September AJ Page-Embrace Change

Are you a winner from my TE Background Stamp Give Away?  Check post below or CLICK HERE!

Hello friends!  As of Thursday, Fall has begun!  It actually really does feel like Fall with the cooler temps settling in on exactly that same day too!  I’m looking forward to all of the wonderful changes it brings with it!  I enjoy going out in nature and seeing the trees change into their colors.

It’s also that time for a monthly Art Journal page and collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too!🥰  We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” September prompt of “ANY kind(s) of scrap papers!” :

Like many crafters out there, I’m sure we all have those never ending piles of papers! I especially have a very extensive collection of pattern papers and MANY within those piles of little left over pieces that never seem to get used and just thrown back into the package!  I not only have packages, but I also have several card kits that ALSO have packages of papers in them too…so I pulled out a past kit and was happy that I’ve used pretty much all of the left over scraps from it!  One down and a trillion to go!!😅

For the Background:  The page is a 6″ x 9″ Canson 140# cold-pressed paper with the holes prepared at the top for later book binding.  I’ve used Distress Oxide Sprays and used the left over spray on my glass mat with water until I soaked up all the ink.  I’ve also splattered some Gold and Ivory acrylic paints over top once dry.  I stamped a couple of the tiny leaves with green ink for a bit of depth in the background.

Vicki-SYS-SeptAJ-paper scraps-close

For the Image Elements:  I used the Simon Says Stamp “Woodland Whimsy” stamp set to paper piece all of the image elements with the tall trees on the right, the leaves, the bear, the bear’s belly and ears, also with the berry and leaf branches next to him.  The trees were fussy cut with scissors and the other images were cut with coordinating dies.  I’ve used Copic markers to add a bit of depth and dimension to some of it. Some were glued down while some were popped up with foam squares.  I’ve also taken the Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Leaves dies to cut out a few extra and sponged around them to add to the scene.  I’ve also used the same papers I’ve used to cut those leaves out and added it as a layer behind the two sentiment quote squares.  The quote was printed out from my computer and the “Autumn” sentiment was cut out from pattern papers using the Lawn Fawn henry’s ABCs dies along with more papers to make an “off-set” shadow behind them.

The “ground” was just fussy cut with scissors and ink sponged around the edges.  Lastly, I’ve taken some gold Stickles to create “berries” on the leaf branches and randomly over the page.

I really enjoyed creating this page as it has inspired me to go out in nature for a walk!  I sure hope you’ve enjoyed it as well!  Thanks for stopping in today!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Fur or Feathers (I went with fur, but love both!)
  2. Country View – Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness
  3. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  4. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes
  5. Love to Craft – Anything Goes
  6. Snippets Playground – Anything Goes using snippets (Happy to use up “snippets” of my pattern papers for the paper pieced images!) YES PLEASE!

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles25 Comments

August AJ Page-Childhood Imagination

**IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN MY GIVE AWAY OR LOOKING FOR IT, CHECK OUT MY POST BELOW OR CLICK HERE.  ENDS SEPT 22nd**

Happy Saturday friends!  I hope you’re enjoying your weekend and maybe doing something crafty too!  I actually can’t believe that next weekend we’ll be into September already!  Fall is coming which means hubby and I can enjoy some football game time!

Hard to believe that it’s time for a monthly Art Journal page and collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too!🥰  We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” August prompt of “liquid drops/enamel dots/brads/eyelets” :

Yes, it’s the never-ending supply of those enamel things, brads and eyelets!  I didn’t even use any eyelets on my page today, but at least I pulled out a few brads, enamel dots and even some liquid enamel drops too!

So I could take you down that “rabbit hole”😁 of how this page came about from seeing a couple of mushrooms out in our backyard that just weirdly keeps popping out randomly the last few months, but needless to say, I ended up with this page.  As a child I have always loved Alice in Wonderland and imagined myself secretly finding these amazing new worlds and having conversations with odd characters.  I do enjoy getting lost in a good book!

