More mixed media

Having finally got my creative mojo back, I decided to get back to the mixed media experimentation I had begun before.  It took me a while to find the flow, but once I'd overcome my initial nervousness, I had fun creating an art journal page based on the new stamp I used on the cards in my previous blog entry  ...

  
I've been trying to get into the habit of mopping up unused ink and paint with rice paper, and this time I was really pleased with the result.  I used some of my "mopping up" paper to stamp the main image on to and then ripped it out and stuck it to the left-hand page as a focal point.  I even plucked up the courage to do a little freehand doodling with my white pen, something that usually scares me a little. 

My mojo is back!

No blog posts for a while here because my crafting mojo went AWOL. I simply lost motivation to do any crafting, partly due to family events and holidays. But I’m happy to say that it’s back and I’m creating again, so I’m ready to start sharing again.

To ease myself in gradually, I started by making a couple of cards using my favourite distress inks and sprays to make backgrounds, then adding some random stamps in grey ink to add a little more texture.  Then I used a gorgeous new Indigo Blu stamp that I bought ages ago and have never got round to using; on the first card I simply stamped the image using a black versafine ink pad, on the second card, I stamped then embossed using black embossing powder, then added a touch of copper gilding wax.  Both were then matted onto black card stock.

I’m hoping that some of my crafting friends will enjoy receiving these ...

Trying out art journalling

Although I've been experimenting with mixed media and have started a junk journal, I've not really explored art journalling properly ... until last weekend ...

I went to an art journalling class at Art From The Heart with the amazingly talented Kate Crane, and with her help, created my first two art journal pages (following her original design and her advice on techniques and colours) 

You probably can't read most of my journalling (part of that is deliberate, part of the creative process), but the bit at the bottom of the second page reads "there are no mistakes in art, only learning opportunities", and that really reflects my experience that day!

So, armed with renewed confidence and some new paints, I had a creative session the other day.  It's not very original, but I really enjoyed creating this and it has encouraged me to keep trying new things and to carry on with my creative journey ...

Journal cover

I've been adding to my junk journal for a while.  I made an introductory page early on (see this post  ) but have been too scared to work on the actual cover.  But the other day I plucked up the courage to change this plain (but pretty) pink cover into something more interesting 

 

So I gathered together some items I thought would work together and arranged them on the cover ...

Like this, they looked interesting but too varied in colour, so I covered everything with gesso then two layers of paint (first pyrrole red, then a wash of dioxazine purple.  I followed this with a liberal spray of distress mica spray in antique bronze.  When dry, I glued on a bookplate holder and added a tassel and a hanging key.  I'm really pleased with how this one turned out.

 I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, but holidays and other real life activities have kept me busy.  But I'm busily creating again now so will be blogging again soon ...

Playing with paint

I don't often use paint on my scrapbook pages, and when I do it's normally quite restrained, but this time I tried something a little different.  Inspired by some recent challenges to use paints and inks on layouts, and needing a little something to go behind the photos on this patterned paper, I got out my paints and just started mixing (a cream/buff colour and a green) and simply splodged it on to the paper.  I added a few stamps and simple embellishments, and it was done ...

    

Junk journalling again

I'm loving the concept of a junk journal and I've made it my own, an excuse to try out new ideas, revisit old ideas, use new products and rediscover old products.  This page I made the other day is a mixture of all of these things ...

I bought some new goodies on a recent trip to Art From The Heart (some new (to me - they are second-hand but only lightly used) stamps and some cute little self-adhesive washi-tape shapes and strips) and I wanted to try them all out.  I also had some rice paper that I'd used as a mop-up sheet from a previous crafting session; it was covered in such beautiful colours that it was just crying out to be used.  So, I had a rummage through my stash and found some old rub-ons I forgot I had, an ephemera pack that hadn't been opened since I bought it, plus some lovely bits of text paper.  I added a bit of coloured texture paste (texture paste is one of my new obsessions!), and voila - an eclectic mix of old and new.

Plain and simple

Although I'm enjoying my journey into mixed media and new techniques, sometimes I return to my plain and simple roots.

I'm busy compiling scrapbooks of my favourite family photos from each year - one book per year, 20 pages per book - so I'm limited as to how many photos I can fit in each.  I could fill a whole scrapbook with the photos from our amazing trip to New York, and I probably will sometime soon, but for the purposes of my summary-of-the-year book, I needed to limit it to one page.  I chose three of my favourite photos and eventually found an arrangement for them that seemed to work.

As the photos are very different styles and colours, and I wanted to include some other memorabilia from the trip, I decided that a fairly plain and simple layout would suit them best.  So this time there are no paints, inks, stencils or stamps; I've stuck to papers and simple embellishments.  But in this case, it works for me. I'm sure the messy stuff will reappear next time ...    

Junk journal - collage

I saw a video on YouTube the other day of a collaged junk journal page being created, so I thought I'd try it out too.

My youngest son bought me a lovely new charm for my Pandora bracelet, and it came with some really pretty packaging - being a crafter, I couldn't throw it away ... so this page contains some of the outside of the bag, some of the pink ribbon  that tied the top of the bag together, plus some of the black cord which formed the handles.  I rooted through my stash and found a paper pad that I bought several years ago but haven't used for ages, and it had exactly the right colour palette that I needed for this project, so I cut and tore some pieces out of that ...

