Her Style was Sassy

with just a bit of attitude…  I asked the kids in class if any of them had a bit of attitude, they were coy and sweetly admitted to “just a little bit”. Darlings.

This is the Art Journal page we did, and we all loved using Distress Crayons. Here’s a quick overview if you would like to re-create this at home.
We primed the page with gesso first, and force dried to be sure there were no damp patches ( we will be adding embossing powder and you don’t want it to stick to your whole page)

Stamp the clock with clear embossing ink, add white powder and heat set.

Crayon on some colour and spray with water, blend with your fingers until the crayon is just “colour” and you can’t see your crayon strokes anymore. Add more water, or blot it off as you like. You can add and remove as much as you want. Really easy! Try different colours.

Allow to dry naturally, then swipe off the white embossing to reveal the clock.

Stamp some words, and flick with black paint.

I added the crayon to the texture paste to have a matching texture colour, then used this mixture on the wildflower stencil to add another layer to our page.

Add clock hands (cut with the diecut machine, yes, the kids cut their own) and finish off with a gem.

Enjoy!

These are products I used – all available at The Scrapbook House

 Here’s another version – different colours.

Weekend Fun

This weekend was rather busy with the shop, family and friends. How blessed I am to have so much to do!

Friday night was the Art Journal class, using Distress Ink, Paint and Stain. Here is Kim’s page – I’m loving the colour tones in this.

Saturday after the shop had closed, we had a children’s birthday party scrapbook class held at the shop where we shared the afternoon with 13 little girls (and some helpers who didn’t quite know they’d signed up) as they crafted and chatted the afternoon away. Jo shared a photo with us afterwards – so cute as they left, walking to afternoon tea, hand in hand in rows of two.

The Nagle Year 12 Ball was held this weekend too, and how wonderful it is to see our beautiful young people dressed in their finest, on their special day. I think half the town heads out to the Marina, it seems to be “THE” spot for photos, the perfect venue for “Pre- ball greeting and photos”

I had the pleasure of shooting with some friends – they all looked so beautiful.

At the beautiful Marina and also the 50 cent ‘seat’ (more commonly known as the 50 cent swing)

And my darling hubby had his beloved old car out tonight.

Then we all went out to dinner for my Mum’s birthday – we were late… but we were there! Happy birthday Ma xxx

I’m not sure where Sunday went, but it whizzed by far too quickly. I did go see The INKS at the Freemasons as usual for a few hours – chill time, so good 🙂

 

 

 

 

Art Journal Class

So… last night was great, we had a room full of enthusiastic creative ladies all getting painty and inky with stencils and stamps doing the “Tim Holtz thing”. They had such a fun time, learning a few new things along the way with their teacher Michelle being very patient and informative.

We had 3 generations attend tonight, I can see that the creative streak runs strong in that family, all newbies to Art Journaling and they did a fabulous job! Looks like we have some newly addicted crafters.

I remember the days when Mum and Nanna would come along with me to Ceramics all those years ago… I treasure those memories of cold nights out in the ceramic studio (the shed) where we would painstakingly sand back our creations then try not to mess them up as we painted them. Oh I loved our nights together.

Thanks so much my art journal friends, it was a great night to spend with you all. I loved catching up with you again, some I haven’t seen in a long time, some I see all the time – its always nice to see your smiling faces.

That’s it for photos tonight, my phone is exhausted and so am I… it’s been a very big couple of weeks.  Time to hit the hay. Tomorrow is another day to share more.

Class with Michelle

These look so different don’t they? In Michelle’s Art Journal class on Friday 20th February you’ll see that everyone’s work will be unique, all using the same techniques. Different colours, stamps and stencils will make it individual. I’m looking forward to seeing all those finished pages!

Have a great day!

Dylusions Circle work

Recently I’ve been reacquainted with Pinterest and it’s a trap! I see all the fabulous things and just want to create myself. I can spend hours looking. I saw this great page by “Anna”, with circles of colour and black outlines and knew I wanted to try this for this myself. Blobs of colour… I can do blobs of colour.
This isn’t my original idea, and I’m pretty sure Anna didn’t use Dylusions to colour with, but I just had them on my desk and figured I’d give it a go.  They are so lovely and bright. I used a waterbrush.

