Don't Think Less Of Yourself.....

Have been doing a lot of art journaling in my junk journal, following the prompts of Care December from Everything Art (video shorts are on my YouTube Channel). Through doing that, I have re-discovered some fabulous inspirational quotes amongst my words and collage bits and pieces. 

This is one of them: Don't think less of yourself if you can't be fearless. Doing it afraid is just as brave. Really love this - there are times I put off doing things because I am scared that the outcome won't be what I want. Sometimes we just need to get on with it regardless. 

I have been using this colour combination during Care December, so decided to stick with it for this spread. Full list of products used at the bottom of the post. Click on any of the pictures to watch the video of my process.  

Products used: Arteza 14cmx14cm watercolour sketchbook Distress Oxides and Inks: Peacock Feathers, Salvaged Patina, Speckled Egg, Tea Dye, Saltwater Taffy, Tattered Rose Distress Oxide Sprays: Tea Dye, Tattered Rose Daler Rowney Mixed Media Paper *Imagination Crafts Mixed Media Spray - Light Green *Kanban Spring Silhouettes *These are very old products from my stash

Thanks for popping by. Feel free to follow me on any of the social media platforms. And if you like the video, please like and subscribe to my channel.

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

Create Art - Inspire - Art Journal Page

A break from the Christmas makes!! Today's share is an A5 art journal page created on Daler Rowney Mixed Media Paper. Click on the pictures to see the YouTube video of my process.

The pocket and tags are Elizabeth Craft Designs 744: Planner Essentials 26 - Planner Pocket 4 - Tag and Toppers, while the words are from both that set and from their Art Journal 1782 Butterfly Pocket Insert set. 

Full List of Products Used:

Elizabeth Craft Designs 744: Planner Essentials 26 - Planner Pocket 4 - Tag and Toppers;

Elizabeth Craft Designs -  Art Journal 1782 Butterfly Pocket Insert set;

Elizabeth Craft Designs - Planner Essentials - Reinforcements 2

Daler Rowney Mixed Media Paper;

Distress Inks/Oxides/Oxide Sprays - Evergreen Bough, Picked Raspberry, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade;

Distress Spray Stain - Picket Fence;

Cosmic Shimmer Pearlescent Watercolour Ink - Flamingo Pink, Golden Sunrise, Ray of Sunshine, Holly Green;

Julie Hickey Designs Clear Stamps - Garden Blooms, Floral Buttons;

AALL & Create Clear Stamps - #362 Splodge, #351 Alphabet Splatter;

AALL & Create Stencil - #125 Lotza Semicirclz

Elizabeth Craft Designs Art Journal S040 Pattern Stencil Pack

Spectrum Noir Finesse Waterproof Ink - Pebble

Thanks for popping by. If you feel inspired, I would love if you would follow me on any of the social media platforms - I am there under Papercraft By Carole and/or @pcbcarole.

Happy crafting,

Cxxxx

A5 Journal Ring Binder

I decided that I wanted a little A5 ring binder to keep my Elizabeth Craft Design planner pages and also for A5 journal pages that I might do.

The whole process (in real time with me burbling away) is now on my YouTube channel. Click on the picture to take you there. 

The covers are made from grey board covered with fabric from my stash, and the ring binder mechanism is one bought a while back from Dolly Dimples. That said, you can probably get them cheaper on Amazon. 

The page with the tags that you can see in the picture below is for a future video - so keep your eyes peeled for that.

The Gone to the Beach planner page demo video (click here) is a long one and shows the whole process of putting the Elizabeth Craft Designs Iris Shutter die together. I also have instructions on my blog (click here). 

Thanks for popping by. If you feel inspired, I would love if you would follow me on any of the social media platforms - I am there under Papercraft By Carole and/or @pcbcarole.

Happy crafting,

Cxxxx

Art Journal - Blue & Cool Colours

Another Art Journal play, this time in my Pink Pig Journal. This is one where I may follow a prompt or play with some products. And unlike my Arteza journal, I am not so fussed about the outcome - it's the playing and process that's important with this. 

It's the second attempt at videoing myself and I am still having teething problems. I had an issue with the focus of the camera and paused the video to sort it. Then forgot to start it again. That said, it gives an idea of how I put it together.

To start with, the prompts I have cut up in my box are from Mixed Media Arts. I don't use them too often, so there's plenty to work with. This time I chose Blue and Cool Colours. I don't generally just randomly pick one, as I still struggle with that. When I use them, I need to give myself a feeling of knowing what I can do. 

To go out of my comfort zone I use Everything Art (click here for their courses). I dip into the 100 steps and have signed up for the Care December. Kasia and Jamie give more than just a word prompt. They give you prompts for the techniques and products - and often a video - so I feel a bit more supported. 

I tried to show the products more - but still feel that I need to work on that. And as the video missed some of the process, I will give you a full list further down. And it seems Blogger only allows videos of under 3 minutes - so am going to have to give that some consideration too.

After the video paused, I used Structure paste through the stencil you could see. And then Lunar Paste through the Whitewash stencil. And on the other side, a couple more of the Elizabeth Craft Designs stencils with Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide. I also did some stencilling on the coloured part of the shell.

The edges of the pages were painted with the Turquoise Cascade and Nearly Navy Inks.

Products Used:

Rice Paper - I use this to clean up ink, and then it provides me with a quick background like this one

White stamping card

Cadence Satin Finish Decoupage Glue

Amy Design Ocean Wonders Shell die set

Cosmic Shimmer Watercolour Ink - Peacock Teal

Cosmic Shimmer Pearlescent Watercolour Ink - Nearly Navy, Turquoise Cascade

Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powder - Aqua Lagoon

Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Sparkles - Blue Wish

Cosmic Shimmer Lustre Polish - Snow and Ice

Cosmic Shimmer Luna Paste - Moonlight Ocean

Imagination Crafts Sparkle Medium - Midnight Ice

Imagination Crafts Structure Paste

Imagination Crafts Stencils - Whitewash, Chevron + not sure of the other one

Elizabeth Craft Designs Art Journal SO40 Pattern Stencil Pack

AALL & Create Stamp Set - #351 Alphabet Splatter

Distress Oxides - Weathered Wood, Iced Spruce, Mermaid Lagoon, Chipped Sapphire

Thank you for popping by. 

Please feel free to follow me here on my blog, on Twitter, FaceBook,  Instagram or Pinterest.

Happy crafting, 

Cxxxx

It's Not Who You Are That Holds You Back .....

Had a play in my art journal yesterday. And also had a play at creating a video/reel of it. I don't think I did too badly for a first attempt.

I have four different journals - some have more in than others. This one is one I tend to do double page spreads with a quote and an image. It's just something I like to do - and the quote is usually relevant to how I am feeling at the time. And I think this is where I am at the moment. Having recently retired from a long teaching career - a job which is all consuming but gives you a purpose and identity - I am currently struggling to know exactly what I am. Looking for what I want to do now seems to throw up an endless list of what I am not. 

This is the finished project - not entirely the way I initially envisaged it - but I always enjoy the process. And this is one journal where I want to like the end product. I have another where I have experimented or followed prompts, and in that one there is a lot that I don't like - but that helps me to sometimes just let go of the end product and focus on the process. 

Here is the speeded up and edited video, having removed all the faffing and prevaricating.

Products used:

Arteza 14cm x 14cm Sketchbook

Distress Oxides: Picked Raspberry, Ripe Persimmon, Fossilized Amber

Distress Mica Stains: Winterberry, Flickering Candle, Jack O' Lantern

Distress Archival: Vintage Photo

Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Just Thoughts (very old set); AALL & Create #662 One Of A Kind; Imagination Crafts Texture Stamps (from two different sets - both old)

Stencils: AALL & Create #147 Coffee Stain; #38 Cracked Walls 2

Tim Holtz Stamping Platform

Tim Holtz Stamping Blocks

Blending Brushes - cheap ones from Amazon

Cream card from stash

Thank you for popping by. 

Please feel free to follow me here on my blog, on Twitter, FaceBook,  Instagram or Pinterest.

Happy crafting, 

Cxxxx

Earth laughs in flowers.....

I have recently received my Tim Holtz Christmas Distress Mica Stains, and wanted to have a play with them in my art journal. I chose Peppermint Stick (red) and Frosted Juniper, and to complement them, Barn Door and Evergreen Bough Distress Oxides. 

Peppermint stick has gold coloured mica, while Frosted Juniper is more on the silver side. 

I inked my pages with Oxides first, then sprayed the two stains. The quote is from a really ancient set of rub-ons/stickers that I have had in my stash for so long. The geometric flower shapes are from a Magenta stamp set that I must have got free with a magazine - they're dated 2008, and I have no idea what magazine it would have been. I stamped the flowers with Black Soot Distress Archival ink, and painted them with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink, and ink from the two stain sprays, before cutting out. On the page, I used smaller stamps from the set with Evergreen Bough, Barn Door and Black Soot Distress Inks. I also used an Imagination Crafts stencil with the two Oxides.

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

I have decided to be happy .........

Good morning!! It's been a while since I have had time to sit and play, but now the whole "back to school/work" build up is over and we have had a week back, I can take a breath and do a little inky playing.

Found this quote in my box of things, and thought it seems very appropriate. With everything going on around us, we have to decide to be happy with what we have and where we are, otherwise it will affect our health.

I have used Broken China and Twisted Citron - both Distress Oxides and Inks - along with Black Soot DI. The stamps are an old CC set - probably from a magazine, and the circle stencil is and old Imagination Crafts one. 

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

I live in my own little world .....

I have finally got round to playing in my journal again. And I have also been playing with Distress Mica Sprays. I have had the originals - Tarnished Brass, Antique Bronze and Brushed Pewter for quite a while, and I find them quite muted in both colour and shimmer - which isn't a bad thing. So, when Tim Holtz announced that he was bringing out some additional ones in new colours for Halloween, then I was very interested. I don't do Halloween, but new colours in something Distress is something I am always interested in.

Before I started playing, I sprayed them all out to see what the colours and shimmers were like.

     

Like the originals, the shimmer is quite muted, but the colours are great! I decided to stick with two colours - Jack O Lantern and Hocus Pocus.

The background is created using Distress Oxides in Milled Lavender, Wilted Violet and Dried Marigold, onto which I added the sprays. You can see the shimmer is much more evident where the drops are larger. I did the same on a piece of card to stamp the Visible Images sentiment stamp.

The flowers are from Lisa Horton's Trellis Blooms - stamped onto card and coloured with a combination of Distress Oxides and Sprays.

The background was added to with smaller stamps from the Trellis Blooms, stamped with Distress Inks - Wilted Violet, Dried Marigold and Black Soot.

Happy crafting!
Cxxx

Be Incredible....

Another Journal piece today. The background is using Candied Apple, Wild Honey and Scattered Straw Distress Oxides, with Imagination Crafts Mixed Media Sprays in Yellow and Orange. I used Lisa Horton's Trellis Blooms to add texture to the background, stamped with Black Soot, Candied Apple and Wild Honey Distress Oxides.

The main image is an old Leonie Pujol stamp called Everlasting Love. I stamped this on card and coloured using the Distress Inks. The words are from Crafter's Companion Textures collection.

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

Love the life you have ....

It's taken a few days to put this one together. I did the background a couple of days ago, with Kitsch Flamingo and Broken China Distress Oxides, sprayed with Imagination Crafts Fuchsia Mixed Media and Silver Shake and Gilt.

I then found the text in my box of random things, and had already planned on using the Creative Expressions Stamps to Die For - Butterfly Meadow. However, for the third time, I have not managed to get a good impression in this art journal, leaving me having to try to sharpen it up with a fine-liner. Am going to have a think about this for the next one. Will probably stamp it separately on my stamping platform and glue in. 

To even up the blackness, I used Black Soot Distress Oxide with a few different Imagination Crafts Texture stamps to create a black edging all round.

