Be Brave

There is a new challenge blog on the block More Than Words. They have two challenges for the month. The first one is a month long challenge, where you can enter a layout, journal page or a canvas. The second challenge for the month runs for one week and it is for cards, tags or atcs.

I decided that I was going to enter a card into the mini challenge. The challenge criteria is that you must use the word Be and then share it on More Than Words Facebook Page. I used the phrase 'Be Brave'

Products Used: mixed media paper, black ink, white ecoline liquid watercolor, chipboard, black embossing powder, gesso, flowers, sparklets, scrapbooking paper.

Happy Creating

Letting Go or Control

People art journal for many different reasons, whether it be to release their emotions, trying a new technique or to do something creative. Sometimes I sit down in my chair and wonder what I am going to create but lately my creativity seems to just flow. I believe the reason behind this would be the art journal prompts that members from the Wanderlust class are receiving. They seemed to have opened up a dam inside of me.

The prompt this fortnight is "Sometimes what you're most afraid of doing is the very thing that will set you free". It didn't take me long to know what I am most afraid of and if I do it, it will set me free. Letting go of Control is a big issue for me. Whether it be in what I am creating, a situation I am in or just life in general. So hopefully by creating this page it will give me a big kick up the butt in times that I haven't let that control go but I need to.

Not only were we to be inspired by the quote but also a video from Kasia about composition building. Yes there are rules in composition building and they are very helpful but we were also encouraged to break them, not all of them but some of them. I love breaking rules.

Well if you have got this far reading I thank you and I hope that I can inspire you with my journal page. Its not very often that once I start creating I know what I am going to do but this time I did and it turned out even better than what I had imagined in my head.

I love how when using Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals 

that you don't need to use a lot to get such a big impact

Products Used: lindy's stamp gang magicals - orange creamsicle, gesso, mixed media paper, bakers twine, tags, chipboard, black cotton thread, x-press it tripletac glue

Happy Creating

Positive Thinking

Positive thinking is a powerful thing, if you think you can do it you probably can. It might not happen the first time but it will happen. I will keep telling myself this and just so I have a reminder I have created a journal page.

Now this page has been in the making for awhile now. It is mainly made up of left overs. When I wanted to clean my blending tool, stencils, brushes and had left over texture paste, etc I put them on this page. Some how it all came together and this morning some words came to mind. I highlighted the butterflies that were the result of pressing a used stencil on to the page to clean it off and finished it.

Products Used: dylusion paint, stencils, paint marker, texture paste, gold paint, color bloom spray, faber-castell pitt pen, ecoline liquid water colour.

Happy Creating

What I really want is .........

This fortnight's art journal prompt from Kasia and Jamie over at Everything Art is "What I Really Want Is"

I guess I really didn't have to think all that hard about what I really want. Two things came to mind a cure for Type 1 Diabetes so my daughter doesn't have to worry any more and the other thing was Self Belief.

Self Belief is something that I think we all work on at times and I am certainly no exception to the rule. It can take just someone to say some unkind words or actions for it to go flying out the window. I work on this everyday some days I have it, and others I don't. Which is why I designed this journal page to remind me to ignore those words and actions.

This page started with the raffia. I had actually thrown it away but while sitting at my desk I could see it out of the corner of my eye and I had to retrieve it. The poor piece of raffia once it was attacted to my page it was then hit with a heat gun to change it's colour. I had to be careful that while heating it I didn't set light to it, but I think the risk was worth it.

Products Used: thick white gesso, clear gesso, faber-castell pitt pen - black, watercolour paper, umwowstudio chipboard - star confetti, raffia, watercolour paints, scraps of patterned cardstock, ecoline liquid water colour, ranger archival ink - sepia, prima finnabair stamp set - don't forget to fly, we r memory keepers - crafter's stapler and staples and x-press it - tripletac glue .

Happy Creating

A Gift

A couple of years ago a friend of mine moved house and she has an amazing creative space and is extremely talented, which she will deny. I am lucky enough to get to create in it. Well when she moved she lost her mojo so a group of her creative friends decided that we would each create something for her to hang in her space.

I hadnt seen her for a little while so at the time I could not share what I created for her.

Her favourite colours are pink, aqua, teal, turquoise and green. So I decide to use my favourite products to create something that was unique for her.

Products used: Golden - Fluid Acrylics, Derivan Matisse - Flow, Faber-Castell - Pitt Pens and The Crafters Workshop - Stencils, crackle medium, rubons, Prima Art Basics - 3D Gloss Gel Transparent.

