Positivity Journal Page & Tag

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

I'm sitting here at my computer listening to the rain outside.  Love that sound, especially because I'm lucky enough to be sitting in a nice warm house.  Just wish everyone was as blessed.

I have another PJ to share with you today.  No, No, not pyjamas, hehe!!  Just a Positivity Journal page.

The background was created using some watered down red acrylic paint along with 'Black Soot' and 'Broken China' Distress Inks.  Once it was dry it was stamped with Kaisercraft's 'Arty' Stamp and then I randomly added some 'Clear Rock Candy' Distress Crackle Paint.

Added some strips of washi tape to the side and that cute little die is the 'Loopy
Rings' from Memory Box.  Doodled around a few of the Loops with a white gel pen for a bit of added interest.

The clock was fussy cut from Prima's 'Engraver' papers and the Die Cut is from Kaisercraft.  

Here is a better look at the 'crackle'.  Love the effect you get on the paper.

I've also completed another tag for this Journal.

Again, this is a fairly simple tag as they can't be too dimensional or they won't fit into the pockets.

The tag was cut from a scrap of  Prima's 'Ledger Pad' papers.

Added a couple of scraps from Kaisercraft's 'Art of Life' 6 x 6 Pad and stenciled the background with Tim Holtz's Burlap Stencil and 'Walnut Stain' Distress Ink ...

... and fussy cut the Sunflowers and the labels from G45's 'French Country' 8 x 8 Paper Pad.

So now I have finished page 5 of my Journal and the 4th of my tags.  Only 5 more pages and 11 tags to go.  Just as well I'm not in a hurry for these, LOL!!

Thank you so much for visiting and, perhaps, for leaving a little comment!!  I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.

'Happiness' Art Journal Page

Hello lovely people and welcome to my blog.  

Here I am again to share another Art Journal page with you.  Wow!!  This is a first for me ... two journal pages in a row.   My Journal pages usually take quite a long time for me to finish because I never really know what I'm going to do.  I am still experimenting with this medium and I very rarely have a design in my head when I start.  I do usually know the colours I want to use but once I've got that on the paper I don't always know where to go from there so it sits on my desk until I decide what to do next.  This page was a bit different.  I started with the basic colours and it all came together quite quickly from there.  It still took most of a day but when you consider that they usually take me a few weeks to complete, this one came together very quickly indeed.

 After posting my last page, I was in the mood for getting a bit messy so started creating the background colour.  I tried laying down some gesso but still don't seem to have the knack.  I watered it down a bit thinking that might make the difference but for some reason, when I coat the page with gesso the colour just seems to disappear.  I've seen other people's work using gesso and theirs is fabulous, but I just can't seem to make it work. Consequently my first page ended up in the bin.  It was an awful mess.  So then I started this page without the gesso and it worked!!  I'm really happy with this background ... I love the dark, richness of it!!  I used watered down Distress Inks in Brushed Corduroy, Broken China and Walnut Stain and also used watered down Viva Precious Metal Colour in Olive.  You can't really see it in these photos but the green has a lovely golden sheen to it.

 Brushed on some 'Clear Rock Candy' Distress Crackle Paint in a couple of places and used 'Walnut Stain' through a  Crackle Stencil by Scrapbookncraft.  Used a music stamp by Prima with Memento Tuxedo Black and the top from one of my spray bottles dipped in gesso and then in Black Soot Distress Stain for the circles.

 The hearts were cut from some plain cardstock with a Fiskars Shape Cutter and then coloured with Fired Brick and Mustard Seed Distress Ink.  Glued them onto the page and then outlined them with a black watercolour pencil and also highlighted them with a white gel pen.

 Here you can see the other patch of the crackle.

I had actually intended to put flowers on this page, hence the washi tape which was meant to be the ground.  When I changed my mind and used the hearts instead I tried to remove the tape but it started tearing the paper beneath it so I simply left it there.   

The quote stamp is from Kaisercraft.  Stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black and then clear embossed it.  I was very pleased with myself that I finished this page so quickly and I must say, I am really happy with the result, it really represents how I feel about my life right now.  I am very, very blessed to have a wonderful, loving family and some amazing and treasured friends, so my heart really does bubble over with happiness right now and happiness is so much better when it's shared isn't it??
Even in the tough times we really do need to sit back and count our blessings.

Thank you so much for visiting, I am really pleased you came to have a look.  Please do come again.

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

More Positivity !!

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog.

I have been quite busy in my Craft Space lately  and I can actually post two days in a row.  Wow!!!  I even amaze myself sometimes.

So, I am back this time to show you the first double page in my Positivity Journal!!

If you haven't come across this before and would like to know more, check out Astrid Maclean's post HERE.

First of all I'd like to show the inside cover of my Journal.

 Not a lot going on here but I found the quote on the left hand side on the net and felt it was very appropriate for this project.  I simply wrote it on some scraps of paper and glued them in with a few leaves and small flowers.
The journaling on the right simply explains what this journal is all about.  I printed that from my computer and glued it to the page along with the die cut leaves.
I am not actually writing in this book every day but I am recording special days such as Scrapbooking with my Granddaughter.  When I look back at the end of the year I will be able to recall those special days more readily.  Not that I will forget about spending time with my Granddaughter but now I will actually know which day it was.  LOL

Here is my first double page spread. 

The stenciling was done using sequin waste and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink.  When dry it was randomly sprayed with watered down Broken China D.I. and flicked with Faded Jeans D.I.   

