The Brighter Side of Journalling

Hello all, Alison (butterfly) here with you again... and with some more art journalling.  But rather than the wintry pages over at Words and Pictures, this is an altogether lighter and brighter bit of journalling!

It does make me smile though to see how similar elements seem to have bobbed up on this very different page.

I'm definitely having a thing with circles at the moment - and here there are two layers of them.  First, some Distress Spray spritzed large circles using the Large Sequin Waste mask, and over that I spread a very thin layer of the Viva Decor Croco Crackling Colour through the Large Dot mask and left it to get on with cracking while I went off to do something else.

When the large dots were dry, I did some stamping with Distress Inks in my Jan/Feb colours of vivid blues and greens.  There's the Sequin Waste background stamp in Mowed Lawn and the Mini Polka Dots in Broken China and Peacock Feathers.

Once stamped, I gave them a spritz of water to let the Distress Ink do its magic wicking thing, softening the look.

And I used Distress Stains to add some colour to the large dots, wiping away the excess so that the crackle is highlighted.

So, like the winter pages, there's lots of crackle too.

For my focal point, I chose the word from Journaling Words #5 (oh, for the missing L!  Ah well, the Americans will like it).  I stamped it in the matching Distress Ink colours and clear embossed it on a whitewashed book page.

It's layered up over some wire mesh, tea-dyed tissue paper (transparent - so you can see the stamping and the text through it - love it!) and another book page.

I had great fun with my metal pieces.  The Idea-ology flower is altered with Distress Paint, while the skeleton leaves have had a dose of my Ten Seconds Verday Paint (weathered patinas, until now only really used on dollshouse work).

I used a combination of the Verday Copper finish as well as some Distress Paint in Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean to get the finished effect, and I love it.

And I edged the page with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain to pick up the rusty colours of the central layers, so we also have - at heart - the blues and browns of my winter pages, but transformed to a brighter version.

So having set out to do something completely different from the recent art journalling shared over at Words and Pictures, I have got something different, but somehow very closely related!

Thanks so much for stopping by today - it's always lovely to hear what you think.  And do come and play along in our New Beginnings challenge for a chance to win a gift voucher here at The Artistic Stamper - hope to see you there!

Ingredients used:
Artistic Stamper stamps: Journaling Words #5, Mini Polka Dots, Sequin Waste Open
Artistic Stamper masks: Large Sequin Waste, Large Dot
Distress Spray Stains: Broken China, Peacock Feathers
Distress Inks: Mowed Lawn, Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain
Distress Paints: Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn
Distress Stains: Mowed Lawn, Broken China, Peacock Feathers
Clear Embossing Powder
Viva Croco Crackling Colour - White
From my stash - gesso, wire mesh, tissue paper, book pages, metal flower and skeleton leaves, tea(!)

Time's Up!

Hello all!  Alison (butterfly) here, and delighted to be back after a break.  I'm so grateful to Jennie for letting me take a sabbatical while I was busy with theatrical life in New York.  And I'm sorry that my first post back is a few hours late - computer troubles I'm afraid.  But (fingers crossed) it all seems okay, so I'm here with a timely tag!

I'm going to keep it quick today so as to get as close to the deadline as possible!  I created this using the fantastic Time and Keys plate and a tag background which had been floating around on my table for months.

I put texture paste (this was the new Ranger Texture Paste if I remember rightly) through the Tim Holtz Gothic stencil and then used Distress Stains in some of my favourite blues and greens to tint the whole thing.

I was inspired to create my platinum watch case by some fabulous pocket watch pendants I found at a street market in New York.  I stamped the back of the watch case in embossing ink and used platinum embossing powder to create a vintage sheen.  I blended over some Walnut Stain and Black Soot Distress Inks to highlight the intricate detailing.

For the watch face I stamped the front twice - once to create the platinum frame, and another version where I used fine detail black embossing powder for the numbers and clock hands.

I cut and layered them together and then mounted the front and the back on layers of padded tape to give extra dimension.

The quote was also embossed using the fine detail black powder, and I inked the edges with Pumice Stone and Frayed Burlap.

