What no stamping?!?!!

... Nope.  No stamping at all.. not even a teeny tiny detail stamp!

I bought a large Dylusions journal recently and this is the first spread I've created in it - its liberating!! All that space to create on!

I've had a rotten cold all week (actually lost my voice for a few days!) so these pages were almost a kind of 'therapy' - made me feel better to do 'something'... so its not overly complicated...

I painted and stencilled 2 pages (Fresco Finish paints, Stencil Girl stencil, Crafters Workshop stencils).  Not planning, just playing - I sketched flowers onto scrapbook papers (siiiiigh... oh, Basic Grey.. how I miss your gorgeous papers..) and cut them out.

The journal is BIG.... here's my hand on the spread to give you an idea how big...

... well its big for me - I usually use the small or square journals... and my junk journals are only 4x6 (ish) inches.

I glued down all the flowers and then set about sketching and shading in the details.  I took before and after photos to show the difference - amazing what a bit of doodling can do:

I think adding the details is my favourite part of the page creation... though it is hard to know when to stop!

Here's the finished spread... it makes me happy - all those big bright juicy flowers!

See (or not see actually, lol!)  No stamping!!  (It was hard not to reach for the stamps.. but fun too!)

This was a lovely, fun way to attack 'The Stash' of papers.

Thanks for stopping by

Ombre blooms....

When I'm designing workshops options/ideas get discarded along the way (because they're not quite suitable for the event etc etc etc)... and this canvas was one of them... I'd painted the backgound (I love an ombre background!) and the flower stem (grunge paste through stencil PS131) and it sat propped against the side of my desk for a while... and then I caught it with my foot one too many times and I picked it up again to work on it....

This is a 50x20cm canvas... which is quite large (!!)... (for me anyway!)

I stamped scribble flowers randomly along the bottom area of the canvas using Pearl Glaze - I like how it catches the light but doesn't crowd the area.

The top edges are filled with dangling leaves and tendrils.  The gold spots are created by running glue dots around the edges and laying foil over the top...

Here are the stamp sets I used:

I think the canvas might need some butterflies or something but for now I've reached the 'put the paint brush down, move away from the canvas' stage of the project.

I'm saying its done... finished.

Thanks for stopping by

Colour puddle card....

... I reeeally like painting 'colour puddles' and usually use them as the base to stamp flowers. I'm always thinking and looking for other ways to use them... when I saw a post on Instagram (linking to the Sizzix blog) where they had used these (very lovely) flower dies as a stencil on cards I had a lightbulb moment... and this card is the result...

I posted this photo on Instagram and said I would put simple instructions here on my blog - 'simple' because it is reeaally simple..

Step 1.  Paint a colour puddle... this is done by painting a circle of paint (going round and round and round until the paint on your brush runs out..) then adding another circle/ring of paint in a second colour and painting round and round and round and round until your paint runs out again - blending the colours as you go...  its very relaxing! 
NB. The photo below shows the colour puddle cut to size to fit the card.

Step 2. Die cut the chosen flower in the bottom right hand corner of the card blank (mine is 12.5x12.5cm)

Step 3. Attach 3d foam pads around the edges of the colour puddle panel.

Step 4.  Attach the colour puddle panel to the inside of the card.

I really liked the clean and simple look of this card... but realised it was a bit too clean and simple! I mean there is such a thing as too much white space surely! lol

Step 5. Cut the white card blank in half and cut the front panel down to fit a 12.5x12.5cm kraft card blank - this will warm the card up and give a frame all around.

Add a strip of coordinating washi tape, a small tag and tiny die cut heart. Still clean and simple but not quite so much.

I wasn't kidding was I when I said it was a simple card - simple but lovely (in my humble opinion! lol)


Thanks for popping by!