A year of calendar journal pages

Well folks as always my good intentions of doing a few more post this month went out the window.  Unfortunately my year hasn't ended on a good note, so to remind myself of some of the better times I thought I would recap my journal pages for the year.

In January I booked myself onto Kate Cranes calendar journal workshop at Art From The Heart, I was not really sure what we would be doing but wanting to have some fun!
I never imagined that it would lead to me doing a monthly page and managing to fill in every single day!

So here they are
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This has been a wonderful challenge to take part in and I really appreciate all the time Kate Crane puts in to keeping the challenge going!

If you would like to join in the challege you can find details on Kates blog here or you can join through the facebook group Art journaling Calendar page 2013.

I'm looking forward to continuing it in 2013 but as always I am running late as Tomorrow is the 1st of January and I haven't got the page done.  Hopefully I will get it started tomorrow.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy Creative 2013.

Huge end of year hugs xxxxx

December Calendar Journal Page

Hi folks hope your all doing well and getting geared up for the festive season!!! 

Apologies for the lack of posts last month, things got a little frantic around here!! I did actually do quite a bit of creating, but most of it never got finished before I started something else, so hopefully when I get the time I will get them finished off and then you will be inundated with posts!! LOL.

Ok Decembers Calendar page - later than ever - didn't manage to get it finished in time to fill it in last night so will have to catch up tonight.  Its not the best one I have done and I feel its unfinished but whenever I go to do something to it, it doesn't feel right.  So I have decided for now its 'finished' but I will probably add things to it as I fill in the month.  

Its quite simple compared to some I have done recently.  Background done with Dylusions ink sprays and the garland and trees were made with the Dylusions pine stamp of 'Christmas accessories'.  The baubles were from a card making pack I had (don't know who made them unfortunately) which I scanned into the computer and printed on to card.  Then cut out.

With the addition of some stickles for some bling on the garland and trees and to create some icicles along the top edge.  'Simples!!!!

Hope you all have a great December!

xxx hugs xxx

A Short post

Just want to quickly put this little atc card which I made onto my blog.  Hope you like it!!!

I did the background using dylusions inks and used stampotique stamps for the figure, the garland and the saying.  Coloured the figure in with the same inks and put some paint dabber paint onto the metal crown and rubbed a little of the paint off to leave some of the metal showing.  I think he looks a little like me at the moment!! LOL xxx

November Calendar Page

Ok its that time again folks - where I panic to try and get the new months calendar page done in time to fill it in on the first day!!  As always I'm running close to the wire but I did manage to get it finished late last night when I couldnt sleep!! At least something productive came out of the time!! LOL

As i'm sure you are use to hearing from me by now - it didn't turn out how I expected - In fact it nearly got binned on several occasions. 

Background done with Dylusions ink sprays with the addition of white dabber paint for the figure on the right.  I used the ink to colour some paper and then used Tim Holtz tattered leaves die to cut out the shapes for the days.  I added some leaf stamping over the top and some cobwebs.  

I die cut, embossed and coloured the 3 main leaves with inks and used the blending tool with some distress ink pads to add some extra colour.

Printed off the quote and used the distress ink pads to colour them in autumn shades.

Used a Dylusions stamp for the edging and cobweb and bird stamps for some additional detail.

For the final element - the faint white snow flurries (as we had our first snow here last week) I used some white golden paint in a mini mister, thinned a little with some water and added some silver perfect pearls.  After a good mixing this gives a lovely shimmering effect and gave me my hint of snow!!!  Doesn't show well in the picture.

Hope you like it - I will be putting it on Kate Cranes blog as I have been following along with her challenge and she is the lovely lady who started me off on this fab calendar journey and on Simon says stamp blog for their weekly challenge - just add pearls!!  Hope you check out both blogs as they have some wonderful creations for you to see.

Have a good and hopefully snow free November!!

xxx Hugz xxx

Monthly Journal Page

Hi folk hope your all managing to survive these gloomy day!!

I was at AFTH last week for my monthly journal day with the wonderful Dyan Reaveley and she had us tearing pages in our new dylusions journals and making our usual inky mess - Totally loved it.  

