Hawaiin Sunshine

This page began with a base layer of gesso in yellow, orange and red blended into the paper using a baby wipe.

I then went over the relevant areas with Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Mustard Seed (over the yellow gelato), Spiced Marmelade (over the orange gelato) and Barn Door (over the red gelato) using a stencil.

I then used my Colour Bloom Spray in gold

through a Donna Downey Stencil to create the hawain feel to the floral background.

Finally I stamped the Prima Stamp onto Stamping paper and coloured it using my inktense pencils and a water brush.

Once I was happy with the colours I cut it out and adhered it to the spread using Gel Medium.

To root the head into the background I used a Faber Castell Pitt Pen in Brown (M) around the outside and blended it using my finger whilst it was still wet.

To add a little further dimension I then went round in stagged lines using my Amsterdam white acrylic paint pen.

I hope you like this page, please feel free to leave a comment and remember to create your own crafty moment. 

Never Give Up

Sometimes it is difficult to find that inspiration that will spur you on to make a journal page you like.  

This happens to all creative types at some time or other and can be referred to as a block.

This page was created a few weeks back when I wanted to create but wasn't sure where to start.

I had recently purchased some adhesive canvas paper and decided to start there.

Using some Wendy Vecchi stamps from my stash which I hadn't really utilised in a spread I stamped them using Potting Soil (brown) for the floral border and Orange Blossom (orange) for the staggered lines.

I then used some of my Luminarte Primary Elements to create a yellow, orange and red molding paste which I put through a butterfly stencil mixing them organically at the same time and placing it between the two pages. 

Please remember if you do this that the level of molding paste is thin on the seam (as I learnt by my error) as now my book is stiff to fold shut doh!

The quote Never Give Up from Unity Stamps is to remind me that no matter what life throws at me I should always endeavour to create something.  It may not be my best page or full of technique but it is something.

So remember if you ever get stuck - Never Give Up and create your own crafty moment.

Enjoy the Little Things

This page was inspired by the quote by Robert Brautt which matches my mood perfectly after spending a wonderful day on the Norfolk Broads with my family this bank holiday weekend.  The quote is handwritten in Black and Red Faber Castell Pitt Pen and I then tinted the outside edge using a yellow Neocolor II and a baby wipe.

The birds, flowers and little girl come from the Santoro Mirabelle Pursuit of Happiness stamp set and were coloured using Daniel Smith Watercolours.

I am not usually one to be fond of my own handwriting but was happy with the way it turned out on this occasion that I will definitely do it again.

I hope you like this page, enjoy your own crafty moment.

Emma xx

Which direction am I going?

Have you ever asked yourself where your going with your journalling?

I often ask myself this question, it is closely associated with my inner critic constantly questioning whether something is right or looks good or generally just life's uncertainties pushing on your perspective.

I have recently changed my job and found that over the last 8 months or so I have found it difficult to be creative about anything due to the level of uncertainty in my career.

I have recently started a new job and feel like finally the block has been lifted and I am able not only to create but be open to what is produced and be kinder to myself and therefore my process.

This page was inspired by our recent travel plans for Venice and Cuba.

I had ripped this page and it also had some old collage stuck on it already so I decided to add the vintage Stampers Anonymous images of the Suitcase and man stamped and water tinted in Walnut stain.  I then drew on my ephemera recently purchased at Liberty and also from the Tim Holtz Epedition and created the page background.  To dirty it up I used distress ink in walnut stain, vintage photo and mahogony swiped across to hit onto the raised edges of the elements and sprayed some ink splatters using Colour Bloom Worn Leather for a bit of a twinkle.

As a finishing touch I used my Stabilo All in brown to highlight the word where and some random writings using my Amsterdam Black acrylic pen.

I know this page isn't heavy with technique however something about it makes me happy and optomistic.

Go ahead create your own crafty moment.

Love the small pieces of yourself

After a gorgeous sunny day and further to a recent open day at my local craft store Stamp Addicts I was inspired to get out my watercolours.

