Scrapping the boys

I don't seem to have done so many boy LOs recently but as our eldest will be 21 this year I have been going back and reviewing old photos. These photos show the boys in the water with Jake, our black lab, who sadly is no longer with us. I don't remember him causing so much chaos as a pup as Jasper does but think I have rose tinted specs on.
I used Owl Tree Studio Lighter Side Kit for background and matting paper, Love Birds Kit Alpha, journalling block and flowers
As I have spent several hours tidying my craft room and taking everything off my desk and putting back on shelves, sweeping floor and generally clearing up weeks of mess in preparation for my craft room to morph into a spare room it will only be digital this week.

Stampotique SDC25: Faux Barnwood Technique

My Double page  Week 8 Art Journal for UK Stampers is also my entry into the Stampotique Faux Barnwood Challenge. The Faux Barnwood Technique is from Pat at Technique Junkies and is great to do. I linked to the pdf yesterday so here is the website today and the technique for Faux Barnwood is here. I used Olivia and Oh My Dear stamped onto a dictionary page that was already washed with Dylusions Teal and White and then I used watercoloured pencils to give them a hint of colour.

 The purple background is all Faux Barnwood and the Teal page has a Teal barnwood piece and scraps of purple. I made the title and journaling with sharpies and sakura gelly roll and the the old pieces of book are from my collection of old and vandalised dictionaries that school was throwing out. The prompt for the UK Stampers challenge was BOOKS
1 List your top 5 books... what & why
2 Use a quote from one of them on your page.
3 Use an old book page as your background.

As I am such a bookworm I could not possibly narrow it down as I am a very eclectic reader and not a book snob - hate that. Read what you what and what makes you happy.

A card and a mish mash of experiments and work in progress

I have been experimenting with the Faux Barnyard technique from Technique Junkies as I'm creating my week 8 Journal page using this page for UK Stampers and the Stampotique Challenge. However I do love guddling about with paint and so had to have a few attempts at this. I used my teal/white background as a layer for a 40th birthday card for my sister. I stamped "Oh my dear" from Stampotique onto card and then coloured her with watercolour pencils - it is  how she feels about her looming big day. As my sister is in denial about the big 40 I had to put it on the card - I used a number 40 chipboard as a stencil and sprayed Jade green dylusions to mask it and then doodled a little. The circular and wavy text is a rub on from Lilley-bee. I added some comments in black/white to add to this. On the back of my card and underneath the barnyard door mat I painted dylusions teal/white with a sponge and then stamped Olivia on the back with an apt quote.

I also had a play with acrylic paints and Ranger alcohol inks on acetate to see what kind of random effects I could achieve.

My DD is creating a piece of graffiti cross stitch from a photograph taken by Lens Guy as part of her school design project. I have not picked up a piece of cross stitch in ages and it got me to thinking. She drew her design on the linen in pencil and I wondered if you could stamp it on... I got out boy angle with wings as I want to use him for the jff challenge and had a go. The ink is hard to see in places but I sat with my needle last night and began it - whether it gets finished is another matter - and I think it will be a loose interpretation of the original stamped image.

Digital scrapbook page

I have not been doing so much scrapping recently but as my eldest son will be 21 in a few weeks I thought I might make a start on a album about him. But after putting myself under huge pressure with previous albums for family members I have decided it does not have to be finished by then and will be an ongoing project. At the moment this project is digital 8 x 8 but when I print it off (need to buy ink for printer first) I suspect it will become hybrid/mini bookish. All the papers and elements (bar journalling tabs) are from OWL Tree Studios GBGD Sup kit, the journalling is from OTS Lilleyscrap Lovebirds kit.

Journal Page using stamps and magazine figures for collage

The colours and emotions in this page reflect how I feel about work just now. I think we all have moments in our life when work or home or relationships seem too much. This is one of the busiest times of the year for us and it coincides with a downturn in behaviour, external examination course work, deadlines and major cuts and job insecurity so really it's not a surprise I feel down about it. In an attempt to put the demons at bay I created the page - which was fun. The journalling is fairly generic but spread about so I have left it readable. The figures symbolise different aspects of work.

I used the Skeleton head from TH stamp and body of man which I then painted and pro markered over

This is a Dylusion stamp for the head but I cut it to change hair -  more pro marker and paints. I'm not happy with the bottom half of this figure and might come back to it and change a little.

Spinning head from Dylusions

I have also spent the day gardening and walking the dog in between some major amounts of marking in an attempt to tire myself out so I won't lie awake at night fretting about work.
I have been experimenting with scheduling blog posts so I am writing this on Sunday evening but have scheduled it to appear on Monday. Why? Exploring the features of blogger.

Art Journal Colour and another page in progress

For those who pop in here from time to time my favourite colour won't be a shock. I had a lot of fun creating this page and experimenting with adding a head from a magazine and then painting over it.

When I was spraying dylusion inks for my ATCs I sprayed over a blank sheet for my background and created areas of colour by moving the top page around

Dylusions Love Struck Lucy stamped in Purple and a magazine head stuck on

I layered white, teal and purple using a credit card and then painted the stamp

Doodling for the title and page sides and to add hair to the lady

spare ink strips for journalling and doodled flowers

Feeling bit angry and tense about work and hope this page will get it all out - think the journalling will have to hidden...

Old Paper Swap Returns

These are the lovely paper squares that I have received as part of the UKStampers Old Paper Swap. I laid them out to photograph them and immediately thought of a patchwork quilt so hopefully something will come of that idea... These are just gorgeous and are such a good way of using up old patterned paper you no longer love or that free paper that comes with some of the crafting magazines.

