An Attitude of Gratitude #30

The day finally came and the challenge at "An Attitude of Gratitude" finishes. It has been a wonderful journey, focusing on things to be thankful for. Also for all the techniques it has got me to try.

Here's my last page, done in the early hours! I sprayed with Dylusions and FORGOT to tape the seam first but as it was a new signature in my book and I mopped it up down the middle straight away the seepage wasn't too bad. All adds to the effect methinks anyway. I just used the turquoise and pure sunshine so the green was the result of them mixing together.

Got to use the stamp I made on Day#20 again and in a slightly different way too, to emulate Dyan's shadow stamping. I copied her white pen doodling too and was able to change the shape of the leaves a bit this way.

Anyway, hope you have enjoyed my challenge pages too.

Altered Book Cover

Here's where I have got to so far.

I stuck on the diecut letters and shapes and covered with texture paste which I stamped into as well.

I primed with Grey paint, washed that over with Clay, then another wash with Black.

I then Rainbow painted my letters and shapes.

I might crackle paint my letters and shapes for a glossy look.

Perhaps rub some metallic pastes into the backing?


Just not sure where to go now?

Any suggestions?

An Attitude of Gratitude #29

Gosh nearly done (one day to go after this!) on the "An Attitude of Gratitude" Daily November Challenge. My goodness what a journey! Theme today is Appreciation and my appreciation goes out to Bernice for setting up this challenge, what a great job.

Thanks also for my happy-mail which contained a piece of paper napkin otherwise I would have been stumped for today's technique which is to use, guess what, yes a paper napkin!

Colour choice was made by the napkin, and what a happy colour yellow is. I sprayed again despite my spilling accident with some Dylusions yesterday (seems to have scome out of the valence and t-shirt - phew!)

Went a bit bonkers with the bits and bobs today and it ended up a bit busy - but hey only one day to go. I used my own scripture stamp as the scripture quoted was the same as Day#1, and I think you can have quite enough gates in one album!

An Attitude of Gratitude #28

Two more days to go on "An Attitude of Gratitude". Today's theme is Seasons, which is just as I am doing my Altered Book cover which is also on Seasons - how cool is that?

The technique - to use household objects for printing on your page! I knabbed the dough cutters from my son's old playdough set but the thing I love the most to print with is a wheel from his lego set. Yep - my all time favourite thing and I keep one in my craft drawer at all times!

I sprayed my page green with perfect pearls heirloom gold top left and pearl bottom right. Of course I taped the seem beforehand (don't want anymore Day 5 seepage) and used some torn pieces of tape on the page too.

I printed a lego wheel road/fence and hoped the cutters would make good houses. Unfortunately they didn't print too well so I filled in with a brush! I made the seasons in the meadow left to right. I used the end of my paintbrush for the yellow, cheated and painted the red. I used scrunched up paper for the brown and added pearl stars top right.

I added my scripture which says not to get weary of doing good as you will reap in due season if you don't give up. Have to say I am getting a tad weary of this daily journaling and nearly lost it when I spilt the green ink all over my desk and it splashed on the floor, bed valance, quilt, carpet and my watch! But I am determined to finish the challenge.

Two more days to go ................

WOYWW #182 - Cards DONE!

It's wednesday and time for the blog hop (snoop) of the week at Julia's WOYWW. Well what have I been up to this week then? I have finally cracked the Christmas card making and made 33 from last year's Papermania Enchanted Christmas kit (must have bought it in the January sales methinks). They still need finishing off which is why they are still on my desk. A few more here Day#22.

There's my journal with a remake of my November Timmy Tag as the theme was dreams and it just worked for that. Here's a close up Day#26. I have made a couple of ATCs to try out techniques too.

Also the beginnings of my Altered Book Cover. I had some good comments last week saying the design was OK so I went ahead and stuck the pieces on, slapped on some texture paste and primed it with grey acrylic. Might take a while to finish, but I'll keep you all updated as I go.

Oh and the pink thing is a piece of rubber I chopped up and carved with a craft knife to make my own stamp which I used in my journal on Day#25. It worked pretty well so I have made a Christmas reques for some lino cutters and lino sheets to have more of a go at making some stamps, mainly backgrounds so nothing too fancy.

An Attitude of Gratitude #27

Three more days and counting on "An Attitude of Gratitude". Today we have "Travel" as our theme and to use an art medium rarely used. I used chalks on versamark for the map and ticket on my page.




I made it all brown (Frayed burlap Distress Stain base) to look like an old document. I made an ATC aswell as I tested out the technique first (it was what I had intended on day 25 for the sea but had forgotten the chalks altogether so I guess they count as a medium rarely used.)


The clay paint spiced the brown up a bit along with the black dotty doodling. Still debating my lamp stamp to go with the scripture, but maybe not....

