Craft Barn Q & L Challenge - Strong

Ooops - I'm sneaking in a bit late with this one!

Time for another challenge at The Craft Barn and this time I have chosen the word STRONG for my quote book.

I am trying to find quotes which are meaningful to me in some way or another, and this one spoke volumes...

"Even strong women need an arm to lean on now and again" J D Robb

I've gone right out of my comfort zone with this layout. As you probably know, I don't rate myself as any kind of an artist, so to put a face I've drawn on my project is a bit of a biggie for me.  I've been studying YouTube tutorials hard and I was inspired to paint this Whimsy Girl, and she seemed to fit the quote, so here she is...

 
Backgrounds are brought to you by Dylusions ink sprays in Bubblegum Pink, After Midnight and Vibrant Turquoise.

And Whimsy Girl II is brought to you by Caran D'ache Neocolor IIs and a few details added with Midnight Blue Cosmic Shimmer Mist.

I hope you like her.

Sssh - Pray Silence for The Craft Barn's Q&L Challenge

Hello and welcome fellow crafters!

Time for another entry into The Craft Barn's Quotes and Lyrics challenge. (Click on the link to get all the details). This time the prompt words are silence and dazzle.

You may be aware that I'm putting together an AJ style quote book with blank spaces on my pages so that I can collect more quotes as I go along. For this challenge I have chosen the word SILENCE and a beautiful and thought provoking quote by Ruth Fishel,

"I will take time to be alone today. 
I will take time to be quiet. 
In this silence I will listen... 
and I will hear my answers"

It is VERY unusual for me to use my own handwriting on ANY layout, but for some reason today I don't seem to hate it quite as much as usual, so it is making a VERY rare appearance!

This layout has been a bit of a love/hate project. I hated the background when I first painted it. It is two colours of blue acrylic over a VERY loud and busy floral tissue paper. The paints seemed to be really grungy and produce a miserable January-esque sky colour - topical, but NOT what I wanted!

A quick spritz with some London Blue Dylusions lifted things immediately and I could see that the layout had potential. Additional background layers came from an Indigo Blu circle dot background stamp, randomly stamped in black Archival and some texture paste layered through a dotty mask. I had hoped that the texture paste dots would remain white for some contrast, but as it dried it soaked up the colour from the underneath layers - oh well... A few splats of White Linen Dylusions completed the first "go" at the background.

The die cut clouds were inked with Faded Jeans DI and adhered to the page using  Scotch quick drying glue. I didn't use matte medium as the Dylusions are water reactive and would have "run". When the clouds were dry I went round the edges of them with a Faber Castell Big Brush marker and smudged the line to blend. This really anchored the clouds on the page. The title is made from Papermania Mini Alpha stickers (keeping up with my stash busting resolution!).

Next I die cut the birds - I was originally going to keep them white, but ended up colouring them black, and stuck them to the page - this time with a smear of matte medium on the back but not on the front.  They are birds but I think this layout has a bit of a look of a Battle of Britain skyscape about it - the tiniest birds could easily be confused with Spitfires!

Finally I went in with my Paper Artsy ink splatter stamp and randomly stamped with black Archival, making sure to get some splashes on the clouds to ground them on the layout. I used a Craft Stamper freebie grungy border stamp to partially frame the page.

Close up showing: grungy border stamp, ink splats, 

FC Big Brush blending and Faded Jeans DI inking

All in all I'm pretty pleased with this layout, especially as I really wasn't keen on it at first! Please do let me know you came - I'd love to see what you are up to.

Smile - it's The Craft Barn's Q & L Challenge

Hello again and welcome.

It's January - so it is time for a new challenge over at The Craft Barn.  This year it is the Quotes and Lyrics Challenge. Each fortnight the DT give a two word prompt and you have to find a quote or song lyric using either or both words and design a project using your chosen quote or lyric. If you want the full explanation go here. The current challenge words are "smile" and "up".

I've decided to make a quote book using a Daler Rowney hard-backed sketch book. My plan is to produce an Art Journal style book with my chosen quote on the left hand page and space to include additional quotes on the same theme on the right hand page.

For my first page I've chosen the word SMILE and this sweet little quote:

“There's enchantment in a smile, did you know?
Shall I prove in a wink that it is so?
Watch my mouth grin wide and see,
How quick your lips smile back at me!”

Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway

I just liked the reminder of how irresistible something as simple as a smile can be.

