Inspiration Journal

Today I am sharing an inspiration journal I made for a special young lady.

 

I decided to use kraft card as my base and was pretty happy with how it took the ink especially as each page is double sided.  Each sheet is A5 in size.  I have used Tim Holtz distress oxide inks throughout my journal for that chalky texture and especially as you can layer the inks on top of each other without losing definition.

As well as keeping this quite simple I wanted it to have lots of inspirational sentiments and knowing Poppy's love of art I thought these pages would appeal to her.

Hansa Hand

Traditionally an ancient middle eastern amulet symbolising the hand of Fatima. The protective sign symbolises happiness, luck & good fortune.  There are many different styles and I have sketched a hand with the all seeing eye, watching over humanity and warding off negativity.

I have used a mandala stencil on the backround to tie in with the sketch.

Artist Trading Cards

With a washi tape background, I used a selection of Vera Lane Studios digi stamps.

• pray n playing
• just fly
• puddle jumps

I have used marble backgrounds on my cards using the ink and shaving foam technique ( which also makes the card smell lovely, as it happened to be cocoa butter shaving foam).

I am not a colourist but don't mind colouring small areas and have used promarkers to do this which I found much easier to use than the spectrum noir aqua markers that I had been given.

The Oak Tree Poem 

Inspired by the Oak Tree poem by Johnny Ray Ryder, I drew a tree to fit around the poem using the fall and foliage stamps by the Dreamees also using the stamps as a background for my tree. I absolutely love this poem.

Attached to the page as a flap.

Shine Bright

Using the shine bright and the ripple effect stamp sets by Visible Image,  on a distress oxide background.  Then stencilled with Dreamees dinky inkie pearlescent ink in mellow yellow. The ripple stamp has been heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

Just be Happy

The Visible Image just be happy stamp mixed with the ripple effect stamp to create the bubbles. I have also added some glossy accent to some of the bubbles for texture.

The Friendship Dish

I love this friendships dish stamp by the  Dreamees and have used some heat embossed a set of their flower stamps for a background.

Believe

I have used the Visible Image dragonfly stamp with versamark ink and mica powders and word stamps by Inkilicious. The sentiment added at the bottom was very apt for the page.

Be a Mermaid

I have used a mix of distress oxides and mica powders for the background and a mermaid stamp by stampendous along with a nautical set of stamps by Sheena Douglass from her Sea View collection.
I particularly liked the inspirational sentiments.

Fly

Although the background looks patchy on this one, it was made with antique linen and frayed burlap distress oxides. The sentiment and black butterflies are from the butterfly blot stamp set by Imagine Design Create.  The large heat embossed butterflies are from Crafty Individuals.

Make a Wish

Using distress oxides again and white opaque ink through a stencil which was them heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Also using the Face it & beautifully flawed stamps from Visible Image. 

Creativity

I love this inspirational stamp set by Visible Image and have teamed it up with this cute Autumn days stamp set by the Dreamees.

You've got Mail

The background is made up of a dictionary page referencing :-  letters/post with little envelopes holding quotes from Alice in Wonderland.

I have used a mix of Dreamees stamps for the background, masking off the face stamp and using antique linen distress oxide for the skin tone on the kraft card.

On the tag, I have used a digi image by Vera Lane Studios using one of her Kokeshi dolls.

I really enjoyed making this journal and didn't have a specific plan when I started it, just went with the flow.  I think that is what is really enjoyable about journal pages, they tend to be a bit of a voyage of discovery. There is no right or wrong with mixed media and sometimes the best work is achieved totally by accident.

Happy Crafting!

Birthday card made using Visible Image Face it Stamps & Dreamees Flowers

I made this card using the Face It stamp set by Visible Image and stencil along with a mix of  Dreamees, which has been stamped and heat embossed onto their patterned papers.

First I used the Visible Image Face Shape stencil in its complete form on cream stamping card and spritzed a mix of metallic mica powders onto the area around.

I added l little metallic lavender to this mix of colours.

I then lifted the mask and after the mica spritz had dried I stamped the open eyes Face It stamp into the centre using versafine black ink.