I tapped a teeny amount of Dylusions onto a palette and picked it up with the water brush. Happily I discovered that it was perfect blend, no bleeding through the page either, even though I hadn’t bothered to gesso the background.

Pretty soon my page had enough colour.

Add some marker, then some more and it was done. A little useless rambling to add some text. I wanted to make it all poignant and artistic, and yeah, well that wasn’t gonna happen. But not bad for a test shot.

 

Goodnight, sleep well. xx

 

Happy girls are the Prettiest

Here is my finished Art Journal page from the other night. The title is done with black marker pen, I printed out the saying then pencilled it on the page first before using my marker. (Zig photo writer pen)

Inspired by others

I dusted off the old Art Journal last night, feeling inspired as I have been looking at Michelle’s glorious journals on my front counter all week.  She is holding a great class next Friday night using Distress Ink and it’s been seeping into my thoughts all through the days.

There are some keen students in this class, and after booking in we got to chatting (as we do) and the subject of ‘foam alphabet stamps’ came up. Oh my goodness, I have some of those stashed somewhere! I must remember to go looking, I dug into the box on the piano and found them. Wow, they haven’t been used in years (some look brand new) and I happily stamped out a title for this page. Then I had to stop for dinner (salmon for me tonight, yum, thanks Andrew xxx)

Later I decided to start another… so this one has a layer of Distress Paint (Antique linen), then texure paste through a stencil (I sprinkled a little clear embossing powder to see if it would add a little ‘something’) and heat set. Sprayed some Glimmermist, but that didn’t take very well, so blotted it off and then used a foam dauber to add Distress Ink ( fired brick &  aged mahogany). Stamped with black archival ink and then loved that “negative” stamp so much I thought I might put a few little photos in there too.

If anyone knows me they’d know it takes me forever, so it was  getting mighty late by now, and I was  going to be tired and grumpy pants in the morning, so I called it quits after I chose my title… but I left a HUGE mess on my desk all ready to get back to it after class tonight.

I’ll post the full page tomorrow when the title is done… I’m thinking I might trace off an Audrey Hepburn quote…. you know, the “happy girls, pretty girls” one, seeing as I have a few pretty girls photos on my page.

Night xx

Never Stop Dreaming

Love Life, Live it.

Quotes play a large part in art journaling, we find words that we have seen and use them in our books. Social media has quotes by the dozen everyday, but in years gone by I would save the quotes and poems I loved in files on the computer, and years before that they were written in little books. Now it’s a little prettier. More time consuming and definitely more fun!

Lift up tags were part of Michelle’s Art Journal paint class and I loved them, I would like lift up tags on every page! How cute is that owl? Did you spy him?

The bottom of this page has a few “bricks” that were heavily embossed with gold powder (heat set) and stood up on their ends. These were wrapped with wire to give the impression of an old rickety fence.

In dreams we catch glimpses of life larger than our own

 

Dear Karma

I have a list of people you missed.

Not that Karma needs my help by any means, what goes around comes around eventually.

This page is done with a whole lot of embossing powder… (lots and lots) and it’s glossy and yummy even though its grungy and gross. It ‘feels’ nice, this page.  It has layers of gesso, colour inks and sprays, then the clear embossing powder was heat set over the top in a thick sheet.

Stay true & be nice x

 

The answer to the secret is here

psst… wanna know the answer to the secret? Lift here.

This is a page in one of my art journals that I was just playing with Distress Inks. They splatter in the most awesome pattern. You have to just tip them dabber side down and splat quickly onto the page, and the ink sprays out in this cool drippy pattern. (let each one dry before layering though, otherwise they’ll blend, unless of course you want them to blend)

So, the secret?

The secret of having it all, is knowing you already do. 

Live a good life.

 

Class One

These ladies are embarking on the art journaling journey, and as I left the store they were all introducing themselves. In just a few short weeks they’ll all get to know each other and be sharing and inspiring each other with the arty directions they take.

And getting grotty fingers… Hehe

I hope they love their kits and have a lot of fun!

Here’s a couple of pages in my art journal, I was inspired by someone but I can’t remember who… all I know is that it’s not my original idea.

I’ve painted the background with acrylic paint, then added scrap paper circles and triangles. Leaves, stems and petals are drawn on in pen as well as the “hills and foreground”. I’ve also added random stamping too, and then a little bakers twine for the banner.

