Choose To Shine

I am really enjoying creating the Artsy Circles, I think I am stepping out of my comfort zone, still no idea what my style is but that's ok, I don't need to know.

So the prompt for today is Butterflies. I love butterflies, along with tulips they are my most favourite things. In saying that you would not believe the trouble I had creating the circle for today. First I was looking for something that I thought I had thrown out and in the end I had just transferred it to another draw, 1/2 an hour I spent looking and then it wasn't right. Secondly, after I realise that what I thought was a good idea and it wasn't I then spent ages going through all my stamps and stencils to find what I did have.

Finally I created a circle that I am really, really happy with.

I started off with a piece of heavy water colour paper that I put through my bigshot with a circle die that has a diameter of 10.4 cm, which I then put gesso on both sides.

For my background colour I mixed clear gesso with Frank Garcia artisan powder and applied it with my palate knife, making sure that I had texture and not just an all over colour.

Making sure that the gesso layer was dry with my archival ink and stamp I added another layer.

It is all about layers, through a stencil I added some paint in a contrasting colour.

Next I added white gesso to just tie it altogether, then I got out my stabilo all pencil to grunge it up.

Ok so this is where I forgot to take photos as I was very involved in my creative process. Once I made it grungy, I then stamped the butterflies all over the surface making sure that they were going in different directions and that I had some flying off the page and flying on to the page. I then scraped another light layer of white gesso over my stamping. Using my stabilo all to grunge it up some more. Finally I added my white circle, embossed the image, used my stabilo all to grunge it up again. Lastly I added the three quotes.

products found at Art and Soul Studio
archival ink - jet black
art alchemy acrylic paint - black berry
Frank Garcia - artisan powder - french sage
kaisercraft stamp - sketchy

Happy Creating

Wildflower Meadow

The last class last Sunday was another one with Fiona from Pastiche Scrapbook Studio The class involved using water colours, not the traditional way but Fiona's way. I don't think I have ever been in a more relaxed class. All the participants were in their zone including me and the time just flew, I could have sat there all day.

I didn't finish my canvas in class but today I did. I wasn't sure which way it was going to hang, as I loved it upside and the right way up, but in the end it is the way it was intended with an added touch from me. Thank you Fiona x

products used for the butterflies: indigo blue mega-flake autumn blaze, black cardstock

 Happy Creating

Art By Leanne Jago

Oh my this month is flying way too quick, the second week of 4th term has just finished and it is the middle of October already. This also means that is time for mid month reveal over at Show Us Your Stuff. The inspiration this month is a mood board, now this mood board is something special as it is made up of Art created by Art by Leanne Jago.

 

 

Pretty special isn't it. What inspires you to create? Would love to see you creation.

 

I created a canvas, now I don't think that my work actually does this mood board any justice but maybe it is a work in progress, who knows.

products used: wooded artist board, gesso, derivan matisse structure - paynes grey, golden fluid acrylic cerulean deep blue &teal, glossy accents, the crafters workshop stencil - layered butterflies & sketch grid

Leanne's art is not only the inspiration this month it is also the prize. You could win the two gorgeous pieces below. I know I wish I could enter.

 

I thought I would also share with you a piece of art that I brought from Leanne a few months back.

Happy Creating

Stay Strong

There are lots of things in my stash that just don't seem to get used and other things that get used a lot. The card that I created is a combination of both.

products used: ranger archival ink - jet black, gelly roll pen - white, stabilo - all, prima artextravagance texture paste - white crackle, uni pin fine line marker - black, derwent inktense blocks, tim holtz idea-ology - small talk, kaisercraft stamp - script, stampers anonymous stamp - halftone & rings, prima elementals stencil - grungy grid, bobunny stickable stencils - butterflies, mixed media paper, artbasics heavy gesso - white

Happy creating

How Do I Begin

Today I want to share an art journal page that I created. This page came about because of a post that I put up in one of the facebook groups that belong too. The title of this post was suggested by one of the ladies in the group for our journal page to get us creating. So from the words How Do I Begin I went on to have fun.

This journal page started a little differently to how I normal start. Sometimes writing down how you feel helps you move past the thing that is blocking you. I wrote down my feelings on my water colour paper and because I did not necessarily need it on my page I covered it with gesso and then some paint.

I had so much fun creating this page, my hands were stained for a couple of days afterwards.

