Art journal week38: Lucky

art journal
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The prompt for week 38 on the ukstampers weekly challenge is Lucky
  • Are you a lucky person? Materially or otherwise?
  • What is the luckiest thing that ever happened to you?
  • Use a lucky charm on your page
I guess I am, like most people, sometimes lucky and sometimes unlucky.  I have never won a big prize, but I have won a few small prizes.  My overall health is ok but ageing takes it’s toll on wheelchair users in a variety of ways.  I have a great family and a few dear friends.  It is only when you really think about it that you realise just how fortunate you really are.
The unluckiest thing that has happened to me would be that I broke my back in a road traffic accident.   The luckiest thing would be that it could have been so much worse.
Paint:  Dylusions acrylic Lagoon , Lime, Black and White, Cyan ink spray
Card:  watercolour paper
Stamps:  Dylusions Around the edge
Other: lucky horseshoe embellishment, black, white and silver pens, used some Fozz felt as a stencil to spray through

Anniversary card

anniversary card, card

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I didn’t have much time to make a card for John and Lizzie before they went to Greece so this is quite a simple but elegant card.  I used a brayer for the background colour then coloured the image using inktense pencils and a water brush.

Inks:  Distress ink Scattered straw, Memento Tuxedo black
Card:  white card
Stamps:  Stampology Silhouette blossoms, Hero arts Tiny Chinese wishes (translates as Love)
Other:  Copic multi liner to make the squiggled border, Inktense pencils  to colour the blossoms and a glitter pen to add a tiny bit of shimmer to the centres

Autumn Landscape anniversary card

anniversary card, card, Michelle Zindorf tutorial

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For this card I used Michelle Zindorf’s tutorial  #379 to make the swooshed direct to paper  background and stamped trees.  I just kept a white border around the card and didn’t stamp any greeting or other words over it.  I wanted a darker look overall but I do like the sunny look to Michelle’s card.  I also used some different colours and patted my white pen marks to make them slightly less obvious.

Inks:  Distress inks Stormy sky, Milled lavender, Spun sugar and Barn door.  Stampin up Not quite navy, So saffron, More mustard, Old olive, Crumb cake and Soft suede.
Card:  white card
Stamp: Stampin up Lovely as a tree
Other:  white gel pen

Abstract card

abstract, art, birthday card, card, painting

CareyAbstract2011

The last time Carey was up for a visit with the family we got talking about abstract painting and although I have never painted an abstract painting before it struck me that the backgrounds I do for some of my art journals are just that.  So I did this painting for Carey’s card using the same methods I would for a background but with really bright blocks of colour and almost filling the page.  I am quite pleased with the results but it is hard to know when to stop adding bits.

Inks/paint:  blue, yellow, red, black and white acrylic paint, coloured pens
Card:  water colour card and a large aperture card
Other:  stencils, sequin waste, bottle caps, daubers

Art journal week 37 Laugh

art journal, laugh, uk stampers challenge
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Week 37 for ukstampers weekly challenge is all about Laugh:

  • When was the last time you had a good laugh?  What was it about?
  • What kind of humour do you like?  Do your friends think you are funny?
  • Include a smiley face on your page

I have no idea if my friends think I am funny or not – they may find my humour a little odd.  I can watch lots of comedy shows and not laugh at all but when I do find something funny I will laugh silently and the tears will roll down my face.  I do have a rather wicked sense of humour.  The last thing I laughed at was out conversation last night with friends over dinner, Lizzie and my attempts at learning crochet, and lots of other little things.
The image for the background is from Riandesigns which is the skull with the smile. I added the edging, scratchy lines and circles, ink blots and the journalling.

Paint:  black, red, green and white acrylic paint
Card: watercolour card
Other:  black, white and green pens, image background skull image

Art journal week 34 Dreams

art journal, dreams, uk stampers challenge
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For week 34 of the ukstampers challenge the prompt was Dreams:

  • do you dream?  Have you a recurring dream? Do you dream in colour?
  • What is the dream you remember most?
  • Paint/stamp/collage some clouds on your page

I have loads of dreams, some good, some bad, some weird and some that I can actually fathom out some kind of meaning.

