Creative weekend 9 - "Spooky night"

Spooky night art journal page is a test of a new Dorée paper pad with slightly creamy 20x20 cm (ca 8"x8") papers. 

It is a drawing and sketching pad, but I wanted to try how this paper will work with some of the creative media I normally use in my art journals - Distress inks with water droplets, paint pens, coloured pencils, Pitt brush pens with India ink and even clear gesso and pastel ground medium.

The outcome is not bad, although it is necessary to be careful and don't rub the surface when it is wet, because it damages the paper. But otherwise I'm quite satisfied, the paper is only 170 gsm (115 lb), tu is sturdy enough to work with, although it would be probably not good to use a lot of spray inks or so. 

So as I said, I used Distress inks with water droplets technique for the background and white Distress ink with a spiderweb stencil over it. Then I used stone wall stencil for the foreground and Stampscapes trees, Inkadinkado owl, Penny Black pumpkins and Chocolate baroque cauldron stamps. Bat is a part of the another, Halloween, stencil from Tim Holtz. 

I played a lot with the pumpkins. I wanted to colour them directly over the background colours, so I used Luminance coloured pencils, but the final colours were not so bright I wanted, so I covered all the pumpkins with a beige pastel ground medium, which creates more tooth to hold the pencils better. It helped, but not so much I hoped, so I added another layer over them with a clear gesso and over this final, now non porous, surface I used Pitt brush pens which are filled with permanent India inks. Finally I rubbed some colours of with a cotton swab as my highlights. Owl is quite dark, so she was coloured directly with Pitt pens over the surface. As a final layer for her eyes I used glitter gel pen and the same pen I also used for some details on the page. Moon and a steam from the cauldron were coloured with white paint pen, bats with a black Pitt pen through the stencil. 

Thank you for stopping by again, have a nice Sunday evening and see you later :0)

18.11.2017 Spooky night

Art journal page - Autumnal stories

Hi and welcome back :0)

It's been a long time when I created a large square 28 x 28 cm (cca 11" x 11") art journal page. But I had this awesome poster picture of a vintage typewriter and recently I received a real similar writing machine - so the inspiration for this page is quite obvious, I think :0) 

I used one of my heavy weight pattern papers for the background and then I played quite a while with the rowan berries. I found the way how to coloured them on the dark and a bit rough surface. First I stamped them with Versafine, then I coloured every berry with two layers of white Uni posca paint pen and then with alcohol markers till I was happy with the result. At the end I re-defined the berries with a black liner pen.
After that I stamped multiple layers of script stamps using the paper-masking technique and finished the page with typewriter and the typewriter alphabet stamps I like a lot :0) Aaaand that's it - easy page, but a lot of pleasure for me :0)

Thank you for stopping by, have a very nice day and enjoy your crafting moments :0)

15.11.2017 Autumnal stories

Creative week 13 - Stampscape art journal - Dreaming about an adventure

Hi, welcome back today :0)

Dreaming about an adventure - is a partially stampscape art journal page from my Seawhite hardbound 7.5"x7.5" (ca. 20x20 cm) journal.

I started with a new Dylusions paints - Rose quartz, Peony blush, Laidback lilac and Periwinkle blue - on the background and then used black Dylusions paint with an older The Crafter's workshop stencil with a very nice pattern.

Then I created my black-and-white stampscape with a few of Stampscapes stamps and "hung" it on my background "wall" :0)

Finally I stamped the cactus stamp set from Carabelle studio and girl from Stampendous and coloured them with Dylusions sprays. She is my dreamer, she's sitting in the middle of her beloved cactuses and thinking about an adventure - how it would be to visit the land on the picture :0)

Funny is, that I prepared every part of this art journal sooo carefully and then I glued my stampscape on the background in a wrong direction than I wanted...ha ha ha....so for the next time: "Don't use a strong double sided tape, but always a liquid glue, so the mistake can be fixed!" :D

Anyway, I think that sometimes we all have dreams like this...so let's make our dreams come through :0)

10.11.2017 Dreaming about an adventure

Creative week 12 - "Just a dream"

Hi, how are you today? :0)

Today it is "Just a dream" - another art journal page from my Seawhite hardbound 7.5"x7.5" (ca. 20x20 cm) journal. 