One of the demonstrators was using watercolours to create beautiful cards using their Patchwork stamp set.

As I rarely get time to spend in my craft room I have been more focused of late on my art journalling.

With this in mind I was determined with their's and some of the amazing YouTube videos out there to make this page using some stamps I had in my stash but never used.

The background was initially created with lime green and turquoise blue Neocolour II's to create a random background pattern by spattering it on to the page with a paintbrush and turning the paper to create drippages.

The stamp is from Stamp It Up an Australian brand I got through Crafters Companion here in the UK. I stamped this using a grey stayzon ink pad as I didn't want it to pop too much from the page.

I then completed the painting of the stamped image using my Daniel Smith Watercolour paints to add a bit more variety of colours and depth to the image.

To complete this journal I added a Unity Stamp border and sentiment along with my personal journalling down the left hand side in pale grey Graphix pen.

Keep crafting x

12x12 Stencil Divider Part V - Vibrant Women Divider

Using 12 x 12 cardboard packaging and Ideology Kraft Resist card as a starting point I then colour tinted the page in blocks of Distress Stain in wild honey, spiced marmelade and barn door.  I added some drippage using Distress re-inker in festive berries.

I then separated the sections using Black soot distress ink and sequin waste before placing the image from my Graphic 45 Typography papers.

I then colour tinted some flowers in Distress Stain in broken china, shabby shutter and barn door adhering them to the page using a glue gun.

Using a store card and regular gel matte I placed down some Finnabair Glass Glitter in Copper.  To finalise the page I stamped in white paint using my pritt stick lid and my pencil eraser which took on some of the stains beneath for  a pastel effect.

I hope you love this spread as much as I do its one of my favourites, please feel free to leave a comment.

12x12 Stencil Folder Covers Part IV - Front & Back Covers

The picture below shows an example of the front and back page of my new 12x12 stencil storage.

These were made using the cardboard packaging from the page protectors to prevent wastage and because they were a reasonable thickness if a little grey!

I decided to try and create a faux leather look using Distress Ink in Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo and Tea Dye and the spritzed it with Color Bloom by Prima in Worn Leather to get the base effects.

I have done this for both the front and back pages however, I think I will finish it off by spraying an example of each of the stencils on to tissue paper and adhering it with gel medium to the front with a Font Title and also to the back, that way I will know what stencils are in this book and also can adhere additional stencils when I receive them with ease in a kind of catalogue.

I hope your having a crafty weekend.

Please feel free to leave any comments.

12x12 Stencil Folder Divider Part III - Geisha Girl Divider

This is created using another of the Ideology Kraft Resist papers, this time tinted using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and victorian velvet distress stain.

To tie this in with the bird spread on the reverse (see Part II), I used black soot distress ink through sequin waste and Cryla Quintochronide Magenta on bubble wrap.

To reintroduce the white this time I used Dylusions Picket Fence spray to make splatters.  I wanted to add some kind of image and was drawn to the Geisha in my Graphic 45 Bird Song papers and cut her out and adhered her to the page Golden Regular Matt Gel.

To make the Geisha pop from the page I bordered her using Blueberry gelato and also added patches of this colour into the background.

To tie the image in I also added Raspberry gelato to the background to bring the image forward.

I hope you like this page as much as I do, please feel free to leave any comments of questions you may have.

12x12 Stencil Folder Divider Part II - Bird Divider Page

To make my Folder storage a bit more stable I decided to create decorative dividers to help support the flexible nature of the stencils and their wallets.

This page was created using the paper packaging and a piece of Tim Holtz Ideology kraft resist paper which I adore showing the bird.

The paper was tinted using distress stains in broken china and faded jeans.  I then outlined the bird using white pen to define it from the background and black ink to make the eyes pop.

Using black soot distress ink and sequin waste I began to add some detail to the background.   

For my next layer I used Cryla Quintochronide Magenta and bubble wrap to add a contrast pop of colour against the blue.