The background page was printed out with adding the Cheshire Cat image over top. (The wording was also printed out with the cat.)  I stamped some other wording over the printed background, splattered some paint and took an empty plastic roll dipped in gold paint and randomly stamped that all over it too.  I used my finger to also add some gold paint along the edges.  The mushroom image is from Power Poppy which I’ve printed, colored with Copics and fussy cut them out with the one in the front popped up with foam tape. I die cut a grass border at the bottom and tucked one of the cut out mushrooms behind the grass blades and then cut off all the excess.  I’ve attached this entire page to a heavy weight 140# cardstock that was ink blended with chocolate ink around the edges.  I took a strip of Graphics 45 Alice in Wonderland decorative paper and attached it to the right side of the page.  I was then able to punch out the holes at the top for my AJ book.

So when you look at the bottom of the page, you can see the mushrooms and how I’ve added some white Nuvo Liquid Drops to the red tops.  I think this really makes them pop and give dimension!  With the same Graphic 45 decorative papers, I’ve cut out the “tea set playing card” image, blended around the edges and added a blue brad in each corner of it.  I also added a bit of sparkle to the flying horse.  This cut out playing card was attached below sentiment over the background mushroom and grassy border.

You will also notice the “Eat Me bottle” at the top of the mushroom which was printed out separately from the background page, Copic colored and fussy cut out.  I attached it over top of the large mushroom and added a ribbon enamel at the top of it.  I also took my glitter brush pen and added something rising from the bottle…mysterious?!

Here’s a closer view of the enamel bow at the top of the bottle along with the mysterious glitter coming from it.  I’ve also added some of the glitter brush pen to the Cheshire Cat’s eyes too.  I thought I had room to add another three sparkly gold enamel dots to the top right and call this one done.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my AJ page today or have been inspired in some way!  Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – When we were Young
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Mixed Media
  3. Mixed Media Lovers – Anything Mixed Media
  4. Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + coloring (mushrooms)
  5. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  6. Simon Says Stamp Mondays – Mixed Media

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles27 Comments

July AJ Page-Leave The Trail

Happy weekend!  Where in the world did July go?!  I can’t believe we are at the end of the month already.  It’s really been a busy Summer this year and I know that Autumn is a favorite season of mine which will be busy as well, but that’s all a good thing.

It’s now that time for a monthly Art Journal page and collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too!  We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” July prompt of: “decorative papers/collections/kits, etc” :

OK, I don’t really know how much of a “challenge” it is to use decorative papers on anything…but I have such a HUGE stash of papers and I’m always trying to find different ways of using it up instead of always hoarding it!  The papers I’ve used on this page are exactly that…I hoarded it!  It’s just too awesome NOT to use!  I purchased this pack of Stamperia Sir Vagabond 8×8 papers when they came out and haven’t even touched it!  Now is the time!

I used my traditional 6×9 size with the holes pre-punched at the top to fit with the book I’m making.  I ran out of my usual 140# watercolor paper, so I’ve switched to another pad from my stash which is Strathmore Acrylic paper…very thick and made to use with paints. (I like the canvas texture it has.)

For the background:  I started with some old paint from my stash and brush blended the different colors.  I didn’t want them to be too bright which I thought would take away from the paper images.  After it dried, I covered the entire page with some Tim Holtz Postage Tissue Wrap.  I thought it ‘stood out’ too much, so I painted over it again using the same paint colors.

For the Journal Prompt with the papers: I cut out pieces with scissors that had interesting images I wanted to use like the circle map, the “Vintage Travel” strip, the hot air balloon with train, the “mountains” at the bottom, the circled compass, the sentiment and then I ‘ripped; a piece for the top of the page and then re-punched the holes.  The compass circle, hot air balloon/train and ripped newspaper edge was sponged around the edges with Toffee ink.

Before placing the cut paper images, I decided to add a fun textural window image.  I stamped the window with chocolate colored pigment ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Collage Medium was used to attach all of the different paper images except the balloon/train, compass and sentiment.  I used Pitt Big Brush Markers to go around these collaged images for some shadowing.  I then used some white and chocolate paints to create splatters over the page being careful to cover up the window area.

Before attaching the sentiment strip and the compass, I used some Aged Brass Metallic Wax to go around the edges.  I also used this around my entire page and over the shutters on the window.  I attached the sentiment strip and the metal cogs with 3D Matte Gel and then used foam squares to pop up the compass and balloon/train.

 – Really fun AJ page to create and I hope that you’ve enjoyed it too!  Thanks so much for stopping in today!

