A year of calendar pages 2013

Hi I was looking through the calendar pages for this year and was really pleased that I have kept it going for the second year.  

So I thought I would do a quick recap of the all 12 months.

Hope you have enjoyed seeing my efforts and that you have had a go yourselves.

Enjoy!!!

If you would like to join in the Calendar journal challenge you can find details on Kate Cranes blog here and you can see the facebook group here.

I hope 2014 is a wonderful, creative Happy Year for you all!!!

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December Calendar Journal Page

Hi folks!!!

Well so much for last months plan to catch up on writing the posts for the projects I have made at classes over the last few months!!

As always life gets busy at this time of year for all of us and some things just don't get done!

This months calendar page is evidence of that.  

My intentions of getting it done early, so that I wouldn't be rushing last minute, went out the window.

I haven't had much time recently to do any creating at home and I think if I don't do some regularly I get out of the habit and when I go back to it, its much harder as the Mojo has sunk out of sight!!

So I started this months page on the last day of November thinking I would get it done that day.  Didn't happen, as life got in the way, and it took until today to get back to it.  So I have been thinking about it and planning it too much in the mean time!!  Another sure fired way for me to block my mojo!

I find I work best if I just sit down and see what happens, If I don't like what happens I keep at it until I get it to work.  Definitely the case this month!! Lol 

I decided I wanted to make it Christmasy, so sprayed the back of last months page with black, blue and white Dylusions ink sprays!!  The page already had marks and some paint on it from when I did Novembers page (on the other side) but that doesn't bother me and I think it adds to the effect.

I thought I would try adding some more depth to the background using black pan pastel and a torn sheet of paper to create the illusion of hills.

I loved the background as always and that's where I stopped on the first day.  I tried to get back to it a few times but had no clue where to go next.

Finally I saw a picture of some snowballs and that sparked off the idea.

I wanted to draw the pile of snowballs directly on the background rather than cut them out and stick them on but I realised that with the sprays being reactive to water, know matter what I used to paint or draw the snowballs with would either end up mixing this the background colour or not being strong enough to cover the blue.  So like it or not they had to get drawn on to paper and stuck on.

I used Matt medium to stick the paper down and went over it with thin coat as well.  Again a problem occurred to me, some of the things I tried to colour the snowballs in with made it impossible to write on and as these will be my day spaces and I will fill them in this was an issue.

Finally I painted over all of the snow with Golden paint in white, and that seemed to sort it.

I then went round the snowballs with a stabilo write all black pencil and used a water brush to blend it to create more shadow and depth.  I then used some more black pan pastel to smudge over the edges to try and help with the illusion of shape.

I stamped a tree down the edge using a small branch stamp and archival ink.

I cut the sign out of grunge paper and coloured it with the brown Dylusions ink spray and used a brown pen to draw in some graining.  I printed the lettering on the computer and used the antique linen distress ink pad to mute the colour and vintage photo to blend over the edge of the sign and the whole page.

Lastly I added some small dots of stickles and used an ice pen to create the icicles (they weren't totally dry when I took the picture so it does end up clear).

This morning I was ready to give up on it as I was really struggling but as I have done each pages for the last 23 months it seemed a shame to give up now.  Not my favourite page but certainly different and I used a few things that I haven't before.

I hope you all have a great month!!

Take care

xxxHUGZxxx

Steampunk spells starbook

Hi guys just a quick post to touch base and say 'Hi' hope your all having a good November so far.

As promised in my last post here is a quick show of pictures of one of the classes I did last month at AFTH.

This one was a Halloween feel star book with Dy!!!

Love making these books and the wonderful Graphic 45 Steampunk spells paper is great to work with.  

I didn't manage to get it finished in class but I wasn't far off.  Just needed some ribbon added and a little bit of doodling!!! 

It was a great day!!

Happy creating folks!!!

xxx hugs xxx

Journal day

Hi everyone hope you are all having a good November!!

Over the last few months I haven't done any journal pages at home, apart from my calendar pages. I just don't seem to have been up for it, i think my Mojo went walk abouts!

