Hold On Gorgeous - with Emma Zappone

Hi there.

The start of any project is an Art of it's own.
Some days we want to craft but the Art just doesn't come easy or we have a plan in our head and it doesn't translate onto paper. This has been me this week. But I persisted. How?

I decided to concentrate on creating something small, so as not to be overwhelmed. I grabbed out my 5x7 Art by Marlene journal and popped out a page ready.
This is my result...

It's far from perfect. But I guess that's the great thing about Art Journaling, everything you create in a journal IS ART. I knew that I wanted to continue playing with the brown tones featured in this months mood/sketch but I also thought I could incorporate the sketch along with it.
I grabbed an assortment of acrylic paints from Dina Wakley and Dylusions, (the colours don't exactly match the mood palette but it's close).

I started to block the colours together like the layers in the sketch. Again this concept seemed better in my head. But again I persisted.
I grabbed a few stamps, some for background work and some as the focal point. The focal point stamps are from the stunning Aall & Create Take Flight set and the background mainly consists of Tim Holtz Glitch1 set. Very textured.

Art Journal pages allow me to experiment and keep building layers with paint and stamping. As I stamped the background stamps I didn't want to cover the acrylic but just 'touch' it so as to have a flow on effect rather than a lets just stamp this here effect. To add to that continuity I doodled some small shapes in black & white to soften the feel.

For the main focal point, I stamped and fussy cut 'her' and the 'wings' out and played with the idea of colouring 'her' in. I decided to only colour 'her' wings as a contrast between 'her' and the background.
I coloured in with a Distress Marker. And then just added small highlights around 'her'. 

To finish it all off I flicked gold and white acrylic and added a quote that really spoke to me through out the making of this page and in most of my creativity.

I hope this simple journal page inspires you to just create, even if for a few minutes, and try what might be floating around in your mind. The final result may just surprise you :)

Stay safe  and stay crafty friends, Emma xx

"Today" by Amanda Hartmann

Dear SC fans!

Whenever I am stuck with things to create, I go small. To tags, journal pages, anything that is a small and non-overwhelming surface. Plus it is a great way to play with new stuff or rediscover old stuff (which we all have plenty of)

Today I share a page in my old vintage book.

Step 1. Open to any page and gesso  over the entire page.

Step 2. Choose some Acrylic paints and get your old store card ready. What are your faves? My go to are Dina Wakley paints.

Step 3. Swipe paint on the page.

Step 4. Spray the page with water and wipe some paint back with paper towel.

Step 5. Add stamping. C'mon - dig through your stash and find a stamp you have not used in while!

Step 6. Add more colour with watercolours. My go to are Tim Holtz Distress Oxides. I press ink onto my mat, wet and use a brush to paint and splatter around. I used Tumbled Glass first.

Step 7. Stamp a title. I LOVE these Heidi Swapp Old School Alpha stamps! 

Step 8. Add another layer of colour with Tim Holtz Distress Oxides. This time I used Faded Jeans. 

I used similar techniques to create the tag, which was simple to attached to page to finish it off, with some diecuts, gauze and stickers.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Amanda

 

Woman: you roar by Tracey B

 Hi everyone and happy crafting Tuesday

I love it when Del has a photo shoot - lots of fabulous photos for me!

I started with some Memory Maze chipboard which I gave a coat of gesso and then coloured with a mixture of paints and sprays trying to get the right colour.   I used Lindy's Moon Shadow Mist (Van Dyke Sepia), Lindy's Flat Fabio (Cafe au Lait) and Prima Confections (Jordan, Cusco, Inca, Dubai, Tokyo & Calgary) and Neo II crayons (Raw umber & Sepia).

Used the same for my background.

I used a little Art Alchemy wax (Brushed Iron, Indian Pink, Green Brocade) and some Glossy Accents.

A mix of cocoa Vanilla Made of Awesome alphas and Heidi Swapp Fabulous epoxy stickers for my title.

