Art Journal Journey - Time Traveller

 Guess what I found yesterday?  I had no idea I had a stencil with gears on.  It is only a small square stencil with some tiny gears grouped together but I did not know I had it, it has 'Tando' written on the top of it in a black Sharpie.  I am going to have to do another page just to use it the one time.  Maybe I should go through my stamps and things and see just what I have hidden away that I have forgotten about.

I bet there are several of you who are as guilty as I am and do not really know all that you have.  It comes from having been stamping for quite a number of years where the style of stamping has changed for me.  I did tell you I used to be into Steampunk and I've also had phases on Asian, Victorian, Egyptian, Time and others as well as the usual flora and fauna.  I think some of them change and I am waiting for them to come back around so that I can start using them all again.

This is, again, a copy more or less of a canvas I did some years ago.  It used another of Tim Holtz type stamps, from Stampers Anonymous I think, which I was heavily into at one time.  

As you can see I have used only a few gears in this one.  I did stamp directly onto my 8" x 8" journal page those rather exciting looking gears in the bottom right and added a few, along with tickets etc that I had fussy or diecut, at the other side.

But before that I coloured my page using Broken China and Salvaged Patina Distress Inks and then stencilled some leaves to break up the background.  Next I stamped the rather stern looking gentleman in the top hat, I think he has a monocle when I look closely at him and then added the diecut gears and tickets I mentioned previously.  These were stamped and cut out on cardstock that had been coloured with various Distress Inks.

The next stage was to cut out a birdcage in gold mirror card and stick it down, covering the top of it with various leaves and flowers in varying shades of green coloured card.  I wanted to give the impression of the extra pieces flowing down the right hand side and across the base of my page.

The last thing was probably the most fiddly in that I cut out some small letters spelling 'time traveller' and sticking them down in as straight a line as I could.

I hope you like my latest page and it inspires you to look through your old stamps that you don't use as much now.  You never know, you might find you have something tucked away that you can start to use all over again.  It might even fit in with the theme at Art Journal Journey which is "In Gear".  (Remember you can do some machinery or a mode of transport as they contain gears as do lots of other things - my 'Time' box is being raided soon to see what I have in there as pocket watches have gears.  Or maybe you can think of something of your own?)

The moderators and I would love to see you join in with this theme over at Art Journal Journey.  You still have a week to enter a journal page.  Be sure to read the rules here first though.

Artful Journal Journey - Monocled Man

This morning I have another page for my theme over at Art Journal Journey.  Again featuring an old stamp - but one I have never used before.  I decided that this Monocled Man could fit well into the theme I am guest hosting at Artful Journal Journey.  I have no idea who makes this stamp, and the gears that you can see at the base of the page, as they came on the same sheet along with the words I used.

To begin with I used a stencil from Lavinia, using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then I stamped the gears and things on the bottom of the page with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink.  The gears were diecuts.

I stamped the monocled man and the words on a piece of white cardstock and cut them both out but as the man had 'unruly hair' I also stamped him direct on the page so that I would get the strands of hair showing even though he was an overlay.  Lastly I decided to use some Glossy Accents for his monocle.  When dry his face was stuck over the stamped image.  You may notice his eyebrows are very wonky. I sat for a few seconds trying my best to get mine like that, I had the most peculiar expressions in doing so but never achieved his look.

I am glad I found this unused image as I think it can be used again, especially for a male card even though he is quite big.  He would probably work with a travel theme, using the suitcases as shown in one of my previous pages this month.

Have you any NBUS stamps (never before used stamps) as my friend, Darnell, often talks about?  I wonder if you could find one like I did and use it for this theme in some way?  Why not pop along to Art Journal Journey and join in.  Before you do you must read the dreaded rules here to make sure your entry is accepted (not cards, ATC's etc).  The moderators and I would love to see you and your journal page.

Jeudi Journal - Questionable Morals

Oh dear, the snarky comment from Tim Holtz this morning is "You drink too much, you have questionable morals.  You're everything I ever wanted in a friend." So now I need to think of a story to include this comment which I am not finding easy.  I have been stamping and fussy cutting some figures so hopefully I can use one or two of them as they will be the correct size for my square journal.