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

Pause, Relax, Unwind

I have recently been trying out art journaling as a way to just create and try to unwind. I started with Everything Art's 5 day re-boot. I enjoyed having a go, so signed up for their 100 small steps. I have completed a few of the days, but have come to the realisation that I am not enjoying the process at all, and that the journaling side is really not for me. I also was falling out of love with my spiral bound journal, as I just wanted to cover the whole page with colour - and that was virtually impossible. It also meant that the two pages did not flow together. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE the Pink Pig journals, and have invested in both an A4 and A3 version so that I have scope for much larger areas - but, for this, I wanted something fairly compact and not spiral bound. I have ended up with Arteza's 14cm square (roughly 5 1/2 inches) watercolour sketchbooks. The paper is 230gsm - and seems plenty heavy enough for what I want to do.

Rather than trying to follow a prompt - which I think was another thing I was struggling with - I decided on a colour palette, and just spent some time looking through my stamping stash to see what jumped out. I ended up with the mandala - Spectrum Noir Colorista Background 3 stamp - texture stamps from Crafter's Companion Textures collection, and words from Crafter's Companion Destinations.

I used Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Ground Espresso Distress Oxides for the background. I stamped the mandala with Harmony Waterproof Ink in Pebble (was meant to be Rustic Brown but picked up the wrong one). It didn't stamp very well, so I went over it with a brown Sharpie. I then painted it using my ancient watercolour tin. 

I have to admit to being happier with the outcome of this than perhaps I was with previous pages. We'll have to see how it goes - and whether I can follow my own advice to pause, relax and unwind. 

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

Art Reboot #5 Natural things

Today's prompt was to use natural things in your journal - either to stick in, or to make marks.

I had a mosey round my garden and picked some raggedy old pansies, a geranium flower and a lavender stalk. I also picked up some dead leaves, a crumbling piece of stick and a feather.

I covered the pages of the journal with paper - I am definitely preferring having something other than white to work on, and added a couple of pieces of paper.

I stuck the petals and crumbled leaves on, and used the stick and feather to paint with. 

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

Art Reboot #4 Cut some shapes....

 Absolutely loved today's prompt to cut some simple shapes out, and to arrange them in a fun way! Simple as - and really enjoyable. I picked some papers out of the box of "papers I don't really like - or have had since the Stone Age - and am never likely to use", and cut away!!

Really loving the end result!

Happy crafting!

Cxxx

Art Reboot #3 If I were a flower....

Today's prompt was - If you were a flower, what would you be. I had to think about this - and in the end I went for a flower that I love in my garden - and was planting this morning! It is the good old Busy Lizzie - or Impatiens. And the guide was to paint it in a whimsical way. 

I have always loved Busy Lizzies as, in the right spot, they need little fuss, and really flourish and produce loads of flowers. And in a way, that is me - I flourish when I am in the right place! I also think the name suits me too. I am always busy - on the go, and doing things - and can be quite impatient!

So, I said yesterday, I wanted to be less planned and use less materials - and I think I managed that. Quite whether my painting is whimsical - I really have no idea.

Back tomorrow. Happy crafting.

Cxxx

Art Reboot #2 My biggest priority right now....

Day 2 of Kasia Avery's Art Reboot, and today's prompt was "My biggest priority right now....". And we had to apply paint with an old toothbrush. 

Decided to go for bright colours today - but I do think I am being a bit too organised. Tomorrow I'll try to be more spontaneous - and less planned with the colours. And maybe less products too! 

That said, the whole preparation process did make me happy!! 😂😂

Happy crafting,

Cxxx

Art Reboot #1 Things to be grateful for

Have been feeling quite lacking in inspiration with my crafting for a while. I am making cards for friends and family - but have lost the inspiration to do any messy stuff. So, when I received the email from Everything Art entitled "Lost your mojo?", I found myself signing up to the #ArtReboot. I haven't really art journaled before, but bought a Pink Pig pad at the start of the first lockdown with the intention of having a go. Apart from one, half-hearted attempt, it has been shut away in the drawer ever since. I love mixed media - and have a cupboard full of paints, sprays, paints, pastes, inks, stencils etc etc - some of which haven't seen the light of day for quite a while. 

