My spread in Robyn's Journal

I was at a loss with this topic as I don't remember having any fantasies as a kid. So I looked through my collections of images to find some inspiration. I found a Digital spread that I had done in the last couple of years and decided to print it out and cut it up. I had already done the background.

This is the background done with tissue paper and inks. I tried spraying through a stencil with homemade spray ink and it didn't work so I just blotted it as best I could.

This is the digi that I cut up.




This is the final spread in Robyn's journal.I added a few extra butterflies and flowers, did some outlining and shading and also cut out an extra Fairy Ballerina and glued her on top of the other one for extra dimension. I also added some glitter glue and fibres.

Stuff n Nonsense

The theme says it all really ... Stuff & Nonsense - basically, create whatever you want that makes you smile. I'm inspired by so many crazy nutty things ... Alice in Wonderland (Mad Hatter, March Hare, Cheshire Cat), Terry Pratchett, Dr Seuss, AA Milne, CJ Dennis, Enid Blyton and so many more. There are so many amazing silly inspirational people in our world :)

I started months ago with the cover. I've used Stonehenge thick art paper (its feels like drawing paper but I'm sure it was labelled watercolour paper), taken off the spiral and threaded elastic through the holes. This way it should be able to be posted thinner enabling postage to be cheaper! Hopefully :)

I drew the lettering by hand and stuffed something up along the edge so gave it a solid black border. Looks ok after I added faux stitches :) The cover was sprayed a few days later with Dylusions ink sprays in Lemon Zest and Mushy Peas, splattered with London Blue and left to dry in the sun - 40C days have got to be useful for something!

I then used the Dylusions 'Its Raining Cats' stencil and splatted watered down white paint over the page.

After the cover I made the inside front page with the contract, order of artists and ideas. I used scrapbook paper and a Crazy Bird by Tim Holtz.

Back to the actual page, I scribbled out my tiny scribble bigger and started stamping.

Then I got colouring with Dylusions ink sprays...

Made such a mess of it, so got the paints and stencils to attempt to calm it down. Didn't work. To me, this page ended up being a total disaster so I left it, uncovered at first but had to hide it cos I really didn't like it!

Its what made this book late... so I continued stamping and colouring (then I got busy, as you do when working for yourself! lol). But then I had a brainwave (it happens sometimes)... and cut up the messy paper into tentacles, leaves, feathers (trees) and other bits and pieces. Yes, Mermaid Markers again <3

The snail is my own drawing and the houses on his shell are from Dylusions Dy-Cuts. They're the hair or hat of one of Dyan's girls. The fairy dog above is one of Tim Holtz's gorgeous nutty Crazy Dogs wearing a glittery collar, sparkly nose and handdrawn spotty wings.

Back to the background, I used Dylusions Ink Sprays in Postbox Red, Bubblegum Pink and White Linen... with a splash of Pomegranate Seed (cos it was looking so pink... didn't help though! lol).
I stencilled over it with Distress Oxide Ink (Fossilized Amber and Tattered Rose) with the blending tool using a "few" of my fave Tim Holtz stencils.

It started fading into the background so I sprayed the whole page with an aerosol fixative. Then I used White Linen Dylusions Paint with more stencils to liven up the page.

Talk about turnaround with liking things --- 40+ years of saying I don't like pink and this is what I create... and like! lol :)

Awwww.. Tim's dogs are just so totally adorable! The octopus flowers turned out pretty cool. I was almost going to put faces on the flowers :) Drew a few extra scribbly flowers and a dragonfly instead.

The snail is pretty happy :)

Its finished and has been tied into the book, already with Sharon for the first stop of its journey around Australia. Can't wait to see what you all create with this theme! Whatever you do... Have Fun!

Thanks for reading. Hope you like it too!

Have a happy creative week!
:)
Jenny

Lisa working in Roz's Art Nouveau Journal!

It's wonderful to start a new journal round!  All of the themes that our participants have chosen are really interesting, and for once, I'm thinking in advance about what I shall do in these journals...!

I had to do some research on Art Nouveau when I received Roz's journal; I was always getting confused between Art Deco and Art Nouveau.  Probably still will, but I think Art Nouveau is more classical in style, and less geometric.  

One thing I discovered - I have always loved the art 'posters' of the late 1800s by Toulouse-Lautrec, but did not know they were Art Nouveau!  Gustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha were also prolific in this period.  Mucha's posters are just gorgeous, so I decided to do one in his style!  

I actually took a few progress pics while I was doing this page, so shall share them here!  

I gessoed my page and then drew a rough sketch of my girl, using old photos and Mucha's posters for inspiration.

Next I inked in all of my lines with my trusty Pitt pen.  I have a variety of sizes of these, and also love Uni Pin and Micron pens - they're all waterproof so great to use with watercolour.

And lastly I watercoloured my poster, trying to keep the colour palette similar to that which Mucha used!

Hope you like this Roz; I enjoyed coming up with my own version of an Art Nouveau poster!

Cheers, Lisa x

Colleen's page in Sharon's journal.

Sharon's Vintage Circus journal is so pretty, with pages that can be removed for working on.They are folded in half, so you work on both sides. 

After gessoing I started with some paint & stencils & then started adding collage pieces.

inside

outside

I loved all these images & had fun arranging them on both pages.

I outlined all the images with black pen & then added some stamping .

Hope you like it Sharon.