Challenges:

  1. Country View – Travel
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  3. Mixed Media Lovers – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  4. Arty Divas – Anything Goes
  5. NBUS – Anything Goes + Never-Before-Used-Schtuff (papers!!)
  6. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles26 Comments

Your Own Sparkle AJ Page

*This is a scheduled post as I’m away for my son’s wedding and don’t have access to Internet at this time*

Hello friends!  Here we are towards the end of June already and in full Summer mode now!  Time has went by so fast!  I do hope you’re all doing well, staying safe and enjoying your time however you’re spending it.

The end of the month also brings the monthly AJ page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too!  We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” June prompt of: “buttons/sequins/gems.“

So who doesn’t have oodles of sequins in their stash?  (I probably had enough to cover the entire page, but left it strictly for the fish scales and “bubbles”.😄)  I was inspired by the Art Journal Journey challenge prompt this month of “FISH” and with the stash prompt in mind, it had me thinking of a book I had gotten for the kids years ago, perhaps you’re familiar with “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister? 

In the book, the fish’s scales were very shimmery and it made me think to add the sequins to a fish, so I actually found a fun and free “coloring page” fish image to print out and color for my page!  I used Copic markers to color that fish and the sequins are a glittery silver sequin that were topped with some silver Stickles as well as the “lines” on his fins.  I also added some clear iridescent sequins for the “bubbles” above him.

For my background – Since the goal is to use my stash, I pulled out my set of gelatos that I’ve had for a few years to create my background.  I found it fun to blend them and smudge them with my finger. I also used a piece of punchella trim for stenciling with them too.  Of course, since they’re water soluble, I needed to cover it with some matte medium using a spatula rather than a brush.  Once the matte medium dried, I added some printed vellum pieces ripped up over it and then used some white and silver paint for splatters and stamping an empty roll circle.  I also went around the edges a bit with the silver paint for shimmer.  For a little bit more texture, I took some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) and heated up a few “piles” of the crystals and melted them…I haven’t used that in a long time either!  I needed to be VERY careful with my heat gun because of the matte medium…it started to smoke a bit!😮

For the background fish – I had a few extra cut out fish pieces from a previous project I made using the Taylored Expressions Hook, Line & Sinker Stamp & Stencil Combo with dies and adding them to the scene.  I also added some sparkly fish that was die cut from the TE Little Bits-Fish dies. (I haven’t posted this project yet, but I will later on!)  I took a micron pen to add a fishing line coming down from the top with a hook. 

Here’s a closer view of the fish as well as some of the details in the background.

For the sentiment – it was printed out along with the fish and then I just ripped around it and then using the same ink colors as the background fish, I blended over this piece.  I also used the same UTEE on it as the background.  I took a white Big Brush marker to highlight the letters and underline.  I also used it for highlights on the fish. I used different colors of the Big Brush markers to add some shading details around the fish.

All of the sequins and silver Stickles were added very last to the page.

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Fish (will have to link later when I get back!)

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles22 Comments

Smash Our Stash-“Learning to Fly” AJ Page

Hello friends!  My fellow U.S. friends will be celebrating Memorial weekend which means that the end of the month is here already!  Summer is coming very quickly and it seems that time is really flying by!  

The end of the month also brings the monthly AJ page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too!  We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” May prompt of: “ephemera/chipboard/cut-outs, etc.“:

With the AJ prompt this month of “ephemera” my first thought turned to the the H-U-G-E pile of packages that I have of those Tim Holtz Idea-ology ephemera and paper dolls packs.  There are actually SO many different pieces in just one package that I decided to concentrate on just one of those packages from the “Botanical” collection. (I did pull in one more layer from the “Snippets” pack as well.)  I actually love the images which pulled me in to purchase them, but there they sit and never get used…so I’m using some today! Yay!  That “Botanical” pack is my fave with the birds and butterflies in there!

For my page background:  I started with my usual 6″ x 9″ watercolor 140# paper with the pre-cut holes at the top for my book.  I glued some of the “Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tissue Wrap” ripped pieces over the blank background first.  I then took a baby wipe and several colors of “DecoArt Media Fluid acrylics” and blended them together until I achieved desired look.  Trying to get another color over top, I decided to pull out the “Distress Oxide Spray Salvaged Patina” after the paint had dried up.  To help spread some of it around, I also sprayed with water too.  I was pleased with all of the coloring in the background, but felt it needed a toned down border because of the Vintage looking ephemera, so I blended some “Vintage Photo and Black Soot Oxide Inks” at the edges.