I layered the whole thing onto one of the pre-printed Prima tags as it seemed to need a bit of a frame.

Some satiny ribbon from my stash tops the whole thing off.

I'm pretty pleased with my vintage pocket watch - and I can only apologise that it doesn't keep better time!  Still, I'm only a couple of hours late, so I hope you'll forgive me.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you'll find time to join in with our Christmas Is Coming challenge this month.  You don't have to use Artistic Stamper stamps, but if you do you get two entries to the prize draw, so come and play along.

Ingredients used:
Artistic Stamper stamps: Time and Keys
Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Gothic
Texture Paste
Distress Inks - Pumice Stone, Walnut Stain, Black Soot, Frayed Burlap
Distress Stains - Evergreen Bough, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, Iced Spruce
Embossing Powders - Ebony Superfine and Platinum
Versamark Ink
Treasure Gold, Ribbon and printed tag from my stash

Autumn Leaves Card by Alison Hall

Hello Stampers! I was inspired by the beautiful colours of the Autumn trees to make this card.

Here's what I used...

Smoothy Heavy Weight White Card

Katy Leitch Leaves Plate

Ranger Distress Stains - Forest Moss, Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade

Ranger Archival Ink - Potting Soil

Gold Embossing Powder

Heat Gun

Craft Mat

Round Paint Brush (or waterbrush)

Cardstock for matting & layering - Green & Gold

7ins Square White Card 

Double sided tape

Here's what I did...

1.  I cut a piece of smoothy white card 5 1/2 ins square, used all three distress stains to ink the leaves, & stamped them on the card. I stamped the phrase, using potting soil archival ink

2. I dabbed some distress stains onto a craft mat, then used the round paint brush to pick it up & splatter.

3. Next, I sprinkled some gold embossing powder over the leaves & melted it with the heat gun.

4. I layered my artwork onto some green and gold card, then onto a white card blank to finish.

I hope this inspires you to make some Autumn cards.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison xxx

The Old Curiosity Shop Butterflies By Dee

Hi everyone I hope you are all well! for my second piece 

I have coloured a tag with 

distress inks.

With my distress blending tool and craft sheet I blended Faded Jeans,

 Chipped Sapphire, Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn onto 

a size 8 Manila tag.

I spritzed with a small amount of water. Once dry, I glued a torn piece from the page of 

an old book, to the top left hand side of the tag. I inked up the Artistic Stamper Neil Walker border stamp with Chipped Sapphire and stamped it down the tag in three lines. Next I poured 

gold embossing powder down the tag so that it only caught in places and

the ink randomly showed through, then melted with the heat gun.

I coloured a piece of lint with distress stains in scattered straw, faded jeans and peeled paint, I also coloured the fibres to go through the top of the tag.

I applied crackle paste to a card with a palette knife, once dry I then coloured it with various inks. I cut a strip out and outlined it with a gold pen, the old curiosity shop paper was then glued on to the strip and then fixed on to the base of the tag with hinge fasteners.

On an old mop up card I stamped the butterflies from the Artistic Stamper 

insects and butterflies plate with black archival ink and traced the

 outline with crackle accents.

For the bodies of my butterflies I used beads that I had in my stash.

This was all backed onto a hessian panel.

Finally I attached an old Chinese coin to the fibres as a 

finishing touch.

I hope you have all enjoyed this and please feel free to leave your comments.

I look forward to creating my next piece for the Artistic Stamper creative team blog!

 Happy stamping

 Dee x

Materials used

The Artistic Stamper Stamps:- Insects and butterflies,

 Neil Walker Border stamp.

Distress Stains:- Scattered Straw, Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint

Distress Inks:- Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn

Ranger:- Crackle accents, Black Archival ink & idea-ology hinge fasteners.

Crackle paste and gold embossing powder.

 

Cry Me A River

Hello everyone, Alison (butterfly) here with a hanging icon to share with you today.  It all started because I wanted to play with my new Croco Crackling Colour, and ended up taking on a musical twist... singing the blues again!