An Attitude of Gratitude #26

On "An Attitude of Gratitude" today the theme is Dreams and the technique to make your own Washi Tape. Couldn't resist but to replicate my November Timmy Tag as it has the word Dream and I just love its dreamy feel.



The scripture today was very similar to day #24 so I changed it to the dream of Jacob of the stairway to heaven resting on the earth. Have to say my dreams aren't really the earthly kind, more of the life to come, so this was quite fitting for me. Would love some angel wings and to sore above the clouds.

I made some Washi Tape using DST (double sided tape) and some tissue paper. I stamped it with distress but it just soaked into the paper. Versa colour wasn't much better. Only having 3 colours of Archival (Black, Coffee & Sepia) I used then used them all on it as well and it wasn't that bad in the end.

Have to say that using Tim Holtz's hashed stamp on the backing, as was in his technique this month really makes a difference. Love this technique and hope I remember to use it more often.

And finally an update on the ATC I made yesterday. My husband said it reminded him of one of his cycling routes so I added a bike to it and gave it to him.

PS - Have since added a darker edge round my page - knew it was missing something.

An Attitude of Gratitude #25

Today's theme on "An Attitude of Gratitude" is Creation and the technique a messy one - glue stick resist! I tried out the technique on an ATC first using some background stamps but they were quite a bother to clean!

I really liked Bernice's sunburst stamp, so thought I could make my own as I have just bought a big rubber for doing just that! And I wouldn't worry so much about the cleaning of it afterwards!

I chopped up the rubber with a kitchen knife and then drew the pattern and chipped away at it with my craft knife!

Here it is after a liberal dose of Pritt Stick!! Hmmm I don't think Pritt Stick is a good alternative to the Ranger collage glue stick!

I did the top layer of my page with the technique, but as I hate messy and especially the rubbing off kind, as I tend to ruin my paper pages this way, I reverted to stamping for the rest of the page.

I added some stamping, sequins, cutouts and thereby created the world in an afternoon!

 

Thought you might like to see how I use up scraps of paper in my trusty typewriter for the words. The ATC ended up being a place to clean my stamps, although not too bad, can add to it sometime.

An Attitude of Gratitude #24

Another day on "An Attitude of Gratitude" (only six more to go!!) and the theme is Photographs. I take lots of photos mainly of our day to day stuff and I scrapbook them ALL.The technique was to do a Gesso image transfer. Hmmmm! Tried that once before using the sticky tape and magazine picture method and I was not impressed then but thought I'd give it a bash all the same. As my motto goes, "I'll try anything twice!"

Thought it best to try it out on some spare card first just incase I ended up with a hole on my page! Of course I had to let the gesso dry with the image imbedded in it - so what better than to make a few more Christmas cards in the meantime!

The paper backing seemed to rub off OK to start with but I never know when to stop so as the ink was lifting I thought it best to stop there.






Can't say I am anymore impressed with this technique than I was first time I tried it. Would much rather use the original photo myself, so decided to do just that. Only advantage of the transfer was that it was a mirror image so I stuck them down on my page like a reflection.

I inked the left over parts of my page and fortunately had a stamp of the word "Photographs" so used that. I had had a practice at making a rubber stamp earlier from a rubber (well the end part) and it wasn't half bad so I used that too.

Oops then I remembered the scripture, so got my trusty typewriter out and used some brown parcel paper.

Hmmmm! Something was missing?





Yes I got it, I should "scrapbook" my photographs by adding a few embellies so I did that too. Thought I better stop there.

Not bad and with 5 Christmas cards made too :) Horrah!

An Attitude of Gratitude #23

On "An Attitude of Gratitude" today the theme is family and friends. I loved the quote about friends so just had to do that as well as the scripture today. The technique was to use stitching in some form, real or faux.

I printed off the 2 sentiments and cut in heart shapes and stuck on card and inked and then got the sewing machine out and stitched round the edges. All doing OK so far.

For the background I used some old dress pattern pieces as a collage (gift from a bloggy friend). I distress stained the backing, inked the edges and dusted some cosmic shimmer over it. Yes - the backing came out well, but it all went down hill from there...

 

I crackle painted the hearts which unfortunately made some of the printed words bleed underneath! I pressed on. I added the lace from the back and this made some of the crackle chip off! I reprinted the words and placed ontop of the smudged ones. I made the font one point smaller but overdid the paper trimming so the underneath shows (have printed more to rectify that later)

 

All in all a quite frustrating time with it today, bit like the rest of my day - Ho Hum - Sigh.

An Attitude of Gratitude #22

Today's theme was thanksgiving over on the "An Attitude of Gratitude" challenge blog. We were to use texture as our technique. Bernice used gesso and stamped into it so I had a go at that too. I played around with some paints and inks and stamps and just stuff really.

