Of Berries, Moss and Fern...

Hello friends, hope life is treating you well. Today I am sharing another page from my nature journal and also want to thank you for all your encoraging comments on the previous page I shared.

Inevitably I suppose, some pages work better than others, and I am not too happy with this one, but thought I would share it anyway.

These berries I painted from a photograph I took on my phone the other day on a walk, I don't know what they are, not rosehips, even though perhaps they look like that. It was quite rainy and I wanted to capture the wet on them, which gave them a lovely shine.

The next page is meant to be a mossy tree trunk and a fern leaf. The trunk is again from a photograph I took on another walk.

I failed hopelessly on the moss I'm afraid to say, but it's all about the practice I suppose, that's why I started this journal in the first place.

The fern below I took home from my walk and painted it there, so not from a photo. I failed miserably again, it looks all stiff and lifeless...

For the background on this page I used a cool technique I saw the other day on youtube in a video by Scrapcosy (a designer for Paperartsy). You take a stamp and stamp it in Oxide ink, then take a blendingsponge over it. Because Oxides are a mix of die and pigment ink (which takes much longer to dry) the die ink keeps the image in place while the pigment ink smudges. I love this technique. The stamp I used is a background stamp by Andy Skinner.

Well that's it for today, like always thank you for your visits, which are very much appreciated!

xxxxx

Words That Are Special

Hello friends and lovely to have you drop by! It's the first Friday of the month and that means a new challenge at A Vintage Journey

The lovely Jennie is our host and the theme she chose is Words That Are Special. This is what Jennie had to say about the challenge:

We often use words for cardmaking, scrapbooking, journaling, layering backgrounds, stamping, collage, in mixed media work, on our tags …. In fact words are often an integral part of our design processes for many of our projects. This month show us words that are important or special to you and how you incorporate them in your vintage; shabby; mixed-media; art journaling; industrial or steampunk art.

Well I love words and decided to make a fold-out card with 4 panels with some of my favourite sayings. It's based on a project that I found on Pinterest. Here are the different panels:

I have written a quick tutorial of how to make this, and of course you can decorate it in whatever way you wish. The base of mine is Kraft Card. This is what you will need:

A3 card for the front, back an inside strip and the backing of your inside panels

White card for the front and back, inside covers and panels.

A selection of paints, inks, stamps etc

Method

1. Fold A3 card in half along the long side, this gives you an A4 folded card. (8.5 by 11 approx)

2. Cut this in half giving you a folded card panel that is 21 cm wide and 14.7 cm high (8" by 5 3/4 approx)

3. From the remaining card cut a strip along the long side about 4 cm high (1.5" Approx)

Fold this strip concertina style.

4. The inside panels can be any size that fits inside the covers, I made mine 11.5 cm high and 9 cm wide (4.5 x 3 3/4 " approx).

5. Create panels for the covers, inside covers and inside cards in what ever way you wish

6. Adhere to covers and insides.

7. Glue concertina fold strip in place and then adhere your 4 inside cards.

Hope my description makes sense. Below I will show you how I decorated mine with paints, inks, stencils and stamping.

Front cover using stencils by Tim Holtz and Andy Skinner, Decoart Media acrylic paints, Distress Crayons and Infusions.

Stamps by Tim Holtz, coloured with Big Brush Pens

Back cover, using similar techniques.

Stamps by Wendy Vecchi, some doodling with white pen and a Tim word sticker.

Inside left , using Distress inks and stamps and stencils by Tim and Andy Skinner

Inside right  same thing. These insides will be mostly covered by the fold out cards of course....

And here some close ups of the inside cards, all done in a similar way, using Distress inks and stamps from various sets by Tim Holtz.

I changed the colour ways subtly to go along with the background of the covers.

Well, that's it, I had great fun putting this together and will definitely make more of these, you could use it and put tags inside, or even use the panels as photo mats and make a little brag-book or something.

Do make sure to check out what my talented teamies have made for this challenge if you have not done so already and get all the details of the challenge this month, all you need to do is CLICK HERE

Hope you will join in with our challenge and have a wonderful weekend!!

Shabby Grunge for Mixed Media Monthly

Hello dear friends and followers, I hope you are keeping well and happy February!
It's the first of the month, so that means a new challenge at Mixed Media Monthly.
Here is what I made:

It's an altered brown paper bag with a matching tag to fit inside. It can be used as a gift for a crafty friend, specially when you add some crafty goodies in the bag as well.

Our sponsor is no other than....... STAMPENDOUS,  home to fabulous stamps, stencils amazing embossing powders, stencils and more.

And here is our badge for this month:

Make sure to add it to your post if you decide to play in our challenge.

Alright, onto my project:

I started with a size 8 tag, coloured it with a mix of acrylic paints, background stamping (using the stamp set, generously provided by Stampendous, Andy Skinner Shabby Chic set). I added some Dreamweaver silver embossing paste through a stencil and added more texture with  Shabby White Blanc EP.

