Art Journaling Sunday

Hello everyone, thanks for dropping by especially since I have been absent for far too long.

Mostly I have been busy with workshop projects and just can't seem to find the time to craft just for my own pleasure. I do plan to be around in blog land much more regularly in future, with lots more step by steps and videos too.

Meantime....on the first Sunday of each month there is an Art Journaling session in Snazzys Studio between 11am and 3pm. There is no need to book your space, just drop in and join us. All you need is to want to have a go, bring your own journal if you have one, but if not we can provide everything you need for just £5 for the session, and that includes your tea/coffee and biscuits.

Being December, and with Christmas fast approaching, this month I wanted to create a rich page with a touch of metallic. I have been admiring the beautiful backgrounds using Brushos being shared in blog land, but with a studio full to bursting I really can't justify investing in them. So, having applied a layer of gesso to the blank page with Cut and Dry foam, I thought I would experiment by adding a few sprinkles of Polished Pigments/Primary Elements from Luminarte, whilst the gesso was still damp. I then immediately lightly spritzed the powders with water until they were wet enough to blend together, tilting my journal to get them to run a bit.

I was really pleased with the effect and the photo certainly doesn't do justice to the richness of the colours or the shimmer!

As often happens, I then got so carried away with some of my favourite Hero Arts stamps, Ranger Embossing Powders in Copper and Gold and Versafine inks in Crimson Red and Olympia Green, I forgot to take photos of all the steps but I think it is pretty self explanatory.

The only downside I found using the Luminarte powders in this way was they acted a little too effectively as an anti static powder and so made it quite tricky to get the inks to stamp cleanly and the embossing powders to stick evenly. I didn't really mind as the Hero Arts stamps were a little too modern for the vintage effect I was looking for, so I think the problems I had actually helped me get the look I wanted. Serendipity in action again lol!

This was the last AJ session for 2014 but the first of the new year will be on Sunday 4 January when I am looking forward to starting a brand new journal using an old book as my base. Many thanks to all of you who have dropped in to journal in 2014, new journal or old, beginner or regular, journal or old book, I do hope to see you in the studio in 2015.

Have a very Happy Christmas and good fortune to you and yours in 2015 xx

 

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A little coffee....

Hello there, long time no post but I thought I'd stop by and share a couple of projects I have been working on.

I started with these.......

the wood block stamps are from Inkadinkado, and the Polymer stamps are all Hero Arts from the latest 2014 release. I added these.....

 

stamping the images with Coffee Archival ink onto white tissue, chopping some leftover Bazzill Classic papers in Patina into strips. I used peacock Feathers and Frayed Burlap Distress inks for the focal pieces and the canvas board was randomly painted, using Cut & Dry Foam, with Bark, White and Ocean acrylic paints from Eco Green Crafts, then softened with a damp baby wipe.

This was the end result...

 

which I was very pleased with.

 

Although this project started as a home decor piece for myself I have been asked to run it as a workshop at Snazzys and you will find details over at the workshops page of Snazzys main website.

 

I also used one of the new Hero Arts polymer plates, CL758 A Little..., for some cards for my regular cardmaking workshop at Snazzys so checkout that on the workshops page too, but here's a peek at one of them...

 

 

... a good Mother's Day card I think.

 

Thanks for stopping by xx