Messing about in my Art Journal

I seemed to have lost my crafting mojo recently, but having watched Lou Withers yesterday on Hochanda, and decided to get our my Art Journal and play.   A bit rubbish (although loads of people on the group I belong to on Facebook loved it - what's that all about?)

One of the group mentioned her art journal, which she calls her "I don't care" journal.  Love that idea - so that's what mine will become!

Anyway - how did I create this "mess"?    The background was created with Brushos and a spritz of water.   I then picked out various shapes in the colours and doodled around them with fine liner pens and Posca pens.   The white swirl at the top was created using a glue pen and white embossing powder.   I also added a few bits of gold leaf and some odd doodling with the new Craft Artist Glitter Touch . (I love these - my new favourites).

Playing with egg shells ......

close of one section

............. What the heck is she up to now you ask?

Does this clue help?

 OK ... I will put you out for your misery.    Having boiled some eggs, I took off the shells, gave them a wash and then put them in the oven to "cook" for about 15 minutes to remove the inner membrane.  I then applied some That's Craft Clear 3D Gloss Gel Medium to the drawers of an MDF project I had made, and stuck on the bits of shell, adding more gel medium as I went along.   I then applied another coat of the medium when all bits were stuck on.

A quick heat with a heat gun to set the gel, and then I overpainted the drawers with White Gesso, to which I had added some Brushos, to create my own chalk paint.  One had purple added and one blue.  When dry I had an idea that rather than spray with varnish I would try an experiment and add some Brushos (using same colours) to some Rustoleum Furniture Finishing Wax, which I applied with my finger.  I then buffed it with a clean cloth.   Result! 

I painted the inside of he drawers with Crystal Glitter Antique White Glitter paint, and applied the Finishing Wax to those too.  Finally I added a couple of little silk flowers to create handles.

 

Inside of Drawers

Hope you can see the sparkle.

The outside of the unit was also painted with the Antique White Crystal Glitter paint, with the addition of scarlet Brushos!   I didn't mix the colour in completely, so I got a random streak look to it.   Again finished with Wax.

Finished Unit.

 

I also had another divided unit that complemented the drawers, which again was painted with White Gesso mixed with Brushos.  The two divided units were painted the same colours as the drawer fronts, and leaf green was added for the outside of the unit.  Again finished with the furniture wax.

Once again a streaky effect to the inside.

Finally the completed units together:   (The colours are actually paler and more delicate than in the photos, but due to the rainy day photos had to be taken indoors!)

Complete unit with drawers (which are opposite colours to the top)

I want to do some sort of decoration on the green part, but I haven't yet decided what. ..... maybe a stencilled pattern, maybe some stamping, or maybe some folk art.  There is no rush.  I will finish it as and when the mood/inspiration strikes.   I want to keep it pastel and pretty.  In the meantime it looks very smart sitting on my desk, keeping some stamps and stencils neat and tidy, with some small odds and ends in the drawers that always seem to go missing - like my bone folders for starters!

 

Art Journalling

I am always intending to try some art journaling, but never seem to get around to it.   Well I rectified that today.   MY no2 granddaughter was with me for the day, and as she was busy playing on her x-box, I thought I would try out the new Peerless Designs "face" stencils that arrived in the post.  (I bought them because a) I am useless at drawing faces b) thought they might encourage me to play in my art journal and c) I thought the grandchildren might like using them.).

As it was raining, and I couldn't work outside or up in the Den, I thought I would stick to watercolour painting in the first instance - rather than acrylics, as slightly less messy as I was working on the dining table to keep my granddaughter company.  I also used some luscious powders, a sprinkle of brushos, some Izink ink pads, and a smidgen of starlight paint for the straight lines.   I also used some other stencils from my stash.

The picture on the right will be work in progress when I inspiration strikes me as to what I want to add.  Of course this is the great thing about art journals you can go back to them as and when you want and add more bits.

My granddaughter took a break from her video game and came to see what I was doing.  "Can I have a go please", she asked.  So here is her journal page.    (We were both working in the same journal, so I stopped working on my page for a bit.    I then did some later, and she also then did some more to hers.   She wanted to create an abstract look for hers - so it is quite different from mine.   She has fun with the luscious powders!

I confess I haven't quite got into the "grunge" look of creating pages - I will try though.  Confess I would never have thought of starting with a blue/grey face!

Whilst she was putting the finishing touches to her painting, I was trying to encourage her and tell her about the "Rule of Three" or at least odd numbers, and demonstrated on a little tag I had handy.  Here it is.

We certainly had a fun day - and I am getting ideas of what she might like for Christmas .... could get expensive!   I will keep my eye out for bargains on journals and ink pads etc.