This page is an experiment. I used this page as an underlay paper sheet when I framed the edges of my last journal with a brown Distress ink and a blending tool. I turned this page many times during this process, so I ended up with a quite interesting background patter of overlapping "squared or so" shapes.
I found out, that I see three Egyptian pyramids in the final pattern and that was a beginning...so I just accentuated them a bit and added the Nile - as a brown patterned stripe - and other elements, the waterlilies and a quote from Art journey stamps and a older boat stamp from my stash, to create a dreamy atmosphere of this page. Milky Way and other stars were created with water-diluted gesso and a tooth brush. And at the end I highlighted a few bigger stars with white paint pen.

I used Vintage photo and Peacock feathers Distress inks for the background, Potting soil Ranger archival ink (stamped few times with my Misty tool) for the stamping, Ground espresso Distress markers for darker details and a border and a few (mostly in a range from creme to brown) Derwent Coloursoft pencils to colour the elements and the moon...

So that's it for today, thank you for stopping by and see you next time :0)

29.10.2017 Just a dream

Creative week 11 - "Hmmm COFFEE"

Hi, welcome back again :0)

"Hmmm COFFEE" is again an art journal page from my Seawhite hardbound 7.5"x7.5" (ca. 20x20 cm) journal. 

I started with a great Altenew Cube builder stencil, which I absolutely love and then I added a few stamped elements to the background...and suddenly the idea for this page came to me :0)

I used Impression obsession beautiful coffee cup, coffee beans and steam swirl, Tim Holtz's books and one of the Dyan's cute Dylusions dog stamps and for the coloring Distress inks and markers, Marvy Uchida's brown ink pad and white paint pen. I wanted to keep the colour scheme simple, because the background is quite busy....but why not :D

I love the smell of the coffee, although I don't drink it and this page is just about it :0)

Thank you for stopping by and see you next time :0)

23.10.2017 Hmmm...COFFEE...I love the smell

Creative week 10 - "Lady in Roses"

Hi, welcome back again :0)

Lady in Roses, today's art journal page is one layer stamped page from my Seawhite hardbound 7.5"x7.5" (ca. 20x20 cm) journal. I chose randomly a few stamps from my stash and combined them into the page. Because I mostly think a lot about my pages, most of them are "story telling" ones, this was a bit challenging, but mostly very freeing :0) The colour combination is also a bit unusual for me, but I like, but surprisingly for me, I like how they work together.

This page would be in my journal normally, but since last page - Golden Stars of California - I decided to enjoy more of the creative freedom and I unbounded my journal completely into a separate pages. It was sooooo relaxing... and this way I can use all the media I want without any boundaries :D Of course, I kept the cover of the journal and all the finished and unfinished pages are stored in it... so I think I can still call it " a journal book" .o)

So I used black Versamark and Ranger Dye ink, stamps from Paper Artsy and Chocolate baroque and Harlequin stencil from Tim Holtz as a background, together with Distress inks and markers, Caran D'Ache Neocolor II water soluble pastels  and Marvy Uchida markers for colouring. To enhance the look of the stained glass I also applied Distress micro glaze on the image of the lady, so the colours are brighter and "shine" a bit more from the rest of the page.

Enjoy the day and see you next time :0)

05.10.2017 Lady in Roses

Creative week 9 - Stampscape art journal - Golden Stars of California

Hi, welcome back :0)

Today's art journal page - Golden Stars of California - is a scenic jump into my Seawhite hardbound 7.5"x7.5" (ca. 20x20 cm) journal.

Again it is a mixed scene with Stampscape stamps and other stamps from my stash. When I saw a cine camera stamp and a desert scene from Stampendous, it reminded me immediately California and its movie stars :0) 

So here it is, a simple journal page stamped in black and coloured with a few Distres ink pads and white paint pen...and of course with golden stars projected by the cine camera on the California's night sky. I embossed them with Ranger Gold tinsel embossing powder and then I cut out the letters from a gold washi tape (I stuck the tape on the stripes of a wax paper, so I can then remove my "letter stickers" from it easily). To unify the different golden shades of the powder and the tape I used an yellow ochre alcohol marker which can be used on the non-porous surfaces. As a finishing touch I added a film strip die cut as my thematic label. 

