Silhouettes

I got some beautiful new stamps at the Happy Stampers North West show a few weeks ago.  These are from Lavinia Stamps and I absolutely love them.  The background is layered ink, masked with torn paper.

I have some trees as well, so there will be more to come!

At Last! Something other than ATCs

This is my (rather late) RR Journal page for Heidi.  Heidi had an open theme for her journal but (I hope) I know what kind of thing she likes.  The page is created from mountboard and I've cut a recess for the figure, backing it with regular card.  I've added freehand embossed aluminium on the left, which I painted with black acrylic and wiped off when almost dry to age it a bit, then added some metallic rub-ons over the top to add a bit of colour.  I painted the page with black acrylic (bronze in the recess), added some book text and painted over the top of that with an acrylic/PVA wash, then added some clear UTEE on the right hand side and stamped into it.  I then went over the top of it with various colours of metallic rub-on and set it.  The head of the figure is moulded and I pressed a metal chain into it for texture.  The body is a poker chip painted black and covered with metallic rub-on.  The wings are Grungeboard painted in silver acrylic, the arms are wire with beads on the end, and the legs are made from wire and sea glass.  (I spent my entire holiday this year picking up bits of glass from the beach - they must launch a lot of boats on their maiden voyages from Brixham!)  The word "fly" is Grungeboard painted with silver acrylic.

To those of you I still owe journal pages to (Cindy, Sherry and Yvonne, I think), I am really sorry for the delay.  They will be done as soon as I can find some inspiration.

Round Robin Journal - My Page for Susan

This is my journal page for Susan, on the theme of "Woman". I started off by inking the background in shades of purple, blue and aqua, then spritzed it with water and heat dried it. I then sprayed on some gold Cosmic Shimmer powder and heat dried it again, then stamped the text in shades to match the background. I stamped the man image in black Stazon and added a piece of sequin mesh at the opposite corner I then added the flourish and the word "woman", which are Grungeboard which I've painted with acrylics then added crackle medium with metallic rub-on over the top to show up the cracks (unfortunately this doesn't show up well in the photo). Finally I addded the flower and leaf at the corner of the stamped image, with a button for the centre of the flower.

Round Robin Journal - My Page for Nicks

I am participating in a Round Robin Journal which has been kindly organised by Astrid, details of which can be found here. This is the page I have done for Nicks, on the theme "Instructions for Life". This one really got me thinking!

I started with a mountboard background and coloured it with distress inks and spritzed it with water and Cosmic Shimmer Spray. I stamped the brickwork onto it using brown ink and then the clocks and the phrase at the bottom in black. I stamped the face in the middle firstly straight onto the page so I knew where it would be positioned and then on a separate piece of card and coloured it in yellow and orange inks, (this ties it in with the colour scheme on Nicks' original page). I added streaks of gold metallic rub-on coming out from where the face was going to be positioned to look like sun rays and then stuck the face on. Next I created some words and phrases (some stamped and some handwritten) and inked them in matching colours. I painted some Grungeboard letters with acrylic paints in matching colours and stuck them on around the face, then covered some Grungeboard hearts with orange embossing powder and stamped into them. I then stuck on the hearts and the various words and phrases.

Round Robin Journal: Wendy's Page

This is my page for Wendy for Astrid's Round Robin Challenge. Wendy asked everyone to use a photo of themselves as a child on their page, which for me was easier said than done, firstly because I didn't have any photos of myself and secondly because my scanner is not permanently attached to my computer due to lack of space (I need a bigger house!)

Anyway, I managed to borrow some photos from my parents but I had trouble scanning a lot of them because they were faded and my scanner is old. (We're hopefully getting a new wireless printer/scanner/copier next month when Matt's overtime money comes through, which I am hoping will solve all these problems). I chose this photo because it's a wedding photo and scanned more clearly as it's a much better quality photo.

The picture is of me aged four at my dad's almost-stepbrother's wedding. (His mum was engaged to my dad's dad, who sadly died before they were married.) I have to say, this is not a typical picture of me as a child at all. I was a real tomboy and spent most of my childhood covered in mud with bruises all over my legs. (I used to play football with the boys and make mud pies). For those of you who know me this will probably comes as no surprise!

The page has a mountboard base which I dabbed gesso onto in places to create a distressed appearance and then inked. I added the music at the corners and then stamped butterflies in the opposite corners. I stamped some swirls in Brilliance Ink (these don't show up very well in the photo), and then added Brilliance ink around the edges. I added the image and some mesh and then the Grungeboard flourish and some Prima Flowers in co-ordinating colours. For the writing I inked some card with the Brilliance ink and stamped the letters onto it, cut them out and stuck them on, then highlighted the letters with Stickles.

