Live your best Life Art Journal page

Hello, hello

Welcome to my blog today where I want to show you an art journal page I have just completed.

I used Gelatos to colour the background. The colours I used are

Lemon, Red Cherry, Tangerine, Gold Champagne and Butter Cream

Once the colours were dry I gave my page a coat of Boyle Matt Spray

to seal it so the colours would not move when I added any other mediums.

I cut the circles from both white and black cardstock using Kaisercraft DD942 Stitched Circle Die.

I used pearl acrylic paints to colour the circles.

I gave each circle a couple of coats of a light colour 

then shaded around the edges with a darker tone of the same colour.

The colours I used are Duncan brand pearl acrylics

Lemon Drop, Powder Blue, Sparkling Sapphire, Bright Turquoise, Golden Aqua, Golden Lime, Golden Turquoise, and Green

I also used Folk Art Metallic Pure Gold

I stencilled onto the background using a 13@rts broken circles stencil.

Firstly I used Duncan Natural Texture (gritty paste) in Pumpkin

then Duncan Pearl White acrylic paint.

The stamping on the background is done with Archival Jet Black Ink 

and an assortment of circle stamps.

One of the stamps is Kaisercraft's Stains stamp set 

and the other two are unknown brands.

I used my black Stabilo All pencil and a wet brush to shade around each of the circles 

before giving them a scribbly border using slightly watered down

 black acrylic paint in a Fineliner bottle.

The same bottle of paint was used to draw a scribbly border around the page.

I gave each of the circles a highlight using a flat brush and some watered down white acrylic paint.

The same watered down paint was used with my fan brush to add a good amount of splatters to my page.

The quote has been stamped using Tim Holtz Cling foam stamps from the block lower alphas set.

The centre part of the quote was printed using my Brother PTouch label maker.

There is a lot of texture and shine on this page.

Here is my process video for you to check out

As always, thanks for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe,

Hugs

Julie

Altering an Accordion Album so it has a spine

Hi there.

A very quick post today sharing a video showing how I altered an 

accordion album I purchased a Cheap As Chips.

I have used my We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board to create an envelope 

to add to the album

I have also added flaps, tags, booklets and pockets.

All of the details are in the YouTube clip below

I hope you enjoy the video and try doing this. It is fun to change things around a little

Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie 

Ink Blended Cards

Good morning.

I have been wanting to do some ink blending for some time so today is the day. 

I am by no means an expert at this technique, 

as a matter of fact I have probably only done it once or twice at the most.

The theme for the month over at Mystical Scrapbooking is Techniques

so I thought I would do a blog post on ink blending.

I also created a video and I will put that at the end of this post if you would like to check it out.

I made three cards

The first card I created has a heat embossed image as the focal point

I stamped Woodware - Bold Blooms - Ginny with Versamark Embossing Ink onto the front of my card panel after I had wiped it over with my Embossing Buddy

I then used White embossing powder and set it with my heat gun.

This creates a resist for the Distress Inks I will blend on top.

I attached a strip of Mint Tape (Removable Masking type tape) to the areas of the card so the blended ink did not go onto the back of the card base.

I have used my domed blending tool to apply Mustard Seed, Ripe Persimmon and Festive Berries

 to the front of the card covering about 1/3 of the card front with each colour

 and using the lighter colour to blend over the area where the colours meet.

Once the card front was covered I used a tissue to wipe over the image

to remove any ink that may have been on the embossing.

The sentiment is from 13@rts His & Hers Remastered Sticker Collection.

Card No. 2 is similar in appearance

For this card I blended the Distress Ink onto a White Cardstock panel that measures 3 3/4" x 5 1/2"

The colours I used are Scattered Straw, Peeled Paint and Broken China.

I used a die and my Big Shot to cut the floral bouquet from white cardstock and attached it to the 

inked panel using liquid glue.

Because the Inks are reactivated by liquid I was careful to not get any glue on the inked panel.

I added a piece of scrap chipboard to the back of the panel before attaching it to my card base.

The sentiment came from the same 13 @rts sticker sheet.

