Tuesday 31 July 2018

Winter. You'll Miss It When It's Gone: A Journal Page

I'm still catching up with my art journaling in between other projects which can't yet be shared.  Yesterday, I finally finished off the December page for 2017 over on Mission Inspiration.  Given how hot it's been, I felt the quote was particularly apt.

Monday 30 July 2018

7th Birthday Card

I am really grateful for the inspiration given by Dee Paramour in the leaflet which came with this month's offering from the Claritystamp New Design Stencil Club.  I have used the same techniques, but have altered the colours and some of the stamps to create a 7th birthday card for my Great Niece.  I even managed to get in a reference to her name!

Sunday 29 July 2018

Promise a lot: Art Journal Page

As it is the summer holidays and I have more time for crafting,  I decided to catch up with a page from my Mission Inspiration journal.  I missed two pages at the end of 2017, but left space for them in my journal.  Between other projects I have worked on the prompts for November 2017 over the last few days.  As usual there were 8 steps, 3 suggested colours and a choice of 5 prompt words.

Saturday 28 July 2018

Three Way Overlay Stamps on an Oxide Background.

Having experimented with the new set of Distress Oxides to create backgrounds on tags (see HERE), I felt that the four colour combinations that I had come up with represented the four seasons perfectly.  I have also been playing around with the Claritystamp three way Floral Friends overlay stamps, thanks to a wonderful workshop with Maria Moorhouse.  I decided to combine the two.  Unfortunately I have been unable to finish the Autumn and Winter tags, as the season stamps for those are not yet available from Claritystamp.

Friday 27 July 2018

Experimenting with the New Oxides!

Like many of you, I was excited when the fourth set of Distress Oxides were announced.  I immediately ordered them (and later the matching re inkers) and they arrived yesterday morning.  I immediately set about creating backgrounds on tags using different combinations of the new colours.



Thursday 26 July 2018

People are like Puzzles: An Art Journal Page

Sorry if you've looked in expecting my finished ATCs and box.  I'm afraid that they are still a work in progress; I will probably add a little more to them each day rather than rush the process.  In the mean time, I've been trying to catch up with my art journal pages following the prompts over on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  The monthly prompt for July is 'Puzzles' and week 4 focusses on word and number puzzles.  I still have two missing pages to complete, but I am getting there.

Wednesday 25 July 2018

WOYWW 477: Getting into Practice

I thought I'd better start getting into a routine for my new work pattern starting in September as I will be working on Wednesdays.  So today's post was written yesterday evening as well as the photos being taken (as usual) during my Tuesday craft session with Eva.  As Wednesdays won't have anything of interest on my desk shortly, I won't be boring you with pictures of my laptop and books for marking lol.  Visit head desker Julia over on The Stamping Ground to find out more about this weekly event.
I was working on an MDF kit: a box shaped like a book and six ATC blanks to store inside.  I won it in a competition and I'm not sure who made it, but I am enjoying decorating the whole thing.  Pop back tomorrow if you want to see the finished piece; not that I have done so yet lol.  The box is red as I had the idea of painting the ATCs in the remaining colours of the rainbow and working on that as a theme.
Eva was using her Kuretake Clean Colour pens to colour in some stamping.  When she returns from Germany, I will be sitting down with her to finally help her create her own blog: 'The Other Side of the Desk'.  We have had the name for a while, thanks to suggestions from fellow deskers; now we just need to create it and get Eva started.  By September she should be blogging once a week at least!

Tuesday 24 July 2018

ATCoins on a Journal Page

One of the third challenges to celebrate 5000 members over on Junk journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art (JJAMMMA) is to create 5 ATCoins and use them on another project.  I had previously made a journal page with 5 ATCoins on it (see HERE), but as it had to be a new project this time,  I came up with another page. 

Monday 23 July 2018

Web Site Logos

Today's project is an out of the ordinary one for me.  My brother asked me to create him some logo designs to use on his web site.  He has finally taken the plunge and is making a career out of instrumental teaching.  I am so proud of him and he is really happy!  These are the two that I came up with and he loves them both, so I will be excited to see which one he uses on his web site once it goes live.

Saturday 21 July 2018

Ta and ta-ta to a great bunch of TAs

A large number of our Teaching Assistants (TAs) are moving on to pastures new; one to take up a place on a teacher training course.  I made a series of cards for everyone at work to sign and as you can tell, continued with my penchant for terrible puns.







Thursday 19 July 2018

Leavers Cards for Colleagues

It's the time of year when cards are required for colleagues that are moving on to pastures new.  This year I have had quite a few cards to make.  I decided to use the same design for two colleagues, but worked in two colour ways.


