Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, thanks so much for coming by and reading my blog over this past year :)

I make very few Christmas cards, and always on the last minute.  I had been planning them in my head for a while though - unfortunately, that design worked in my head but not in practice!  So off I went on t'internet for some inspiration and came across Nichol Magouirk's beautiful cards here

So I rummaged in my Christmas stamp box for an inspiring stamp image and got out my distress ink pads and embossing powders....

... and whipped up some quick Christmas cards.

Wishing you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year

Sarah xx

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

art journaling in my bible

I have a confession!  I can't remember the last time I did any art journaling in one of my journals!  I adore making tags and they are often my 'go to' when I want to make something small or quick...

...and I've been doing my planner pages some months

but the other place I've been art journaling is in my bible.

I appreciate this isn't for everyone, but I've found it's made me want to read my bible more, and the visual imagery means I remember things better. Sometimes it's like a treasure hunt - I adore the imagery of stars and there's plenty of references to them so lots of opportunities to play!

One of my favourite pages is one of the simplest ...

Journaling bibles like this one, with extra wide margins to write in (or stencil, paint, doodle, stamp...) had sold out worldwide but they are now back in the shops....

...and my latest imagery hunt is for references to autumn and spring rains!  I think I may be affected by the current weather ;)

gelli print toadstool resists

I've been wanting to play with this gorgeous stamp for a while now - and it turns out this small fairy chain is the perfect size for a tag.

My original idea was to create a painted background for the fairies using my gelli plate but I just wasn't feeling it!  Sometimes you just have to leave something that's not working - and it can end up working differently when you return to it another time.

So I started again and this time used a single colour of paint and decided to see what happens when paint is lifted off the gelli plate with a Lavinia stamp.  I was really pleased with the effect but the magic occurred when I added the distress ink, which is resisted by the acrylic paint :)

This was a fab project to work on and I'll certainly be playing with this idea further.  If you want to know/see more, my step by step guide to creating this tag is over on the Lavinia Stamps website .

Thanks for visiting today :)

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!!  :)

tea bags on a journal page

I've really enjoyed this month's challenges from the Documented Life Project where the theme has been translucent papers.

The final challenge was to use tea bags or dryer sheets so I emptied out a teabag and trapped a leaf and some coloured papers inside using wax.

The scratch sheet from my recent play with my gelli plate had an excellent array of colours and texture, providing a number of options as the background for my tea bag.

I decided on the darker blue and stitched it to the page.

I have a fair collection of leaf stamps and chose these lovely oak leaves to add to the page.  This may or may not be finished - I might add some words cut out of a poetry book!

documented life project + gelli prints + glassine

I used one of my gelli prints (see previous post) as the basis for this page in my planner,

The DLP art challenge was 'glassine' so I'd used some of my glassine envelopes whilst I was playing with my gelli plate.  I added this to my page with a Pritt stick and was pleased with the effect - think I'll use this technique again.

As the leaf wasn't standing out as much as I'd hoped I added coloured pencils, then watercolour.

Stamping added some further interest - the word 'astonishing' seemed rather an apt description of the trees this autumn and came from a recent Paper Artsy purchase!

I still wasn't happy with my leaf though so cut a gelli printed leaf out and stitched it to the page before adding some gold foil.

I put the glue through a stencil which added a strange effect to the leaf but I think I can live with that!

playing with my gelli plate

I always have great plans at half term - catching up on schoolwork, catching up on housework, planning out new ideas for the classroom, decorating in the house, clearing out, gardening (getting those spring bulbs in)....

In reality I actually just needed a really good rest and after sleeping a lot and catching up with friends I made myself play with my paints and gelli plate on Friday morning - play is rest too, and is VeRy good for you!

The colours this autumn have been amazing.  I've done a lot of driving through the Cheshire countryside this week, being Mum's taxi for my son who was doing some work experience with a farrier - the drive has been a real treat to just soak in the amazing colours of the leaves.

So I took the leaves and autumn colours for inspiration as I played.

I brayered Dina Wakley's acrylic paints onto the gelli plate, pressed down some stencils then laid down a leaf before taking the print.  These just shout out for some zen doodling inside the leaf shape!

Removing the leaf and taking a second print is actually my favourite result though :)

I had a bit of play with other colourways too.  I love black and white backgrounds with added colour so look forward to adapting this piece.  The paints used are  'night' combined with 'umber'.

Some of the leaves are still green 

which makes a nice combo with oranges, yellows and browns.

I then chose to play with my little 3" x 5" gelli plate, exploring the use of dark blue

trying out new colourways such as yellow ochre and grey

and layering colours into my little journal, ready for some imagery

By the end of all this playing, I had a fantastic sheet of paper created by cleaning off my brayer in addition to the many sheets of gelli printed papers :)

Sometimes I find it easy to play but I really had to work at it this time.  It was worth it though :)