Art Journal page using Alcohol Inks

Good morning

Today's post shares an Art Journal page that I created using Alcohol Inks for my background

I don't use alcohol inks very often and am by no means an expert with them 

but I am very happy with the way my page turned out.

I have used Office One A4 180gsm Gloss Photo Paper for my base.

This paper came from my Mum and is not as glossy as some of the other gloss photo papers I have.

I wasn't sure if it was going to work but figured I would give it a try, nothing to loose right...

I sprinkled blending solution onto half of the A4 sheet. 

I decided to work on half the sheet at a time because the alcohol inks 

dry quite quickly and I did not want them to dry before 

I had the opportunity to move them around and get the look I was going for.

Next I added the alcohol inks.

I am using Paper Mill Shimmer alcohol inks for this page.

The colour I used are Lime Green, Grass, Ocean Blue and Sea Breeze

I also added a few drops of Slate, this is not a shimmer.

I used my Couture Creations "puffer" tool to move the ink around, adding more blending solution and ink 

as needed to get a nice all over cover

I then added several drops of Ranger Fixative in Gold. 

I did not move this around because I wanted it to look like gold splatter.

I set this aside to dry. You can dry it with your heat gun 

but I find that moves the colour around a bit more 

and I prefer to let it dry naturally.

To add more interest to my beautiful shimmery background 

I splattered some slightly watered down acrylic paints using my fan brush.

The paints I used were 

Black Gloss, Golden Turquoise, Sparkling Sapphire Pearl and White Frost Pearl.

The focal point for my page was created by using my Big Shot to die cut white cardstock 

using a Hexagon die I purchased from Downunder Scrapbooking. It is GD2056.

I cut it from both white and pearl gold cardstock to see which one I preferred.

I chose the white because it stood out from the background better.

I used Art Glitter glue to attach the hexagons to the page.

To help my hexagons look like they are part of the page 

and to help them stand out a little more I used my Stabile All pencil in black

 and a water brush to shade around each hexagon.

I used a black fine point Sharpie to draw a double lined border 

around the page and then coloured black squares between those two lines.

A Copper 250 Opaque Texta marker was used to fill in the blank squares in the border. 

This colour is very close to the colour of the gold splatters in the background.

A fine white scribbly border, made with my fineliner bottle and watered down acrylic paint, 

was added to the inside of the border to finish it off.

I like to mix fonts for my quotes so I have used 

Kaisercraft's DD735 Uppercase Alpha die and black cardstock

 to cut "OPEN" and then printed "your mind" onto copier paper

to complet the quote.

I used Art Glitter glue to attach the title to the page.

A 0.7mm white Posca pen was used to highlight the black letters.

I have to say I really enjoyed making this page.

I love the look you get with alcohol inks and plan on using them more frequently in the future.

I have a process video

I hope you enjoy watching it.

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

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

 

Making flowers using dies

Good morning

Today I am sharing a video showing how I create five flowers using an assortment of dies.

The shaping techniques I use on these flowers can be used on any fussy or die cut flowers.

You will find links to most of the products I use to make these flowers in the video description box.

These are my flowers

Hope you enjoy watching my video.

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

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

February inspirational post for Mystical Scrapbooks

Good morning

Today my post is about using chipboard on cards.

The feature product this month at Mystical Scrapbooks is chipboard so I decided to remind myself and you that chipboard is great for cards.

I cut pink cardstock to 10 1/2" x 5 1/4", scored at 5 1/4" on the 10 1/2" side.

This makes a 5 1/4" card

The papers I used for these cards is Couture Creations Peaceful Peonies.

The beautiful lace is from my Mum.

For the top card I cut Patterned paper No. 10 to 5" square and 4 strips 1" x 5"

I distressed the edges of all of the patterned paper 

and then inked the edge using my VersaColor black ink cube.

I attached the 5" square using Art Glitter glue

and the 1" strips were attached with foam squares.

I used my hot glue gun to attach the lace about 2/3rds of the way up the card front.

I fussy cut several flowers from Patterned Paper No 6.

I inked the edges of the flowers and attached them to the card front.

A 4 1/4" x 1" strip that had been distressed and inked is attached to the card front, 

about 1/3rd of the way up from the bottom. This is where I will put the greeting

The chipboard I used on this card is from the "Around the World in 8 weeks" 

challenge that was held by Mystical Scrapbooks last year

I sprayed it with white undercoat and then covered it with gold ink.

The greeting was stamped using LDRS Happy Birthday Stack 

and die cut using LDRS Sentiment Stack die.

I stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black Ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

Final step was to add a few drops of Spun Sugar Distress Stickles

Card No. 2

The papers for this card are Patterned Paper No 1.

I cut a 5" square piece and a 2" x 5" piece.

I cut 2 pieces 1/2" x 5" and attached one to each of the long edges.

I attached the lace vertically, approximately the middle of the card.

I added some fun foam to the back of the strip and then attached it to the front of the card

so it slightly overlapped the edge of the lace.

I then attached some of the fussy cut flowers to the panel.

The chipboard for this card is from Memory Maze - Wire Butterfly Set.

I added a coat of Nuvo Drops - White Blizzard 

to the undercoated chipboard before attaching it to the card.

