Round and Round it goes….

I am always checking out Paivi Eerola's blog (and follow her on twitter)

Peony and Parakeet.

The other day she put up an interesting challenge/exercise

to get creating.

As I LOVE her work and am always looking for new inspiration

I HAD to jump on it.

(also the fact that the first one features circles and I use circles all the time…

well fate ;) )

The exercise is this:
1) Pick a paper or a page of your art journal.
2) Draw freely a circle on a random area of the paper or the page.
3) Fill the circle with whatever you can think of: shapes, colors, anything.
4) Divide the paper by drawing a horizontal or vertical line.
5) Color each side of the line differently.
6) Imagine that the circle begins to leak or burst – how would you illustrate that?

This is how I interpreted the exercise.

I drew my circle and filled it in with book text.

Why? Why not?

I had some pages on my desk and if you look at what I do,

I frequently incorporate book pages into what I create.

Now add color…

First I pulled out my Gelatos and began coloring with them.

Initially I used a baby wipe to blend and then as I layered I went to my finger for blending.

Both will blend the Gelatos nicely, the baby wipe takes some color off though

so as I wanted deeper and deeper I left the wipe behind and used my finger.

Circles with Gold Gelato and a Crafters Workshop.

Then they were outlined with Liquitex Acrylic ink followed up with watered down Acrylic paint.

White watered down acrylic paint was also splashed on in spots.

My center circle.

Also colored with Gelatos plus some ink was rubbed through a number stencil.

There is a little bit of writing using more acrylic ink and my pen nib.

Round and round it goes, where it stops no one knows

I hadn't planned on writing but as life takes over and I feel like I am always 

running in circles, where just as I think something resolves it fires up again.

I had to write it down.

There is also some Dylusions mist through a Stencil Girl stencil.

More circles on my page.

Most are fading into the background, being painted, stamped and painted over some more.

My main circle…

It's me right now.

Round and round it goes.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day>

Sharing some ATCs today...

I'm doing an ATC swap with a couple of crafty friends this week 

and thought I'd share what I made.

In case you are unsure

ATCs are 

Artist Trading Cards

and measure 2.5 x 3.5 inches.

You can work on the horizontally or vertically (I prefer vertical)

and artists trade them all over the world.

These are going to the US, Canada & Australia.

How cool is it to know that something YOU create is traveling all over.

Anyhoo…

On to the art.

This one is created using an old book page as the base.

Gel Medium used to attached cheesecloth & then misted with Glimmer Mist.

The Kaisercraft Die Cuts were layered on over it.

This one also uses and old book page & cheesecloth.

Then Distress Paints were rubbed over the whole thing.

Some Washii tape added to corners, a vintage image,

and the words from a piece of Graphic 45 paper.

Last but not least my bird escaping his cage.

The background was from a background swap 

(I'll pretty much swap anything to get happy mail lol)

to it I added my bird cage colored with Silks Acrylic Glaze,

and my bird covered with a piece of patterned paper scrap.

Off to the Post Office I go.

Watch the mail Ladies :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Swirlydoos sketch challenge

So I am a subscribing to Swirlydoos kits.

Every month I get a box jam packed with all sorts of yummy crafting goodies.

Also in the box comes a sketch.

Every month it's different,

and I put them aside fully promising to come back and do it.

An then the month is gone and I never got around to it.

Well this month I managed to get around to it.

YAY

This is the sketch that came with the February kit

Lady Belle.

Here is my take on it.

I used a photo of the 2 oldest as the oldest was getting ready to go back to college.

They fight a lot but when it comes down to it they always have each other's backs.

Everything used comes from the February kit with the exception of the sheer fabric,

doily and Dylusions Black Marble mist.

After layering the Kaisercraft papers I pulled out some of the sheer fabric and machine stitched it to the page.

It brings just a touch of color to the background.

Dylusions misted heavy enough to drip.

The stamping is done with a Prima clear stamp

(this might be my new favorite stamp).

All the die cuts are from Kaisercraft.

The sketch also included flowers but once I had done my layering I was happy as is.

no flowers this time.

Make sure to head to the Swirlydoos forum and see the other takes on the sketch.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Challenge #2 at Craft Hoarders Anonymous…LET'S SEE THAT HOARD!

It's time for another challenge at 

Craft Hoarders Anonymous!

Challenge #2: Let's See that Hoard!

This is a Color Challenge with a twist. Pick the thing or things that you seem to hoard the most, and using the color scheme shown below, create a project that showcases your hoarded item or items. Do you hoard buttons, beads, ribbon, papers, stickers? Show your hoard, but only the items that match the color scheme!

