Only By The Walls

It is the beginning of the month which means another art journal challenge from Art and Soul Studio has started. You will find all the details for the challenge in the facebook group Soul Sisters which is part of the Art and Soul Studio.

The challenge is to use these images and quote for inspiration to create an art journal page.

Here is an close up of a part of my journal page if you would like to see the whole piece please follow this link to the Art and Soul Studio Blog.

Products from the shop: Tim Holtz Distress Ink: walnut stain, vintage photo and peeled paint

Happy Creating

Day Dream

Just recently I had the pleasure of creating with a Shop and Crop Scrapbooking Kit that was created for the Brisbane Expo by the amazingly talent Elisa.

This is what Elisa designed for the Expo Kit - No. 8  instructions are included for this gorgeous layout.

 

The kit is jammed packed with lots of goodies to play with. Here is what I designed with the kit. I still have lots of left overs so I look forward to playing and sharing with you again in a couple of weeks.

 

If you would like to see the whole canvas and the steps on how to create it please follow the link to the Shop and Crop Scrapbooking Blog.

 

Happy Creating





Follow Your Dreams

Currently I have 5 bound art journals being used and 2 just patiently waiting for me to break them out, but I really love using mixed media paper or heavy watercolour paper that I have cut up myself.  Having all these different size journals and paper lets me just follow my journey where ever it leads.

The art journal page I am sharing with you today has a little story behind it which I hope you don't mind me sharing with you. It started out as a page painted with black gesso, then letter stickers stuck down. Once this was all dry I added colour with my Twinkling H2Os, which were pretty in colour but the design was ugly. I put it aside for another day. That day final came and then after many, many, many layers of thick gesso, texture paste, I was able to cover the old page up. My piece of mixed media paper that is 21.5 cm x 21.5 cm now weighs 64g. The same size and kind of paper with nothing on it only weighs 13g, that's a lot of product to cover something up.

Much happier with the new page

products used: mixed media paper, art basics heavy gesso - white, lindy's stamp gang sprays starburst - tiffanylou blue, blue hawaiian blue, lindy's stamp gang sprays flat fabio - tilt-a-wheel teal, tim holtz collection layering stencil - stripes, uni pin fine line - black 0.1, kaisercraft rubons - dreams, indigoblu stamp - limor circles, dina wakley media stamp - textures

Happy Creating

Stay Curious

For the second day running it is raining here, yesterday I got soaking wet doing the grocery shopping this morning I am sitting in my craft room listen to the rain and the washing machine. Today I thought I would share with you some mini canvas panels that I have been working on.

All three I started on retreat, one I actually finished there, the second one I finished last week while I was completely something else and the third one is still not finished but thought I would share it with you any way.

The panels (pack of 5) were purchased a couple of years ago and they have sitting there waiting for the right time. I took them away with me on retreat because they are little (10.2 x 10.2 cm) and were easy to drop in with all the other stuff I took away with me.

This panel is from a combination of a couple of the classes I took on retreat The Way Things Fall (which I haven't shared with you yet) and Fear Nothing.

products used: canvas panel, book pages, artbasics heavy gesso - white, dylusions paint - melted chocolate, kaisercraft stamp, tim holtz idea-ology - small talk.

This panel was one that I was just playing with, no plan what so ever, then again nothing of mine is ever planned.

products used: canvas panel, lindy's stamp gang spray flat Fabio - pop rock purple, orange creamsicle and ruby red slipper, artbasics heavy gesso - white, book pages, the crafters workshop stencil - 12x12 butterfly collage, donna downey signature stencils - mini number repeat, texture paste, tim holtz idea-ology - small talk, archival ink - jet black, cardstock - black, stampin up' dies - butterflies thinlits, dina wakley media heavy body acrylic paint - tangerine, dylusions paint - black marble.

 The third and final panel that I have been working on is incomplete, not sure where this one is going. Love the background, it reminds me of moss.

products used: canvas panel, book pages, artbasics heavy gesso - white, lindy's stamp gang spray flat Fabio - merry-go-round green, lindy's stamp gang spray starburst - black orchid silver & sea grass green, the crafter workshop stencil - mini tiny circles, artbasics texture paste - white crackle.

Happy Creating

New Stencil - WooHoo

While on retreat I was lucky enough to attend a class by Michelle Logan (blog) and during her class she was having give aways. Michelle could not have picked a better give away for me, it was a stencil, thank you Michelle. Do I love stencils yes I do, do I have an addiction to them hmmmm maybe, ok yes I do.

The stencil that I received was from ScrapFX. Well I just learnt something new I knew that ScrapFx were Australian but what I did not know was that they are a based in Victoria.

