Hello Again. !

Spring is definitely here. Well it was last Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday, then Summer popped in to say "Hi there"  followed a day later by Winter who said  "I haven't quite gone away yet" !  Hey ho.

This week I have a journal page.

I gave my pages a coating of Matt 'glue and seal' but there are plenty of Matt mediums around that you can use for this job.

Using white gesso through a stencil first to lay down some texture and then, once dry, I started on the background. I didn't want to use strong colours for the background, but I did want some interest.
The layers are built up of PaperArtsy's Limelight, Lemon Zest and a touch of Pansy. Not a combination that I can say that I have frequently used before !  I built these up slowly using water thinned Snowflake to calm things down when needed which caused the Pansy to have more grey-er effect  - which was okay.

A spot more ink stencilling to create some depth and Tim Holtz's long journal stamp along the left hand-side, then I was ready to start work on my feature faces.

Then the Faces. LOVE these stamps !!!

These are a mix from Clare Lloyd's ECL03 and ECL04 stamp sets.

I gave some dictionary pages a light wash over with Gesso before stamping the images.
The large pretty face I cut around taking her hair off too .... intentionally I hasten to add!

The other three small pretty faces I cut around, leaving their hair but removing everything else from the stamp print.

The rest was pretty straight forward. Positioning the faces, stamping the big hair with a tiny stamp from Emma Godfrey's EEG 014 Bloom stamp set, then colouring in with water pencils. I thought I made a bit mistake in giving the faces a light coating of glue and seal as this restricted my ability to colour but, with hindsight, that turned out not to be a bad thing. I probably would have gone overboard !

A bit more stamping on the background and a touch of Royal Amethyst treasure gold on the gesso texture to finish off.

All done.

Now to venture in to the great outside....................... mittens or suntan lotion ...?


Happy Crafting !
Luv Denise


This journal page has been entered into That's Crafty Challenge blog 'About Face' 29th April 2016.

Hello Again !

Hello Again.

It has been a very long time since I have blogged, but thanks to the encouragement of a very talented fellow crafter, Debbie W (paintuptomyelbowsandbehindmyears), the cobwebs are being brushed off
(me and the page) and here we go again.... Hurrah!

In the two years that have lapsed, I have had the good fortune of meeting many talented people, learnt many new techniques and even more types of crafting. Journaling seems to be ONE of my current favourites and I guess that's because of the shedloads of inspiration taken from the lovely Carol Fox (gingernonutsbits) who has been sharing her journaling skills with us for a long-time.

Today I have two of my journal pages.

Both are bright and abstract. Both are made with some very lovely Emma Godfrey stamps.
Both are crafted using very similar techniques:  First, layering up the master board backing with PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk paints, some stencilling with inks, some texture with white gesso through stencils and then ............ some bright colours!!

This is where the difference occurs.

This page is with Tim Holtz Distress Crayons ( from the brights )

.... and this page is with Faber and Castell Gelatos.

I can just hear you now  (well I think I can) - what do you prefer ? 

Hmmm. The Distress Crayons feel softer to use and seem to spread around very easily but then again, I felt that I had a bit more control with the Gelatos. Both move well with water and a brush. Both can give a good, solid coverage. Once applied, you can have some fun with the Distress crayons by lifting some of the colour with a baby wipe through a stencil, creating some extra interest -  and you can see where I have done that on the first page. 

But I am definitely no expert. Well I have to have an excuse to go and play some more .... 

....... in the name of research of course !

Bye for now and Happy Crafting.

Luv Denise

Both of these pages have been entered into the That's Crafty Bright and Beautiful Challenge 15th April 2016