Spring Queen tag Friday at A Vintage Journey

Hello everyone, happy Friday and last day of the Month, - where did March go?....
It being a month with 5 Fridays, this means the happy team at A Vintage Journey are sharing tags for a bit of inspiration today and here is mine:

Like many of us it seems, I wanted to have a play with my new Distress Oxide Inks again. I had a number of try out tags flying around, so decided to use one of them. I'm sorry that I don't have step by step photos of how I created the first bits, but this is what it looked like when I decided to use it as the base for this project:

I think I used Cracked Pistachio, Faded Jeans, and Vintage photo. Spreading them on my craft mat, spritzing with water and then dipping my manilla tag into it drying between layers until I was happy with the result. I then used a couple of Wendy Vecchi's background stamps, Rectangle Collage Stamp and the Vintage Text, stamping in Black Archival. Finally I ran it through one of Tim's newer embossing folders and highlighted the raised bits with matching colours of Distress Crayons, Cracked Pistachio and Walnut Stain..

Next I selected a number of different elements I wanted to add to my tag: One of the new paper dolls, she was holding an American flag, which I cut off as I wanted to turn her into a Spring Queen, some elements from the new Botanical Layers and from the Snippets Ephemera.

As you can see, I added some further elements still, some tissue tape,  some new design tape at the bottom of my tag and other bits and pieces from my stash.
Below a few close up photos still:

I decided to add a bit of colour to the girl's sash with a Cracked Pistachio Distress Crayon, it looks much more silky in real life than on this photo. The little star is from the new Ideaology Findings stars.

I love these elements from the Botanical Layers, they save so much time fussy-cutting, and many of them go so well together.

The words are from the Quotations Metallic Stickers, I added it on top of some tissue tape.

Shadows were added around the main elements with a Stabilo All pencil to add more depth to the collage, and that was it.

If you would like to see some more inspirational tags, please go over to see what my teamies have created, - I am sure you will not be disappointed! Just click HERE

Thanks for dropping by here today. I know I have not posted very often lately, but life has taken me in other directions. Hopefully there will be more time soon again.

xxxxx

Off to Japan

Hello lovely blog friends, thanks for dropping by.
Today I have a few pages of a little travel journal I made to share with you. Tomorrow I will be off to Japan to meet up with my family and grandies, that live in Australia. We decided to meet up "half way" so to speak.

The actual journal is a Midori Traveler's Notebook, I first read about these on my lovely friend Anne Redfern's blog, (she makes the most amazing notebooks using Eileen Hull's new Journal die that will be available in the UK from the end of April onwards) I have mine on pre-order, but as I am leaving tomorrow I checked the Midori travelers notebook out and as they are actually made in Japan, I decided I just had to have one to take along so I prepped a few pages before we go.
Here's a close up on one of them.

These two sweet little Tim Holtz paper dolls are representing my two grand daughters.

The background was done with the new Oxide inks. I also did quite a few pages in junk journal style. All of them are adhered to one of the lined Midori notebooks pages, so that there is plenty of space to journal in between. Below a few further samples of those pages:

Using lots of my hoarded scraps, with a spring time feel (it's cherry blossom season of course in Japan right now).

Some Tim Holtz papers from his new Etc collection, these papers are just perfect for this style collage.

A close up of a little tuck spot with a tiny book tucked in for further journaling, held together with a little altered paperclip.

A couple more collaged junk journal style pages, with pockets and ephemera for hidden journaling, keepsakes and notes.
And finally my personal favourite page so far, playing some more with the Oxides, Tim's new Washi Design tapes and Botanical Layers and so on.

Well that's it for now. It has been and will be pretty quiet here for the next few weeks, , I have a few scheduled posts while away, but hopefully come May I will have more time again to blog and visit. Hope the sun shines where you are and have a creative week ahead!

xxxxx

Vintage tag for Shimmerz

Hello friends, hope March has been treating you well so far.
Today I am sharing a large vintage style tag on the Shimmerz blog, so just little corner here:

If you are not too busy, I would love it if you check it out, and meanwhile have a lovely creative week!

xxxxx

Pure Vintage a journal spread for Shimmerz

Hello friends and thanks for dropping in. Yesterday I had a journal page go live of the Shimmerz blog, so here today just the usual preview. If you have a moment to hop over, it is of course very much appreciated.

