Art Journal Reveal - Make the Time to Listen to Your Heartsong.....

Well it's time for another Art Journal Reveal - put on your sunglasses, it's a bright one!!!  I can't believe this is my fifth entry in my Art Journal already.  If you want to see the others you can click on the label Art Journaling Journey at the bottom of my post and it will bring you to all my Art Journal pages.  Tracy and I decided on a Dylusions Background Theme this round.  You can see Tracy's Journal page here.  There were several techniques we could try but I was really looking forward to this one.  This was the perfect opportunity to use this Donna Downey/Unity stamp set - love these sweet flowers especially since I'm seeing May flowers pop up everywhere now :)

Applying this colour was so much fun!!  I generously spritzed the right page with a water mister, applied really good sprays of colour randomly and then spritzed with more water.  I tipped the book to set the colours blend and then closed the left side page over and pressed until the colour was seeping out at the edges.  Oila!!  I was SO impressed :)

** Sidenote - this was my second attempt in my good art journal page.  Yes - I didn't like the first one.  I kinda screwed it up and then I was feeling like I liked my test page better, so I made another one.  This one I was happy with, though I still think I like my test page background the best lol.  I've been thinking I may go back and use my first attempt anyway.  If you saw my test page here you'll see the super cute bird from Tim Holtz's Bird Crazy stamp set.  I really like him and I may go ahead and use him there.  

Next I did some ghosting (misting water through a stencil and lifting out the colour) and then adding some more colour through the stencils.

I was torn between a black border and the gold border.  The black really popped (I tried a bit on my test page using the stencil and a sponge dauber with the black archival ink) but I was so drawn to the gold and I love the texture.  My daughter loved the gold too.  I think because of the yellows and oranges in the background.  And then the stamping........

I'm entering this in the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #12 - May Flowers.

I'd also like to share this at Unity's Friends With Flair this week.  

Stamps:  Donna Downey & Unity's Be Still Watercolor Kit
Ink:  Dylusions Ink Sprays - Squeezed Orange, Lemon Zest & Bubblegum Pink; Ranger Archival Ink; Big Brush Pitt pens, White Gelly Roll pen
Accessories:  Faber Castell Gold Texture Luxe, Dylusions 5 x 8 stencils Diamond Border and Number Jumble

You Wonderful Thing You

So here is the last of my cards I'm sharing this weekend.  This is the other Taylored Expressions image I stamped and coloured while watching TV.  I kinda liked it and maybe I'll use my copics more.

Here you can see Wink of Stella on the feathers and the shimmer of the Pewter Liquid Pearls on the flowers.  

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge 146 - Anything Goes

Simon Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Stamps:  Taylored Expressions You Wonderful Thing

Paper:  My Mind's Eye Stella Rose 'Mabel', PTI Stampers Select Choice White cs

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Accessories:  MFT Pierced Circle Stax die, Wink of Stella Clear, Hero Arts Gems, Pewter Liquid Pearls

Enjoy the Little Things

This is my second post today!!  Go me!!  To see the sneak peek of my art journal pages click here.

I just love how this turned out.  One evening I stamped some images and coloured them with copics for use later.  This is one of the images from Taylored Expressions.  Although it doesn't say it, it is a birthday card for my BF in Minneapolis.  I better get it in the mail too!!

You might be able to see here that I used Clear Wink of Stella on the tiny bees' wings.  I love those coloured pearls and they matched the paper ribbon perfectly!!

I am joining in the following challenges with my card:

Simon Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #146 - Anything Goes

Seize the Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes

Stamps:  Taylored Expressions The Little Things
Paper:  Basic Grey Hello Luscious, CC Designs Copic Quality cs, Stampin Up Baked Brown Sugar cs
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, copics, Stampin Up Melon Mambo
Accessories:  Taylored Expressions Label Stacklets 2 die; Basic Grey Hello Luscious paper ribbon, Wink of Stella Clear, Hero Arts Pearls and Gems, 

5th Art Journal Page - Sneak Peek

Hello - just wanted to share a peek of how things are coming with my newest Art Journal pages.  The deadline is coming quickly (May 31st) so I thought I'd share a bit of what I've done so far.  The challenge theme this time was to use Dylusions Ink Sprays.  I received several of these at Christmas and have been itching to try them ever since.  Actually I did make a tag with them over the Christmas holidays, forgot about that.  I've watched several of Dyan Reaveley's videos highlighting her stenciling and ghosting techniques.  You just don't realize until you try it yourself though - I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the vibrancy of these ink spays!!!

I applied some Faber Castell Gold Texture Luxe through one of Dyan's stencils for a border.  This stuff is so cool!  

So that's all for now, and as you know, I like to try out new techniques in my test journal so here is a look at that:  Besides the obvious (the Dylusions background) I was testing my Big Brush Pit pens, my white gelly roll pen, the Texture Luxe........ Isn't he the cutest little crazy bird??!!

Life Can Be Tough......