Until I received this one I didn't own a ScrapFX stencil, it is called Day Dreamer. They are made from a transparent plastic. It is thicker than other stencils that I own and it gives a really clear outline that adds dimension and texture to you art.

The background is made up off all sorts. It is in my journal where I put the little bits of lefts overs so nothing gets wasted. The day before the orange went on and the black. The black lines are actually put there by one of my retreat buddies. She was using black paint and some sort of medium from golden and asked if I wanted to use it up. I open my journal to this page and said go for it and walked away, not sure where I was going but when I came back the black lines were there.

Happy Creating

Adventures with Color Bloom Spray Mists

Just recently I finally gave in an brought the Color Bloom Spray Mists from Prima. My will had been strong until I put my name down for a class that is happening in November. In the class the sprays will be used. So me being me I needed to know what they were like and what they did if you would like to read what my ramblings were then please pop on over to Off The Rails Scrapbooking

Products Used: Color Bloom Spray Mist -  Soft Teal, Brush Chrome, Deep Teal, Tangerine, Summer Sky and Cobalt. Mixed Media Paper, TCW Stencil - Mini HalfTone Circles, Clear Crackle Paste, Clear Gesso, Texture Paste, White Gesso, Matte Gel and Gloss Gel.

Clear Crackle Paste

Clear Gesso

Texture Paste

Gesso

Matte Gel

Gel Medium

Gloss Medium

Gloss Medium

I have created some really yummy back grounds that I cannot wait to use for mixed media cards.

Happy Creating

Winter has Set In

Winter has begun here in Geelong, apparently it is the coldest start to winter since 1949. Gee thanks mother nature, when will summer be back. This cold, wet and rainy weather is the perfect time to spend in my space.

With all this time spent in my creative space I am quick of the mark this month and have created a card to enter into the June Challenge over on the ARTastic Challenge Blog. The art work they have used this month is by  Luka Va titled 'Bird King'

Along with using the art as inspiration you must also include wood veneer and/or birds. Not only was I able to find a bird within my stash but it was made out of wood veneer, could not have more perfect. Now what to do with it. 

The humming bird on the left is what it originally looked like and the one on the right is what I did to it. I pulled out my gelatos and started experimenting. I first used 2 different browns and it just didn't look right, so I added gold to the mixed and still I wasn't thrilled with the look. My next move was a bold one, I found my blueberry gelato and started to colour. The result is this gorgeous teal colour. 

The colours of the art work that stood out to me were the orange of the beak, aqua on the wings and the teal of one of the small birds. The other elements that stood out to me was the wood grain in the back ground and the triangles on the chest of the large bird.

I used all of these elements and turned them into the card below.

Products Used - Dylusions Paint (Vibrant Turquoise & Squeezed Orange), Faber-Castell Gelatos (Chocolate, Cinnamon, Gold Champagne & Blueberry), Faber-Castell Big Brush Pen (Cold Grey) Stampin' Up Ink (Smoky Slate), Stampin' Up Stamp (Hardwood), Stampin' Up Cardstock (Whisper White) Texture Paste, Mixed Media Paper, MME Cut &Paste Enamel Dots.

Happy Creating

Playing Around

I had this idea in my head that I wanted to do but first I thought it would be a good idea to trial it first. Did it work how I wanted it to? No where close, but I am reasonable happy with the canvas. It's not something that I have done before. And it's probably not something I will do again. I am glad that I gave it ago though.

I always say to myself that Art is an adventure and you never know where you are going to end up, just enjoy the journey along the way.

Products used: 10 x 9.5 cm canvas, watercolour paints, gesso, texture paste, Faber-Castel Pitt Pens

Happy Creating

Dylusion Fun

Like all scrapbookers, card markers or mixed media artists I am addicted to supplies and what better way to have up to date and a variety of products at my finger tips than belonging to the Frosted Designs Design Team.

My favourite products to use at the moment would have to be the Dylusion Inks. It means getting messy and running around with ink staining my hands for a couple of days afterwards but I don't mind, that is the enjoyment of creating.

In this layout I have used 6x6 Echo Park Beautiful Life Paper Pad, Heidi Swap Stencil - Butterflies, Prima Flowers - Paquita, Um Wow - Dream A Little Dream Flairs and Dylusion Inks Sprays - Funky Fuscia and Calypso Teal and American Crafts Cardstock - White

I love the effect of spraying two or more inks over the top of each other (in this case only 2) and the effects you get when laying the stencil over the top and lightly spraying with water. I also coloured the little aqua roses with dylusions and water.

A close up of the gorgeous Prima flower, they have so much texture.

It was easy to add a title to my layout with the UmWow flair. My daughter is a dreamer at times and this flair was just perfect.

http://www.frosted-designs.com/index.html  is where you can find the products listed above.

Thank you for visiting and happy creating