Janie O'Brien's creation in Louise's Gypsy Journal. I really enjoyed creating in Louise's journal and could have gone on for pages, finally restraining myself; lol.

Firstly I created my background by spraying through a stencil with Lindy's Starburst sprays in various warm colours.

A selection of images that I fussy cut to select from. Some I chose and some I discarded.

I finally started to stick them down using glue stick

This is the main page and the right hand side inner flap completed.

I got so carried away I continued on the back of Louise's page, on the left hand side of my main page. I so loved this gypsy poem by Ralph Hodgson, I just had to include it.

This is my main page finished.

The right-hand side flap closed over my main page

Entire journal pages with right hand flap open

This is my page I did for Pam's Words of wisdom journal tried to capture the rain falling.She looked a bit lonely by herself so I added the cute little dog I hope I did this blog thing right Hugs Robyn

Paper Napkins with Pam.

It was a great pleasure to receive Colleen's lovely art journal and my first for Round 6.  Colleen's theme is Paper Napkins and she has used them brilliantly.

I began with a painted acrylic background and then did some reverse stencil work. I then added some stamping and did some toilet rolls daisies as well. Of course I have no photos of this stage. I then attached my napkins to cartridge paper and fussy cut them.

This was trying out my layout.

I proceeded to stick my pieces down and chose to embellish the with gelatos along the edges of the roses and also the butterflies and dragon flies.

Here is my finished spread.  I do hope Colleen likes it.

Added a subtle border.

Just you and me and a cup of tea.

My first journal to play in, in Round 6 is our fabulous Lisa Jones's Music and Lyrics. Lisa is such a gorgeous artist and one of the things I admire is her incredible tea bag art! So I was always going to do something with tea bags in this journal.

I had to find a song that had tea in it and what could be more iconic than "A home among the gum trees".

I painted my page with tea and used some inktense for the green leaves, the plums and the dark browns.  Tea bags are collaged onto the trees and the house.

I was quietly chuckling when I saw Joans dot to dot this month  on AASG is all about tea bags!

Lisa playing in Janie's Simply Whimsical Journal

I'm on a roll here!  

Janie had a spare page in her Round 5 journal and kindly sent it down to me to play in.

I really like the way Janie has bound the journal; each page is A4 landscape and meant to be folded into the journal, creating a nice chunky book!  

It's full of great pages full of whimsy, and straight away I had an idea of what I would do.

As usual, I didn't take progress pics.  So here tis, my whimsical garden with cats!

Hope you like it Janie!  I'll post it back on Tuesday. 😊

Cheers, Lisa

Round 6 - ART NOUVEAU

My journal has 3 signatures and is A5 size. I made the cover by recycling some cardboard and covering it with napkins, tissue paper and  50/50 diluted PVA. Below is the journal and the inside back and front.

I also used Archival ink pads.

I added the title and a picture that I had saved to my PC.

I printed the contract on paper that I had adhered a napkin to. My first page has a pic from the Graphics Fairy and some rosette trim that I thought suited the page. I left the image B/W as I couldn't decide whether to colour it or not!! The background is gesso and archival ink.

I put the mailing order on the inside back cover and did the opposite page with a collage of napkin paper and embossed card with some cloth strips and fibers. Used up some washi tape around the names.

My main spread is below and I'm not sure that I like the metal pieces that I added to it?? something is not quite right to my eye!! I used 2 different napkins and added some stamping and highlighting etc with watercolour crayons. Also added some sponged ink here and there.

Lisa playing in Jenny's Tales of Bros. Grimm!

When Jenny got her Round 5 Brothers Grimm journal home, she had a spare page, so kindly sent it to me to have a play in!

The journal is gorgeous and choc full of deliciousness.  Such fun!

I'd never really thought before about who wrote fairy tales, so it was quite interesting doing some research!  I read stacks of Brothers Grimm tales.  Most were gruesome, many were very strange, some seemed to make no point at all.  

The tale I chose was called the Devil with the 3 Golden Hairs.  I don't recall reading this before, but some of the details did ring a bell.  I guess these tales are so old that there are many different versions of them!  

So here is the abridged version of this tale:  A boy is fated to wed the Princess, but the King is not happy and plots to have him killed.  While he is away from the kingdom, his letter is intercepted and instead of being killed the boy and the Princess are wed!  The King returns and is not happy.  He tells the boy that he must go on a quest to get 3 golden hairs from the head of the devil.  On his journey he goes through a village where the fountain is dry, another where the golden apple tree is dying, and is ferried by a ferryman who hates his job.  Eventually he gets to hell and the devil's grandmother agrees to help him.  She changes him to an ant to hide in her skirt.  The devil came home and after eating his dinner was tired.  He lay his head in her lap and she plucked the hairs, pretending she was having a bad dream.  She tricks the devil into telling her that there was a toad under the fountain stopping the flow, a mouse was eating the roots of the dying tree, and the ferryman need only hand his oar to his next passenger to be freed.  Grandmother changes him back to a boy and he returns to the kingdom, helping the villagers with their problems.  He tricks the King into taking the ferryman's oar, and lives happily ever after!

Here's the scene where grandmother plucks the golden hairs from the sleeping devil.

And the whole double spread, where I've written the above story.

This has been painted primarily with Dylusions paints, and the little pics on the right are in watercolour and pen.

Hope you like it Jenny! 😀

Cheers, Lisa