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