The ink blending on the third card is a little different.

I stamped and heat embossed Woodware - Whimsical Flower - Daisy May 

onto a white cardstock panel that measures 3 5/8" x 5 3/8"

I used black embossing powder for this stamp.

I then used my finger daubers to colour the image with Distress Inks.

The colours I used are Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed and Ripe Persimmon

I did manage to go over the lines a couple of times 

but I used my Mono Sand Eraser to rub the ink away where it bothered me.

To give the black sections in the centre of the flower a little sparkle I added 

dots of Viva Black Pearl Pen

I cut a panel of black cardstock 3 7/8" x 5 5/8",

matted my image panel onto that

and then attached the black panel to the front of the card base.

The sentiment, once again, came from the 13 @rts sticker sheet.

So three very simple cards today but I have to say I really enjoyed making them.

They are quick and easy but quite striking I think.

Have you tried ink blending? Let me know how you found it.

Here is my video

 Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

Design Team Layout for Mystical Scrapbooks January 2022 Cyber Crop

Good morning

Today is the start of the January Cyber Crop at Mystical Scrapbooks.

You will find the three challenges and all of the details for entering here.

Lots of great prizes to be won so why not check it out.

The challenge that this layout is for is to use stamping on your project.

The patterned paper is Carta Bella Rustic Elegance - Chevron

I cut two 3/4" strips of the patterned paper,

One I attached to the bottom of my background cardstock and the other I trimmed to 8 1/2"

to be used at the bottom of my photo.

I trimmed a 1/4" from the bottom of the background before I added the 12" strip of patterned paper,

making the background back up to 12" square.

To add texture to the White cardstock background, I have added 

Modelling Paste through Dusty Attic's Criss Cross stencil.

I also smooshed a Dina Wakley Scribble stick, 

that I watered down using my spritzer bottle, 

in a light turquoise randomly on the background cardstock.

I fussy cut a section of the patterned paper along the turquoise chevron 

and attached it to the top of the layout.

I searched through my stash and found all of the stamp sets that had tiny images.

I used

Kaisercraft - Calendar

Picket Fence - Flowers for the picking

Bake a Cake from a magazine

Heidi Swap - 369387

Acid Drops & Whatnots - Life but from a slightly different angle

Stampendous - Bold Blossoms

Precious Remembrance - Oh So Fun

Ruby Rock It - Mini Elements

Garden Delights from magazine

I used my Versafine Onyx Black ink to stamp diagonally from the top left to the bottom right of the layout.

Once my stamping was complete I attached my 6" square photo, 

that had been matted on a piece of 6 3/16" square piece of black cardstock, 

and the Chevron patterned paper strip to the layout

Next I used the Sticker sheet to create a cluster at the bottom left of the photo

The sticker sheet included a sticker that said "flower girl" and I have used that for my title.

Here is my process video

I hope you enjoy watching it

Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Until next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

Design Team layout for Off the Rails Scrapbooking's January 2022 challenge

Good morning

The challenge over at Off the Rails Scrapbooking this month is 

Re-use, Recycle & Repurpose.

I have interpreted that as using items from my stash that have been there for many years.

You will find the challenge here.

The photos on my layout are of my Mum taken while we were celebrating her 89th birthday

in December 2021

The chipboard frame has been in my stash for so many years 

I have no idea where I got it or what brand it is.

I have given it a coat of Gesso then sprayed it with Tattered Angels Chalkboard spray in white

and when that was dry I sprayed it with Tattered Angels Glimmermist in Iridescent Gold.

The patterned papers are from a 12" paper pad by DCWV called Love & Grace.

I purchased this pad from Spotlight a few years ago also.

I used Art Glitter glue to attach a patterned paper to the back of the frame

I trimmed the background patterned paper to 11 1/2" square

and attached it to a 1" white cardstock frame.

I took this to my sewing machine and stitched a row of zig zag 

and a row of straight stitching around the edge of the patterned paper

The frame was then attached to the background using my hot glue gun

The two 6" x 4" photos were attached to the layout using foam squares so they sat flat over the frame.

