November AJ Page-Time

Hello friends and happy weekend! Monday will be the first of December already! Wow, time seems to be going so fast especially at the end of year! This is exactly what my page was inspired by in this post!

Last Saturday of November brings us to the monthly “SMASH OUR STASH” Art Journaling. I’ve collaborated with my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) to join in. Here’s my AJ page with the NOVEMBER prompt of “TRADITIONS”:

This is a little different type of style, but most of the time I just come up with whatever happens to pop into my head and hopefully with older items I have from my stash!

This may not seem like I’ve used the “traditions” prompt for this month, but if you look at the wording at the bottom of the pocket watch, It says “Sentimental Traditions”. I was thinking of “old timey” type of things and the story about traditions on my page comes from my family going to our favorite place every fall for picking apples and now my children go every year as well, so it’s fun to know they’re still enjoying the same tradition we had with them.

For the background: (size of Mixed Media paper is 5.5″ x 8.5″) I ink blended with brushed corduroy oxide ink and spritzed with water to create the watermarks. I stenciled the dots with fired brick oxide and went around the edges with black soot oxide. I added some background paper to the other side that has the apple tree and then I added the paper doll couple over top and then added the “TIME” lettering that was die cut with black cardstock above them. I also sponged around the edges of the apple tree paper with black soot oxide. I added a gold metallic sticker line in the center between the paper and ink background.

I took a really old Whimsy Stamp stamp set with the pocket watch stamp and stamped it with black ink and then used a pen to write the words: “TIME has a way of showing us what matters.” I then stamped a couple more of the pocket watch image in brushed corduroy oxide and then splattered some gold watercolor over right side of the page.

Thanks so much for stopping in today! Hope you’ve enjoyed my art journal page!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – A Moment In Time
Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone – No cards
Creative Artiste – #121 Anything Goes Mixed Media

Jan 2023 Art Journal Page-TIME

Hello there friends! Hope that you’ve been having a great month so far to start off your year! I’m so relieved that I’ve gotten my sound up and running on the computer now! Also…today I’m very happy to be continuing on with making my monthly art journal pages (plus using my stash!) and to be continuing the partnership with my sweet crafty friend, Carol! I always love to see how each of us interprets the monthly stash themes.

If you’re not familiar, I post an AJ page each month along with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), as we get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles! We use a prompt each month and post them. I know she will have some great inspiration, so please check out her blog for an AJ page too! Here’s my first Art Journal inspiration for 2023 with the “SMASH OUR STASH” January prompt of “Sprays/Stains/Paints” :

So this one is a bit different for me, but I wanted to try out a “minimalistic” style and very soft with the colors that’s almost pale. Not sure I achieved what I was thinking, but fun to try anyway.

Background: With the prompt in mind, I had no problem pulling out a few Distress Spray Stains that I have so many of but hardly use. So I started the background with a stencil and added some texture paste to the two opposite corners over a gesso painted 6″x9″ 140# cold press paper pre-punched with holes for book. I then took the spray stains and went over the two opposite corners with them.

I found a cool photo online of the eye with the clock. The outside of the eye has repetitive “tick tock” wording over it. Before attaching this photo and the wording elements, I stamped a very large pocket watch image (Whimsy Stamps retired) with Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink. Since the sprays and ink are water based media, I covered the page with Distress Micro Glaze to make it permanent before adding some collage medium to attach the other elements. I also used a Big Brush marker to go around the edges for shadows. The pocket watch detail is a laser cut chipboard that was sprayed with black distress spray.

I took some more paint to add to the colored sprayed edges along with some black and white paints to randomly splatter over the entire page. Lastly I took some silver metallic rub to go over the raised areas and make them stand out a bit. The page has a sheen to it because I went over it with a coat of collage medium.

I hope you’ve gotten some inspiration today and thank you for stopping in!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Use a photo (eyeball)
More Than Words – It’s About Time
Country View – Time
Love to Craft – Anything Goes
Love to Scrap – Anything Goes
Arty Divas – Anything Goes

It’s Masculine at Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends! Hope you are all having a wonderful week so far! I’m ready for this rain to end over my way and would love to send it along to those that need it! June is a hop-jump and a skip away, so I’m hoping that Summer will dry things up.

Speaking of June, Father’s Day will be coming up shortly for us here in the U.S. so the new challenge at Cute Card Thursday is a very timely one to have! We’d like to see your “Masculine” creations this week! Here’s what I’ve come up with:

LOL!! Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo Stamps! I have used this hilarious image called Gus Tidbits Unconsciousness. He’s a really good one to use for not only masculine, but humorous creations too!

For the card, I’ve printed out both the image and sentiment together and then cut out the panel with a stitched rectangle die and then layered a piece of Stampin’ Up! Soft Suede behind it. Before attaching these pieces together, I’ve sponged some ink around the edges of it.

The checkered paper that I’ve used on my design came from a My Favorite Things paper pad collection. I die cut a piece to layer over a top folding A2 sized white card base with another stitched rectangle die and then placed the image panel over top it on the card.

I also cut out a banner with the same papers and added it to the upper right image panel and then added on a chipboard clock button from my stash with some twine ribbon tied around it and placed it over the banner with some foam tape. I’ve added a wooden button in the center of the bow.

Here’s a better look at the coloring on Gus. You can see on his eye glasses where I’ve added some glossy accents. It was a really fun and simple card to create!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my masculine creation today!

*P.S. Here is another update on the bird nest…we have a baby!!

If you remember, there were 3 blue eggs in the nest. We can’t tell for sure, but it looks like just one baby bird in there. As you can see, there is one egg in there. We see what looks like a crack on it, but it hasn’t hatched and we’re not sure it will. We have no idea where the other egg/bird went to! There is nothing on the ground. With all of these severe thunderstorms and rain, I can imagine they’re having a hard time out there. It shouldn’t be too much longer that this little guy will be taking flight! So we’ll see if we can keep track of what’s going on from here! 🙂

Challenges I’d like to enter my card for: