The Year is like a Rainbow

Hello everyone, it's lovely to see you here and a very warm welcome to you all!

A few days ago I had a get together with some crafty friends and one of them showed me how to make a little book out of tiny envelopes (roughly ATC size 3.5 by 2.5 inches). They are quick and easy to do and I fell in love with them straight away. I promise one day I will do a step by step tutorial.

I decided to make a little book of quotes, here you can see the cover and the spine:

I made the book out of 6 envelopes which gave me 12 pages and I decided the do one for each month of the year using up some of the bits and pieces I had left over from the Graphics 45 Place in Time calendar I made a while back. Each page has a little pocket and I am going to make little cards with quotes for each month of the year to fit inside.
Here are the pages:

All the backgrounds are created with the help of Distress Inks and Stains, embossing folders and stamps.
The little book closes with a ribbon. The wrinkle effect on the cover is crumpled and then straightened Kraft Glasine paper by Tim Holtz of course, coloured with Distress Ink and then rubbed over with my favourite product of the moment, Treasure Gold!

Hope you like it and thank you so much for visiting!!

Chuckles...

Hello everyone and welcome to you all, especially my new followers!
Well, hope this does not get too boring, but here is another journal page and again I am featuring my new grand daughter, just 3 months old a couple of days ago, how time flies!

Actually I am not too happy with this page, it's a bit top heavy with all the journaling, but I had good fun creating it, and ultimately that's the main point of journaling right?

It's the usual layers of papers, texture paste, loads of Gesso, embellishments, more Gesso and  paints and sprays, some stamping, washi tapes and a little doodling. Here are some details still

As some of you know, little Lucia lives in Australia while I am in Scotland.... Journaling about her is my way of connecting with her, until I finally get to see and hold her in just under three months time....

A Trio of Tags

Hello everyone and welcome! So glad you decided to visit. Today I am showing you what I have called a Trio of Tags. The background on each of them was inspired by Tammy Tuterow's Tuesday Technique, using the Picketfence Distress Stain through a stencil. I kind of followed her tutorial but then gave it my own twist like usual....

I'm off to see some crafty friends tomorrow and I decided to make them a tag each. Here you can see them individually:

The stamps are almost all Tim Holtz (I used a couple of Prima background ones also). The little vintage image on the middle one I had flying around in my stash.

I am sorry for the terrible shadows on the photographs but by the time they were done it was pretty dark already and so I had to do them with artificial light. I could not use my flash either as it made terrible glares. I need photography lessons!!!

Dance to the music

A very happy New Year to you all and a warm welcome to my first post of 2013! Hope you all enjoyed some great celebrations and feel ready for new adventures!

I am sharing another journal page today, - a mixed media collage on paper this time. The Prima mixed emdia album I am using has different substrates for each page, and I am really enjoying experimenting with different media and techniques. For this page I have used Dylusions Sprays, Distress Stains, Collage papers and various stamps.

Out with the old and in with the new!

Hello everyone, welcome and I am so happy to see you here.

With this post I want to wish you all the most wonderful, prosperous, creative, happy and peaceful New Year. Seeing the world did not end on the 21st of December, but as some people say it is actually the beginning of a new era of time starting, full of new and creative and spiritual possibilities, I can't wait for the new year to begin! My word for the year is Possibility. Possibility to grow, to imagine, to be, to become etc. etc. Would love to know what your word is!!!
All right, I'll end this post with showing you my 12 favourite pieces from 2012:

Cover of vintage mini

page in mini album

Cover tag book

page in pocket album

page in a journal

Wall hanging

Altered box

Altered box

Mixed Media Collage

Altered Tag

Scrapbook LO 12 x 12

Journal Cover

Hope some of you will post some of your favourite pieces too. I know quite a few people did last year and I really enjoyed seeing them!!

Happiness

Hello everyone, welcome and an especially warm welcome to my new followers.

 I have called this post happiness because that is what I feel when I think of my new grand daughter and when I have the time to play in my journal. This page includes one of the more recent photos of her and she certainly is one happy little girl, and yes, she is a girl even though there is a lot of blue in this page.

 As no doubt you can see, this page is heavily influenced by the work of Anna Dabrowska (Finnabair) again. I love the way she incorporates photos into her work.

I started by covering my page with old book paper, then added numerous strips of other papers, tape, burlap ribbon, lace, metal bits and flowers and finally my photo. The next step was to cover everything with a thick layer of Gesso. I then coloured it all with various ink sprays (Dylusions, Cosmic Shimmer and Tattered Angels) I protected my photo with a baby wipe while doing this, a trick I learnt from Anna. I also added some stamping with various background stamps. The final bit was to add the sentiment which was computer generated.

 Here you can see some of the detail still.
 

Between Light and Darkness

Well I hope you all survived the last few days and are feeling happy and relaxed!

I certainly do and with the main festivities out of the way, it's just great to relax and journal a bit more. This is the next page in my Prima mixed media album, another canvas page. Hard to stamp on but great for textures... I used different stencils (Crafters Workshop and Dylusions) some Dylusions sprays, Treasure gold and Stewart Gill Byzanthium and Alchemy paints. It was great fun to dig those out of their hiding place where they had been gathering dust for quite a few month.
Here are some details still

Candle drawn with charcoal pencils, white and black.

And the winner is.....

So today is the day that I will announce the winner of my two Spellbinder dies giveaway. Thank you for all your comments both here and on the Spellbinders blog!


So I used Mr Random Org, but unfortunately I am too stupid to figure out to show you the clever picture that some people manage to show when they have a give away. Anyway, you will just have to take my word for it, - it was number 19 on my blog DEB OCHS-LA GRONE
Congratulations!! Please be in touch so I can mail your dies out to you.

Looking ahead at 2013

Hello everyone and happy Boxing Day! Hope you have survived all the festivities and found some peace and creative time as well.
Today it is my turn to post on the Artistic Stamper Creative Team blog.
I decided to make a wall calendar:

To see the full project and how I made it, please click here

Holiday Blessings

To all my blogging friends, followers and visitors, - I wish you all the most wonderful, peaceful and blessed holiday season!! You all mean the world to me, I love this blogging community!

Christmas Thoughts:

If we endeavor to celebrate Christmas in a true way

There should be within us a Shepherd and a King. 

A Shepherd who can listen out for what

Others cannot hear, who with all his powers of Devotion

Lives immediately under the starry heavens;

To whom the Angels are happy

To reveal themselves.

A King, who knows how to give,

Who does not allow himself to be

Guided by anything other than the

Star in the Heights: who sets out

To place all his gifts before the crib.

But beside the Shepherd and the King,

There must also be a child within us

Who now wishes to be born!

(This is an original piece created with soft chalk board chalks and pastels on white paper: Draw 3 layers of white chalk all over the paper first and then draw your picture with soft pastels (not Pan Pastels!) A bit of  toilet tissue helps to blend it all together and some cotton buts will lift colour if things have gone wrong. A very forgiving technique!)

Friday Freebies final two calender months

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's freebie! Well there we are, the last two calendar months, - how time has flown by. Hope you have enjoyed these and if you have missed some previous months, just scroll down and you will find them.

I want to use this opportunity to say thank you for all your kind comments, lovely emails and support! I am going to take a bit of a break from the freebies over the festive season but will be back at some point in the new year, hopefully with some fresh ideas.....
If you have not yet entered my give away, you can find all the details HERE
Wishing you all the best for the coming festive season!!