Circle Art Journal - Just Go

A quick Art Journal page inspired by my love of travelling. I would love to do more so this is some advice to myself!

Background: Glossy Accents and Ranger Adirondack Inks with heart and star doodles.
Main Image: Die cuts in Happy Mail from my kind friend Dawn - her art is amazing, check out her Instagram feed here.
Quote: Handwritten on a pretty pattern I found in the background of a calendar picture!

Stay crafty!

Katie x

Clarity Challenge - July

I love Clarity Stamps and I have a few that I have not yer used so thought I would make an effort to join in the the Clarity Stamp Challenge. Here is my entry, a small canvas, for the July Challenge with the theme of Days Out.

1) Stamped the Small Sketched Lady and Large Eiffel Tower images with Adirondack Archival ink in Jet Black 

2) Each image was masked with Pebeo Drawing Gum.

3) Using a torn piece of paper the sky was added using Clarity Stencil Brushes and Distress Ink in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries.

4) The land was coloured using the same stencil brush technique using Old Paper and Peeled Paint, ensuring darker patches were under the stamped images allowing them to be grounded.

5) The horizontal lines were highlighted by freehand doodle lines using a fine line pen.

6) The drawing gum was rubbed off and the images were coloured using distress inks (Festive Berries, Tattered Rose and Wild Honey).

7) "Summer in Paris" was stamped using the Letterbox stamps.

8) A boarder was added using Vintage Photo Distress ink and an ink applicator.

Ta Da!

Stay crafty,

Katie x

Circle Journal Workshop

Yet another fantastic afternoon was spent with Mike and the wonderfully fabulous ladies at Art Journal Class. We made Circle Journals from scratch and I am chuffed with mine!!

What do you think:

Front Cover

Back Cover

(Note to self - better photos required...)

I found it a lot of pressure decorating the covers as they are obviously the things you will see the most... But I'm very pleased with them. Now to fill it with pages just as beautiful!!

Stay crafty,

Katie x

Mission Inspiration - July

I haven't been art journalling long. I discovered it through attending workshops at what was Kraftyhands (now ceased trading) with Ian and Mike.

Mike has a fantastic YouTube channel (If you haven't checked it out yet you should pop over.) and is the founder of the the Mission Inspiration Facebook page. Each month a set of instructions for creating an Art Journal page is given so I decided to try my hand at July's mission.

Step 1: Apply a base page colour with a baby wipe

I chose to use DoCrafts Artiste paints in Metallic Silver and Metallic Bronze. Most of my pages so far have been quite bright so I thought I would step out of my comfort zone by using something more neutral.

Step 2: Glue tissue or napkin fragments

I knew what quote and image I wanted to use so I went for screwed up white tissue paper to try and simulate clouds.

Step 3: Add a thin layer of white gesso or paint.

I used white gesso watered down just a little.

Step 4: Add texture pastethrough a stencil

Step 5: Addtwo contrasting colours

I used a Sheena Douglas stencil to add more clouds with the texture paste. And then I'm not sure what came over me but I was obviously feeling there was not enough colour so bam! Out come the Dylusions paints, in this case it was London Blue and Squeezed Orange put through the Stampin' Up! Hearts and Stars mask. At this pointI hadnoideawhat I was doing. My face looked something like this:

Why,oh why did I have to throw down those stars. I though about tearing it up and starting again... But I persevered.

Step 6: Adhere textbook fragments

As the them is a song lyric for the quote I went with music paper. Phew,some of the stars have gone! But I thought a layer of watered down white gesso would calm things down a bit more.

Much better!

Step 7: Stamp image or patterns

Step 8: Add focal image or shape

I have a lot of stamps that haven't even made it out of their packages yet so part of my reason for choosing this song lyric is I knew I had something to create a focal image. I'm not sure which set the swirls are from as the packaging wasn't with them (ebay purchase?!) but they went on with Versafine Onyx Black and Encore Metallic in Gold.

The focal images are from Gorjuss by Santoro London - The Owl and Flying Above it All (I think this one might be discontinued?) coloured using Inktense pencils.