To embellish the layout I cut a 3" x 4" cut apart from one of the sheets of patterned paper,

cut the top so it looked like a tag, then heat embossed around the edge of it

with embossing ink, fine gold embossing powder and my heat tool.

I used my Crop-O-Dile to add a gold eyelet to the tag.

 I threaded some sheer gold ribbon through the eyelet.

Using Woodware's Mini Garden Spray stamp, I stamped and heat embossed

the flowers onto white cardstock. I used the same gold embossing powder.

I fussy cut these flowers.

I used my hot glue gun to attache the tag and the flowers to the layout.

The tiny embroidered flowers and leaves were another item from my stash and had been given to me by my Mum. I loved the idea of using them on this layout about her.

I added a coat of Wink of Stella to the flowers. Unfortunately I picked up the white one instead of the clear one and instead of giving my flowers a nice sparkle I managed to dull down the gold detail of the heat embossing.

*Note* I used a baby wipe to wipe over the flowers a day or so later and luckily removed a good amount of the white

The title is heat embossed chipboard numbers. 

I have used the same embossing powder I used 

for all of the other heat embossing.

I have used Art Glitter glue to attach the title to the bottom right of the frame 

Here is my process video if you would like to watch this layout come together

Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

 

Cards using Prima's Nature Garden 6" paper pad

Good morning

Today I am sharing a couple of cards I made using Prima's Nature Garden paper collection.

This is a very old collection and I don't think it is still available.

My aim with these cards is to use items from my stash

Both of the cards are 4" x 5 7/8" and cut from 240 gsm smooth white cardstock

Let's start with the first card

I have used two sheets of the same patterned paper for this card.

I have cut a piece 3 7/8" x 5 3/4" for the background,

a piece 2" x 4" and a piece 1" x 3" to make the fishtail pennants.

I also cut white cardstock to mat the pennants.

These measure 2 1/8" x 4 1/8" and 1 1/8" x 3 1/8"

I have inked around the edges of all of the patterned paper and cardstock 

with a Versa Color Cocoa ink cube.

The background patterned paper is attached to the card-base using double sided tape.

A layer of craft foam was attached to the back of the pennants 

before they were attached to the card front. The thinner pennant overlaps the wider one.

A strip of white lace was attached under the thinner pennant at the same time 

it was attached to the card front. I used Art Glitter glue to do this.

I used my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die to create the flower on this card.

Here is the showing how I created this flower.

A piece of cheese cloth and a black & white Baker's Twine bow 

were added under the flower. It was attached using hot glue.

The sentiment is chipboard that has had a coat of white gesso.

I then coloured it with the Cocoa ink, this did not stand out enough 

so after I had attached it to the card I swiped over it with my black ink cube.

For the inside I cut a piece of the same patterned paper 3 7/8" x 5 3/4", inked the edges with Cocoa ink and used double sided tape to attach it to the inside right panel of the card.

I stamped happy birthday using Scrapbook.com's Happy birthday to You stamp

with Versafine's Onyx Black Ink onto white cardstock. 

I then used my heat tool and Clear Embossing powder to heat emboss the sentiment

I trimmed the cardstock down, inked the edges and attached it in the centre of the patterned paper.

I had a flower that was left over from a previous project, it was cut using Cheery Lin's Chrysanthemum Strip die and white cardstock. I attached the flower

 and added a little Nuvo Vintage Drops in Peachy Keen to the centre just to finish it off

The second card

All of the papers and cardstock on this card have had their edges inked with a black Versa Color ink cube.

I chose two patterned papers from the pad for this card.

I cut one 3 3/4" x 5 5/8" and the other 2" x 5 5/8"

A piece of white cardstock was cut to 2 1/4" x 5 5/8" to mat the smaller piece of patterned paper.

I added some scrap chipboard to the back of this panel.

After I had attached the large piece of patterned paper to the front of the card base I used some Art Glitter glue to attach half a paper doily so the edge of it lined up with the right hand edge of the card front.

