Week 50 : DLP 2015

Information about the FREE weekly Documented Life project is HERE. 

As you can read I didn't take any notice of the quote on offer this week :-) I started my background after testing some dylusions sprays on a sheet of book paper and decided I loved the outcome so much I would use it in my journal for this week's spread

The inks behave differently on different paper - on the right I had to use a darker purple because my dylusions has run out, but otherwise same colours and stencil used. The inks slide off the masking tape in the middle of the page (used to cover loosened stitches when I removed some pages) so I remedied that by adding some pretty tape. I also used it to create this week's journal block and added gesso within so my journaling will be more easily seen.

I wanted to slightly tone down the colour on the rest of the spread, but not lose the beauty. Also I don't have a lot of time to spend on my spread this week so looking for a pretty effect without a lot of effort - the answer was modeling paste through some favourite stencils

I love the imperfect and dimensional look of this. I added more around the page leaving gaps for my quote. I recently bought a great fantasy/adventure series for our school library called The Impossible Quest which I read and now recommend to my students (9-12 year olds would enjoy it). 

I loved one particular quote from the first book which I wrote down knowing one day I would have occasion to use it in my journal.

May your heart be open to magical things this December and into 2016.
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.

Week 49 : DLP 2015

Information about the FREE weekly Documented Life project is HERE. Last week's challenge brings our final theme for the year :

I didn't manage to make my journal spread until today, since last week was hectic to say the least...my last week of work for the school year with all the finishing jobs that entails, along with many social events. I was exhausted while enjoying every minute! 

Today I was finally able to rest, and as a reward I watched the download of Dina Wakley's "Art Journal Stencils & Masks" - find out more about that HERE. When I finally sat down to start my spread, I decided I'd use a mask and try one of Dina's techniques - I'm still tired, and it didn't go to plan....

Bit of a mess, but with some pretty bits - much like my week! Decided the best thing to do was add a layer and decided to use a larger size stencil to make a feature

I also added gold paint to the areas of the page that hadn't been covered, and lovely gold patterned tape to mark my journaling block. Like it better already. 

I love using words from large print books in much of my work - I call them found words which I repurpose to create messages in my art. "Words front and centre" is the art challenge for the week, so I took that to heart and used found words to create a bit of a story of my week (click on the photo if you need to read it larger)

Then my spread just needed some extra layering stencils to provide more interest - I decided that silver, metallic green and turquiose would work best :

The art journal prompt was "Life is a book. We fill the pages" - love that I am also literally doing this by filling the pages of my art journal with my life :-)

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.

I love my job, but at this time of year I especially love that I only work school terms and now I have weeks of summer holidays to enjoy :-)

Christmas Cards

It's fun to make cards for special occasions. This was a get well card I don't think I've shared.

Now it's approaching Christmas and time to make my cards as I have for the last few years. Often I'll use stencils for this process : 

DECEMBER 2013

DECEMBER 2014

This year I have every intention of making another major batch, but for now, I have just made about 10 cards for some immediate giving, and more will follow once I finish work on Friday. I started with some gelli-printed papers from a recent session. 

Thought purple would be lovely with gold for Christmas. Tore these sheets up and applied to cardstock (sorry no step-by-step photos), then added a lovely tree stamp which I embossed, before adding a few touches of gold stamping, christmas washi tape, and purple stitch to finish. This was the first prototype

And then I went on to create variations

(click on the photo to see them larger)

Starting to feel festive and looking forward to finding out what will inspire me for the next batch.

Hope you are finding time to create something that makes you happy.