INKY FINGERS

Lots of detail on this one - maybe a little too much? It’s a mixture of inks with some resist stamping on glossy card.

Flutterbies is the challenge at Our Creative Corner

Summer Colours is Hels’ theme at Sunday Stampers

and

Words in art is the challenge at 3 Muses.

Some Work in Progress….

Just had a lovely hour playing in my half organised Stamping Room and I can’t find a flipping thing…  I think I need to go mad and label things this time, not to mention finish sorting through boxes!

So this is my entry for Artistic Times ‘'Sea of Greens’.

There’s quite a bit of heat embossing, too, so it fits FSC, Challenge 20, which is Embossing.

Back to sorting out after ‘Brunch’.

Hope you’re all enjoying your weekend!

[Edited: the dragonflies are Non Sequitur and the inks are a mixture of Dylusions, Adirondacks, Distress ink and Starburst Stains. The dragonfly words stamp is one of Jo’s wonderful designs for Stampotique]

Forgot to say that one of my cards was chosen as a Spotlight winner on Penny Black and More and went live today, so thank you very much to the team for that!

Thank you for all the lovely comments you’ve been leaving – they really brighten my day!

xxx

I haven’t stamped for almost a week, despite being home, because I’m (shock, horror, gasp…!) reorganising my stamping room but after spending time with one of my really good friends, I ‘snapped’ and just had to make something with one of the backgrounds I was messing with while she was here… in the midst of all the disorder and half painted walls, he, he.

Here’s the result.

Believe it or not, that’s pink and orange, but I put the yellow back without screwing on the lid tightly and mopped up the spillage with the card, so it looks more orangey.  The coneflowers are from a SU discontinued set I really wanted (for the grasses – not this one) and it’s a BIG stamp but I love it!

If you enlarge this, you’ll notice (as I did) that she looks as if she has cataracts, lol – I used Prisma pencils to colour and it partly covers the black ink – must be more careful in future :-)

I’m entering this into the Unruly Paper Arts April Reader Art Quest 2, which is sponged backgrounds.

I’m in a flutterby mood and although these started as LIM entries, I decided not to enter them because I’m not over happy with the two qualifying ones – ie the green ones.

Not flutterbies but definitely greens and I went a bit overboard on the edging because it was glossy card and I was using pigment inks.

This one isn’t all green – there’s lots of turquoise/aqua on there, too. I couldn’t scan it because it’s 3D and it looks as if the top wing is a bit curled, lol.  The beads aren’t quite as I wanted but I still like it.

I’ve had this book a while and wanted to work through it when I first got it but didn’t have either the time or the desire but yesterday, I was inspired by Willy’s post about 21 Secrets and decided to look for it.

I spent most of the evening working through the first ‘chapter’ of it and here’s what came from it.

Then, this morning, I was up early and started messing around with Prismas. I can'’t begin the next step because it’s too steep for me yet and I need to get used to Step 1, which is being comfortable with making mistakes – a BIG lesson for me!

Wishing you all a Happy and Blessed Easter Sunday!

xxx

When I saw this stamp, I just couldn’t resist it.  It’s very simply coloured, following the guide on the index sheet but I know exactly who it’s for, he, he.

… and thinking things through.

This month’s theme at Art Journal Journey is HANDWRITING.  I’ve loved writing in any shape or form since I was a little girl (and defaced every book we had in the house - oops!) I thought I’d have a go.  NOT as easy as I thought.  I’m never happy with my writing in something like this anyway, but I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with my pens – and I have a few, ahem!  I think I need to start working in my A4 journals if I’m to get the effects I want, but for now, these are my A5 efforts.

This is one of my favourite quotations and reads (cos you can’t really read it very clearly) ‘What you do speaks to loudly I can’t hear what you say’.

This one is my ponderings about something which happened at work this week.

And this one’s about a decision I have to make (about work).  I really don’t like making decisions!

I used a variety of mediums, starting with inks and chalks, adding bits of ink, water soluble oil pastels and Tombow pens, then finishing off with Prisma Pencils.

I’ve decided I much prefer the correction pens for white highlights, but I find them really difficult to control because you have to squeeze at the same time as writing/doodling and unfortunately that isn’t good for my hands and I tend to lose control because of it.  My white gel pens (Signo) only work in a limited way and the Posca is too thick (and uncontrollable) for what I want, despite ordering the thinner one.

