LIM DT: Autumn Birthday CASe Card

It’s a CASe challenge over at Less is More. Ok, it was a new one for me too. Apparently, CASe stands for ‘Copy And Share everything’ and the aim is to take inspiration from any or all of the elements of a starter card, all the while keeping to the clean and simple principles. Here’s my card, and below is Sharon’s card that she made as our starter for ten:

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Trimcraft Maker: Modern Marks art journal page

I’m on a roll! Today’s make is an art journal page featuring the new First Edition Deco Maché decoupage paper in the Modern Marks design. I decided to augment the marks and colour matched the marks to Distress Paint colours (listed below). The paper behaved itself today – I used less of the glue and the wrinkles were kept to a minimum as a result. It’s certainly a lot harder to work with a sheet rather than pieces, so bear this in mind. Time-lapse video below.

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Art Journal Pages: Butterflies

Next week’s Art Journal Session has the theme ‘butterflies’. I’ve three new pages to share, but there are several in my past library that you can find using the search facility.

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ProMarker Challenge: Spoiled Dog?

Another weekly challenge has landed over at Passion for ProMarkers. I was pleased to be in the top five chosen submissions in last week’s challenge, so I thought I’d have another go. Gotta be in it to win it after all. The theme is ‘animals’. Some time ago I encouraged people to use the tag #nbu – never been used – in an effort to use that crafty stash that once purchased languishes unloved in a drawer or box. This stamp is one such example…

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Bible Journaling: rubber stamping

Our next Bible journaling session has ‘rubber stamping’ as its theme. It will be a departure from my normal style, and it took some time to find suitable stamps to match some verses and themes. When creating, I also chose to break my ‘rule’ of not working over the text areas of the page. I made sure, however, the work I did was transparent and the text still readable:

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Art Journal Page: Light & Shade

As I’ve previously mentioned, the August art journal session at The Studio is all about ‘tints, tones and shades’. Playing with light and shade on a page helps give depth and interest to the piece. Here, playing with the properties of distress ink and distress oxide provides the opportunity to get every shade of the same colour. The use of water also helps with the lighter tones.

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Art Journal Page: Tim Holtz Stampfest

At next month’s art journal session*, we’ll be having a Tim Holtz Stampfest. I have a fair collection of his stamps and, as with most crafters, some haven’t been used yet. I thought it would be a great theme to work with, and lots of possibilities open up as we mix in the Distress line of products.

* The session on Mon 5th is fully booked, but if you would still like to take part, it will be repeated at the following Wednesday’s afternoon group.

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Art Journal Page: Frozen Fractals

Last Monday was my regular art journal session at The Studio. We took the theme ‘baby, it’s cold outside’. Coincidentally, it was one of the coldest evenings of the autumn too. The theme called for cool colours, shimmer and sparkle to evoke frost rime on windows and icy surfaces:

art journal frozen fractals

I started with layers of gesso, creating ridged fans/feathering by jittering the edge of a palette knife to make the texture. Sprinkle a little Ultramarine Color Burst. Add more layers of gesso and then iridescent medium. Stamp with archival inks before adding the quote. Smear some Stardust stickles over the page and set aside to dry. I think the quote source is fairly obvious and just fits the theme perfectly!

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Art Journal Page: Beautiful Art

The first Monday of the month sees my monthly art journal evening at the Studio, and next week the theme is ‘never been used’. I’ve asked studio guests to bring something from their crafty stash that they have never used, and we’ll be incorporating them into our beautiful art journal pages.

In prepping my sample for the session, I came across an embarrassment of unused kit deep in folders, drawers and baskets. I think I will need to do more of these! I know I’m not alone, so what do you think – anyone fancy a ‘never been used’ challenge blog?

Here’s my show page, worked in my very first art journal from 2011 on a background that I’d not yet used:

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Art Journal Page: ATC Art Gallery

It’s my monthly Art Journal Session on Monday evening, and for this month’s theme we’re tackling ‘ATC art’. I’m not one for making artist trending cards most of the time – for the uninitiated, ATCs are 3½” x 2½” pieces of artwork that are designed to be swapped between crafters – and I thought it was time to revisit the format. I’ve sneaked them into  my art journal timetable, and here’s the sample page. BTW – the frames are one of my first forays into the world of 3D design and printed here in The Studio.

ATC gallery art journal page

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