The background is made using a technique I've borrowed from Vicky Papaioannou (see her YouTube video here - LOVE HER!). I've used some VERY old Papermania 12x12 stack papers cut in to rectangles and randomly stuck all over the page to create the textured background, and then two colours of acrylic paint (NOW I wish I had TH Distress Paints!) over the top, blended with a baby wipe.

I used an orange Posca paint pen to emphasise the joins between the paper rectangles and a little bit of Vintage Photo DI here and there too. I've inked Wild Honey (or Rusty Hinge - sorry can't remember which) DI over a Kaisercraft Doily template and stamped flowers and a Cactus Annie text stamp in Espresso Archival ink to add some extra interest in the background.

Showing the texture of the paper rectangle background

The letters are American Crafts Rootbeer Float Thickers (had these for years too - I'm making a BIG effort to USE MY STASH this year!).

I made the library card pocket from the same Papermania paper as the background and gave it the same inky treatment. (I downloaded the template from Ruth Ann Zaroff at Mirkwood Designs - she has loads of great printable templates)

My plan is to collect additional quotes on tags and store them in the library pocket - the quote I have already is a Paper Artsy stamp (HPXT04).

Well that's it from me, leave me a message so I know you came and I'll come to see how you're playing along soon...

N is for ... Neige

Time for another entry for The Craft Barn's Dictionary Challenge. This time round it's letter N with no twist. So before we go any further I need to apologise to Izzy for playing fast and loose with my word choice.

As you know I'm using an old French-English dictionary and I'm using the French half of the dictionary for this challenge. I have chosen the word neige meaning... snow. My interpretation, as you can see below, is a snowman, which in French is really un bonhomme de neige, but I'm hoping that since my bonhomme is made from neige (OK if you're going to be picky - cereal box, acrylic paint and ink) Izzy will forgive me?

I have used Tim Holtz's Winter Wonder die, painted with white acrylic and inked with DI. The hat and carrot nose have been flocked and the seam binding stained with Fired Brick DS. The snow and snowflakes are heat embossed with Stampendous Winter Wonderland embossing powder.

I'm really quite fond of my jolly snowman :0)

L is for.... Lune

Oh my giddy aunt - squeezing in under the wire with this one!

The Craft Barn's Dictionary Challenge is letter L this time around - but with the twist of incorporating a window in to the design.

It took me ages to decide which L word I was going to use from my English-French dictionary, I finally plumped for lune meaning moon.

My happy man in the moon is a vintage image downloaded from The Graphics Fairy, the window is a Molly Blooms stamp with a Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe blind and Artemio stamps "wallpaper".

Thank you for visiting.

J is for... Joujou

Can you believe it's time for another entry for The Craft Barn's Dictionary Challenge? This fortnight's challenge is the letter J with no twist. As you by now know, my dictionary is a 1970's French-English dictionary and the word I have chosen is the joyful sounding  joujou meaning small toy or plaything.

A little bit of fun - a yo yo hanging from the pointing finger...

I've been looking for a place to use my noughts and crosses stamp for ages!

Another clean and simple page from me - mainly because I've been up against it time wise but also because the vintage image (downloaded form The Graphics Fairy) kind of speaks for itself.

Thank you for visiting.

G is for... Guirlande

As I'm sure you can tell from the title, it is time for another entry for The Craft Barn's Dictionary Challenge. This time it is letter G with no twist.

As you know I am using a French-English dictionary and so I have chosen the word Guirlande which means garland or wreath.

Quite a simple page this time with not too much dimension. It is getting quite difficult to work on the pages in the book now as the pages are no longer lying flat. All the elements for this design were made off-page using die cuts (Memory Box Grapevine Wreath for the wreath and Tim Holtz's Tattered Flower Garland for the flowers). See how considered this page was? - "Wreath" and "garland" dies - all totally deliberate! ;0)

The cardstock is all core'dinations and the red flowers were embossed with a text embossing folder.

The gems are from Kaisercraft but have been toned down a little with some Butterscotch Alcohol Ink.

Thanks for looking, hope to catch up with you soon.

Z is for ... Zingaro

How quickly these fortnights come round!

It's time for another entry for The Craft Barn's Dictionary Challenge. The latest challenge letter is Z, with no twist. Another easy choice for me as there were very few words to choose from. If you remember I am using an old French-English dictionary so I have gone for the romantic sounding Zingaro meaning Gypsy.