The next layer involved creating my own customised Golden Hard Molding Paste using Pear Blossom Primary Elements from Luminarte and Finnibair's art ingredients from Prima in Copper Glass Glitter.  This was then applied across the spread with a pallet knife through a Donna Downey floral stencil. 

The final touch was to reintroduce some white by scraping some on using an old store card.

I hope you love this page as much as I do. 

Please feel free to leave a comment.

12x13 Stencil Storage File Part I

I have begun to grow my stencil collection for use in my mixed media and art journalling projects.  I noticed that We R Memory Keepers do scrapbooking page protectors and decided to buy some to hold my stencils on a special deal I got through Amazon.

When I received the protectors they were perfect, so I have now ordered a similar set but split into 6x6 sections four to a page.

As I took them out of the packaging I decided to upscale as much as I could.  With this in mind both the cardboard back and paper were cut to suit so I will be able to decorate them as covers and dividers.

I will be holding them together in three places using folder rings.

Below I have pictured the holders and also the two dividing pages made to date for this storage using Tim Holtz Distress Paper for one and the other utilising my horded stash of Graphic 45 Papers.

What appears to be the end is usually the start of a new beginning

This was a page I have been building since the beginning of January and was started with the prompt of Circles from Journalling Krazy Island Style and wasn't sure where to take it as I broke the cardinal rule of falling in love with my background (photo 1).

I have recently started drawing faces again since I was a child.  Today I drew my first pastel face and after sealing the image with glazing medium decided it would work well on the background of circles so I adhered it to the page.

The sentiment came from Dylusions and spoke to me about where I am in my life right now.  I could have pushed the boundaries of this however decided to enjoy it as it was and not push it too far.

Hope you like it.  Feel free to leave any comments.

Its a Good Day to have a Good Day

Don't you just love it when after having a journal background done for a while you somehow get to utilise it into a page you kind of like. 

I'll be honest with you its not one of my favourites but I am happy with how it turned out and proud that I used both doodling (something which usually terrifies me) and some hand written journalling into the spread. 

The background consisted of a base layer of tissue paper from Tim Holtz Ideology range mixed with book text and music.  This was then color tinted using Luminarte Silks in pink azalea and periwinkle.

Next I put black gesso through sequin waste in a number of places.

I then put white gesso through a rectangular patterned stencil to lighten the spread.

I added some handwritten journalling then added two Graphic 45 quotes to the double page spread, adding some doodling to the boarders and white tippex tape to make the quotes pop.

I really hope that you like what I made of this spread, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Documented Life: week 1 Goals

This is the second page of a double page spread (see Pathways entry).

The same technique was used for this background.  But to embellish the page to keep with the theme of Goals, I decorated a cut down mail envelope which I coloured with Neocolor II in light blue and carmine then using a Zentangle butterfly stencil used my faber castell pitt pen to outline and fill them in.  I then added some doodling and the sentiment "give your goals wings to fly".

Inside the envelope I created some faux lolly poos using card scraps stamped with an assortment of images and again colourised with Neocolor IIs, I then listed my goals on each of the sticks and then adhered a paper flower to each stick using a glue gun and the centres were highlighted with liquid pearls.

I hope you like this page, please feel free to leave a comment.

Journal 52: week 1 Pathways

This page was inspired by a new weekly challenge through Journal 52 and s you will see is part of a double page spread from the next blog post for Documented Life.

This page started out in my large Dylusions journal with torn book pages and gesso as a base.

I then out modelling paste through two stencils the first a flourish and the second circles and butterflies (I think from TCW).

Once this was dry, I mixed up some Golden soft gel with Finnibairs new art sugar in black and out it through a cracks stencil to add in some textural dimension and colour.

I then sealed the page with clear gesso before applying a colour tint using periwinkle, light blue, carmine and yellow Neocolor IIs.

I then blended the colour using water spray to create dripa and some blending using baby wipes.

The quote was sourced off the internet by Horace and was used to remind me to be mindful of my depression influencing my path.

I hope you like this page, keep an eye out for my other pages for 2015.