Step 9: Add handwritten song lyric quote

I chose a line from Defying Gravity from Wicked. Love the musical and this song always gves me goosebumps!

Step 10: Add a border of your choice.

The swirly stamps already added a border to this page so I went with a dab of distress ink around the edge. Here is the final design!

I don't feel it's my best page by far but I am proud of it as it was the first page I did on my own without Mike and the fabulous ladies who attend the Art Journal Workshops.

I am looking forward to next month's Mission Inspiration prompt and who knows, I might step back in time and try some of the previous months!

I have entered this page in to the following challenges:

More Mixed Media Challenge - Anything Goes

Creative Loops - Star and/or Stripes

Paradise of Stamps - Anything goes

Altered Eclectics

The Sisters of Craft - Anything goes

Country View Challenges - Have fun with circles

Stay crafty,

Katie x

Box of Treasures

I love going to the workshops with Ian and Mike. I really enjoy making the items and I am always amazed atthe things that come from Ian's mind! Just have a look at Ian's website, link here, each item has so much thought, love and fairy dust in it's creation.

At one of the workshops earlier in the year we started off with a plain and ugly box from The Works and turned it in to this:

We used leather to cover the box, replaced the hinge and the clasp and added embellishments.

The inside was lined with felt. So simple but very effective.

If you like this box and haven't had a chance to take a look at the Mini-One I made under Ian's patient instruction...

Crafty love until next time,

Katie

Art Journal Newbie

On a previous post I have told you about how wonderfully awesome Ian Campbell's Steam Punk creations are. Now it's time to give Mike Deakin's classes a turn!

I am new to the world of Art Journals and if it wasn't for Mike holding a class I probably wouldn't have given it a go. Mike has a fab blog and YouTube channel, with fantastic tutorials. If you have not discovered him before, please go have a look!

The first class I attended was a technique class, adding texture with paint, stencils and texture paste. We started two pages, one of them I have now completed but the second I have not touched since,I'm just waiting for my inspiration!

We used a credit card to apply the texture paste, dried this and added paint to the topof the page. The paint was sprayed with water and allowed to dribbled and rung through the texture paste highlighting the different shapes.

This is as far I I got with this page so far.I think it's the yellow... I'm just not sure where to take it.

The second page we applied the texture paste through a stencil and applied paint with a baby wipe. Mike is always very generous and supplies us with a sheet of three of his art journal collage sheets that can be found in his Etsy store. We added these to the page along with torn paper - going through the basics of page layout and balance. 

This page is still not finished but I don't thinkit will take long to add the last finishing touches. Look out for a post in the future!

Crafty love until next time,

Katie

Brusho Birthday Card

As my friends and family know, I am rubbish at making cards and getting them sent off it time. I have all the stuff to make the cards,and I think I have the capabilities of throwing ink on paper to make it look pretty but I never seem to have time! 

I met three very special ladies when I live in Glasgow and I am trying really hard to make sure they each get a handmade card that arrives on time, I think I am succeeding so far! This month it was Linda's turn and here is the card I made for her.

I started by laying a stencil on a sheet of paper and spritzing it with water. Then the fun - sprinkling on the Brushos! I absolutely love Brushos - the colours are so vibrant and I love seeing the different elements that make up each colour - the black is amazing with speaks of greens, blues and yellows.

While this was drying I stamped out 'Linda' with the Clarity alphabet stamps, and cut around the letters. I added a boarder with distress ink.

I thought the shape of the stencil was a bit lost with the Brushos so I laid the stencil back over and drew around it with a light purple colour. It was enough to highlight the stamp but it doesn't stand out a lot. After cutting down the background to size for the card I stuck the sentiment on with foam pads and added a black boarder with a Sharpie.

Finally I layered the topper on blue card. What do you think?

I have entered this card in to the following challenges:

Inspiration Destination
Through the Craft Room Door
Artistic Inspirations
Craft your Passion
613 Avenue Create
Inspirational Challenges
Crafting with Friends
Simply Papercraft for All

I always loveto read your comments so don't forget to say hi!

I hope you are all having a lovely crafty weekend,

Katie