Begin journaling once more

Hello friends, hope you are all well. I have been a terrible blogger, apart from DT commitments I have hardly done anything and barely done any visiting. My apologies for that specially!
Anyway, I finally have a journal spread to share, trying to carve out a few moments just to create...

I have never had the good fortune to attend one of Seth Apter's workshops, but did manage to watch some of his periscope recordings from Creativation, and this was inspired by those.

The background was done with a mix of acrylic paints and sprays.

Strips of paper, old book pages and background stamping came next.

The focal point, one of Seth's older stamp sets that has a matching die to go with it

Some doodling and stencilling and some words from a Prima/Finnabair stamp set.

And here the facing page, using the same techniques but this time another Finnabair stamp.

Well, that's it for now. I will be back later in the week with some design team pieces, and there will soon be a few more planner freebies coming your way too :o)

Meanwhile, stay warm, cosy and I hope you will find some creative time. My day-job is pretty crazy at the moment but I hope I'll have more time to blog soon!

xxxxx

Leftover fun

Hi al and like always, thank you for taking the time to drop in.
As my crafty/arty journey is slowly starting to change, I am increasingly wondering what to do with all the supplies I have collected over the years....

Well, here was a fun little idea I found on Pinterest. A tag accordion booklet created with some of those endless left over papers and collage bits that I have and that are filling up boxes and drawers...

I cut the tags with the Tim Holtz die, connected two at a time with wide double sided tape and then covered the backs with further tags cut from design/ scrapbook papers. Below some close ups:

A mix of Prima paper and Kaisercraft ephemera pieces.

More Prima and image from Paper Whimsy.

More of the same

A few words were added here and there using Tim Holtz word stickers.

Here the back of the booklet, using up further papers.

The whole booklet folds together accordion style of course, and can be held together with a book ring.

Or opened up and decorate a shelf or mantle piece somewhere.

Well, that's it, quick, easy, fun to do and good to use up some of those leftovers we all have collected.

Thank you for visiting and have a happy week!

xxx

Mixed Media playtime fun

Hello all, - hope you are having a good week!
I am still on my last two days of holidays and had some  fun playing with different stuff and experimenting really for another project. Here is the result:

I have no step out photos, but will give you a quick run down on my process. It all started with playing with some Bister powders in combination with Walnut Ink crystals by Tsukineko. I splattered them around on watercolour paper. sprayed with water, tipped and tilted and watched the stuff play and intermingle.

I was not too happy with the middle section, so covered it  with some gesso streaks, a few splatters and finally with torn strips of paper from the  Prima Time Traveller 6 x 6 collection, making sure that the white edges showed.

Next I die cut Mr Rainman (Tim Holtz for Sizzix) from the same collection, choosing a darker piece and then overstamping with white Snowflake Fresco Finish paint and an old script stamp.

Some words die cut from the same paper, using the Tim Thinlets Adventure die set.

Some back ground stamping with Black Stazon Ink

And finally mounting it on black card and then grey thicker card.

That's it, like I said, just a bit of experimenting and fun, but having fixed a little easel on the back, it will stand up and might just land up becoming a birthday card for a male friend.

Thanks for dropping by like always and have a great week!

Christmas Leftovers

Hello everyone and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Can you believe it is 2015 already, the turn of the millennium seems only weeks ago. Oh dear, how time flies when you grow older.....

Anyway, today sees the start of a new challenge over at Our Creative Corner. It's a new year and also a brand new challenge host, the amazing Pamellia Johnson, who only recently joined the team as you may have seen.
This is what she had to say about the challenge:
With the holidays merely a shadow behind us, my guess is you still have bits of Christmas leftovers stashed everywhere, not to mention bags of Christmas bits meant for the recycle bin. I am a hoarder of all things I think I might get around to using one day, and Holiday bits are no exception! Every closet, drawer and cupboard is overflowing with the little things I collected throughout the holidays. Things I think I might use and things heading to the curb.
Christmas wrapping, gift bags, tinsel, ribbon, gift boxes, tissue paper, Christmas crackers, wine boxes, empty gift wrap rolls, Christmas cookie tins, even the images from the fronts of cards I received...you name, I hoard it!
Let's put those bits to good use this month!
With that in mind, for my introductory challenge theme, I have chosen........CHRISTMAS LEFTOVERS

To be clear, your project does NOT have to have a Christmas theme, I only want you to recycle your Christmas scraps.