Inks/paint:  blue, white, yellow and black acrylic paint, Adirondack Pitch black ink
Card:  watercolour card
Stamps:  Invoke Art tickets, Scrolls work Stamps Mesh, Stampology Silhouette blossoms
Other:  computer generated words, coloured pens

Art journal week 36 Risk

art journal, metal tape, risk, uk stampers challenge
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The prompt for week 36 of the ukstampers challenge is Risk:

  • are you a risk taker or a stay safe person?
  • which ever you are does it affect what you do now? and what is the biggest risk you have taken or should have taken?
  • use a colour or technique on your page which you wouldn’t usually

These days I am definitely a stay safe person, I have no wish to risk life or limb or anything else for that matter.  Age perhaps has a lot to do with it as in my youth I did do some motor cycle sidecar racing and the odd bit of abseiling down viaducts and such like. When you are young you tend to feel invincible – that nothing could happen to you and the risks are worth taking – that’s if you even think about the risks in the first place.

I have used Therma wrap tape (aluminium tape) over watercolour paper for my background (a method I have used before for smaller pieces but not the whole page).  Underneath the foil in some areas I have put cardboard letters, bit of sequin waste and sequin type embellishments which I rubbed over with paper stumps.  Some of the writing is just using a ballpoint pen and going over it a few time with a permanent pen, others are metal stamps stamped into the foil and highlighted with black acrylic paint.  I have used both alcohol inks and acrylic paints to colour the page and white and yellow pans to highlight.  I tried using red rub’n’buff wax over the embellishments but it didn’t come up all that well.

Inks/Paint:  alcohol inks Sunset orange, Sunshine yellow and Red pepper, acrylic paints pink and black
Card:  watercolour paper, Therma wrap tape
Stamps:  metal alphabet stamps
Other:  cardboard letters, sequin waste, sequins, coloured pens

 

Art journal week 31 Smile

art journal, ukstampers challenge
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Week 31 of the ukstampers art journal challenge is all about Smile:

  • what made you smile this week – list your top 5
  • use a happy colour on your page
  • stamp some kisses

I have used some yellow, orange and pink for this page  and I tried to transfer an image using Golden medium and printed acetate.  The image is a couple of years old – Tegan was playing with my hair and put it up in a bun on the top of my head; I have rather a stupid grin on my face and it reminded me of the song about ‘a smile and a ribbon in my hair’.  It came out very dark so I scribbled over the hair with some pens.  Some things that made me smile this week include my dog launching himself into his bed and rolling about in it without a care in the world, the baby dove is still about in the garden and visits everyday, the sun came out briefly, I made pancakes for lunch today, and the roofer finally came to fix the guttering which broke last winter with all that snow.  You might not be able to see the stamped kisses – they are 3 tiny crosses after ‘Rare’ and after ‘hair’.

Inks/paint:  mostly yellow, orange and pink acrylic paint with some black and white
Card:  watercolour card (and acetate to transfer)
Stamps:  Paperbag studios Scrap journal (bubblewrap stamp), Eline’s Huis cross-stitch (tiny crosses)
Other: coloured pens, Golden medium

Art journal week 33 Spiritual

art journal, spritual
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Week 33 for the ukstampers challenge is Spiritual:

  • are you a spiritual person, what do you believe, are you a work in progress?
  • use a quote on your page
  • stamp some symbols that have meaning to you on your page

What a big subject to tackle – I am basically a spiritual person (I believe every one is to some extent) but do I believe in one particular religion over others? – well no.  I take the bits out of various religions that I like and that I think help make me a better person in some way. Actually I don’t know that much about any religion, so I am a work in progress. Is that hedging my bets – maybe?  I am however drawn to this symbol and whether it is called yin yang or Dao or Tao I like what it stands for and instead of using a quote I have included the three jewels of the Dao: Compassion, moderation and humility.

Inks:  acrylic paints and Distress ink Black soot, black document ink
Card:  watercolour card
Stamps:  yin yang symbol (unknown)
Other:  black, white and silver pens, small piece of patterned paper

Cheers! birthday card

beer card, card, cheers card, easel card, mens 50th card, mens birthday card, real ale card
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Here is an easel card I made a few days ago for someone who likes their beer.  I painted a beer mat to prime it before I stamped the images.  The beer glass has glossy accents on it to make it look like glass and the froth is liquid appliqué.  I bashed a bottle cap then added the greeting and more glossy accents.  The background words were  made on the computer using different fonts, colours and some international ways of saying cheers.

Inks:  Distress inks Antique linen and Frayed burlap, Black document ink
Card:  ivory card, Basicgrey, Hang 10
Stamps:  Stampin up Circle of friendship, Personal impressions Mens1, Dimension Fourth bubbles stamp
Other:  bottle cap, glossy accents, beer mat, brads, liquid appliqué, gold pen, black gloss pen