  I have managed to do a few classes which I have really enjoyed andI'm hoping over the next few weeks to finally get round to blogging some of them.

My last class was my journaling  at AFTH, and I finally got a page finished!!!  Yeah!!!

We did some secret journaling on this one so I ended up doing loads of writing but you just cant see it LOL!

I also managed to do a bit more to a couple more pages, so they are works in progress.

 This one has been in my journal for a while with the stamping on it as it was a secondary stamping from one I did on another page.  I just blended on some distress inks and splattered with water.  For some reason it feels Christmasy to me!!!! Oh well will see how it turns out when ever I get back to it.

This one is any inky background with some stencilling and white ink splattered and is now set up for some secret journaling.

So Im really hoping that this will help me find my mojo in my own craft room and get some journaling done!!

Hope you all find something that inspires you this month to be creative!

xxx hugs xxxx

November Calendar Journal Page

 Hi everyone - well the year is speeding past way too fast as normal.  Less than 8 weeks to Christmas - not that I'm trying to add to your stress or anything!! LOL!

Here's my November calendar journal page!!

When I started this at the beginning of the month I didn't really have any idea as to what I was going to do apart from the fact that I wanted to do mixed media on it.  I have been to a couple of classes in the last couple of months where we have layered up all sorts of different things to create a texture and I wanted to have a go at it myself at home. 

So I coated the page up with gesso using a scrapper (well in my case an old credit card) and left it quite rough.  Over this I randomly stuck down some lace curtain material, strips of me fix medical tape, Tim Holts tissue paper and and off cut of card which had a pattern punched into it.  Once the layers had dried I brushed on another light coat of gesso.

Once that  had dried Iadded some Dylusions ink sprays and some Fireworks mica sprays.  I sprayed some water on to get it dripping down the page and dried it off with the heat tool. It took quite a bit of drying as the background wasn't very absorbent.

In my paper stash draw (well its 2 actually - as I don't throw anything away) I found the embossed tree tag which I did a while ago and never used on the project it was intended for, a torn piece of embossed card and some tags, so I layered them up and glued them in place.

In my stamp draw I found this unused Octopode factory stamp and though he would work nicely as the focal point.  I coloured him using Inktense pencils and Dylusions ink and glued him on the front.

The date spaces were stamped in archival ink using a Tim Holtz stamp and I added some work stamping on the background.

The final touch was some doodling and blending some ink round the edge of the page with an ink blending tool.

I have to say as I only managed to do this in 10 minute slots, each time I returned to do a little more it changed direction, every time, so I'm quite pleased that I managed to pull it all together and make it work.

I will have to be careful what pen I use to write on it as most pens will smudge on this gesso surface.  

So all in all pleased with the result and I'm pleased that I had a go at the mixed media layering!!

Have a great month.

XXX hugs XXX

CC102 & Alcohol Inks

Hi guys - well I have surprised myself - 3 posts in one week!!! Don't faint, I probably wont happen again.

I have taken some time this week to sign up and do Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 102.  I did 101 last year and totally love it so it was a no brainer for this one!!

If you have done 101 and haven't signed up for 102 get yourself over to this link Creative Chemistry 102.  Its $25 dollars which works out at about £17 and totally worth the money.

I haven't used the alcohol inks much apart from on the jewellery I posted earlier on this week.  I couldn't really get any nice results which I thought I could use on any of my projects!!!

Well today's class was all about alcohol - inks not drinks!! 

I totally love some of the things I have done with them.

My nod to Halloween!

Loved the colours on this one but the camera doesn't pick up all the gold!

They are much nicer in real life as they shine and shimmer!

I have made all of my attempts into tags so that I end up with a tag technique book so I haven't finished them off but I think they it wouldn't take much to finish them off and they would look so cool!

Hope you try something new this week while creating.

Have fun xxxx

Alcohol Ink Jewellery!

Ok guys just another quick post this week.  

One of the groups I'm in does a monthly challenge and this month its based on using Alcohol inks.  

So here is something different I have done with the inks.