I coloured the eyes with Tim Holtz peacock feathers distress oxides and the lips with pickled raspberry.

For the flowers, I used a mix of Dreamees stamps which have been heat embossed using metallic super fine Wow embossing powder. I used  Pretty Pearls, Sensational Flowers and a charming cascade

After layering up a selection of these flowers I placed them around the stamped faced and mounted the panel onto a cream base card.

For the make up, I used the same metallic mica powders the eyeshadow and blush.
I absolutely love this Face It stamp set, it's so effective.

I am entering this into the following blog challenge:-

Stamping Sensations

Visible Image.co.uk

Happy Crafting

Visible Image

Another craft duo who produce some truly inspirational stamps & stencils are Mark & Helen Alexander, who are Visible Image. Their designs are unique and very different. Their arty images and inspiring quotes make fabulous toppers and backgrounds for cards, journal pages and mixed media pieces. Great quality and lovely to work with. They have an amazing design team who constantly bring buckets of inspiration for their products. I love these stamps.

https://visibleimage.co.uk/
https://visibleimage.co.uk/blog/

Here are a few cards I have made with their stamps. First with the Create With Your Soul  sentiment stamp.

I used an ink technique called bokeh to create the bubble effect on an inked background. Then stamped with the Visible Image Create With Your Soul sentiment stamp when the background was dry.  The butterflies are a Dreamees stamp. 

Here on an mdf plaque I used a stencil and Tim Holtz ink to create my backing paper onto stamping card. Then heat embossed the Visible Image Create with your Soul sentiment stamp using copper Wow embossing powder. Finishing off with gathered lace around the edge.

My first mixed media mini canvas using the same stamp, some tissue paper for texture, texture paste, mica powder and random bits and pieces from my craft draw.

 
On this card I have used the Visible Image  Dragonfly stamp. I Stamped onto white card using a versaMark clear embossing pad and the dusted it with metallic mica powders. I did the same with the topper for the card.

I

 used the same technique for this card but a variation on colour, adding the Live in the Moment sentiment stamp. These stamps are thick and deeply etched to pick up every detail and get a perfect image.

 I do love this stamp, its so unique, from the Visible Image, Where your Dreams Take You stamp set.
I was inspired by a demo by Mark Alexandra where he used droplets of distress ink and let them run down the card creating a dripped effect. So, I decided to try and re-create this myself. 

 I heat embossed onto watercolour card with black embossing powder and used Tim Holtz distress inks to ink around the edges of the card. When trying this technique I let each dripped colour dry first to avoid them merging into a muddy puddle.

I also used some pebeo masking solution over the whites of the eye to avoid getting any colour on there.  It provides a rubbery cover wherever you paint it. When you have finished colouring your card, the solution just rubs off. On the name bunting I used coordinating ink.



I made this card using the Capture The Moment camera stamp by Visible Image.
I used a printed backing paper and stamped the film reel using an Inkylicious stamp. Then stamped various images using Stazon ink onto the acetate. Stazon is a solvent based ink and ideal for stamping onto non porous surfaces.  After stamping the topper, I decoupaged the zoom lense and gave it an acetate lense to give the image a little dimension.

 For this free standing plaque, I used the Visible Image  Laugh Louder sentiment stamp which has been heat embossed with silver metallic superfine Wow embossing powder. I have also used the same embossing powder to heat emboss the butterfly stamps onto pink vellum using The Dreamees  Fall & Foliage stamp set.

Using a Dreamees mdf plaque, I made this inspirational plaque made using the Visible Image  Keep Going Stamp which has been heat embossed onto Dreamees backing paper. Flowers were made using Dreamees Pretty Petals stamp set.

Using the same Visible Image Keep Going sentiment stamp which has been heat embossed onto embossing glitter. The flowers were made using The Dreamees Creative Chrysanthemums stamp set and the backing papers are also from the Dreamees cd.

This bookmark was made for a group swap using the Visible Image Face it Stamp and the Perfectly

Flawed sentiment stamp. The eyelids have also been glittered. I inked the watercolour card using the

same set of Tim Holtz Distress Ink Minis. I love tis stamp set too, one of my favourites.

I hope you have enjoyed my makes

Happy Crafting