Each is stamped in the centre with a cute stamp “I’m an artist”. I figure if you say it enough, you might just start believing it. Haha.

And here’s one from my “Class 1” Backgrounds class with Michelle from way back.

The tags are only stuck on the ends, so you can flip them up to read the journaling underneath. Fun and bright hey?

Have a good one!

Time out to create

Tonight there was no class, but we still met up anyway for a bit of inky fun. I love watching Michelle go crazy with the Dylusions sprays – she loves colour that’s for sure!

She had an idea and wanted to see how it would play out in real life, the first layer being lots of colour. Next she played with acrylic paint and glass bead gel medium to create large petals in a kaleidoscope of colour. It was 3/4 done when she left tonight, but I’ll be sure to grab a photo to share when I see her later in the week.
Eva also got very busy, taking on a few interesting projects.

She loves to paint with her fingers! I can’t wait to see the finished pages.
Me, I sat with a couple of blank gesso pages for a while.

I decided to use teal and purple, and to add texture paste mixed with teal as a frame, then to stamp the rubber stamp into it to add dimension

A bit of stamping with some black and white penning and it was done!

The journaling reads

Those who are happiest never did have everything
But rather,
They are thankful for everything they do have

Love that quote, live that quote. ❤

Art journaling to share

Some friends have a little art journaling to share with us from a few classes ago.

This is another take on one of our classes, I do believe this us from Eva’s Janice’s book (correct me please if I am wrong  thanks for the correction) and I love the “hands” and the play on words.

the journaling reads

A Mothers hands can tell a story.
The hands of strength is a Mothers hand
You may hold my hand for a short time but you’ll hold my heart forever
A mothers hand never let’s go
Two hands are better than one
❤My Mum

Just lovely, a nice dedication to Janice’s Mum!
Next we have Janice’s page, using the “positive” image and boy… she has picked up the texture paste thing and “run with it”!

These pages have layers of goodness! I love the silhouette of the cowboy.

The journaling reads

The world of reality has its limits; but the world of imagination has no boundaries
Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter the least
Life is not about waiting got the storm to pass, it’s about learning up dance in the rain. Life is what happens up us while others are still making plans

And Julie has a lovely lady to share

Julie’s lady had beads and pearls and feathers too! The script stamps are a favourite, I don’t think I would ever tire of them.

Thanks to these lovely ladies for sharing with us –
Have a great day

Turning on the Texture

This page in our Art Journal was an exploration of some different mediums that most of us hadn’t tried before. I love new stuff!

There are a bunch of new mediums on the shelf at the shop, flakes, beads, sand, stucco and more!

Oh and so many different Mod Podges your head will spin!

This is Shelley’s art tonight “Patience”.
We all had a pick a word for tonight, as if picking a colour wasn’t hard enough. I struggle with this, straining my head and all it’s contents for the perfect word, which if course doesn’t exist. Pick a word. Heck, Michelle sure knows how to throw me a curve ball. Of course I want a word that is meaningful to me, for today…My first word was going to be “Procrastinator” but I needed spending a little more positive. I went through a dozen in my head, like “Blissful”, “Relieved”,”Perfect” to “Valium”, “Drained” and “Alone”, (Yes it was a big weekend in our home) until I decided on “Celebrate” – lets celebrate the painful end to having to pick just one word!

We all enjoyed this class so much many of us decided to begin a second page. This time (inspired by Suzie’s colours) I have used a red and yellow ochre mix, next thing you know, there’s browns and terracotta happening as we’ll. Fun! But it’s too late now tonight to do any more… Goodness gracious me… It’d take me another 45 minutes to choose a different word!

Be good and sleep well.

Art journal covers

Know what I love about people? That they are all different. Yup! It takes many different people to keep this big ole world of ours turning.
In class I love seeing how people create in different ways. We pretty much all began with the same tools, and given a few simple directions we all head off on our own way. Here’s a few cover photographs I managed to snag from some of our art journal class.

Eva’s cover is very textured, using the cog stencil and texture paste, glimmer mist and even some Washi tape over the spine. Very cool !

I have taken picture from the wrong side of the table so it’s upside down, this colourful and happy cover is Josie’s. It says IMAGINE, I love that title for an art journal!