Wednesday 18 July 2018

WOYWW 476: The Home Stretch

Hello and welcome to my last WOYWW post for 2017-18.  It's the last week of school and I only have one more day to work before the summer holidays.  I'm sharing my desk as it looked yesterday, as when I post this, my desk will only contain my laptop; I am planning on tweaking all the French schemes of work and resources (September until Christmas) ready to drop into the shared area at school on Friday.  That way all my non-specialist colleagues can prepare over the summer.  From September I will be working on Wednesdays, so won't have time to visit so soon.
My side of the desk shows some of the materials that I had gathered to start work on a Seaside/Nautical themed tag, as well as my list of planned blog posts.  As I had to make numerous cards for various colleagues I won't need to share the tag until Sunday as I'm well ahead of myself. 
To see other desks and join in with this long running blog hop, please visit Julia, our illustrious leader over on the Stamping Ground, where all the link ups are made.
On the other side of the desk, Eva was working on a whimsical journal page; we enjoyed our first full day's crafting together since before my week in Berlin.  We are both looking forward to Maria Moorhouse's workshop in Shropshire on Saturday; the perfect start to the school holidays.
Eva's finished journal page

Tuesday 17 July 2018

Education is Power: A Journal Tag

The prompt for July's mini mission over on Mission Inspiration is 'Power'.  I am a teacher, so the quote 'Education is power' was the perfect fit.  As always, the mini mission was completed on a tag.  As this owl is such a whimsical character, I am also entering it into the current Whimsical challenge over on JJAMMMA (Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art).

Monday 16 July 2018

Altered Playing Cards on a Journal Page

This is the first page that I have made for the July prompts on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  The monthly prompt is Puzzled and week 3 is to alter playing cards.  I still have to go back and work out how I am going to include altered dominoes (week 1) and altered jigsaw pieces (week 2) on a journal page.

Saturday 14 July 2018

The Result of an Impromptu Workshop

Once a month, a group of JJAMMMA members (Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art) get together to catch up and craft together.  At our latest meet up in Stockport, Louise Withers threw an impromptu workshop with the materials we had between us and some new stamps that she had brought with her.

Friday 13 July 2018

Pull Up Lantern Card

I am most grateful to Sue Ralph for sharing her version of this card.  Her instructions are fantastic and easy to follow (see HERE).  This is my variation; I added some extra layers to the base.

Thursday 12 July 2018

Wednesday 11 July 2018

WOYWW 475: On the Road

Morning everyone. We all made it back from Berlin safely and I have just about caught up with my sleep having averaged about 4.5 hours a night for 5 days.  This week I should have more time to visit everyone, once I've analysed some data and made 6 more leavers' cards; it's a good job that I have an extra day off this week.
My desk this morning shows the results of yesterday's monthly journal meet up in Stockport.  The colouring page was a gift from one of the ladies, the page peeking out from underneath the result of an impromptu workshop that Louise Withers gave us and the background what I got up to with some Amsterdam acrylic paint and a scraper.  Why am I sharing a picture of my desk? To link up with the long running weekly blog share - WOYWW - run by our illustrious leader Julia over on the Stamping Ground.  I will be sharing a full step by step of the workshop later this week (with Lou's permission) so pop back if you want to see more.

On the other side of the desk yesterday, one of the ladies did her own interpretation of Lou's workshop.  Eva couldn't make it as she had a meeting, but normal service should be resumed next week.
Lou took a picture of us as we were working.
So I returned the favour later on.  Have a great week everyone! 
Adding a link to Hazel's blog candy page as she is one of us and has been blogging for 11 years now!

Monday 9 July 2018

A Wedding Gift

This is a wedding gift that I made recently. 
For the top panel, I started by colouring some of the Ecoline brush pens directly onto three of the Journaling stamps from Claritystamp and stamping them onto a piece of rice paper, slightly larger than my canvas board.  This was then glued in one piece onto the board using matte gel medium and sealed over the top in the same medium. The gel medium caused the colours to run very slightly, but this just added to the interest of the background.
Black Amsterdam acrylic paint was used through the Love Tree stencil by Claritystamp (NDSC Back Order 20) and dried with a heat tool.
Once clean and dry, the stencil was slightly off set and Amsterdam white acrylic paint was dabbed through.  This had the effect of allowing the stamped background to show through which I wasn't expecting, but love nevertheless.
The word 'Love' from Word Chain 6 (Claritystamp) was stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed in True White detail embossing powder.  A black micron pen added a drop shadow to match the tree.
Finally, one of the Quote Chips by Tim Holtz was given a black edge using an Ecoline pen and added at the bottom. 
For the bottom panel, I used the same method as before to stamp onto rice paper.
This was adhered to an 8" x 8" canvas board from Claritystamp using matte gel medium in the same way as the top panel.  As you can see, I decided to turn the rice paper 90 degrees first.
Before the top panel was added using double sided adhesive sheets, I went all round the edges using a black pen.

Sunday 8 July 2018

The Perfect Sentiment!

This must be the quickest tag ever made, but the sentiment fit the mop up sheet and in the end I didn't feel any further embellishments were needed.  It fits the current challenge on Tag Tuesday: Floral.

Saturday 7 July 2018

Celebrating! It's Coming Home

I wasn't sure if I would be posting today having completed a full year without interruption yesterday at the end of a tiring school trip.  However, the July prompts on Tag It Tuesday, combined with England's semi final win this afternoon, were just too good to resist.  I actually used all four prompts for a change, although a minimum of two are allowed.
1 Glitter; 2 Add song lyrics; 3 Celebrations; 4 Something random on your desk.

Friday 6 July 2018

There's No Place Like Home

This tag was made ready for sharing on the last day of the school visit to Berlin.  It seems apt as we are flying home today and I'm sure there will be lots of stories to share about the week's experiences.  Today also marks a milestone for my blog which is nearly three years old.  I have posted once a day since returning from Berlin last year, so today marks an uninterrupted year of sharing and crafting!