A Birthday Gift for a VERY SPECIAL Lady........

Evening all,

LOL I am still here, honest. I'm just pottering away in my own time at the moment rather than doing any challenges, which will more than likely continue for the rest of the year hee hee.

My apologies if I don't blog hop so much either, I only get on my lap-top for a short time in the early evening at the best of times!!!

Anyhoo, I made this for my fab big sister Karen (me being the 'pesky' one ha ha ha) for her recent birthday. It is a junk/smash journal made from 12x12 scrapbook papers. The cover is made from a large cereal packet..................

........this was covered with some wrapping paper then painted, stenciled and doodled on until I was happy.

The internal signatures, 3 in total, are 12x12 papers folded in half and stitched in using a 5 hole pamphlet stitch down the middle. I then had a fiddle and put in the 'X' stitches at the top and bottom to anchor the pages.
The papers I used were single sided and were glued together for stability and edged with various washi tapes. Some pages have pockets for tags and some have additional tip-ins for journaling on. The inside covers have vellum pockets too for some extra storage hee hee........

Hee hee hee, I filled the pockets with various bits of arty/crafty fun, either made by me or pilfered from my stash. I decorated the fronts of the tag inserts too, leaving the backs free for journaling.

I used some of my own hand-made stencils, Tando stencils, Prima stamps and various other stamps from my stash throughout the journal.

Hopefully Karen will have as much fun playing with it as I did making it.

Many thanks for popping by and leaving a comment if you feel you would like to.

Mahoosive hugs to you all

Dawn x x x x 

Breaking in.................

................a new journal!!!!!!

Hmm, I was ever so naughty and treated myself to an A4 Moleskine sketchbook. Ha ha ha I thought £12.00 with free p&p was a pretty good deal considering they usually retail between £19.00 and £25.00, so I had a 'what the heck' moment and went for it!!!!!!!!

I can understand why they are favoured by so many now, they feel wonderful, are superbly made (sewn signatures too whoop whoop), and the paper is very nice to play with too. I don't think the paper would stand up to too much abuse and dye ink/promarkers will bleed through if you do not slap on a coat of gesso but I have to say that I love it already.

Here is my 'breaking in' spread........

I started by literally winging some paint at it to get over the blank page/new book syndrome ha ha ha. I then stamped all over the spread with various stamps from my stash, using coffee and sepia archival ink.  The next step was to add another coat of paint which I added some additional texture to using a couple of grout/adhesive combs. The next pic shows this in a little more detail........

........you can just see the grid patterns in the paint. I defined this a little more by sponging some raspberry adirondack over the surface using some cut and dry foam.

Next came my favourite bit, building up layers by applying paint using various stencils, my fingers, bottle tops and old plastic cards.

The final stage was the addition of the stenciled/masked figures and various stamped sentiments, some directional tags, strips of washi tape, and doodling.

These scans show a little more detail........

Stencils/masks are a mix of Tando Creative, TCW and Tim Holtz.
Acrylic paints from Ranger, Decoart and Pebeo.
Stamps - heck, I can't remember them all and some are un-named anyways!!!!!!!

Anyhoo, on a final note I have to tell you this story!!!! My delight of a 2yr old son decided to shove a sweet up his nose on Sunday!!!! I was all prepared for a trip to A&E to get it extracted as after viewing up his nose with a torch (ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!) I could see it was way beyond my reach!! Well, after a few more checks while organising my daughter too I could see that it was melting and Max had lovely frothy green sherbety snot for the next couple of hours as it fully dissolved!!! Needless to say I don't think he will be doing it again in a hurry as it did sting a little until it had gone. BOYS HUH!!!!!!!!

Many thanks for popping by and leaving a comment if you feel you would like to, your time and thoughts mean the world you know.

Huge hugs

Dawn x

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - Letter G

Evening all,

ha ha ha ha ha I thought I would surprise you all and get my entry in early this time LOL!!!!!!!!!

If you fancy seeing what the fun is all about please pop on over HERE and if you fancy a peek at all the other G entries please pop on over HERE.

Anyhoo, I dusted off the big girl pants again!!!!!!!!!! I love drawing but have to admit that it doesn't come easily so I always refer to others for help, usually this involves pulling 'The Complete Guide to Drawing & Illustration' by Peter Gray off my bookshelf, it is a fab book in my opinion and breaks things down into easily followed steps - lol I think I would be lost without it!!!!!!!!

