ATCoin Swap At StencilClub

 Hi everyone, I just participated in an ATCoin swap for our StencilGirl Products StencilClub Facebook group.  My partner received the coins that I made yesterday so I can share them with you now.  We were to create 3 ATCoins with the themes of angst, reflection and serenity.  (ATCoins, if you are not familiar, are similar to ATCs - Artist Trading Cards - but are circular with a diameter of 2 1/2").  Here are the coins I created with StencilGirl Products stencils (some StencilClub stencils and some that I already had in my stash from StencilGirl Products).

I also made a little origami fold booklet to keep them in from some gel print papers.

 And since the booklet had 4 pockets, I made an extra ATCoin to fill it up.  It was on a slightly Halloweenish theme but since I didn't know my swap partners preferences I didn't go too overboard!

 Here are closeups of the three themed ATCoins, the first is angst which gave me angst because I couldn't figure out what to do for it!  Finally I decided to add numbers representing the things that are causing me angst these days, putting them in the crosshairs as it were.

The Reflection ATCoin came easily as one of the August StencilClub stencils has this lovely profile on it and it seemed perfect for the theme.  I photocopied some dictionary paper, flipping one copy, and stenciled the profiles onto each side, trying to keep them even.  The word reflection was then flipped as well on the computer to finish it off.

 And finally, the Serenity ATCoin.  Nature is my place of refuge and serenity so that became the basis for my design.

After putting my parcel together I decided that I couldn't send it naked through the mail so I stenciled some kraft butcher's paper with more StencilGirl stencils to pretty it up.

 Hope you've enjoyed seeing my ATCoins, I haven't received mine from my swap partner yet but hope they will be here soon so I can share them with you.  Thanks as always for stopping by today and happy creating,

Deb xo

Always Be A Dreamer Mixed Media Plaque For Therm O Web

 Hi everyone, popping in to let you know that I have a tutorial over on Therm O Web's blog today, it's Glitz Week so we are all using Glitz Glitter Gels in our projects.

I chose to us Gina K. Designs White Glitz Glitter Gel on my background and stenciled it through that wonderful Zen Dragonfly stencil from Southern Ridge Trading Company.

I also incorporated some of Therm O Web's newly released Fairytale irridescent foils on my Detailed Butterflies die cuts.

Pop on over to Therm O Web's blog for the how to, hope to see you there!

Deb xo

Under The Water Shadow Box For Therm O Web

Hi everyone, popping in to let you know that I have a tutorial over on Therm O Web's blog today for a little mixed media shadow box.  It's 'Under The Water' week on their blog so I made my shadow box with an 'under the sea' theme.

When I first heard of this week's theme, my thoughts immediately went to StencilGirl Products 'Water's Edge' stencil (S676) designed by Mary C. Nasser and Therm O Web's Watercolor series of Deco Foils.  And then I remembered I had a bunch of wonderful ocean themed chipboard from Southern Ridge Trading Company in my stash and the rest, as they say, is history!

That fab ocotopus is a charm from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies and the art stones and shells came from Emerald Creek as well.  The 'seaweed' is Deco Foil Flock die cut with Sizzix's Garden Greens die.

The chipboard anchor was embossed with Hammered Metal embossing powder and I foiled the seahorses with Rainbow Shattered Glass Deco Foil ... I know seahorses aren't really that colour but I love that Rainbow foil!  I also flocked some chipboard 'seaweed' pieces and hand lettered the sentiment to finish it off.

 

 

Hope you can pop by Therm O Web's blog for my how to, see you there!

 

 

Deb xo

Floral Concertina Book Side Two and Flip Through Video

Hi everyone, I've finished the second side of the floral concertina book that I shared with you a few days ago (click here to see that post), I made this little journal after taking a class with Joanne Sharpe over on Ruzuku: https://app.ruzuku.com/courses/47754/about.

I also made a quick flip through video, you can view it on YouTube by clicking here or I also have it embedded in this post down at the bottom. I even did a little voice over at the beginning, scary stuff!!

Here are a few pictures of the finished pages and covers from the second side of the book, that's the front cover pictured above.

First page, the rose on the right flips over.

Second page, think I shared this one on social media a little while ago?

Page three, the green booklet on the right (grow, thrive, bloom) was one I made in Joanne's Art Sparks 1 course (she is doing a series of 'Art Sparks' during the pandemic) and I sewed it in with a pamphlet stitch. Still a work in progress :O)

Page four.

And finally the back cover (or is it the front cover for the other side of the book?! :OD )

Here's the flip through video:

Hope that you've enjoyed seeing it, I had a lot of fun making it and am eagerly waiting for Art Sparks 3 to start! Have a great week and happy creating,

Deb xo

Concertina Book WIP

Hi everyone, I wanted to share a concertina book with you that I'm making in Joanne Sharpe's "Art Sparks 2: Color. Collage. Concertina." class over on Ruzuku.com.  It is too much fun; watercolour and acrylic paints, collage, lettering, doodling ... this class has it all!  I only have one side finished so far but am loving the results.  My theme is flowers :O)

Page one is the inside of the front cover, I added a little pocket to tuck my watercoloured posies into.

Page two.

Page 3, the large flower flips open to reveal more flowers behind with a spot for journaling on the back of the big flower.

Page four, the half sunflower on the right side flips open as well.

Page five.

And finally page six, which is the inside of the back cover.  I adore how that big bold flower came out!

So now on to the other side of the concertina book pages and the covers, I'll be back to share it with you once it's completed and hope to get a flip through of the completed book filmed for you as well.  I would highly recommend Joanne's class, lots of fun and it is a very, very reasonable price and part of a series of classes that she is doing during the pandemic.  Hope to maybe see you over there and thanks so much for stopping by,

Deb xo

The Earth Laughs In Flowers Watercolour Tag For A Vintage Journey

Hello everyone, it's the fifth Friday of the month so that means it's time for another Tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey.  In every month with five Fridays, the Creative Guides get to design a tag in any style that they'd like and for July's Tag Friday I decided to create a watercolour tag in keeping with this month's challenge theme of Watercolour Wonders (psssst, you have until Thursday August 6th to enter our Watercolour Wonders challenge).

I started our with a piece of 120 lb cold press watercolour paper and added some embossed elements (Distress Damask stamp with white embossing powder and AAll & Create #10 stamp with clear embossing powder).

I then added washes of watercolour paint in shades of blue and green, adding clear water to allow the paint colours to run and blend into each other.  Love how the watercolour pools around and into the embossed areas!

A #10 size tag was cut from the watercolour paper after the paint had dried and I added some spatters of watercolour paint here and there to the tag.

To add more interest to the background I stamped some dots with embossing ink and brushed Perfect Pearls over top here and there.

And then to add some more texture I stenciled Opaque Matte Texture paste onto the tag through a piece of sequin waste.

While the texture paste dried I stamped flowers onto a piece of Mixed Media Heavystock with embossing ink and embossed them with a fine line white embossing powder.  I then watercoloured the embossed flowers with Spun Sugar Distress Ink and a waterbrush.

The watercoloured flowers were then die cut with the accompanying dies.  I used a technique I learned from Jennifer McGuire to die cut the stamped flowers; cut the dies from pieces of scrap cardstock and then position the appropriate die cut template over your stamped image, lining it up perfectly through the opening.  Tape it into place and then fit the die inside the template (it clicks in kind of like a puzzle piece) and then die cut the whole assembly.  Perfectly die cut stamped images every time!  I just keep my die cut templates in the pouch with the dies for easy access each time I need them.

The sentiment was added onto the tag, backed with a piece of silver Metallic Kraftstock.  I just printed the sentiment out on the computer but you could also hand letter or stamp it.

The die cut flowers were arranged onto the tag and popped up on some white foam squares.

A couple of pieces of ink stained ribbon were added to the top of the tag and held in place with a piece of curled silver wire and the tag was done.  Here are some closeups of the finished tag.

I hope that you've enjoyed seeing how my watercolour tag came together.  If you have made any tags in the month of July, we'd love to see them.  Just head on over to A Vintage Journey to link them up and be sure to take a peek at the tags that the other Creative Guides made to inspire you while you are there!

Thanks as always for stopping by today and happy creating,

Deb xo

A To Z Of Inspirational Words Art Journal - A Collaboration Challenge With Tina Walker And StencilGirl Products

Hello everyone, I am so excited to share an art journal with you today that I've been working on for months in collaboration with Tina Walker of A Dog's Life and StencilGirl Products.

Way back in January Tina posted a call for folks interested in working on one of her amazing StencilGirl Talk collaborative projects and I was thrilled to be able to join in the fun.  The premise was to create 26 art journal pages, each based on a letter of the alphabet, using StencilGirl Products stencils exclusively.  We could choose any theme that we wanted for our A To Z art journals but each participant had to choose a different theme so make sure to visit the StencilGirl Talk's blog post  to see what everyone created!

I chose inspirational words as my theme and have had so much fun creating it over the last few months, it's been a labour of love.  I made a flip through video of the entire art journal which you can watch on YouTube or you can also watch it here on my blog at the bottom of this post.  I've also made an itemized list of all of the StencilGirl Products stencils that I used in my art journal, you can download the .pdf from Dropbox by clicking here.  I used 44 different stencils in all!

Here are a few pictures of some of my favourite pages.

A is for Ascend.

This was the first page that I created (I didn't necessarily go in alphabetical order) and it's definitely one of my favourites.  I used multiple stencils on this page: Open Buildings (S191), Union Small (S196), Rembrandt Words Small (S262), Alpha Drips (S435), Beautiful Halo (S543), Circles Circles (L301), Now Is The Time (L317) and Leafy Trees Arch (L634).  Love, love, love all the layers!

F is for Fearless.

By contrast I only used three stencils on this page but that amazing face stencil (Create Face S646) is so beautiful and powerful that not much more was needed.  Rembrandt Words Small (S262) and Celtic Alphabet Stencil (L765) were the only other stencils used along with some asemic writing.

N is for Nurture.

Nature is where I feel nurtured so that wonderful owl stencil (Three Owls And A Branch L298) was a natural choice for this page along with the Nature's Gathering Stencil (L293) and a wee soupcon of Circles Circles (L301) along with some Wildflower Stems die cuts.

Q is for Quiet.

 As soon as I saw Rae Missigmam's new Botanical stencil and mask collection I was in love and new I had to use them on this page.  Nothing fancy here, I just let those beautiful delicate stencils speak for themselves; I used Botanical Wildflowers L774 along with the Celtic Alphabet stencil L765.

S is for Simplify.

Sometimes simple is good!  Just one stencil was used here, Carved Moon Phases (S498), I stenciled the background repeatedly with several shades of orange/red/purple and then sprayed through the stencil onto a separate sheet of watercolour paper and cut out the individual 'moon phases' to make my flowers.

Hope you've enjoyed seeing some of my favourite pages and if you'd like to see them all you can watch the flip through video below.

Thanks so much to Tina Walker for asking me to be a part of her A To Z StencilGirl Art Journal collaboration challenge and also to StencilGirl Products for making all of those fabulous stencils!  Be sure to visit StencilGirl Talk's blog to see all of the amazing journals created for this collaboration, you are going to love it.  Have a wonderful day everyone and happy creating,

Deb xo