This journal page is my entry for Simon Say Stamp Monday challenge "It's written in the stars".


12.9.2017 Golden Stars of California

Stampscape art journal - SPACE A-LIVE

I have one more post today, an Stampscape art journal page SPACE A-LIVE on Clairefontaine Paint On Multi-Techniques paper  (250 gsm / 115 lb and ca 21x30 cm / 8"x12"). 

For the elements on the page I used Canson Bristol smooth paper (260 gsm/ 100 lb and ca 23 x 30,5 cm / 9" x 12"). Surprisingly is this paper is very sturdy and it's easy to work with if you need to cut out something even quite small as my astronauts so I don't afraid to make my them dimensional. 

Actually I was experimented with sprayed colours and wrapped kitchen foil technique. I used Distress sprays colours let them mix on the paper and put the kitchen foil over the page, made a wrinkles and let it dry with foil on it over night. When I removed the foil I found a very nice texture effect. I made two backgrounds like this, lighter and darker and for this page I used the darker one, because it evoked me the space. 

This scene is actually a broadcasting of the TV - a SPACE A-LIVE channel and the astronauts are the reporters recording the encounter with the giant space fish species :0)

Although I used just a few stamps from Stampscape Spacemen set  (asteroids belt and astronauts) I include this page into my stampscapes, because still, it is a scene right? :0) 

I used my Misti tool and Marvy and Tombow markers to colorfully stamp the shadow-stamp fish from Local King rubber stamps and Memento inks and Caran d'Ache Luminance coloured pencils for the bigger asteroids. Beside my main white stars I used also a silver glitter Gelly Roll pen from Sakura for a smaller star dots. They are very subtle, but they nicely complete the page. Unfortunately they are not much visible on the main picture so I enclose another one from the angle so you can see them better

This page is also my entry for both of the Simon Say Stamp Stamptember challenges - Monday challenge "Stamp It" and also the Wednesday challenge with the same name :0)

I hope you like this page as I do, thank you for stopping by and see you next time :0)

8.9.2017 Stampscape art journal - SPACE A-LIVE

Stampscape - sealing the scene

This post is just a short notice about the sealing of the scene stamped on the glossy cardstock. 

When I do a Stampscape scene on a regular glossy cardstock mostly I have the problem with final intensity of the colours. It does not matter what brand of the ink pad I use for the colouring of the scene (Distress, Memento, Hero arts inks etc.), at the end the cardstock changes them somehow and the colours become quite dull. Only exception seem to be thinner Marvy inks, I bought recently, but with those I did not experiment enough yet :0) 

Kevin Nakagawa of Stampscapes stamps recommend to put a good  layer of lightest thicker ink first, so every other layer of the thicker or thinner inks will slide more easily on the surface of the card and the application will be much smoother. He says that if your first layer is juicy enough, the other colours will stay much more vibrant at the end...

But sometimes the cardstock is pretty stubborn and nothing helps, so he also recommend to use spray sealers at the end to bring back the colours vibrancy. I don't like these sprays, the smell is not good and they are not very environmentally friendly, I think. 

Fortunatelly recently I found the great solution. I found somewhere that the sealers like micro glaze from Ranger or JudiKins should work. And it is totally true. They are basically the clear waxes, so I think that any other craft waxes like Shabby from ToDo could be used also. After you finish all your work, just apply the thin layer of these products on the card with a cotton cloth or your fingers and the colours are back and your black is dark again :D. And if you apply it gently and don't rub too hard, even the white gel pen highlights will stay untouched, but sealed on your art piece  :0)

Here is just one card I made as a test. And maybe this article could help you with the decision whether and how to seal your scenes on glossy cardstock if you are not totally satisfied with the outcome :0)

Have a nice day and see you next time :0)

30.8.2017 Stampscape Ranger Microglaze sealed landscape

Stampscape - 5 colourful brayered scenes and one bonus card again

Today's series is five colourful stampscape brayered background cards on ordinary inkjet glossy photo paper and one slightly different bonus card at the end. 

During last week I finished all the remaining cards I had with pre-brayered background. I used Tsukineko Kaleidacolor rainbow dye inkpads in different colour combinations. The colours are bright and bold, although it is not visible on the photos. All their shades are just beautiful, but I found out, that every device shows them differently, so I really hope, that you can see them in their richness as I do :0)

Anyway, these cards are again a combination of traditional Stamscapes stamps and other stamps from my stash and they are built around the quotes on them.