TFL

cheers

Tracey

Happiness is... created by Tracey Thorne

 Welcome to another blogpost with an amazing Mood-Sketch... it is a change of months and we have a new run of inspiration for February & I am loving the monotone palette in this one.

I have used a range of papers in creating the 12x12 and some are old and some are new.... The base is Heidi Swapp Storyline Chapters. I have then cut a 2" strip of each of these papers, 13Arts - His &Hers remastered, Basic Grey, Studio Calico - Here and There, Heidi Swapp - StoryLine Chapters. Each square is roughly 2'" x 2" and then the corners have been rounded using a corner rounder punch.

 

I have adhered them in 3 rows to the base page using tape. I have also cut a strip of printed paper in two tones of brown and adhered that across the page. I have used an AALL & Create stencil - #115 Spiral Checkered and a little Liquitex Modelling paste on the page to the left and right of where the photo will be placed.

 

I have prepped some resin products by adding Gesso to prime them before using Adirondack Alcohol inks - Latte & Espresso - these were heat set before the next step.  I have then added Prima Metallique Wax - Rich copper, by taking a little on my fingertip and rubbing over the raised resin piece.

 

I have created the photo stack by layering some 13Arts printed cardstock and a little corrugated cardboard. A little muslin was also added under the cardstock to help with the blending of the 3D resin objects. I have also created a few little shell objects by using Fimo, I have lightly rubbed them over with the Primo Wax.

 

To complete the page I have typed up an Oscar Wilde quote and layered it on a little of the strip printed paper. I have also used a chocolate coloured pen to rule around the outer edge of the page. The title of the page was created using some stickers I have found in my stash.

Have a fabulous creative weekend

Bloom - Travellers Notebook by Emma Zappone

Hi, Em with you today.
And today for my share I have a Travellers Notebook page that also showcases the moodboard for Feb.
So some of you may know that I quite like Brown and when I saw this months colour theme I might have squealed with delight.

As a reminder lets peek at the amazing mood/sketch.....

I will play with the sketch side of the board later in the month.
I used some awesome products for these pages. I started with some Rubons. Once they were applied I coated my pages with a clear Gesso to prime them ready for all the colour and medium.

Next I used some modelling paste through Finnabair's stencil - Mind games along some of the corners and edges of the pages. This created a nice bit of texture with out overwhelming the pages.

Then came the colour. I used a variety of different products for all the neutral shades. I started with Distress Oxides in Gathered Twigs, Vintage photo & Frayed Burlap and then a Dylusions Ink Spray in ground coffee. I moved it around with a little water and a damp brush.

Next came the tree. This was painted with a Mix of different acrylic paints which included Art by Marlene - Tobacco, Dina Wakley - Buff, Dina Wakley Heavy Body acrylic - Ancient and a little cheap acrylic from my stash. For the trunk, this was painted with black Gesso. You can see how it all came about in my Video.

This weeks TN theme is hearts, now I'm not one to play with hearts much, so I drew these little hearts dangling from the tree to honour the theme. Finally I added a word and a quote from Art by Marlene quote book and this weeks TN pages were complete. 

I hope this inspired you to play along with this weeks theme or even have a go at this months fab mood/sketch.
You can check out my video here....

I will see you all again very soon.
Stay safe and stay crafty, Em xx

Bright, by Amanda Hartmann

Hello everyone!

It is already February!

And we have a new mood board to inspire you.....

Here is the first look at my page and you will see the colours you need....

And check out the mood board:

I loosely followed the sketch and used the warm brown tones - only adding some copper for interest.

I used a 13 arts stencil for the background with some modeling paste.

For colour I added brown and cooper tones with a Mica powder.

I raided my stash of papers and tags to layer details under the photo, include leftover papers from Stamperia Double-Sided Paper Pad 12"X12" 10/Pkg - Amazonia

Thanks for looking!

Amanda