The sentiment is a Rub On (from Kaisercraft I think) and is attached to the card using foam squares.

While the Nuvo Drops were still wet I sprinkled Spellbinders Sparkle Dust Glitter

over it and then tipped the excess off.

Once again I added a few dots of Spun Sugar Distress Stickles randomly on the card front.

You can see my process video here

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

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

Mystical Scrapbooks Cyber Crop

Good morning

Today I want to share the layout I created for the February Cyber Crop at Mystical Scrapbooks.

This is the sketch I used.

This challenge requires you to use the sketch and to add gold to your project.

Here is my layout

The outer frame of the layout is Kaisercraft's Time Machine - Mechanism paper that I have cut the middle out of leaving a 1" frame.

The background of the layout is Uniquely Creative's Drive & Fly - Engine paper

 that I have trimmed to 11 1/2" x 11 1/2"

I used Kaisercraft's Crackle stencil and some black Gesso randomly to add some interest at the top and bottom of the layout.

Once the gesso was dry I rubbed Art Alchemy Metallique Wax in White Gold.

I trimmed Uniquely Creative - Drive & Fly - Train to 7 1/2" x 12"

and two strips of Mechanism 3/4" x 12".

The strips were added to the 12" edges of the Train paper

Next I trimmed a piece of Kaisercraft - Time Machine - Ironclad to 4" x 10" and tore the two 4" edges.

A little more gold was added to the layout by heat embossing a frame from Memory Maze's Junky Frame and Arrows chipboard with embossing ink and Stampendous Aged Gold embossing enamel.

I cut the frame in half so I could off set it on my layout.

I used an emery board to file around the edges of my photos and matted them onto the Mechanism paper.

I also added some scrap chipboard to the back of the photos.

I used my Scan N Cut to cut my title and three tropical leaves.

Time now to attach all of my elements to my page. I used Art Glitter glue for this.

Here is my process video

I hope you pop over to Mystical Scrapbooks and check out the Cyber Crop

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

Denise Boddey DT album flip through

 Good morning

Today I want to share a mini album I created using Denise Boddey Designs Elegance patterned papers.

The album started life as an accordion album.

I altered the album by adding a spine and assorted flaps, pockets and a hand made envelope.

You can see that video here

All of the papers have had the edges distressed using my distressing tool 

and then inked with a VersaColor black ink cube.

Each page has a top opening pocket with a photo mat.

I have also used some velum, made some flowers using Craft Barn Stamp/Die set 

and created the tags for the album using Uniquely Creatives Tags Tops & Tails.

Lace from my stash helps to decorate the front of the album.

Here are some photos

Album Closed

Album Open

Closeup of Front Cover

Front Cover

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Back Cover

The papers I have used are:-

Grace

Style

Chic

 

After the Rain

Refined

and the chipboard is

Delicate Branch

Here is my process video. I hope you enjoy it.

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

Till next time

Stay Safe

Hugs

Julie

 

Mystical Scrapbooks February Challenge

Good morning

Today I am sharing the layout I created for the February challenge at Mystical Scrapbooks

There is a sketch challenge this month and this is the sketch I created for the challenge.

There are two challenges and two sketches for you to use.

The added requirement for this challenge is to use some altered chipboard on your page.

This is my layout

You can see it closely follows the sketch.

The paper I have used for this layout is Mechanism from Kaisercraft's Time Machine range.

The background is white cardstock

I tore two strips approximately 2" wide and 2 approximately 1/2" wide 

and layered the 1/2" strip behind the 2" strips.

These were then attached to the sides of my layout.

My photos are 4" x 3", I filed around the edge of each one 

with an emery board to give a thin white border.

I then matted them onto the dark side of the Mechanism patterned paper

I have added scraps of chipboard to the back of my photos 

to give them a little lift when I attach them to my layout

I have used two packets of chipboard on my layout.

Dusty Attic Cog Border #3 and

Memory Maze Live Every Adventure

I coated the chipboard with white Gesso and then

Silver metallic acrylic paint

I wanted the Dusty Attic Cog Border #3 to look a bit rusty and old 

so I added some textured brown paint, 

that I have had in my stash for about 20 years,

just randomly around the edges.

I also had some Uniquely Creative Silver Metal Cogs.

I painted these with the same silver metallic paint so they had the same look as my chipboard.

I tucked the border chipboard edge under the side strips, 

using liquid glue to hold it in place.

I attached the photos to the layout, then added the single cogs, both chipboard and metal,

so some of them overlapped the photos.

I wanted some of the chipboard elements on the side panels. 

I painted them with black acrylic paint so they would stand out better on the green paper

 and attached them using Art Glitter glue.

I find that this glue works extremely well for attaching chipboard and metal objects.

To create the title I used my Kaisercraft Alphabet Upper Case dies

 to cut "Toys" from the same patterned paper.

I attached these to a piece of acetate, added thin strips of chipboard 

behind the first two letters, before attaching it at the bottom of my page 

so it overlapped the vacant area of the bottom photo.

I gave the title a coat of Glossy Accents for a nice shine.

Here is my process video. I hope you enjoy watching it.

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

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie