Well who would've guessed journalling was so much fun!

Recently I had a really good day out in London with Darcy, Emma and Alison looking round art shops,eating and walking round Soho and Bloomsbury with my trusty phone map.

One of the shops we visited was Cass Art in Islington (oooh its posh round there) and Darcy persuaded me that I needed to try the paper in these art journals from Seawhite. The killer statement was "they can really handle water"  So two ended up in my shopping bag along with many other things.

The statement was true and boy am I loving it just to splosh paint around and make backgrounds on the pages, some I finish off, some I don't.  At the moment its nice just to splosh and splash.

I haven't painted the cover yet as a) I thought I'd wait and do and the end as I knew I'd get paint all over it and b) I was too impatient to start sloshing paint around.

So this is a page I did finish using Emma's lovely new stamps and lots of the new PaperArtsy paints.

First I started off gessoing the page and then a layer of China.  I then did lots of flicking with watered down paints in Blueberry. Purple Rain and Chalk.

Over this I used the Lin Brown circles stencil in Smurf. Sanded this to help the circles blend into the background and on some of the larger circles used a toning coloured pencil.

Added some text stamping using  a PaperArtsy mini and Adirondack Light Cool Peri ink. Its very very subtle but adds another layer.

The next layer was Chartreuse paint in places added with a paint brush and them moved around with the brush lightly wetted with water.  As this paint is translucent it sort of sits on top of the page, but allows the China and everything else under the Chartreuse to come through. It looks a bit scary because you've added this greeny colour (well I got a bit oh no)the final layer of paint is watered down Chalk. Start with a little amount of paint (pea size) and add about a teaspoon of water.  Using a brush slosh it and dry.  Keep adding the ash layers until you feel happy that it has blended all the layers together.  I then added some more splats of the watered down Chalk

I knew I had a photo in my extensive photo collection of a battered street sign I saw in Peel in the Isle of Man on holiday last year and as this journal is about me embracing colour and especially bright colour I thought it was an apt sign to tell me to use my creative right side of the brain more.  The sign actually says no right turn but I covered that up with two of the stamps from EEG05.

I really wanted to use all the arrows on this plate to act as a background so I first added a light layer of Blue Oyster stamped an Ellen Vargo strip background in China and then stamped the arrows in black ink, rotating them around and masking of areas where I didn't want the stamps.  I then coloured in the arrows with pencils in toning colour's.  

I painted a scrap of card in China and then stamped the frame, added the photo and stuck the banner over the top.  The "journalling" is the who, what, where, when stamp and I just edged in white pen as well as the frame just to make them stand out. 

 I'm not too in love with my writing, its much better when I'm writing sentences etc. My Dad said he could never read my writing when I sent letters home from Uni, "looks lovely Joanna but I cant read it"  Mind you he had beautiful copperplate writing.  I used to love just looking at his letters and he could write really detailed descriptions on what my brothers were doing, the cats antics and the latest Archers saga.  

I'm about a quarter of the way through the journal, so there will be more pages to show using the delicious PaerArtsy paints - look out for more colour!

Hugs

Jo

xx

Pink Hearts using the new PaperArtsy Hot Picks stamps.

So this week has been a monumental week over at PaperArtsy with the release of the new paints and stamps from the PA talented family of designers (I don't think they all live in a big mansion and I don't think Leandra is Maria and Mark Captain Von Trapp, but hey, its an interesting idea).

Ive been lucky and have for the delight of playing with some of the new paint colours, Emma Godfrey's new stamps and the new Hot Picks and boy have they given me ideas.  So over the next few weeks you'll be seeing me use these new products to give you ideas of what you can do with them.

So today Hot Picks range.If you haven't seen nip on over tho the PaperArtsy blog to see the full range or watch the video!
  

 There is a lot of stamps on all the sheet, so I decided to use the whole of HPXTO6 as a background stamp.

In my new A4 art journal (thanks Darcy, the paper is good).  I created a border using washi tape. I then brayered Prawn from the new JOFY range of paints, Rose and finally Candy Floss.  I then stamped the Ink and the Dog Backgrounds Plate 5 in Archival Blue Violet Ink.

Once this had dried I stencilled a swirly design with Prawn and gave the whole page a wash of Sherbet, just to soften it. 

I finally inked up the whole sheet of HPXT06 with Claret, turned the sheet over and stamped on the page.  I love how it gives a billboard / destinations style of background.  Once I'd dried this I gave it a light sand. With Black Soot Distress Ink I lightly went round the edges and carefully (well tried too)  pulled the washi tape off. I went round the edge of the pink panel with a pencil just to add some shading and make the panel pop.

The hearts were cut from Kraft card that had some of the natural tissue paper PaperArtsy had (id forgotten I had it).  I scrunched it up then glued to the card and painted with Prawn and Candy Floss.  Stamped over in Sepia Archival with Backgrounds Plate 3 and cut out large and small hearts. On the 3 small hearts I stamped yesterday, today and tomorrow from HPXT09.

All the Hot Picks have great versatility both individually and as a whole plate, The trouble I'll have now is splitting up the plate from HPXT06  as I love it so much as one big plate - special request Maria and Captain Von Trapp, can I have a special stamping of the words in one big plate just for me?