So this is what I started in class and then finished at home.

Liberal use of Dylusion inks, stencils and stamps and we had several very colourful background.  

Then with some folding and some of Tim Holtz lovely tissue tape we created pockets.  

Then to finish off a wonderful figure from Stampotique with generous application of their bee stamps -  and I had a vibrant spread.

Lastly I added perfect pearls to the stars and bees wings, some doodling and all that was left was the quote!!!

More ink and stencils and we made ourselves 4 tags - finished off again with the tissue tape.

 Simon says stamp blog has a weekly challenge and this weeks is 'just add pearls'.  So I will be entering that as its a $50 prize so pop over and have a look at all the other fab projects which have been entered.

Ok hope you all have a great week.

xxxx hugs xxxx

Dylusional Challege

Hi this is the page I have done for the challenge that Dy set us on her art journal  facebook page.  The challenge was to use the new journal she has just bought out and to do a page (not using the first page) using orange and her spider stamps with the words 'new beginnings'.

No problem I thought and did the background using Dyslusional Ink sprays with a bit of perfect pearls mists - heirloom gold, thrown in for  bit of blink.  I was happy.  Unfortunately at that point my MOJO vanished - by the time 5 days had gone by and the dead line for the challenge was looming I figured I would have to sit this one out!!! 

However at the last minute I decided just to sit down and do something with it and see what would happen - if it didn't work I just wouldn't have put it in the the challenge.  Since last month when I did my very first drawing in my journal I have been wanting to find the courage to do some more so as I had given up hope of getting this page finished for the challenge I thought I would combine both and see what happened.  This was the result!!

I was so pleased after I had done the eyes that I nearly bottled it on the letter - well I was going to hand write it but that went out the window and out came the faithful stamps.  

I was well pleased with the results and submitted it for the challenge - only to realise that I had forgotten all about the poor spider.  So a hasty return to the stamp draw and on went mister spider.  As it turns out I think he finished it off nicely.  Think I might have got my MOJO back!! lol

Have a great week xx hugs xx

First page in Dylusions Journal

Hi got my new Dylusions Journal yesterday at AFTH preview day and couldn't wait to get home to try it out.

Did the background with some acrylic paint and some Dylusions spray ink on top and ghosted through some stencils. 

Stamped the tree using 2 different colours of distress ink pads for the branches and the Stampotique stamps for the figure and lights.  Coloured the figure and clock in using Distress Ink pads. 

I always enjoy christening a new journal and this one takes the ink fabulously!!!

Have a good creative week!
xxx hugs xxx

Journal class challenge - second page

Ok as promised at the end of my last post I'm going to show you what I did with the lovely she art lady - 'she leaped' (by Christy Tomlinson) which I painted to use on the last challenge page - but didn't!!

She was so pretty (I don't do pretty so much) but she didn't sit well on the dark colours of the last page so I went hunting for a home for her!!  

Fortunately in my journal I found a clean up page which suited her down to the ground!!  (This is one of the joys of cleaning up in your journal - as well as not wasting any ink of paint LOL).

Unlike the last page she just pretty much put herself together in a matter minutes - love when this happens!

I used several of the new Stampotique stamps to add additional detail to the background, some stickles to add some bling to the stringed lights and printed off the quote 'Take time to reflect, be ok with where you are even if you know you want to change'.

So 2 totally different pages from the same challenge - I love it!!  Thanks for the challenge Dy! 

One final note - about this old journal I use, its such a different size from the ones that I normally use it makes you design your pages in totally different ways and is also really nice if it's one that's been used as leaving the background thin enough allows the writing to show threw and automatically gives you an additional layer to your page!

  So if you fancy a challenge - try doing a journal on a long thin page for a change and see what yours turns out like.

Have a great weekend!

xxx hugz xxx

Journal class challenge - first page

Hi, I want to do a post to show you one of the pages that we did at journal class last week.  As our intrepid leader is away in America - she left us a challenge: to attempt doing things out of our comfort zone.  So to use colours we wouldn't normally, and stamp which wouldn't be our first choice - or things cut out of magazines if we weren't comfortable with that and she left us a selection of quotes to choose from.  So with this in mind we started the day!!

