Art Journaling: scraps but not scrappy...

.. at the end of a workshop or demo day I often have bits a pieces left over that are too nice to throw away and so I put them in a box on my desk to use later... (I decorated A LOT of my Flow Calendar book pages with bits and pieces from such a box!)

I came home from my classes at Birds in the Barn on saturday inspired & I wanted to do something with the days 'scraps' and so I put them together on this journal spread..

I'd painted the background during the class with left over demo paints this means that everything coordinates.  I added some DoCrafts rose gold foiled washi tapes that I'd recently bought - they really toned well with the Fresco paint colours as did the 'Fools Gold Embossing Glitter' by WOW! that I used with the compass background - such a lovely sparkly finish which is a nice contrast to the matt paint.

I used a white gel pen to add journalling to the centre of the page - I like how it fills the space but is barely visible.

Keep those 'scraps' - you never know when they'll come in useful!

EDIT: ooh I just thought: making nice things out of scraps makes me happy so from now on I'm naming projects like these 'HappyScraps' - sounds much nicer than just 'scraps' don't you think!


Thanks for stopping by

June Workshops....

I'm teaching two half day card making workshops at Birds in the Barn (Studio 36) on 30th June and there are a couple of places remaining...

If you'd like to spend the morning or afternoon creating lovely cards with paints, inks, embossing powders and stamps then head on over to Birds in the Barn's website and you'll find all the details you need!

Hope to see you there!

All that glitters....

I may have mentioned before that I like a bit of sparkle and shine, and today its all about the SHINE!

I made several cards featuring the seedhead silhouette from JOFY63.  They are the same but different - on each card I used simple clean and simple layouts and the same embossing powder which was WOW's Metallic Gold Rich Super Fine - very lovely & great at keeping the delicate detailed line of image.

I think I like kraft as much (probably more) than I like shine! I like to team them up & I was keen to use the silhouette stamp solo on a card :

The second card I made teamed the silhouette seedhead with the original line drawing from JOFY38 on a white background. 
Very happy with how they look together! :o)  (its like I plan these things! lol)

This is my favourite of the three cards.
I painted an ombre background using Infusions (A Bit Jaded) on a wet Fresco Finish (Mermaid) base and brushed it in - how GORGEOUS is that background!  even before the seedheads were stamped and embossed on top! swoon!  I really like how the different colours in the Infusions become lines across the panel - especially the dark slashes which are the walnut stain powders.

Here are the cards together - great to see how they are the same but different... I would happily frame the Infusions one and put it on the wall!

Thanks for visiting!

ALBOTAT: Stamps of a different kind..Part 2

Hi

Yesterday in my blog post I wrote about stamps and how interesting they can, and can be used in artwork - on cards, in journal - however you want really... Well, last week when I was tidying my workroom - oh yes! The 'big clear up/clear out'!!  - I became distracted (as usual!) by the bits and pieces laying on the desk... so I made this simple less-is-more page in a 6x6in journal.... I really like the white space on the page... 

The gold circles are a PaperArtsy Ellen Vargo image stamped and embossed in WOW 'Metallic Brass Sparkle' - a lovely colour which I use when I need gold... stamping the distressed circles over all the images ties it all together, and then the 'obersvation lessons' banner gives it a sort of subject/theme/focus. 

So there you have it - a clean and simple way of using stamps...

xx

Final class of the year.... Part 1...

... took place at Birds in the Barn, near Colchester in Essex... a 1/2 day demo and a class in the afternoon.

In the morning I worked with Emma Godfrey's new stamps for PaperArtsy - love these stamps!

They can be used in lots of ways... here are a few of my samples for, & from the day.. (please excuse the light quality!)... here are samples using EEG15:

Start of a journaling panel on chipboard/greyboard:  painted, printed with bubble wrap, stamped with images from EEG15 in 2 colours, the stars are from JOFY20 (on the top of the tree).

This is a more 'clean and simple version of the chipbard panel - this time as an 'any occasion' card.

This card started off as an experiment - one of the ladies at the demo (waving at you, Sue) thought that the swirls (running across the centre of the card above) could be flowers.. so we put together this card - the swirls had stems added, then I stamped on stems from JOFY12 (love these stems!)...

I added a touches of white to lift the images.  After the demo I attached the panel to a white panel and because I didn't have glue handy I attached it with staples.

This panel is a mix of demo'ing simple paint application techniques using Fresco Finish paints - the base is a colour blended background, stamped with bubble wrap, & using paint to stamp the images - the words across is just a reassuring phrase to not worry when you're painting backgrounds: its just paint on paper!

Here are samples using EEG13.. I wanted to show that this set is not just for love or valentines but when I look back at the samples they are a little bit loved-up! lol

This card is another clean-&-simple use of the stamps, this time from EEG13. (created by making a mask & stencil with the heart stamp and layering the images.)

 A page of book text rough whitewashed and rough painted again (when dry) with watercolour paints. The hearts are cut out of book text, glued in place and the edges darkened with paint and pencil.. the lines are hand drawn.

 This is a page created in my small sketchbook - pages are 6x4 - the dinky size is nice to work in - comfortable - and great for putting down quick thoughts.. The background was created by me cleaning off the roller and bubble wrap (there's the bubble wrap again! - I have bubble wrap and I'm not afraid to use it.. and use it... and use it...).  The three main hearts are stamped onto coloured paper, cut out, glued on and shaded around to make them lift of the page.

I {heart} the simplicity of this card - just two stamped images.  The heart is stamped on to a book page mounted onto card (to strengthen), cut out and suspended on a strip of acetate on the front of the card.

Then I started to mix it up a little...

Stamped the heart onto patterned paper, attached to the card and drew a stem.  Stamped small seedheads around the stem. I stamped and cut out leaves from green paper and attached these to the stem - now the heart is starts to look like a flower.

These stamps are lovely to work with - in stock at Birds in the Barn.

x

A Birthday Treasure Hunt...

... for my nephew's birthday. We're giving him money as a gift, and to make it a bit more interesting I planned a mini treasure hunt for him - he solves a clue (cryptic rhyming clues no less!) & goes off around the house to find the envelopes containing loot... and carries on until he reaches the birthday cake!

I hope he has as much fun going on his little treasure hunt as I had writing the clues and making the envelopes. lol

(I especially enjoyed making the envelopes! - they're so cute - 7.5x10cm! Its a Sizzix die (Tim Holtz, Movers & Shakers die - Pocket Envelope), as are the numbers (Serif Essential Numbers) on each envelope...)

I made him a card too... used a really quick'n'easy brayered background (I wanted it to look 'rough'), a Stampotique image, JOFY circles and chevrons... & I couldn't resist a bit of gold embossing - even boys like a bit a bit of bling!

x