If it's not obvious what Christmas leftovers you used, make sure to tell us about it, somewhere in your post.

So here is what I created:

Any regular to my blog know that I am a paper hoarder, I also LOVE altering papers, and this project was made with the leftovers from some Prima pads of paper that I used for several of my Christmas cards.

I made another little paper wallet to keep memorabilia in, as I am away on a trip to Australia right now, and wanted something small enough to fit in a handbag, and yet have plenty of room for photos, tickets, journaling notes etc.

HERE is a link to a brilliant video tutorial that shows you how to make one, all it uses is 3 sheets of 12 by 12, plus other scraps of paper to line all the different sides.

I made my base out of 3 pieces of 12 x 12 Kraft card.

As the project has so many flaps and pockets, it is hard to photograph, but here you can see the inside:

Above is the inside of the wallet with all the panels open. As you can hopefully see, I covered each side and pocket with different, but matching bits of paper. Adding some texture with the help of stencils and some paste too here and there. Below are some more close ups:

Here you see the two sided flaps folded in, more bits of paper on the back of the flaps, these are meant as photo mats.

A close up of one of the pockets. As the whole little wallet needs to be quite flat in order to close, I did not want to add bulky embellishments to the inside, so decorated with fussy cut elements from the papers.

This is the central panel, I made a belly band to keep journal notes etc in place.

Here you can see the side flaps completely closed, again these panels are for photos. Below it is a bigger pocket for tickets and other bits, it can hold smaller photos too.
Here is the front:

I added a flower cluster here and as you can see there is also some stencilling with paste and high lighted with treasure gold.

As the wallet is specifically to hold my journey's keepsakes, I die cut the word journey from one of the papers stuck on some Kraft card for strength and altered it a bit with some gesso.

Here is a close up of the flowers still, as you can see, I tucked some cheese cloth underneath to soften it a bit.

Well, that's pretty much it. A quick and fun project to make and great to use up all those bits of paper that most of us will have plenty of after Christmas.

Please make sure to check out the projects of my amazing teamies new and old, I promise you, you will be stunned and inspired, all you need to do is click HERE. And of course we hope you will play in the challenge too!

Thank you for visiting like always and may 2015 be your best year ever!!!

12 x 12 for 12

Hello everyone and welcome.
Today is a little bit of a different post.....

I have had to face it, after years of creating, blogging and being part of numerous design teams, I have had to decide to do a massive clear out. I am a huge hoarder of stamps and papers and my craft space is simply not big enough to hold it all, nor is there an earthly way I can use it all.

So here is the deal:
I am offering surprise packages for £12.

With Christmas not too far away, you may want to treat yourself or someone else with a little surprise pack like this....

For UK people the price of postage is included, for people outside the UK the price for postage has become so expensive, a minimum of £8 for the size of package you would be getting, that I would have to add a price onto the total and would have to request you pay for the postage too. I would negotiate a price with you depending on where you are.

Each pack will contain:
10 papers size 12 x 12" Brand new and in good condition
10 papers 6 x 6 and 8 x 8" (a mix of both) Brand new and in good condition
10 stamps (mounted rubber or polymer, a mix of both) these have been used so are not new, but in good condition!

