Commissioned Wedding Card

I was commissioned by a friend/neighbour - Deb.

to create a card for her God Daughter's wedding.

I have to say, the first photo did not turn out great.

No idea why.  I used the exact same camera

to take all the photos.

Image - I Do - a digital purchase from the, 

now closed store, A Day For Daisies.

To get the image onto the heart, I first

printed it onto plain copy paper.

I then placed the heart over the image

& ran back through.

 I used the paper copy in an art journal.

Front panel & all inside die cutting - Tonic Studios;

Square Vines Base Affections Die Set,

First Crush Affections Insert Die.

Embossed background using a folder which I think was free.

I just can't remember where from! 

Large Congratulations die was an Ebay purchase.

Wording was picked by Deb.

 Inside I added a die cut heart for decoration & a plain heart

tucked into a die cut pocket for their personal greeting.

Pocket was made from a free die with

Die Cutting Essentials 33 - Cherry Tree 

This image shows the full inside design.

Colour Love...

I am busy creating.

I will share soon.

What I can share is my newest favourite

colour palette.

PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paints in;

Taro Milk Tea (Brand new for 2019)

Mushroom (being discontinued)

Seaglass

Stone

Dusty Teal (being discontinued)

 Here is a photo of the palette

I only have 40 colours & most are neutrals.

  

Here is the palette on the mood board

Cork noticeboard covered with rose gold, geometric 

gift wrap from Primark

This is another of my boards.

 I have a third board covered with adhesive magnet.

It looks a mess at the moment!

AWOL

I have no more art to share right now!

I have to edit photos of a Wedding Card,

commissioned a few weeks ago.

I have a few bits started & I have made

the first 14 Christmas cards.

I have been busy in the garden.

I have been tending my plants, preparing the

raised bed for vegetables next year.

Spotting wild creatures & sat outside while new windows

were out in the bungalow.

Normal service will resume soon.

(or when I have created something!)

For now I leave you with some photos.

Raised bed with section of original bed shortened.

Covered with pebbles until slabs located.

Recycling the old fireplace again!

Sunken Stepping Stones in front of the bench.

 

This is a Privet Hawk Moth Caterpillar.

Nice bright dude! 

He moves quite quick.

He looks like a witches finger 😁

 

  

This is kind of cute!

This is an Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar.

Those spots look like big eyes. 

He (she) was just hanging out on my Fuchsia.

 

REAL,

NOT PERFECT.

That is the title for this next mini junk journal page.

The book is getting close to full & I am planning to

make another, but slightly larger. 

I actually began this page before "Dreamer"

but I loved how the Lindy's dried on the textured gesso

& so Dreamer was created first.

I smoothed out the gesso on this one before

letting it dry (after smooshing both pages together)

I stamped with a texture stamp set by Viva Decor,

before colouring the page with the 

Nantucket Pearls Lindy's.

I added some Dylusions White Linen Spray

around the edges to fade it out more.

For my focal point I used the free Altenew stamps

with issue 194 Simply Cards & Papercraft.

(The set includes a stencil also)

If you are not familiar with the site, you will find

free digi downloads for papers & stamps.

I chose Altenew crisp inks;

Heartbeat / Velvet / Moss & Jet Black

to stamp the images, but to be honest

they did not react well stamping on top of the Lindy's

I had to use my Posca black paint pen to go over

some of the stamped lines to make them clear.

It must be the shimmery surface (not visible in the pic)

I kept this page simple & just added the words by HGDesigns. 

I felt the grunge background stamping & the focal image

didn't need much of a supporting cast.

 

And Still...

I Rise.

Another mini junk journal page.

I had so much fun with this one.

I knew I wanted to play with my chosen,

 purchased image.  So, I worked around it,

 using magazine image collage & stamping.

It started out as something else completely,

but I decided I didn't like the way it was

going & so I tore off the texture.

Fatal mistake! It weakened the next page

which was my Mermaid dreamer! 😱

Still, I managed to save it with some good glue

& heavy body gesso 😇 

I added an image transfer using a magazine

image & the method LorriMarie taught.

Once fully dried & backing paper removed,

I added an image stamped on tissue.

This was the dressing table & mirror from

Creative Stamping issue 53.

 I added Distress paint Seedless Preserves, through the

Gothic Tim Holtz stencil. Allowed it to dry & then

sponged a light covering of the same colour over top.

Then I re-sized & printed my focal point.

This fun Raven Queen by Mike Deakin Art.

Mike creates some fabulous journal pages

& if you visit the store, he has great images,

stamps & stencils. Most, if not all, are his own designs. 

If you are not familiar with him, you can also find him on YouTube.

 

Next I added Colourcraft Gold Drawing Ink as

I linked in my Mermaid "Dreamer" page.

I drew around all my imagery with a black Posca paint pen.

Then added black ink to darken it all up.

Finally I added digital words by Helen Green - HGDesigns. 

 

In Time

Everything will work out

in time.