Thanks for your visit like always

xxxxx

Destination Inspiration at a Vintage Journey

Hello friends, welcome. Today I have a little canvas to share, with a Springtime feel (seeing this is the month Spring is meant to start here in the Northern Hemisphere.)..

If you want to know how I put this together, - there is a full step out with many photos over at A Vintage Journey. Hope you'll take the time to look :o)

Have a super creative week!

xxxx

All Aboard, it's AVJ's third birthday!

Hello lovely visitors, welcome! Today is a day of celebration because it is the 3rd birthday of A Vintage Journey!! I created a little canvas to celebrate 3 years of challenges, Inspirations posts and more. I'll hope you will celebrate with us!!!

We started way back in March 2014 as a Tim Holtz inspired challenge, and then we grew, changed and expanded to incorporate different styles, but what remained was our emphasis on vintage inspiration and the wonderful creative journey that we all share.

For this our 51st challenge, I decided to go back mostly to our Tim inspired roots. I pulled out my Distress Paints, sprays, Tim Holtz stamps and one of his wonderful Found Relatives cards.

 Below, a quick explanation on how I built this up:

I created texture with the help of a couple of stencils and some Ranger texture paste. I then played with 3 colours of Distress Paint: Antique Linen, Weathered Wood and Pumice Stone. I blended with the help of lots of water and then added a little more depth with Distress Sprays in Antique Linen and Weather Wood.

I love these sweet little characters, the boy in his sailors suit, immediately made me think of our theme of All Aboard (really it's an anything goes challenge). To me they look ready to go off and explore the wide world, the little one a little anxious, the older one with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

This lovely stencil with the word explore was designed by Gabrielle Pollaco, it's one of my all time favourite stencils. I highlighted the raised bits with some Watering Can Archival Ink.

I'm sorry to say, I don't remember who made this particular stencil, but it's another favourite that seemed to fit the theme. The additional texture was created with my fingers dabbed in the wet paste.

There is some background stamping hidden in there as well, though it is hard to see, I used Watering Can Archival to stamp and the Documented and Correspondence stamps both by Tim Holtz.

Well, that's pretty much it. I hope you will take the time to visit A Vintage Journey to see what my super talented teamies have created. And of course we hope you will come Aboard and join us on the next leg of our journey....

Thanks for your visit like always

xxxxx

Art is an Adventure Journal page for MMM

Hello friends, welcome and happy March to you all. I can't wait for Spring to show it's lovely face.
The first of the month means a new challenge at Mixed Media Monthly.
Our theme this month is Buttons, and our sponsor is May Flaum, who is also our guest designer this month..
Here is what I made:

As you can probably see, I have made a selection of buttons the main focal point of this journal spread.

You can find all the details of our challenge HERE and if you decide to play in our challenge, make sure to use our graphic in your post to be in with a chance to win!

Below a few close ups and an outline of how I put my spread together.

I created my background with the help of Gelatos in green and yellow tones over a gessoed double page. Background stamping using Tim Holtz and Paper Artsy stamps with Forget Me Not Archival ink and some washi tape added more texture

An Indigo Blu stamp, stamped on tissue paper and then merged into the background using gel medium, added some further interest.

And then of course the buttons. To be honest, I rarely use buttons in my crafting but our lovely Design Team leader Donna Bowman sent me a whole packet of multi coloured buttons (thanks so much Donna!!!) and I chose a selection matching my chosen colour palette.

More background work with a selection of different stencils, texture paste and ink.

Some foiling here and there, using a glue stick and Ranger gold foil sheets.

And finally a computer generated sentiment. Using buttons was somewhat of an adventure for me, but nothing like a challenge right?

Well, I hope you will look out your buttons and decide to join in our challenge. Do hop over to see what my talented teamies have made and to get all the details of the challenge!

Thanks so much for your visit and see you next time

xxxxx