Happy Creating

Cards for the School Raffle

Every year the primary school that Master C and Miss C attend hold a school concert. Last year (feels funny saying that) they made it into a bigger event with a second hand book stall (which I am sure half the books there were from this household), dinner, which was a sausage sizzle or paella and a raffle.

For the raffle I created some cards to donate.

 

Happy Creating

Wanderlust 2016

Wanderlust is an online mixed media course that runs for the whole of the year. It's created and facilitated by Kasia and Jamie from Everything Art. They are a Uk based creator of Inspirational Art, Mixed Media, Art Journaling, Craft and Creative Online Classes. Each week from either Jamie, Kasia or one of the 24 guest teachers we received a video. In addition to these videos there is a fortnightly art journal prompt, a collage challenge, plus lots of other fun things to participate in.

Below is my art journal page from the first art journal prompt, which not only did Kasia produce a video of the prompt but also on that video she created her page. I cannot remember her exact words but basically you had to choose a word that describes you. My word is discover, because I have decided that 2016 is my year to discover my creativity and discover who I really am and where I fit in, in this creative world that I explore each and every day.

 

  

Products Used: Faber-Castell - Whipped Spackle, Ranger Embossing Powder - Liquid Platinum, Scrap Fx Chipboard - Signpost, Stampin' Up Stamp - Timeless Textures, DecoArt Stencil - Pixelated, The Crafters Workshop Stencil - Well Rounded, VersaMark Ink, Dusty Attic Acrylic Paint - Denim, Sunburt Orange and Cashmere, Dylusions Paint - Black Marble, Tim Holtz idea-ology - Big Chat, Inkssentials - Glossy Accents.

Happy Creating

And So The Adventure Begins

For the last two and a bit years I have been on the design team and admin team at Off The Rails Scrapbooking and at the end of the month I will be leaving OTRS. It is with a heavy heart and much sadness and a lot of soul searching to make the decision . I have learnt so much, been inspired by so many talented people. Thank you Amanda for giving me the opportunities that you have.

But before I do actually go I have a tutorial to share with you all. Please pop on over to the blog to see how I used the current mood board for my tutorial.

Happy Creating

I Have Been Keeping a Secret

Since the end of November I have been keeping a secret and I am now able to share it and I am really really excited.

I have been lucky enough to join the design team for the challenge blog Show Us Your Stuff.

Show Us Your Stuff is a blog devoted to all things Handmade. You can enter a layout, project life page, card or Off The Page but it must have at least one handmade or hand dyed embellishment.

Shall I share with you the first challenge of 2016?

This mood board is so gorgeous, so much inspiration can be had. What caught my eye was the red and white umbrella, the sand and the blue of the sea.

And this is what i turned that inspiration into

I had so much fun creating this card and it actually turned out the way I pictured in my head and that doesn't happen very often.

Products used: Art Basics - Heavy Gesso,  Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen big brush - Cobalt Blue, Nougat, Deep Scarlet Red, Faber-Castell Gelato - Blueberry, Cotton Candy, Snow Cone, Silver Ice, Faber-Castell Glass Bead Glitter Gel, Lindy's Stamp Gang Magical - Cafe au lait, Tim Holtz - Idea-ology Small Talk. Everybody has there favourite adhesive mine is Express It TripleTac Glue.

My hand-made embellishments are the umbrella that I drew and fussy cut out of corrugated cardboard and then painted white with gesso and red with my big brush pen. The thongs are are hand drawn and cut out using cardstock then I found a piece of patterned scrapbooking paper to give it the pattern.

Please remember to follow the link at the top of the post to visit Show Us Your Stuff to see who else is on the amazingly talented team and to find more inspiration for the gorgeous mood board.

Happy Creating

Happy New Year 2016

Hello and Welcome to 2016. Golly gosh I am not really sure where 2015 went but went it did.

Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book, Write a good one. - Brad Paisley

I have been seeing this quote around a lot recently and it really got me thinking about how I love to create and never really seem to do enough of it. So I have decided that I am going to try and do something arty every day. I am not going to put any pressure on myself and if I don't get a chance to do anything then that's ok. Nor am I going to put pressure on myself to actually have a finished piece every day but just do something, whether it be putting gesso on some mixed media paper for another day or creating a card or even an art journal page or even if it's just playing with a product that I haven't used before.

This morning to kick start you on your creative journey for 2016 I am sharing the new mood board and my inspirational piece for Off The Rails Scrapbooking.

I guess you can see where my inspiration came from, the Combi vans. The mood board provides so much inspiration I hope that you will pop on over to Off The Rails Scrapbooking to see what some of the other designers have created.

I will be back a little later in the month to show you how I created this card.

Happy Creating