The patterned paper panel was then attached so that it slightly overlapped the edge of the paper doily

A strip of lace was attached to the centre of the panel using double sided tape.

To embellish the front of the card I stamped all of the flowers and leaves in 

Heartfelt Creations - Botanical Rose stamp set onto smooth white cardstock

 using StayzOn Jet Black ink

To colour the flowers I used Distress Inks in Victorian Velvet and Bundled Sage and 

Distress Oxide inks in Speckled Egg and Tattered Rose

I smudged my inks onto an acrylic block and then used my water brush to 

add the colour to the stamped images.

I then fussy cut them using my spring assisted scissors

I added Nuvo Jewel Drops in Sea Breeze to the centre of each flower

I had an oval chipboard frame from Imaginarium Chipboard.

I gave it a coat of gesso and them coloured it with the 

Victorian Velvet Distress ink and my water brush

These were all attached to the card front using hot glue

The sentiment is from Uniquely Creative's Ocean Breeze Mini Cut a Part sheet.

For the inside I cut two strips of the same patterned paper I used

 as the background panel on the card front to 1" x 5 5/8", 

I attache one strip to each side of the back inside panel.

You will find my process video below

Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

January Challenge at Mystical Scrapbooks

Good morning and Happy New Year to you.

My post today is to share my Design Team layout for January's challenge at Mystical Scrapbooks

The theme for the month is Techniques and the highlighted product is ribbon & twine.

The ribbons and twine will be on sale for the month so don't forget to check them out.

The challenge that I have set is to use the "Smooshing" technique on your layout and to incorporate a ribbon or twine bow.

Here is my layout

There are eight photos and they are each 3" square.

I have used Distress and Distress Oxide inks for my smooching.

The paper I have used for my background is Bee Arty - Love & Grace - Adele

The inks I have used are 

Distress Oxides Speckled Egg & Salty Ocean

Distress Inks Broken China, Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, 

Mustard Seed and Scattered Straw 

If you are unsure of how to do the "Smooshing" technique check out my process video below.

It is very simple and lots of fun.

I also added random stamping on my background using Versafine Onyx Black ink

and Uniquely Creative's Wavy Words Mini Stamp

I have used Bee Arty Love & Grace - Portia patterned paper and white cardstock

to die cut an assortment of flowers.

The dies I used are

Uniquely Creatives Little Leaves

Couture Creations CO724161

Cheery Lyn B311 Chrysanthimum Strip

and one other die that I do not know the name of.

I inked the edges of the flower layers, shaped them with my flower shaping tools 

and assembled them using my Art Glitter Glue.

I filed around each of the photos with an emery board before attaching them to my background.

Next the flower embellishments were attached

A Bakers Twine bow sits amongst the left hand floral cluster

The title was cut from black cardstock using Kaisercraft's DD700 Alphabet Upper Case Die,

attached to the right hand side of the layout and given a coat of Glossy Accents

To finish the layout off I added a scribbly boarder of slightly 

watered down black acrylic paint in my 

Fineliner bottle.

Here is my process video so you can see how I created this layout, including the "smooshing" on the background

Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

Merry Art Journal Page

Good morning

This will be my last post for this year and I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2022.

I really appreciate the time you spend here on my blog and look forward 

to sharing more of my papercraft projects with you in the coming year.

A new year is always exciting I think, because we don't know what the future will bring for us

 and what changes we will make as the year goes by.

Today I want to share a Christmas Art Journal page.

I love Christmas trees and this page features a Christmas tree, although I have to admit that wasn't my original idea.

I had planned on having the baubles hanging from the top of the page and the background was going to look like the tree, so a closeup of the tree if you will.

The proportion of the baubles to the background did not look right to me when I tried this 

so I had a re-think and decided to make a Christmas tree shape using the baubles

 and I have to admit, I am quite happy with the results.

I used Woodware Bubble Mini Bauble stamp, Versafine Onyx Black Ink, Embossing Buddy, 

Clear embossing powder and smooth white cardstock to heat emboss twelve of the baubles.