Day 1's prompt was: 6 or 8 things you are grateful for today.  And the guidelines were: divide your page into 6 or 8 parts and fill each one with scribbling, doodles, collage etc.

These were the materials I ended up using. And this was what I came up with. 

And following the three golden rules: 

1 - We're here to create - not create jaw-dropping are pieces;

2 - No art/page/spread is ever finished until you decide you're done with it;

3- You owe yourself kindness - accept, acknowledge and celebrate what you've done.

.... I shall say that I am happy with what I have done and just leave it there.

Happy crafting,

Cxxx 

When it goes wrong - put a butterfly on...

That old crafter's adage worked for me today - and saved me from feeling pretty rubbish about what I was attempting. This is what I produced, but it is so far from what I set out to do, that it's really quite laughable.

Let's rewind to just before lunch yesterday. I decided to make a list of all the things on my shelves, in my drawers and in my cupboards (and already I know I missed some things - gel press, mica powders...) that I really should play with, have a go with, experiment with. you get the idea.

And when lockdown had seemed imminent a couple of weeks ago, I ordered myself some journals from Pink Pig. The large one has watercolour card in - for an art journal, The next one is lined for jotting ideas and thoughts down. And the little one is for drawing and sketching - I went small with this one as I didn't want to be intimidated by a larger size.

The art journal was the one I wanted to start with, but I didn't really want to ruin other pages, so I cut a piece of mylar to sit behind the page and protect the rest (or that was the idea).

 

For the afternoon's dabble, I decided to have a play with the Spectrum Noir Sparkle Inks. I bought these with the intention of using them on my Christmas cards, and never did, so they have sat in the cupboard for a while.

I got all excited, googled for something different to try with watercolour based products, and found a lovely video clip which showed techniques using salt water, water with bleach, and clingfilm. Great, I thought. And got myself all set up, remembering to take photos for a step by step. And I used some low tack tape to divide the page into three - one for each of the things shown on the clip. So far, so good.

  

I started with the salt water. The idea was to put a wash of the salt water on the paper, then dot the ink on. I used Amethyst and Garnet from the Glitz and Glamour set. This was reasonably successful - but not quite as great as in the video.

I pushed on with the water with bleach in it. Same idea - make a wash with the water and then dot the ink on. This was supposed to give a much more feathery effect. This was what I got. Total fail.

At this point I was starting to get frustrated, but ploughed on with number 3 - the clingfilm. Plain water is put on the clingfilm, ink dotted on, and then applied to the paper. 

  

The result - a puddly mess that leaked onto the other two sides as well. Totally annoyed with myself by this point. Instead of a lovely page showing three techniques, it looked like a small child had been let loose on it (no offence to small children intended). So, I went over the whole lot with the salt water.

  

At this point, it was a case of what can I do to save this. So I dug out my Sara Signature Flutterby Collection (have pretty much all of this as I demo'd it not long after release), Harmony Water Reactive Inks - Plum Pudding, Winter Rose and Silent Night and Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide.

At this point, photos kind of went by the wayside. I added more of the Pink Garnet Sparkle Ink at the top and bottom and stamped the Botanical Butterfly with Silent Night inkpad. I used water to spread some of the ink, and then filled in with Amethyst and Pink Garnet Sparkle inks. 

Have to say, it looks better on the above photo than I felt it did yesterday, so I watered down some white gesso and went over it to knock it back. And then I attempted to overstamp the butterfly with Memento - Nautical Blue.

    

To frame it, I used one of the Scripture stamps with the Winter Rose inkpad and two different stamps from the Textured Elements set with the Plum Pudding and Silent Night.

The sentiment is from the Fly Away set, and I edged the whole thing (tricky when it's spiral bound) with Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide.

While this is is no way what I had intended when I started, it ended up OK. Oh, and it's almost impossible to keep the next pages clean in a book like this!! 

Lessons learned. Onwards and upwards!!

Take care and stay safe.

Cxxx