Shine - Mixed Media Canvas

Trying out some new techniques using Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities III. I followed the technique for altered surfaces on page 45 in creating this canvas for Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge #33 over at Studio L3. This month's generous prize sponsor is Inspiration Emporium.

Supplies: Tim Holtz burlap canvas, Framed, Random and Newsprint Alpha Parts, Alpha Tiles, Corners, Trinket Pins, Paper String, and Patterned Paper (Advantus), Tim Holtz Distress inks, Distress paints, Glue' n Seal (Ranger), Tim Holtz Harlequin stencil (Stamper's Anonymous), gesso (Golden), antique mother of pearl buttons (Misc.)

My theme was inspired by the Creative Gym Exercise #10 - One Important Word over at Mixed Media Place. I love stars and what they represent. The one word that resonates with me in regards to a star is "Shine".

So many layers and textures on this.

I love how this one turned out and it has found a place proudly displayed on my mantel.

TTFN,

It's Official! LGS News

Well it is officially posted on the Let's Get Sketchy site so now I can share my happy scrappy news. I am a new DT member for Let's Get Sketchy!

As some of you might know, I have joined in many a challenge over the years there. I do love a good sketch at times as a starting point to challenge me in a way that I would not have for a layout. I am excited to be able to share my creations both there and here on my blog. I am looking forward to working with this international team of talented ladies!

Be sure to check out the blog each day until the end of the month for each new DT member reveal.

TTFN,

Poseidon's Fury

Today I have something a little different for me. This one was quite a challenge as I tried out some new Tim Holtz techniques with Distress Paint resist, Frosted Film, and Dina Wakley Modeling Film.

Supplies: 9x12 canvas (Dollarama), Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Distress Emboss, Distress Paints, Distress Micro Glaze, Archival Ink, Glue n' Seal, Dina Wakley Gel Medium (Ranger), Tim Holtz stencil , white and clear Dina Wakley modeling film (Stampers Anonymous), Tim Holtz dies (Sizzix), Tim Holtz Frosted Film and word bands (Advantus), StazOn ink (Tsukineko), glass tiles (ArtMinds), crushed shells (Ashland Spring Filler), glass bead glitter gel (Faber-Castell)

There is nothing like spending sunny summer days with family and friends at an amusement park.  A few summers ago, we went to Universal Studio's Island of Adventure in Florida where I took these photos. Now you might say... "what photos?" as they do not appear in a standard form. The waterfall face photo was printed on paper and image transferred. After sealing it with clear gesso, I then graphite transferred the titling from another printed paper photo on top of it. 

I printed a 8x10 size photo of the arm and trident and fussy cut it out. I hand knotted a net with kitchen twine and then I coloured with distress inks to go behind the arm.

The amazing thing about a theme park is that it is purely a marvel of the imagination and science, thus I added the Tim Holtz word band "reality has limits, imagination is boundless".

A summertime ode to the god of water would not be complete without some sea creatures. I used the clear modeling film on the seahorse on the left and the white film on the right. They both looked good and this way they are each unique. I hand cut the seaweed from the left over frost film covered modeling film and then coloured them with a combination of permanent inks to get the colouring.

The push to get this out of my head and onto a canvas, came from the Summer Days Challenge at Mixed Media Monthly Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge of "i scream for"... in this case... Island of Adventure, imagination and ink.

                 

TTFN,

Summer Songbird

I just had some photos developed yesterday from last week's cottage time and got the urge to document this fun memory of cousin Hadley as she was singing her little heart out.

Supplies: patterned papers, flower die cuts, stickers (Basic Grey), stencil, fabric flower, clay flower, metal flower, golden wood leaf (Prima), texture paste and Distress Stickles (Ranger), glitter liner (Viva), gelato (Faber-Castell), gesso (Golden), pen (CTMH), thread (misc.)

I cracked open the June Limited Edition kit from My Creative Scrapbook, full of Basic Grey's Tea Garden collection and Prima goodies along with a Kristine Davidson sketch which in combination was ideally suited to the single photo and its colours.

Texture pasted the background using the Prima Wild Flowers stencil. Then added some glitter to the leaves and colour splatters to the background with a Metallic Mint gelato and water mixture.

It was very relaxing to just play with the paper, distressing the edges and adding touches of gesso to give it all a bit of a shabby feel as well as playing with levels and layers.

Entering this one into Frilly and Funkie's Raise It Up Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge of Anything Goes.

TTFN,

Go On... Get Messy

A while back there was an interesting post where Get Messians (that is the Get Messy Art Journaling community nick name) were sharing which brand/type of journal(s) people use. I personally use several different sizes which are all Strathmore and either watercolour paper or mixed media paper as I tend to do wet based techniques. Many other group members use Moleskines and while I have looked at these on and off for a year now (because I really like their size), I always decided that the pages just looked like they couldn't handle the media that I prefer to use. This week I was in Curry's (fav art store), when I spied this single lonely black Moleskine Notebook and you can guess who it came home with.

So as the proud new owner of a Moleskine, I created my inaugural page in this journal with a Get Messy inspired page.