At this point, I started adding images by working on the stamping around the edges with a script text stamp using a hybrid brown ink in random places.  I also used the same ink to stamp a couple of the flying birds in the background.  This is where I thought it would a good idea to add some splattering with white and brown paint.  I finished it with more splatters of some “Liquid Pixie Dust” which gave it some pretty subtle sparkle all over.

So starting at top of my page, I decided to start adding the images to create my scene.  I ended up die cutting a branch from some dark brown cardstock and attached it to the edge of the page and then took one of those ephemera birds and popped it with foam tape over the branch.  I glued the butterfly above the bird and the “daisy” flowers off to the right were glued down while keeping in mind the placement of the large birds at the bottom.

The sentiment came from one of the stickers from the “Tim Holtz Idea-ology Clippings Sticker Book”.  I used a brown Micron pen to sketch around it, but decided it was too light, so I went around it again with a black one too.

For the bottom portion, you can see that I’ve glued down the little tag under the title. (I added a piece of twine around it before I attached it.) I also glued the corner floral spray in the bottom left of the page.  I’ve used foam tape to pop up the large birds as well as the butterfly above the floral spray.

The last thing I did was to grab the dark brown “Big Brush Marker” to add some shading around some of the ephemera pieces.  I didn’t do anything to the pieces that were popped up with foam tape.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my Art Journal inspiration today!  Thanks so much for joining me and Carol for our fun collaboration and you can always have fun following along with us every month!

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and please stop to remember and honor those who’ve sacrificed for us.

I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Birds
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media #82
  3. Mixed Media Lovers – Anything Mixed Media
  4. Dragonfly Dreams – Butterflies and/or Flowers
  5. The Corrosive – Anything Goes
  6. Arty Divas – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles27 Comments

April AJ Page-Does Anybody Know Time It Is?

Hello friends!  I feel like I’ve been so busy, but it sure doesn’t seem that way on my blog here!  Hopefully, I’ll be able to show more things later…however, I think it’s about time for this month’s Art Journal page…don’t you?!

Today I’m sharing my monthly Art Journal page and collaborating with my blog friend Carol as we both try and get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So please hop over to her blog to see some more Art Journal inspiration with our “SMASH YOUR STASH” April prompt of: “recycled items/thrifted items to upcycle/pieces of magazine, gift wrap, etc.“!  So here’s what I’ve come up with:

I absolutely LOVE The Peanuts Gang characters!  I have a desk calendar that I use every year next to my computer and it has the Peanuts Gang on it.  I was thinking this would be a perfect way for me to recycle it by fussy cutting out some of the characters on it and incorporating them on my AJ page this month!

So I’ve started out by creating my regular 9″x6″ sized page with thick watercolor paper and pre-cutting the holes at the top for my book.  This time I’ve turned it in the landscape direction to work on the design. I took out a musical notes style stencil and added paste for texture to the background, but it turned out to look more like bricks instead..but I let it dry and used it anyway.  I decided to pull out my Brushos that just sit on my shelf and never get used.  I’m always amazed at the results with them just by sprinkling them and adding water. 

I also took some printed vellum and attached ripped pieces over the background with collage medium.  This is where I’ve also added a clock image that I cut from a magazine to recycle as well as the background Peanuts Gang characters (Snoopy & Sally).  I then stamped a few musical notes and scribble stamps in the background using Archival ink.  Lastly, it was also splattered with gold paint and set aside to dry. (Snoopy & Sally were covered for the splattering.)

The next portion was to create the piano going across the bottom for Lucy and Schroder to be on top.  I took some black metallic cardstock that has been in my stash for years and free-handed the slope cut.  The piano keys were simple with a white cardstock strip that I scored every 1/2″ and then I used a Word Window Punch (Also had for years from Stampin’ Up!) and punched out the black keys to add to the white scored piano keys over top.  Attached this strip to the bottom of the page and then used foam tape to attach the black slope over top.  At this point I had to punch the holes again at the top of the page for my AJ page book construction.  This is where I glued and foam taped Schroder and Lucy over the black section of the piano between Snoopy and Sally.