I coloured each of the baubles with Distress/Distress Oxide inks, and a water brush, using two tones of each colour on each bauble, so they had a little shading.

 These are the colours I used:-

Distress Ink Bundled Sage & Distress Oxide Cracked Pistachio

Distress Oxide Shaded Lilac & Distress Ink Dusty Concord

Distress Oxide Tattered Rose & Distress Ink Spun Sugar

Distress Ink Mowed Lawn & Distress Ink Pine Needles

Distress Ink Faded Jeans & Distress Ink Chipped Sapphire

Distress Ink Barn Door & Distress Ink Fired Brick

Distress Ink Carved Pumpkin & Distress Ink Ripe Persimmon

Distress Ink Festive Berries & Distress Ink Candied Apple

Distress Ink Scattered Straw & Distress Ink Mustard Seed

Distress Ink Victorian Velvet & Distress Ink Picked Raspberry

Distress Oxide Salty Ocean & Distress Oxide Blueprint Sketch

Distress Ink Peeled Paint & Distress Ink Twisted Citron.

Once all of the baubles were coloured, I fussy cut them and 

inked around the edges, with Archival Jet Black ink

To create the background I used a sponge to pounce acrylic paint to the whole area.

I used Southwest Teal, Seabreeze Turquoise and Jade Green,

 blending them until I was happy with the look.

The texture for the background comes from putting Avocado Acrylic paint

through Kaisercraft's Lattice stencil,

Modelling Paste through TCW Mini Labyrinth 6" stencil

and stamping Uniquely Creative's Wavy Words stamp with Archival Jet Black ink.

I attached the baubles to the page using Gloss Gel, 

I also coated the whole page with the gel being careful 

not to smudge the inks used to colour the baubles. 

This will help the baubles to stay in place and allow me to use my 

black Stabilo All pencil to shade around the baubles.

I cut a base for my tree and a star from some gold cardstock and added them to the page.

To highlife the gold pieces I used a black paint marker

to draw faux stitching around their edges.

My title was die cut from black cardstock using Kaisercraft's DD700 Alphabet Upper Case dies.

To add some shine to my page I gave the larger circles on the baubles a coat of Glossy Accents

The final touch for the page was to use some watered down black acrylic paint

in a Fineliner bottle to draw a scribbly boarder.

Here is my process video

Well that's it for me for this year

Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Once again I hope your Christmas and New Year are all that you hope they will be

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

 

Last of my Christmas cards for 2021

Good morning

I am sharing my last three Christmas cards for this year here today.

I am using a sheet of acetate I have coloured using Alcohol Inks.

Here is the video that shows how I made this sheet.

These are today's cards

They are all 5" square.

I use my We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board to create envelopes for my cards.

Card No 1.

I used Kaisercraft DD216 Scribble Star die to cut a couple of stars from gold sticky backed paper.

I attached the stars to the acetate sheet and fussy cut around them.

I also cut a 1" x 4 1/2" piece of acetate and attached a 3/8" piece of gold cardstock to the centre of it.

I cut a piece of red paper 4 3/4" square and a piece of white cardstock 4 1/2" square.

I attached the acetate strip 1/8" from the top of the white panel

The red paper and the white cardstock were attached to the card front.

The stars were then attached. I used a Sharpie to 

draw the string lines between the stars and the gold strip.

I used some black acrylic paint in a fineliner bottle to draw a bow at the top of each line.

The sentiment is from Uniquely Creative. 

I matted the sentiment on some of the same red paper I used for the layer.

The sentiment was attached to a scrap of chipboard and then to the card.

Card No. 2

This card has three Christmas trees created in the same way as the stars.

The die I used is one of my favourites and I do not know what brand it is.

The patterned papers are from Paper Rose's B&W Christmas 6" paper pack.

I chose two dark papers and one light.

I cut the papers 4 3/4", 4 1/2" and 4 1/4" square.

I cut a piece of white cardstock 2 3/4" x 5" and two 1/2" x 5" strips

of gold cardstock that where attached to the top and bottom of the white panel.