Next I stamped one of the stamps onto a piece of scrapbook paper, fussy-cut and mounted it onto my tag with some other bits and pieces from my stash.

Onto the bag:

I took a bit of scrapbook paper, cut it to the size of the bag, distressed the edges and did some second generation stamping using the same stamp set.

Next I created a background panel in a similar way to the tag, this time adding texture with Ancient Silver EP, some art stones and bits of thread.

Next I created some embellishments for my bag.I stamped some more images, this one on a little pre printed label which I had fussy cut first.

Another one on a little ticket.

A little antique photo which I edged with Ancient Silver EP

A chipboard piece made shabby with some more of the white EP

And voila, the finished bag.

Below you can see how the tag just fits perfectly inside:

Well, like always our sponsor is providing a generous prize for our chosen winner, so of course we all hope you will play along. Do check out the amazing projects my teamies have created and get all the details of the challenge by clicking HERE

Simplicity Journal Flower Garden

Two of my Blog friends, Ingrid Kristina and Pamellia have recently started new Mixed Media Challenge blogs, so I thought as I had some spare time, I would play in my journal and make something to add to their challenges. I'll provide links at the bottom of my post.

I decided to use my simplicity journal, a small leather bound journal with hand made paper pages.
As I totally forgot to take step by step photos, - here is a quick run down of how I did my pages:
1. Cover the pages with Tim Holtz Tissue Wrap.
2. Add texture using Wendy Vecchi clear texture paste through the Tim Holtz Flourish stencil.
3. Add a thin layer of watered down gesso
4. Add colour with the help of fluid acrylic paints (I used Dercoart Media Fluid Acrylics)
5. Deepen colours in places with Gelatos using a baby wipe
6. Add some Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs
7. Add some background stamping (I used a Andy Skinner stamp)
8. Stamp text on some book paper covered with clear gesso and distress the edges.
9. Stamp focal stamp (I used the Tim Holtz fairy from the  Winged Things stamp set)
10. Distress the edges.
11. Add some small flower embellishments (I used the Sheena Douglas apple blossom die).
Below follow some details still:

Somehow using the texture past through the flourish stencil made the raised bits look like flower stems when I coloured them with my mix of paints and gelatos, it kind of worked perfectly for this page as it was meant to be a flower garden page.

This text came from the Tim Holtz Photo Studio stamp set. I stamped it in black archival on gessoed book paper and then distressed the edges.

I added some strips of tissue tape so the fairy had something to sit on. 

The fairy herself was stamped on smooth paper in archival. I then stamped her again on book paper. I fussycut both and then paper pieced her wings. She was then covered with Glue 'N Seal and when that was dry coloured with Faber Castell Big Brush pens. Adding the Glue 'N Seal helps to blend the marker really easily and when they are dry they are totally permanent.
I added her to the page with matte medium and then added some shadows with my Big Brush pen again.

I am going to add this to the following challenges:

Anything But Cute: Vintage Garden
Mixed Media World Vintage

Well, that's it for today, thanks so much for visiting like always

And the journey continues....

Welcome all and thanks for your visit.
Today I am sharing the next few pages of my altered file folder.

My aim for this little folder (earlier pages can be seen here) was just to play, have fun, ink up some stamps that don't often get inked and show you some more of the gorgeous Calico Craft Parts. I also used further papers from the Megs Garden Sherlock collection.
On this double page I used two Paper Whimsy girls from a collage sheet I have had in my stash like forever.

I altered the papers throughout with inking, background stamping, mostly using a new favourite from Andy Skinner and adding quotes from the Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers.

I also used the keys and butterflies from Calico Craft parts, they have so many choices, just check out the link above.

Here is the next double page, using different elements from the paper collection, stamps by Tim Holtz etc. The pocket on the right side, is actually a little book, here it is open:

Place for some journaling and to hold further notes in the pocket underneath.

This gorgeous candelabra that I have used as an embellishment here, is of course another Calico Craftpart. (A dedicated blog should be up and running in the next couple of weeks, look out for more news on that)...

A little tag to also fit inside the pocket. I may well make a few more as a sheet of tags comes with the paper collection.

The final double page and probably my personal favourite, using the same techniques as before. The beautiful Leonardo stamp on the left is one I have had in my stash like forever, it may have been an Oxford Impressions. The one on the right is by Lost Coast Design and is called Chloe Face.

Well, that's it for today, only the cover and one more double page to do. And for those of you who are interested: I have now ordered 100 manila folders, anyone in the UK who is still interested,, please be in touch by emailing me! They will come to 30p per folder plus postage. Irene, if you see this, please be in touch, I can't find a way to contact you!

Thanks for visiting like always, - I will be back on the first of May with 3 projects at different times during the day. Hope to see you then and stay crafty!!