Hello - I've been busy making cards believe it or not and working in my pocket album.  This card came together only after playing with my distress inks and the smooshing technique.  Love how the ink colours look together.  After I made the background I put it aside until I decided what I was going to do with it.  I finally decided on this - a friend gifted me this Simon Says Stamp set called Hand Lettered Encouragement and I thought the lettering would stand out perfectly on this background.  I added a bit of tissue tape and some gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine spray to finish it off.

I decided to make a little envelope as well using the same tissue tape and gold Color Shine.

I am entering this in the following challenges:

Addicted To Stamps and More Challenge #146 - Anything Goes

Simon Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Shopping Our Stash #203 - Play Misty For Me

Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp Hand Lettered Encouragement

Paper:  Ranger Watercolor Paper, Stampin Up Very Vanilla and Rose Red cs, Stampin Up First Edition dsp (envelope)

Ink:  Distress Inks, StazOn Jet Black Ink

Accessories:  Tim Holtz Tissue Tape, Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine

So Happy Here

Hello!!  In between chillin' in the sun on my deck today and doing some laundry I finally managed to print the pictures I wanted to use to complete this layout.  This was a free make n' take layout offered by Donna at the Autism Crop I attended in April.  I love how perfectly these pictures of my daughter went with the CTMH paper pack Jackson and it's an awesome layout!!

So glad we finally had some nice weather to enjoy this weekend :)

Grand Marais, MN and Trollbreads

No crafty photos today, but I am sharing a few photos of the weekend.  I've just joined up for a monthly Project Life kit from Studio Calico and so I'm trying to make sure I get enough photos for each month.  I already do this pocket page style scrapbooking, but it's not in any particular order and I'm perfectly fine with using past photos.  But for these kits I plan to use photos that are current.

We made a quick trip to one of my favourite places across the border this Victoria Day Weekend - Grand Marais, MN.  The drive along the North Shore is so beautiful and picturesque.  We were picking up a travel trailer - it was a foggy ride but really gorgeous on the lake.  You can barely see the water in the background behind us.

Of course I had to stop at my favourite art gallery Sivertson's as they sell my beloved Trollbeads!!!!  These are my newest additions to my small but growing collection!!  I should share the others some some day.  I've only made two other purchases of these Trollbeads, but there's so many more on my list :)  These beads are GORGEOUS!!

Once home we cleaned and packed the trailer and were off to Northern Lights Resort to park for the summer.  I have a feeling we're really going to enjoy it there :)

Have A Lovely Day

Hi there - popping in to share the card I made for my MIL for Mother's Day.  I first made a watercolour wash with distress inks and then stamped the image with Versamark Ink and embossed with white embossing powder.  The sentiment was also stamped with Versamark on vellum and embossed with gold embossing powder.

I am sharing this over at Unity's Friends With Flair.

Supplies
Stamps:  Unity KOM January 2015 Magic of Beginnings, Have Lovely Day
Paper:  Basic Grey Hello Luscious, SU Vellum, PTI Choice White cs
Ink:  Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry and Wild Honey Distress Inks; Versamark Ink
Accessories:  Hero Arts White Embossing Powder, Stampin Up Gold Embossing Powder

Come Along For the Journey - Tim's Tags May 2015

Hi :)  I was finally able to play along with Tim's 2015 Tags again - this is May's tag.  I got to play with some of my favourite items again - embossing paste and rub-ons!!

I was in Duluth last weekend and found the Hobby Lobby store.  Why have I not been to this store before???  I will share some of my goodies in another post!  Anyway, coincidentally one of the items I picked up was a 4.5 x 6.5 inch burlap lined paper pad.  How cool is that?  It was perfect for this project - I just traced a manilla tag on the back, cut it out and punched a hole at the top.  LOVED adding the embossing paste and rub-ons to the burlap :)  Those tiny buttons were a fun addition to the ribbon - I never use buttons anymore.

This is Tim's May 2015 Tag

Thinking of You Always

Hi - I didn't think I'd make it here this week, too much life going on!!  I decided to quickly share a card I put together at the Autism Crop last Saturday.  This was the one and only card I made that day, and I wanted to try some different watercoloring techniques.  I inked the stamp with Distress Markers and then stamped on watercolor paper and lastly I spritzed the paper as I wanted the ink to feather out.  Well, after one spritz I wasn't happy as one side worked better than the other.  So I spritzed again, and then the pink began to run.  So I spritzed again, lol and gave up. At this point I thought it was a complete fail.  But I loved the colours so i decided to stamp a sentiment - it was crooked, lol.  Still I was determined, so I trimmed the image, tilted it this way, layered it over some pretty pink paper and tilted it that way and oila!!  I also doodled a black border.

Not a bad rescue I think :)  I'm sharing this at Unity's Friend's With Flair.  I'm also sharing at Simon Says Monday Challenge - Anything Goes and Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.  

Have a good weekend!!  I'm off to the States tomorrow to find my daughter a grad dress.....

Supplies:

Stamp:  Unity Blossoming Thoughts & Wishes

Ink:  Distress Markers, Versafine Onyx Black

Paper:  AC Amy Tangerine Sketchbook, Ranger Watercolor Paper, CTMH cs

Accessories:  Mini Mister, Micron Pen