It was a bit tricky to integrate the characters into the scenes and use the only the colours of the backgrounds, just with the help of white gel pen and black liners (only for the snowman I used Posca brush paint pen to achieve really white colour), but I must say that the outcome is better than I hoped and I love how the cards look together :0)

I hope that they will bring at least a little smile to you, thank you for stopping by and here they are, at first together and then individual cards  with a bonus one below:

20.8.2017 Stampscape card - Oh my, it's high

24.8.2017 Stampscape card - Halloween and no moon? Really?

24.8.2017 Stampscape card - Wild ride!

25.8.2017 Stampscape card - Finally holiday!

27.8.2017 Stampscape card - Hide and seek

27.8.2017 Stampscape bonus card - I always dreamed I can walk on water

Stampscape - 4 brayered scenes and a bonus scene

Welcome to the jungle, Once upon a midnight dreary, Sea of wonders and Serenity - a moon series of four stampscape cards on ordinary inkjet glossy photo paper, this time with the brayered backgrounds. 

On an ordinary photo paper is almost impossible to achieve the nice smooth layered background that Kevin Nakagawa shows in his lessons. But it is quite easy to us a brayer and ink pads to cover the entire background of the image with one or more colors. For these new 4 cards I finished this week I used Distress ink pads in a muted tones - Antique linen, Old paper, Ice spruce, Tea dye and Brushed corduroy and I tried to stay with these colors and their combinations till the end of work, just with the addition of black and white. 

These card should be also a mix of Stampscapes stamps and other stamps from my collection to find out how they work together :0)

Because I did not think about these scenes in advance, I let the  final colours of the backgrounds to inspire me, I did not masked my moons, although the moon and the architectural parts are at the end the connecting elements of this card set.
All the moons were stamped separately on the photo paper and collaged on the cards, after I decided about the composition of the images.

For the coloring were used the ink pads and inking tool, but also the Distress markers, although I struggled sometime with smudging, because these dye based markers were so wet that they smeared the images stamped with black Memento ink or black Tombow marker I applied directly to the stamps to achieve a deep black and crisp images on this photo paper (Tombow marker and black Sharpie paint pen were also use for overpainting where the black was not black enough and white gel pen, Sharpie paint pen and white pigment ink pad for the lights).

On the other hand due this smudging there are some interesting effects and I also discovered how interesting could be to use a clear Tombow marker on this paper  :0)

I like this cards, this kind of monochromatic stamping is a completely new animal to me and I enjoyed every moment and every challenge that has arisen before me during their creation. My favourite is a Sea of wonders, but for you it could be of course another one...if you want, let me know which one it would be :0)

And this set has also a bonus card - Around the world. This card started in a same way as others, but for the coloring I used also my alcohol markers. They don't smudge the stamped images at all so the final colors of this card are much brighter. Alcohol markers also glides a bit on the photo paper leaving an effect on the background again. Therefore this piece is a bit different and does not fit completely to this series.

Thank you for stopping by and hopefully see you next time again :0)

17.8.2017 Stampscape cards - Welcome to the jungle, Once upon a midnight dreary, Sea of wonders, Serenity...

17.8.2017 Stampscape bonus card - Around the world

Stampscape - how to save a scene

This stampscape on ordinary inkjet glossy photo paper is an example how can be saved a card which seemed to be a complete disaster :0)

After my first 4 stampscape scenes which started as a background and test of the paper options - I wanted to try a reverse technique. I started with a black ink stamping. Unfortunately I overstamped my card, so the foreground was too dark and there was no space for the lighter spots, whole card was tooo black and definitely was not a seamlessly stamped. Then I started with coloring - a day scene with blue sky and water, grey mountains and rocks and green woods etc. But the colors did not match together at all, overstamping was still visible and everything looked too flat :0(

In that moment I decided to change a day scene to a night scene. If the card is already so dark, it could be even darker and without green trees - I over-painted them in black - the blue tones united all the card. And there was a great space for darker tones and of course great white highlights - the light coming from the rising moon which I made with a gel pen, a Sharpie paint pen and white pigment ink and the cotton buds. 

