Happy Mail

 I recently put together some happy mail in response to the suggestion of an ephemera swap on Instagram.  I am finding I spend much more time over there these days than on my blog! @sarahthemoodler if you're on IG, please come and say hello!

I made a little matchbox from some brusho inked paper and some of my new stamps - have you found MAKIstamps?  There's some great images, especially the fun little Brownies!

 I filled the matchbox with some tiny stickers (step by step over on the Lavinia Stamps website if you fancy making some!) and other bits and pieces.

I filled a glassine envelope with goodies too.  I stamped the fern with black Versafine ink which then wouldn't dry so I embossed it with gold embossing powder and loved the effect!  Inside the envelope are tags and stickers and papers.

I collaged the front of a second glassine envelope filled with papers.  The envelope is from some Paperchase wrapping paper I've had forever and just LoVe!

I added a little notecard which I made using some endpapers from a book and some stamping ...

Sarah was really happy with her happy mail ..

...and when mine arrived the next day I was thrilled too!  I'm not sure how an envelope full of papers can bring such joy!!!

So I journaled about it using some of the treasures:

I love the little collaged card Sarah made and included in my package.

I also used some in this week's Documented Life Project page :)

goodbye DLP 2015

I had a little catching up to do yesterday, and completed all four of December's documented life project challenges in one day.  This month's theme was journaling and I used one of my leaf gelli plate prints to make my journaling central to the page.

For the quote challenge I used one of my Christmas presents,  the 'Life is good' stamp by Carabelle Studio .  I discovered that 'That's Crafty' have a wishlist option on their website :)

Hidden journaling was another challenge.  I came across part of an envelope in my box of papers. This must have originally said 'private and confidential' which I thought was appropriate for hiding journaling behind!

The journaling is hidden on the paper underneath the envelope.  I really enjoyed adding numbers to this page in a variety of ways, for no other reason than because I like numbers!!

My final page began life in a similar way to my Christmas cards.  I was supposed to tell my story but decided to do this with images rather than words.   Snowflakes are a recurring theme for me in my artwork at Christmas, and therefore part of my winter story.

I have always wanted to keep a diary and never got further than a month but by taking part in DLP I have managed to keep one for a whole year :)  I have missed the odd few days here and there but very few.  I didn't do so well with keeping up with the art challenges - missing the months May through to September - but I'm ok with that.  I did what I could.

My moleskine planner is nicely full - can't believe it started off life so thin (the planner at the bottom).  This worked really well for me this year so I'll be using the same format for 2016.  Although 2016 is the year of the un-planner, the format is flexible enough for me to continue with my moleskine :)

Happy New Year to all my visitors, thanks for taking the time to see what I've been up to :)

step by step art journal page for original documented life project challenge

In between the layers on this piece are alternate feelings of "I like it" and "oh dear, now what?  I think I like the final piece!

It started with Brusho

and continued with me finally opening my distress paint and trying it on the gelli plate.

It turned out that I didn't really choose the right colour!  This was my first 'oh dear' moment.

So I got out a stencil and continued playing with my distress paints, dabbing paint through and then stamping with the stencil to get the opposite effect.

 

I made some stamps the other week with some adhesive funky foam (these are sooooo easy to make!).

The page then sat for a while because I couldn't think what to do next, possibly because I liked it so much just as it is!

In the end I drew a daisy on some book paper and used a Dina Wakley mask (the DLP challenge is to use a stencil, mask and stamp together on the page) as the stalk, drawing around it with a white gel pen.

It went through some more 'oh dear' moments but I think I like it now!  It may or may not be finished - considering some clouds and/or raindrops.

thanks for visiting

stamps, stencils and masks

This month's challenge theme, over at Art to the 5th, is 'stamps, stencils and masks' and this week's art challenge is to use stencils - made or bought.

I have tonnes of stencils, and love using them, so decided to cut some of my own for this project using stencil card from Hobbycraft.  I started by cutting out a leaf - which ended up as a mask rather than a stencil ...

...and then I didn't end up using it!!  Suspect there will be a 'mask' week sometime this month though so I'll likely use it then.

I took one of my plain pink gelli prints from last weekend and added Dina Wakley acrylic paints over the top with a baby wipe...

..and once that was dry, added some stamping using a circle stamp, and background script stamp from Lavinia Stamps with Eggplant Adirondack ink.

I cut out a simple heart stencil and sponged white paint through before adding a stamped flower (made using funky foam - sooooo easy to cut out!!)

I also cut out some tiny round rectangles in funky foam and stamped with these on my page using black ink.  There's some additional stamping on there too, along with pencil marks, some music paper and some gold paint.

I wasn't keen on my flower last night, and realised that I like layers on my pages rather than single (ish) pages.  I was going to stamp the flower out again onto music paper, cut it out and stitch it to the page but I had another look this morning and decided I like it after all!

Well, enough to live with it anyway!!  :)

Documented Life Project - October and the missing months

 My poor planner has quite a few missing journaled pages over the last few months.  I love a challenge but what with the busyness of teaching in school full time, and other demands on my time I haven't kept up with DLP until now.  Sometimes the challenge is too big!

 The October challenges, though, aren't too far from my comfort zone and so have been within reach in my limited time.  The theme for October is 'translucent papers'.

The leaves this autumn are just spectacular and I wanted to reflect that in my planner.  I used some newly purchased Paper Artsy Chalk Acrylics, my Gelli plate and some deli paper (the challenge for Oct 3rd).  The journaling around the leaf is my attempt at describing the wonderful colours of the season.

October 10th's challenge was to use tissue paper.  I had some in my drawer from a Clinique purchase which had the brand name printed on in deeper white, but this disappeared when I laid it on some paper I'd art journaled on at a Dina Wakely workshop.  I'm really pleased with the letter stencils - I've wanted some like this for many, many years and came across some recently at Fred Aldous.  They are made of waxed card so once they're all painty and inky I'll be able to incorporate the actual stencils in my work too!

This weekend's challenge was to use vellum.  I couldn't find any in my stash so improvised with a large translucent envelope.

Again using my new Paper Artsy Chalk Acrylics I began a page that could be inserted inside the 'envelope page'.

I may still add some more doodling but it's fine for now.  The 'Love with your Heart' stamp is by Visible Image and is another of my recent purchases - I had a lovely time at the Happy Stampers show, Port Sunlight, with friends :)

The fairy seemed quite apt for this time of year.  The October piece at the top of the page has been on my mind to do right from the beginning but it's taken me til now to purchase some suitable stamps!!  These are from Kaisercraft.

five layers of journaling

Still catching up on sharing my pages from my moleskine planner, inspired by the Original Documented Life Project and this is another of my favourites.

Art Challenge: Using at least Five Layers

The challenge was to use at least five layers and I was hugely inspired by the fabulous Art to the 5th Cardboard Crush workshop.

I painted up a strip of paper with a repeated mark and created five separate 'pages' that I then stitched together.

Each of the five 'pages' has five layers on it....

...and they lift up so are journaled on both sides.

I hope you get a good idea from these photos; it was hard to get good images of the way this page was put together!

I'm loving adding doodling to my pages :)

The above 'page' started off as a scrap of paper that I'd added some watercolour paint to.  I then doodled around a leaf shape and added some collage.

I'm not sure where this little guy came from - possibly an old lotto game.  I just loved him and decided he'd be happy in my journal.  I added art journaling to the other side of the card ...

Another page featured a verse from Documented Faith

I really can recommend this art challenge.  I'm loving it :)