"Lolly had gone Downtown to Gear Alley where her friends all hung out.  They were known as 'GAG' which stood for the 'Gear Alley Gang'.  Jax and Alfreda, her two best buddies, were already there as was Eric, the boy she knew had a crush on her.  Lolly was not a particularly nice girl and could be bitchy to others making their lives a bit of a misery.  In fact she and Jax tried to make Naomi's life a misery whenever they could and poor Naomi, who had been elected leader of the gang, spent many a sleepless night because of the snide comments they made whenever the opportunity arose.  

It was Jax who had got there early that day and she had been speaking to Eric who had asked her to have a word with Lolly as he wanted so much to be her boyfriend.  Jax promised she would have a word with her friend as soon as she could.

Lolly arrived, wearing a new blue dress and some shiny new boots she had bought the day before.  Lolly was never short of money and spent spent spent whenever she could.  She had even been to the hairdressers that morning and had a new hairstyle to impress others with.

Jax wasted no time at all and whispered in Lolly's ear that Eric wanted to be her boyfriend.  Lolly was not too sure about it, to be honest he was too nice for her.

"Get your head in gear.  Why don't you tell him "You drink too much.  You have questionable morals.  You're everything I ever wanted in a friend." said Alfreda laughingly.

Lolly looked across at him, realised he was wearing quite new and fairly expensive clothes, and he had the latest fashion, a straw boater on his head.  Maybe he wasn't too bad a catch despite his bad habits.  Besides which she would be the first to have a boyfriend in GAG.  It might not be a bad idea.  It could be useful to have a boy in the little coven she had made.  Yes, she would have Eric dangling for a short while whilst she made her mind up; and she could use him to her advantage too with his questionable morals."

For some reason I found this comment a little difficult to use.  Maybe the 'nicer' comments of late did it.  However, I began by colouring my figures in and used colours from the cooler range as the leaves were falling outside the window and reminding me that autumn is here and soon the leaves will be in the lovely rich reds and oranges that I so enjoy.   I wanted my page to be autumnal but in order to join in with my theme at Art Journal Journey I had to include, not leaves, but gears in some way.  Despite managing to slip the words (in gear) into the conversation it wasn't enough so I decorated the top of the page with a selection of gears.  I just hope this is acceptable especially as it is my theme, 'In Gear', I am trying to show.  I and the Moderators at Art Journal Journey would love to see you join us with your rendition of the theme.  Go on, I know you can.

WOYWW 750

 "Here we are again, happy as can be, all good friends and jolly good company."  I think it goes on to say something about never minding the weather but after that I am stuck and I haven't a clue what the song is or who sung it but I do know it is showing my age.  (I've just looked it up and it was first brought out in 1931 but I like to think the version I am thinking of is by Alma Cogan in 2016.  The first one would make me about 92 I think.)

Anyway, it is a pleasure on a Wednesday to share my desk with everyone at WOYWW.  A really happy group of people with no recriminations as you get so often in so many groups, particularly comprising of ladies.

I did think I would have some birthday cards to show you but thankfully at our club on Saturday we made some cards with Lynne.  It's always a good class with her as tutor, she puts so much work into the preparation and it pays off.  Two different techniques using 3D folders were shown as you can see in the photo below.

You will notice the white one is slightly different to the other three.  The central sprig of mistletoe was cut out with a matching die, another diecut image placed underneath it and then the two put back into the gap in the card.  With putting the card back through the embossing folder it gave the 3D effect but then the central image was raised even higher.

There was one folder of Lynne's that I want, it had a matching die which she cut out in vellum and attached pearls to.  It looked stunning and was a firm favourite of mine.  That plus a village one but I must try my scene folder first before I buy.  Spend spend spend.  But can't wait for her to be tutoring again.

I don't know what I will be getting on with before I publish this, if anything, but maybe something can be added  to to show I did something at home during the week.  I've been too busy messing about with Minutes as I had a meeting to chair before the class last Saturday.

