An Octopus's Garden for Danie

I do love Dyan Reaveley's adorable critters with their cheeky attitude! One day I'll create something different to bright colours, pretty plants and happy creatures but its not today :) Having been brought up with Alice in Wonderland has had a huge impact on my life, so much that my Mum calls me Um and I use pepper in everything! lol That said, there are no talking roses or daisies bitching to each other on this painting ... its all seaweed (it didn't, its a clean ocean) and coral.

Ooooh, I'm hilarious today! Must be all the sidekicks that arrived - their adorableness has leaked into my typing...! lol

Back to Danie - for her beautiful journal I added a page full of vibrant colours and new friends with an Aussie twist. You'll see :)

Wise words from Tim Holtz by way of a stamp... the world of reality has its limits; but the world of imagination is boundless. Suits this page perfectly :)

Starting with stamps from the Tim Holtz Sea Life and Dylusions sets, Under the Sea and Flight of Fancy, I printed out more than I needed of all my favourite critters using black Archival ink.
I toyed with the idea of inking with colour but it didn't suit what I wanted to do. The seahorse and lobster (or crayfish) are from Tim's set. Everyone else is from Dyan's.

After deciding that I probably had plenty of critters to choose from, I left them to one side while I sorted out my ocean.

This I created using acrylic paint and a 2" soft rubber roller - squirting and rolling until I liked what I saw, then dabbing with a sea sponge to break up all the lines.

The seaweed, coral and other underwater plants started off as stamps from Dyan's Ocean Backgrounds stamp set (so this page can be done with just stamping easily enough). Using my new bestie (black pen), I added a few extra lines and scribbles. They were then painted with yellow acrylic paint.

I probably should have waited for the page to dry further or sprayed it with fixative but I went straight on with it and used Distress Inks with an ink blending tool and a bunch of different stencils - all of which disappeared unless they were on the yellow paint. I was having a lovely time, layering and inking so while you can't see anything, it wasn't totally wasted!

Still not waiting for things to dry, I added a few patches of hearts and bubbles with Transparent Gloss Texture Paste. Not waiting caused all my texture paste to get a yellow and blue glow, proof that the Distress Inks were definitely on the page.

Transparent Gloss Texture Paste ... wet.

Transparent Gloss Texture Paste ... dry.

It was cool watching the texture paste dry as I painted all the scenery... magical almost!

I painted the plants using a brush with just the basics, white yellow, red, blue, diox purple and black acrylic. The sea floor was sponged using a homemade mix of browns and greens (whatever was left on my plate after painting the plants).

It was a couple of days before I could get back to it, so by the time I gathered my critters and started colouring with Mermaid Markers (gorgeous waterbased ink in a waterbrush), the background was well and truly dry.

I also used the beautiful shimmery Gansai Tambi watercolours of gold and silver then clear iridescent medium that got painted over everything that "moved". I always colour before I cut out shapes, then ink around the edges hiding the white paper.

Placement was fun... they kept moving around when I bumped the page! Above pic is while I was deciding if I needed to colour more or start cutting out.

Its all coming together nicely :)

Finished page for Danie's Under the Sea journal.

Well, its taken a fathom of text (I know but it couldn't be helped! lol) but here it is, the finished page of my octopus's garden for Danie.

The eyes were repainted to look in the directions I wanted and I used white and black pens to redraw some of the stamped areas of the fish that were covered with paint.

These little guys are blue ringed octopus all the way from South Australia, friends of the giant octopus who claims this garden as his own. Dad came along while I was taking these pics, looking for the yellow submarine...

As the little fish swim around the giant octopus tentacles, they have to change colour so as to stay hidden from being someone's lunch!

The sandworms like to hide in their bright green tubes and watch the others swim about in the octopus's garden. Now you would think a small fish would be smarter than to go after something as big as this octopus...

Well that's it... thank you so much Danie for this magical journey into the world under the sea. I hope you love it as much as I loved creating it.

Have a happy day!
:D
Jenny

Advice from a Tree by Janie O'Brien in Louise Kirby's journal.

 I did not take photos of my earlier processes, suffice to say it was all completed with painting and markers. The poem was written in two colours and it is difficult to read, so I'll post it here for you:

Dear Friend,
Stand Tall and Proud
Sink your roots deeply into the Earth
Reflect the light of a greater source
Think long term
Go out on a limb
Remember your place among all living beings
Embrace with joy the changing seasons
For each yields its own abundance
The Energy and Birth of Spring
The Growth and Contentment of Summer
The Wisdom to let go of leaves in the Fall
The Rest and Quiet Renewal of Winter
Feel the wind and the sun
And delight in their presence
Look up at the moon that shines down upon you
And the mystery of the stars at night.
Seek nourishment from the good things in life
Simple pleasures
Earth, fresh air, light
Be content with your natural beauty
Drink plenty of water
Let your limbs sway and dance in the breezes
Be flexible
Remember your roots
Enjoy the view! 

by: Ilan Shamir

My finished journal, now with the only collaged bird components added.

 There are beautiful pictures is your journal Louise, and I hope mine does justice to their loveliness. I wish you well.

