Wanderlust 2016 - January Challenge piece

DecoArt Challenge Piece

I am so thrilled to be part of Wanderlust 2016 - it is only four weeks in, and already I am learning so much about mixed media and art journalling in general.  More importantly though, I'm also learning about myself in the process.  I will also say that today's work has been inspired by another lovely lady taking part in Wanderlust ~ her name is Dee, and her seeming fearlessness has inspired me to get into it this afternoon...  Thanks Dee!

The first challenge for the year is being sponsored by DecoArt, and there is an amazing array of goodies on offer!  The prompt?

Sometimes what you're most afraid of doing is the very thing that will set you free!

Powerful, huh?  So I had to set about thinking what I was afraid of, and ways around it or through it, to achieve a level of freedom...

Well, other than spiders and needles (!), something in life that I am afraid of is being JUDGED...  ...and that judgement can come in all sorts of forms.  Relevant to my current journey through new forms of creativity is the fear of having my work be judged inadequate by current 'standards' of what is 'in' or 'pleasing' to the viewer.  So, it is a very large leap of faith to freedom that I take to post about this new creative passion of mine ~ art journalling (seemingly without a care in the world ~ yeah, right!).

As I'm learning more and more, I can already see improvements in the work I'm creating and this is a very positive thing for me.

Thanks for visiting!
Deb.xx

Colouring fun with Peachy Keen Stamps

More cards for Combat Cards Victoria

I've been in quite a 'colouring' kind of mood recently, and I'm also wanting to make more use of my collection of stamps.  So, I've decided to select a brand of stamps and make several cards from some favourite images that I can send along to Combat Cards Victoria to send to our troops overseas.  This time around, I'm using Peachy Keen Stamps.

This little guy is called 'Thinking of You Bear' and I've coloured the heart with watercolour paints and coloured the bear using Inktense pencils.  I've made four of him...

This little guy is called 'Get Well Bear', but I've decided to make him into a Mother's Day wish bear instead.  He's been watercoloured with Inktense Pencils. I've made four of him...

This awesome pot of flowers stamp is from the 'Spring Bouquet' set and has been coloured with Copics.  I chose not to put a sentiment on this one so it could be used as a generic card.  I've made four of these...

This little cutie is called 'Baby Monkey'.  I've coloured him with Polychromos Pencils and added a diecut "hello" and a stamp "BABY" plus some sprinkles.  I've made two in boys colours and two in girls colours...

My final card in this particular set includes a gorgeous stamp called 'Sleeping Teddy'.  She's been coloured with Polychromos Pencils with a watercolour wash background.  I've added a stamped "HELLO" and a diecut "baby" to this card.  I've made two in girls colours and two in boys colours.

So, this set for Combat Cards Victoria includes 20 cards that have all been hand-stamped and coloured in with various media.  Which brand of stamps do I choose next???

Thanks for visiting!
Deb.xx

More art journalling...

Dawn's early light...

The other night, I was watching an episode of "Sonic Highways", the rockumentary miniseries by The Foo Fighters.  For some reason, a clip from the introduction really struck a chord with me and I felt like creating an art journal page about it.  Here it is...

I wanted to use my soft pastels and fixative, as I hadn't used them before (one of my (many) recent purchases to complete Wanderlust 2016).  This is perhaps the most 'artsy' I've ever been before, and I must admit, I kind of liked it!!!

Thanks for visiting!
Deb.xx

My Wanderlust Book - page 1

SYMMETRY

So, Wanderlust 2016 has well and truly started, and the first video was amazing!  Full of so much awesome information and inspiration.

This spread is in response to the first prompt for my Wanderlust Book...  I immediately had two words spinning around in my head - "Balance" and "Symmetry" - both with the same sorts of meanings for me.  I chose "Symmetry" as I felt I could represent that better in art form...

I started out attempting to replicate the techniques being shown by our wonderful instructor, Kasia.  However, in following her physical work, I neglected to heed her verbal advice of doing what was comfortable for me.  So I'm not overly happy with this page, however I thought better of tearing it up - I wanted to be able to learn from this entire process, and take ownership of the whole experience, not just the parts I'm happy with...