I made some clay Jewellery pieces and fired them in the kiln to 1250 degrees.  

Then coloured them with neat alcohol ink and sealed them.

What do you think?

I might try some more unusual shapes next time and use them on a canvas!

Have fun and try something different this month with supplies you already own!!

xxx hugs xxx

October Calendar Journal Page - LATE!

Hi everyone - here is me finally managing to finish and blog Octobers journal calendar page.  So say I'm behind is an understatement!! Ive been a bit stressed and tasks have been falling by the wayside but I was determined to get this finished and filled in up to date!

So today all other jobs have had to wait till I got this finished.

So here is the masterpiece LOL!  I wish!!

Ok I did a nice ink spray background at the beginning of last month and then it sat there not touched for weeks.  

I got some fab downloads off Deviant Scrap and this lovely lady was out of one of the collections by Xquizart - ok she did come with a pretty head, which I mercilessly cut off and replaced with the skull!!!! It suited my mood better!

I then stamped round the top edges with a foliage stamp and decided that I wanted to do some stitching on it.  So out came my very old sewing machine which seemed determined to eat or snap the thread, but after 30 frustrating minutes I managed to get the edging and the day shapes done.

Some stamping with Tim Holtz alphabet stamps and his bird gave it a nice subdued looked.

I came across the quote by Dr Seuss and I fell in love with it and thought it would go on this page very well.

So with the quote and the figure stuck on and some green outlining it was done.

I can believe how much I like it - it felt like such a struggle getting it done that I got to the stage where I didn't care what it looked like I just wanted it finished.  

I guess that goes to the state of mind it was in!!!

As always I was helped through the process by my 2 cats,  Mishka and Marble.

  (Mishka was even determined to get into the act when I was trying to photograph it!!)

Don't you just love all the help you get!!! LOL

Have a great week and I hope your creativity flows this month!!

Take care

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Long lost journal page

Hi everyone - because I have been struggling to fine the time and energy to do much creating I have been trying to finish off some of the pages I have half done.

Here is one I tripped over the other day.

The background was originally stated just under 3 years ago.  It was mostly mop ups and blot offs as I was doing other pages. Its got loads of layers of inks and paints.  Then over time a couple of new stamps were tested out on it.  Then earlier this year I was playing with stencils so the figures got added.

So last week when I found it I realised that it only needed a little more to finish it off. 

So some doodling, stamping over the printed figure and a quote and it was all finished.

I am now looking for more pages that are partly done like this because they only take about 20 minutes to finish off and I feel like I have achieved something, where as if I tried to start a new project it would be another thing that would be added to the 'to finish pile'  which is now teetering dangerously and one of these days I will be buried by it LOL.

Have fun xxx

Small colour block journal page

Hi folks hope all is well in your world and that you are managing to find some creative time for yourselves.  I've found a little but not as much as my creative side would like.  So I have been finishing off some pages which have been in the making since I started journalling 3 years ago this month!! cant believe its been that long - also cant believe the changes that I have gone thorough in that time.

Anyway on with the page!

Rather different than anything else that I have done.  

I came across the nearly completed page recently and decided to add a few finishing touches.  I was going to doodle patterns in all the coloured areas but after I had filled in 2 of them I decided that I liked it the way it was and just left it.

So I scribbled a random pencil line over the page then painted in each shape in different colours.  

I then had a look to see if I could see anything in the shapes and these 2 figures popped out LOL.  

So I did some shading and highlights in each section and used a dark pencil to outline the main shapes.

Then drew in the features and did a little writing. With the addition of some doodling it was done.  I had thought of putting a quote on it but I keep looking at it and just think its fine the way it is.

Anyway I hope you have a chance to have a go at this yourself - its fun to do and took me back to my childhood.

Have a great week!

xxxhugsxxx

September calendar journal page

Hi everyone I hope you have all been enjoying this lovely summer weather!  hope it lasts for a while longer!

Well this months page was done well in advance, in fact I finished it by the 15th of last month!! So once in a while I can get my act together! LOL!

This is how it turned out.