Fairy Tales November 2017

This month I had Joanne Tobler's lovely Fairy Tale Journal. A beautiful looking journal styled in landscape mode.

As usual I hadn't a clue.  At my age the world of fairy tales are long gone and probably polluted by Mr Disney.  I went to the library to see if I could find a book of classic fairy tales...Nada!!

So I traversed into the pre-schoolers section to see what I could find.  Success!!  (I hope.)

The story I chose to do was called The Silly Goose.  The usual fairy tale scenario with a villain and an innocent, with good conquering evil.

I began building a background with book text and acrylic paint.

Next I printed the silly goose on tracing paper and fussy cut her all a'flutter.

 The sly fox saw waiting to trick her by telling her she had lost her ears.  Goose then went on an odyssey to find some ears.  None of her friends could help her.

The fox disguised himself as a peacock and told the goose he had ears to sell.  Goose went with him and then discovered who was hidden by the peacock's finery and madly tried to escape.

And then all of goose's friends arrived in time to chase the wicked fox away.

So I hope this fits the fairy tale criteria, and I hope Joanne enjoys it.

Colleen's Page in Joan's Journal.

Joan's journal is just lovely, full of all sorts of houses, all shapes & sizes.

Ever since I was a child, drawing houses has been my favourite thing to draw. They always had path's leading to somewhere from the front door, & there were always trees.

I tried to re-create this in a bit more of a grown up look. I wanted to use the saying "The road to a friend's house is never long". I painted the background blue & green, & using scrapbook paper, I made 2 houses & drew a road between each one.

Using a cotton bud  tip I filled in the road with different colours of brown & white, to make it look like a rocky dirt road, like we actually have. I did some background stamping all over & added the trees, flowers, birds & a few butterflies. I also did some doodling here & there & then added the saying.

I hope you like this Joan. I loved doing it for you. Not long now & your journal will be home.

Lisa's Favourites in Jan's Journal!

Jan's Favourites journal is a lovely A5 sized one full of deliciousness.  As I looked through it, I realised that getting near the end of a journal swap gives you a bit of mixed emotions - wonder and amazement at what other peeps have done before you, and also a tinge of sadness that it's soon coming to an end.  But then there's also the excitement of getting your own journal back and seeing the gorgeous creations in real life!  But anyhoo, back to Jan's journal.

Favourites is such a broad term.  Favourite what?  Technique? Medium?  Song?  Yes.  To all of these!  While I was still umming and ahhing on what to do, I heard one of my favourite songs on the radio - One, by U2.  So I decided that this would be the basis of my page - the lyrics are really special, so I'll share them here:

Is it getting better, or do you feel the same?

Will it make it easier on you now, you got someone to blame?

You say, one love, one life, when it's one need in the night.

One love, we get to share it, leaves you baby if you don't care for it.

Did I disappoint you, or leave a bad taste in your mouth?

You act like you never had love, and you want me to go without.

Well it's too late, tonight, to drag the past out into the light.

We're one, but we're not the same.  We get to carry each other, carry each other... One.

Have you come here for forgiveness, have you come to raise the dead?

Have you come here to play Jesus, to the lepers in your head?

Did I ask too much, more than a lot?  You gave me nothing now that's all I got.

We're one, but we're not the same.  Well we hurt each other then we do it again.

You say, love is a temple, love a higher law.  

Love is a temple, love the higher law.

You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl.

And I can't be holding on, to what you got, when all you got is hurt.

One love, one blood, one life, you got to do what you should.

One life, with each other, sisters, brothers.

One life, but we're not the same.

We get to carry each other, carry each other... One.

Some of my other favourite things are collage, gelli printed papers, tea bags, and watercolour.  So these things all went together to finish the spread.  

I didn't plan on using all of the lyrics, but... look at them.  I couldn't choose which part I loved the most, so had to do it all.  So the end result is... squishy.  Not quite what I had in my head, but I do like how it all came together.  

And here's a close up of the right hand side.  I thought the colours were a bit too vibrant to write over, so whitewashed the whole thing.  Quite like the effect!

So.  That should have been the end of it, but I decided that while I liked this page, I didn't love it.

What else is a favourite of mine?  Painting bright, colourful gardens, using primarily Dylusions paints.

So I did another page too!  Hope you like both of these Jan!  "They're quite different" remarked my daughter, in her role as Captain Obvious. 😜  Cheers, Lisa xx

Jan does Things with Wings for Colleen

This is a small cloth covered journal that is so beautiful and colourful! I love the bird stencil I have so decided to use that and the page evolved. First I used gesso and Neo Color 11's and baby wipes to create a nice background.

Then I added some elements to create a bit of a frame and then did collage and stenciling. Also added some washi tape for emphasis.

I made a tag in the same vein for Colleen as she made a lovely one for each of the people who worked in her journal and asked us to make one for her.

I hope you like the page Colleen. I love things with wings too.

Joans page in Jan's Journal "Favourites"

Jan's journal with the theme of " Favourite" is another lovely small journal.  It already has some gorgeous layouts created in it.  I was going away for a three day crafting weekend and this was one of the things I took with me to do.   I had planned to do heaps of things but actually did not finish one thing.