After rather a struggle this is what I ended up with!

I picked red and blue inks to use because thought I often use turquoise I don't use true blue and I never seem to use red at all - I have to say I didn't feel it went well.  

I didn't like the basic background - did a bit of stamping on it - which improved it a little but I wasn't convinced.  

So I decided to move on to using a very nice she art stamp - not something I would normally use but I thought I would give it a go.  I coloured her in with inks and really like her - but she so did not work on the red/blue background.  So I decided to put her aside also to use at another time.

Next I found these lovely new Stampotique monsters - (which I would use normally LOL) but decided as the page wasn't going well I would play around colouring them.  Did the first 2 - orange and blue and didn't like them on the page either - but I decided I would just go ahead and do some more and use them regardless!!  But I did use my own hand writing on the quote - which I don't often do.

So all in all it was rather a struggle. 

 I don't normally find it that difficult but I think I made it harder for myself by choosing 2 such strong colours for the background - if I had used red orange and yellow the colours would have blended easier.  Still it was a good challenge and stretched me a bit so I will try and do some more using blue and red just to make myself more comfortable with them.  If  I hadn't been doing the challenge I think I would have put my balloon monsters (which I love) on a different background and left this one until such time as I found something that I felt worked on it!!

In my next post I will show you what I did with the she art lady!!

Happy creating

xxxxx

October calendar page

Ok last month I decided I would try and get my calendar page done early - so I got it started in good time only to find half way through it really wasn't what I wanted to do for October, so it got abandoned to be returned to for a different project.  So time went by and I was back to my default mode, last day of the month and thinking I really want to get my calendar page done on time!!

   

 Oh well never mind, I'll many be manage it another time. LOL  But I did manage to get the background started and I was really happy how it was looking.  So I thought I would take a few pictures so you could see the process.     

      

   

I did the background as always with Dylusion ink sprays but I added in a little Perfect pearls mist - heirloom gold, when I was spraying to add a little sparkle.  As I wanted the edges quite dark I had to spray them several times, which meant there was a lot of ink lying around.  As always I'm not a one to waste ink so I used sheets of paper to blot off with!! And look how great they turned out in there own right - and these are mop up sheets!!!! I love it!

So next I decided to add a few appropriately spooky elements.  Tim Holts skull stamp was an obvious one.  I stamped it using perfect medium and brushed on a couple of colours of perfect pearls.  Then using a stencil I used a black soot distress ink pad to blend through the stencil to create the lightning (or dead tree branches - depending on how you look at it).  I also stamped in some cobwebs using a orange/red stamp pad.

I also bleached out the moon and a faint fence line along the bottom.

Next I decided to used grave stones for the days - it took me a while to decide between them and pumpkins   and even nearly changed my mind half way through, but fortunately went ahead with the stones. 

These are stamps (I think are made by inkadinkadoo!?!  They come with sayings in each one) which I altered on the computer to the size and details I wanted and printed them out.

Next I randomly stamped them with a cobweb stamp, then coloured them with 3 different shades of Distress ink pads.  I did it while still on the sheet so that I was less likely to damage them.  These were then cut out and the edges inked to darken them a bit. 

So finally using letters from Tim Holtz Halloween paper stack, I cut out and stuck on 'October' along with the tomb stones.  The final touches were to add a bit of red detail and to stamp and perfect pearl more cobwebs over the top.

Well I hope you like it and if you are following Kate Cranes calendar page challenge - which is what is keeping me doing this each month - I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am.

Have a great month!!!

xxxxx

Joy

"Rock Candy Distress Stickles with Embossed Background"

Just a quick post to show you something I was playing with today.  I tried using reflection text in an embossing folder!  Didn't get it quite right as I only had a few minutes and didn't bother putting the stamp on a stamping block hence I got the text where I didn't want it!  Still its a good lesson!  When I have more time I will try and get it right.  But over all I like the results.  

So I used Dylusions spray ink to make the background, then ran it through the embossing folder to emboss the trees and finished off using distress ink pad 'iced spruce' to highlight the tree and the edges!

Have a great week!

xxxx hugs xxxx

Happy accidents!!

