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

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

Adventures with Color Bloom Spray Mists

Just recently I finally gave in an brought the Color Bloom Spray Mists from Prima. My will had been strong until I put my name down for a class that is happening in November. In the class the sprays will be used. So me being me I needed to know what they were like and what they did if you would like to read what my ramblings were then please pop on over to Off The Rails Scrapbooking

Products Used: Color Bloom Spray Mist -  Soft Teal, Brush Chrome, Deep Teal, Tangerine, Summer Sky and Cobalt. Mixed Media Paper, TCW Stencil - Mini HalfTone Circles, Clear Crackle Paste, Clear Gesso, Texture Paste, White Gesso, Matte Gel and Gloss Gel.

Clear Crackle Paste

Clear Gesso

Texture Paste

Gesso

Matte Gel

Gel Medium

Gloss Medium

Gloss Medium

I have created some really yummy back grounds that I cannot wait to use for mixed media cards.

Happy Creating

When Things Go Wrong

When you are creating we all have a tendency to compare ourselves with others, and I will put my hand up the quickest as I do it all the time. But you know what, we are all individuals, we all create differently and see things different. We are our own worst critic, well I am here to tell you to be gentle with yourselves and be who you want to be. Believe in the journey and trust where the path leads because you never know where you will end up or what you will discover.

If you want to find out how I went from this

 

To this and my journey along the way please follow the link to Off The Rails Scrapbooking

Happy Creating

Red, Black and Grey

The September Challenge over at Off The Rails Scrapbooking is all about Red, black and grey. An amazing colour combination that can either be moody and dramatic or bright and cheerful. Which one are you?

They say that your mood affects your art work and I can say that yes it does. I have been feeling a bit bleck lately, with no energy or motivation and no creative spark. My journal page ended up being a very dark piece which is not really me but I love it all the same. That's what journaling is all about.

Happy Creating

Playing in my Art Journal

Last month I mentioned that had I purchased 3 bound journals as I could not decide which one I wanted. Yesterday I had the chance to play in one.

  

While at a friends place having a creative day. I packed my journal, now this journal is a RENDR Journal and the description of the journal is "Paper that allows you to use both sides of the paper. Media will not bleed through the paper. Suits markers, spray paint, paint, ink." This is one of the reasons why I purchased this journal in the first place. To be truthful I was a little sceptical but to my surprise my page above did not show on the other side.

Other than being a little tea stain where I spilt my tea and having black paint and a little red crayon on it which was transferred from my fingers, the description was 100% right. 

The products I used on my journal page were NeoColor Aquarelle Crayons, Dylusions Acrylic Paint, Water, Gesso, a white Gelly Roll Pen, KaiserCraft Tiny Alpha Stickers and The Crafters Workshop Mini Harlequin Stencil.

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