I started off thinking that I would fulfill the theme  by using my favourite inks and other media and would find a phrase to suit.  However my crafting muse was no where to be found that weekend and after gessoing over the background twice, because I did not like what I had done.  I finally settled on a pale pink background created using distress oxides.  I did no more to it that weekend.

Picking it up some time later in week at home, I was still not sure where I was going with it, so I added to background with some stencils and background stamps.   I then stenciled, drew and painted some flowers and grass along the bottom.  I then decided that some of the flowers needed to be raised so I used clear texture paste to paint on top of some of the flowers.  I still had no idea where I was going, so I thought I would approach it from another direction and find a quote that had something to do with favourites.  I started flipping through some books that were on my table, one of which was an older copy of Winnie the Pooh, which I have used in collage etc, so not much of it left and about two pages in I came across the phrase on the left page,  and a few pages down, the quote on the right page.

Now most of you know that I cannot draw to save myself, but the drawings in this little book were so simple, I thought that I could perhaps copy them.  Now to find a place for Pooh to sit amongst the grass.  I squeezed him in somewhat on top of a couple of flowers and drew Piglet further up the page.
Although no masterpieces, I was pleased with the drawings for me.  I then wrote the quotes by hand in pencil and went over them in gel pen.

After all that it was a very simple page in the end.  I hope Jan will see past the bad drawing and will know that I tried my best.

Roz's Silhouettes By Wendy

One of my favourite themes is the silhouette and I finally had the chance to work in Roz Willoughby's silhouette themed journal. The pages were quite large compared to what I normally work in but I found it rather freeing, imagination wise, to try to fit something large onto the page.
After having a good think I decided to put a few smaller shaped silhouettes into the layout and making them integrated by using a window frame. I sketched the shape of the window, cut it out of some photocopy paper and this was the start of my layout.

I then copied the frame on to pages, length wise and to add a bit of interest around the outside of the frame, I ended up doing some stamping with a script stamp all the way around the edge. I then proceeded to add colour to the inside parts of the windows. The top section I wanted a full moon, night time scene so I used black and whire to get a haized effect. The middle set of windows I used shades of blue to create an ocean, water type of scenery and the last bottom two frames of the window, I went for more of a sunset vibe.

Once the background window colours were in place, I drew and cut some symbols for a template: two dogs, a dolphin, a bird and a human figure. I placed them on the window frames and traced around them. Then coloured them all black for the silhouette look. The last part was to paint the black window frame in, which brought the whole layout together.

I thoroughly enjoyed working in Roz's journal and I really love the outcome of my layout. If you wish to watch the whole process, I have included the video below. Thank you!

AAJS5: Janie's "Whimsical" Journal!

Hi Everyone

 

Today I am sharing my page in Janie's "Whimsical" journal and I have to say I just love this theme - right up my alley to create a fun page for this month!!!!
 

 

Firstly I have to say how much I love everyone's pages already created in this journal - they are fab - Janie you will love this when it finally makes it's way back to you!!

 

As usual I had an idea in my head of what I wanted my page to look like and so I grabbed all my "supplies" and got started!!

 

I didn't need to "prep" my page with Gesso - the pages are nice and thick and we are each working on one side of the page and folding it in half - I like this concept!!

 

Fist step was to adhere some printed and white tissue paper to the page background. I scrunched some of the white tissue to make a few lumps and bumps for texture!! I used gel medium to adhere the tissue to the page and allowed to dry.

 

Next I grabbed some acrylic paint, a water spritzer and a brayer.

 

I pup "blobs" of paint on the page, sprayed with water as I didn't want a thick coverage and brayered it to cover the page.

 

See the "shimmer" on the page - I added a "pearl" medium with the coloured paint - some more interest to the page!

 

As I just love texture I have added some modelling paste through a stencil randomly over the page for even more interest LOL!! I set this aside to dry.

 

Once the modelling paste dried I wanted to add more colour and depth so I have "coloured" the raised stencil areas with water soluble crayons using co-ordinating colours.

 

 

Spritzed with water and rubbed in to dissolve with my finger - just love the added dimension to the page by doing this simple step!!

 

 

In between all the layers drying I printed off my collage paper dolls and started cutting them out putting them together and making my "whimsical" characters!!

 

 

I will just give a "plug" for the totally fab Etsy Store I get most of my collage sheets from "Art Tea Life" - I have been buying for quite a few years and the owner is such a lovely lady - she always loves to see what I have been creating with her digital creations!!! So if you love collage pintable's pop to THE STORE and check out what she has!!!!

 

Now finally putting it all together - laying it out and gluing it all down plus adding some extra embellies like washi tape, cloth scraps, a feather and I added some cotton to the buttons on the tall gal! I know it's a "busy" page but I love a lot of texture colour and "happenings" and to me "whimsy" is a little bit mad and chaotic!!!

 

 

And just before I finish this post - Janie also has an index card for each of us to write a little bit on - here is mine - of course I had to decorate it completely LOL!!!!

 

Front:

 

Back:

 

I really hope Janie likes what I have done!!

 

Sharon