The wording is something else that goes with the theme of my page.  I had actually saw a video on You Tube with the Peanuts Gang singing the song by Chicago “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” and that’s where the musical theme came to my mind when cutting out the characters from my desk calendar.  LOL  Thought I’d share it if you’re interested in singing too:

For the wording on my AJ page, I just used my label maker and cut out the words to arrange on my page and then outlined each word with a black waterproof marker.  I also took the same black metallic cardstock and cut out the letters to emphasize the word “TIME…” and glued it over the textured stencil.

But before I glued the black lettering over the brick texture, I took some metallic brass wax and rubbed over it to bring out the textured areas.  I also used it around the edges of the page.

I thought the large black slope of the piano looked a little plain, so I made a flower using a scallop circle punch and cutting each scallop edge with my scissors to make “petals” from a musical sheet paper that I also sponged with black ink and splattered with gold paint.  I also took more of the wax around the edges.  Punched another circle with gold metallic cardstock for the center and topped the center with a black enamel dot.

I think it’s so fun to be able to incorporate just about anything into your art journaling and I’m glad to be able to pull out some of my neglected stash as well as find something to recycle rather than just throw away.  It makes it so fun to be able to incorporate something different to suit your own ideas/thoughts/style too!

I hope you’re also enjoying the AJ pages too!  Maybe you’ve been inspired to see something in your everyday life that you can turn into something creative…or maybe you can sing your own tune while you create!🎹

Thanks so much for stopping in today friends!  So happy to share with you!

Tomorrow is inspiration from a new challenge for the month to try…see you then!

Challenges for today’s AJ page:

  1.  Art Journal Journey – “Play it Again Sam” (based on movie or song)
  2. Try It On Tuesday – “I Can Hear the Music”
  3. River of Creativity – Anything Goes (not cards) optional: Spring
  4. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles22 Comments

Sing Spring AJ Page

Hello friends and a happy weekend!  I really can’t believe that we’re already on the last Saturday of March right now!  This month flew by, but I’m so happy to get even further into the Spring months, how about you?  The chirping birds seem more intense as Spring gets into her song!

Today I’m sharing my monthly Art Journal page and collaborating with my blog friend Carol as we both try and get creative with journaling by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So please pop on over to her blog to see some more inspiration with our “SMASH YOUR STASH” prompt of: “Die cuts/punched out pieces/tags(unfinished to decorate)“!  Let’s get to creating!

Well, I don’t know about you, but I sure do have TONS of those punches that I hardly ever use any more.  I also keep piling up tons of die cuts too!  So this was my focus on my page today by pulling out lots of those to come up with a Spring theme in mind…

I started out with my usual 6×9 thick watercolor paper with the binder holes at the top.  My first thought was to create a blue “watery” background by using my Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors to paint an ombre blue.  It was nice to pull these out to play with as I haven’t used them in quite a while.  While it was still wet, I covered the panel with some Sea Salt crystals and let it dry.  After it dried, I scrapped off the salt.  If you’ve never tried it, it makes for a really unique look.  I then took a raindrop stencil and went over it with some blue Chroma Glaze.  I really like how the glaze makes it look shinny.  I mixed some blue and yellow Deco Media Fluid Acrylics to make the green color and sponged it over the bottom to create my grass scene.  I also had a tall grass stamp that I stamped over it with green ink.  Lastly, I used white paint to splatter over the background.

So this is where I moved onto the rest of my separate pieces to create my scene.  I pulled out circle, square, heart, scallop border, birds, leaves, flowers, branch, grass borders, etc and began cutting out all of my pieces!  The yellow bird at the top was stamped and then punched out.  The birdhouse on the right is all punches and the daisy flowers at the bottom are all punches.  The larger birdhouse with the bird and flower vines is a die set by Lawn Fawn, the branch and leaves at the top right is a die set from My Favorite Things and I’ve also used a couple of different grass die cut borders at the bottom from My Favorite Things.  This is my very first time using that birdhouse die set and I’ve had those grassy border dies forever but use quite often.

I was also quite happy that I was able to pull out several pieces of scrap papers from my stash to punch and die cut all of them too!  That’s a good way to use up more of your stash when you’re using punches and dies!

Trying to zoom in a bit so you can see the background and how it looks with the watercolor salt technique as well as the shine from the raindrops.  For the birdhouse posts, those are just strips of woodgrain looking pattern paper that I’ve cut into strips and then ran through an embossing folder.  I used a sander to bring out the texture.

