stamped paper tape strips, finger smeared white acrylic.

Some over stamping (snakeskin stamps) & some paper scraps.

I added some stencilling, gauze bandage that got dipped in vintage photo stain, paper ribbon, paper scraps, some pictures of old New Zealand postcards, the mountain one seemed right somehow, looks suitably remote! The postcard link would be the fact that it is a ski resort - I've used a date stamp that also has a window & I've hand written airbus. There's also a few strips of washi tape dotted around.

Thank you Brenda for the inspiration. Let's spare a thought & a prayer for the families.....

Rudolph day

Can you believe that it's the 25th again! Fortunately March so only the third of the year but even so...

Last month I was the randomly selected winner over at Scrappy Mo's Rudolph day and received a snowflake die & an offer of a guest spot this month....wow! You could have knocked me over with a feather LOl.

I have made 3 cards this month using the same stamp which came with Craft Stamper last October - it's by Maria Sabina. It's the first time I've used it.

So here are best photos that I have managed to take, it's been a challenge owing to cloudy skies or too much sunshine!

As you can see here, it's very sunny! A spellbinders Persian motifs gold doily, some dark green hammered card & tiny red pearl gems o go with the gold embossing.

This is the same die but I've used red metallic paper....

And on this one it's 2 die cuts in the same red that I've overlapped, this die is from Persian accents & I've added little tiny red gems.

Do take a look over at http://scrapsoflifebyscrappymo.blogspot.co.uk/ maybe even join in the fun, you have until the end of the month (I think!) & if not this month then maybe next. It's a great way to get a head start on those Christmas cards saving a last minute panic!

Little fish

......in a pond full of sharks!

A new week at POSITIV>>-+->>JOURNAL RELATIVITY is our theme!

So I'm choosing to be a little fish in a big sea that right now just happens to be full of rather large sharks!

Acrylic artists ink (FW), distress inks, paints & stains in various blues + some water sprayed to help blend.

The fish are Chocolate Baroque stamps (steampunk funky fish) that I stamped onto watercolour paper. I've used distress stain on the sharks + watercolour pencils & just the pencils on the little spiny fish - his spines are coloured with a silver pen.

Lasso

We have a new theme for our inchies....lasso!

A snippet from a magazine for this one....

And for my ATC... I used a mop-up background, a rope stamp for the border & a hand sketched lasso,

YeeHa, I think I'll go rope me a steer or three LOL!

DLP

As a focal point/coming into focus ....

I've gone super simple this week for the DLP challenge....used the Sizzix/TH butterfly frenzy to cut a stencil. I've sponged black acrylic, used some butterfly washi tape for the background and then used pens & black soot DI to colour the large TH layered butterfly that someone had sent me in exchange for some layered leaves.

Inspiration

Well this week the Journal 52 challenge took me right back to my City & Guilds Creative Embroidery days!

Inspiration board is what is called for and I just dived into my box of bits that do it for me.....

There's a lot on here : left book page (love the writing) an artists "hiland coo" a label wrapped with silk thread, a paper artsy metal image, some stencilled paper, butterflies die cut from alcohol inked paper,a knight on his charger (history buff), a crazy looking lady (love the colours/textures), a gelli printed piece +corset! some fishtails! assorted silk thread.

right: a fashion ad, more variegated threads,lace, jute & hessian, a piece of canvas work with assorted stitches, a piece of correspondence paper, book, a couple of artists pictures, seashells, a gem, flower, more threads.

I'm a great lover of pink/orange & turquoise/green combinations as well as working with texture although that is mainly in my textiles (when I do them which seems to be seldom these days)

Inner strength

I had to think about how I wanted to interpret this weeks POSITIV>>+>>JOURNAL theme which is "your inner strength". So like the French to give you deep meaningful themes! Reminds me of all the intellectual & philosophical classes at school....

Crumpled tissue paper + DI over both pages, edged with more DI.

Die cut letters + fired brick.

I've hand stitched 4 layers of papers together: base layer is angel hair paper(stash) then paper with acrylic fibres included that I made on a course about 25 years ago with Geoff Lowe, a layer of mulberry paper printed with Indian script followed by another layer of my own paper that has bits of metallic machine embroidery threads through it. I used a variegated Caron Wildflowers thread in Burnt Toast.

A little red heart & some chit chat stickers to finish off

Hope that next week is not as deep!

Manicure

A new paint job on my nails today but I'm hopeless at taking piccies with 1 hand so I'll just say that it's a very pale opaque grey/mauve (free with Cosmopolitan!)

Nail is also the theme this week at EIM so here are my shares for this week

This is actually a piece from a magazine, an advert for Sally Hansen nail varnishes!

My ATC is a paper scrap, a piece of white card stamped with a hand print and red nails painted on!

Have a good week & thanks for visiting.

The weekend!