As you might remember from last months post I had sprayed some small rectangular cards to use as the day journal blocks but ended up not using them.  Well they have been sitting there just begging to be used.  After inking them and giving them a spray with some mica spray they looked gorgeous!  But it didn't quite know how I was going to create a background to put them on that wouldn't detract from their lush vibrancy!

So I finally decided to just do something very simple, so used 3 colours of distress ink pads and gently blended them together round the edge of the main page.  This seemed to set the blocks off nicely!

Once the day blocks were in place I had to find a nice focal piece for the middle, and as I have had this wonderful Stampotique stamp for a while but hadn't got round to using it, this seemed a perfect opportunity.

I coloured the stamped image in with watercolour pencils and added a bit of perfect pearls powder to his wings.  Didn't want him to feel like he was being out done with all the bling around him.

Date stamps on the days, with a little drawn edging and some tone on tone stamping to fill in some of the plainer areas and all it needed was a quote!

Once I had put the quote on I realised that it still needed a little something else just to finish it off!!

So out came one of Ryn's beautiful trickling water stamps and the final touches were done!

I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks once I have started to fill in the days.  Just cant make up my mind what colour of pen to use!!!! Decisions decisions!!!

Hope you all have a bright creative September.

Take care

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Journal day

Hi everyone!
Just wanted to show you this wacky journal page I did in art journaling class at AFTH!

We had a play day using Dyan's new stencils and stamps.

I used a background I had done a while ago in my large Dylusions journal.  It just seemed to suit my frame of mind on the day and 'Boney Maloney' looked like he belonged there!!

So with the some decorated borders using the leaf stencil and a stampotique stamp to do the pile of heads in the corner everything was going fine.

The addition of a couple of characters from Dys 'under the sea' stamp set seemed to add that fishy touch!

Then the quote and some colouring and highlights and we were done!!

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Collage tags

Hi folks, just a quick post today to show you 2 of the lovely tags I made in the 'tags of imagery' workshop I did recently at AFTH. 

 I did start several more but they need to be finished yet.  Once I have them done I will post them to!!

It felt weird at first working on the large tags as I don't seem to use them much, but I soon got into the swing of it.

We did some backgrounds on the tags using paint and got a chance to play with the new Tim Holtz stencils to add some details!!! Loved them!

Then used images we had got out of magazines to come up with some crazy characters.  

The addition of some borders and doodling finished them off nicely.

We had a lovely day being messy and creative.  Thanks Dyan!!

Enjoy whats left of the month folks!!!

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August Calendar Journal Page

Hi everyone I hope you have been enjoying all this hot weather!  I love seeing the sun but I do find it rather to hot at times which sucks my energy away and I don't want to do anything!

However despite that I have managed to get my August calendar journal page made in time!

Here's this months efforts!

As always the original idea changed as I was making it!

I had some small card just a little smaller than atc size and I planned on using them for the day shapes.  So I layed them on my craft mat and sprayed them with dylusions inks and water.  Then used this 12x12 sheet to blot off the extra ink.  

I'm sure you will not be surprised to hear that once I had done that I liked it so much that I didn't want to cover it up!  So I have put the inked cards to use on another months page and had to come up with a new plan for this month!

I added some splatters and mica to the background then added some stamping using a script stamp and one of Ryns lovely water droplet stamps to add some more detail!

Then using grunge board letters for the word August. I painted them black and stamped script on to them and brushed over them in lots of different colours of perfect pearls.  Then to add the sheen I rubbed over come clear crackle glaze.  I loved the way they turned out but when I added them to the page they seemed far to heavy.

So once I had stamped the day squares on with a cute little tag stamp, I then went over them with a glaze pen to make them pop a bit more and work better with the large lettering!

It still wasn't working for me when I realised that there wasn't really a focal point apart from the word August!  

So I added the quote and stamped and coloured a little stampotique character!

They probably needed to be bigger but by then it was to late.

So all in all I'm quite pleased with it, though it obviously isn't where I was heading!

Anyway I hope you have all managed to find time to do some journaling or have found some creative time.

Have a great month!

