Alpha/Dictionary Challenge 2016 : J

My Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge 2016 page is done. This time we have been given the letter "J" but have to include a dragonfly. I chose Jigsaw for my dictionary word.

Stamps used:
Hobby Art Butterfly Kisses - Art's Collage
Hobby Art Anna's Collection - Just for you (the tiny dragonfly from the set)
Clarity Stamps - Jigsaw

I stamped the collage image with Memento dye inks in Potters Clay, Peanut Brittle and Paris Dusk twice. Then stamped the jigsaw puzzle image on top and from one of the panels cut three jigsaw pieces. I added the tiny dragonfly to the main image and coloured him with a silver Wink of Stella pen. The definition is outlined with a gel pen.

This was difficult as I really wanted to choose Juggler for my "J" word and do a circus themed page but I couldn't get my brain around that dragonfly. I don't actually have a decent dragonfly stamp, only the tiny sketchy one I used on this page and a similar bigger version. This is odd considering the vast collection of stamps I have greedily accumulated over the years!

Red and White with a Bit of Black

Today is the last day of my vacation, I have been away in Cornwall for the week and returned last night so apologies for not visiting blogs for the past week or so. I have catching up to do to find out what you have all been doing.

I didn't think I'd make the time to enter the Craft Barn Two Weekly Challenge this time but not the case, I managed to do a quick ATC this afternoon. The theme is "Red and White with a bit of Black".
Here it is:

Tim Holtz Ideology Remnant Rubs in the background with a couple of pieces of red and white ephemera then finished off with some faux stitching in red.

See you later. xx

Alpha/Dictionary Challenge 2016 : S

I chose SHORE as my word for the letter S for the Alpha/Dictionary Challenge at the Craft Barn. The twist with this letter is to include a shell. I like seaside images so I was thinking about what you find on the shoreline and of course, a great excuse to include beach huts. I love beach huts so they just had to be on my page.

Cockle shell stamp from Marianne Designs : Beach PA4007

Vintage photo image from Marianne Designs sheet of vintage beach photos.

Beach huts and focal image of girl with parasol : Craft Individuals.

All the stamped images are coloured with Inktense water colour pencils. The definition and the edges of the shell panels are highlighted with the blue pencil and softened with water.

I'm glad I now have a seaside page in my book, it makes me happy.

April Showers

Sunday morning chilling out on the sofa, I was watching a PaperArtsy YouTube video by Sara Naumann entitled Journal Cover Collage. The technique used stamping on tissue which has been a recent discovery for me with the alpha/dictionary project so I thought I would give this a try for the Craft Barn Two Weekly Challenge. The theme for the challenge is April Showers.

Here's a link to the YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpP83rgoDTM

My entry for the challenge is a small journal book cover.

I used an Instagram photo image for the background, the stamps used on the tissue are from Inkylicious and the background dotty paper from Kaisercraft. I really like that ghostly effect the tissue over the picture makes. Do watch the Sara Naumann video to see how to do it.
PaperArtsy Frseco finish paint used was snowflake.
I added a few ribbons and threads from my stash plus a couple of tiny shrink plastic tags. Can you see them? They are tiny.

Now I have my empty journal book, what shall I put in it? Maybe some experiments.

Alpha/Dictionary Challenge 2016 : D

D = Difficult, I deliberated and dug deep until I finally decided on DOOR.

A bit of brainstorming over lunch with a friend at work led us down a very dark route of devils, disasters and demons but she suggested door and I have purchased a couple of the new PaperArtsy Hot Picks sets which, as luck would have it, feature lovely images of doors. That new Hot Picks release for 2016 was pretty awesome, I really did want them all!

There is a twist on the Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary challenge for the letter D, the colour pink has to be included. So, my main door image is pink of course.

I am learning a lot from all you bloggers out there so this time I tried stamping on tissue paper, I like this, the words on the page still show through. For the main image, I originally stamped on tracing paper but the ink did not dry despite trying to heat set it, leave it over night and blot it on copy paper. I binned that idea and decided to stamp on printer paper, colour it with watercolour pencils, cut it out and stick it to the page. This pleased me.

Stamps used :
PaperArtsy Hot Picks HP1601 and HP 1605.

OK, time to upload this one and go see what others have done for this challenge.
Enjoy the rest of Sunday. x

Playing with Bleeding Art Tissue

Over the Easter weekend I was having a bit of a play as the weather was not so kind to us. My plan was to do a small canvas with bleeding art tissue but I also had a scrap of card to practice on which turned into a finished piece, always nice when that happens.

Circles were die cut from bleeding art tissue and applied direct to canvas with water and left to dry for five minutes before peeling them off and discarding the tissue. Then add a few more circles to layer up the colours and repeat.

I then used a stencil, Finnabair bubbles, that stencil I have used a lot recently, adding some milled lavender distress ink. To finish the background layers I added some rubber stamped circles using white paint (PaperArtsy Hot Picks 1102).

The focal image is a PaperArtsy JOFY stencil (PS007). I used Imagination Crafts glitter paste to give it a bit of sparkle.

Same technique used on this panel with the bleeding art tissue, stencilled circles and rubber stamping. This time I used black ink through some stencils for the images and added a sentiment.

Stencils :

Andy Skinner : Baroque

Imagination Crafts : Wildflower

"I want to be improbable and beautiful, afraid of nothing, as if I had wings."

- Mary Oliver : Starlings in Winter

Craft Barn Two Weekly Challenge : Rabbit

This is my entry for the two weekly challenge at the Craft Barn where the theme is Rabbit and we have to use an oval on the work. Easter is done although I do have a bit of my Easter egg left so I decided that an Alice in Wonderland ATC would fit the challenge.

The background is a scrap of tissue stamped with hearts and wonderland. The rabbit image is actually a hare so I have cheated a little. It is from a very old set that I bought many years ago, I don't recall the name of the company but it is a lovely set of vintage illustrations on red rubber. 

I colour tinted the image with distress markers and die cut the oval. 

A quick make this week, its been a tad busy.

"If you don't think, then you shouldn't talk."

- March Hare (Alice in Wonderland)