#365Challenge.... April !!

Oh my word! ... this was five months ago!  ... and I left you at 7th April!

I should probably remind you what the #365Challenge is:  I'm answering all the questions asked on the Flow Magazine question-a-day calendar. If I like the question (am able to answer the question) I create a page with the answer.. and if I don't like the question I simply make a nice page instead. lol  Sounds simple, yes?  Well sometimes yes and sometimes no!

my project = my rules!

Here are the completed pages for April... using the big number stamps was a challenge - but that's what this project was partly about - to challenge myself and {hopefully} learn something along the way....  

Used a gelli print as the coloured panel on this page, over-stamped with a mini stamp - JM49, the sentiment is from the PaperArtsy ZinskiArt stamp set ZA08 (great little sentiments!)

I like how the numbers on this page seems to be in the grasses.

I wanted to look through the numbers on this page so created an acetate overlay - stamping the numbers onto the overlay with Snowflake Fresco Finish paint and filling in the numbers with Pearl Glaze.

 I really like the Chalkboard look of this page - the Fresco Finish paints are great for achieving this effect (flowers are stencil PS055)

oooh Distress Oxide ink background!! what's not to love!?!

I ended April here... maybe I'll go back and finish it later in the year but for now its 'finished' ... on to the next month..

ACP:2 Pink + H

I'm not going to beat around the bush - H is for HEXAGONS!!!

I'm slightly obsessed with hexagons at the moment!... ok, in truth its been while now... punches, dies.... gelli plates - boxes:....

Look at these lovely hexagon nesting boxes I bought on the PaperArtsy stand at AllyPally... I've temporarily put my kokeshi dolls in them to illustrate the size (tallest doll (in black) stands about 17cm) - I like them A LOT (both the dolls and the boxes lol)!!  The shape is so on trend at the moment and these boxes make for a more interesting display than square boxes - not that I have anything against square boxes of course...

A couple of  years ago there was this scrapbook page... (and the quilt that inspired it..).. lots and lots of hexagons! (the patience my Mum must have to have hand sewn all those!)..

OK, so Hexagons are my theme for the last part of April's Pale Pink month (and yes, I am aware that its now May - where is this year going!!!)... I chose to use the colours below with the hexagons... (I didn't actually use the pale pinks but have put them here to illustrate the palette I'd chosen)(and I actually picked several other paler colours as the project progressed)

I like the look of pale pink with pale blues and grey (pink and grey together look great on their own, and in my book Slate/dark grey goes with EVERYTHING)

This is the finished project.... or so I thought... the more I looked at it the more unfinished it seemed... (you'll see what I mean later)

Let me show you how I made this - its not overly complicated...  The substrate is a 10x14in board canvas - this is quite big for me - I'm itching to go bigger with projects but I'm doing it gradually :o)

Painted the canvas with a wash of slightly diluted 'Space Cadet' paint

I didn't want a 'solid' base coat and so I broke it up by removing the paint 'ragging' stylee - ie crumple up a piece of kitchen roll and dab the surface.... 

I decide this was too dark so I added paint (Hint of Mint) using kitchen roll again.... 

Still not happy with it, I added some 'Chalk' and 'Slate' ... the kitchen roll was being used a lot for this project...  I really like how this looked (the photo below is a close-up) started to have lots of lovely paint layers and texture... but its now what I wanted so..

I painted over the whole piece with a wash of Antarctic' and 'Chalk Fresco Finish paints and laid on the die cut pieces of pink patterned paper... 

but it still felt too dark so I repeated with another wash of the colours...

I laid the pieces on again and now I was happy...  I think its important to keep checking (if its possible) how the different layers are looking and working together as you go along... because you can then tweak colours, finishes and layouts... 

The stencil I'm using is from Artemio - I love it because its so big! (Its the one I used on my suitcase HERE )  I laid it on, checking that it worked with the position of the pattered hexagons

It would bother me if the hexagons weren't straight (!) and so I drew a pencil line down the canvas as a guide to line everything up to

...and glued them down. I'd always planned to cut the hexagons off at the canvas edge but I really like how they look hanging off the edges...

I stenciled the flowers in Slate - I like the bold contrast - black would've been to harsh...

To finish the canvas off I die cut the word 'Hope' (using Sizzix Serif Essentials dies) and painted it with Slate to coordinate with the stenciled flowers.  I dry brushed Chalk around hexagons - over the edges and onto the canvas to halp blend the two surfaces, and then I used a Grey Stabilo All Pencil to draw around the hexagons to give them a bit of depth.  I dragged the edge of the canvas in Slate.  The word 'Hope' was attached to the canvas using 3d foam.

Here's the 'finished' canvas again..

which I liked but felt it was missing 'something' down the left hand side... I wanted to write on it... in my head it was turning into a BIG journal page of sorts - what does the word HOPE bring to mind... what do I hope for?? (I think it about here that I occurred to me that HOPE begins with H which is letter of this post! lol I'd like to say I planned that but it was happy accident!)..
I couldn't bring myself to just write on it... Its a canvas, something to go on the wall - that little inner voice started up: what if its not straight? what if it looks 'wrong'? what if writing on it ruins it!???
So my husband had the 'brilliant' suggestion of writing the words onto acetate and laying it over the top of the canvas to get an idea of how it would look! That was a fine idea!