The cursive writing, the clocks and the 'Cherish' stamps are from KC and were done in Coffee Archival Ink.  The music stamp is from Prima and was done in Faded Jeans D.I.  For the circles I simply pressed some different sized lids onto the Coffee Archival Ink Pad and then onto the page.  I also gave the 'Cherish' stamp a little extra colour with some watercolour pencils.

The two tags at the back are a Prima tag and I think it's from their 'Engraver' Collection.  I simply cut it in half so it would fit into the pocket.  The tag at the front is one I made myself.  I am using these tags to record my 'Positive' days. 

The butterfly was cut from a separate sheet of paper and then coloured with Mustard Seed and Shabby Shutters DI.  It was then stamped on the left with a KC floral stamp and on the right with the Prima Bold Print stamp.  The floral stamp was coloured with Reeves Watercolour crayons.  I have to say I am really happy with how this butterfly turned out.

Once it was coloured I glued the butterfly to the page and then drew the trail and the antennae with a Sharpie.  I also went around the outside of it with watercolour pencils to blur the edges a little.

When I wrote the quote on this page my pen was running out so I had to go over it all again with another pen so it's a bit messier than I would have liked but I am still happy with it. 

I will leave you with the same words - 

LIVE every moment.  LAUGH every day.  LOVE beyond words.

Thank you so much for visiting.

Take care good people and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Tags

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to my blog.

I'd like to share a couple of tags I made.  

Those of you who follow Astrid Maclean (you can find her blog HERE ) will know that she has  created quite a few tags lately.  She felt she'd lost her 'mojo' and was making tags using different techniques in the hopes of reviving said mojo.  Now believe me when I say that Astrid's work, even without her 'mojo' ( although I never thought it was missing ), is phenominal and in no way at all do I want to compare anything I've made with her projects.  I would be the loser every time.  She is such a talented lady, I could never aspire to get anywhere close, but she did inspire me to try my hand at making some tags myself.  Astrid is putting hers into a little booklet and I thought I would do the same.  I found some quotes and sayings that I liked and thought I could have these on hand whenever I felt the need.

This first one is very simple.  Just a bit of stamping, a few flowers, a couple of butterflies and the quote " Until you spread your wings you'll never know how far you can fly".

This tag was made with kraft cardstock and I used a couple of kaisercraft stamps for the background.

 I added a small piece of corrugated cardstock, a couple of small kaisercraft roses, printed the quote onto some paper, then cut out the words, inked them with Walnut stain Distress Ink and edged them with gold Versacolor.  The butterflies are stamps from Kaisercraft which I coloured (not good at this ) and then fussy cut and edged with gold.

I liked this quote because I was trying something new ( for me anyway ).  I was going to create some mixed media backgrounds but unfortunately I just don't have the nouse or the talent for that.  I made about seven but only kept three that I actually liked and two of those I had to emboss before I liked them.

So, no shimmery loveliness here I'm afraid.  I just have to be happy with what I can do.

This next tag was also made with kraft cardstock.  I again did some stamping and a little bit of masking, lightly brushed on some gesso and then added some Washi Tape.  

 The mini plaque is from Kaisercraft and the brad which I glued on the top of it is from Graphic 45.  I coloured the plaque with a homemade spray paint and edged it with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

 The quotes I've used are all from the internet.

 The small roses and the large brad are from Kaisercraft and I believe the larger flowers are from Prima.

I think this tag is more 'me'.  I like it a lot better than the first one and I feel the quote is quite apt too.  I now know I'm not much good at the mixed media thing, but having said that, I am going to keep trying and you never know, one day I might surprise myself.  

Thank you so much for visiting.  

Please take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Card for a Boy!

Hello everyone.  

I have a 'boy' card to show you.  I made it for my grand-nephew who turns 11 this year, I hope he likes it.

I struggle sometimes trying to work out what kind of card to make or what colours to use, and then, if I'm lucky, I'll find a collection in my stash which is just perfect.  In this case it was Kaisercraft's Up Up and Away.  The colours are just right and the label perfect to use as an embellishment.

For the vertical panel, I used Martha Stewart's Optic Dot Border Punch.

I cut out a mat from the brown cardstock ( Sorry, I don't know what the die is called.  It's been in my stash for quite some time  and I hadn't kept  any of the details. ), trimmed the edge off the hot air balloon label and attached it with some 3d foam squares.

I attached the mat to the card with the foam squares as well to give it extra dimension.  Sorry for the blurred picture but I hope you can see what I mean.

Before I glued the paper down I wrapped some string around it and attached a button ( I think it's from Graphic 45 ) when I tied the bow.

The Birthday label is made from a ticket tag.  I liked the edge on it so I cut out a mat from the cardstock to match, turned the ticket upside down and stamped the sentiment on it.  After attaching it to the card front I also stamped over it with two stamps from Tattered Angels Timeless Romance Clear Stamps Set. 

For the inside of my cards I usually print a page with a little verse and a picture that matches the theme of the card.  I just attach that in the centre so it opens out when the card is opened.  I also write a little personal message underneath the verse before I send it off.

Once I decided on the paper and the layout, this card didn't take too long to make.
 I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  Hopefully my nephew will be too.

Before I go I would like to say 'Thank You' to the lovely ladies who have left me a comment.  I really do appreciate them.
   Thank you so much for visiting.  Hope you have a great day.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg