Flying High: An Art Journal Page

I am behind with my art journaling following the monthly prompts on Mission Inspiration.  I hope to have caught up with the final page for 2020 by the time that the January prompt is published next year.  This follows November's prompts.  The theme was Flying High, the colours Sky Blue, Cloudy Grey and Sunset Salmon and the prompt words Soar, Wings, Fly, Balloon and Feather.

Kicking Up The Leaves: An Autumnal Journal Page

I made this journal spread especially for a challenge over on Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art recently.

Pink Hearts Double Journal Page: Up to No Good

I had another play in my leather bound journal with hand made paper.  This time I created a double page spread.

Pointillism Art Journal Page: Stag

It seems a while since I joined in with Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  I haven't yet completed the last page for the October prompts and this is the first page that I have created with the November prompts: Art Movements.  Week 1 was Pointillism and I enjoyed using my masks in a different way to help me create this page.

WOYWW 485: A Change of Schedule

I only have one side of the desk to share today.  This is because Eva will be joining me to craft on Thursday this week, rather than Tuesday when I usually take the photos and write the post.  I have been keeping up quite well with the visiting, despite working on Wednesdays now.  I visit a few early deskers before I leave for work at 7am and try to catch up with as many more as I can when I get in.  If you want to know what I'm talking about then head over to The Stamping Ground, where all will be explained.

My side of the desk shows a journal page that I finished late Tuesday morning.  I used some of the stamps that Shaz (Silverwolf) kindly gave me at the crop, working in my birthday journal with the hand made paper (see HERE for details if interested).  As you can see, my craft 'to do' list is as long as ever, although the top section shows what has been done and dusted as it is crossed out.  I try to plan ahead so that I don't fall too far behind with the challenges in the various groups that I belong to.  Some are monthly, but there are one weekly and two fortnightly challenges, so I like to keep track.  I'll leave it there for now.  Will be along to visit later today or tomorrow when I am not working.  Happy WOYWW everyone.

Perfect Paint and Medium Storage

I have a lovely new addition to my craft shed.  It sits right next to my craft space and holds my paints and mediums.  I no longer have to cross over to the other side of the shed to find everything when I want to get painty.

Mission Inspiration: May 2017

I thought that I'd better complete this page as the next mission has already been posted and we are now in June.  I'm not usually this late, but I got sidetracked with other things over half term.  In the end I decided to make the page semi auto biographical as I am the eldest (by 15 minutes) of four (three girls and the youngest a boy).  The quote is completely tongue in cheek, as my parents do not feel this way at all.  However the old fashioned nature of the Paper Dolls that I used as the focal points reminded me of the 'Victorian/Edwardian' feelings about children.  As my brother (aged 6) once said about our grandparents, "I'm not spoiled, I'm ruined rotten."  The colours of the month were Teal, Lavender and Grey, so I decided to use a warm grey which matches the colour tones of the Paper Doll characters.

JJJ and Mindful Art Challenge 15: Into the Wild Woods; Green, Blue, Yellow

Once again, I am sharing this just in time to take part in Challenge 15 on Junk Journals Junkies and Mindful Art.  This is my interpretation, although I did alter the quote to read 'Wild Woods' instead of 'Forest'.

Flower Tags and More

These were created for the Tag It Tuesday monthly challenge, but I am grateful to Louise Withers for sharing the technique.

Journal52 Week 15: Soft

Since the start of the year, I have been joining in with the Journal52 prompts by Effy Wild.  To find out more, and to join in yourself, you can check out her page HERE.  This week the prompt was 'soft', and for the first time ever, I created the whole page (except for the quote) myself.  It is the first time that I have created a picture/painting without using stamps or stencils for help; while I know that I have a long way to go with my painting and lots to improve on, I am really proud of my first attempt.

All about the Words

I had such fun making this page.  I started it for week 14 of Journal52 (Horizon), but as I only used Claritystamp stamps, I also decided to enter the finished page into the April 2017 Clarity Worldwide challenge 'All About The Words'.

 

art journal prompts Week 1: My Word for 2017

I'm working in a totally random order to catch up with these weekly prompts from 'art journal prompts'.  This is the third that I've completed of the ten set so far this year, but if I work on two a week for the next seven weeks, I will have caught up.  With this in mind, and my determination to craft and share daily this year, I chose the word 'Create' as my word for 2017.

art journal prompts Week 10: Magic

This is only my second page following the 'art journal prompts' Facebook group, so I still have 8 weeks to catch up!  This week the prompt was 'magic' and this is what it inspired me to make.  To me reading is magic.  Books can transport you to any place at any time, whether real or imaginary!

