Update to Concertina Lunch Bag Journal

Hi everyone hope your all looking forward to the weekend!
I thought I would do another post on the Concertina Lunch bag journal which I blogged about earlier on this month as I have done more to it and it looks very different now.
I continued pretty much in the vein that I had started and would just take a few minutes here and there to add bits and pieces or do a bit of doodling!!
I found that as I looked through all the craft stuff that I have stashed round my craft desk that thinks would really jump out and I would think 'I like that'.  When this happened I had to use it in the journal.  I didn't allow my self more than a few minutes to think about it before I had to stick it down.
It is a very different way to work from how I normally do.  As I'm usually all about the backgrounds then its a case of trying to rake something out that I think will look good on the top of it!
This time more often than not I was working with blank pages and had to build something from there.
In some cases my eyes would land on some supplies that I hadn't used yet or had used very rarely and they got thrown into the mix.
So here is what it looks like now!

Some of the pages are finished (for now) some I know what I'm going to do to finish them, I just need to find the energy to do it and others will continue the random journey!!!

I have loved doing it!

Thanks Kate for getting me started!!!

Happy play time everyone!!

XXXhugsXXXX

Large Canvas Workshop

Hi folks just though I would do a quick blog about a workshop I did at the weekend!!

Michelle Webb was the wonderful lady who did the class and we tackled a very large canvas 60 x 45 cm gulps!! Check out her blog 'The Hobby Room' to see more of her work and where she will be teaching next!

I would never have tackled a canvas this big on my own,  but Michelle talked us through the multiple layers and we all ended up with stunning Pieces of art!!

So after gluing, painting, stencilling, dripping, cutting etc this is what I ended up with.

Have a good week everyone and stay safe and get creative!!!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Concertina Lunch Bag Journal

Hi everyone - happy Friday!!

Ive had a bit of a rough week this week as I've not been too well! Disappointing as I had hoped to set some time aside to do some crafting in my own little craft area!

So frustration struck mid week and I just needed to do something that I could do quickly and with low energy expenditure so I came up with this!!

(back story!!) Last weekend I was lucky enough to go to a Kate Crane workshop at AFTH.

She had us make this wonderful concertina lunch bag journal.  We got inky and painty by doing a background on deli paper and used that to collage the front and back cover and to add details inside the journal.  Then with the addition of some sewing put the cover together and stitched in the signatures.  It was a really lovely day.

I often find when I do these journal that I like them so much as they are that I do no more to them after the class.  However during the week I had signed up for Kate's Journal soup online class (well worth doing - only £10) and was watching the video for that and loved her use of scraps.

So with limited energy I decided to rake through my scraps - of which I have draws full - and use them to add additional details to this journal.  I have scraps of paper, images I've cut out, thinks I've stamped and coloured for other projects but never used, you name it I have it.  I'm a classic pack rat!! lol.

So 30 minutes after I started rummaging and sticking this is what the journal looked like.

 

As you can see its now a mish mash of anything I could find and I am rather surprise to say that I really like it!!  It was very quick and very liberating not worrying about whether things went together or not and just bunging them in!!!

I'm going to continue in the same vein - because as you can see there is still loads of blank pages - I might even do some paint or colour effects on some of the pages!! I'm just going to see how I feel at the time!!

Give it a try guys - it really is speed journalling LOL.

Have a great weekend!!

XXXX hugs XXXX

Hels Sheridan workshop weekend

Hi everyone - hope your having a good week/ month and that you haven't been hit by some of this really weird weather!!!  

Ok on to sunnier things!!! 

I have just done another Hels Sheridan craft weekend workshop in Middlesburgh and had a blast.  This will be the 3rd one I have been fortunate enough to do with her and it just keeps getting better and better and the first one was awesome!! 

So I highly recommend, that if you get the chance, you go to one of her workshops - its full of creativity, techniques, fun and laughter.  A perfect combination for anyone!! 

Check out her blog for details here! Ink on my Fingers She lists the workshops she is doing down the left hand side of the page.

This is the mixed media boxed canvas we did on the Saturday - we even got to make our very own large flowers, die cut from the new release large flower die by Tim Holtz.

So we cut, stamped, glued and painted and had an all round great time!!

Day twos project was no less impressive!

Our Layering Master board!!!

Such a cool project.

Now I just want to spend all my time in the craft room doing more!!! Its such a shame that real life gets in the way!!  Lol!

If any of you are looking for workshops in the Middlesburgh area check out 'Art Workshops' on facebook.  The Lovely Sue Tucker is the wonderful lady who arranged for Hels to come visit us up north and she is planning more workshops for the future.  Details will be listed on that facebook page as they become available.

I hope you all get a chance to be creative and have fun with your friends this month.

Hugs xxxxx

February Calendar Journal Page

Hi Everyone hope you all have been keeping well in this cold weather!  I hope that summer comes soon LOL.

I have my sister visiting me this month for a few days (I was at hers last month) and we did our calendar pages together again - however in my rather cramped corner of a small room rather than her lovely large roomy airy new craft room.  But despite the cosy quarters we still both managed to come up with a great calendar page each.

This is my effort for the month of February. 

Most people think of valentines day when they think of February but to be honest I find it the most dismal month of the year. After all the festivities over Christmas and New Year, then I have my birthday to celebrate the middle of January, then comes February!! So to say I always feel flat this month wouldn't be understating the issue and to top it all usually the weather is miserable and cold!! Ok moan over LOL!

So I think my page this month rather reflects my feelings toward the month. The dark and dreary background is a great backdrop for the hope of the coming spring!!!

Don't get me wrong, I didn't plan it that way, its just the way it turned out!!!

I started this month knowing that I wanted to do some sort of shadow box so that seemed like a good place to start.

I inked a spare piece of paper with Dylusions sprays and did some water splatters on in and dried it off.  I then cut it into 1.5" squares and drew on my inner lines to create the illusion of the inside of a box.  Then I used Black soot distress ink pad and a black pan pastel to darken the intner surfaces!!  I was well pleased with this as a start but was stumped as to what do for the background.  Obviously with my day squares being so bright I wanted a contrast so ended up spraying black and brown Dylusions inks onto my page and sprinkled it with rock salt!!  I love this technique every time I use it!! then as it was drying Ispritzed some perfect pearls mica spray over the top.  I finished drying it with the heat tool and gently brushed off the salt!!

For what was suppose to be a dreary background it ended up looking rather lush!! Isn't it always the way!

So I glued my squares in place and was rather pleased with the effect.  

Then it was a case of finding a focal point and that's where this lovely character from Rick St Dennis digi downloads came in.

I Coloured her (well I think of it as a her!?!?!) with inktense pencils and various other colour pens so that she was bright and cheerful! (A quick layer of glossy accents on the eyes is always a lovely finishing touch!)

Last but not least was the stamps for the month and year and I used the lovely sets from Tim Holtz but didn't want them too in your face so did them in black archival and outlined them lightly in white.

I had thought to put more on - my usual quote and other embellishments but I decided in this case that less was more.  

So come on February - bring it on!!!!

xxxx hugs xxxx