Products used: derivan matisse structure paint - titanium white and cobalt turquoise, stencil hero arts - tweed pattern, lindy's stamp gang magicals haunted halloween - tainted love teal and freaky franken lime, faber-castell pitt artist pen - indanthrene blue, archival ink - cornflower blue and watering can, whipped spackle, embossing powder - stampin' up black, ranger silver and adriondack stream, stamp vivalasvegastamp - plate 1471, die cut, strips of scrap paper, sequins, versamark and gauze.

Happy Creating

Just Add Aqua Cotton

Because I was having so much fun playing with my stamps and was not sure what I wanted to create for the April challenge at Show Us Your Stuff I created a set of three cards. Now these three cards are the same but different. Have I confused you, let me show you what I mean.

  

I started out making my atc (artist trading card) size rectangle which I then coloured, stamped, heat embossed and then stuck my embellishments to. The other element which makes them the same is that I have only used one colour of ink - soft suede. It is amazing how many browns you can get from just one ink pad.

Products used: Ink - Soft Suede, Stamps - Gorgeous Grunge, Summer Silhouettes, Timeless Textures and Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Dies - Butterflies Thinlits and Bold Butterfly Framelits, Cardstock - Whisper White, Vellum - Botanical Gardens Designer Stack, Corrugated Paper - Kraft, Sequins - In Colour assortment, Emboss Powder - White, Versamark, Sepciality Designer Series Paper - Typeset, Cotton - Aqua

If you have any question about any of the products I have use please either leave a comment on my post or email me at deeseldee@hotmail.

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

1 stamp, 2 Cards

Today I am up on the blog for Off The Rails Scrapbooking I have created a tutorial using 1 stamp from Stampin' Up called Swallowtail and creating 2 cards. The colours that I used were from the current challenge on the blog.

Below is our mood palette and I would love to see how you would use it.

All the Products I used are from Stampin' Up

Stamp - Swallowtail

Stamp - Butterfly Basics

Stamp Birthday Blossoms

Ink - Basic Black

Ink - Daffodil Delight

Ink - Soft Suede

Ink - Pool Party

Ink - Cucumber Crush

Cardstock - Whisper White

Cardstock - Basic Black

Re Inker - Cucumber Crush

Re Inker - Daffodil Delight

VersaMark

Clear Embossing Powder

Card Number 1

Card Number 2

 

If you would like to see how I created the above 2 cards then please pop on over to Off The Rails Scrapbooking.

Happy creating

Butterflies and Gold

The challenge this month over at The Mixed Media Card Blog is all about Butterflies with gold as an optional element. Well obviously with my love of butterflies I couldn't go past this challenge.

I am not one to throw things out and in fact if I have left over paint, ink, etc I usually find a journal page or a piece of mixed media paper to use it up on. That's what the background of this card started its life as. I had created another project that used pink paint so I mopped it up with my mixed media paper and in the draw this piece sat until last night.

Pink is not one of my go to colours and I wasn't enthused about using this background but it was there so I used it. To cover up most of the pink I used my palette knife to apply a thin layer of gesso over the surface. I thought to myself this is something that I can now work with.

Just recently I had seen some printed tissue paper that was black with white as the accent colour. I thought it to be quite unusual because normally it is the other way around. To use that as inspiration I found a white doily, cut it in half and painted it with black gesso, I then gently sanded it to give the black paint a distressed look. I added further white detail with my white Gelly Roll pen.

Using my black archival ink and Prima - Old Town stamp, I set about giving the background some depth before I stuck down my embellishments. Deciding this wasn't enough I used some texture paste that I mixed with Viva Precious Metal Colour - Orange Yellow and stencilled it through my The Crafter Workshop - 6x6 Mini Cofffe Splotch. I thought adding the Viva Precious Metal Colour to the texture paste it would come out a pale gold colour. I was mistaken, once dry it was a mustard yellow colour which was not nice at all. By this stage the texture paste was dry and was not going to be removed without destroying what I already had done. So out I pulled my container that held my trusty Faber-Castell Big Brush Pens and coloured the texture paste.

Once I was happy with my background I gave it some more rough treatement by using my distress tool on the edges of the paper. I stuck down my doily, gauze, my stamped and gold heat embossed image from the Prima Rust & Dust Set and finally my butterflies.

My butterflies were created by painting Viva Precious Metal Colour on normal white cardstock then using my Martha Stewart Butterfly punch. To finish of the butterflies I rubbed my Blood Orange Gelato over the top and went around the edge with my big brush pen.

Happy Creating

Collect Beautiful Moments

I am a very quiet crafter, I like the silence around me. I never normally have any music going, the very odd occasion I turn it on but it doesn't last long. So going on retreat was quite an experience with all the noises around me, but in saying that I am very good in tuning it all out. You have to do that when you are a mother to a 7 year girl and 5 year old boy (as I am typing, they are beginning to argue). While taking in all the sounds which included laughter, talking, machines I picked up my art journal to create a page.