The scrolls on Minnie’s cover were my favourites from the very first art journal class, something about the textured swirls and colour – doesn’t it just make you smile?

These lovely books are from the teacher herself. When you look from the pages side of the journal you can see sneak peeks of wonderful colour, just begging you you take a look inside. (And if you would like to see some of these wonderful pages in Michelle’s books, stay tuned for another art journal post soon)

Julie used the same stencil that I did, you can see my cover if you click HERE. Julie’s artwork has flowers, bling and an ingenious idea of incorporating a sheet if clear film to protect the surfaces, plus it looks pretty fancy! She is full of great ideas!
Stay safe and be good to one another.

Learning to Draw an Eye using Charcoal

Having a daughter who is talented artistically is wonderful but having one who is willing to give the old lady a lesson or two is bloomin marvellous. She was telling me about the newest art assignment, “surreal, with a human element” and it sounded so interesting, I wish I was on school learning cool stuff. They were doing an eye using charcoal and then bringing in colour in the form of a landscape within. Trouble is I couldn’t even draw the basic eye in charcoal, let alone a landscape as they were planning in class.
My sweet girl assures me I could draw an eye, I just need to actually sit down and try properly.
So she sets us up to draw a basic eye, my first time with charcoal, messy stuff!

You need charcoal, paper (I did it straight in my art journal book) an eraser and a mirror. Light would have been good at this point in time too. Oh well.
With Miss Em’s instruction we began with the outline, shading as we went, looking at the eye for lines as well as the dark/light properties. Then bit by bit adding pupil, iris lashes and brow, blending and shading. The key was to really look at the subject, see the light and dark elements, add contrast where it needed it… and over and over she told me “it doesn’t need to be perfect”.

I erased my outlines a dozen times and it still looks pretty dodgy but for my first time with charcoal I am happy with the result, it does in fact, looks like an eye!
I think Miss Em is a fine teacher!

Art journaling “the weekend”

Its the first weekend of Winter here in Australia, temperatures have dropped (it was 7 degrees the other night) and time for the garden to change with the season. For those of us who live in Western Australia we had a long weekend, with Monday as a public holiday “Western Australia Day”, and our family certainly enjoyed the long break, lots of relaxing and hanging out together. Sleeping, games, gardening and a couple of marathon late nights of “Game of Thrones” on the TV.
This weekend Miss E and I planted some bare rooted roses out the front and also some shade-loving plants (forget the name) by the fence out the back. We are also trying Geraniums in the back garden, hopefully they’ll be ok. It has a lack of sun most of the day. Most everything there died early this year, and we feared it was the soil we brought in so we’ve been very cautious as to what goes there. Perhaps it was a watering issue??? We are not sure, but we tried very hard and it was a lot of time and money wasted, so we are hoping for a better outcome this season. On a positive note the jonquils have all popped up and look like they’ve doubled, also the grape hyacinths have sprouted and are healthy green. Oh and a few tomato plants have emerged, growing vigorously, must have come from seeds in my compost. The soil can’t be all that bad surely?

A quick page for my art journal – oh how I love the weekend.

Most of the time I don’t know where to start, I always feel the need to be given the “starting point” or some kind of “direction” in my art journal, and more often than not I stare at a blank page and it remains blank for the rest of the week. I wish creativity came to me easily. I am working toward trying my own hand rather than finding things I want to emulate. I spend a while lot of time looking at art, rather than making something individual.
I began with green chalk ink and then added the stem border with leaves.

My journaling reads

I love the weekends – time to spend a lazy morning sleeping in late. I feel at such PEACE when I am sitting in the dirt of my GARDEN, working my body and enjoying the sounds and smells if the EARTH around me. Bring on the weekend! Is it Sunday yet?……….

I hope you enjoyed your weekend… They go too quick, even when it’s a long one!

Red

Red is the colour of energy, passion and action. Red… the colour of love. We were asked to bring our red paint as well this week… It is amazing to see the the different creations all with the same products! Thanks Michelle for another inspiring class, the journaling side has really for me thinking, and as usual, I wait till I am home in and quiet to reflect on what I will write. Here’s a few pictures of the ladies at work tonight. Beginning with Janice and her smiley face – she used her doily to make wings for the butterfly.

Lorraine and Josie got into the colours, bright and beautiful.