 (Please note, you do not have to use all the colors in the photo, nor match the colors exactly. Just use the photo and the colors to inspire you to dig through your hoard.)

The prize for this challenge is from Shari Czerwinski, a Close to My Heart Rep. 

Her blog is:http://www.leadandlacegifts.blogspot.com/ 

The prize is valued at over $85 retail.

What do I hoard?

Everything lol,

But all joking aside I really really love my coloring mediums.

Inks, Mists, Paints and more,

if it can add color then I MUST have it.

Here is just a small sampling of my color hoard for this challenge.

Here is my layout I created.

Blues are probably my most favorite color to work with so this page came together easy peasy.

This is how I started to add the color to my base…

First several pieces of Pink Paislee paper from my hoard;

Misted with Frost Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels,

Silks Acrylic Glaze through a Stencil Girl stencil.

Blue Washii tape.

Stamping with a BoBunny stamp & Colorbox ink.

More stamping with a circle stamp that was painted with Lindy's Stamp Gang.

Here you can see some of the mist dripping, the stamped circles 

(Lindy's Stamp Gang Ocean Breeze Blue)

and some of the tape.

More stamping and stenciling,

the words were cut from a piece of Pink Paislee paper.

White Prima flowers were painted with Silver Bells 

Silks Acrylic Glaze.

Small pearls were added to the center and blue star brads were scattered about.

Supplies:

Paper by Pink Paislee

Tattered Angels and Lindy's Stamp Gang mist

Clearsnap and Prima Ink

Silks Acrylic Glaze

BoBunny and Blockheads Stamps

Washii Tape, Prima Flowers, Brads by Hampton Art

Make sure to check out what the rest of the design team has done for this challenge

                                 Amber Milone - http://pinkchicpaperdesign.blogspot.com/

      you are here----- Christy Butters - http://creatingwiththegirls.blogspot.com/

                                 Debbie Seyer - http://www.debbieseyer.com/

                                 Ginny Nemchak - http://pollyspaper.wordpress.com/

                                 Jan Marie Ennenga - http://re-creations4him.blogspot.com/

                                 Kathy Clement - http://www.kathybydesign.com/kathy-by-design-news/

and make sure to head HERE to link up your project for a chance to win this awesome prize

This challenge closes, Sunday, March 2nd, midnight PT

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

The Documented LIfe WEEK 9!

First:

How are we already at week 9?

The year is flying by if I do say so myself.

Anyway, It's time for another challenge for

The Documented Life project

This weeks challenge

February 22, 2014 Challenge (Week Nine) - Collage something you recycled.

Now I love collaging.

Not so good with doodling or drawing but I can easily collage the day away.

I wound up going fairly simple on this one though.

It didn't seem to need anything else.

Here is sort of step by step as I created.

This time I did it on a page outside of my journal and I glued it in.

Just how I felt like working today.

I started with used paper towels from my desk.

I keep them on hand as I use paints and mists and after they dry I like to incorporate them into my work.

This paper towel even had a little sat,ping already on it.

Separated the layers (there were 2) and tore them up.

Covered the base with the paper towels and gel medium 

(layer of medium under and over the towels).

Once the Gel Medium was dry I randomly stamped with a

Hampton Art script stamp and Archival ink.

(Archival ink works well on glossy surfaces giving crisp images and is permanent once dry).

Then some Silks Acrylic glaze through a Crafters Workshop stencil

to create circles.

Once the Silks circles were dry I used a fine tip paintbrush and outlined them with

Carbon Black Acrylic Ink by Liquitex.

I then used a white gel pen and added some circles inside the circles

 (you can see in the finished piece).

Another of my recycled items.

Last week was my daughter's birthday and for a present she received some bracelets.

Now the jewelry was pretty but what I really coveted was the bag they came in.

To my collage it will be added.

I also took an old scrap of a map piece and tore a heart out of it.

I wound up liking the piece I tore it from better than the heart so that was added as well.

Machine stitching around the edges or the page,

the heart and my birds.

Decouvrez le monde

Discover the world

This came from a paper bag that was acquired on a trip to Paris.

Perfect!

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I go about creating a page.

Make sure to check out the Documented Life both on Facebook and Flickr to see what others create.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

The Documented Life week 8

Time to share another piece done for 

The Documented Life project.

This week's challenge:

February 15, 2014  Challenge (Week Eight) - Add a flap to your flap.

I had been working on a upcoming tutorial for 

my mixed media post over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles

which will be available next week.