  Hi folks - thought I would show you a page I put together today.  

Ive had the background done for a while - often have a spell where all I do is background!! Also had the little guy coloured for another project but didn't get used.  So I decided to do some crafting but wasn't feeling all that creative.  However while flipping through my journals this page came open just as the Stampotique character fell out!! So that was that.  

The quote is one I saw recently and still had in my head so it all worked well.

I think I will submit him for the Stampotique Designers Challenge which is all about squares.

Hope you all enjoy some happy accidents!!

XXX HUGZ XXX

Drawing!! EEK!! in my journal!

Ok, as a child I use to love to draw, but as with most things, as you get older the confidence and freedom you feel to do these things slowly disappears.  But thanks to the very talented, and patient Kate Crane who taught a class at Art From The Heart at the weekend I actually managed to draw straight into my journal and ended up with an image which I was really pleased with.  

So, Human she's not, but I have to say I'm quietly pleased with my tranquil alien!!  

Realistic she's not but she is an encouraging place to start - and hopefully thanks to her I will have the nerve to start doing more drawing in my journal.

The background was done with golden paints and ranger paint dabbers as was most of the face.  I added some random stamping to the background with distress ink pads and added a bit of shading to the edge of the page as well with a blending tool.  Random quote came from an old book page.  A lovely new stamp from Stampotique added the border and the final touch was  a few drops of crystal stickles for the bling factor!!

Hope you all have a creative tranquil week.  Take care

xxxx HUGZ xxxx

Dyan's Challenge

Hi folks - energy and creativity have been thin on the ground around here lately - so when I saw that a challenge had been put on to one of my facebook groups (the Dyan Reaveley Art Journaling Fan Club) I didn't think I had much chance of getting it done.  

So I saved a bit of energy up and decided to give it a go this afternoon. 

 Nothing much was happening in the creativity section of my brain but I decided to mess about and see if I could come up with something.  

After mindlessly colouring and cutting I found that some ideas came together and this is what I produced.

Background done with Dylusions ink sprays and the figure is one of her stamps.  The border stamp and the leaves are from Designs By Ryn (love this ladies stamps).

Anyway - I'm hoping now that I have got something made I will manage to continue doing a little each day - well that's the plan - will see what happens!!

Have a great weekend!!

Serenity!!

Just a quick post tonight - I have been trying to make myself use my own hand writing more in my journals rather than always resorting to something else!!!

I did the background over a year ago but loved it too much!!! Note - don't fall in love with your backgrounds because its then a nightmare to have to cover it up!  I have gone to this page so many times to use it and ended up stroking it lovingly then moving on to another page.
Finally I thought just practising my large writing wouldn't cover up too much of my beloved background so it finally got used!! yeah!!

I used paints, inks and gesso for the background - 2 of the lovely Dyan's Dylusions  border stamps and I cheated with an image of on old childhood friend Eeyore!  Of course Eeyore was never into 'serenity', gloominess was more his thing, but some how he just looked at home on this page.  Im still trying for Serenity but I think it might take me a while to achieve, but I keep trying!!
Wishing you all a creative, serene week!

HUGZ x

Mop Up Journal

Hi everyone, I'm feeling very proud of myself as I have made myself a journal using lots of my mop up pages!!!  

I have a box in which I store all the random pieces of paper which I use to mob up spare ink with when I'm making backgrounds.  I clean up stencils on them, stamps - so I don't waste anything!!!  So I decided I needed to use some of them up!

I made the front and back cover on canvas boards using Dylusions inks and Dylusions & Stampotique stamps as well.  

I then chose the mop up pages and cut them to size, as they are all different types of paper and card, some textured, some not, I decided I would stick them together back to back so that I could strengthen some of the pages up.

I then bound it with a 'Bind it all' and added the fibres onto the back page and onto the spine.  

As it is a Stampotique figure on the front I think I might make all the pages up using different stampotique images - well that's the idea at the moment, only time will tell if it stays that way!!!

Hopefully in the future I will show you some of these mop up pages as finished art journal pages!

Have a great, creative weekend!

I will leave you with some more images of the journal!

Back

Inside front cover

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Inside back cover