Final result is not perfect at all, but believe me, it is much much better than at the beginning. So my conclusion is, that it is not necessary to throw away the scenes you don't like, but you can always try to continue to work on them and at the end, the result may even pleasantly surprise you :0)

11.8.2017 Stampscape scene - No such a disaster

Stampscape cards - first 4 scenes

Four stampscape cards on ordinary inkjet glossy photo paper (tropical card and ducks card), Ranger specialty matt coated paper (bats card) and Ranger glossy paper (blue lake card).

Because I don't have the great paper Kevin Nakagawa use in his video lessons, these cards started as a paper test for different papers I have in my stash - how easily or hardly they take the dye inks. Then I decided to use them also for stamping. The scenes were stamped with Memento Tuxedo black ink and/or Ranger Black soot archival ink.

It was not too easy I need to say, because on all of them the ink dries pretty quickly, so it is not easy to achieve nice blends of colors as Kevin does. I found out, that Versamark ink is a very helpful, especially for inkjet photo paper, because as a first  clear layer it fill the paper a bit and helps to other inks to stay longer on the surface of the paper so they can be moved and mixed better.

When the ink layers were dry (I used a heat tool) I stamped the scenes in black colors. Unfortunately even if I tried, none of the images was stamped perfectly solid and opaque and drying with my heat tool also did not helped - somehow it caused that black become a quite dull. So I used black Pigma Micron pens and Memento marker to fill the gaps and make black more black again :0).  For white details I used a white Sakura gelly roll pen. It works perfectly. And the clouds on the green card were just painted with a white Pitt artist pen (India ink) and just smudged with fingers before they dry completely (also this ink dries fast).

Next time I will definitely try a reverse order - first stamping and then coloring. But I thing that these cards was an experiment and I learned a lot, so the goal was achieved :0)

And here they are, 4 cards, 4 scenes and 4 moods... Thank you for stopping by, have a nice day and I'll be glad when you let me know which card do you like the most :0)...

6.8.2017 Stampscape cards - Tropical sunset, Blue lake, Duck rest and Night of bats...

Stampscape art journal page - Starlight

Starlight- art journal page in Canson Mix Media middle art book - 17 x 25 cm (cca 6.5" x 10")

A long time ago I discovered the art of scenic stamping, when I found the youtube educational videos of Stampscapes.com. I believe that a scenic stamping is not anything new in the creative world, but Kevin Nakagawa's style is beautiful and inspiring, based on his own line of detailed stamps which can be use for "seamless" stamped scenes and I really recommend to visit his page. 

Recently I decided to buy some of his stamps and here is my first attempt with this technique :0) I used Distress and Memento inks,  Distress markers, white gel pen and black liner pens. 

1.8.2017 Stampscape 1 - Starlight

Scrap art journal 4 - Dragonflies

"Dragonflies" - 4th page in my Scrap art journal series (square 28 x 28 cm /cca 11" x 11").

The journey out of my comfort zone continues :0)...
This time I wanted to transform the scrap papers in a new way. The original paper was brown with colored dots. I embossed it with an embossing folder and carefully used a darker brown Distress ink over the page. The ink hit the embossed parts mostly, so the new leaves design has nicely appeared. I used the same technique with the green scrap paper, which I cut in squares then and framed with brown Distress ink.
Newly I also used a cotton rag paper, which is a rough hand made paper from India and it's very firm and beautifully textured. I used it for the moon (together with a silver foil leafing technique) and the maple leaves. Although I used a lot of liquids on those elements, the texture of the paper is still there and I love it a lot.

The dragonflies were stamped on a transparency with Staz-On ink and colored from the reverse side with a green alcohol marker. For the silver shine on the wings I used a silver Krylon pen - again from the reverse side, so the black stamping is still visible. I tried to use just a thin layer of the silver pen, so the wing are a bit transparent at the end.
Leaves were stamped on the colored cotton rag paper with silver pigment ink and embossed with Ranger detail silver embossing powder. And the white-silver string was over-painted with silver Distress paint.
As I final touch I used the silver and gold mirrored stars all over the background - after all, it is a night scene still, right? :0)

Thank you again for stopping by, have a great days and "see" you next time :0)

15.7.2017 Scrap art journal 4 - Dragonflies

Scrap art journal 3 - Bubbles

"Bubbles" - third page in my Scrap art journal series (square 28 x 28 cm /cca 11" x 11").

