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!

ATCs Shine

For this months blog challenge over on Daisy Chains I decided on something different for the anything goes theme.  I have made a set of  ATCs (Artist Trade Cards).

For these ATCs I used the Shine Bright and The Ripple Effect Visible Image stamp set.

The inks used were Tim Holtz spiced marmalade, evergreen borough and scattered straw distress ink.
I used a few drops of glycerine, which helps the ink blend and glide across the watercolour card.

Love this combination of colours and as I am using the Shine Bright stamp set, I thought that they would be an ideal combination.

I heat embossed the smaller lightbulb and 'shine' stamp onto watercolour card using black embossing powder.

Using a blending brush with a few drops of blending solution and the Tim Holtz scattered straw distress ink I coloured the inside of the light bulb and around the 'shine' wording, then cut them out.

Being a lightbulb, I decided it needed a glow so coloured the bulb with a spectrum noir clear sparkle overlay pen.

Using one of the Visible Image The Ripple Effect stamps I heat embossed around the cards using gold superfine Wow embossing powder.

I backed the card onto some orange coordinating cardstock and stuck the lightbulb on with pinfair gel glue to add a little dimension.

Pop over to the Daisy Chains blog using the link and have a look at the inspiration the rest of the design team have been making this month.  Why not have a go too.

Happy Crafting

ATC Cards - Be the Hope/Light/Missing Piece

ATC cards  - Artist Trading Cards.  A set of 3.

 Be the Hope in their heart

Be the light that shines bright

Be the missing piece of the puzzle

Made using the Banksy themed - Hope with a Heart Balloon by Inkylicious.and bubble stamps of the Jazz it Up stamp set by Visible Image. The little girl has been heat embossed with black embossing powder along with the balloon.

https://www.inkylicious.co.uk/ 

 Made using the Shine Bright Visible Image stamp set which has been heat embossed with black embossing powder.I then back the card onto black cardstock to coordinate.

https://visibleimage.co.uk/

I used a piece of Atlas backed onto black cardstock and then die cut it with a puzzle die.

ATCs are normally 2.5" x 3.5" but as I was going to layer this card onto more card I made it smaller.

I left the middle piece of the puzzle out and filled in space with some come Ranger glossy accent. When dry it leaves a glossy clear overlay.

I then backed this card onto a slightly larger piece of white card but was looking for something to add to the backing card. In my stash of various things you hope to find a use for one day I found some peel off stickers in the perfect colour that had a grid on the sheet.

I added my sentiments for these cards to finish them off. and attached them with a little Pinflair glue gel.My ATCs are now ready to go up onto the craft group page ready to swap.  Artist trading cards are original pieces of art made by other crafters and artists to trade and not sell. 

Happy Crafting