Even made a few Christmas Cards whilst the gesso was drying! Decoupage from a Papermania paper kit I bought last year. Just so magical.

Anyway, back to the journal, I'm sure the page "needs" something but, as it is quite busy already, maybe not. Constructive comments always welcome, as I am still learning all this art journaling stuff.

There was no plan as such but I can see a landscape in the page with the butterfly flitting over some water.

I am thankful for God's creation and the beautiful world which surrounds us.

An Attitude of Gratitude #21

The theme today on "An Attitude of Gratitude" is Celebrations and to use wrapping paper for the technique. Having seen Bernice's lovely balloons I wanted to do something bright and cheerful with loads of colour. Hmmmm?? I pondered a while and went shopping!


When I got back I got my wrapping papers out, well the bag of bits anyway, still have papers from my son's Christening some 13 years ago! perhaps you'd call me a hoarder! Thought I'd cut out parcel shapes, so pondered some more and had lunch.

Then the light bulb moment hit, I'd use parcel stamps on the paper and then cut out and arrange on my page - horrah it worked and now I have a bright and colourful Celebrations page.

And finally my stencils arrived too, thought you might like a shufty.

WOYWW #181 - Red Nose!

Hi everyone and welcome to the mega desk hop known as WOYWW courtesy of our host Julia. Do pop along to her blog to join the fun.

I have been suffering this week with a head cold, hence the tissue box. My mini wheelie bin has come in jolly useful for all the cast off tissues! And Rudolph had to make an appearence as my nose is in direct competition with his!!

I have been resting which equates to crafting this past week and have added 9 posts in that time. Seven for my daily journal challenge at "An Attitude of Gratitude", one for Children in Need and at last my Tim Holtz November Tag - Horrah!

Being very short on stencils/masks and finding that Art Journaling uses them alot I ordered a few last night. Been on the look out for a suitable container for them and have finally settled for an old Ferrero Rochet box which is just the right size for the large Tim Holtz Masks and of course all smaller ones. I even came across my little bag of brass stencils from eons ago, building up a nice collection now.

Oh and here's a possible layout for my Altered Book cover not sure yet... awaiting the last installment on the course. And I tied a ribbon round my fabric scissors as I have since acquired my son's set of paintbrushes which he doesn't use anymore and hasn't even noticed I have acquired - 'nough said! All which meant that I had to move the scissors from the paintbrush pot. My new heat tool has come in might handy with all the Dylusion spraying I have been doing lately, so glad I have that one too. When this cold blows over I'll be dancing too. BJ

An Attitude of Gratitude #20

Hi Folks, well we are now two thirds of the way through Bernice's challenge  - "An Attitude of Gratitude" I ordered myself some stencils last night as they seem to be used a lot in journaling.

Today's technique is to make your own stamp and the video showed you how to do this with, yes you guessed it, a stencil! I have made a few before using Funky Foam and diecut shapes (two pink ones in the photo) so decided to make another one like this instead.

Unable to get hold of the Dylusion leaf boarder stencil as it was out of stock and also their stamp border set I thought I'd attempt to make one myself from the Tim Holtz Autumn Gatherings strip die.

Have to say I am quite impressed at how it worked out. The Funky Foam only needs one run through the Cuttlebug to get a good cut. I cut 2 of each and stacked them up to get a thicker foam diecut. I cut a piece of wood from a baton and sanded the edges and glued the Funky Foam on.

You can even make shapes in the foam with an embossing tool, in my case for the veins of the leaves. I used 1st and 2nd generation stamping to get the solid and then outline impressions. Yes jolly pleased with the result.

All this and still nursing a red nose, so did I laugh (and cough) when I saw the theme for today! HEALTH - Just had to make my page Black & Blue as that is how I feel with all the little things I seem to get. Saying that, I have to be thankful that nothing is serious.

An Attitude of Gratitude #19

Today's prompt is Books and the technique is to use book pages. All on "An Attitude of Gratitude" run by Bernice.

I don't read much other than The Bible. I read the odd "school" book with my son so we can discuss them for homework. I've read some of his other books too and adored the "Shapeshifter" series.

As a child I read The Famous Five but a school teacher wrongly told me they were too young for me so I stopped reading altogether. I didn't start reading again until in my late 20's where I happened upon a Colin Dexter - "Morse" book in a station bookshop having missed my train. I adored the TV series so this sparked my interest again. (if only my school teacher had seen where my interest lay and introduced me to a suitable book as a kid!) I devoured many crime fiction books in the following years from Agatha Christie to Patricia Cornwell and Francis Fyfield. I guess it just faded away after marriage and having a baby!

I Art Journaled all this back in February this year having made a card for a SWAP on UKPC as our theme was childhood books and then a scrapbook page too, have a look HERE.