The Christmas trees were attached to the white panel using liquid glue.

I did not attach a sentiment to this card. I did not want to cover up the trees.

Card No. 3

The layers for this card are 4 3/4" for the red and 4 1/2" for the white.

I embossed the white panel using a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

I cut strips of the coloured acetate 3/8" wide.

I attached these to a piece of plain acetate using Art Glitter glue

I used my Spellbinder circle dies to cut a circle from the acetate

and a larger circle from gold cardstock.

I attached the acetate circle to the gold circle.

I hand cut a gold top to create a bauble from the circle.

A piece of black crochet cotton was attached at the top of the embossed white panel.

The bauble was then attached to the embossed panel

The red and white panels were then attached to the front of the card.

The sentiment, once again, is from Uniquely Creative 

and is matted on some of the red paper used for the panel.

The sentiment is attached to the card front with a piece of chipboard behind it.

Here is my process video

Thank you for being here with me today

As always, till next time

stay safe

hugs

Julie

Vintage Christmas Cards

Good morning

Today I am sharing three vintage Christmas cards.

All three cards are 5" square, created using Coredintaions Vanilla Cream cardstock.

Each card also uses Bo Bunny's Father Christmas paper range from 2011.

All of the paper layers have been distressed using my Prima Distressing tool and a black ink cube.

OK let's start with 

Card No. 1

The two background layers are 4 3/4" square and 4 1/2" square

The strip of red patterned paper is 2" x 4" and the cream cardstock is 1 1/2" x 4"

The square patterned papers are attached to the card base with double sided tape

There is a piece of chipboard between the red patterned paper strip and the lace,  

(the lace is a gift from my Mum)

which is attached with liquid glue

Three sparking red poinsettia (a gift from my Mum) are attached down the length of the cream cardstock, 

also attached with liquid glue

The sentiment is stamped using Versafine Onyx Black ink and a stamp from

Kaisercraft's Christmas Edition stamp set.

I die cut the sentiment using a lacy rectangle die, added a piece of chipboard behind it

and attached it to my card front.

The inside of the card

I have cut a piece of red patterned paper 1 1/4" x 4 1/2" and a green piece 3/4" x 4 1/2".

These have been layered onto each other and attached to the left of the inside back panel.

The greeting is stamped using Versafine Onyx Black ink and Kaisercraft's Christmas Greetings stamp set.

This was then covered with clear embossing powder and set using my heat tool.

Card No. 2

Each of the patterned paper layers on this card are matted on a piece of cream cardstock.

Paper sizes are:-

Patterned paper No1. 4 3/4" square

Patterned paper No.2 4 1/4" square 

Cream Cardstock 4 1/2" square and 3 1/4" square.

For the focal point on the front of the card I used an image from the cut-a-part sheet which is 3" square.

Between the cut-a-part image and the 3 1/4" cream cardstock 

I have added a 4" square piece of glitter tulle.

On the inside

I cut "Merry Christmas" from Uniquely Creative's Holly Jolly Christmas 6" paper pack

and  matted it onto a 2 1/2" square piece of patterned paper.

I stamped and heat embossed a Christmas tree from a free stamp set I received with a magazine.

The magazine was Creative Cardmaking.

I added dots of Nuvo Crystal Drops in Autumn Red to the heat embossed tree.

Card No. 3

This card has all of the patterned papers matted on gold mirror card.

The patterned papers measure 4 3/4" square, 4 1/4" square and 3 1/8" x 3 5/8"

The gold card is 4 1/2" square and 3 1/2" x 3 5/8"

on the smallest piece of patterned paper I have put Decofoil Transfer Gel Duo

through a Christmas tree stencil.

When the gel was dry I added gold foil using my brayer.

Inside the card

I cut a piece of patterned paper 4 1/2" square and attached it to the inside of the card.

I used another "free with magazine" stamp to stamp and heat emboss

a sentiment to the patterned paper.

The magazine was Australian Papercraft Essentials

Here is my process video

I hope you will check it out

Well that's it for today

Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie