More pages from Mixed Media Mayhem

Have been doing some more spraying and stencilling, this time on different bases.

These pages had torn paper layered on first and covered with a scant layer of gesso. Sprays added next.

Love this look. But for this journal they needed a few more layers so this is how they look now. Click on any picture for a closer up view.

Off to work on the cover now and will have a finished journal to show you next week. Have a great weekend

Stencilling

Recently I had this book out from the library, and decided I just had to own it.

It includes these 15 stencils so was great value.

I ordered it from the Book Depository - great prices and free delivery worldwide! Watch Helen Morris showing some of the pages and demonstrating a couple of technques with stencils from the book on this YouTube video (cover is different because hard-back version).

This book also led me to their blog : Planet Stencil Library which includes tutorials of how to stencil. They also have an online Stencil Catalogue - WOW

There'll be more of my sprayed and stencilled pages to share soon - I'm working on the Roben-Marie workshop again.

If you want to join her workshop, you'll have to wait until mid-July to join up - she's currently  on a mission trip to Romania!
In the meantime, if you haven't done much stencilling there are some great tips to be had in Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's FREE stencil 101 online class.
AND I am always inspired by Michelle Ward's stencilling tutorial page

Workshop Thursday

Thursday was the end of my birthday week spent with a lovely friend sharing and creating.

We started with coffee and cake and lovely gifts that show just how well she knows me...not forgetting the cool wrapping paper and ribbons that have been added to my stash ;-)

The butterfly is a beautiful lavender pillow - it smells divine and is gorgeous layers of silk sari, chiffon and thread. The book is a catalogue of Becky Adams' creations. This is her website - click on the button icons there to see examples of her charming work.
We had a creative playday which resulted in these lovely papers.

They started as plain brown paper which we scribbled on with wax crayons, and then scrunched up many times to make it soft, pliable, and more fabricy - it is amazing how just that process changes the feel of the paper.

We then added swipes of inkpad and sprays, and finished with metallic rub-ons which pick up the wrinkles in the paper (in the example below the rub-ons are only on the top 1/2 of the paper so far).

Here's a close-up of a finished paper (even closer if you click on the picture). I am so looking forward to using them.

This technique comes from Sarah Lawrence's new book :

Jacqui of Jacques Junque made some beautiful examples using this process, and created a lovely journal too - check them out here.
We also had a go at a couple of quick techniques using cardstock which had been embossed through a cuttlebug.

The above had gesso swiped over them, and then Tim Holtz distress ink pads blended over the top. They look a bit like worn architecture...And this last is  distress ink pads again, this time with a different technique highlighting the embossing.

Hope you are having a creative weekend. Talk to you next week.

Happy places

Feeling a bit down today with a bit of a headcold and dreary winter weather so thought I would concentrate on sharing some happy places this week.
Happy family viewing :

If you are looking for great fun family movies we highly recommend both of these from recent viewing (my two boys are aged 8 and almost 12 years)

Happy places online ::
Lovely butterfly journal pages demonstrated by Donna Downey - free butterfly images included in the supplies list :-)
Just discovered Bonnie McCaffery's VidCasts on YouTube -- lovely to see Yvonne Brown - she's talking about her book and her technique to make medieval tiles out of felt.
Also loved seeing Lesley Riley and her demonstrating with lutradur.
Both make me want to rush out and use my heat tools....

My table in the studio is a lovely mess - feeling frustrated that haven't got much to show at the moment, but ideas are percolating - happy place :-)

My birthday celebrations started last Thursday and have been going for an entire week. Feeling grateful for my family and friends who have been in touch, cooked for me, made cards for me, and shown their love with their thoughtful gifts and words. One more day of it tomorrow with a playday with a couple of creative friends, and I still have some vouchers to spend on Art Supplies....
This wall plaque was another birthday gift - it's important to remember that

Now off to make myself a hot lemon honey drink! Hope your week is full of sunshine & warmth :-)

Doodle Delight

Alisa Burke's online Doodle Delight class started this week

So far I've been warming up...with my pen

and my Twinkling H2Os watercolour paints

I also tried out my friend's Derwent Inktense Pencils.

How cool are these colours? The below pic shows a heart coloured with the pencils - only one side has had water added....

Back to the class - it's on a blog and you get access to all the lessons in one go when you sign up. It's great value and great fun.
Alisa is a generous teacher and has a fantastic philosophy about finding your own inspiration, and making your art authentic to you - if you haven't seen her FREE online inspiration class called Finding Your Muse - click on the link and check it out now. 

Stamp carving again

Have to give back my friend's stamp carving tools, so quickly made a vine with leaves - a positive and negative image.

Trialled first by stamping with black staz-on ink....thought that this would look better with paint brayered on instead of the ink pad, particularly with the large background area

and it does :-) Used a metallic paint for these - not sure how these pages will develop, but like this as a base. 
I used a stamp from my last carving efforts as a border on this art journal page.

Weekend Research

No better way to start the weekend than with a good DVD:

Merchant Ivory make great films, and this is a beauty.
Onto the research - I'll make it brief, I promise.
I would appreciate it if you would leave some comments about how my blog works - you can leave an anonymous comment if you like (I'll tell you how at the bottom of this post). I have a couple of questions.
1. TABS - Do you like that every time you click on a link it opens a new tab OR would you prefer that everything opens in the same window?

2. LABELS - do you like lots (like I have down there in the right-hand column) OR fewer choices (like  Alisa Burke who only has about 10 headings - scroll down her left hand column) OR are they irrelevant to you? Do you know how you to use them?

I've got so many labels because as a librarian I know how useful such categories can be. I like to look back at individual Workshops I've done, or all the quilt posts for example.....would you like fewer headings and lose the detail?
*What would you think if I limited myself to only about 10 labels. For example: Reading/Listening/Watching -- Fabric and Fibre -- Paper -- Art journalling -- Workshops -- Paint/Ink/Spray/Mediums -- Book making -- Family -- Inspiration
I would love to know what you think.

HOW TO MAKE AN ANONYMOUS COMMENT::
At the bottom of a post click on COMMENTS

This will open a new screen

Type your comment in the box. Adding your name if you are leaving an anonymous comment is nice 

Click in the circle beside Anonymous in the list where it says Choose an identity

Then click the orange box to Publish Your Comment

The screen shot below shows you how your anonymous comment will look as opposed to having a google account which shows your picture

Looking forward to hearing what you think.

Be inspired

Not much creativity been happening here this lovely long weekend, except that Sam loved my recent artfully abstracted letter love piece and decided he would start one of his own ;-)

Today I just popped in to share a few blog loves I've come across lately.
Photos of hard, soft, decay and ethereal loveliness from Roben-Marie Smith
More beautiful photos here - colour inspiration at Lovely Clusters
Love Elizabeth Bunsen's journals and rusty work
Looking forward to seeing more pages from Anni - Rust and embroidery
Have a wonderful short week.

Calendar challenge : May/June

Welcome June - always fun for me because it's birthday month :-) Managed to be a bit more organised than last month : here's how May started (I didn't even manage to glue the squares down in time for the 1st!)

After the gluing, I used this lovely wee stamp set all over.

Quite like the florabundance! (click on any picture to see it larger)

For June I was inspired by the most recent work I've been doing in Joanne Sharpe's Letter Love course (check out my 2 previous posts).

Border doodles very much inspired by Joanne Fink's book and work which I shared here.

Check out the other entries in the calendar challenge at The Kathryn Wheel and we have a flickr group.
Be sure to upload Geninne's desktop calendar for this month - perfect imagery & colours for my birthday :-)