Art Journal
Art Journal Page: One Voice

Posted on 21st July 2015 by Neil

I promise this is the last page (for now) with the wooden block prints – just in case you’re getting bored… I’ve got enough done now to demonstrate what can be done with them at my Art Journal Session at the beginning of August. This one is a little more of a creative statement highlighting the quotation – I love how the Walnut Stain Distress Ink rubbed over the collaged speech bubbles has made them look grubby as well as making them recede into the background. Enough said, I think.

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Simply Marvellous

Posted on 20th July 2015 by Neil

Another journal page using my new wooden block stamps – they work so well with the Dylusions paint. It’s just the right consistency to cover the stamp, stick to the page, and not squidge everywhere. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite the same when I used rubber stamps, which squeezed the paint away giving me the tramline outline that I then had to fill in with a paintbrush.

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Framing Worry

Posted on 19th July 2015 by Neil

More block printing with my new wooden blocks – this time in Dylusions Crushed Grape and White Linen acrylic paints over a brown/pink/orange acrylic paint background. I’ve added shading with water-soluble graphite and Vintage Photo/Walnut Stain Distress Inks. The text is drawn freehand with Signo Broad white gel pen and embellished with the fine tip version.

The spacing of everything is unplanned when I start… it just so happened that four of the blocks fitted in the height of the page, and the fold breaks the pattern and fools the eye, so it’s not immediately obvious there’d have been an overlap if it had been on a flat sheet of A4. I printed the vertical white framing first, and then spaced the horizontal accordingly. How I manage to fit in the text whilst worrying (ha!) that I’m going to miss out a letter or misspell the word is beyond me, but I seemed to have managed it.

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: God’s handwriting

Posted on 19th July 2015 by Neil

I’ve just taken delivery of a set of wooden fabric printing blocks, a commercial take on the carved versions typically seen in India/Indonesia. As well as printing onto fabric, of course they’re suited to printing onto paper as well, and what better way of using them than in an art journal? This page is in my Moleskine journal that has been somewhat unloved since starting art journaling in 2011. I already had a pink/purple background in place, and I augmented this with some dabs of Dylusions paint. The image transfer of some heuchera leaves was also already on the page, and I’ve blended the edges with some more paint as well as adding a smear of orange to colour. The block prints can be seen in purple and white at the borders. I was quite pleased with the right side especially, as the paint acted more as a glue, pulling off previous paint layers creating a serendipitous distress effect. The text is free-drawn in Signo white pigment pen and outlined with a fine black pigment pen, except for the final two words which I traced so that it was a little more ‘special’. For hand-drawn text, I found the book Hand Lettering: Simple, Creative Styles for Cards, Scrapbooks & More by Marci Donley and DeAnn Singh really useful as something to bounce off. We’ll be using the blocks in the Art Journaling Session on 3rd August, for which one place is still available to book here.

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3D Projects
Distress Products Storage

Posted on 14th July 2015 by Neil

With all the new colours coming monthly from Tim Holtz/Ranger Industries, my existing system of Distress products storage (5 litre Really Useful Boxes for the stains/paints, 9 litre for the sprays) was no longer large enough. After a little research, I’ve moved them into a 33 litre Really Useful Box – and even that isn’t big enough… I think I’ll need a second. I’ve arranged them as shown so that I have a ready reckoner when taking my kit to classes where occasionally one or two bottles accidentally end up packed away elsewhere – this way I can quickly do a stock check and pin down what’s missing. The browns and speciality colours are currently in a 9 litre box until I can get hold of another 33 litre one, which I’ll also add the ink pads to fill up the free space. Now all I need to do is find somewhere to keep this box…

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Card Craft
Ombré Stamped Cards

Posted on 9th July 2015 by Neil

It was an exciting day yesterday as several orders got delivered… I knew what was coming, but the ladies attending my Come & Craft session in The Studio were definitely living vicariously as I unpacked each one!

This morning, as I got to grips with my new varifocal specs, I decided to do a straight rubber stamped card – not something I have done for quite a while. To be honest, I don’t know whether it’s the glasses or the fumes from spray glazing some bowls that’s making things go swimmy…

I’ve used the new Hero Arts Ombré dye ink pads to make my cards. Each ink pad is made from three graduated colour strips and with a little shimmy as you ink up the stamps, you get great blended ombré effects. Above are four cards I made showing off several of the colours available. Ombré colours used: Pink to Red; Light to Dark Peach and Butter to Orange; Lilac to Grape Purple; Grey to Black. Stamps: background – Darkroom Door Harlequin; Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Carved Swirl; flower is an old Anita’s stamp and the sentiment is Stampendous’ Cling Grunge Birthday.
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Art Journal
Art Journaling Page: Art for art’s sake

Posted on 6th July 2015 by Neil

I was watching a film last night, and notice for the first time the motto above the roaring lion on the MGM titles: ‘ars gratia artis’ – art for art’s sake. What more apt saying could there be for an art journal page? This is part two of my bleeding tissue layouts – I stuck down the dried used up tissue strips using matte multi-medium over an acrylic paint background. I added more strips of Tim Holtz tissue wrap and tissue tape as well as some washi tape from Ikea. Finally, the text was printed using colour laser printer onto imitation rice paper to keep the tissue paper theme. The laser print has the benefit of not moving when using wet mediums over the top, unlike inkjet printed equivalents.

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Nature’s Little Fireworks

Posted on 5th July 2015 by Neil

I’ve been a bit busy this last week getting things done in the garden (why did I have so much decking put in?), and getting samples made with the latest Craftwork Cards collections ready for the TV shows next week. Oh, and leading a workshop at The Studio yesterday at which there were some super mixed media art journal covers made.

And I got asked – what are we doing on Monday night? Referring, of course, to my monthly art journaling session. At the time, I couldn’t remember what I idea I’d had, but it came back to me today, and this is the result of my trying out the technique.

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Original Designs
I’m featured artist at SuzyMosh Creations Challenge Blog

Posted on 4th July 2015 by Neil

It’s great to be recognised as an artist, and what better way than to be chosen as a ‘featured artist’ on a challenge blog. Thank you to Suzy Mosh who has done just that on her zentangle challenge site:
http://suzymoshcreations.blogspot.co.uk/p/thats-new-to-me-weekly-challenge.html.

There’s still a day to enter your work to be in with a chance of winning my tangle pattern book, and another week after that to show off your work. The work on show in the entries is superb and well worth a look too!

3D Projects
Scented Tea Light Gift Card

Posted on 28th June 2015 by Neil

I know there are myriad ways to make similar cards, but since I’ve been reminded that I offered to do some projects using the Eazi-Score board from Diamond Card Craft I’ve designed this version from scratch specifically for those using the board. You may remember I also made a tutorial video using their Eazi-Box score board to make multi-sided shaped boxes.

Just a quick note on the Eazi-Score board before the tutorial: it’s designed for use with A4 card stock and you can simply place your card to the guide bar and score using one of the individually named channels. It’s easy to make your Half Fold – Gate Fold – Stepper – Kinetic – Shutter – A5 – DL cards and more. For most projects, there is NO need to cut your card to fit the board as it was designed for use with A4 card. Boxes are just as easily made ( box template and instructions are included with the board) and it’s designed for left or right handed crafters. There are 5 Embossing patterns too – Heart – Diamond – Flower – Butterfly and Wavy line perfect for making your own embellishments.

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