Minnie is fun to watch when she gets going on her page, she learned about “pipette” painting, then away she went!

A page by Lyn

and another by Shelley

Up close and personal with Eva, who is so good to journal as she goes in class.

Suzie added gold details to her flowers

And Lorraine’s page is fighting the red…

Her journaling reads

Red oppressive red,
Taking over,
Sucking the power,
The body,
Look at me… Look at ME
I will not feed you, go away.

Here us my finished page. I added some black edging and lettering at home, and I realise now there isn’t any red paint used… Dunno how that happened, guess I wasn’t paying attention.

My journaling reads

Imagine
One day actually getting to see these wonderful sights I’ve always wanted to see.
Imagine.

Every possibility begins with the courage to imagine…
Have a great day

Living Love

This page in my art journal is about pet loss. It has been a couple of months since my beautiful Siamese friend passed away and I have found it playing on my mind so very much these past couple of weeks. Time to journal it out, lose these tears and grow through it. Michelle’s challenge to me this week for homework was to use the silhouette “positive” shape on a page, so I have used a cat shape.

the journaling was found on a website without an author, and although long, it said what I needed to say.
The journaling reads

LIVING LOVE

If you ever love an animal, there are three days in your life you will always remember…

The first is a day, blessed with happiness, when you bring home your young new friend. You may have spent weeks deciding on a breed. You may have asked numerous opinions of many vets, or done long research in finding a breeder.

Or, perhaps in a fleeting moment, you may have just chosen that silly looking animal in a shelter – simply because something in its eyes reached your heart. But when you bring that chosen pet home, and watch it explore, and claim its special place in your hall or front room – and when you feel it brush against you for the first time – it instills a feeling of pure love you will carry with you through the many years to come.

The second day will occur eight or nine or ten years later. It will be a day like any other. Routine and unexceptional. But, for a surprising instant, you will look at your longtime friend and see age where you once saw youth. You will see slow deliberate steps where you once saw energy. And you will see sleep where you once saw activity. So you will begin to adjust your friend’s diet – and you may add a pill or two to her food. And you may feel a growing fear deep within yourself, which bodes of a coming emptiness. And you will feel this uneasy feeling, on and off, until the third day finally arrives.

And on this day, if your friend and God have not decided for you, you will be faced with making a decision of your own – on behalf of your lifelong friend, and with the guidance of your own deepest Spirit. But whichever way your friend eventually leaves you, you will feel as alone as a single star in the dark night.

If you are wise, you will let the tears flow as freely and as often as they must. And if you are typical, you will find that not many in your circle of family or friends will be able to understand your grief, or comfort you.

But if you are true to the love of the pet you cherished through the many joy-filled years, you may find that a soul – a bit smaller in size than your own – seems to walk with you, at times, during the lonely days to come. And at moments when you least expect anything out of the ordinary to happen, you may feel something brush against your leg – very very lightly. And looking down at the place where your dear, perhaps dearest, friend used to lay – you will remember those three significant days.

The memory will most likely be painful, and leave an ache in your heart. As time passes the ache will come and go as it has a life of its own. You will both reject it and embrace it, and it may confuse you. If you reject it, it will depress you. If you embrace it, it will deepen you. Either way, it will still be an ache.

But there will be, I assure you, a fourth day when – along with the memory of your pet, and piercing through the heaviness in your heart – there will come a realization that belongs only to you. It will be as unique and strong as our relationship with each animal we have loved, and lost. This realization takes the form of a Living Love – like the heavenly scent of a rose that remains after the petals have wilted, this Love will remain and grow – and be there for us to remember.

It is a love we have earned. It is the legacy our pets leave us when they go. And it is a gift we may keep with us as long as we live. It is a Love which is ours alone. And until we ourselves leave, perhaps to join our Beloved Pets – it is a Love that we will always possess.

Wishing you love

Altered Apron Part 2

The colours lightened a lot as they dried, which we expected as the apron was so very wet to begin with. Still it’s looks like a “galaxy” and we are pretty happy with it. The Ice Stickles in blue and green added a nice hint of sparkle too.

I originally was going to add Prima flowers and some swirls with ink, kinda like this but Miss Emily thinks “no”, and to leave it the way it is. The flowers sure are pretty… But I am undecided… Thoughts?

Before and after…