Products Used: Art Journal, Black Gesso, White Gesso, Masking Tape, Stampin' Up Butterfly Punch, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Stabilo - All, Faber-Castell Pitt Pen: Big Brush Cobalt Green, Tim Holtz: Idea-ology Small Talk.

The Small Talk from Tim Holtz was just the perfect quote to add to my journal, because that is exactly what I was doing.

Happy Creating

Wings

The current challenge on The Mixed Media Card Challenge blog is 'Wings' and you have the option of adding foil.

I am the first to admit that I am addicted to butterflies so when in my blog travels I came I across this challenge I knew I could not go past it. The other reason why I could not go past this challenge was because card making is my first love and mixed media is my second so all round this challenge was screaming my name.

When creating I always save the left over bits, I started with a small bowl and it has now grown into a draw. I am one of those people who cannot throw anything out because you never know how useful it will be in the future. Now that my draw is almost full, I have been trying to use these left over bits. The background on this card was created by using pre-cut strips of paper. The strips are from where I was cutting card inserts down to size. Seems appropriate for them to go back onto a card. I then used my Derwent Inktense Blocks to colour the background

Just recently I purchased the Butterflies Thinlits Dies from Stampin' Up and this was the perfect excuse to use it, not that I really need an excuse. In my paper scrap draw (yes I have one of them too, for plain cardstock and patterned) I found the perfect size piece of paper to use.

Using the option of adding foil to my card I used a new product from IndigoBlu called Mega-Flake and changed my black butterfly into a gorgeous metallic one.

 

While searching in my scrap draw for the strips of paper I also came across some aqua colour hexagons and some aqua coloured thread. I pulled them out and decided that that is what I would used to embellish my background. I knew this wouldn't be enough for the card so I went into my chipboard stash and found my diamond UmWowStudio chipboard. I love how the diamonds are all different sizes. The last thing I wanted to add was some sort of material. I found some natural fibre tulle cut a small piece which I then proceed to distress, so it didn't look so new.

The background needed something more so I used my Stampin' Up Off The Grid Stamp and when that was dry with my white pen I drew down the right hand side of my vertical strips of paper. It's all about layering and creating texture.

The order that everything went down is hexagons first, then the tulle and then the tread. This is where I hit a snag, I had to seek advice from a friend as I had no idea how to put the thread down without it looking messy. Her response was "It's meant to be messy". I struggled with this but I think I managed to get it right although the more I look at my card I am thinking it maybe could have done with a little more. Next came the placement of the diamonds. Over all of this I splattered white ink. The last layer of my card is my butterfly.

Happy Creating

Creating with Distress Inks

With so many new products being released into the market (that we just have to have) sometimes we forgot about the products we already own. I was looking around my creative space and I saw my distress inks. To be perfectly honest I cannot remember the last time I used them. When I first got them, I needed them and after my first use couldn't wait to buy more. I ended up with 37. Now I know that is not all of them, but it is where I stopped buying them.

So combining my distress inks, embossing powders, stamps, texture paste, a rub-on and a stencil I created the card below

Close up detail

If you would like to see my step by step instruction please pop on over to Off The Rails Scrapbooking.

Happy Creating

The Challenge was Set

Just recently I completed an online course with Michelle from Michelle Grant desiGns. It was all about finding my style and developing my skills as a scrapbooker and oh boy do my skills need a lot of developing. After completely the course, Michelle set us a challenge. Now this challenge was different from other challenges that you see, it was all about discovering how we had enhanced our skills with the knowledge that Michelle shared with us. Yes there were some guidelines like colour, background etc but the main theme was just to have fun. I am not sure about the fun part yet, but i did take on the challenge and completed it.

Products I used
Prima Finnabair - Don't Forget to Fly cling Stamp
Lindy's Stamp Gang - Magicals
Lindy's Stamp Gang - Sprays
Gesso
Texture Paste
Ranger Super Fine Gold Embossing Powder
Dylusions by Dyan Reaveley - Alphabet Border Large Stencil

Happy Creating

Believe

It all happens because the end of the month is looming and I needed to create something. At the beginning and in the middle of February I was struggling with the sketch and mood palette for this months reveal at Off The Rails Scrapbooking. But with that deadline nearly upon me I stopped thinking and just created from the heart.

The challenge this month is to use a sketch and a mood palette. It is all about using them as inspiration and putting your own spin on things.