Xxx Hugs xxxx

Hels Sheridan workshop weekend - day 2

Hi folks here is the post I said I would do showing what I did on the second day of the Hels Sheridan weekend!  

Seriously if you get a chance to go on one of her workshops, do! because she is wonderful and you will have a great time.  

Here's the link to her blog  Ink On My Fingers

So this is what I produced under her wonderful tuition!

Its a lovely 8 x 8 canvas with thick sides.

We used Tim Holtz distress paints, liberal applications of grunge paste and finished it of with some wonderful treasure gold wax gilt!

I have to say considering I have done very little dimensional work that I was really pleased with my results.

So a huge thanks to Sue Tucker for arranging the weekend, to Hels for being very patient with us and to the other ladies on the course who made it such a wonderful experience.

Have to say this weekend made my summer and I cant wait till the next one!

I  hope you  all have some great creative memories from this summer!

Happy Crafting!

xxxx hugs xxxx

Hels Sheridan workshop weekend - day 1

Hi everyone - well the year is slipping by all to quickly as usual but at least we have seen lots of the sun in the last month.  Long may it continue!

Last month I was lucky enough to go to an amazing craft weekend with the wonderful tutor Hels Sheridan!  Sue Tucker was the wonderful lady who set it up for us and did a wonderful job!!   

We had an amazing time filled with laughter, great company and loads of messy creativeness!!  

Do check out both ladies blogs as they do amazing work!!

This is what we did day 1!

We used loads of different products on these amazing burlap panels - learned lots of different techniques and the wonderful variety created by the whole group was stunning when seen together!

Have to dash and busy busy busy but will blog again soon with day 2's efforts!!!

Have a great week!   xxxxx

Delightful doodling!

Hi everyone hope your having a great week.

Though I would pop on a couple of pictures of a Doodle journal that I made at one of Kate Cranes workshops!!! Love this lady she is so creative!!!

She had us make up a journal and try different techniques on each page.

Here's my front cover.

and a couple of the pages from inside with some of my of the doodles I use to do when I was at school LOL.

All of the pages are works in progress and I will add to them when I have time and inclination. 

I have already added a few more pages with some prompt on to remind me what to try on that page.

I'm going to love filling it up!  I think it will end up looking gorgeous and will be a good reminder of all the different things that can be done with doodling.

So if you haven't done much doodling, pick up a pen and give it a go - you might find you are a natural at it and you will create some wonderful art!!! If nothing else its really relaxing!!

ENJOY!!!! xxxxxx

Make your own journal

Hi everyone I was lucky enough recently to go on a Journal making workshop weekend at AFTH with my sister.  Its the first weekend like this we have done together and we had a great time.

If you every get the chance to have a go at making your own journal, do it because it is so much fun creating them from scratch !   

I will add to them as and when time and energy allow!

Hope you all get a chance to be creative this week.

Have fun!

xxxxxx

                      

Journal Day

Hi everyone just a flying post today.

Had a lovely day at Journalling at AFTH recently, we got to play with the newly arrived Amsterdam acrylic paints which was fun!!

With some secret journaling which we coloured to match the background we created some of our own trees.

Mine just needed a fish in it - sometimes they do you know!!!

Have a great week!

XXXX HUGS XXXX

July Calendar Journal Page - Late!

Hi folks - sorry I haven't been posting much lately time seems to be slipping away from me at an ever increasing rate!!! I'm sure you all know the feeling!!

Had a struggle getting July's calendar page done as haven't seemed to have any time so have tried to do it in dribs and drabs with limited resources where ever I am. 

So this is what I ended up with!

Background done with the ever present Dylusions inks with some mica/ink mix splattered on!  So I had the background done for a while it was the rest that sometime to finish.  10 minute blocks don't get you much further forward I've found!  LOL

So using my favourite black pen of the minute I drew in the squares but unfortunately was very tired at the time so as you can see they went a bit wonky.  Never mind wonky is good!!!  I then scribbled in  the title and the quote.  

