Art Journal: A Rainbow in Writing

It's already halfway through March and I'm really longing for spring to finally arrive! But it's still a bit cold in my hemisphere and wanted to share a colorful art journal page to share some warmth. I've stamped the dip nibs (by darkroom door) on a book page with versamark ink and heat embossed it with transparent embossing powder. Then I dripped some various fountain pen ink over the page and diluted it with water to make a rainbow effect. The embossed parts worked as a resist. The lady is from a vintage magazine and handwriting stamp and moth are from Paper Artsy and stamped with Staz-on.

I used washi tape for the edges and sealed it off with a thin layer of modge podge matte medium. Love how the resist effect worked here and how bright these beautiful colors are. Such a happy page to look at! 

Would love to enter this in the following challenges: 

Art Journal Journey Spring Time

Moo Mania color effect 

Stamplorations Spring and Faith March challenge

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

WIP: Libélula (dragonfly) Stamp Carving

You might have noticed that one of my fave creatures with wings is a dragonfly. It was ages ago when I used my carving tools last and they were calling to me again. So last week I finally sat down and did this carving.

And let me tell you it felt SO GOOD to get those tools out again! I worked at this one for about an hour and a half (I think) and it was really fun and relaxing. The stamp size is about 8x6 cm and I purposely wanted a larger dragonfly to use for a mono printing idea I had.

 

This is the first set of prints I made and I was really happy with the design at the first go! All I had to do was clean up the edges around the image and the stamp/ soft lino block carving was done.

And here she is, Libélula (is Spanish for Dragonfly for which I have my IG friend Ana to thank ) I'm super happy with the result and it's such a great feeling to finally make something you had in your head a while! I already am using this one for some art journal pages and postcards swaps.

Carving this has inspired me to do a "bug series" so I hope to share more carvings with you in the near future :)

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!

ATC: Poppy Fields

April showers and May brings flowers... at least that is the theory, because it still showers in this part of the world! Well, there are a lot of flower ATC's going on on Swap-Bot and this is the one I sent to my partner for a Mixed Media flower swap. I sorta cheated... or well, made creative use of what I had, because.... doesn't the above image look familiar to you?

Maybe now it does... It's a piece from my processing poppies experiment I did a while back. A part of it became this journal page and I still had a piece left over. I ran in through my cuttle bug with an ATC die, some white splatters over it and matted on black card stock and it's done. Creating ATC's from left over Art Journal pages like that is great way to use up your left overs, isn't it?

I'd like to enter this ATC in the following challenges:

Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge #26 - Anything goes
Time out Challenge #82- Flowers with optional kissing technique
Mixed Media World #24 - Anything Mixed Media goes with optional watercolors
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Hint of Pink
Make My Monday #45 - May Flowers

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

The Here and Now

This mixed media card has a collage base with various scrap pieces from my large "junk box" filled with scrap papers. The dandelions are from Carabelle Studio's as well as the sentiment. The bird stamp is from Stamper's Anonymous.

Being in the here and now is what I always strive to do... but today well, this past week actually, I have been very much looking forward to this weekend! It's Art Specially 2017 convention and I am really looking forward to see some of CHA's products in real life, getting to know more techniques through workshops and just having a grand old time! If you're planning on going as well, I'll maybe see you there! 

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Try it on Tuesday for the Botanical Challenge
Craft Cardmakers - Spring into spring challenge
Create and makes - Anything goes opt. springtime 
Stamps and Stencils - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep Birds

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!

WIP: bright and sunny

Beautiful spring days are here and not only the weather is bright and sunny, I am feeling that way as well. Some exciting things are coming up and I can't tell you about it just yet :) But I wanted to share a little sneak peek of a recent work I did. I tried do convey the bright and sunny feeling on the vintage magazine page using colors that really speak to me a lot at the moment. The stencil is from the Crafter's Workshop and I used trims from my Courageous Mother Nature project. Come back next week on Wednesday to see the finished piece and with it the exciting news I have to share.

Also wanted to share a little reminder that you can still play along with the March Challenge over at Viva Las VegaStamps! blog and can link up your projects until the end of Friday! 

Have a wonderful sunny Wednesday and thank you for stopping by!

Art Journal: Fragile

This week has been filled with springtime inspired projects. When the weather changes to brighter days so does my mood and you can really notice that in my work. I would like to share this art journal page with you I made recently and it's inspired by the prompts over at Rubber Dance blog. The theme challenge now is everything spring which is their Mid month challenge. 

Earlier this month they also had a color challenge based on the below color scheme.

And isn't it just gorgeous? Absolutely wonderful spring time colors! Due to time constraints and a holiday in the first weeks of march I wasn't able to participate, but I'm happily combining the two of these challenges together which resulted in the art journal page I am showing you today.

