My Notebook

Hello. I hope you have a wonderful festive period and that, if you celebrate Christmas, you had some crafty goodies! I'm so sorry I've been absent for such a long time - I've had such a busy non-crafty life over the last few weeks that I hardly been able to craft, let alone blog.

I thought I'd share my altered work notebook. I use an A4 page a day diary - that way I make notes on meetings on the date it happened so it's easier for me to refer back to my notes. The cover was very textured (with a plastic coating) so I sanded it before adding paint. I used white and then blue paint before adding the stencilled green leaves and then stamping over.

The cover has a mixture of stencils as well as stamps with the stamped images stamped on old book paper as it's very thin - this was important as I have covered the diary with sticky back plastic to preserve it and thicker card would create bumps!

You can still see the black background of the diary through the paint - I like that effect!

I love the birds (which is why there are loads!) and this Wendy Vecchi pencil stamp. I use it such a lot!
Thank you, as always for popping by and for understanding me being absent these last few weeks - I'll try and be more active next year!

Stencils rule!

I am fortunate to have been asked to choose this month's theme at Country View Crafts Challenges and it's... stencils!

I LOVE stencils. They are incredibly versatile and enable you to create fabulous backgrounds and foreground elements. This journal page has six stencils - two different numbers, arrows, speckles, tracks (under the leaves) and plus symbols. 

The bottom has the same stencils:

Thank you for popping by - I'm really looking forward to seeing what you make this month!

October Dyary Page

I am honoured to be featured on the Country View Crafts Project Blog today - I've created a page in my Dyary - please pop over to see how I made it!

A world with Octobers

The new theme at Country View Crafts Challenges is Mixed Media with Autumnal hues and for my second project I mixed ink, paint and stamped elements to make a journal page. The fabulous quote is from Anne of Green Gables! I hope you'll join in with us this month, there's a prize for the winner if you do!

Create art every day

It is my privilege to be featured on the Country View Crafts Projects blog today - pop over to see more!

Creative Dyary - September

September's been a busy month and I can't believe it's over! I really enjoy carving out some time each week to create a page in my Dyary. More about the Dyary and a weekly summary of my Dyary year so far can be found here if you're interested!
Week Commencing 4 September

Back to school featured high in my week and so it seemed natural to reflect that on that week's page!

Week Commencing 11 September

The very pink page needed a blue feature to balance it - I love this flamingo!

Week Commencing 18 September

My son had a birthday this week and so I made this page in his honour. I think it might be one of my favourites of the year...

Week Commencing 25 September

I wanted to use the flamingo again and contrast the pink against black and white versions. I'm not sure I've fully achieved my aim however it's important to document the "nearly but not quites" as well as the perfect ones - it's all a learning curve!

Autumnal hues

Autumn seems to have arrived in my corner of the world very quickly. I’m a real summer gal so the trees changing colour and the cooling weather always comes as quite a shock!

I wanted to make something to celebrate a colleague’s 39 years at my place of work (quite an incredible achievement!) and when I saw the new theme at Country View Crafts Challenges was Mixed media with autumnal hues I knew I could combine the two!

I used a variety of yellows, oranges and browns to colour these Dylusions flowers and arranged them on the tag with a die cut banner. 

Fright Night

I'm still exploring Halloween over at Country View Crafts Project blog - please pop over to see more!

Create Art

For my second project this month on the theme of metal for Country View Crafts Challenges I wanted to make something that could easily be a card or front to an art journal or a variety of other uses! 
I painted the tag with Snowflake Fresco Paint and added Gathered Twigs Distress Ink through a stencil. Then I added the stamped leaves and then assembled the pieces continuing the metal theme. I like the simplicity of this tag - sometimes it's good to keep it simple - something I should try more often!

