Art Journal Journey

Today I wanted something different from birds and fairies and so, perhaps because the sun was shining,  my mind went to holidays far away in different lands.  And so it went to 'travel' and how to get there.  But what has wings?  Obviously it had to be an aeroplane.

I decided to show how you can make a journal page without many images, especially if you are into stamping.  I found a large square old map in my collage drawer which fascinated me and along with a couple of images/stamps I have and the one stamp for a biplane I set to in my square journal, adding a bit of colour with my Pan Pastels, tearing the map in half and sticking it down and then arranging the three stamped images.  The gap in the middle still looked a bit sparse and so I stamped 'Explore' and 'Memories' down the gap from an Aall & Create set.

Here is my offering of something else that has wings for my challenge over at Art Journal Journey which is "It Must Have Wings".   I do hope you can join me at AJJ with, maybe lots of planes, or something else that has wings.

Jeudi Journal - Lightening

"My mind works like lightening, one brilliant flash and it's gone" is the quote supplied by my blog partner Wendy for our Dylusion figures to represent.  As it has also to fit in with the Art Journal Journey challenge, set by me, which is "It Must Have Wings" I had to use something with wings and so I made up a story to explain why two characters on my page have wings.

"It was a lovely spring day when Janine had been lounging in the sunshine and fallen asleep.  Luckily she had a pair of sunglasses and a sunhat on her head to help give her some protection for we all know that we should not sit in the sun for too long and should always wear protection.

Janine had been dreaming that a fairy came down and touched her with some sparkly fairy dust that gave her an instant tan all over her body and that she was on a tropical island far away from the worries of work and home.  Suddenly she felt a spot of rain land on her nose and on opening her eyes she realised that she was still in her own back yard and the weather was changing.

But hold on, who was that stood there in front of her?  It was her best friend Glenda, but Glenda seemed to be sporting a pair of wings.

"What on earth are you doing here, and why are you wearing wings?"  she asked.  "Am I still dreaming or has something happened?"

"No" replied her friend Glenda, laughingly "I've just been to my nieces birthday party, she's only three and she wanted a fairy party this year so I obliged, as her favourite aunt, and went along with these wings on.  See, they do come off.  I just thought I would make you laugh.  Have you ever seen a fairy dressed in a coat and with a beret on her head?  Come on, we had better go indoors, it is going to rain hard before too long."

Janine got up from the lawn, rubbed her eyes to make sure she was really awake and still not dreaming of fairy dust and linked arms with her friend as they made their way into the house.

"You know something, my mind works like lightening, one brilliant flash and it's gone, I just thought of something as I woke up but now I haven't a clue what it was.  My mother used to say I had a head like a sieve but I think it's more like a colander - bigger holes."

And with that the two girls walked in through the patio doors to avoid the rain."

As I had used various shades of pink and purple Distress Inks (smooched) for my background I thought it looked rather messy so I chose not to colour my figures in but leave them black and white so that they stood out more against that background.  The only colour I used was a flesh colour on their faces and arms and some grey on Janine's sunglasses.

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 Still having glorious weather although sometimes out of the sun there is a cool breeze.  I hope this is not the only good weather we get as summer is not with us yet and it would be lovely to have a nice warm few days now and then so that we can get ourselves a dose of vitamin D to help us ward off colds and things in the winter months.

I did not do the online class on Saturday as planned because we had gone away for a few days and I did not take enough materials with me.  Today I have been busy making a birthday card for a friend but I cannot share it as she might just sneak a peek on here.  It's a big one for her so I made a big card.  Here is my desk:

The card is on the left in an envelope so that you cannot see it.  I just hope I remember to scan it before it gets sent off.  The blue case has my Inktense pencils in, the polka dot one contains my Posca's, Pastel pencils and some Gelli pens.  You can just see three Distress Oxides and the pads I use on the applicators in those round storage cases.  The clear boxes at the back had some more ink pads in and my stencil brushes.  At the front you can see some of my acrylic pieces for my stamps. 

If you look closely there's a little bird picture there which I have not used in my journal.  I am guest host this month for Art Journal Journey and I was busy in the weeks throughout March/April making journal pages containing something with wings for my theme.  I couldn't tell you and it must have looked as if I was not doing much crafting when in truth I was stamping my heart out.

If you go to Art Journal Journey you can see my introduction page and if you scroll down my own blog you will see what pages I have been making up to now - but there are lots more to come.

So that is it for today - if you now pop over to Sarah's craft shed you can join in the fun and have a look at several blogs displaying their desks.  Have a lovely week.

Art Journal Journey - King Crow

This is a page in my Pan Pastel Journal.  To begin with I scrunched up some tissue paper, opened it up smoothing out but leaving some creases evident and then stuck down two pieces.  Next I coloured all over the page with various Pan Pastels in blue, green, yellow and pink allowing the colours to overlap in places making a secondary colour.

Then I began stamping various images - with the bird from Tim Holtz being just off centre and a crown on his head.  Clock face stamps are by Non Sequitur as is the branch which I thought, at first,  looked very much like lightening in the sky, and as are the birds.  All others are Tim Holtz stamps.

Using an eraser I made a circle in the sky to represent a sun or is it a moon?.

This is my entry into Art Journal Journey where I set the challenge "It Must Have Wings" for this month.  I do hope you can join in with something that has wings - I have given you some ideas if you check the home page of AJJ.

Art Journal Journey - Baby Owl

  I bought myself a journal from Lavinia because I loved the rag paper in it but then I found it difficult for me to stamp silhouette stamps perfectly on the rough surface so quite often I stamp on a piece of cardstock and then add it to my journal.

