Art journal and pin wheels

I  did not have much time this weekend to play with paper, paint and and digital bits and bobs as I was seeing friends and my mother was here for a visit. I did manage to complete the art journal page which was on the subject of Home is where the heart is.  I created an acrylic paint background and then stamped with a pearl paint dabbler using the claudine hellmuth houses and then overstamped the detailed outline. I printed photos of our house and scribbled over them with permanent pens. The hearts were stamped using dylusions stamp and added to the page as was the journalling written on scraps of paper that had been sprayed pink.The more I worked on this the more I came to consider that our home is where our table is and this has given me the idea for my last scrap factor layout.

I also discovered how to make windmills/pinwheels and have been using them on another lo. The photograph is of my youngest nephew.

Scrapping feverishly and secretly

I decided to have a go at the Scrap Factor Hybrid contest on UK Scrappers as a way of getting some more scrapping LOs done. I harbour no illusions about winning or getting through the audition stage but have enjoyed challenging myself to do these and that is what it is all about - having fun and playing with stuff. I have been busy scrapping, stamping, inking and tweaking computer images. I can't post the three completed LOs in full but thought I would give a few sneak peaks. I still have two to finish and a weekend filled with friends and my mother so not sure when they will be done. The deadline is friday. I have enjoyed putting my head on various stamps and all will become clear when you see the LO but one of the reasons is that I don't have many photos of me as I usually edit them out in horror at how chunky I am these days... and then reach for another biscuit. I have noticed that my work on art journals is having an influence on my scrapping work.

Stampotique SDC26 - Animal Insect or Bird

Serendipity came calling with a Stampotique challenge to use an animal, insect or bird and week and UKS Week 11 Art Journal where we were to list five things that scared  us, stamp with paint and use a scary colour for your background. This was great fun to do and I was even brave enough to sketch a few items onto the page.

I used yellow Dylusions paint as background as although I like the colour to look at it is one I would never wear or decorate with. I stamped the TH crow from Haunted Mansions with black paint. I was not sure what to do so ended up putting black paint on a piece of cloth and dabbing this on the stamp. It gives a very rough and ready finish. 

Next I wanted to suggest open wardrobe doors - I have this fear left over from childhood about a thing that will come out at night if the doors are left open. I still have to make sure they are closed now. As I was thinking about being in bed at time I sketched a bed and used Stampotique's Olivia - head only to place in bed. 

I began to paint in blocks the main colours using clashing orange and pink to add to the scariness of the colour. I tried stamping a cat using a freebie stamp and it was just a blob so stamped it again on a piece of painty scrap and added that. I began to write and draw my other fears and freehand (very brave) painted the I'm scared of letters. I then sprayed with dylusions fuscia, burnt orange and pomegrante, masking Olivia's head between layers. I got my trusty black and white pens and added more detail

The crow had to have an eye in mouth as that is part of my fear of crows. If they peck out lamb's eyes...

Snakes... enough said

Scrapping farewells

We constantly seem to be saying hello and goodbye to our children as they experience life to the full. Our eldest DS, was home after 8 months in Paris, for a celebration of his birthday and then off on another adventure this time to Argentina. He's studying languages at university and has to spend this year abroad speaking French and Spanish. I am so envious and yet so glad we have encouraged him to be adventurous. This page tells the story of his usual chaotic packing and whilst I was sad he was going I did have a laugh as his 15  year old sister organised his packing and bossed him around. It worked and he got it all into his rucksacks.
I used a number of different digital kits from Owl Tree Studios - JLD Fresh Memories for the title and green paper, SKD Month brush and WBI Muse for the papers and elements. I doubled two frame ups around the photos and like the effect. The photos were snaps on my phone and tell a story rather than act as strong photographs.

Art Journal One Week and Art Journalling Vs Scrapping

This week we are asked to write down 7 things we did this week, provide evidence of two and use an old calendar as a background.