I was using tags as my demonstrating piece 

and KNEW 

that I wanted to incorporate one into this week's challenge.

The base page is dark colors representing the nasty Winter we have had,

with the tag being bright to represent Spring 

which I desperately want to come.

Here are some pictures to show the tag half opened,

then all the way stretched out.

The colors going from dark to light.

Here is the tag pulled down instead of lifted up.

The tag:

the colors on here were created using a variety of Distress Stains, 

Distress Inks, Dylusions Mists, Gesso,

 and Silks Acrylic Glaze

The stamping was all done using Archival ink.

Some of my circles were created using Silks through a Crafter's Workshop stencil,

then outlined with a silver paint pen.

(my white one decided to stop working ggrrrr)

On the back of my tag

I added a little note.

The fold out connecting the tag to the page.

I love how this acme out.

Distress Inks, Stains, Gesso, Silks Acrylic Glaze,

and Dylusions Mists.

The base page for winter.

This I used some really old Nick Bantock dye inks.

So old they were for the most part dried up.

Still by rubbing the ink directly onto the paper I could spread and blend the color 

with a baby wipe.

There is also Gesso, more Silks, Crafter's Workshop stencil,

Dylusions, stamping with Archival ink,

stamping with paint, Washii tape and 

Machine stitching.

just another closeup of the fold out connecting my tag and my base page.

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what I have created for this challenge.

If you wish to see what others are doing check out the Flickr page, the Facebook page

or search for 

#TheDocumentedLife on Instagram.

Have a great day!

Another challenge at Craft Hoarders Anonymous! LET'S SEE THAT HOARD

It's time for another challenge at 

Craft Hoarders Anonymous!

Challenge #2: Let's See that Hoard!

This is a Color Challenge with a twist. Pick the thing or things that you seem to hoard the most, and using the color scheme shown below, create a project that showcases your hoarded item or items. Do you hoard buttons, beads, ribbon, papers, stickers? Show your hoard, but only the items that match the color scheme!

 (Please note, you do not have to use all the colors in the photo, nor match the colors exactly. Just use the photo and the colors to inspire you to dig through your hoard.)

The prize for this challenge is from Shari Czerwinski, a Close to My Heart Rep. 

Her blog is:http://www.leadandlacegifts.blogspot.com/ 

The prize is valued at over $85 retail.

What do I hoard?

Everything lol,

But all joking aside I really really love my coloring mediums.

Inks, Mists, Paints and more,

if it can add color then I MUST have it.

Here is just a small sampling of my color hoard for this challenge.

Make sure to check back next week and see what I created for the challenge.

make sure to head HERE to link up your project for a chance to win this awesome prize

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Swirlydoos Round Robin

It's time for another layout done for a 

Round Robin

at 

Swirlydoos.

In case you don't know how it works,

week one someone shares a layout, the next week someone shares their take on it 

and so on and so on.

Kind of like the game of Telephone but with scrapbook layouts.

Here is mine for this week.

I am on Team 1 and followed Hanne & Cheryl.

The twist this month

Something warm. I don’t care what it is as long as it’s WARM!!!!!!!!!!

Laughing but I have to agree with our hostess.

I want warm!

I used the October 2013 kit from Swirlydoos

The Sweetest Thing

with BoBunny papers.

I also pulled in a piece of Pink Paislee & a piece of handmade paper.

My photo of warm is Venice. 

When we went it hit the upper 90s every single day.

I am missing 90 degree weather right about now...

I also did a little bit of random stamping with a Kaisercraft stamp.

My "warm" place.

Doilies and flowers layered under and around it.

Chipboard is from Dusty Attic  and painted with

Silks Acrylic Glaze

Some Tsukineko ink was also rubbed through a Crafter's Workshop stencil.

Make sure to check out the Round Robin thread to see how others create for their turn.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is February 14th 

aka

Valentine's Day.

In honor of it I thought I'd share a 12x12 mixed media canvas I did up recently as a gift for my Mom.

The base is a 12x12 stretched burlap canvas by Tim Holtz.

I added some scraps of patterned paper across it and then scraped Gesso over it all using an old credit card.

I scraped some Modeling Paste through a Crafter's Workshop stencil

and after it was dry misted with some Lindy's Stamp Gang mist in Buccaneer Bronze.

A doily was layered under the photo.

Some random stamping and Washii tape.

A Prima vine was cut apart and tucked here and there.

Chipboard was colored with Silks Acrylic Glaze and layered under the photo as well.

A shot showing the layers….

I hope that today wherever you are you are with your loved ones.

Thanks for stopping by and have an extra special day.