Pony Express

This months theme over at Art Journal Journey is Post and Postage. I immediately thought of the Pony Express, don't ask me why.

Here is my journal page.

The image of the rider and the sign are off the Internet. I drew and cut out the cactus.

 

I created the background with acrylic paint and an old credit card.

A close up of the sign.

My dad use to collect American stamps and I have a bag full of his spare stamps, I decided that there must be one with a Pony Express rider on it and after what seemed like hours sifting through them I found one.

A Couple Of ATCs.

Today I'm sharing a couple of ATCs with you,

For he backgrounds on both of them I used Dylusions ink, did some stencilling and stamped some script. I used PaperArtsy stamps for the images.

KCUK Deco Pages - Spring Flowers

Good Morning, I hope you are all having a lovely weekend, after yesterdays beautiful sunshine we have rain today and it looks like it's not going to stop.

I'd like to share with you a couple of pages that I made for the KCUK deco swap.

I stamped the background with an Impression Obsession stamp and Distress ink. I then stamped the PaperArtsy/Jofy flowers onto the page and onto white scrap card. I used Inktense pencils to colour the flowers and stems then I cut the flowers out and glued them to the page and added some dew drops. I then stamped the Hobby Arts quote directly to the page and drew lines round the sides.

I coloured the background with Distress ink and stamped the Joanna Sheen lily of the valley stamp with Archival ink. I stamped the main image [ I think it's a Hero Arts stamp ] onto white card with Archival ink I cut the image out and added some ribbon and die cuts.

Butterfly ATCs

Today I would like to share some butterfly ATCs with you.

The backgrounds are Gelly prints and the butterfly is an Innovative Stamp Creations stamp. I put stickles on the wings.

Mixed Media Mojo - Christmas In July/Twist Santa

It's time for the latest Mixed Media Mojo Challenge, the theme is Christmas In July and the twist is Santa.

For my DT project I've made a Christmas cracker, I made the Santa to decorate the cracker but I decided he was to big and didn't look right. I won't give details of how I made him as I might use him on something else.

I coloured the background with red, green and white acrylic paint, then I used a pitt pen to colour an Impression Obsession stamp and stamped the background.

I stamped some snowflakes and some gold stars.

I used a Creative Expressions cracker template to make the cracker.

This photo shows the gold stars.

This is the finished cracker. The holly was made using a Sizzix  Holly Branch die.

Altered Eclectics - Stampboard Tea Lights

It's the start of a new month so it's time for the latest Altered Eclectics challenge, as always the theme is Anything Goes as long as it's mixed media or altered art, no cards allowed.

For my DT piece I've decorated a wooden tea light holder with stampboard.
The first two photos show the decorated sides of the tea light holder.

This is the wooden tea light holder.

I painted the holder with gesso then I gave it a coat of wisteria Fresco Finish paint. I used a Pitt artist brush pen to ink the flower stamp and stamped the four sides and top.

I used black Stazon ink to stamp the images and Versa Magic Chalk ink to colour them.

When they were finished I glued them to the holder.

All the stamps I used are by Crafty Individuals.

The rest of the DT have made some lovely inspirational samples, they would love you take a visit to Altered Eclectics to take a look.

June Calendar - Lavender and Dragonflies

Here is my June Calendar for the Craft Barns challenge, the theme is Lavender and Dragonflies.

I coloured the background by scraping a mixture of lavender, wisteria and chalk Fresco Finish Paint over the card.
I used Faber-Castel Pitt big brush pens to colour a PaperArtsy flower stamp.
The dragonflies were stencilled with gesso, when this was dry I coloured them with Inktense pencils and a water brush.

Masculine Journal Page

Good morning all, I hope you're all having a good weekend. Mine hasn't been so good, I badly twisted my ankle on Friday and am feeling very sorry for myself, my foot is very painful, very swollen but it's changed to some amazing colours.

I'm sharing my project with
The Art Journal Journey challenge - Masculine - Feminine.
The Anything But Cute challenge - Make It Masculine.

  

 I love this After Midnight stamp,

I started by scraping acrylic paint over the page then I did some stencilling with a fluorescent pink paint

I added some stamping to the background and did some lines with the edge of an old credit card.

I painted some white paint so that the stamped and embossed image would stand out. I edged the page using black Archival ink and then I added the Immanuel Kant quote, he was a German philosopher - born 1724 and died 1804 - "Man must be disciplined, for he is by nature raw and wild". I think the image looks a little wild.

Stamps used
After Midnight - the main image.
Dina Wakley - the border.
PaperArtsy - the white circles.
Stampers Anonymous - background.

There are some stamps on the background that I'm not sure who made them.

Butterfly Tag.

I made this tag for a black and red tag swap, unfortunately the red looks very pink.

I brayered some black and red paint for the background and brayered the excess paint onto some white card. I stamped the Stampers Anonymous butterflies onto the painted card and tore round them, I wound some red metalic thread around the butterflies and then adhered it to the tag. I stamped the Innovative Stamp Creations butterfly onto the card and cut it out. You cant see from the photo that I covered the butterfly with stickles. I added the sentiment [unknown stamp]

Ebony and Ivory ATC

The May theme for the UK Stampers ATC swap was Ebony and Ivory.

I drew lines round a white ATC and then adhered a Gecko Galz image to it. I stamped and embossed some music notes and wrote the words. I went round the edge of the ATC with black soot distress ink.

Navy and Cream ATC

Good morning all, I hope you all had a good weekend and have lovely weather - cold and miserable where I am.

Today I'm sharing an ATC with you.

I started by stamping the image onto cream card and then I stamped the crackle round the edges.
I stamped the butterfly and sentiment onto a scrap piece of card and cut them out.
Items used.
Paper Bag Studio - image.
Kaiserkraft - crackle.
Unknown stamps - butterfly and sentiment.
Chipped sapphire distress ink.

I'm entering my ATC in the Moo Mania And More challenge - Anything Goes.

A Couple Of Cards

Hi everyone, I've made four cards this year and I'm sharing two with you today.

I used acrylic paint for both cards, building up layers by painting, stencilling and stamping. The main image is a Dina Wakley stamp and both sentiments are by Creative Expressions.

I'm sorry I've not done much commenting for a while, hopefully I can catch up next week.

Mixed Media Mojo Challenge - Summer

The theme for the latest Mixed Media Mojo Challenge is Summer and the twist is monochromatic.

When I was younger, many years ago, I use to pick flowers in the summer and press them in books, so for my DT piece I decided to alter a flower press that I found in a local charity shop. This is the finished press.

This is the flower press before I altered it.

When I took the press apart I found some long forgotten pressed flowers in it.

I started by painting the top with orange acrylic paint.

I then spread some DecoArt Weathered Wood Crackle Medium and painted it with a beige coloured paint.

In my stash I had a lovely piece of paper that was free in one of the Stampington magazines, I stamped the PaperArtsy/Lin Brown flower four times to make one large flower. I cut this out and glued it to the press.

I cut out two of the smaller flowers from the same stamp set and joined them together with a brad, I coiled some wire and fixed it to the back of the brad and then I glued it to the press. I added some words.

This is a photo of the flower press with some freshly picked flowers ready for pressing.

I'd like to share my project with
The Artistic Stamper challenge - Summer Is On It's Way.
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Goes.

The rest of the Design Team have made some wonderful inspirational pieces so why not pop over to  Mixed Media Mojo to take a look.

Altered Eclectics DT Post

It's the first of the month so it's time for the latest Altered Eclectics challenge, as always the theme is Anything Goes as long as it's Mixed Media/Altered Art, no cards or ATCs are allowed.

For my DT piece I've decorated this notebook cover.

This is the finished notebook.

I started by spreading some acrylic paint over a piece of copy paper with an old credit card.

I then spread some white paint.

More colours are added.

 I then added other colours using stencils and some stamping.

I covered the notebook with the paper.

I stamped the PaperArtsy/Lin Brown flower onto a french book page and cut them out, then I glued them to the cover.

 I coloured the flowers and added some remnant rubs to the cover.

The very talented DT would love you to visit Altered Eclectics to have a look at the fabulous things they've made.