Art Journal Prompts Week 5: Take Two

I decided to start another art journal in my bargain buy from The Works; an 8" x 8" wire bound kraft card scrapbook.  It only cost me £3 so I've decided to work on every other page and glue the sheets together to make them more robust.  This journal will be used for the weekly 'art journal prompts' from the Facebook group of the same name.  As I'm late for the party this year, I decided to dip in and have actually started with week 5: Take Two.
As the pages are made from kraft card, I decided to gesso the centre of the page, but deliberately left the edges bare.  This would allow me to add colour without the base showing through and keep the interest of the kraft card border.




The next step was to stamp the focal point.  I have had this stamp set for quite a while; it is from the Little Bit Sketchy range designed by Sheena Douglass and is called 'Just the Two of Us'.  Although the image is of a boy and a girl, I have a twin sister and there are photos of us sitting on the beach together wearing our red swimming costumes when we were little.  Although the photos I have are in black and white, both the prompt and the image brought back memories.  The image was stamped using Jet Black Archival ink and then painted over with Pebeo drawing gum to protect it while I worked on the background.
For the sand I used Fossilized Amber and Mustard Seed distress paint.  Once some had been dabbed on, I moved the paint around with my fingers, blending it out over the gessoed area onto the bare kraft card.  For the sky, I used Sailboat Blue and Cloudy Blue Adirondack paint and the same method to create the blend that I wanted.  Where the gesso showed through it was perfect to give the feeling of sky.  Once the background had been dried off, I used a Versamark ink pad and detail white embossing powder to add the sentiment from the same stamp set.  I then rubbed the drawing gum off the focal image.
I usually use distress markers or pens with a water brush to colour my stamped images, but I wasn't happy with the effect on gessoed kraft card.  Instead I decided to use Distress and Adirondack paints. I gave the little boy a slight touch of the sun by going over the intitial layer of Antique Linen and Tattered Rose mixed together with some areas using Worn Lipstick.  He is wearing Candied Apple trunks and his hair is a blend of Gathered Twigs and Ground Espresso (as is the girl's skin).  The girl's hair is a blend of Fossilized Amber and Mustard Seed to match the sand and she is wearing a Sailboat Blue swimming costume to tie in with the sky.  I considered the page finished at this point.

Junk journal junkies Challenge 6: Red, White, Blue and Lips

Once again, I've been working in my thin paged notebook to take part in Challenge 6 for Junk journal junkies; Red, White, Blue and Lips.  For once I decided to try using paint even thought the pages are so thin that I usually glue three together between art journal layouts.  I was pleasantly surprised by the result.

Pick A Stick Challenge September 2016

I must admit that I put off this challenge for a while, as I couldn't picture what I was going to do with the steps as listed in this month's challenge.  I also had to find some wrapping paper, as I don't have any printed tissue paper.  I had already looked out some waffle paper and had it sitting on my desk.  However, once I made the effort to fetch some wrapping paper from the house and discovered the printed words and phrase in the Sunday Supplement, the ideas just seemed to flow.  I suppose that the moral is to just get started!  I'm actually rather pleased with the finished page and will be sharing it with #PASC916.

WOYWW #381 - Back in the Saddle

List of prompts and journal at the ready

The new school term is back in full swing and even though I don't work on Wednesdays, my desk is used less for crafting and more for marking and preparing.  I didn't even make last week's WOYWW hosted by Julia's Stamping Ground.  I can show you my desk yesterday afternoon, as I started work on an art journal layout, following a series of prompts.  I was busy getting everything together; a colour that I don't usually use, waffle paper, a non tool, cut out words and phrases from a printed source and elements cut from wrapping paper.

Light pink paint and wrapping paper elements.

Words and a phrase cut from a Sunday supplement.

Round the World in 80 Days

The inspiration for the tag and the starting point for the whole card, came from a mixed media tag by Vicky Papaioannou on her Clips-n-Cuts blog.

 The #8 manila tag was covered with a piece of Tissue Wrap (Tim Holtz - Postale) and sealed with matt medium.  A light coat of gesso was followed by distress paints in Fossilized Amber and Spiced Marmalade; using a wet wipe to blend the colours.  Each layer was thoroughly dried with a heat gun before adding the next!  I dabbed Antiqued Bronze distress paint through the Treads layering stencil (THS045) using a mini blending tool; added Dreamweaver metallic gold embossing paste through the Dot Fade stencil (THS006) in opposite corners and left the tag to one side to dry.

Canvas Roses

I saw the rose challenge on the Allsorts Challenge blog and thought immediately of this card.  I also thought I would enter it in the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge.
I was experimenting with a Crawford & Black Canvas Pad and wondered if I could use it with an embossing folder.  No sooner thought than tried!
Out came the Embossalicious A4 Paisley folder and off I went.  I dabbed Mustard Seed and Salty Ocean distress paint separately onto a craft mat; spritzed with water and pressed the canvas into the paint - note to self yellow and blue make green!