Gather your mistakes

This page was done with Distress Crayons.  It was the first thing I’ve done with them (and actually, I haven’t picked them up again) and there was a learning curve.  I’m fairly pleased with the outcome…just a simple rainbow type thing.  The quote is perfect because the page is filled with mistakes.  I can’t quite remember what went wrong under gather, but I do remember I had to stamp it on book paper and cover the mistake.  Same with the dragonfly that’s raised and also on book paper…there’s a gibbled image underneath.

I’m trying hard to take this quote to heart, but it’s hard.  I’m not a fan of being vulnerable and I’m never more vulnerable than when I make mistakes.  Sometimes, I find it easy to own up to them, but other times…

Love life

The wonderful Marta cut up a doily and used it on one of her fab pages.  Off I went to our local charity/thrift shop and found crochet doilies for 50 cents!  I still didn’t have any stencils when I did this page, so to get texture I closed the book while the gesso was wet and then opened it up again right away.  I rather like the result and will use it again.  I have no idea who the flower stamps are from, but I stamped them on book pages and tinted the page with Prussian blue fluid acrylics.  I also used Prussian blue and phthalo green-blue to colour the page and the doily.

Soul

Another journal page using DecoArt products.  Turquoise and orange Americana paints, Prussian Blue fluid acrylic, black and white media misters, and a very old Wordsworth stencil.  The rectangles are a bit lighter (more of the lighter turquoise paint than the background) and were edged in Prussian blue.  I’m 100% convinced this is not original idea, but I have no idea where it’s from.

Life is never perfect…

I’ve had a lot of changes in the 14 months since I last blogged.  I’ve ended a long term relationship, moved back in with my parents which also means I’ve moved back to Canada, and started a new career.  My life is dramatically different.  I still have my dog and love crafting though!

Most of my supplies are still (hopefully) in the UK.  I’ve started to buy some essentials and start creating again.  Here’s a journal page done with limited supplies and inspired by the wonderful Marta.

I bought a book at the local thrift shop this week and glued several pages together.  I glued  tissue paper and then lightly gessoed the pages.  I used my heat gun to dry the gesso and at first accidentally caused some bubbling.  I liked the look of the bubbles (I am stencil-less at the moment and needed some way to add texture) and so continued to do it on purpose.  I then used watered down paint and a paint brush to get pink drips.  I liked the look of that and added some yellow using the same technique.  My order of DecoArts arrived and pulled out the white and black media misters and used those to add some more colour.  I also used some mica misters from Ranger which really don’t show up, but add a lovely sparkle in real life.  I then used more of the yellow (iron oxide fluid acrylic) to white card, a touch of the pink, and a couple of spritzes of the sprays before stamping the image and words.   Lastly I dipped my finger in black paint and ran round the edges of the spread.  My, it feels great to be creating again!

 

She is … me.

I came across these words on a Fibromygalia page and they just spoke directly to my heart.  I am all of these things, even if I’m not all of the time.

I knew I wanted to do a purple background because it’s my favourite colour and it’s the Fibromygalia colour too.   My favourite colour combination is purple, green and blue, so I used the other two colours through some stencils.  I used copics to colour the PaperArtsy image (and the x-stitches are from another PA set).  I ended up using a copic pen to write with because the other pen I tried wasn’t writing well on the paint.  The ‘she is me’ is a MFT alpha die.

Links you need:

That Craft Place

That Craft Place Facebook Group

Waiting for inspiration

I spritzed haematite and gold DoCrafts sprays on the pages and left them for a few months to dry. 😉 Then I added the red and black paints through some stencils using  the two corners and a side rule I read somewhere.  Then it sat for a few more weeks! I do wait for inspiration to strike.  I pulled out Andy Skinner’s face stencil and was thrilled how that worked on the page.  Then I found this perfect sentiment which I really need to work on implementing in my life.  All supplies available from That Craft Place.

Links you need:

That Craft Place

That Craft Place Facebook Group

Leaps of faith

Feather and dot stencil from That Craft Place.  Left over paint, in shades of blue, over gesso and a bumpy page.  Blue sparkle (Creative Expressions) paste through the feather stencil.  Alphabet stamps and blue archival ink both available from That Craft Place.

Links you need:

That Craft Place

That Craft Place Facebook Group

Feeling old…

I’ve been really feeling old lately.  This quote really spoke to me.

I tried to put colour in uneven swaths … green grass, pink houses, and blue sky.  Then I sponged blues and a touch of white (for a cloud) through TCP’s awesome alphabet stencil and then black through Neil Walker’s wonky house stencil.  The texture stamp is from Crafter’s Companion.

Links you need:

That Craft Place

That Craft Place Facebook Group

Each of us

I saw this sentiment on a friend’s Facebook page and just had to use it.  DecoArt paints, texture paste through a stencil, and guidling wax for the background.  PSX stamp (remember them?  I still think they had the nicest images) and alphabet stamps.  Everything, except the image, sourced from That Craft Place.

Links you need:

That Craft Place

That Craft Place Facebook Group

Sleigh Ride

When I was in Grade 10 (I’m Canadian, we do grades), I had a fairly big part in a Christmas school play.  I’m 99.9% convinced, both then and now, that I was given the part because the teacher knew I’d memorise my lines, not because I was actually good at acting.  Sleigh Ride was one of the songs in the score.  It was the first time I’d ever heard it, but I instantly loved it.  It’s my favourite secular Christmas song.

Red paints (in a few shades) and gold CE shimmer paint as well as a new stencil from TCP for the background.  My rather limited cutting out skills put to work for the sparkly tree and some watered down geletoes for the shading.

Links you need:

That Craft Place

That Craft Place Facebook Group