Paint flinging play time........

Hi all,

just a quick post today. Ha ha ha I eventually managed to squeeze in some play time in my large altered book journal........

Julie Nutting mixed media doll stamp - Prima.
Sentiment stamps - Hero Arts (very old releases lol but I love them)

Ha ha ha can you spot my deliberate mistake!!!!!

Huge hugs to you all,

Dawn x x x x

Fun, fun, fun........

Evening all,

I was the lucky recipient of a fantastic swap package recently, courtesy of the lovely Terrie over at Creative Explorer - a mahoosive envelope stuffed to the hilt with beautiful patterned papers, gelli prints, textured paper, vintage pages, wood veneer, lol I would be here all night if I carried on!!!!!!!!

Anyhoo, I fished out a few bits that caught my eye and had a play in my large altered book journal, one sheet had the most amazing tribal/ethnic animals and patterns on it and I managed to get 2 single spreads from it by using every scrap of it, here you go........

I started by sticking patterned paper down for my background, this was muted by brayering on some white acrylic paint. The animals were very carefully fussy cut and stuck down to create my 'totem' pole. I did a quick border around the edge of the page and the animals with a black copic brush marker and white gel pen.

I wanted to do something with the beautiful patterned pieces that were left after cutting out the animals, this is what I came up with........

Tee hee, a quick painty background to start with!! I had originally planned on creating some kind of border with the patterned pieces but as I was playing with the layout this tree appeared on my page, a serendipitous moment methinks!! The leaves are courtesy of a JOFY stamp set from Paperartsy.

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

Huge hugs

Dawn x

A seahorse for BJ and Elizabeth........

Awe,

thanks for the great suggestions BJ, Elizabeth and Tracey, sorry Tracey though I saw yours too late!!!!!! Hmm, challenge for another day methinks!!

After yesterdays post with the mermaid I had asked for some ideas for the adjoining page, 'seahorse' came in first last night tee hee, here you go........

A simple painty background, stamped seahorses (Stampendous) and my hand-drawn seahorse (adapted from a variety of photos lol), which has been watercoloured using distress inks.

Great fun, tee hee hee.

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

Huge hugs

Dawn x

Mermaid magic........

Ha ha ha ha ha,

my gorgeous 6yr old daughter, Millie, challenged me to draw a mermaid in my journal - lol how could I refuse!!!!!!!!

We have been playing with an Usborne children's drawing book which teaches you to draw mermaids and fairies (from a childs' perspective of course) and we have been having soooooooo much fun.

Here is my take on it, a single side in my large altered book journal............

Childlike maybe (lol I kept to my challenge brief!!) but so very liberating!

Products used were Decoart Americana and craft acrylic, pebeo iridescent acrylic, a multitude of glittery gel pens, a TCW stencil, and seaweed stamps from a 'Little Big Tree' set.

Hmm, what to do on the adjoining page now!!??

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

Playing again................

Evening all,

I'm soooooooo lucky that my 2 gorgeous tiddlies play so well together and that I managed to sneak some play time myself!!!!!!!!

Here is another page from my large altered book journal - lots of layers (ha ha ha, I lost count!!) of inky painty fun. No real purpose to the page either other than the total enjoyment of the process - happy days!!

I started by collaging some scraps I had lying around in the kitchen and paper recycling box (naughty mummy sneaked some of Millie's birthday wrapping paper, tut tut!!), lots of layers followed before I added some lettering, doodling and a stamped image. The stamp used is a Prima mixed media doll by Julie Nutting, one of my faves at the moment - this incarnation is the mask that I had used for a previous journal page, I liked it so much that I kept it back to use on another page as she looks just like my hands do when I have been crafting!! I did tart her dress up with some watercolours though!

Lots of space for some journaling when I feel like it too - bonus!!

Ha ha ha ha ha, the above pic shows the 'assault course' my lovelies had built and been playing with while I was sneaking some crafty time. Tee hee you can just see Max poking out of the tunnel at the top of the pic and Millie balancing on some cushions. Much fun and laughter as you can probably imagine, and yes I did have a go!!