My chosen word, sticking to my theme, is GRACES, the Greek Goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, creativity and fertility........

Apologies for the poor photo, the light was fading rapidly!! I have edited it a little to try to improve it but hey ho ha ha ha!!!!! The scans are a little better I think........

Quite rough around the edges but I'm so pleased I didn't chicken out again and go for a collage option tee hee!!!!!!!!
Lol I must have been thinking about a film I love (The Bone Collector) while I was sketching as I think Thalia looks very much like Angie in the film!!!!!! Ha ha ha I WAS watching Tomb Raider again the other night, that's probably what sparked it!!

Products used - Tando Creative, TCW and Tim Holtz stencils, Decoart and Ranger acrylics, promarkers, stabilo marks all pencil and various alpha stamps from my stash.

Many Thanks for popping by and leaving a comment if you feel you would like to, your time and thoughts are always much appreciated.

Huge hugs

Dawn x

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - Letter D

Evening all,

lol what a miserable day we have had in North Cornwall (UK), very wet and gloomy but thankfully not cold!!  Ha ha ha, my photos are not too good because of the poor light today sadly but the scans should give you a better image!!

I'm soooooo enjoying this challenge still and if you fancy a peek at what it's all about please pop on over here, if you would like a nose at all the other entries for D please pop on over here.

Anyhoo, still sticking to my mythological theme, my entry for the letter D is Davy Jones........

Tee hee, my usual painty background (God I LOVE paint!!), smooshed on with my fingers to try and achieve a more fluid, watery effect. I used Decoart Americana, Adirondack paint dabbers and Pebeo Fluorescent acrylic.
The fantastic Bill Nighy as Davy Jones came courtesy of Google images, with a little washi tape to frame him. The 'treasure chest/Davy Jones Locker' was made using a manila tag sponged lightly with an espresso paint dabber to try to achieve a wood-grain effect, this was then stamped with a magazine freebie flourish using brilliance ink. The key is by Tando Creative and also coloured using Brilliance ink. I grounded the chest to the page with a little more washi tape. The chest is held closed using velcro dots.

Ha ha ha ha ha, any of you curious as to the contents of the chest????????

I decided to grant Davy Jones' wish of claiming Captain Jack Sparrow (a la Pirates of The Caribbean!!!!), I knew I would find a way of getting Johnny Depp in here somehow LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Image again found on Google. 

YUMMY!!!!!!!!

Many thanks for popping by and leaving a comment if you feel you would like to, your time and thoughts are always much appreciated.

Huge hugs

Dawn x

Technique play........

Afternoon all,

ha ha ha most of my journal pages start off as backgrounds of left-over paint from more specific projects - lol I LOATHE wasting paint!!!
Anyhoo, I had one in my large altered book journal with a real miss match of colours that I thought would be perfect to use for some technique trials. Dina Wakley very clearly explains a paint removal technique in her fab book (Art Journal Freedom) that I have been wanting to try - all you need to do is remove paint through a stencil using a baby wipe in order to reveal the layers underneath. If I remember rightly Dina takes this further than I did by reapplying the removed paint elsewhere on the page - I didn't do this!!!!!!!!

Here you go, clean and simple fun........

I simply covered my whole spread with paint and removed it through a stencil using a baby wipe - fun fun fun!! It revealed the colours underneath beautifully. Lol I got a little carried away in places, and I think my wipe was too wet, as I took off some of the layer underneath but I still like it.

The stencils I used for the paint removal technique were Tando's random circles and tyre tread (designed by Andy Skinner), nice open designs to work with as I don't think this would be so successful with a smaller, more intricate design??!!

The large black chevron around the edge was created using a template/stencil I made myself from some acetate, the stamp is a JOFY mini from Paperartsy.  Lots of doodling and colouring using a variety of gel pens and markers ensued and I added a computer generated quote for good measure.

Many thanks for popping by and leaving a comment if you feel you would like to, your time and thoughts are always greatly appreciated.

Huge hugs

Dawn x 

Colour fix................

Hi all,

hmm please come back sun!! It's very grey and thundery here today with some heavy downpours this morning!! I'm not complaining really lol, the weather was kind to us for the school run and its not cold, always a bonus hey!!!!!!!!

I have this old book that I'm using as a journal and wanted to start sharing some of it. It has been a real challenge and totally out of my comfort zone as a double page spread in this book is approximately A3 size - MUCH larger than I am used to but SOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun!!!!!!!!