Cold grey weather this morning but the sun was pouring into my workroom this afternoon :-)

I finished my journal 52 page where the theme is just write.

Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass, Broken China DI with chevron & bitty circles stencils...

Then I just wrote...the story of my page.....

DLP where the challenge is borders & the prompt is borderline feels like I'm going to lose my mind....

I was determined to use some of the stash that was on my desk after a tidy up yesterday & the day before (making room for a printer on the bookcase) so my left hand page is all Nitwits paper & the right hand has some leftover elements....

A close up...left side

And the right...

I've spread a layer of yellow decoart, used paper buttons to partially create a border, written dreaming of warm summer days with a blck sharpie & doodled the border.

The flowers were stuck down, outlined with dark wash & then Molotow white dots around them as another border....funnily enough this page is far more along the lines of my comment on the J52 page as I'm wearing lime green jumper & jeans! The subconscious plays tricks on me yet again :-)

Happy weekend to you all & thanks for popping by to visit.

Poultry

Moo-mania have a new theme & quite by chance I had some appropriate stamps land on the doormat recently with a magazine.

I have even used up scraps...sketch book scraps and mop up scraps this week :-)

Here are my hen, duck & Jemima Puddleduck

It's a lot of fun using up my bits & bobs in this way & I've got quite a selection of Moos now, sometimes they even make their way onto card fronts!

Eloge a la lenteur

POSITIV>>+>>JOURNAL has a new theme for us...I've gone super simple as far as "slowness" goes!

Ink splashes, washi tape, a rescued image of a snail & a Tim Holtz stamp.....

Now I'm off to enjoy today's sunshine! It's all about seizing the moment & when I walk the dog I shall hand deliver a birthday card to a neighbour....

Free digital image coloured LAST winter mounted on a piece of Joules carrier bag (that would be before they started charging for them!)

See you all again soon :-)

Tutankhamen

It's Monday again and we have a new inchie theme....you might have guessed from the title that it's Egyptian.

So here is my inchie, a stamp from a set of 9 ethnic stamps, the make is unknown!

And for my ATC  I used a gelli print scrap, an image that's been lurking in my bits 'n bobs 

As a keen history student it's a country I wish I had visited when it was still safe to do so!

Weekend pages

Journal 52 was all about colouring books so I downloaded a couple of images from Pinterest

and using watercolour pencils I set to work. On the page on the right with all the rings I have used metallic Sharpies to colour in the smaller rings and connectors. It's hard to get a decent picture of the metallic effect!

DLP pages new theme for the month: making your mark (doodles and Mark making) the challenge use it as a layer element &  prompt: surviving the elements.

I had started a spread because I wanted to be able to compare my various watercolour pencils 

I've got Derwent, Faber Castell, Conté,Start metallics, Daler Rowney and Derwent Inktense. 

I've written the number/colour on the relevant square and calling it done!

Pearls

There's a new challenge over at www.tryitontuesday.com where the theme is pearls. 

Some time ago I made this box for a friends birthday.... Fabric with pearls! So I thought I'd share it & link it to the challenge.

I've looked to see if its on my blog... I wiped my pictures by accident last year, so I cannot truly establish if this item has been seen on my blog or not- I've a funny feeling that it was only Facebook.

Here's a closer look at the lid

So my apologies if it has been seen before!

Clear space

I couldn't make up my mind if POSITIV>>+>>JOURNAL wanted minimalist or if I should clear my desk!

I went minimal-ish!

Gesso on the kraft paper, some versamark then some Pan Pastels, I won a starter kit of 5 colours a couple of years back & they've rarely seen the sight of paper!  I tried stamping the snowdrops & colouring with the pastels but wasn't very happy with the results so rubbed them out.

I went with stamping in a combination of evergreen bough/iced spruce for the snowdrops, iced spruce for the flourishes & swiped evergreen bough direct to some paper before die-cutting some letters to spell spring.

A little shading with Dark Wash, some tiny dots for the flourishes with a sharpie.

March

I never had time to do anything about the new tag across at Tim Holtz on Sunday, the time difference just meant that it was too late in the day :-(

Yesterday, however, I reread the instructions, pulled a face, pull out my bits & started to plan. I followed his instructions as closely as possible but without the new ink colours. I used some decoart paints as substitutes and mixed a coral & a green. I then made two backgrounds and selected 2 stamps,used masking paper before applying the texture paste. The left one is a Paper Artsy stamp + copper EP whilst the right hand is Papermania  + gold EP.

I didn't like the dragonfly one though as there was just not enough black! I continued with the shell lady and this is how she ended up...

The only TH products I used are DP in picked raspberry,spiced marmalade, salty ocean & the mini numeral, everything else came from my stash.

I decided to do something else with the other tag, a friend had traded some of my TH layered leaves for some layered butterflies.

I watercoloured one of the butterflies with felt paints then added black to the wings, a few gems & some ribbon.

I think this one may well end up on a card front!