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

Huge hugs 

Dawn x 

Journal page........

Afternoon all,

here is another spread from my large altered book journal, lots of fun again tee hee........

A simple painty, stencilled and stamped background with lots of doodling using a stabilo all pencil.

A huge thank-you to the lovely Gez for the collage images, ha ha ha I found them again under a pile of craft stuff, thought I'd lost them - Phew!! What a fab excuse to have a play at the time too!!!!

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

Hibiscus.....

Hello peeps,

lol rain again!! Hey ho, positive thinking everyone please, we WILL have some more sun before the sprogs go back to school (won't we??!!).

I have to admit to loving how this page turned out, I didn't 'think' about it too much and just let it flow for a change and boy did I have fun........

I started with a gesso base and then scraped some decoart acrylic colours on with an old membership card. Out came the bottle top and sequin waste collection to add some interest and layers using another decoart acrylic. I then stamped randomly with Tim Holtz's regal flourish using stazon. The doodling was done with a sakura glaze pen. The flowers were cut from an advert in a magazine and a title and small bit of journalling was added to finish.

Many many thanks for popping by,

Big big hugs x x x x

Cover up........

Hi folks,

lol if my spelling is off, I'm typing while trying to watch the Olympics ha ha!

Hope you are all well and not too bothered by this crappy weather again! Tee hee, always a good excuse to stay indoors and get crafty in my book!!

This is a page from my altered book journal (a childrens book I found in a charity shop that has a fab full hard cover and internal ring-bound pages that are just under A4 size) which is a cover up of a background I didn't like.

The page had started with a pink background as I didn't want to waste the paint left over from another project but I wasn't feeling the love, so to speak, so decided to cover it up ha ha.
I scraped some red and orange acrylic across the page with a credit card, leaving some of the original background as a 'reminder to self'!
Two green acrylics were stippled through the fab Tando sequin waste mask to give the impression of grass, the Tando splatter mask was then used with white acrylic to create some clouds.
I drew around a dewdrop ink lid and a glue bottle on an old book page to create petals and the flower centre, these were coloured with promarkers.
Tando mini leaves were coloured using a sakura glaze pen (lol, another note to self - remember to do a gesso base first ha ha, three coats of glaze later.........) and added to the already doodled stem.
Lots of liquid pearls has been doodled on and a brilliant quote from the Quote Garden added to finish.

Many thanks for popping by,

Big big hugs x x x x

A Ray of Sunshine

Hi all,

after a wonderful sunny day today I decided to do a quick journal page and share some sunshine with everyone else who may not have been so lucky.

I started with a very quick acrylic ink wash and sprayed my gessoed page. The sun was drawn on watercolour paper, outlined with a copic fine-liner and coloured with promarkers. I cut the sun out and stuck it on then doodled lots with a gold glitter pen. The sentiment is my own as far as I know and was stamped using black memento and a basic alphabet set. One quick journal page to lift the spirits hopefully?

Thanks for taking time for a peek.

Hugs x x x x   

Feeling Brave.........

Hi peeps,

goodness I must be feeling really brave today (or maybe stupid lol!!) and decided to go for it and bare my soul in a way by sharing something that I've actually drawn myself.
It has been over 20 years since I have tried to draw anything from a serious point of view but I felt very inspired by an article by Anna Bjorklund in a recent Scrap365 issue.
Anna very clearly explains how to draw faces so I had a go............

Apologies for the lack of colour but I am planning on jazzing up a printed copy and want to keep the original as it is.  I really did sit there wondering who she was when I had finished as she looks so sad!!

Hey ho - just to brighten the post I wanted to share another journal page too. This one is from my altered book journal (no relation to my Altered Book course book tee hee)......

I have used my trusty chalk sprays for the background, the fab Tim Holtz wings have been embossed using distress embossing powder and edged with a red gel pen, the wellies were cut from a sunday supplement, the border was done with a docrafts star stamp and doodled on with metallic pens.  Ha ha, the wording is my own, can you tell by how wonky it is!!!!!!!

Thank-you so much for taking a peek.

Big hugs x