I guess my Our Creative Corner challenge to use a song title or lyrics has infected me more than I'd realised!  Part way through, the project just started to take on the flavour of the brilliant Cry Me A River (sung by the extraordinary Julie London in the link I've given you).

I began by smearing the Croco Crackling onto opposite corners of the hanging board with a palette knife.  Mine's white to start with, though it also comes in gold.  I left it overnight to crackle, though I don't think it needed that long - but I had several other things on the go at the same time, so there was plenty to be getting on with.

I love the chunky crackle effect - I put it on quite thickly to get this, and I didn't intentionally create that river flowing down the centre, but that's what it turned into once it was blue!

Once it was completely dry, I added various colours of Distress Stains, all shades of blue, over the top, blending with an occasional spritz of water as I went.

The woman is one of my favourites from the Faces No.2 stamp plate.  She's stamped in a combination of Cobalt, Cornflower Blue and Hydrangea Archival inks, and inked with at touch of Faded Jeans Distress Ink, so as to tone in with the Distress Stains.

I mounted her over some swirls of white water (otherwise known as cheesecloth), frothing as it charges downriver.

And the chains of grief still surround her, echoing the path of the river of tears (those would be Idea-ology Lace Chains of grief).

The Idea-ology Enamelled Tag is adorned with some Tim Holtz rub-ons.  The eye was a must, and some of the damask flourishes seemed to work well with the whole look of the piece.

And the words...

... the pay-off line of the refrain...

... always with me the words!

Everything pours over the edges, of course - you know me! - so the swirling waters continue in three dimensions.

So that's me for today - singing the blues (though that's not necessarily a sign that I'm unhappy - I have an ex-boyfriend who used to complain that I sang sad songs when I was happy and when I was blue, so how was he supposed to tell?  What can I say?  I like sad songs!).  I hope you like it.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Don't forget, there's still almost a week to join in with our Embossing and Texture challenge here at The Artistic Stamper - hope to see you there!

Ingredients used:

Artistic Stamper stamps: Faces #2

Papier Mâché Icon

Croco Crackling Colour in White

Distress Stains: Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, Broken China

Idea-ology: Enamelled Tag, Lace Chains from my stash

Archival Inks: Cornflower Blue, Cobalt, Hydrangea

Distress Inks: Faded Jeans

Inspire Journey

Hello all, Alison (butterfly) here with another tag which might inspire you to play along with this month's Embossing and Texture challenge here at The Artistic Stamper.  There was just no stopping me with this challenge theme!

I started by creating a wrinkle-free distress background with Distress Stains and Paints, and added some Distress Ink blended through the new Crafter's Workshop Specimen stencil.

I used Grunge Paste through different areas of the same stencil to create the texture, inking over it before dry brushing with white paint.

The beautiful butterfly is from the Insects and Butterflies plate.

He's stamped in Cobalt Archival and clear embossed for that sunlit shimmer.

I dry-brushed some more white paint onto an Idea-ology Muse Token to alter it slightly.

I stamped the gorgeous Calligraphy Mats #8 in Picket Fence Distress Paint to add more layers to the background.

And the two large words are from the Journalling Words #2 set...

... stamped in Potting Soil on and clear embossed, with some inking on the edges for definition.

It's all layered up on a piece of pale card and then onto some corrugated cardboard.

And the twine and seam-binding, delicately tinted with Distress Stains, provide the final touch at the top.

So lots more texture and embossing to inspire you... do come and play along this month.  Remember, you don't have to use Artistic Stamper stamps, but if you do you get two entries to the draw.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you again soon.

Ingredients used:

Artistic Stamper stamps: Insects and Butterflies, Journalling Words #2, Calligraphic Mat #8

Crafter's Workshop Stencil: Specimen

Distress Paints: Stormy Sky, Weathered Wood, Picket Fence

Distress Stains: Stormy Sky, Weathered Wood, Faded Jeans

Distress Inks: Faded Jeans, Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain

Grunge Paste

Fresco Paints: Snowflake

Seam Binding

Clear Embossing Powder

Idea-ology Findings: Muse Tokens