Before I share with you what I created and want to tell you about the amazingly talented artist who created the sketch and mood palette. The first time I saw Fiona's work I fell in love and every piece since then has had the same affect. 

I began creating a layout but soon got frustrated with that so I moved on to my art journal. This resulted in a page that I wish I had created on canvas so I could hang it on my wall.

Don't forget to visit Off The Rails Scrapbooking to see how the other Design Team members used the sketch and mood palette.

Happy Creating

Online Classes

I have always wanted to take part in an online class but deciding which one was always the problem until about 4 weeks ago. I was flicking through my account on twitter when I saw a tweet from Kelly Rae Roberts. This tweet caught my eye not only because it was from Kelly Rae Roberts who I have been following for a few years now, but because she was tweeting about an online course. It wasn't long before I had completed sign up for Hello Soul Hello Mixed Mantras. I was all ready to go but I had to wait a few days before the class was live. So what do you do when you are waiting? Go shopping and buy supplies of course.

Finally the day arrived that I could access the class, there and then my journey began. The fun, the playing, the getting messy and letting go is something that I just cannot get enough of.

I would like to share with you a piece of art that I have created since I began class. My start to finish I knew what it was going to be my hands did not falter and I did not think about it, it just flowed.

Before starting the course with Kelly Rae Roberts I would never have believed that I was capable of creating something like this. Thank you Kelly Rae

Blue and Gold

Today is another reveal day on the blog at Off The Rails Scrapbooking. The theme this month is a stunning Mood Palette. 

Now with a mood palette you use what ever catches your eye. What stood out to me was the bright blue, gold and feathers, but I only ended up using the blue and gold.

For this challenge I combined two of my favourites things - cards and mixed media, and of course I had to put a butterfly in there somehow.

Please don't forget to pop past blog for more inspiration.

Happy Creating

The Art of Journaling

I have always loved the idea of creating an Art journal but wondered where I would start. I didn't want a bound journal as I felt for me this was too restricting, so I brought some water colour paper (300 gsm). Next time I will buy smooth finish rather than the rough but it is all a learning curve.

The A4 sheets of paper I cut into 8x8 as I have an mdf album (which needs to be decorated) that I can use and the off cuts of the paper I will save and use for something else.

My next step was to rewatch a video tutorial that Fiona from the Off The Rails Scrapbooking Design Team created. I loved watching it the first, second and third time (click here for the video).

I finished the back ground a couple of days ago but then had no idea what to embellish it with. I had created an extremely busy background. Today I finally finished it off with 3 butterflies that I fussy cut out of some paper.

Here is my first Art Journal page.

Now it's time to go and watch some more videos for inspiration and get messy. Thank you for stopping by.

Happy Creating

Up Up and Away

I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything, so thank you for still being here.

The challenge at Off The Rails Scrapbooking is Up, Up and Away. The first things that always comes to mind are butterflies. Butterflies are one of my favourite things.

I was asked to create a card for a friend and it fit this theme perfectly.

Would love to see you enter the challenge, so many possibilities with the theme.
Happy Creating

Height

I love adding dimension to my designs, so the new challenge at Off The Rails Scrapbooking was right up my alley. For this challenge I did create a mixed media project but it was not my usually style. Would love to know what you think

I love the colours that I used, and that little pop of red really works, now red is not a colour that I usually work with but maybe I could use a little every now and then.

Happy Creating

Dylusion Fun

Like all scrapbookers, card markers or mixed media artists I am addicted to supplies and what better way to have up to date and a variety of products at my finger tips than belonging to the Frosted Designs Design Team.

My favourite products to use at the moment would have to be the Dylusion Inks. It means getting messy and running around with ink staining my hands for a couple of days afterwards but I don't mind, that is the enjoyment of creating.

In this layout I have used 6x6 Echo Park Beautiful Life Paper Pad, Heidi Swap Stencil - Butterflies, Prima Flowers - Paquita, Um Wow - Dream A Little Dream Flairs and Dylusion Inks Sprays - Funky Fuscia and Calypso Teal and American Crafts Cardstock - White

I love the effect of spraying two or more inks over the top of each other (in this case only 2) and the effects you get when laying the stencil over the top and lightly spraying with water. I also coloured the little aqua roses with dylusions and water.

A close up of the gorgeous Prima flower, they have so much texture.

It was easy to add a title to my layout with the UmWow flair. My daughter is a dreamer at times and this flair was just perfect.

http://www.frosted-designs.com/index.html  is where you can find the products listed above.

Thank you for visiting and happy creating