... add in a couple of charms from my stash and a little distress ink (used to stamp the sentiment and to add some texture to the edges), and you have a page created mostly from junk and leftovers.  It was great fun to create and I'll definitely use this style again.

Junk journal - continued

So, having started my junk journal (see previous entry), I've been working on some pages for it.  For this page I decided on something in the style of an art journal, reminding me of my increased interest in experimentation in previous months.

I started by using gesso on the page to hide some paint that had been accidentally transferred when working on the previous page (any tips on how to prevent this gratefully received!).  Then I added brushos in various colours and let them move around a bit, blotting the excess with some rice paper.Once dry, I added some texture paste through stencils in various places.  Once this was dry, I used brushos mixed with water to addd intensity to the colour in a few areas, then I added some random stamping using watered brushos, red paint and gold ink.

Throughout, I was mopping up any excess inks or brushos with rice paper.  When the rice paper was dry, I stamped the sentiment on to part of it, tore it out, then adhered it to the page.  Finally, I added a photo of a recent piece (documented in my first post in this blog here ) and a little bit of journalling to explain the page.

   
I thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating this page and want to work on improving my techniques and composition, but I'll have fun doing it ...

Junk journal

I've discovered the concept of junk journalling.  In its purest form, it involves using only junk (leftovers, scraps, found objects etc) to create the book and all its contents, but everyone as their own version of what it means to them.  So I joined a group on Facebook, had a look on Youtube and Pinterest, and decided that it was something I wanted to try.

My version is going to be a cross between art journalling, scrapbooking and junk journalling and I'm going to use it to experiment as well as to record events and reactions and store ephemera.

So, I bought a lovely A5 journal blank (from Pink Pig) with really thick, quality art paper inside, and here is my introductory page ...

I found some chipboard letters I forgot I had, plus a frame and a cameo from my stash, glued them down and then covered it all with gesso.  Then I mixed a purple colour (I didn't have a suitable one ready made) from pink and dark blue and used it to paint the whole thing.  I dry brushed with three different shades (pale pink, black and silver) and then added stencilling and stamping in pink (the same one I used to mix the purple), black and silver.  I also used "glue and seal" to attach two small fragments from an old dictionary (bought from a charity shop ages ago to use in my crafting and then forgotten about until now), choosing the sections that defined "junk" and "journal".  

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and am looking forward to getting sticky and paint-covered when I produce future pages.  This is definitely a craft form that I want to explore further.

Inspiration and variation

I get inspiration from various places, including magazines.  In this month's Craft Stamper, there was a lovely example of a stamped resist technique ("Bleached floral", p65 April 2018 issue) which I was keen to try. 

I didn't have the specified white embossing powder, so I had to use clear, hoping that the white card underneath would show through and have a similar effect.  I didn't have the same stamps used in the example so I chose the nearest I had from my own stash. The end result was fairly pleasing, but not as pretty as the one on the magazine.

So I decided to play around with the technique and use a different colour scheme and a totally different theme.  Again, a fairly pleasing result.  I will definitely try this again.   

I particularly like the idea of taking the background colours and applying a more intense version of them to parts of the stamped images.  Taking this aspect of the original card further, I decided to abandon the resist technique, use more vibrant colours and a black embossing powder.

This time I was very pleased with the end result.  I will definitely be using these techniques in the future.
A quick summary of the process -
I cut a piece of white cardstock slightly smaller than the card front.  I used an ink applicator to add the distress inks (Blueprint Sketch, Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick and Festive Berries), then I added a spritz of a shimmer mist.  I stamped the butterfly image with embossing ink then embossed with black embossing powder.  I then used a water brush to apply ink (using three of the colours from the background) more intensely to parts of the butterfly image.  I stamped the foliage across the bottom in Hickory Smoke distress ink and then added the sentiment in black Versafine ink. I carefully applied a little water to the sentiment boxes and blotted with a piece of kitchen paper to slightly bleach the background ink in those areas.  Finally, I matted it onto black card, with only a very thin edge showing, and adhered it to the front of my card.

Paint spatters and party matters

I started this layout intending to use plain white card as the background, as I like the clean look of white against bright colours. But once I’d chosen all the embellishments, I thought it looked a little too stark with the plain white ...

... so, I got my paints out.  I found some colours that matched the colours in my papers,watered them down a little, and got messy doing some paint spatters all over the paper. It was great fun and I really like the pop of colour it gives to the finished page.

Most of this is from the most recent Quirky Kit. The floral paper, the “enjoy the little things” paper and the assorted word and phrase embellishments are all cut from papers in the kit. The journaling tag is die cut from the reverse of one of the papers (the “noted” section is from a previous kit). Add in some letter stickers (also from a previous kit) and the coloured enamel dots, stick it all down, and it’s done.

And in case you’re wondering, the Barbie in the title refers to a barbecue, not the doll! It was a fancy dress barbecue party for an Australian relative.

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.