Dribbly inky background

Following a challenge on the Quirky Kits subscribers facebook group, I decided to try another inky background.  I wanted to use the frame and floral die cut from the most recent kit, so I chose some distress stains to match the main colours (Broken China, Worn Lipstick, Wild Honey and Peeled Paint).  I used a water brush to apply some rather wet blobs of each colour to the top of the page, gave it all a quick spritz with a little more water, then tipped the page up and let it all dribble down.

I placed the die cut on the page and used a water brush to add a faint wash of Worn Lipstick distress stain around the edges, then I stamped the flourishes (from a Tim Holtz stamp set) around the edges in silver ink.  I trimmed the photo to fit the frame, added some minimal journalling, chose some extra embellishments from the Quirky Kit, then stuck it all into place.

Quite a departure from what I usually produce, but I enjoyed doing it and I'm pleased with the end result.

Painty, inky backgrounds

I'm really enjoying my experimentation with multi-media techniques.  This is another layout that started with a sheet of plain white card.  I wanted a mixture of grungy/aged effects, to go with the Dickensian theme, plus a little glitz to go with the on-stage theme, and I think I've pulled it off.

I started by lightly brayering three different colours of paint (black, brown and gold), then adding some texture stamping in distress ink (hickory smoke) and gold ink. The image in the bottom left corner is a new stamp from IndigoBlu, and the bottom right is black texture paste through a mask.  I stencilled the word OLIVER, before adding photos and some blingy embellishments from a couple of recent Quirky Kits. 




 

Kits and creativity

Over the years I've subscribed to several papercrafting and scrapbooking kits; I find them really helpful in providing new ideas and a starting block for a new project, with colour and theme co-ordinated products.  In the early days, I'd stick almost entirely to the kit contents, but gradually I got more adventurous and started adding items from my own stash and mixing and matching between kits.

I produced two layouts yesterday, both from old kits (I'm a real hoarder and hold on to the remnants of old kits for ages).  This first one is from parts of two kits, both from a company no longer selling kits (sadly).  The first photo shows how I assembled some items I liked the look of.  

A while ago, the finished page would probably have looked much like this, but now I have become more adventurous, I decided I wanted some more texture, colour and interest.  After some distressing, inking, stamping and stencilling, it looked like this ...

It's still a fairly simple page, but more interesting than the previous one.

At the moment I am receiving bi-monthly Quirky Kits. Whilst waiting for the current one to arrive, I explored my old kits and found a scrap of patterned paper that was ideal for the photo I wanted to scrap.  Initially I was planning to use plain white card as a background, as I like the effect of white space when you're using bright colours, but then I decided to have a play with some paints and inks, so it ended up looking like this ...

The white background card was dry brushed with two different paint colours before being stencilled and stamped using distress inks.  I also added a little stamping to the original patterned paper.  I added in a few embellishments (all from previous Quirky Kits), and was very happy with the outcome.

Mini moleskin journey

A few years ago I bought a mini moleskin book, after seeing the idea in a craft magazine, and started using it as a record of my scrapbooking style. I made a few entries and then forgot about it. But I rediscovered it when I rediscovered my crafting mojo recently, so now it has a few more entries, and I will continue adding to it as I try out new ideas and products. 
The first few photos show the pages I made years ago, and are quite minimalist and “clean”, not very adventurous. 

Then I rediscovered the journal just after I started experimenting with paints and texture pastes ...

And this most recent entry is using the new Tim Holtz Pocket Frame die (I also coloured and stamped the papers I used to cut the shapes from).  I really love this die and can see myself getting a lot of use out of it.

I'm really looking forward to adding more pages to this little book to show how I continue to experiment with new ideas and techniques.
 

 

A new blog - my creative journey

Why a blog?  And why now?  I had a blog several years ago but I lost interest, both in it and in papercrafts in general, for a while.  But a few months ago I went on a scrapbooking retreat, then a little while later went to a workshop at Art from the Heart, and suddenly my mojo has returned and I'm crafting again.  And I want to learn, I want to share.  And my style has changed; you could say it's matured.  I'm experimenting with new products and techniques, including mixed media.  My crafting journey started many years ago, but it's now taking me in new and exciting directions.

So, here are a few photos to show a little of my journey.  And I hope to share more with you over the next few months ...

 This first one is a scrapbook page I made 3 or 4 years ago.  It's fairly typical of what I was doing at the time.  I like it because it's clean and simple and tells the story, but it's not very adventurous

 Now I'm starting to experiment with mixed media.  Here are some tags I made after attending the workshop at Art from the heart. 

 And here is a card I made following ideas from an article in Craft Stamper magazine - in the past I would have used printed papers, but this card started off with all plain white card (plus a little bit of black for the black matts) - all the colour and interest is added using stamps, inks, paints etc.  Such fun to make, and such unique results.