I scraped pink Dylusions paint onto the page and then stamped with purple/white paint using a foam stamp from the Claudine Hellmuth Dwelling set, I then overstamped with the acrylic stamp.

Evidence included 2 receipts, part of son's passport and bits of photo from his birthday and small calendar pages from the year so far. I sprayed with dylusion inks to add detail and hide personal details. You can see my "craft" mat which is an oven liner from Lidl but it works pretty well

I then made the receipts into fans and stuck them on and added the journaling from another page that I had sprayed with inks then written on and then stuck on. One of the reasons I did this was that when I started adding journalling on my background it was hard to read because of the dark colours. This is not one of my favourite pages as I feel it didn't come together how I wanted. But I have been in a grumpy mood all day and I never create as well when grumpy. Lens Guy suggested my mood has something to do with the Super Moon...

At the moment I am enjoying the art journalling as I feel there is a freedom to make mistakes that I don't have when scrapping or making cards. However I have been thinking about this and I think journalling in the art journal has freed me up to handwrite and journal on scrap pages and I think I am going to start creating a series of pages that are a mix of the two and incorporate some digital elements. Does anyone else have thoughts on this? Do you think as crafters we go through phases of preferring one type over another or am I just easily distracted?

Art Journal Fashion

A little bit behind with my journal prompts. Fashion required us to list our best and worst fashion items, use fabric and a picture from a magazine. My background has many layers of photos and paint and then my figure is three different magazine pieces painted and drawn over. The fabric came from one of my old shirts that had ripped beyond repair but I now hoard the old clothes as they come in useful at some point. I used some TH stamps (tiny ones that I bought on QVC). My worst disaster - wearing leggings the first time, never mind now. My favourite items are white linen shirts and hats, with a scarf or two thrown in for luck. I also had to add in a few lines from "Fashion" by David Bowie. Excuse photos as it is late and DS has just arrived home and now we are going to pack...

Lidly pearl acrylics and some magazine photos

Then decided I needed to paint over with Dylusions pink, red and white

Head, legs and body from other magazines and a fair bit of overdrawing.

Party peeks

The cupcakes were made by our friends 12 year old who loves baking and DS obliged by wearing a silly hat

It was eldest DS birthday at the weekend and with party preparation, clear up and recovery I've not done a lot of crafting (zero to be honest). I am just about to rectify that now and thought I would share a few pics until the paper, glue and ink start splashing about again. Four out of our five children are here but middle DD always hides from the camera...

DD, DD, DS, DS and boyfriend of DD

I never thought oldest and youngest DD were alike until I took this photo - forced flash was off and I quite like the soft orange look.

Digital scrapping

These photos show my dad with my little sister and then mum, me, family friend and sis. As they were black and white I felt I could use a very colourful background. All the elements for this come from the Helping Hands Collaboration. I used a paper cluster and an embellishment cluster and felt like I was cheating. I love using digital kits but I find that I often mix up the elements from lots of different kits as that is what I would do with paper.

Scrapping old family photos

My sister is 40 next week and one of her friends has asked me to send her some photos and words and bits and bobs about her. The easiest way for me to do this was to email the photos to her but I also wanted to create a few scrap pages. Her friends is creating a this is your life type book. The page was created using Owl Tree Studios Beech Breeze August Collaboration Kit. 

Meltdown and just man up mum

Going into total meltdown. Eldest daughter has fab job with 2 year contract in Singapore and left today. Family laughs, snot and tears last night until late. Work very bad day. Lots of people coming to house on Saturday for 21 party and I've done nothing! Think am in denial as want to create stuff and avoid dealing with stuff but as youngest daughter told me "you need to man up mum!"
Glancing down at my body I'm not sure I want to. On a day that the EU has brought in ridiculous equal rights insurance laws I am going to shout and scream and be happy to be a woman. Where do these ridiculous sayings come from. Am I supposed to find the nearest man and somehow use him as a weapon, change identity or just ignore the fact I'm a mum and at times a little hormonally challenged?