Round Robin Journal: My Page for Femmy

This is my latest page for Astrid's Round Robin Challenge. This one's for Femmy and is on the theme of "Outdoors".

I chose a very natural countryside kind of look for the page as this is what the outdoors means to me. I started by creating a layered stamped and emboss resist background which I coloured using Distress Inks in browns and greens. I wanted to use something natural on the page so I chose some pieces of bark, which I've layered under the main image. I coloured the image with Distress Inks, cut out and added the birds and then finally added a skeleton leaf (also coloured with Distress Inks) and the quote by Keats.

Round Robin Journal: My Page for Astrid

Astrid has arranged a round robin journal, full details of which can be found here.

This is my page for Astrid on the theme "Children of a Bygone Age". The background is gessoed, inked with Distress Inks and stamped and I've layered the music and the children image over the top. The children are an image transfer done using Mod Podge. I've added a piece of vintage lace at the bottom which I've also coloured using Distress Inks, a Grungeboard flourish and some layered Prima Flowers. The butterflies are stamped, cut out and stuck on, and the song words are handwritten.

Round Robin Journal: Paula's Page

This is my page for Paula's journal for Astrid's Round Robin Challenge. Paula chose the theme "Imagine" for her journal, which for some reason I struggled with as there was so much scope. (I think I need somebody to tell me what to do!) I decided to go with a dreamy interpretation of the word Imagine, using light and dreamy colours and giving it a soft, swirly appearance. I had a rare day full of free time yesterday and so this is how I spent most of it.

I started with an acrylic painted background, which I painted round in a spiral using three colours of paint, then added some Brilliance Ink over the top which I dabbed on with a sponge through some sequin waste and also some direct from the pad around the edges. I then added some sequin waste on two of the corners and a circle of shiny mesh in the centre. I layered on a circle from the bottom of an alminium pie tin which I coloured using alcohol inks and then the image of the woman over the top. I coloured the eyes and headband using a Sharpie pen and then added some Anita's Gloss Finish to the eyes to make them look watery. Next I added the mosaic tiles at the bottom right, (they haven't photographed very well, but are actually a pale lilac and a silvery grey), and the "think bubble" which I drew and wrote on white card using a Sharpie pen. After that I added the arrow and the flourish, which are both Grungeboard. I painted them with gesso and then coloured them using Brilliance Inks, so they have a pearlescent finish (which again doesn't show up well due to my poor photography skills), and the word "dreamer" which I printed out on white paper. Finally I added the butterflies, which I stamped on acetate using black Stazon and glittered on the back using Stickles.

It's on its way to Paula today so I hope she likes it!

Round Robin Journal

I've joined a round robin journal which has kindly been organised by Astrid (thanks Astrid). My mum and dad have taken the boys out for the afternoon, so I've had some spare time and have finally finished my first page (I started it earlier in the week).

The theme I've chosen for my journal is "What Colour Are You?", based on the idea that each colour has different meanings, (although I will hasten to add that not all the words around the edges apply to me!) In case you are wondering, yes, the ugly mug on the left is me, although I've altered myself beyond all recognition, (I think I like my new hairdo better than the real one). Don't worry if you're one of the people doing a page for me - I don't expect everyone to use a piccy of themselves, although you can if you want!

I've started with a base of mountboard for this. (I thought it wise given that (a) I've subjected it to a lot of abuse and (b) it has to make several journeys through the post). I started by inking the background in various shades of blue and then spritzing it with water, quick-drying it with my heat gun (told you I couldn't live without it), then added some tissue paper to parts to add texture and painted over the tissue paper and around the edges using three different colours of acrylic paints. I then added some Radiant Rain Spray, masking off some parts so it wasn't over the whole thing, some blue metallic embossing powder over the tissue, and wrote the words around the edges which are all words associated with the colour blue. With the background done, I printed out a photo of me in shades of blue and stuck it on, then drew the outlines on it with a black gel pen. I stamped the images at the bottom on white card and coloured them using blue ink, then stuck those on to overlap the picture of me. I then added the silly hats, which are cut from book pages and inked, stamped the word blue on acetate in stazon ink and then outlined the word and the edges using a Sharpie pen. I attached the acetate wrod using brads. I also added the words "I am" on card with matching brads. Next, I gave myself the new hairdo with acrylic paints to match the colours on the background and a black gel pen and added the highlights to the eyes and mouth with a white gel pen. Finally, I added a Grungeboard flourish on the top right (it's inked and then gone over with a gold metallic rub-on but it doesn't show up well in the photo), a stamped and inked butterfly, gold metallic rub-on around the edges of the page and the eyelets down the side where the pages will be joined together.

The colours are a bit more intense than they look on the photo. My photography skills leave a lot to be desired!