For this page I've chosen the same pattern paper with stripes and the same Bloom girl from Prima Marketing as for my previous "Tell him..." scrap journal page.
I tried to transform this paper a bit differently with help of Tim Holtz Harlequin stencil, Peeled paint, Ground espresso and Black soot Distress inks. Then I created the bubbles with white gesso and white Caran d'Ache Neocolor 11 water soluble wax crayon. The rest is just stamping with black archival ink and coloring with white acrylic paint marker and black india ink marker. For the girl I used my alcohol markers again.
This page could be the sister of the previous one, but I'm very happy, how different they are :0)

Thank you again for stopping by, enjoy your crafty days and "see" you next time :0)

11.7.2017 Scrap art journal 3 - Bubbles

Art journal page with photo tutorial - Two worlds (entry for Chocolate baroque Spring art competition 2017)

Today I want to show you my entry for Chocolate baroque Spring art competition 2017 - art journal page Two worlds (square 29 x 29 cm / cca 11,5" x 11,5").

This page is about the meeting of two worlds - on and under the surface - when the sea creatures discovered something unusual for them - the boat in the bottle sunk on the ocean bottom :0)

I used two patterned papers and changed them with the use of stamping resist with acrylic glazing medium and a few blue colors of Distress ink pads to reveal the pattern of the stamp and mimic the sun light rays under the water. 

I colored the sea creatures with Distress markers and created the bottle from two layers of acetate sheet. For the stopper I used a piece of selfadhesive cork sheet. 

For the stamping I mixed a few of the Chocolate baroque stamp sets, mainly Steampunk Funky Fish and Steampunk Sea World, a nice flower stamp from October Fairy, coral reef and quote from Seaside Dreams, grass from Awesome orchids, the birds from Landscape Edges, texture from sand from Texture Fragments and finally water texture for background from Harlequin Fragments.  It seems to bee a lot of stamps, but in fact if was not so much and they matched together perfectly :0)

It was a great pleasure and a big fun to use these stamps again an you can find the photo tutorial bellow :0)

Thank you for stopping by, have a nice day and see you next time :0)

14.6. 2017 - Two worlds

1. used stamp sets

2. stamp all the elements

3. cut them out

4. first "how it could be" assemblage...

5. background acrylic medium resist - original papers and the result after stamping, drying and over-coloring with Distress ink. Colors reveal the stamp pattern.
Before stamping I spread a thin layer of the medium on the acetate sheet with a brush and then stamped the stamp into it and on the paper. After finishing is really necessary to clean the stamp  immediately and completely with (soapy) water before the medium will dry on it and ruin it. Medium (wet or dry) is clear an almost invisible on the paper, so only the coloring will reveal it, but the page needs to be completely dry before that.

6. background stripes assemblage. Some parts are over-colored again with Distress ink.

7. background stripes glued together for final layout

8. creating a light rays on the background with darker Distress inks.

9. two acetate sheets cutted in the bottle shape according to the hand made paper template. Upper sheet colored from inner side with grey alcohol markers to create the ilusion of the clear glass.  Bottle stopper cutted from selfadhesive cork sheet and stamped.

10. acetate bottle - first assemblage. The paper waves are torned out from the rest of the background papers. The boat and stopper are between the two acetate sheets.

11. second "how it could be" assemblage...

12. coloring of the elements

13. framing the colored pieces with black alcohol marker. It helps with the dimmension of these pieces on the layout.

14. final assemblage before framing on the white cardstock

15. final art journal page Two worlds :0)

Scrap art journal 2 - Tell him...

"Tell him..." - second page in my Scrap art journal series (square 28 x 28 cm /cca 11" x 11").

This time I've chosen one pattern paper with stripes and combined it with gold round paper plate from my birthday cake and some stamping :0) I used one of the Prima Marketing Bloom girls stamp and a crystal stamps from Spellbinders.  For the stamping on the gold-foil plate I used black Staz-On ink, for the rest Memento ink and alcohol markers and a gold acrylic marker.  