Deb.xx

Pixels & Paper ~ January 2016 Challenge

LUV these girls!

Happy New Year!!!
WOW, can anyone believe it's already 2016?  Just where did 2015 go, that's what I'd like to know!!!  Anyway, the start of a new month, being January 2016 (!!) also means it's the start of a new challenge over at Pixels & Paper!  This month we have an awesome, colourful image to get your creative juices flowing...

Your criteria is to use paint in your piece, and of course, explain what inspiration you took from this fabulous photo!

For my own piece, I was taken with the idea of facepaint, and I knew I had a gorgeous photo of my daughter and her friend with facepainting on, from about 5 years ago.  That formed the basis of my layout for this month:

On a piece of heavy-weight white cardstock, I firstly applied a coat of gesso to prime the cardstock, and also to give it a bit of extra weight so it could handle a watercolouring technique.  Next I stencilled the Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 'Sunburst' using DecoArt Crackle Medium ~ two complete sunbursts, and one partial sunburst off the bottom edge of the page.

Once the Crackle Medium was dry , I then used my Koh-i-Nooh watercolour paints in pink and purple, brushes and water misting bottle to create the random splashes and runs of colour on the background, making sure the watercolour was able to run through the cracks of the Crackle Medium.

I stamped some IndigoBlu stitches onto white tissue paper with StazOn ink.  I also stamped some flowers from Stampin' Up! 'Bloom with Hope' set onto white tissue paper with StazOn ink.  I cut out these shapes roughly from the tissue paper.  With the flowers, I coloured in the middle of the flowers on the reverse side of the tissue paper using 'Calypso Coral' Stampin' Write Marker.  I then mod-podged these stamped pieces of tissue paper onto my background.

To add a little bit of sparkle to the layout, I went back with a Twinkling H2O in 'Coral Berry' and added some splatters and runs of colour randomly on the page.  I also used the Coral Berry to colour up some Kaisercraft White Paper Flowers.

I grabbed some chippie letters spelling out "LUV", sanded them off and re-coloured them using Liquitex Acrylic Ink, and used the leftover ink to colour up a piece of gauze.  I stuck the chippie letters down with Scrapdots and hand-wrote "these girls!" in black Liquitex Acrylic Ink and my nib pen.  I included some additional doodling around the title with different nibs and the black ink.

Finally I matted my colour photo on white cardstock, and my black and white photo on patterned purple paper to give each some distinction from the busyness of the background.  I used the piece of coloured gauze and the flowers to add a bit of dimension to the page between the photos.

Thanks for visiting this month - good luck to everyone who enters the challenge!

Cheers!
Deb.xx

I'm saying YES! to new adventures!

Having never really done art journalling before, you can certainly say that "I've got the bug"!  I've joined up as an Adventurer with Wanderlust 2016, a year-long (online) journey through mixed media and art journalling.  Already I've been inspired to let the rules go and just get more creative, and it's been incredibly liberating!!  Here is my second art journalling spread:

I came across the saying "I'm saying yes to new adventures" somewhere online on New Year's Day, and I thought it suited my fledgling art journalling career perfectly.  This is all a new creative adventure for me and I'm excited to embrace it.

When I thought of this saying, the beginnings of the Yellow Brick Road immediately came to mind.  I can remember watching Dorothy in the ruby slippers beginning at the inner point of the road as it spiraled outwards.  Eventually the road comes to a fork, and each path is a different and new adventure.  Thus the inspiration for this spread.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope everyone finds (or makes) the time to get a bit creative every day - it's good for the soul!

Cheers!
Deb.xx

Birthday Card fun with Penny Black and Inktense!

Happy New Year everyone! 

I've been busy creating some cards for Combat Cards Victoria today, using adorable Penny Black stamps, and colouring them in with Inktense pencils and blocks - so much fun!

I have made two of each design to send along to my local facilitator of Combat Cards in Victoria, so they can be sent to our amazing troops who are serving overseas.  Just a small way I can say 'thank you'.
Cheers!
Deb.xx