Supplies: journal (Moleskine), Qor watercolours (Golden), pen (Uni-Ball), marker (Fibracolor)

I used the neat printable that DT member Nina Christensen offered up on her blog when she hosted the Get Messy Instagram account.

The journaling reads... "No Regrets... go on... it's okay... give yourself permission to... Get Messy".

I tried out watercolouring on the pages with Qor watercolour by Golden using a water brush. The pages became a bit too saturated in my attempts to move the colour around and to get the blending effect that I was going for but in the end, I didn't mind it warps and all. I will try out different techniques to get the hang of the right saturation point that I can work with in this journal.


TTFN,

Adventure Awaits

Another Get Messy season of Adventure art journal page to share. This one was made with the washi tape scraps from my season of Love "Love Unconditionally" page (can be seen here). At the time of that page's creation, I had adhered the scraps and gessoed over them being sure to leave some washi showing for a future page.

When the Adventure season came along, I was inspired to turn that page into a sort of envelope front. The colour is from Magenta's Nuance powder water soluble dyes in Orange, Bright Yellow and Hot Pink. While the inks were wet, I used them to stamp the postal marks at the top.

Supplies: 6x9 watercolor journal (Strathmore), washi tapes (Scotch 3M), gesso (Golden), Orange, Hot Pink and Bright yellow Nuance powders and grid stencil (Magenta), Distress Glaze (Ranger), stamps (CTMH), StazOn ink (Tsukineko), Stamper's Big Brush (Faber-Castell), blk acrylic paint (DecoArt), pen (Signo)

Once all was dry, I removed some of the colour through a grid stencil. Next, to hold down the colour so that it would not rub off or mix with the acrylic paint, I used the new Distress Micro Glaze. This stuff worked awesome. As there was a slight sheen even after buffing, I just ran my corn starch sack over it that I use for anti-static with heat embossing. I wiped any residual starch away and it was sealed perfectly for the next layer.

I photographed the journal on a Muskoka rock which if you are not familiar with this type of distinctive pinkish granite, it is what makes up the Canadian Shield and is one of the sight-seeing things to see when traveling in northern Ontario. You can see how the rock was my inspiration for colouring... but of a brighter summer variety.

TTFN,

New Adventures in Art Journaling

Get Messy Art Journaling is winding up the season of Adventure. This page was an adventure in trying out Caylee's tutorial on abstract painting giving me an opportunity to crack open my new Dina Wakley acrylic paints. This was definitely a different style for me but nothing ventured nothing gained. So I gave it a go.

Supplies: 6x8 400 series mixed media paper (Strathmore), grid and heart stencils, sentiment stamp (Magenta), Dina Wakley acrylic paints (Ranger), blk acrylic paint (DecoArt), gold Sheer Shimmer Spritz (Imagine Crafts), heat emboss powder (Stampendous), embroidery thread (Aurifil Mako'ne)

This one looks better in real life. You can't see it from the photo but the gold stenciling is all shimmery. As you can see, I had some crafty mishaps with the black stenciling when I went to the reverse side of the stencil but hey it is not to be stressed about, it is happy crafting and I learn from these for the next time. For me that is part of the beauty of art journaling. It is a great way to try out something and get the hang of it before using it in a bigger project.

I would give this a try again. I liked the background work but feel I need to either add more layers and/or embellis. Lots more season of Adventure pages to come.
  
TTFN,

Cardabilities and Lemoncraft

I have been on a bit of a card making kick of late. Today I am sharing a card that I made using patterned papers from Lemoncraft's Heart Painted collection from My Creative Scrapbook's May Limited edition kit and Cardabilities sketch #126.

Supplies: patterned papers (Lemoncraft), clear gesso (Liquitex), gesso (Golden), watercolour pencil crayons (Prima), stamp and thread (Dollarama), ink (Ranger), glass bead glitter gel (Faber-Castell), ribbon and doily (My Creative Scrapbook kit May 2015), cardstock (CTMH)

I gave this one a touch of watercolouring using Prima Watercolour Pencils adding colour to the black and white magnolia image after it was treated with a layer of clear gesso. Watercolour was also added to a lightly gessoed area beneath the flower.

For a touch of bling, I dragged thread through glass bead glitter gel for a sparkly effect and nested it under the image area once it was dry. Some distressing and stitching rounds this one out.

This was the sketch that I used:

TTFN,

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Capture a Rainbow

Hi Friends! It is a rainbow kinda day today as I am up on the Magenta blog with my Capture a Rainbow post sharing this mini 4x6 mixed media art journal zine. When I created the mini book it ended up being eight pages which was perfect for a title page and Roy G. Biv. I have to thank Lauren Hooper's Creative Captures Photo Prompts for the inspiration on this one. Lauren is part of the very talented duo (the other being Caylee) that is responsible for Get Messy Art Journaling... a fun, supportive, educational, inspirational art journaling community that I participate in.

I balanced solid colour pages with white backgrounds on the opposite pages. It is a small book of cheery colourful textural goodness. To learn more about its creation and to see page details, please head on over to the Magenta blog here. As always, comments are greatly appreciated. :)

TTFN,