Today's pages have the required book pages, sprayed with Dylusions and a bit of splodgy stenciling on top. I have a few book dies so I used them too. Still nursing a Rudolph nose so I'll leave it there for today.

An Attitude of Gratitude #18

Today's prompt was Memories and the technique too use old packaging. All on the "An Attitude of Gratitude" challenge blog.

The colours weren't at all what I'd intended but I was lead by the packaging from some Andy Skinner stamps from which I punched the boarder on the right and diecut the "Memories" and wings. The birds were diecut from an old clothing tag.

I'm sure my "Old Paper" distress stain is having an identity crisis as on the bottle it is definitely a pale brownish colour but this is decidedly pale green! I used "Shaded Lilac" distress ink for the shading and stamping. I just had to add an elephant as I remember so much! I balanced the silver with an embossed boarder on the left and some peel-off spots and silver glitter.

Off to tend to my Rudolph nose as I am full of cold - Sigh.

An Attitude of Gratitude #17

No Prizes for guessing today's theme on "An Attitude of Gratitude" - yep Laughter! We were to use masks in their intended way today. I used the letters as masks with Dylusions and then a Tim Holtz mask with Persimmon Distress and Cut'n'Dry to follow.

Not much time today as we had our son's presentation for his Chief Scout Gold Award all this evening, so I have just pottered as little and will probably add more anon.

TH #11 - November Tag

After alot of pondering this month, I have finally made my Tim Holtz November Tag. I had made a previous attempt a while back but that went decidedly pear shaped and made a trip to bin land!

My main stopper this month was the lack of a tall solid stamp to try the resist technique. In the end the trees came to the rescue and I was quite amazed at how the ironing lifted the embossing powder onto the scrap paper. I did wrap it all in grease proof paper as I don't have a craft only iron, so I hope that did the trick and my clothes don't end up.........no I'm not going down there!!

I had had my fill of Autumnal Tags as I did a few last month so I just had to do something different. I had picked up a little stamp of a leaping deer back in the Spring and thought my diecut deer could be dreaming of flying, hence the word "DREAM". With the blues, pinks and purples the sky ended up looking like the aurora borealis with a dusting of newly falling snow, painted on with my newly commandeered paint brushes of my son's as he doesn't use them anymore.

I'm really pleased with my tag especially as it was a long time coming for me.



Children In Need

Here's the card I made recently for the UKPC SWAP with the theme of spots or dots. Just had to make a Pudsey one.

An Attitude of Gratitude #16

 

Gosh - didn't think I'd get anything done today as I seem to have yet another cough/cold on top of the one I got a month ago which never really went away!

 

Today's theme on "An Attitude of Gratitude" is RAKs (Random Acts of Kindness) and the technique is to stamp using masks. Here we go again, I thought I didn't have many stencils but I have even less masks. The only two I do have are Tim Holtz ones which have a sticky backing! 

Anyway I had a go, I attempted to stamp the mask on the right hand boarder, I used it as a mask on the left hand side. Stamping with Distress inks on top of Distress Stains doesn't exactly work! I then had a go stamping with a cog diecut I had cut in acetate. I tried paint this time, slightly better, but not sure I will bother trying this technique again. I used up the rest of the paint on my craft mat with ordinary stamps.

 

Anyway for the theme of RAK, thought I'd use some items crafters have kindly sent me recently, such as the picture from my "happy-mail" from Bernice; the fibres and flowers from Dawn and the real watch parts my husband bought me a few weeks back (just as I had mentioned it!!). Oh and the journal I am working in was hand made by Dawn too - I love it.

 

Think I need to go lie down in a dark room now.

 

An Attitude of Gratitude #15

 Today's theme on "An Attitude of Gratitude" is MUSIC. Oh how I love worship music and my favourite song as the moment just has to be, "Your Love Never Fails" by the Jesus Culture. Go on have a listen, only 5 mins!

The technique to use some music paper - well would you believe I just found a wad of old sheet music at a charity shop only this week! Someone is shining on me.

Even the sheet music I chose had some inspirational words, "There'll come a day when the clouds roll away, and the sun will be shining anew"

Anyway I used white paint dabber to cover my paper which I covered my whole page with. I  did some inking and stenciling and diecutting then thought, a spritz with perfect pearls...

BAD idea, it pooled so I wiped it off and off came all the inking I had just done! Oops! But going by the words in the song, "All things work together for my good" I plodded on... I inked again and added perfect pearls "powder" this time and some cosmic shimmer and some stamping and rearranged the diecuts and scripture words.

Stuck is all down and even sprayed it with hairspray! I realise now why I was never satisfied with it before, because the white paint seems to bleach away the brightness of the colours. I painted on some yellow dylusions but I think even that will go in time. Oh well I tried.

 

Note to self - DON'T use white paint underneath stuff if you want bright colours!

2nd Note to self - HALFWAY through challenge!