I stamped the music notes next to the birds and also stamped the “sing” letters in the center of the birdhouse.  I’ve got both of the birds popped up with foam tape.  I’ve glued the birdhouse posts to the page, but popped up the large birdhouse with foam tape as well.  You can also see where I’ve went all the way around the edges and I sponged brown ink around everything.  I also stamped a random image around the edges with brown ink too. 

At the bottom of the page, you can see that I’ve taken a brown marker to write “Birds can sing on the darkest of days because they believe in” and then I stamped “SPRING” over a strip of pattern paper and attached at the bottom and used the brown marker to create the dash lines.  Also did this on my made up punched birdhouse.

Both the last grassy border and the leaves above on the branch were die cut from green cardstock, but I’ve also used some green mica spray and sprayed over top of them which gives a pretty shimmer to them.  Before popping up the yellow bird at the top, he was also sprayed with a yellow mica spray.

To finish it off I’ve added all of the white gel pen details and along the edges of the page. Lastly, I used some yellow Stickles to center each of the daisy flowers as well as the flowers on the birdhouse.  I used black Stickles to the bird’s eyeballs.

Really enjoyed putting this one together and playing around with more stash items!  Hope that you’ve enjoyed as well and have been inspired in some way!  I thank you so much for stopping in!  Have a great weekend!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Spring
  2. River of Creativity – Anything Goes but NO CARDS
  3. A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
  4. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  5. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  6. Simon Says Stamp Monday – Bright and Cheerful
  7. Everybody Art – Spring

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles33 Comments

Try It On Tuesday GDT-Say It With Flowers

Hello friends and happy Tuesday!  Hope you’re having a great start to your week. Now that Spring has officially began, we can start seeing signs of Spring everywhere and look forward to warmer temperatures here!  Yay! 

new tiot banner for blogsTioT guest designer 2022I’m excited to share my project for the new challenge over at the “Try It On Tuesday” Challenge Blog as their guest designer this time! An AJ page I entered in a previous challenge earned me a spot as a future guest, so I’m thrilled to be joining with them for a new challenge!  Their theme for this challenge is to “Say It With Flowers“, so please be sure to stop in and have a look at the amazing inspiration from the team!  Here’s what I’ve made for the challenge:

Since I usually add a sentiment to my makes, I decided to say what I wanted to convey without any words which is how I took the challenge.  So my thoughts were about Spring coming out in color with the dull drab of winter in the browns and blacks in the background.  The dead is coming alive again in color!  That was my thought process anyway. LOL

I love the flowers in the Tim Holtz Mini Bouquet stamp set.  I’ve used watercolor paper to stamp them and then used the Distress ink pads smooshed on a mat to watercolor them in including the new Salt Water Taffy color that I’ve been wanting to try out.  I used the coordinating dies to cut them with and then also die cut some stems in green and brown cardstock to attach onto the flowers.  I rubbed a bit of gold paint with my finger over the edges of them.  They were popped up with foam tape over a prepared oval die cut panel stamped with various TH stamps with some gold glitter added around the edges.  I die cut an oval ornate piece behind it with some glossy black cardstock.

For the background, I’ve done various things to it including using Distress Oxide sprays for the background, adding some black heat embossed silhouette florals to the bottom as well as modeling paste through a TH floral stencil.  To bring out the texture of the stenciled background, I used some more gold paint to rub over it with my finger.  I also added some splatter with the gold paint over the entire background along with another splatter layer of white paint.

I distressed the edges and layered it over a piece of black glossy cardstock sized 5″x7″.  I found some TH ephemera black and white florals that I cut in half to pop up over the bottom two corners and then used some metal corner pieces for the top.  I sprayed a wooden butterfly with black spray stain and some Distress Mica Spray Stain in Crooked Broomstick as this gave it that “black/brown” combo I was going for.

Lastly, I took a piece of tan seam binding and sprayed it with some more Distress sprays, crinkled it up and wrapped some around the front layer and then added a bow over top of the stems of the bouquet.  The oval panel was popped up over the center with foam tape.

