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.