We've just had two new doors fitted and now the phone line is down, plus we had a guy came to fit a new track, at the same time as the door were being fitted,  in our huge lounge window, so we need to get BT out to get reconnected but it looks like it's going to be Friday.  Hopefully all will be sorted by the end of today.

Here are the pages I have done in my journal for Art Journal Journey from last week to today (I've provided the link in case you want to view some of the other entries, there are some really super ones.  Hope that is ok with our Julia,):

That's all for now folks, toodle pip!

Art Journal Journey - Women

 I found these two women in my Steampunk tin of rubber stamps - both by Deep Red- and so I decided to pair them up along with Janet Klein's "Gear Up".   They are "Lady Cyclist" and "Lady Captain".

     

I simply stamped them with Versafine Clair Nocturne on cardstock that had been edged with black ink and then covered the images with clear embossing powder.  I liked the look of them with the stamping all shiny and so I decided to leave them without any colour.  I was going to fussy cut them up but looking at all the small detail I decided against it.

those dangly bits 

and feathers on both ladies

The stencil I used was Replenish by Lavinia and I pounced Distress Oxides in Shaded Lilac and Wilted Violet through with a stencil brush.  I felt it needed just the subtlest hint of colour,  It still needed something so I added a few gears in the bottom corner and finally I was happy with my page.

So here we have another page for my theme at Art Journal Journey - In Gear!  This is obviously a page with a lot of gears as both ladies have them somewhere on their person but there are ways you can produce a page without actual gears on.  Lots of machinery has 'gears' so including some would work, as would a mode of transport.  You just need to get your head 'in gear' as they say, and you will find lots of things you can do for this theme.  Hope to see you at AJJ soon.

Art Journal Journey - Mousey Antics

Here is another Journal Page for the challenge at Art Journal Journey where I am guest host for this month,  This one features the mice again and the top hat from the Steampunk range at Lavinia stamps.  It looks as if the naughty little mice are having a great time with those top hats.  Again it was inspired by the work of the lovely talented Jo Rice who heads the team at Lavinia Stamps.

I think someone is going to have a tumble if he is not careful and if the other one blows his penny whistle hard I think he could 'become a cropper' too.  Just look how precariously the hats are balanced and on gears as well.

Again I took inspiration from one of Jo Rice's designs, with her permission, but made one or two slight adjustments from her brilliant idea,  My background was lightly coloured with Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink through the Red Brick stencil and all the images were stamped with Versafine Nocturne ink,  The butterfly and the steampunk roses were coloured with Inktense watercolour pencils and the laces in the top hats were coloured with a red and a gold Posca pen.  I used brown and grey pastel pencils to colour the hats very lightly.

All the stamps and the stencil are from the Lavinia range.  I think it is Moo who is hanging on to the brim of the hat and I am sure that is Bibi who is playing the penny whistle, the pocket watch is called Tock.  

I do hope you like the little mice along with the birds and the spider who seem to be having a great time rolling along on the gears and the pocket watch and it inspires you to join us at AJJ.  Please check the rules before you join us.

Art Journal Journey - Birdie

This is one that I did as an extra and decided to publish today rather than wait a couple of days for the next one for my theme at Art Journal Journey where I am guest host.

It is an image by Stampendous and reminds me of a wooden bird I once did with Tim Holtz years ago at CHA.  I am afraid my wooden bird has lost lots of his bits and only seems to have a little propellor and a measure stuck to his tail left.  Maybe now is the time to resurrect him.  Here is the page:

He is a Stampendous image, as I said, and he was coloured in using Inktense watercolour crayons.  I tried to get as close to a rust colour as possible and went with grey and some other orangey colours as well.  I don't know where the words came from but I thought they were quite apt.  The cogs were a diecut cut in a beige coloured cardstock and the stencil is from Lavinia, again a second image where the stencil had been used and the ink left on, was spritzed and placed ink side down on the card.

Maybe I should find some feathers for my Tim Holtz bird, I'll certainly be looking at some of my wooden gears to place on him now I have got him down and dusted him off.

Would love you to join us at AJJ with your 'In Gear' creations.