Birthday card for Eve.

Eve is our street's eldest resident.

She was born on 29th February,

so she doesn't get to celebrate 

the actual day, all that often.

Frank, another resident, who sadly passed away 

in September, last year,  

was also born the same day of the same year.

What's the chances of that!!

They were no relation to each other.

Well Eve is now the oldest at 92 today!

Not only is she a resident of our street,

but a long standing family friend.

One of her brother's, was my Dad's

best friend, right through school.

I made the card using Brushos

in Rose Red & Alizarin Crimson.

I then dry embossed with this gorgeous

folder by Brenda Walton.

To highlight the design,

I rolled white gesso over with a brayer.

Stamp is a free one with CS issue 58 

 

Infinite Beauty

This page began as a direct result of the

Dina Wakley Media Gratitude Challenge.

I had mixed my own paint for it & used this page,

to use up the left over.

Paint is precious, right?!

So on the gesso pages,

I applied the Lime+Lapis (IVY)

& Lime+Sky (Cactus).

Now I needed to bring them together.

(Not easy to photograph)

I used the same Leafy stencil that came with

the "Little Birds" DWM clear stamp set to

apply Lime, Sky & white over the

colour & stencil clean ups.

I then took the same DoCraft stamp & added

the black foliage, grasses etc.

In the stamp set are flower heads,

so I also added some of those before

setting to work colouring & adding details

with my Posca Paint Pens.

My quote is by John Ruskin.

I like to work small, but every now & then,

it's fun to mix it up with a double spread.

Should have took a couple of

close up shots, but if you click on

the picture it is bigger.

 

I Am Strong

This page had a little mop up stenciling on

it which I like & wanted to keep.

To begin I stamped & masked the image three times,

from the "Don't Judge" stamp set Visible Image.

I then coloured them using PaperArtsy

Fresco mixing shades of Nougat,

Concrete, Koala, Steel Grey & Cloud 9.

Once dry, I added shadowing around the 

edges & added the stamping on to them,

using other stamps from the set. 

The three images represent myself.

The greyest broken one, when I was made redundant,

picking up the pieces in the centre, trying to

find work & take care of myself & the final

light one showing I am healing. I am strong it

takes times, but I am working again & I will get there.

I used TCW532 Cathedral of Love stencil with

DWM Fuchsia & Cheddar paints for my background.

I then added a little stamping using 49&Market

stamps Labels by Gabrielle Pollaco.

I added handwritten journaling then stamped

& cut out the phrases from the stamp set

to add to each figure. I re-outlined my images,

blurred by the paint using posca pens

then added a little gold & red mark making detail.

Look Beneath the Surface

This page is all about the layers.

My inspiration for this page came from a sentence

I read in a novel. I fail to remember the exact words,

but he was saying something about, "first impressions

of the house, everything appeared smart, neat. But,

he could feel underlying tension."

It made me want to journal about looking 

under the surface. Not judging what  you see or

perceive something to be, 

purely by the outward appearance. 

I had added clear gesso centrally to the kraft page

& applied molding paste through the Tim Holtz

Floral stencil. I had then added DWM Ruby

paint over the raised texture.

 I saw on Artful Mavens blog, a background 

technique I could apply to my already started page.

So, I layered over more DWM paints in

Tangerine, Lime, Magenta & Ocean.

Drying between each colour application & wiping it

off the textured flowers. Then I added French script

stamped randomly over the page & on the flowers.

I then finger painted a little more

paint & gesso until I was happy that I could see

every colour right down to the original Ruby.

I then added my quote from Tim Holtz & used

my Dymo Label Maker to create a bit more.

I added my journaling & finally,highlighted with 

a woody 3 in 1 pencil.

Dina Wakley Media - Show Us Your Media Gratitude

Challenge Month Six

Grateful for Nature

Here is the completed double page spread.

Below are closer views of each side.

 

 I added white gesso to my kraft pages, 

not bothering to go up to the edges.

Then I set to work mixing my DWM heavy body paints

using Dina's mixing chart.

I used Lime + Lapis = Ivy

Lime + Sky = Cactus

plus Marine & Ocean.

Using the Little Birds Clear stamps & stencil set,

I added paint to the page & used the leafy stencil

to apply the reduction stencil technique, one colour

at a time, drying between each.

I then coloured the DWM Backgrounds Collage Paper,

circles using Dylusions ink sprays:

Pomegranate/ Tangerine / Lemon / Cherry

on the reverse & allowed to air dry.

I then stamped my little birds onto this paper.

 While the birds were drying, I used a Design Objectives

stamp to add the grasses & flowers.

I added pieces of the circles paper on the background

to tie the piece to the birds.

I then added my three birds & used gel pens

to highlight the details.

I did add a little journaling, but the plan

was to journal far more.

The opposite page had the left over paints

applied to it so I applied

Marine & Ocean stenciling over the top

before also applying white.

I cut the page to half a heart to show

my love for nature & added a few

more grasses, flowers & one more bird.

 I used Posca Paint pens to colour my flowers

& to add detail in the grasses.

Along with more gel pen details.

I then wrote my journailing.

It tells the story of how, watching my

garden bloom, seeing the bees, feeding the birds & spotting 

various wildlife species, helped my through last year,

when I was redundant from work & searching for

a new job. I applied for so many, faced so many rejections

& had to attend interviews. 

Nature gave me the peace I needed in between. 

I could not have got by without the beauty of Nature.