Sending Birthday Wishes - an experiment

This card started off as a bit of an experiment - the inner panel was originally supposed to be the card, but I wasn't happy with it.   I used an Inkables stencil and versamark, and then embossed the design, and then used Luscious powders and Brushos over the image, sprayed with a little water.    As I said I wasn't happy with it.

I then took a black card and using the Lilies die cut out the aperture and cut away some of the Lilies.  I then cut down the original background and stuck it down behind the aperture.

Some sentiments were then stamped onto white card using the Creative Expressions Big Ideas stamps. and edged with black,.

It was beginning to come together.  I applied clear sparkle pen to the remaining Lily and placed a gem in the centre.

I felt it needed something else, so I applied some Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter drops to two of the corners ......... this is when it went slightly pear-shaped, as I managed to smudge the drops when I moved the card to let the drops dry.   Oh heck or words to that extent were said as I needed the card dry and ready to post the next morning  (I was making it rather late in the day I do confess - and I didn't have time to start all over again!)

There was nothing for it but to recreate the splodged mess all over the surround, by adding more dots and splodging them with my finger - thankfully it seemed to work.  Not quite my usual style of card, but it is for a felly crafter, who will hopefully think I have just gone for the "grunge" look.

An insert was crated in Craft Artist.

Fairy Door - Yabadabadoo!

It really was to hot to do much today, so decided to finish painting my Fairy Door kit.

The door was created by using various decoart paints, and then applying some distress inks, immediately followed by Ultra thick embossing powder to get the rough look to it when heated

The surround was prepared with Pebeo sand texture paste, which I brushed on to get a rough rock finish.  This was painted with various Pebeo deco creme paints in greys, beige, and white, with a bit of green distress ink added.  Most was applied with a stencil brush in a random fashion, but I also used a dry baby white on my finger for some of the effects.

The hinges and door knocker were treated with Inka-Gold in Pewter, Bronze and Gold.

The Ferns were painted with a mixture of Pebeo green deco creme paint and some green distress inks.

The toadstool was also painted with the pebo creme paints and also some red brusho.  Finally it was given a coat of glossy accents (which might not have been such a good idea on this hot sunny day as that seemed to react with the paint underneath in the sun - oops!)

Apart from the red of the toadstool, the whole project was coated with an outdoor acrylic varnish.

It reminds me of the Flintstones - thus the Yabadabadoo in the title.

An afternoon crafting with the grandchildren

I had my youngest granddaughters to visit the other day, and we spent the afternoon crafting.  They love my sparkle pens, and also wanted to play with the brushos.  I also found the children's scissors, which had got mislaid in my stash, so obviously they had to be used too!

4 yr old's birthday card for her mum created with sparkle pens.
(she ran out of space for the word Birthday!)

4 year old's first attempt at using drawing gum and a mapping pen. which was
then painted with water colours.

7 year old's picture with drawing gum and mapping pen, and then
sprinkled with brushos and spritzed with water.

10 year old''s "art journaling" using sparkle pens for the abstract, blue purple piece,
using drawing gum and a paintbrush for the masking of the right-hand piece coloured with more sparkle pens.
Random "squiggles" on a piece of torn pearlised pink paper created with Pebeo marker pens.
 Finally all mounted on black card.

As you can see they had a fun afternoon, playing with Nanny's stash!

Messing about with Brushos

This was an experiment to try and draw a feather freehand.  OK a little more practise needed, but no bad for a first attempt.  I might try and trace an image next time.

The feather was drawn with masking fluid and a mapping pen on to watercolour paper.   I then sprinkled some dry brushos onto the paper and spritzed with water.  When dry it was mounted on black card.

Painting with Brushos

Having received some Brushos for Christmas, and then watched the demos on Hochanda by Alison C Board, I decided between two of the shows to attempt one of the techniques she showed - painting trees.

Well here it is my first attempt at a water colour painting.   I own up that I cannot draw for toffee so am quietly pleased with this.  OK I can see where I can improve but for a first I have to say it's not too bad!

The trees were created using masking tape torn down the middle, and I the applied some masking fluid across the trunks and created the hills and the moon and a few stars with the fluid to.

I then painted the trees with grey and brown brushos, and using the brown and the edge of a piece of card I created the branches.

I then painted the sky (although I probably should have done this before I removed the masking tape and painted the branches!

I highlighted my hills with a little grey and when dry I removed all the masking fluid, finally using the edge of a piece of card to create the fence.

I shall be trying a lot more techniques that I learned with the Brushos - so watch this space!

Painted Wooden Village

You may remember I painted some little tree scenes from The Works before Christmas, well whilst in ton after Christmas I discovered some little houses and a church, which I hadn't seen before.  They were in the sale - well it would have been rude not to buy them!

I painted them with Brushos and distress inks.   Snow was created with Puffy paint and some unicorn sparkles added.

The two houses

All lit up

All lit up in the dark

My son rather took a fancy to them - so if there is no room in my house next Christmas - you know where you will find them!