Brighton Pages

I recently spent a week in Brighton and amongst the long list of things I wanted to see and do there was the opportunity to do something crafty whilst in one of their fabulous coffee shops. This might seem an odd ambition but I work full time and so my opportunities to craft during the day are very limited (though often dreamed of!) and to craft whilst relaxing with a coffee is very enticing! I chose my shop in the North Laines, found a comfy spot on a nice battered leather sofa and unpacked my pencils!

I had premade two backgrounds and pre-stamped the images and sentiments on card so all I had to do was colour them and add them to the pages. I LOVED having the opportunity to create even though my studio was far away! I think I could have done more so next time I’ll pre-stamp a whole host of images and that’ll keep me going for longer! I think my New Year’s Resolution might be to do this in a coffee shop nearer to my home – though it seems such a faff to pack up a load of things to go out when I can easily do it at home!

This first layout in my small Creative Flip Journal was an experiment in colour using an  underused stencil – love the circles though the green (Cut Grass Dylusions Ink) *might* be a little strong!

The family are Stampotique images and I tried to stick to a simple colour palette including the skin tones. When the sentiment is a strong as this one it lends itself to making sure the images are a mishmash of figures!

The second layout is much brighter and a little more ‘me’ as I LOVE the pink! I don’t like pink particularly but I’ve found I quite often gravitate towards it in my art – I think it’s because it is a cheerful and warm addition to a page!

I use this sentiment a lot and have a repeated image to accompany it to indicate the different personalities. I would usually keep the palette fairly subdued and have one image more brightly coloured but I liked the rainbow effect against the pink!

The chaps are another Stampotique stamp and the hats are from Dylusions sets. I love placing a bird on a head. I do that a lot, but I really wouldn’t like that in real life!

Thank you, as always, for popping by.

Spooky

I have begun to think about Halloween already (I know, I know!) and my first seasonal project is featured on the Country View Crafts Project blog. Please pop over and see it!

You make my circuits spark!

When Miriam suggested that this month's topic at Country View Crafts Challenges would be metal - I knew I wanted to use this JoFy stamp set! I made a rusty background using metal tape, a texture fade and Fresco paints and real rusty wire to suspend the light bulbs and for the robot's neck. 
I hope you'll join in with us this month, you might win a prize!

Creative Dyary Update for August

I have updated my running record of my weekly Dyary on its dedicated page here however this is a brief summary of August! 

Week Commencing 28 August

The Bank Holiday weekend always makes me think of the seaside and so this page was born using some appropriate Dylusions stamps!

Week Commencing 21 August

This week I wanted to celebrate all things summer and these JoFy stamps for PaperArtsy fit the bill perfectly! It is so bright and cheery and I really enjoyed opening the Dyary each day to see it.

Week Commencing 14 August

The previous week I went bonkers with spray inks and this week was no exception! So many inks in the background! The pink really pops out doesn't it? A great contrast to the bluey/green.

Week Commencing 7 August

I went a little crazy with my spray inks this week - it has more layers than the photograph shows. The last layer was a Vintage Photo Distress Spray - it seemed to lend itself to a vintage image.

Daydreaming

Earlier this week I went to another University Open Day (Sunderland this time). We found ourselves passing Harrogate and it seemed a shame not to detour and visit Art From the Heart! I *might* have bought a few new goodies and so this page in my small Creative Flip Journal is a first play with these new delights!

I bought some leaf stamps as I'm certain I can't have enough of those! The spiders were from last year's Halloween set that "fell" into my hand! The quote is one I found a while ago. I've agreed with it and disagreed with it in turn but it's certainly made me think!

These two Stampotique stamps were desperate to come home with me. I *might* have bought a couple of others too that will debut soon! This is one of those layouts that I'll come back to in a couple of months (probably the next time I have new things!) and will add a little more to it - but for now it's finished!

Forgotten the words

I have a new journal page featured on the Country View Crafts Projects blog. Hope you'll pop over and see it!

I don't like...

For my second project at Country View Crafts Challenges for the theme of Blue and Green I made a journal page. Please pop over and read more here!