Ha ha ha between 6-7 layers of paint, stamping, stencilling and doodling - happy days.

Stencils - Tando Creative and TCW.
Stamps - Kars, Kaisercraft and Prima.

Many thanks for popping by and leaving a comment if you feel you would like to, always greatly appreciated and enjoyed.

Huge huggles

Dawn x

Stab Bound Journal

Afternoon lovely bloggers,

today I would like to share a small journal I have made.  I have been wanting to have a go at this binding technique for ages and finally found a bit of time to do so........

Lol, apologies for most of the photos, it is so very dull here today!!

Products used - scrap mountboard, Docraft acrylic paint and metallic pen, Paperartsy Fresco paint, scrapbook letters, Viva Decor script stamp and Inca Gold, Bo Bunny texture stamp, gold embossing powder, scrap of mulberry paper, waxed linen thread, crackle accents and last but by no means least, Tando Creative's amazing flower and arrow minis.

The internal papers have been pre-decorated using acrylics and DI's, TCW stencils have been used in places.  Ha ha, decided this was the best option as stab bound books will not open completely flat so a little more difficult to decorate once bound together!!!!!!!!

Huge apologies too for the lack of explanation but I would be here all day ha ha ha!

I am going to enter this for the current Tando Creative challenge which is flowers this month, cheeky maybe I know but I have used some flowers??!!  If you fancy a peek at the challenge please pop on over here.

Many thanks for popping by and leaving a comment if you feel you would like to, so very much appreciated.

Huge hugs

Dawn x x x x

Butterfly Canvas

Hello all,

hope you are all well. Ha ha, went into shock today myself as a strange bright orange thing appeared in the sky!! Long overdue and really lifted the spirits, here's hoping we will see more of it over the school holidays hey!

Today I decided to challenge myself and leave the comfort zone that my altered book adventure is becoming. I usually automatically reach for bright primary colours when I am crafting so thought it was about time to throw in some pastels ha ha.

I wanted to have a go at a small canvas to enter in the current Tando challenge, which for the month of July asks for texture...........

I started by painting the canvas pink, this has then been edged using memento rhubarb stalk and grape jelly for some definition. The flower was on a free stencil set which came with the latest issue of Crafts Beautiful. I sponged some sea breeze green acrylic through the leaf part and some bubble-gum pink dylusions through the petal part. I then doodled round the flower using sakura glaze pens. To ground the flower I decided to do a bit more doodling along the bottom of the canvas. The sentiment is just something that popped into my head lol.
To create some texture I decided to focus on the fab Tando mini butterfly's, these were gessoed then given a base coat of red acrylic. Purple Viva Decor croco crackling paint was then applied. Lol the last time I used it I put too little on and it didn't crackle properly, I got it right this time, whoop whoop - it crackled beautifully.
I wanted to highlight the bodies on the butterfly's so I very sneakily pinched some of my daughters glitter glue, ssshhhhhhh!! OOhh, and some of her sticky gems!! Hey ho, she keeps pinching my craft stash ha ha.

If you fancy taking part too please pop on over here

Thanks for taking the time to pop by,

Hugs x x x x

Mixed Media Canvas

Hi all,

ha ha this was so much fun to play with but I'm still not sure I would call it finished!! Every time I look at it I see something else that may or may not 'finish' it off. Lol, maybe I should just put it away and look again in a few months!!

I started with an acrylic base coat, stuck on various bits of torn book paper, chocolate wrapper pieces (yummy they were too!!) and some kaisercraft ephemera pictures. I stamped some script and flourishes using coffee archival ink and then toned it all down with an acrylic glaze in a much lighter colour, rubbing sections off with a baby-wipe where I wanted some emphasis. Much inking through masks and use of bottle tops and various other bits and bobs ensued in an attempt to create some texture. The gorgeous Tando random circle mask was sprayed through using Memories orange juice ink and some lace was added around the main lady's neck-line to finish.

Many thanks for popping by,

Hugs x x x x

My first tag!

Hi there my lovelies!  Welcome to my blog and my first ever entry!!!!!!  I am showing you a tag that I have made for the Tando Challenge this month.

I have used Cosmic chalk mists which I love and a Tando mask for the leaves.  Loads of doodling and the sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo (I think haha)

Thank you for taking a look at my first ever post :-D x