The next page in my colour exploration journal.

Carnival 2 stencil - Mike Deakin Art

with texture paste & emobssing powder.

I also added a clock stencil - Tando Creative

Distress Stains - Chipped Sapphire / Seedless Preserves

Dylusions Paint;

Lemon Zest / Bubblegum Pink /Fresh Lime / Crushed Grape

The stains alone was too flat, so I built up extra colour with the paint.

I added torn text & gesso to clock faces.

Stamped a clock face in both & then in the top one, I

added Tim Holtz word stickers  " you have to believe & trust" & 

added my masked, stamped focal point.

(Bird & Crown from Crafty Secrets Clear Arts) 

These are a "previously loved" set, so possibly no longer available.

But, I have linked an image so you can see them.

Main title also Tim Holtz.

Rainbow Child

This page came about in an unusual way.

I was sat in our local church on 22nd July,

attending a funeral service for our dear friend & neighbour, Fran.

She had written her wishes clearly & said under no circumstances

was there to be a eulogy. She was a member of the local choir & chose her own hymns. 

Therefore, after the first hymn, the Reverend Julie Donn first read a poem,

I wandered lonely as a Cloud.

She then spoke of how, as there was to be no eulogy, she felt she should read 

some scripture that seemed fitting for celebrating Fran's life.

I fail to remember the exact passage as I was still getting over the

singing as the choir members, stood in the congregation & sang with us. 

It was hauntingly beautiful & I still get goosebumps

thinking about it now as I type.

I do remember her saying,

that Fran meant something different to each one of us

& we would all remember her in our own unique way.

After the committal at our local cemetery, where the vast 

majority of my family are laid to rest, we went to the wake.

When we got home, I couldn't help thinking about the service.

I went outside to look at the plants I had inherited from Fran

& the song from Dan Reed Network came into my head.

I knew then I had to create a page.

You see, when I think of Fran, I think of an abundance of colour.

She loved every flower in every colour & shade.

So I created a rainbow coloured page with Dylusions paint & a stencil.

Then, because the song would not leave my head,

I wrote most of the lyrics across the whole page in black 

using a Posca Paint Pen.

At the end of the song, Dan Reed talks the final words,

Say hello, to the rainbow child.

She don't talk much, she don't have to..

So I computer generated them along with words

free spirit & gentle soul as these both describe 

who Fran was. I added the Santoro Willow 

girl, stamped & paper pieced.

At last....

another entry in my colour exploration journal.

"Be the Light"

First off I have to say, this is just one of those

pages that did NOT translate from brain to page,

exactly how I wanted it to!

In fact it took me 6 weeks to complete!

I have to say, it is not my favourite, but

I had to get the initial parts out.

The light rays, the dark clouds & the quote.

I used a light-bulb stamp from Viva Decor which I cut out,

added Nuvo clear accent & left it to dry while I

added the texture paste through the Tim Holtz stencil.

Coloured  using Prima Watercolours, Shimmering Lights.

I computer generated the quote.

I am not even sure if it is a quote.

I just remember seeing something tragic

on television & thinking how you should spend every day

being kind to all you meet. Be the light so it can shine.

Everyone is going through some kind of darkness.

 I added cloud stenciling with distress inks & then die cuts some

really dark clouds.

If I'm honest, I don't know how I could have done this any other way. 

Dreamer

This page was made literally two days ago.

I had three scheduled posts of older

art work, but I LOVE this so much.

I just had to sneak it into the line up! 😀💓

It's all because I saw to my dismay

that an online digital stamp shop,

A Day For Daisies, was closing it's doors! 😢

I only discovered them recently after obtaining

the free download from Simply Cards & Papercrafts

for the Mechanical Dolls (which I used on a recent art journal)

So, I purchased a few of my absolute favourites.

Here is the first.

My background was made up of textured gesso.

(Putting this & the next page together)

I then blotted some of the colour used from the next page

onto this one. It's Lindy's Gang Nantucket Pearls;

Clam Bake Beige & Cape Cod Coral.

Once dry I buily up layers using Totally 80's Magicals by Lindy's.

Cowabunger Copper, Bodacious Blush &

Midnight Rendezvous.

While these all dried nicely, I re-sized & printed

my digital Image - Striped Crown Mermaid (ADFD)

I used an inkjet printer (it's all I've got) & printed

onto tissue. I didn't glue it right on my page

it tore a little at the tail.

So I added texture paste through a Tim Holtz stencil.

The stencil is THMS068 from a mini set.

This disguised the error.

To highlight my image I used Colourcraft gold ink.

I should point out here that I refer to it as gold paint.

It isn't, it is Metallic Drawing Ink.

My bottle is at least 5 years old & just says Gold.

I purchased Bronze at the same time both 28ml.

The final touch was to add Wood Veneer Stars from

Studio Calico / American Crafts (part of a Daily Dec. kit)

My words were a free download from Patricia

My Dandelion dreams.