Let me tell you how I made the base. I started off by spraying some magenta, yellow and turquoise dylusions spray on a piece of A5 paper. The yellow and turquoise blended to a bit of green here and there which I loved. I then took a script and postage stamp and stamped with corresponding Staz-On colors. I placed a script stencil over it and then dabbed some Paper Artsy Fresco paint hint of mint through it. I built up everything else from here.

The Birds stamp is from Studio light and the flowers from Artemio. The postage border around the birds is also from Artemio. I accentuated the birds with a mint colored gelpen to have then stand out more.The Fragile stamp is from paper Artsy and I also colored it in with the mint gel pen.

The flowers are stamped with midnight blue & dove gray Staz-On and then overplayed with versamark and violet interference embossing powder. These wonderful flower postage stamps, also in corresponding colors, have a great pop up effect on the over all lay out.

I splattered some Hint of Mint paint and a bit of Liquitex Gold INK on the page, colored the border with Chipped Sapphire distress crayon and matted it onto a light blue card stock before adhering it to my black spiral bound journal. A light, happy, colorful page to ring in the first weekend of spring :)

I'm also entering this art journal page in the following challenges:

Creative Artiste Mixed Media #24 anything mixed media goes 

HeARTful stamping Spring + Stamp 

STAMPlorations Mixed Media Challenge March 

the Stamps and Stencils March Birds challenge

AND as invited to the Art Journal Journey Out and About challenge

I digitally altered the page to add the words to it and to use as my FB banner for the coming weeks. 

Happy spring to you all!

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks so much for stopping by!

Mailart Monday - Spring Airmail

Last year I scored a bunch of these vintage airmail envelopes at a thrift market. They seem to hold fountain pen ink pretty well. I decided to experiment, jazz them up a little by using some fountain pen ink samples and a fun spring doodle flowers stamp from Lost Coast Designs.

These are so simple and fun to make. Just put a few drops of the fountain pen inks on your craft sheet, spray some water over it, wipe or dab your stamp over it and stamp it on the envelope! Let them dry up or use your heat tool to dry it quicker. I only used a little bit of ink and you can create some fantastic images. You can make a bunch of them in quick succession and leave them like this for (future correspondences). Or you can add more color to them by using a water brush and more ink.

I experimented with adding more color to this one. Definitely gives a fun effect with the layers drying on top op each other. With the next experiment I will use permanent or iron gall inks for the print and then color over with conventional inks to see if the image shows through clearer after coloring over it. 

Fountain pen inks I used for this experiment; Toucan Primrose yellow, Pilot mixable red and just a hint of Noodler's blue. 

Hope this inspire you to dabble with some "inksperimentations" yourself :) 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

namasté

Printemps Lily - Lost Coast Designs Monthly Challenge

The sun is starting to give some warmth, the skies are clearer, the flowers are blooming and birds are sounding happier... could it be that spring is finally here? 

It is just in time for the monthly challenge at Lost Coasters Reviewers blog, as this month's theme is spring.  I made a card which I called 'Printemps Lily'.

Printemps is the French word for spring. 

The stamp I used here is Lily from the art nouveau / art deco section at Lost Coast Designs. This theme just really fits her, I think. I colored her in with pro-markers and matted the piece a while back (you can see that whole process here). Recently I was cleaning up a section of my craft room, I found this piece again and felt I should really make something with it. The result is the card you see here. Things I added are prima flowers with pearl drop accents, negative butterfly in green scrapbook paper, accented the sided of the matted piece with green pearl rub and added the sentiment stamp 

'The nature of this flower is to BLOOM' 

which is by the Octopode Factory. 

This sentiment fits right with the feel of Lily I was going for here.

Show is your springtime zest and join us with this Monthly Challenge at Lost Coasters Reviewers. Read the rules on how you can win a 10$ gift certificate to spend on Lost Coast Designs or Carmen's Veranda by participating in the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

namaste

New Beginnings

Hello there! It has been a while, a good long while, since I have been on here. What can I say other than life happened and I didn't find the time to blog. Some of the major changes that happened in the past 2 years; I got married and have been working 2 jobs (hence the lack of blogging time).

 But I have missed it, you guys. So with a fresh new look and hopeful spirits I am going to start it up again and see how it goes (feel like a newbie blogger all over again, finding the right links, edits etc...) Anyways, thanks for those who have stuck around all this time. I still have posted pictures on my flickr regularly and also on my instagram. That has been my fave hang out these past years. Would love to connect with you all there as well.

Spring has been in the air here in NL and it is wonderful to be walking out in the sunshine (though a bit tough with chilly wind that accompanies it). I bought a small vase at the Flying Tiger not too long ago and it has seven slots. My plan is to fill these small vases with wildflowers I come across on my walks. This is such a colorful and happy sight and lifts my spirits every time I see it on my window-sill. Tomorrow a new month begins and I hope you all have a great beginning of Spring.

namaste