There is actually lots of dimension on this as you can get a better look of it with a close up here.  There are different layers in the flowers as well as all of the layers of panels underneath it.  I like how it turned out and had lots of fun playing around and using up some more of my never ending stash too!  ( I think I’m becoming a spray-a-holic lately! LOL)

So please be sure to hop on over to the “Try It On Tuesday” Challenge Blog to see the rest of the inspiration for the challenge.  I hope you will take the time to join in the challenge with us too!  Would love to see what you come up with!  

Hope that you’ve enjoyed my make today!  Thanks for dropping by and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Mixed Media Lovers – Anything Goes mixed media
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes mixed media
  3. The Funkie Junkie Boutique – “Rather Blustery Day” – Struggle with NOT adding words/sentiments…I ALWAYS want to do that and so it’s a huge challenge NOT to want to add that somewhere! Plus, omitting color in some way.
  4. The Four Seasons – Anything Goes Spring
  5. Shopping Our Stash – Spread Your Wings (Wooden butterfly from stash! Yay!)
  6. Crafty Friends – Flowers
  7. Creative Inspirations – Spring Flowers

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles37 Comments

February AJ Page-Explore

Hello friends!  Hope that you are doing well and staying warm and safe out there.  It’s been a few minutes since my last post, but that’s because I’ve been working very hard making wedding invites!  They’re coming together and almost done!  At some point I will share those, but today I have an AJ page to share with you!  It was nice to be able to take a break from creating invites to turning my mind on making a page.

**My crafty friend Carol is joining along with me each month to help inspire us both as well as others and I’m so thrilled to be doing this with her, so please click on her name and check out her page too!  We’re coming together as I think we both have an issue with “too much stash”…who doesn’t?!🙄  So I’ve come up with some ‘AJ prompts’ to help us both “Smash Our Stash” to start using it up for our own creative outlets and have some FUN!  The month of February gives us the prompt: ribbon/fibers/twine/thread

If you do any Art Journaling, then you know that sometimes when you have something in mind to do, it doesn’t always turn out like you think it will in your head!  This is the case with this one!  I like how it turned out and really enjoyed the process of it along with feeling good about using up some ribbon and twine overflowing in my stash!

I’m continuing on with making my own AJ book, so I’ve got the holes ready at the top of my 6″ x 9″ 140# watercolor page.  I like to use something really thick as I think it helps to hold all of the wet media/paint without it warping too badly.  

I’ve started by using a Tonic Studios “Falling Diamonds” stencil with embossing paste towards the bottom and not going all the way up to the top of the page.  I then used Salvaged Patina and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Oxide Sprays over top letting colors mix and run.  Once dried, I added some sponged white paint over a Tim Holtz stencil.  I then took some Ranger Ground Espresso paint and added some paint splatters over it, set aside to dry.  Then came my first introduction of the prompt onto my page.  I took some left over pieces of lace (in fact this was the last of this piece from my stash…why I kept it?  Who knows!!!) and glued it randomly onto the background.  Once dried, I added some water-downed Ground Espresso paint over those areas, sprayed with water and let run.  I also took the same paint and sponged around the edges to darken them up.  After it dried, I took some Art Alchemy “Old Silver” wax and rubbed over the raised areas of the paste and lace with my fingers until it showed up as I wanted it to.

I decided at this point, that I wasn’t going to do what I had planned in my head as I thought the background was going to turn out much lighter and brighter.  It turned out more antique/grunge, but I was still happy with it and just changed the plan a bit.  I don’t know what these are called, but I named them “Twine Twirls“.  I took a double-sided adhesive sheet and covered a piece of cardstock with one side, die cut a couple of different sized circles, took the backing off the other side of the adhesive and used some twine in my stash to continue to swirl around the center of the adhesive circle until reaching the edges.  (Do you ever get twine wrapped around one of your craft orders and save it?  That’s what all of this twine is from…can you believe I saved them and got plenty more to use?!!)  I then took a piece of VERY old ribbon from my stash and attached to the back of each “Twine Twirl”.  I laid these over the page where I wanted it and added an adhesive strip at the top of the page right below the holes to secure them as well as glued the back of the circles.  You can also see that I’ve attached some bows above 3 of the “Twine Twirls” too.  I used some Stickles glitter glue and brushed over top of each “Twine Twirl” and set aside to dry.

I also fussy cut out one of the Tim Holtz paper dolls to glue over one of the “Twine Twirls” and then used some foam tape to pop him up over the page as needed once the glitter had dried.