As the pages in my Lavinia Journal do not take to my stamping very well I made this on a piece of cardstock and then stuck it into my journal.  I never thought of there being a problem for me when I chose a rag page journal rather than a smooth one.  However if the card I use is not big enough to cover the whole page I often do some stencilling around the smaller ones.   

Owls have wings and so for this page in my Lavinia Journal for Art Journal Journey and my theme "It must have wings" I chose to use Bijou, the baby owl in the Lavinia collection.  He needed to sit upon something and so I looked at my flower collection and chose the Forest Flower so that I could incorporate some colour into the head of the flower and I chose blue for the base with orange, its complimentary colour, next to it and finishing off with lemon.  Now I know that flowers grow vertically but if Bijou was to sit upon it he needed it to be horizontal and so I used a bit of artistic licence with this one.

It is usual in my Lavinia journal pages to use both Elements and Versafine Claire inkpads and colour images ie in this case Bijou and the flower head, with Inktense pencils.  As this was only made on a smallish piece of card I tried to add some interest on the actual page surrounding it with some stencilling You can barely see it on here bute it is there I assure you).  For this I used the blue ink that was left on my number 9 stencil brush and the stencil called "Glory".  I like to work on different sized pieces and put them in my journal and then try to work out what to do to fill the page.  A favourite quick and easy way is to use a stencil randomly on the white space.

Art Journal Journey - It Must Have Wings (Introduction)

Once again I have been asked to be a Guest Host for Art Journal Journey.  I have been working on one or two ideas for my theme, which is "It must have wings" which covers my love of Lavinia stamps and the fairies that Tracy draws herself and has made into polymer stamps.  But it does not have to stop at fairies, if you think about it lots of things have wings - butterflies, dragonflies, ladybirds and other insects; birds (don't forget chickens, hens, owls etc),  angels,  what about aeroplanes, lots of things steampunk, mythical creatures and so on.  You could even think of some buildings, the White House has its West Wing, hospitals have wings and so there are lots of wings when you think of it.  I wonder what you will come up with?

I am so looking forward to seeing what you make in your journal (please read the dreaded rules which you will find at the top of the AJJ Home Page.   Remember to link your actual post and not just your blog (instructions again at the top of the AJJ home page) and I will do my best to come and see what you have done and leave a comment for you.

My first post for this theme is from my Lavinia Journal and features two fairies, Twila and Lumus, with one of the new fledglings. Although you cannot see the wings on the fledgling you can see that both fairies have beautiful wings which I coloured with my Inktense pencils and then used Wink of Stella instead of water to merge the colours together, I just wish you could see the sparkle.  

Inks used: Versafine Clair Nocturne,  Fallen Leaves, Pinecone, Shady Lane, Paradise, Warm Breeze, Morning Mist.  Elements Lime Punch, Blue Atoll.

Lavinia Stamps used: Twila, Lumus (lge), Tree of Courage, Tree of Hope, Fairy Path, Gate & Fence, Bluebell, Woodland Fern, Silhouette Foliage, Orchard Grass and Slender Mushroom Mini.

As it is Thursday I have my page to do for the challenge between Wendy and myself.  Today the quote Wendy sent to me is "We are not Old People, we are Recycled Teenagers" and here is my page using Dylusion figures.

Diane and Sue had been friends since primary school, neither had married and so they had been very close to one another for a number of years.  Both had been teachers in a High School working with teenagers and both were involved in the Girl Guides.  Diane was a Guide Leader whilst Sue had the older girls in her Ranger Unit.

It was a cold day and the two were returning home after a Parent Evening which had gone on until quite late in the evening.

"Don't know about you" said Diane, "but I am really tired, beginning to feel my age these days after a full day of teaching and then facing a whole load of questions from parents."

"I know exactly what you mean" replied Sue, "fancy a chippy supper, we haven't eaten since lunchtime?  I don't think I could face a sandwich and I certainly cannot cook anything now.  Are we getting too old for this game?"

"Come on Sue, it's just been a tiring day for us both.  We are not old people, we are recycled teenagers and after a good night's sleep we will both feel different.  Especially at weekend when we go to the jamboree at Hay Hall.  It will be fun to let our hair down and be camping again with the others.  I can't wait to go on the zip line again, it was such fun last year."

And the two went in the chip shop and ate a big bag of chips on the way home.  

chips in the UK are known as fries over the water. but I think you are all familiar with that.

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 That's a nice number.  Just like the weather.  It's been glorious again hasn't it and we have been promised it  continuing to cover Bank Holiday Monday haven't we. That will be nice for those of you who are planning on doing something over the next weekend.  I think it might just be the patio at home for us as neither of us like busy roads and hold ups with traffic.

Well, I've got another online workshop on Saturday so hopefully there will be some cards to show you, or maybe I will just leave them as toppers and mount them up as and when I need them.  That way I can choose the ones best suited to the recipient and just add the greeting later.  Anyway, as I have nothing to show you again I guess my desk will have to suffice for this week.

I took this photo from the other side because it is on the table but when I turned it around it looked sort of squashed and my eyes felt a bit funny so I am sorry, it's upside down.  I was having a bit of a try out with some of the new stamps but I think I am too tired as I ended up with two attempts both going wrong.  And I am blaming the sun!  I don't think I need to explain anything as most things are self explanatory.

Well, will have to leave it there and see what next week brings.  Better pop over to Sarah's Craft Shed and see what everyone has been up to.  Have a lovely BH weekend.