Another outing for the sweet Molly Blooms gypsy stamp (MB-0226I), but rather than colouring her with my usual Copics I have stamped her on watercolour paper and coloured her with Caran D'ache Neocolor IIs, in an attempt to try and get a more vintage feel to a not very vintage image.

I have kept to my usual colour palette and re-introduced some washi tape to ground the image, a smattering of Lavinia Stamps toadstools adds to the gypsy feel.

Thank you for looking.

O is for... Oiseau

Hello there!

Time for another entry for The Craft Barn's Dictionary Challenge. (My don't these fortnights come round quickly!) This time it is the letter O - with no twist.

An easy pick for me this time round. As I'm using a French-English dictionary (and if you know me well) my O word could only be Oiseau - which is French for bird.

Put my love of all things birdy together with my Inkadinkado "Bijoux oiseaux" stamps (gem stone birds) and we have an un-ashamedly simple entry for the challenge.

I have taken these pics under a halogen light to get the effect of the gold embossing, but it seems to have bleached the colour a little... any way here are my pages.

I've kept to my overall feel with this simple gold and red colour palette.

I quite like the peculiar way the embossing powder has clung to the text.

That's all from me, thanks for looking.

Oh yes, a special message to my Craft Barn visitors who use Facebook - sorry I can't leave you any comments, but I always come and look and thank you very sincerely for the lovely comments you leave here.

D is for ... Dirigeable

Hello lovely visitors!

The Junior Moonshine's are enjoying a week with their Grandparents, so I'm making the most of the opportunity to have a bit of Maisie Time and potter about doing nice stuff. So first off the crafting table this week is my latest entry for The Craft Barn's Dictionary Challenge.

This fortnight's challenge is the letter D with no twist. I thought this would be an easy letter - loads of pages with D words, but when I actually came to choose a word (two nights of NOT very inspiring bedtime reading - can you imagine that - taking a French-English dictionary to bed with you - sometimes I must look like a right saddo! - poor Mr M.) I REALLY struggled. Most of the words were either "un verbs" such as undress or virtually impossible to illustrate, such as derouiller - to rub the rust off. So on the second night of tedium I was delighted to come across Dirigeable, which translates as balloon or airship (phew!).

This page is very simple - especially compared with my last tarabiscoter page. The balloon stamps are from Hampton Art and methinks I will be using them again very soon...

up close...

(the birds are Crafty Individuals CI 234)

The large balloon is stamped on to watercolour paper and coloured with Antique Linen, Festive berries and Faded Jeans DIs applied with a water brush.

That's all from me for now, more projects in the pipeline...

Thanks for visiting

T is for... Tarabiscoter

Of course it is!

Good morning and welcome to this fortnight's entry to The Craft Barn's Dictionary Challenge. I am using an old French-English dictionary and although there are pages and pages of  T words, my shortlist was very short indeed. I had a final choice of three words, tournesol (sunflower), tissuterie (ribbon weaving), or my final choice tarabiscoter meaning to overdecorate, to over-elaborate. (Actually I could have gone with tampon meaning rubber stamp, but thought it might be misinterpreted!)

So, having chosen tarabiscoter (once again because I like to choose something a bit different if I can and I like the sound of the word) I have gone all out for overdecorating my page - whilst still producing something that is

1. reasonably pleasant to look at 
2. flat enough to let me close the book!

Here it is...

Some detail shots...

Thought you might like to know how overdecorated this page is, so here are the layers that went to make up the page:

1. Layer of Antique Linen DI - as per all my pages
2. Frayed Burlap DI pressed through That Special Touch - Ivy Background
3. Gathered Twigs DI Harlequin stamp
4. Walnut Stain DI  CArt Us - Birds on Branch stamp
5. Frayed Burlap DI  Craft Stamper freebie - Tempus fugit text stamp
6. Gold embossed Artemio Flourish stamp - I'd forgotten how much fun heat embossing is!
7. Rayher decoupage motif, embellished with Cinnamon Stickles
8. Papermania adhesive star gems
9. Eyelet with gem embellished tassel
10. Lace bow with 2 heart stick pins
11. Crafty Individuals birdcage charm
12. Red pheasant feathers

I'm quite pleased with how this page has evolved, I've managed to stay true to my vintage colour palette with the odd red highlight and it certainly has a vintage feel to it!

I haven't tried closing the book - but I think it might be a bit tricky!

Oh yes - for those who are regular visitors, it saddens me to report that Youyou "Escape" is listing heavily to starboard with all hands lost :0(

Thanks for taking the time to visit.