Thank you again for stopping by and "see" you next time :0)

7.7.2017 Scrap art journal 2 - Tell him...

Scrap art journal 1 - Turtles

"Turtles" - first page in my Scrap art journal series. It is a return to my big square 28 x 28 cm (cca 11" x 11") pages and a beginning of my personal challenge. I have no idea how long this journey will be, but this is the first step :0)

Point is, that I have a lot of patterned papers I don't like. It's quite normal, I thing. You buy some paper pad, but not every single page is your favourite one and you know, that these left over papers you will probably not use...maybe never. So I decided to use these paper "scraps" and transform them into something more pleasant to me, preferably art journal pages.
I feel this decision very challenging and I hope, this will last for some time and I will use as many of these "outsiders" as possible ,0)

For my first page I've chosen two papers connected with aqua color, although one had was very busy pattern and second one very simple. Then I used The Crafters Workshop stencils for a sea grass, the turtles and shells, some of them with Tim Holtz white texture paste and white and black acrylic markers. The seashells are also colored with gold acrylic marker and turtle shells with green Pitt artist pens and gelatos. To make the turtle shells glossy I used Triple thick glossy glaze from Deco art.

I'm very surprised with the outcome, it is better than I hoped, so I will definitely continue this journey :0)

Thank you for stopping by and "see" you next time :0) And if you would like to leave me your comment I would appreciate it a lot :0)

5.7.2017 Scrap art journal 1 - Turtles

Art journal page - I feel great

"I feel great" - art journal page in Canson Mix Media middle art book - 17 x 25 cm (cca 6.5" x 10")

Just a simple page with a mixed Distress inks and Distress oxides background. I used Salty ocean, Mermaid lagoon and Tumbled glass Distress inks - put them on my craft sheet, sprayed with water and dipped the paper in it. Then I layered Broken china and Faded jeans Distress oxides over it with the same technique. As a final layer I used Hero arts Unicorn white pigment ink stamped with the cloud stamps from Katzelkraft. I wanted more natural sky, so I spritzed the page with water and carefully let the pigments mixed horizontally. The final result was very good :0) Nevertheless I used white acrylic gesso to define the top of the clouds more. I also cut the top parts of the clouds from the paper, so I can place my fish also behind them :0)
All these cute fish are from Chocolate baroque steampunk themed stamp sets and I colored them with Tombow Dual brush pens and Distress markers and framed with Faded jeans colour. Finally I added white shading with a colored pencil and Sakura Souffle gel pen.

My quote - a short poem - reflects the feelings of the day and in English could be approximately like this:
"I feel great, it's not a dream,
like a fish in water stream.
What's the water? Who knows it ever?
I might even float in heaven...

Have a very happy day and thanks for stopping by :0)

27. 6. 2017 I feel great

Art journal page - African moments

"African moments" - black and white vs. colors art journal page (cca 22 x 34 cm / 8,5" x 13,5").

I started with black and white background - simple 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation stamping of a few Sheena Douglass and Darkroom door stamps with Ranger black archival ink on a white cardstock - one page with elephants oriented to the right side and one with giraffes going to the left. Then I cut the pages in stripes, defined the edges with Distress black ink pad and placed them in a collage on a black cardstock, together with white ribbon stripe and black filmstrip die cut in the middle. Because I love this background so much, there are also some pictures of this process ...

Then I cut 3 postal frames from black cardstock, put the white cardstock pieces in them and stamped my African sunset scene. I also stamped 3 extra trees on a white cardstock and glued them on the black cardstock for extra dimension. For my quote I used Tim Holtz smaller alphabet stamp. I colored all this elements with Distress inks - Scattered straw, Mustard seed, Spiced marmalade, Rusted hinge, Vintage photo, Tumbled glass and Broken china. Finally I added a few highlights with a white gel pen and a shading around the focal points with smudged black pastel pencil.

My goal for this page was a combination of black and white background with colorful focal points and it was pleasant experiment and surprisingly challenging. Maybe you will like the outcome as much as I do :0)

Thanks for stopping by and see you next time :0)

20. 6. 2017 African moments

P.S. ...to see more details, open the pictures (link) in the new tab :0)

Birthday card two :0)

Second of two birthday cards I made in May :0)

4.6.2017 "Surprise, surprise" birthday card