Hang In There Art Journal Cover

Hello how are you today, well I hope. I have nearly completed my latest art journal, this is my first one made by Jane Davenport. I love all  of her products, although I don’t have many. I didn’t cover my book before I started and of course I soon realised it was getting  very inky, painty spalshy!

Here is the messy cover!

I don’t have much space to keep my journals, and I knew it would need to be squashed in somewhere so the cover had to be one flat layer only. I began by applying two coats of gesso.  I used a Daler Rowney gesso as it was on offer in Hobbycraft, and it works very well even though it is a bit thinner than some of them.  I dabbed on some blue and pink acrylic paints with a sponge.I love the girl on a swing stencil by Clarity Stamps, which I used  with some black paint. I heat embossed all of the flowers which are by Lavinia Stamps. The art in my journal represents my struggles so I thought the “Hang In There” sentiment from a Phyliss Harris Stamp kit was very fitting! 

Thank you for stopping by, and hang in there friends!

I would like to enter this into the following challenges.

Vintage Journey Stencil It

Stamps and Stencils Do Judge A Book By It’s Cover

That’s Crafty Summers Day 

Bee kind

Today I am sharing a very heartfelt canvas “Bee Kind”.

I began with a blank white box canvas, which is always daunting.My first step was to use a honeycomb die cut as a stencil and applied texture paste into it. I really should buy a honeycomb stencil as I think I would use it a lot so it would be a good investment. When the paste was dry I painted some light  brown acrylic over it. 

More waiting time was needed so I heat embossed the bees in black, and coloured them. I added glitter to the wings, and fussy cut them. I use Spectrum Noir clear glitter pens, they are easy to use and give a lovely clear sparkle.

  I used my Versamarker pen over the top of each honeycomb piece,  and sprinkled clear embossing powder over it.I  heated it up to give a glossy drippy  honey look !

 

After a light coating of brown paint over the canvas I used a sponge to dab on some rose and yellow 

acrylic colours to the edges. I always spritzed my sponge with water first as it helps the paint to move more easily.

Chipboard Letters would have been good, but of course as always I did not have all of the letters to spell “Kind”. I used thin card letters instead, and painted them rose, and clear embossed. I attached some of the little bees to each letter

The canvas looked a bit bare in places so I stamped a script stamp using the light brown paint. Remembering to wash it immediately afterwards, have you ever tried removing dried acrylic paint from a stamp - I don’t recommend it : ) 

Thank you so much for visiting I truly appreciate it xx

I would like to enter this into  the following challenges. 

That’s Crafty Summers Day

craft Stamper Take It Make It Anything Goes

Country View Challenges Written Word

Stamping Sensations Anything Goes

Penny Black In The Garden

I was thrilled to be the second prize winner in Stamping Sensations May Challenge. So keep submitting to challenges you never know when you might win! 

Buzzy Summer Days

I am over on the Indigoblu Blog today with a Summer Days 3d scene.  I hope to see you over there.

Thank you so much for visiting. I would like to enter this into the following challenges.
Craft Stamper Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations Anything Goes
Crafteezee Summer

By Your Side Lace Card

Hello how are you today? The lovely challenge at Frilly and Funkie is Layers of Lace. Unfortunately the only lace I have was given to me by a friend of my Mothers and is very, very bright red! I am a pastel person so I didn’t think I would ever be using it! Then I remembered seeing Barbara Gray do something with lace and mini gelli plates at a craft show, the mini plates also had mounts. I don’t have any of those items, but I do have a normal size gelli plate so I thought I would experiment and try to achieve the same sort of effect.

I brayered my ink onto the gelli plate, and then laid my rather vibrant lace on top.I used some copy paper to lay over it to tap it down in place. Then after crossing everything I can ( which isn’t much) I placed my card onto the plate and patted it all over, and with trepidation I pulled it back.... it worked out okish! A darker ink would have shown up more, but I do like my pastel shades!

I then stamped a gorgeous Teddy stamp by Crafty Individuals, and gave the larger teddy some ribbon lace on the bottom, of her pretty dress, and added some gems to both teddies. After adhering them to the card with sticky foam pads, I stamped the gorgeous sentiment which is also from Crafty Individuals.

Thank,you for visiting myself and the teddies today.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges

Frilly and Funkie Layers of Lace

Stamping Sensations Anything Goes

Craft Stamper Anything Goes

Alice in Doodle Land !

Hello how are you today? Did you also have the terrible thunder storms? Hopefully summer will arrive shortly! 

I don’t usually share my art journal pages as they are for my own personal scribbles, but this months Paperbabe challenge is Doodles. So what better place to doodle than in your art journal. I have not done much doodling before except while waiting on the phone! 

I love Alice in Wonderland so I decided to do a quick scribbly sketch of  her. It was the  first time I had used my water soluble  sketching pencil, it worked quite well. Although I was a bit heavy handed sketching in places so the pencil did not blend completely.  I used Watercolours to give Alice some colour. Of course Alice’s roses are meant to be red,  but I don’t have any red ink. So I loaded up pink in my pen, but it must have mixed with some residual blue as it came out a sort of purple! Oh well never mind ! 

My writing is terrible but I included my favourite quote by Lewis Carroll 

“ imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality “

There is an actual Offical Alice day every year and this year it is on 7th July. I think I should blog something special on that day. Would anyone like to join in, I know lots of us love Alice?  

Thank you for stopping by today, happy crafting! 

Country Holidays

Hello, let’s hope the sun comes out for the Bank holiday weekend! Today I am sharing a 3D frame I made for my  sister’s  friends birthday. They have taken numerous holidays together each year in the Lake District since well... forever. So I wanted to create a Lake District type scene, and these  Crafty Individuals Stamps are just perfect for that.

Crafty Individuals CI-474

She has two grown sons so I stamped coloured, and fussy cut two boys and a couple to walk along in the scene.

Crafty Individuals  CI-467

After stamping and fussy cutting the sheep, I added some white flowersoft to their coat. 

 

I also used some flowersoft for the hedges, and added in some dried flowers. I used twigs for tree trunks, and finished by adding some tiny bunting. I just have to wrap her gift up and attach the tag I made previously and it will be already for her birthday.

Thank you for visiting and whatever you are up to this weekend I hope you have fun! My wheelchair has been making a terrible grinding sound recently, luckily it is my indoor one, and not my other newer one for going out in,  so I may make it out to have a lovely Pimms and lemonade outside the pub, if the weather is nice enough. xx

I would like to enter this into the following challenges

Stamping Sensations Close To Nature

Penny Black Anything Goes

Gothic Arch Challenge

For the last few months I have been taking part in the Gothic Arch Challenge  at UK Stampers. Gothic Arch refers to the shape it does not have to be gothicky (thank goodness)This months theme is “in stitches” I wondered what I would create, so I looked through my old wooden stamps, and came across these treasures. A lovely teddy and bunny with stitches on them. I decided as they had been packed away for such a long time, they needed a good wash so I washed them and hung them on the washing line to drip and dry!

I used glossy accents to add drips of water falling from the furry friends.They are quite difficult to see in the photo but there lots of them there.I used green flowersoft on the branches, and also added some faux stitches around the edges. 

The foam stamps are coming away from the wood, so I am undecided if I should remove them from the wood to save space or glue them back on... 

I would also like to enter my In Stiches  Gothic Arch into That’s Crafty Stitch In Time Challenge

Thank you so much for visiting me today, I hope all is going well with you xx