Stand Side By Side ...

What a fabulous image!! 

When I saw it, it jumped out at me and I just LOVED it!!

Viva Las Vegas Stamps are our sponsor at Gingersnap Creations for all of September and this is one of their stamps.  This week it is a colour theme so no prizes for guessing the palette ... Blue, Turquoise and Purple.  I love those colours in combination so this was always going to be fun.

I built the background up with alcohol inks (which I am getting to love more and more) and then used acrylics with stencils and stamps.

Confession time comes next ... I intended to stamp my image in a very pale area I had built up and which I had blended to a perfect fade.  Disaster stuck however when my stamped image turned out imperfect :(   Well, it happens - so plan B swung into action and it all turned out good in the end.

If these colours appeal to you then why not put them together and join in the challenge - how you use them is up to you and we always love to see what everyone comes up with!

xx

Every Fish has an End!

I've created this for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge CFC21:  Create a Clean And Simple project using at least 3 shades of a monochromatic color (your choice) PLUS Brown. 

I haven't taken part in their challenges before but they are being sponsored by Stampotique and so I came across them from the Stampotique Designers Blog whose challenge I entered earlier today.


There is a tale to tell about this layout ... and it's a fishy one at that!


I was finishing up supper with the children when one of my boys started to recite some querky sayings/proverbs that he had obviously picked up today at school.  In the spirit of the conversation, I came out with a couple of quotes about crowns and life (taken directly from Stampotique).  His twin brother, not wishing to be outdone, and always one to think laterally said "Every Fish has an End!"  I just loved it.  Profound and Stupid at the same time so I decided to make it my page theme.


I used watercolours for the background and then acrylics for the bubbles, circles and shell.  I coloured the old music score with watercolours and pastels.


The fish are by Art Journey (so love them!) and they are also coloured with watercolours.

The journalling is created with an oil based paint marker but do NOT get me started on how much I loathe this pen.  I only bought it yesterday and it has given me nothing but trouble so I am seriously unimpressed with it's performance.  Back to the store tomorrow ...


I used pastels to create shadows - love pastels as they are just SO forgiving and easy to work with.


Hope you like it and hope CAS-ual Fridays do too.  Off to set this one live on the blog so about to find out either way ...

Thanks for looking.  Take Care and Be Artful x

The Owl & the Pussy Cat ...

I decided to join the fun at the Stampotique Designers Challenge and this week is SDC38: Black, White and a HINT of color.

It is a free choice week so I didn't have to use Stampotique stamps but as they are so lovely, it's always a pleasure to use them.

I decided to reverse out my colours rather than go from white.  I used black gesso to create my background and then used a combination of white staz-on and interference paint in polar white to stamp my images.

It's hard to see on the photo but the toadstools and moon have a lovely sheen from the interference colours which work really well on dark backgrounds.

So, I shall post this on the challenge page and hope it gets a good response!

Have a great day and be artful in whatever you do ... x

Life

I just adore these  new stamps by Dylusions and I've used Dolally Doris for my new page.  There are quite a few ladies in the range so the more you own (wishful thinking!!) the more you can interchange them. 

I'm really enjoying my new art journalling journey and playing with various mediums to see how they work together.  The possibilities are so endless and I love getting messy with them all!!

I downloaded the border images from Tumblefish Studios and arranged them around the edge before doodling around the page.  I bought the birdcage peel-off during a recent trip to a craft shop and whilst I'm not a peel-off fan, I thought these were really cute.  I also got a sheet of brown owls, so they will be featuring soon in my work.

Thanks for looking ... take care  x

Shared Moments

We are very lucky this month at Gingersnap Creations to be sponsored by Viva Las Vegas Stamps.  They have probably the biggest range of stamps I have every come across and the image quality is absolutely second to none.

I couldn't resist this fabulous stamp of the gals on the beach for our challenge this week which is 'Shared Moments'.

I started with the stamped image and worked the page back from there.  The colour choice was driven by the beachy theme.  I used acrylic paints for the background and stencils and other household items to create my textures.

The border papers and bunting background are from Deviant Scrap.

The bunting is from a stamp set by Pink Persimmon.

I used my new pink typewriter (which always makes me smile!)  to create by journalling.

Hope you feel inspired to join the challenge and give us your take on your shared moments ...  x

 

Anybody there?

So I came up with the idea of using Gog Lin - the little goblin stamp which the children bought for me for Mother's Day earlier this year.

I decided to put him under a sea of large blooms which hopefully will appeal to my son's quirky sense of humour (I hope!)

I created the background on a piece of Tim Holtz paper which looked like an old ledger.  I wanted some of the text to still be visible to create a bit more interest so I used a large dry pastry brush (!) with very little paint and brushed the colours out very thinly.  I find pastry brushes great for certain techniques and they are really inexpensive to buy (especially compared to paint brushes). 

The title was stamped using an alphabet by Darkroom Door over which I stamped some script.  I used 3D silicone glue for my little man and my title. 

So that's the final card done ... just the cake to make and all the pressies to wrap -  and whoever thought triplets were going to be easy?!!!!!  xx

Birthday Greetings From Under the Sea

I love these mermaid stamps ... except for the cutting out part!  

This is my daughter's birthday card which I created using alcohol inks for the watery background.  I put a pearl layer over it which doesn't really show up in the photo but gives it a lovely sheen in real life.  I used acrylic paints and a stencil and bottle lids to create the circles.

The stamps for the top and bottom borders are also Stampotique.

So, that's two cards made and just one to go!  At the moment, I haven't got any ideas for the last one so better get my thinking cap on and quickly!!

x

Rainbow Birds

I recently bought the Stampotique 'Strut Your Stuff' stamp.  One of my sons fell in love with it so I decided to give it it's first outing on his birthday card.  I love their stamps as they always give such a strong clear result and so my birds are strutting decisively across his card!!

I had an idea to give them all large rainbow plumes using alcohol ink which, after a few trial runs, turned out well.  I think they look like Indian Chiefs now which will make him laugh!

Hope you are all having a crafty time - the rain here in Dorset is fairly constant today so apart from stopping to feed my hungry monsters, I'm planning to craft all day - Yippee!  x

Eat Cake

So here we go with a new week and a new challenge ...  and this week over at Gingersnap Creations the theme is Crimpers.

I used corrugated card to cut my cupcake case which is really similar to those beautiful cases we all buy to fill and decorate when we get time to bake (which is not as often as I'd like).

This is my first art journal page and I really enjoyed playing.

I'm just getting into journalling although my creative time is very limited so progress is SLOW!  

Why not see what ideas you can think of to join in the crimping challenge - it will get your creative muse fired up!!  

x