Art journaling in progress.

 This months theme in Dragonfly Dreamers Exploration group is '30 ways to fill you art journal'. It's been good to spend so much time in my art journals. I'd like to tell you that I spend some time art journaling everyday but real life just doesn't work that way. So I art journal whenever I get a chance. Sometimes it may be 5 minutes and others it may be hours. It gets whatever and whenever life allows.

If you've followed along with my art journaling at all, you may have noticed that I don't work on one page at a time. Actually I don't even work in one journal at a time. Nor do I work from the front to back of an art journal much to the surprise of a student, I had recently, who just couldn't fathom that was a thing people did. Well yes it's a think people do. At least I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this practice. I like to just open up to whatever page is calling me at the moment and start there or continue if the page is already started.

This page layout was comprised of about 5 or 6 short, 5 to 15 minute sessions over about a week. In that time I probably worked on some other pages but this one kept calling and telling me what it wanted next. Sometimes that's how it works. Other times a page can take months or years before it calls me back to finish it.

Mica spray and watercolour ink

The first layer on the spread was just a quick splash of Cosmic Shimmer Watercolor ink and Distress Mica spray. I love the contrast of the shimmery spray with the matte watercolor ink. A quick background that took less than 5 minutes to do but then needed lots of dry time. It could be dried with a heat gun but the effects are different and my time was up anyway.

Washi tape and stamping

Next I used washi tape. I like to rip the tape length wise to get rid of the harsh straight lines. Using a large stamp without a block helps to give that random stamping look. I used Archival ink for this because I know it will be permanent no matter what I want to add on top of it.

Stabilo all, graphite and embossing powder

A few lines and squiggles with the Stabilo all pencil and graphite stick help bring everything together. Since they are both water soluble I used a wet brush to loosen up and smudge the lines a bit. The gears are a die that I added embossing powder to before adhering them to the page.

Stencil, grit paste and Fude pen

I had to add some grit paste because it was new on my desk and just asking to be tried. The brick stencil just seemed to work with the grungy layout. I discovered that the grit paste will reactivate anything water-soluble that you put it on, so where it is on top of the Distress mica sprays it turned a lovely rusty red. You can see the actual colour of the Grit Paste in the top right hand corner.

To finish off the page I used the Fude Ball pen to darken some of the lines and do some writing. 

If you'd like to see more of my pages as well as other members for '30 days to fill your art journal' you can find us here.

Happy Creative!

Wendy

Coaster workshop

Great fun in the studio yesterday with a group of ladies doing Marble tile coasters. Although it was a full class I didn't remember to take photos until a couple had already left so here a just a few of the finished ones.

Kathy

Miranda

Leslie

Sandra

It was a little tricky getting good photo's while they're still wet but you can see how awesome they were. Hmm I have a few coasters left...I wonder if anyone would like some for Christmas gifts!!

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Distress ink bookmarks.

I think this is my favourite thing to do with Distress Inks... make backgrounds for cards and bookmarks.

Have you tried this before? You just dab 3-4 colours of ink right onto the craft mat, spritz with any liquid, I used glimmer mist and then swish your paper in it. Instant colour splashes. The Tin Man thought a little wine would help while I was creating that night. Well it didn't seem to hurt!

I then used my ink dabbers and stencils to add some more colour and designs here and there.  The most difficult part is choosing which stamps to use to finish it off. I used  black Versafine for the stamping. Once dried I mounted them on coloured card stock for a little extra support and to hide the mess I usually make on the back of them. 

What's your favourite thing to do with Distress Inks?

Happy Creating

Wendy

I'm back...

Yes I'm back. At least back at the blogging. I haven't been away any where just a little under the weather, so kinda unmotivated to do the blogging thing. But I think I'm over the worst of the cold I had and maybe I can think a little better to do some writing here. Have I ever mentioned that I actually hate to write! So why have a blog at all you say? Well I guess the joy of sharing my creations with others out weighs the hatred of writing. I did read a blog(sorry I've forgotten where it was) about writing and the loathing there of, recently and I think it's help put a little perspective to it for me. His main message was to write how you talk. This seems too easy to me but I thought I'd give a try. So far it seems to be helping somewhat.

Oh well, on to the fun stuff. I've been doing a little playing around with inks and stamps. I made some bookmarks to give away at the Fibrefest and they seemed quite taken with them. So I've been playing with some other options. I try to use scraps of paper so the ones at the top are a smaller version that I'll probably give away at the next show I do. The ones at the bottom are a little bigger and I've laminated them. I used my Xyron machine for this. It worked pretty good although a few didn't work out too well. I wasn't paying attention when I took the picture and you can see the one on the top got a crinkle in the laminate. I'm hoping with a little experience with the machine they'll all work out perfect.

Gotta go now. I'm off to Tai Chi this afternoon. Have a great one.