And as a little bonus to say thanks, a card, tag or little book made by me.
Here is a sample of some of the papers, remember there will be 10 stamps also:

Papers will be a mix of older collections from: Graphics 45, Prima, Tim Holtz, Kaisercraft, 7 Dots Studios, Bo Bunny, Pion Design etc. All 12 x 12" papers are double sided, the other papers are a mix of one or two sided papers. All of the papers are high quality and will include some vintage, shabby chic etc styles. They can be used for scrapbooking, card making or mixed media work.
Most of my visitors here will know my style, I will try and be fair in the selection of both papers and stamps and include a good mix, there will be no cute stamps and some of them will even be brand new.

If you are interested, please email me 

STOP PRESS, THE SALE IS NOW CLOSED! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR INTEREST!

Now before I sign off I just wanted to show you how I used some of my papers to create backgrounds for some of my Christmas cards. Any paper can be altered to look totally different, that's part of the fun of using papers (well I think so anyway....)

Here is the finished card

Here is how it started, a piece of a Prima paper, not at all Christmassy.

Add some Gesso, sprays and paint (a piece of kitchen roll for texture and baby wipe to blend out hard edges are great for this).

Add a Tim Holtz Layered Snowflake, (I added another die on top and a little metal embellishment, spray them as well and add lots of glitter

Add a stamped sentiment, this one is from Tim Holtz

Mat it on matching card and you are done.

Here are two further finished samples, done in exactly the same way:

This one uses the Layered Leaf die, again on top of some Prima paper

And here is yet another one using the Layered Snowflake.

Well, hope this has given you some inspiration, have a good week!

Thank you for visiting and stay inky!!

Time Flies when you are having fun....

Hello everyone and lovely to see you here today.
Time Flies is the theme the lovely Chris has chosen for the latest challenge over at A Vintage Journey

Well, time certainly does seem to fly and most certainly when you are having fun and I had loads of fun when altering this canvas.

I started with an 8 by 8" prepped canvas and began by adding some texture through Tim's Latticework Stencil, still one of my favourites, though some of the new ones are stunning too!

I used Wendi Vecchi's Texture Paste, now this is actually white, but obviously I had not cleaned my stencil well enough... oops. Ah well, as neutral were going to be my colour scheme, I decided not to worry.
I made sure some of the texture would also go over the sides:

For some further interest I added some strips of Tissue Tape and some scraps of a paper serviette.

Next I added some (further) colour with the help of Antique Linen Distress Paint and Vintage Photo and Walnut stain Distress Inks using the new mini ink pads.

Now for the embellishments, I decided to use the Weathered Clock and Layered Wings dies, taking the theme literally (and not very originally...)

I cut all pieces from Grunge Paper and then the clock again from a piece of Prima paper from the Time Traveler's Collection. (That seemed suitable, but I loved the paper anyway...)

I layered the wings up and then gave them a coat of Tarnished Brass Distress Paint. As it looked a bit too browny for my liking and I wanted a more shimmery effect I also added a coat of Decoart Dazzling Metallics in Luminous Gold. This gives a lovely golden glow, hard to see from the photo.

After cutting the clock from Grunge Paper I gave it a coat of Picket Fence Distress Crackle paint and when that had done it crackling magic, rubbed over some Walnut Stain Distress Stain to seem into the cracks and rubbed Walnut Stain Distress Ink around the edges.

I glued the centre bit of the paper clock onto the grunge paper one for strength and then covered that in Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint, to fit in with the rest of the clock.
Time to put it all together: As you can see from the main photo, I layered the wongs behind the assembled clock and then made a flower cluster using the Tattered Florals die, I used SU Vanilla card a lovely gift from my friend Jennie of Live the Dream, I also followed one of her amazing flower tutorials.

Some scuffed up letter tiles finished it all up.

Well, hope you like my altered canvas, I had great fun making it.

Mke sure you check out the new challenge at A Vintage Journey, you are going to love all the amazing inspiration from my teamies, they have totally out done themselves again and fingers crossed you fill find a moment to play along. You could be in with a change to be one of our winners!!
Enjoy the rest of the month and see you next time, - stay inky!!!