Week 48 : DLP 2015

Information about the FREE weekly Documented Life project is HERE. There aren't many weeks left, and I had more pages left in my journal than required, so first up I needed to remove some pages from the remaining signatures...I tore them out carefully from behind the pages that had the stitching showing, so as not to damage the stitching

Then I placed masking tape over the (now loosened) stitching so that it would stay safe. I did this for a couple of reasons - the journal was bursting full with a few too many pages anyway :

and I really want to finish this journal at the end of 2015 and start fresh with something new in 2016. Now I have the right number of spreads left to complete this year's challenges. Here's this week's :

So happy to see this since I love using these supplies. Traci Bautista is this week's guest artist.
Summer has properly arrived at my house, and I've been in the garden this weekend, and also inspired by this wonderful book :

Take a peek inside via Amazon HERE. It's full of colour and gorgeous inspiration, including guest appearances by many of my current favourite artists. I especially love this piece which is a collaboration between Carrie Schmitt and Megan Jefferson :

Spirit Dance

Although I was happy enough with last week's spread (previous post), it wasn't as vibrant as I normally like, so this week I set out to create joyful bright layers with my flora themed stamps, stencil and masks. These are what I gathered as possibilities for use :

I wanted a little bit of collage peeking through, and then it was time to add gorgeous paint colours (you can see the masking tape down the centre of the spread)

Ran a bit of white gesso to slightly mute the part that will be my journaling block, and added stamping with a homemade stamp to define the area

Then decided I might like a bit more light contrast on the rest so added white paint with stamps and stencils

and just kept adding more layers of stamps, stencils and masks

The art prompt in full was a Henry James quote :  "Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind." Therefore I added those words 3 times around my spread (using stickers and rub-ons) and it's done - a riot of colour which makes me so happy :-)

Click on the photo to enjoy it larger or see it in the Flickr album I've created for all my Documented Life 2015 spreads HERE. You can see all my posts about this project HERE.
And that's farewell November...only 4 spreads to go.

Week 47 : DLP 2015

Information about the FREE weekly Documented Life project is HERE. 

So enjoying our challenges this month of stencils/stamps/masks, but felt like I needed a more inspiring start than a blank page this week so decided to glue down some under-paper, and then I saw her....

You can see her better now :

First up was to use a simple mask - I like using these scallopy ones cut freehand from an old cardboard file folder

Then I used the other part of that mask on the upper edge...I was a bit concerned that it was all looking a bit dark, and was thinking that she looked like she was being framed in a window, so I added white pen to the upper masked area (a bit like a lacey curtain) and also added some swipes of pink - dusk or dawn...

Really not sure what to do next, so grabbed another wee mask that I love (this is a Balzer Bits one) and moved it around the page. Seems this was the perfect place for it!

Now I'm thinking she's looking out on a garden, so I add a couple more stencils of a bird on a branch and lots of leaves

I needed a few more elements in the background, so used mainly gold and white to add more light to the page

and these found words needed to be here

You don't need to be constrained by the prompts given. In this case, I saw her as looking forward with hope to her future, not hiding behind a mask (journal prompt was "Mask-erade").

Click on the photo to enjoy it larger or see it in the Flickr album I've created for all my Documented Life 2015 spreads HERE. You can see all my posts about this project HERE.
Wishing you a lovely creative weekend.

Birthday cards

One thing leads to another....I've always said why make one card when you can make four? I recently needed to create a card for a 50th birthday - my friend loves orange so I started by spraying 2 card fronts with orange and another favourite colour, and then while inky stencils were still in place, to make prints with another 2 card fronts

Then it was time to add some lovely black imaged serviettes

and I seemed to be able to go on and complete them easily.
I went a bit crazy on adding layers on the bottom right, so needed something strong to sort it out. I had another wonderful serviette with orange butterflies on a black background which was the perfect solution for a strong but lovely focal

I am really happy with these. Bonus : a year ago I participated in a postcard swap and had a card base (bottom left) from afterwards that I never had the inspiration to finish....

until now. Turns out it also needed an orange butterfly, some found words, and a bit more stitch :-)

Guess I need to get onto Christmas card making soon...

LB2014 : free lesson

In August 2014, Tam offered for a FREE Life book lesson from earlier that year. The instructions are all still available at that link if you are inspired to have a go yourself. This is her lovely inky spray portrait :

I've always loved the look of all that gorgeous inky juicy colour and decided that next I could try this or one of 3 other lessons I've not done so far in LB2015. I wrote down the numbers of the lessons (32, 43, 45, and 14 for this lesson) and then I threw a dice to decide which one I would do. I find this is a great way to find out what your heart really wants....First number I got was 5 which immediately made me wish that the 2014 lesson had come up, so that made the decision easy!
Here's how she happened :

I used Dylusions ink sprays here. If you're not clear about what inks go well together without making mud, there's an excellent video by Dyan Reaveley HERE which explains her colour mixing with her inks.

Love how that pink frames her face. Adding more inky lusciousness :

And I love how her curls turned out. I had sooo much fun with this project and I feel so very happy when I look at her finished :-)

You can click on the photo to see her larger, or see her in the  Flickr album for all my Life Book projects HERE. See all my posts about Life Book HERE. She'll be bound in with my 2015 projects at the end of the year.

Week 46 : DLP2015

Information about the FREE weekly Documented Life project is HERE. 

I love to carve stamps - you can check out all my posts on that topic HERE. I thought it would be fun to take photos of what I've done in the past :

To make good use of the bases the above are one side carved, and below are the backs also carved :

All my supplies and methods can be found in my first post about stamp carving HERE. 
Check out Michelle Ward's guest post this week HERE (with links to her stamp carving tutorials) and two of my favourite inspiring artists who carve masterfully : Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (with free tutorials on her blog HERE and a peek inside her book via Amazon HERE) and Geninne Zlatkis (and her book).
I always wish I made time to carve more stamps - I am too impatient to carve slowly and carefully, but I like the "naive" and imperfect style I end up with because of that. This week's challenge provided the perfect excuse to try again - I've been interested in carving a stamp that creates a pattern when put together and was able to carve a quarter stamp as one of the options :

I was thinking about the challenge of tapestry, and it brought to mind using a variety of patterning and colours. Decided to try my hand at patterning a simple shape :

I started by using my own stamps to pattern the elephant, and decided I'd like a tree as well - I used my new quarter stamp for the circular centre

I needed to add more complex patterning so used a variety of other stamps to fill in more details - I used Stazon ink throughout because I know I am going to add colour over this and don't want the ink to move

I did some outlining for definition (using a black waterproof pitt pen) and added my journal block with stamping. Now I'm ready for adding colour

I decided to use watercolours, and started with my tree

Then it was time to have some fun with the elephant

I added a few different blues in the sky, and just had to add a bit of extra white stamped detail at the end - note the colour of the stamp pad I used :-)

This spread was a fun way to relax and add colour to a cool and showery afternoon

Click on the photo to enjoy it larger or see it in the Flickr album I've created for all my Documented Life 2015 spreads HERE. You can see all my posts about this project HERE.