Biggish writing.... thickish pen... not really liking that...

What about if I wrote IN the hexagons... no, I liked that even less! lol 

Then  my husband suggested just single words ... die cut like the main word.... another great suggestions - he doesn't often suggest design options/ideas but when he does they are good - he was on a roll!
I dug out my QuicKutz dies (going old school here!) - the perfect size! and so quick and easy to use with the Big Shot!

I cut words out - 'eternal' 'weather' and 'well' using the QuicKutz dies and then 'Cure' using the Word Play die from Sizzix (I wanted that word to be bigger)  I painted these words in a mix of Slate, Space Cadet and Chalk - I didn't want these to distract from 'HOPE'. These words were glued flat to the canvas surface and I wrote phrases and journalling around them in grey felt tip pen - white was too pale, and black would be too strong/bold... I didn't want the handwriting to be too obvious.

Here is the finished canvas (yes, now definitely finished!) 

Woah that was a long post!

Thanks for stopping by - and as its now May I'll be moving onto a new colour and 2 new letters very soon.... 

xx

ALBOTAT / ACP:2 Stamps of a different kind....

... little mini works of art..

I raided the vintage stamp albums that I have gathered/been given and searched for bits and pieces for moodboards...

What I learned from the search is that stamps ...

*  have lots of lovely shades of colour

*  are mini works of art

*  are not many stamps issued in yellow... from any country!

Anyone else think that this stamp album would be better repurposed into journal pages...

I think this was my favourite from the search - love the aqua/teal/turquoise against the dark backround.

xx

All wrapped up....

... and ready to go...

This is the mini journal I took on holiday with me (you've seen several pages already in a blog post over on the PaperArtsy site HERE).. but when I created those pages it was only one book and as I didn't think that would be enough 'space' for creating while I was on holiday I attached a second book by sewing their back pages together..  In the book I used tipped-in pages, photos, pocket-scrapbooking size journaling cards, stamping, pockets.. anything I could think of really! {and pack in a suitcase of course :o) }  its a play book..

On the original front page I attached a panel of masterboard left over from a previous project, stamped a scallop edge & sewed a loop of calico to hold a pen, rubber, or pencil....
(I felt that the covers needed to be covered so that they were more resilient to wear&tear on holiday and against finger marks (kraft can be easily marked))

On the other 'front page I attached another piece of the materboard and sewed on 2 lengths of calico that I would use to tie the books closed - I thought it was going to be necessary to tie them shut because when all the pages were altered and additional pages tipped-in the books would be difficult to close :o)  I tipped in pages by sewing them using my sewing machine - I positioned them so that they overhung the original pages of the book.

The plan for the book was a journal, holiday 'diary', sketchbook... and to use my stamps (especially the alphabet) and to just play...

The pages of the first book:

A delivery label re-purposed on the inside of the front page- an 'if found' page where the JOFY alphabet is combined with a simple stamp alphabet

When travelling we seem to be identified as much by barcodes as by our names.. I attached a small luggage bar code with another piece of the masterboard, stamping across the background onto the panel to 'tie' the two pages together (I like doing this).

On this page I used one of the prints created with my Instax camera printer (love!!) nice size prints - allows space on the pages for journaling & other decoration, here I used the photo as a flap to create a hidden space for journaling.

Another doodling page - I'd doodled on the white panel and so glued it on to the page and doodled, stamped over the edges and onto the page until the space was filled.. (the green page is another tipped in)

Tiles with journaling, brief notes on the holiday - bite size pieces.

Every-so-often its nice to have a really simple page.

This page makes me smile - its a dress cut from one of the magazines I took on holiday with me and I doodled a person (and her pet) around it - I've given her the most Scottish name I could think of inspired by her tartan dress (and her scottie dog - yes that is a scottie dog! lol)


Pages in the second book:

Another print this time teamed with some of the book words/phrases, and extra paper that I took with me.

... contained in the pockets I created by sewing together the last two pages of each book, and punching a scoop out of the top to make it easier to take items in and out of the pocket.

I read a book on holiday that really inspired me and so I created a page using one of phrases from the book.

The spread below has a tipped-in page gingham page that has a olive green reverse and folds over right to left, & left to right to reveal different layers.... 

... easiest way to show you is in a little video (please excuse my video-ing skills! lol)...

A pretty page using JOFY flowers to hold the photo on to the page.. I like the way the pink page behind frames the flower page.

That's most of the pages - still a few pages waiting to be filled - it was a fun book to work in - and a nice size - just 6x4inches.... & I like how the size has been extended by the jutting out tipped-in pages.

And here is the little book making the most of the Grecian sun.. a sun lounger makes a useful desk!  lol

This photo also shows the basic kit I take away with me (or at least some of it - the cocktail menu is optional lol) - alphabet stamps, scissor, metal ruler, a5 craft mat, doublesided tape, kraft knie, pens and pencils...
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