Woodland Theme ATCs

The theme for March was woodland. I began by swiping green acrylic paint onto the card and then spraying it with my fave inks. I stamped - patchy - a TH Shabby French stamp and Trees from a DB set. The ink was not taking on the ink/paint so I painted the stamp and inked it and then did a sketchy outline. The stamps come from Woodware Nature Fun and are the only woodland type stamps I own. I have a fairly limited number of stamps that I am adding to as cash flow allows. All stamped images were coloured with pro markers before being stuck onto card and the mushroom and stalk things also had distress ink and crackles added.

Just for Fun Week 2 - Times Flies

Here is my take on the Just for Fun Challenge "Time Flies". AS I have used a few angle style wings I wanted to go back to birds and I do like that strange crow. I began by using DI on the background and then inking it with Dylusions Red. I stamped TH crow from Haunted Mansion on to the ATC using black ink and also onto card using purple ink which was then swiped with Red DI - and did the same for the TH Shabby French bird. I layered my WINGS onto the original bird slightly off register. The fob watch (Royal Langnickel - Journey) was stamped, inked and added. The Tempus Fugit came from free stamp with Craft stamper. I then added Ranger Clear Rock Candy which has made it very red... I did mean to iron it flat before taking a photo but I had a very limited time span between daylight and dark when getting in from work.

First Ever ATCs

These are my first ever ATCs made for a 3 x 3 swap - one was to say Health, one Happiness and one Hope at UK Stampers. I used my homemade foam stamp for the purple background and then sprayed it with pink inks. I stamped Olivia three times (Stampotique) and coloured her with pro markers. The wings and hats are from Love Struck  Lucy (Dylusions) stamped onto leftover backgrounds from my Valentines.

Valentine - Wrapped heart winging its way to Lens Guy

Forgot to post the ribbon tied photo but felt had to wait until Lens Guy received it. We are off to see "True Grit" tonight with DD for a small family night out. I did tell you we don't do Valentines. I am romantic but I hate being told to be romantic and being charged lots more money for the privilege. The only exception was in New York for my 40th (late birthday present) when we treated ourselves to huge lush strawberries dipped in dark chocolate but couldn't get up the Empire State Building due to the number of weddings. 

I am looking forward to the film as I remember watching the original with my dad - he was a big Western and John Wayne film. I also love Cohen Brothers films so big expectations for the evening and as I've walked he dog twice today I think cinema sweets are allowed.

Valentine challenges - Heart Felt Wings and UK Stampers

The inked and distressed text on the other side

Half Folded out 

The opened out version

For someone who "doesn't do Valentines" I seem to have done it again. My only excuse was I had been playing with a make and take from last week's crops and the challenge on Just for Fun last week was Heartfelt wings and then UK Stampers had a Valentines challenge and I just had to do something. I would call it an elaborate card. It folds out into a flower shape and then folds back like an accordian into a heart book. I am only showing you one side as the other side is between Lens Guy and me.

Front and back

After covering both sides with text from the Book of the Kiss - old booklet I had - I distress inked and then sprayed with Dylusions. For the front cover I created a background using masked hearts and then stamped the Stampotique Oh My Dear giving her wings from Dyan Reaveley's Love Struck Lucy stamps. I coloured her with paints.

Inside double page one

Doodled hearts and text on one side. Dyan Reaveley Ruby Rainbow Stamped onto pink heart background (even managed to mask her for  wings) painted with Dylusions acrylics. I love this stamp as it makes me think of my mad creative chaotic side and I like the idea of love being heart felt and taking wing.

Inside double page 2
I distressed my original heart mask and tore it in three and on the opposite side I stamped many many hearts on inked papers, cut them out and added them.

Art Journal Friends

Week 6 and our prompt at UK Stampers - set by the inspiring Efemera who has a stunning quilt on her blog -was Friends  and we had to include a who/when/where; a story and a stencil/mask. This page has layers and layers. I began with acrylic paint and then I used the the TH Timepieces mask with Rangers Pearl dabber. When it was dry I added some pieces of dictionary papers and crackle accents. At this point I sprayed it with Dylusions Jade, Sky Blue and Lime Green inks. I then added the journalling. I almost kept it without text as I loved it as it was but I still love it now.

stage one paint, masks and pearl dabbers then the crackle accents

luscious inks

The journalling is all about one of oldest friends Anne. We met in Primary five and shared a love of horse riding lessons. Our friendship meant many shared adventures and the story hints about our adventures one new year when we were outrageous and hungover and expected to eat a special dinner with her parents. Very thirsty we drank lots of acidic orange juice and sat down to a dinner of pheasant. I think we both managed about one mouthful before turning green and having to leave the room - oh to be 17 again!

Loitering - the posh way to say don't drop your litter

During a discussion about Lord of the Flies I was asked by a pupil to explain the word loitering. I duly did and there was some discussion about the spelling. At that moment another pupil had an epiphany "so those 'No Loitering' signs mean we're not meant to stand around in groups? I thought it was just a posh way of saying don't litter."

Scrapping LOs using inked papers and a little love preview

 I managed to create one single and one double LOs yesterday and I was able to finish the rest today and begin work on a project for something with Heartfelt wings (but more of that later this week).  All the pictures are from Port Logan a wonderful wee village on the Mull of Galloway in Scotland. All these los have copious amounts of acrylic paint, ink, torn papers and homemade embellishments.

The single LO uses a picture taken with the hipstamatic app, homemade flower and button embellishments, pro marker coloured letters and a piece of twine from packaging.

The Second LO is a double LO (but forgot to take photo of side by side) called Drinks with A View. I hand drew and cut out the letters from the photographs and then inked and painted the edges.

The next photos are part of a work in progress using Dylusions inks, stamps and lots of random bits and bobs. The strange flower shaped idea was part of a make and take at the crop and it will all become clear later in the week.