Next I used some some pastels (a frequently overlooked tin which I have had for ever - but will be using more in the future!) to add some additional colour, shadows and highlights and it was finished.

Probably only took about an hour in total but seemed to go on for weeks!!!

Now have to catch up filling it in!!!! 

Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine!!!!

Hugs xxxxx

Courage journal page.

Hi guys just another quick pop in to say Hi and to blog this journal page that I did last week in my lovely new long ledger.

Hope you like it!

Background done with re-inkers (told you I was addicted to the technique) and the mermaid is a digi download off etsy.  With the addition of a couple of Ryn's new water droplet stamps in the background using loads of different coloured Distress ink pads.

Quote stamped on old paper and embossed with clear embossing powder.

A simple page but I love it.

Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine! 

xxx hugs xxx

Dylusions tag

Hi folks just a quick pop in to show you this tag that I did with the lovely Kate Crane at an  AFTH workshop last month!!!

Don't you just love the monsters!!!

Hope you enjoy the sunshine!!

XXX hugs XXX

June calendar Journal page

Hi everyone - I have finally got a couple of minutes to show you my calendar journal page for this month.  

For once I actually had it finished early but I haven't had the time to blog!! 

So here it its!

As you can see I am still playing with the reinker backgrounds!!! sorry but I really love them and they are so quick to do!!  

So after laying gesso down and letting it dry.  I added a few drops of reinker and spread it over the page with a splodger.  Splashed some water on it to make it run, then dried it!  Then a few splatters of ink with mica in it, which I let run.  Lastly a splatter of water to make more splats!!

Then it was just a matter of stamping the days, month and bird (both with a nice shadow stamped behind them). Some branches stamped round the edge in different colours and the date stamp put on.

Then I used an aquatone stick to create shadows round 2 sides of the shapes and blended it with a waterbrush.

Lastly a few dots of stickles on the title!!!

Well I hope you all enjoy the sunshine while we have it!!!

Have a great week.

xxxx Hugs xxxx

Dyans Couture Collection Stencils!

HI folks here is a page I started in one of my classes with Dyan and you will be surprised to hear I never got round to finishing.  Well I found time today to finish it off.

Its very different from my usual style but I like the way it turned out.

I loved the couture collection stencils that Dyan released this year but I wasn't quite sure how I would use them.  Fortunately however Dyan has already planned a workshop with this in mind.

 So on this page you can see various different ways of using the inners and the outers!!

With the additional use of some of her background stamps and one of her hilarious quotes I put this together and did some doodling to finally finish it off.

Hope you like it and give it a try yourself!

XXXX hugz XXXX

May Calendar Journal Page

Hi folks its that time again - need to have the calendar journal ready to use on the first on May!

Unfortunately the image doesn't do this one justice but I don't seem to be able to get it any better.

I liked what I did last month, masking with paper strips, so this month I thought I would try it with masking fluid.  I painted the squares with the fluid and left it to dry overnight.  The next day I rubbed away a little of the fluid in each square then sprayed with Dylusions ink sprays.  I stamped, stenciled and splattered to my hearts content.

Then I gently rubbed off the remaining fluid - this took a while.

I stamped and painted the Stampotique bee and added some distress rock candy to the wings.

I drew round the squares with an aquatone watercolour stick and smugged it with a waterbrush.

I added the 'May' and '2013' in metal embellishments and stuck them on.  The addition of the quote finished it off.  I reads 'May bee we will see a little sunshine'!!!   

Fingers crossed.

Have a great month.

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Day 7!!!

Hi folks - well I have done it!!  Posted 7 days in a row - amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it!! LOL

So here's today's offering.

Ok the background on this one had a bit of everything.  Acrylic paint, distressed stains, Dylusions ink, Aquatone watercolour sticks, and anything else I could lay my hands on!  Layered up to within an inch of its life.  

Magazine images collaged for the main figure and as always a quote and some doodling!!

I have enjoyed doing all of these this week and I'm glad I set myself this challenge!!

Now I need to go lie down to recover!! LOL

I hope this week you all managed to create time to be creative!!

xxxx Hugz xxxx