Hugs
Jo

Fragile Papers II or how not to deface a library book!

So I had some bits and bob left over from my first fragile papers so made a second page in my art journal!

I used the date label from the book, a scrap of the handmade coloured paper, a small tag stamped with my favourite Sara Naumann journaling stamps, little bit of scrunched up Crunchy wax paper and the copyright statement from the book.  

I thought this paparagraph was quite apt as it says what you can and can't do legally with a book. I think what I've done with it could be interpreted as against copyright if you look closely at the definition!

There are even a few more bits and bobs left so I might make an ATC with the little bits still left.  

Waste not want not!

Fragile Papers

The theme this week over at PaperArtsy is fragile papers, all that texture, all that age, all that yumminess.

Its is fair to say I have quite a bit of fragile paper knocking around in the craft room at Chez Myhill (ask my husband and he'll say there is quite a lot of other stuff knocking around in the craft room as well), so this should be relatively easy.

And do you know what, for once it was, no angst ridden: is this working, I'm not sure, go way and think about it for a bit.  No it was wham bam, paint, dry, distress, staple stick!

I started off with a manila tag and added a coat of Cinnamon fresco paint.  A layer of crackle and then Dolly Mix on top with a paint brush to get thinnish cracks.   In Magenta Hue Archival Ink I stamped the text ( I think its upside down!) from Hot Picks 1304 all over. Flicked watered down Cinnamon and Eggplant mixed with Amethyst over it for age spots and finally edged in Vintage Photo Distress Ink after scuffing and roughing up the edges.

For the focal point I've built up layers of fragile paper starting on the top with some handmade paper that my Mum had used in her art course eons ago.  Part of her final year show was themed around family history and this scrap of paper had the marriage year of her parents George and Daisy on it.  Carefully painted the reverse with Amethyst and Eggplant ripped it apart and stapled it back togetther again.

The middle layer is some Crunchy wax paper that has been scrunched and torn.

The bottom layer is an old book page with an accession stamp on it from a discarded poetry book from my library.  

To finish off some ripped cotton, a chipboard flower, button and ribbon. I then glued onto a piece of corrugated card and then stuck in my spare paint art journal (basically any spare paint on the brush or cut and dry I just open a page in the book and paint it on).

Hugs

Jo

xx

Raspberry Ripple

It may be the new year, but winter is definitely stating its arrival.  Its white here this morning not from snow, but frost and fog. I think when Ive written this post I need to go for a walk in he woods and crunch around the firs (anything to avoid the ironing)

In winter I tend to turn my hands to more textile stuff, yarn and fabric.  This Christmas break I've finished my Mums granny square blanket, completed my patchwork lap quilt (for goodness sakes don't look at the stitching, I haven't machine quilted in ages and we have some right wonky lines) re-edged a crochet square lap quilt that was annoying me and started and finished this in the space of three days.

Oh this makes me happy, the colour, the texture (chunky knobbly aran yarn) and the fact that I made the pattern up with alternate rows of double and treble stitches using a largish crochet hook.I got the inspiration from one of my favourite bloggers Lucy from Attic24 especially her recent cosy strip blanket.

Sitting in front of the TV, catching up on the whole of Downton Abbey and Scott and Bailey wrapping yarn round a hook, pulling it through loops and watching the scarf (well to be honest its more of a wrap because its so long) grow was, well a good way to spend a couple of days.

Hugs

Jo

xx

365 and counting ...

New Year, umm, we do set ourselves up for a monumental fall sometimes don't we?  Make all these promises, think that a a new year will make all the difference. We'll be fitter, stronger, thinner, healthy, nice, free, less grumpy, calm, content, wealthy ... the list is endless. And we set ourselves these ridiculous goals like: I'll go the gym everyday, I 'll say no to chocolate and biscuits, I wont be grumpy or mardy (add in your own, feel free).

And then we fail, or we think we fail, because we had a biscuit or two, said yes to the chocolate offered to us at work, didn't go to the gym because we just didn't feel like it. 

But you know what we didn't fail, we just dipped for that day and tomorrow is a new day, may not be a new year, but its a new day, a new day to try a bit harder to live the life you want to lead.

And what life do I want to lead this year and beyond?

Well to be happier, to smile more, to laugh more, to recognise my strengths and not compare myself to others quite so much. To be lighter and brighter, less burdened by stuff and things.  To accept that I don't have XYZ, but I do have ABC and that's good,because for some in our world, in our neighbourhoods, in our friends and families, they don't have A right the way through to Z and we never know wht life might chuck at us.

So on this dark and gloomy January 1st 2015 here in the UK I bring you this, a speck of light shining bright amidst the dark. A beacon, a talisman, a reminder to smile and be thankful for the life I do have not the life I thought I wanted or expected to have.

Hugs

Jo

xx

Merry Christmas

I made this simple wreath for my front door from a vine wreath purchased from a UK national hobby emporium. I dry brushed some Nougat Fresco on it, sprayed some Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Mist.

The fir cones were hot glued to string and the tips pained in Nougat.  These were tied to the wreath, a knot of brown raffia added and finally some gorgeous green checked ribbon in a bow.

Simple but oh so me!

Merry Christmas blogger friends.

Jo

xx