lavinia stamps challenge: add some glitter

Finished my entry last night but decided to photograph it in daylight.

Oops, that was the wrong decision as I had failed (again!!) to read the rules properly and when I checked the blog this am  I would have been four hours late with my entry!  Ah well, it wasn't about winning as I won the £40 voucher a couple of months back (and just spent it on the new release!!)

Then, as I added the photo to my Lavinia Stamps album I discovered I'd used this stamp in a similar way already!  Never mind, I thoroughly enjoyed making it - digging out my gelli plate to add background texture, then adding more colour with a sponge and adding stamping then glittering up the fairy's wings. 

Here's my previous tag:

..and you can find the new Lavinia stamps here; I struggled to choose!!

stencilled tag

I got some new stencils the other day and really enjoyed playing with them alongside my Stampotique stamps.

And being me, that play involved a tag.  After laying down a colourful background I went for clean and simple imagery (I just love these sunflowers and am so glad I have both, they work so well together).

I'm thinking it'll work well mounted on an art journal page made from some of the papers I made yesterday.

Stampotique stamps used:

sunflower large  #9256  by Janet Klein

sunflower medium  #9257  by Janet Klein

paris postcard  #8964  Carol's collection

playing with colour

I've been playing in my art journal, alongside my good crafting friend Chris, and with the support of an online workshop from Samie Harding.

I love the colour block style of Samie's pages so, needing a bit of a boost to get back to my journals, I treated myself to a workshop.  I hated making this page; it felt so uncomfortable and I just wanted to reach for my stamps to make myself feel better.

Instead I reached for a different tool for applying the paint and LoVe the effect the sponge gave me.  These aren't colours I'd naturally have put together but I really like them.  They came about from following Samie's advice for choosing colours.

Using a piece of paper as my palette I was able to smooch the leftover paint together to make some painted paper which I'm sure will appear on a journal page soon.  I then continued playing on another piece of paper and although I enjoyed it, I didn't really push myself with my colour choices this time, which I'm a bit disappointed with myself about....

.... so more play is definitely needed!  Have you taken any online workshops recently?  I'd love to know!    ...and would definitely recommend Art Journal Summer Camp 2014 (I just took session 2)

Meet Cinth and say Hi!

Although she's a touch un-seasonal she's a jolly, good-natured little person who lives very happily, just the kind of person you want to be around!

Stampotique stamps used:

Dotted Line  #7107  by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

Antique Description  #7228  by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

Design Cube  #10012  by France Papillon

Hiya Cinth  #9174  by Janet Klein

Sunflower large  #9256  by Janet Klein

Art in the Pen

Last Saturday my son, daughter and I went on a lovely trip over to Skipton to 'Art in the Pen' which I'd heard of before but it had always clashed with our summer hols.

Anne Brooke, textile artist

I actually only remembered about it as I follow Anne Brooke on Facebook (her work above/below) and she posted some photos of her preparations for the event.  Skipton is only an hour and a half drive away and with nothing else planned for our Saturday off we went.

Anne Brooke, textile artist

I ended up spending some money!!

 Anne Brooke, textile artist

I love my driftwood piece by Anne Brooke, and my "little tin to keep my treasures in"!

 Anne Brooke, textile artist

I also added to my collection of pieces by Helen Russell who recently added owls to her 'blob birds'.  I love owls :)

 Helen Russell

Another treat was a little book by Michelle Holland with covers made from driftwood, sea glass and ceramics.  I love the effect of fired glass (I am sure it has a proper term but I don't know what it is!!)

 Michelle Holland, book artist

 Michelle Holland, book artist

I couldn't resist Michelle's teeny tiny books and added one to my piece of driftwood.

 Michelle Holland, book artist

It was my twenty-third wedding anniversary on Sunday and 'Art in the Pen' gave me the opportunity to buy a unique present for my husband.  He got a woodpecker made from scrap metal from the amazing Gavin of Frailloop....

Failloop

...and I snuck in a snail for me!!

 Failloop

My final purchase, a little needle book from Joan Newall of PagePaperStitch.

 Joan Newall, book artist

 Joan Newall, book artist

 Joan Newall, book artist

There was tonnes and tonnes of other gorgeous artwork, loads of inspiration and friendly artists to chat to.... and the entrance fee was only £2!!  I can highly recommend it.

dreaming on a journal page

Still working in my little passport sized Moleskine journal but with only two pages left it's very nearly complete.  I switch between working in different sized journals depending on my mood, so I must be going through a small journal phase at the moment!!

This isn't want I originally intended for this image but that's the great thing about journaling, ideas flow as you work with the imagery (and I still have my original idea to work on!!).

It makes me think of the story of 'Where the wild things are' for some reason!!

Stampotique stamps used:

Dreamer  #12003  Linda Peterson

2 Nuages (Fr)  #9248  Janet Klein

Grow your dreams  #7231  Maria Sabina Raita

Sunflower medium  #9257  Janet Klein

Baroque background  #7109  Amy Wilson Wellenstein

black and white journal page

Last week Kay's Stampotique challenge was to use black and white with a pop of colour, which is one of my favourite challenges.  I use this in reverse a lot but only use it this way round when challenged, don't know why!!

The little scrap of blue was a piece I made for another project that didn't work out, but I liked it so kept it.  Really must do use this theme again, I really enjoyed the challenge!!

Stampotique stamps used:

Numeric  #7164  Amy Wilson Wellenstein

Barcode text  #10020  France Papillon

Barcode  #10019  France Papillon

Daisy, daisy  #3002  Jo Capper-Sandon

finally made some time for 'me'

Yesterday I finally got round to cracking open my biggest stamps, this set of french stamps by Carabelle Studio from That's Crafty.  

The set is A4 in size but comes complete with an A4 mountblock so I felt it was really good value.  I was teaching a workshop for the fabulous Victoria Stampers stamp club in Warrington yesterday and used my demo piece as a background in my passport sized journal.

I just love the contrast of black and white imagery against a colourful background.  It still needs more work but I'm not sure what yet so leaving it to sit awhile.

We decorated envelopes on the workshop, made tags and doodled/practised journal writing.  It was a really fab day and I'll definitely be going back each month as an attendee as they are such a friendly bunch of people with some great workshops planned.

a journal page

I love it when I have a nearly finished journal (which doesn't happen often!) as it gives me the oomph I sometimes need to get journaling!  This is my passport sized moleskine journal.

I couldn't find my gelli plate but did find a cellophane packet so inked it up, sprayed it with water and printed it onto my gessoed page.

Some added depth of colour using a sponge .... and that's where I forgot I was taking step by step photos!  Oops!

There's a bit of text stamped in the background for added texture, then I stamped 'Daniel's hearts' in black directly onto the page.  They didn't stamp well in the centre so I stamped them again on another inked up piece of paper, cut them out and added them to the page.

A little quasimoto and a quote and my page was done.

Stampotique stamps used:

Daniel's hearts  #6109  Daniel Torrente

Quasimoto #3  #6015  Daniel Torrente and Jill Penney

Antique Description  #7228  Amy Wilson Wellenstein

Whole Heart  #12011  Linda Peterson