For the top of the page where I’ve added the “Twine Twirl” ribbons, I took another piece of lace that matched that ribbon and covered it over top of the ends.  Since it’s lace, you can see through it, so I layered on another piece of brown taupe ribbon in the center of that. (I’ve used scissors to cut the ends off the page.)

For the lettering, I used some of the items I used for the background page onto a piece of blank cardstock and then cut the letters out using the Taylored Expressions Cap It Off Alpha taking off the frame around the letters.  I glued the letters over top of the ribbon and then covered each letter with glossy accents.

The phrases come from a Tim Holtz “Clippings” sticker book and then I took a brown pen to outline around it.  I finished the page by adding some of the Tim Holtz stars adornments in random areas.

I really hope you’ve enjoyed our AJ pages today or have been inspired in some way!  Be sure to join us next month too!  Thank you so much for dropping in and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – What’s Your Style? (I love using stencils most of the time, but enjoy “exploring” different medias too!  Not sure about a specific style…I like them ALL!)
  2. Simon Says Stamp Monday – Art Journal
  3. Try It On Tuesday – Add Some Texture
  4. Creative Artiste – #79 Anything Mixed Media Goes
  5. Mixed Media Lovers – #10 Anything Mixed Media
  6. Arty Divas – Anything Goes
  7. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles29 Comments

Facing Fear With Art Journaling

Happy weekend!  Hope you’re weekend is going great!  I’ve been wanting to start doing some art journaling again because I used to do lots of it years ago on a previous blog I had before this one.  The only one I had recently done was in 2020 on THIS POST.  For me, creating AJ pages gives the freedom to “explore” different media, use more of my stash or even TRY things that I would never do otherwise.  I’m always inspired with other people’s AJ pages, but just need to start doing it again!  It’s nothing that I would ever give away, it’s just something for me personally to create.  I find it’s a HUGE stress reliever too!

I’ve decided to play along with a couple of challenges.  (shown below post)  *One was about “adding a face” to your AJ page and something that I decided to do was to actually trace half of a face over some vellum paper. (I used a micro pen for tracing)  I don’t draw anything at all…which is why I love stamps!  So I had a go at “facing fear” to start this year with an AJ page!

As you can see, I’m making my own AJ book and there are actually 7 other finished pages underneath this one. These are the pages I had previously done and hadn’t kept up on my book.  The size is 6″ x 9″ and I always punch the holes at the top before I get started putting anything on it. (I’ve used heavy weight watercolor paper)  I wanted the face tracing to “show through” what was underneath, so I took ripped up strips from left over collage pieces I had previously made, I also added some text print and acrylic paint colors over it.  I’ve used DecoArt media fluid acrylics to blend colors and DecoArt media shimmer mister for some splatters.  I’ve also taken a stencil with some Taylored Expressions purple glitter Happy Medium gel paste in certain areas.  Once I’ve gotten the background build up a bit, I layered over the face tracing.  I wasn’t real happy with the crackling of the vellum, but it added some fun texture.

I also took one of those ripped collage pieces and stamped the quote from Eleanor Roosevelt with Archival Black ink and layered next to the vellum face with matte medium.  And since I’ve used matte medium to attach all of my elements, I took out my Faber-Castell Pitt big brush markers to add some color to the vellum tracing, around the edges of it and around the edges of the ripped stamped sentiment.  I took some foiled cardstock and die cut the “face fear” letters from an Altenew die set I had in my stash.  I also added some shading with my markers under the letters too.

In the close-up photo, you can see the bits of sparkle and shimmer on it a bit more!

Some of the words in the quote were doodled around using a micro pen.  I had a rub-on clock face in my stash, so I rubbed half of it on one place, moved it and rubbed the other half in another spot so as not to waste it.  I thought I needed to add a bit more shimmer, so I took some Art Alchemy Sparks acrylic paint and brushed it on randomly in places.  I love the pretty shimmer of this paint!  (You can really see it around the edges in the top photo)

Something a bit different from me today, but hope you’ve enjoyed it or been inspired in some way!  I’m hoping to try to create a page each month.  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great rest of your weekend!

Challenges:

  1. *Art Journal Journey – Let’s Face It!
  2. Country View – A Year to Sparkle & Shine
  3. Mixed Media Lovers – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  4. Try it On Tuesday – Add a Quote

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles31 Comments