Page overload to the penny dropping, finally!!

I signed up for the paired journal to challenge me, and it does.  When my journal came back with all of Sami's fantatsic additions and extra pages I immediately decided I'd dived in to the paired journal before I was ready.  I looked at those gorgeous pages and my mind just froze.

 A few weeks later Sami let me know she was ready to trade again and I hadn't made a mark; time to be brave and tackle my journal.  This is where page overload comes in:  Bond,James Bond:

 Oh yes, page overload.  I'm still in the must finish the page mindset here.  Leaving it partially done was still alien to me.  I added lots of bold pieces but when I finally added the hand , I  realised I'd gone completely OTT, and then the penny dropped, 'Less is More'.

No more anguish from this point forward I'm in the zone.  

So here's a selection of my other pages with the 'Less is More' approach:

 Added the golden sunrays and words 'Spirit of Womankind'  This goddess symbol is one of my faves, you might see it in some of my other work!!

The compass was stamped onto tissue paper before adding to the page.  The chinese text was stencilled and the butterflies where a gift from another crafter.

 I stencilled in the clock face and roman numerals and  stamped the words 'tick tock'.

This is fast becoming my favourite page.  Lots of stamping onto tissue before applying to the page with modge podge.

More stamping onto tissue then modge podging the images.

And some new pages for Sami to play with.

Thanks for your patience while I work through my 'creative' issues and to Sami for being so patient with me while I muddled through.  Sami's journal is with me and I'm ready to roll!!

Big catch up- prayer flags, Pair journal and D and V baby

Sorry this is a bit of a photo heavy post. I have not been around much and I am just trying to catch up on everything.

Prayer flag project

 This was the start of my prayer flag (i did two bases in case i messed one up!) which I then sent onto Sarah.

 I received this beautiful flag from Pat

and this is what I added to it before passing it on again to Sarah

I forgot to take a photo of this before I started on it. The photo of this doesn't do it justice, it is a beautiful vibrant, red, orange and yellow. I added the metal spirals, charms and beads and the fibre threads on the bottom and have posted it off to Sarah.

This is the flag that I get to keep and I LOVE it! It is so perfect for me with the Goddess figure on it. The colours are amazing and every ones layers and additions are great! It is way to pretty to hang outside though so I am hanging it above my meditation space.  I really enjoyed this project, combining art and textiles is something I have not done in ages.Thanks everyone!

Sami and Lou pair journal

This is the second round working in my journal. Lou had added some great stuff to my pages and started some amazing ones- i was inspired so much with what she had done, that I probably did too much before sending it off again!

 I added the oriental text stamp, flower stamp and washi tape

 Added the magazine girl, the tickets and the man and lady stamps

 added some stamps and the washi tape

 Added flower stamps and some more colour

 Added the brick work with a stencil and the chickens and cow on the right hand side

 Added the arrows and the small hand prints

 Did this page using gelli print cut ups and homemade stencils

 Did this page with the paint left on my stencils after gelli printing, added a tag and some collage and washi tape

 I added the house stamps and the sun to Lou's vibrant Mary Poppins page (love that stamp!)

 I added the yoga stencil, the stars and the words to this page

 I started this page again using the wet stencils and paint left on the brayer after gelli printing and adding a stamp and a bit of collage

 These three pages were again, scraps and left over paint/stencils from gelli printing and some magazine collage

 I used collage, a scrapbooking tag and a clothes tag on this page

 left over paint from another project and some collage and stamping

 I saw this idea of stamping on masking tape on Pinterest and thought I would have a go, love how it turned out.

 I have posted this back to Lou today and look forward to working in her journal again.

And here is a picture of the new addition to my family...

He is very well behaved and spends his days hanging from my book shelf in my craft room, watching everything I do! I love him, thanks Donna!

Phew, sorry for the long post, I must try and keep up in future!

Sami

Sami & Lou's Paired Journal

So I took the plunge to partake in some Paired Journalling, Sami was very kind to offer herself up to me.  Panic then immediately set in, collaborative art is fun but also very challenging and nerve racking for me; you all make it look so easy.  I faff, procrastinate and then worry its not right, even though I know 'right' doesn't really apply here, but I want to do a good job IYKWIM, so Sami's fabulous journal arrived and my mind went blank.  I kept looking through it thinking how can I add to these fab pages, what will work here, how much do I do....the list goes on and on... eventually I told myself to GET A GRIP and Go 4 IT, so here goes ..........

Page 1 before and Page 1 after - I toned down those pink hearts with a light coating of gesso and then added the red mulberry flowers.

Page 2 before and page 2 after - I used my chalk pastels and covered the page in lime green so you could still see the text underneath. The & and Q are stamped in acrylic, the bird and music line are glued down.

Page 3 before and after - this was actually the first page I worked on and then decided it was too bold and had a major panic over it, it took a couple of days before I worked on the journal again.

Page 4 before and after - I've added some rub ons to create texture in the background and the flowers on the dress, the words, the dragonfly and the bird cage are stamped onto tissue paper and glued down, the crown was just shouting at me "pick me, pick me!" so I did.

This page is all me, I used chalk pastels for the rainbow and some stamps.

This is another page I've added to but can't find the original image.  Chalk pastels again, stamped tissue for the penny farthing and a digi image for the cockerel.

This is another page started by me, chalk pastels and a stamped image.

I didn't work on all the pages maybe next time round I'll feel braver.  The journal is back with Sami, hope she enjoys working with my contributions.  

Pair journal- Sami and Lou

Hi! Lou and I have joined up to do pair journals. I forgot to take photos of my book before sending it to Lou, but here are photos of Lou's journal before I send it back to her.

 Lou had done the beautiful colours on this page and I added the Buddha head and the texture paste circles.

 I added a photocopy of a jellyfish i drew a while ago and some circles to Lou's background

 Lou had done the purple background and the lovely tissue heart in the centre. I added the wings and some stars and stamped some text with white ink

 I added the angel and the ivy leaves and the inked pink flowers to this page

 I added the fortune cookie label, the tree in a circle and scribbled around Lou's collaged circles. I added a bit of orange through some sequin waste as well

 I loved this page, the dancing girls that Lou had stamped reminded me of May day so i added a may pole and some stamped bunting/flags to the edges and a little fairyland ticket.

 This hand image that Lou had done was beautiful so i didn't want to add to much. I just doodled some gold in the corner and added a stamp and some stamped text, some paint through a stencil and a collaged bit of a gelli print to the opposite page.

To finish off this round I started some more background pages for Lou to add to.

I think this is going to be a great collaboration and I loved working on Lou's pages!

Sami x