Happy World Card Making Day

Card making was my first foray into the paper crafts.  This was before I had my kiddos.  My cards were fairly simple often with a stamped or embossed image.  When they arrived, I made all of their birth announcements but it wasn't until I started to scrapbook that I really got into card making.  It was a way to use up all my scraps but it was also an excuse to buy all these great embossing folders and dies.

Over the past year, I haven't been making that many cards and if I do make them, I often forget to mail them to their recipients. *blush* My family can attest to this.  I don't know how many times over the last year or so that I have handed them their cards 6 months after the date.  I was always bad before but never this bad.

So to celebrate World Card Making Day today, I am going to try to make more cards and get them into the mail box going forward.

I have even managed to make two cards.  One is using up scraps of Graphic45 papers and stickers from some of the art journaling I have been doing lately.  The second is made from bits and pieces of paper from the very bottom of my scrap bin.  I am sure they have been in there for a few years at least.

Since I am feeling creative, I think I will go back and see if I can either make a couple more cards or maybe even a layout.

Happy World Card Making Day!

Art Journal Page

Another art journal page is done.  I had to abandon the page that I started with the black gesso.  I couldn't seem to get it to flow nicely.  It was creating a mental block preventing me from doing anything else.  It wasn't until I decided to abandon it completely that I was able to move on to something else.  Now that the creative juices are once again flowing, I figure that I will come back to it in a few months with new eyes.

This is the double page that broke the mental block.  I started by priming the page with a thin coat of gesso.  After that coat dried, I used a spatula to apply a thick uneven coat to provide texture.  Stenciled modeling paste added further texture.  After adding tea stain, inks, tissue paper, etc. to the background, I add pieces of ephemera from my scrap basket.

I am contemplating spending sometime making different hand made paper flowers....maybe a wall hanging or a framed piece.

Have a good Monday.

Paint Speckles

Paint speckles were the start for this art journal page.  It is not a technique that I have used very often so doing it as a background for an art journal page is a good way to work out the kinks for use in other projects.  Once the background was done, old book paper called out to be used and it was just a hop, skip and a jump to old treasure maps.

The map was stamped on the book paper with Archival Ink and Distress Markers were used to colour in the image.  All the left over bits and pieces from the previous art journal pages were used up on this page.

I have already started another page which I have slathered with black gesso.  I have never used black gesso before so this will be interesting.

Happy Tuesday.

Back to Art Journalling

After one layout, I am back to another art journal page.  Actually.....I started this one while I was working on the layout.  It was something to do while I was waiting for things to dry.

I was playing more with the texture paste that I made.  I was trying to see how much fine detail that I could get out of it.  It is still a bit too runny so I will cut down on the amount of water that I added to it for the next batch.

I used Graphic45 Botanical Tea and some Rebecca Sower Nostaligiques stickers that I found digging through my stash.  I have had these forever.

My cup of tea, once again, ended up on the page.  I am also trying to use up some old rubons that are starting to dry out.

I have already started the background for my next page set.  An old toothbrush and acrylic paint have made an appearance on my work surface.  Once again I am waiting for stuff to dry....maybe I should start another layout.

Happy Sunday.

A Layout....A Layout...I actually did a layout....

Happy dance going on over here.  I finally did a layout.  I bit the bullet yesterday afternoon and dug out a photo of my son from a couple of years ago and went from there.

The tie dyed paper is "colour diffusing" paper that I picked up at a local education supply store.  It is interesting paper to play with.  I used Dylusions Ink Spray and Adirondack Colour Wash sprays on it.  I, then, took a squirt bottle filled with water and created water blotches to help diffuse the ink more.  It is doubtful that the paper is archival but since I ended up using transistors, bits of wafers, and semi-conductors on the layout, I wasn't really concerned with the longevity of the layout.

Another technique I tried was to make my own texture paste with glue, white paint and talcum powder.  I followed the recipe on Gabrielle Pollacco's blog.  I ended up adding a bit too much water as you can tell by the arrows but I corrected it by adding more talcum powder so the dots turned out much better.

One other goal with this layout was to use some of my older stash up.  I ended up digging through some old Basic Grey papers that I haven't looked at in a couple of years to find this distressed numbered gem.  The background graph paper is from Scenic Route.  I must have bought at least a dozen sheets of this paper back in the day and I think I might have one more sheet of it left.  It is one of my favourite basics.

My dining room table is once again a creative mess.  I have another art journal page on the go and I have a few more photos that I have pulled out to work on.  Looks like Mojo has come for a visit and tends to stay awhile.

Happy Friday.