I tried some new Pigma black pens but ended up using my Promarker, despite the fact that it’s a little too thick for more than a couple of words and none of them seem to like gel medium or chalks or oil pastels – hence the frustration. If you have any recommendations, I’d be grateful.  I’ve tried Sharpies and all sorts of others so far.

Far from perfect but I had fun making these and while I may not have come to any decisions, it’s good to get things down on paper and to start using lettering, although I’ll probably revert to stamps whenever I can. 

Hope you’re all having a lovely break!

xxx

My April pages for Kate’s 366 days challenge.

I was going to outline the tags but then decided against it because I love this colour combination and it’s so warm and sunny.  Maybe we should do these pages when the month’s complete because March has been such a lovely, sunny month but my pages were dark because I was expecting winds and rain!  Let’s hope that April is just as nice, even though my pages are covered in raindrops!

[PS Since I wrote this, the weather forecast for this area on Monday/Tues (2/3 April) is for SNOW!  Eeek!!!!!]

Sorry, I haven’t photographed my completed March pages but I did write in them.

Look forward to seeing all your scrummy pages.

Enjoy your Sunday and have a great week!

XXX

It’s cloudy and grey here (again) after a week of bright sunshine and glorious clear skies but at least we still have more light, which is the best part of Spring! I love Spring.

Two more cards made using Versamark Resist, using different colours and slightly different designs.  I’d forgotten how much I love glossy card, but I must reink my Stazon – again!  I used Memories Black on yesterday’s but it doesn’t dry quite as crisply as Stazon.

I love this colour combination but haven’t used it for a while.  It’s Watermelon and Terracotta, with some rust and a bit of Sunshine Yellow (Adirondack).  The only problem with Adirondacks is that they do fade over time.  Back to two of my favourite themes – flowers and birds. I really love this Unity flower plate and use it often, in so many different ways.  I’ve also used my favourite flutterby and postmark stamps on this, with a great background mesh stamp I’ve had since I started stamping a LONG time ago – I think it was from Stamporium.

I have no idea where ‘the rite of spring’ comes from but I love this stamp.  Love these birds from Artistic Outpost and I sneaked a leaf or two in.  [Just realised the ‘rite of spring’ stamp is also from Artistic Outpost!]

Rainbow Lady Challenge – Butterflies

Three Muses - Spring

Have a great weekend!

xxx

Versamark resist on glossy card has always been my favourite technique so I’m being self indulgent today'.  I’m also revisiting a design I use often.

More beautiful weather here, and my last day to play before I go back to work after being off sick for a couple of weeks, so I’m Spring and flower focused today.

I’m also a bit mica powder happy, having forgotten how much I used to love them.

I went upstairs to do some resist, having a sudden strong yearning for my favourite technique, but didn’t get very far, although I did stamp some of my favourite Unity flowers in readiness.  I did a bit of journalling in very pretty paler colours but I’m not going to upload some of it and the rest isn’t quite finished because it’s for my April Calendar pages.

It was my birthday on Saturday and I’m feeling very blessed with all the cards and gifts I received, not to mention being treated to a brilliant afternoon and evening out, seeing one of my favourite bands and having a wonderful meal in a Pan Asian restaurant with my three favourite people!  So, I’ve been getting some Blog Candy ready – in fact, most of it was ready before my birthday and I had intended uploading on the day, but time ran away with me and I didn’t quite get it ready.  

Watch this space…

Have a great week, everyone!

xxx

There would be no butterflies

A very simple journal page, still using up the last little smidgeons of my almost empty glimmer mists, followed with a dusting of Gold Pearly powder.

Again, linking to Simon Says Stamp and Show your backgrounds.

xxx

I’ve been playing around with some of the remnants of my Glimmer Mists, using up the ones with very little ink left in them and this is one of the results.

The bigger white circles are white embossed Hero Arts Dot stamps and I scattered a bit of gold embossing powder over it, heating from the bottom, then edged with Krylon pen, which was also gold embossed.

The photo is a little closer to the colours and shows the glimmer a little.

I’m definitely enjoying rediscovering my Paperartsy stamps at the moment.

I’m linking this to the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge, which is ‘Show your handmade backgrounds.’

xxx