Had we but time...

Hello all, Alison (butterfly) here with a cri de coeur.  There doesn't seem to have been any let up since the house move, and I've been feeling the pressure of deadlines - work and crafting ones.

So the words used in today's journal page have been revolving in my head for days: Had we but world enough and time...

I know that in the poem they come from they're actually being used to try to seduce the listener into bed with the poet - but that's not where they're coming from in my head and heart at the moment.  I'd just like a bit more time to myself - at the craft table, preferably!

And yes, of course, I did have some time to create this - but in between planning the next batch of workshops I'm delivering, so it wasn't as free and easy as I'd've liked.  Ah, well - I'm pretty happy with the end result, nonetheless.

This page is the first time I've put ink to paper in my Dylusions art journal, bought several months ago... and I have to say, they really are gorgeous pages to work on: sturdy but smooth, taking ink and other media beautifully.

I started out with two of the new Artistic Stamper masks - two sizes of circles, and I stamped some text through the larger one and used a palette knife to scrape some embossing paste through the smaller one.

The text didn't stamp all the way to the edges of the circles, but then I wasn't trying very hard to make it do that.  I quite like the gentle waves it created in the background.

I also added some more texture through the Crafter's Workshop Art Is stencil.

Once the texture paste was dry, I started adding ink (all the blues - Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire) and paint, and some more layers of stamping, using the Sequin Waste and Mini-Dots, as well as some more text.

Some of the stamping is done in Archival - Coffee and Cornflower, amongst others - and some is done in paint - Gesso or Snowflake Fresco mainly.

While all that dried for a bit, I cut the Tim Holtz Weathered Clock out of some cardboard.  I splodged Picket Fence, Weathered Wood and Stormy Sky Distress Paints onto it and spritzed it with some water to get them to blend.

Once that was dry, I gave it a good coat of Rock Candy crackle paint and left it to get on with its magic.

I also used a couple of the Tim Holtz masks - Clockwork and Dot Fade.

The Gibson Girls were clamouring to put in an appearance - they have a quality of yearning and frustration about them which seemed to connect in to the words.

I stamped them onto tissue paper first so that I could have a play with their positions.  Initially, I had those two corner women the other way around but, in the end, I felt the thoughts were most strongly expressed by having them facing away from the centre, each wrapped up in their own problems.

It's pretty much coincidence or luck (or subconscious planning) that the central woman found herself on an almost un-inked area of the page, leaving the face free to connect directly with the viewer.

A bit of Vintage Photo and some Gathered Twigs around the edges helps to draw the eye towards the centre of the page, and then I couldn't resist adding a bit more Rock Candy Crackle paint.

I particularly concentrated on adding some extra texture over those lovely bubbly circles, and that was when I suddenly realised what they were...

With the addition of some green pencil shading and highlights, the circles had become little planets - the "world enough" from the quote - completely unplanned, but once I'd seen it, so clear that that's what they are!

I stamped the words on a separate piece of card, cut them out and inked them, and added them to the page.

I suppose it's unsurprising that, with limited time at my disposal, I ended up playing with my favourite colour combination yet again.  Those blues and browns just seem to end up in my hands without me even thinking about it, so I hope you're not bored by them.

Don't forget our November challenge is up and running now... we'd love to see your Christmas creations, so come and share them with us here at The Artistic Stamper.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and see you soon!

Ingredients used:
Artistic Stamper Stamps: The Gibson Girls #1, Mini Polka Dots, Sequin Waste, Calligraphic Mat #4
Artistic Stamper Masks: Large Sequin Waste, Large Dots
Dylusions "Perfect" Journal
Crafter's Workshop Stencils - Art Is
Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Clockwork, Dot Fade
Distress Inks: Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire, Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs
Archival Inks: Coffee, Cornflower Blue, Aquamarine
Distress Paints: Weathered Wood, Picket Fence, Stormy Sky
Gesso
Fresco Finish Paints: Snowflake
Rock Candy Crackle Paint
Grunge Paste
Sizzix Dies - Weathered Clock (from my stash)

Had we but world enough, and time,  
This coyness, Lady, were no crime  
We would sit down and think which way  
To walk and pass our long love's day.
From To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell