Matchbox Swap

Altered matchbox swap over on UKScrappers. My swappee was the fab Rebecca and as her work is always out of this world I knew I couldn't just make her any old matchbox so instead I went for a double drawer set with a journal in one and prompts in the other...

This is what the drawers look like by themselves...

Here's the journal in the top drawer:

And here's the prompts in the second drawer...

This is what the back of each one looks like... 

And the prompts spell out...

I used a list of unusual words with meanings that I thought might invoke ideas or creativity and inspire an art journal page.

 Thanks for stopping by...

Looking forward to receiving mine :)

Mini Canvas Swap

Another swap on the fab UKScrappers - a 7 x 5 canvas so I went to my favourite source of inspiration - Pinterest - and then started my canvas. I found it hard to take photos to show off its true colours so I'll put a couple of photos up taken in different lights and hopefully you will get the idea. Here it is in two different lights:

I used various washi tapes and ripped papers and added Finnabair modelling paste through stencils

I used Finnabair paint and glass glitter, as well as Inka-Gold and Stampin Up Botanical Garden Jewels Embellishments

The ribbon was from the Range and the metal sentiment is a Tim Holtz Quote Band

Looking forward to receiving a canvas back in return :) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mixed Media Canvas

Karen over on UKScrappers set up a Mini Canvas Swap - mini meaning a 7 x 5 flat canvas board which we can decorate however we choose. On the one hand having no boundaries is great, on the other hand it can be overwhelming. In the end I just mooched through my stash, found a couple of stars and decided to go for that as my theme as I love all things Astronomy! So here's my canvas:

I attached grungeboard stars and chipboard alphas then covered the canvas in Finnabair black gesso. 

I painted over the gesso with Art-C Luxe Paint. 

I stencilled some paint through That's Crafty! Dinky Stencil Star Shower. I used a partial quote and printed it using my label maker then dabbed the paint over that too.

 Looking forward to seeing my swap :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art Journaling Calendars

This month will mark the end of my 2nd year completing monthly Art Journaling Calendars ala the wonderfully fabulous and talented Kate Crane. 
I always split November into two parts - the first leading up to my birthday and the second from my birthday onwards. The first part marks my goodbye or ending of that year of my life and the second part is usually a hopeful look forward to the future year. Here's November 2015 part one:

The female image is a Carabelle Studios stamp, I love how she is looking up.

November is stamped onto tissue paper and Mod Podged onto the page. 

Letter stamps are Indigo Blu

The lovely star stencil is Seth Apter and I used Cosmic Shimmer texture paste

The quote is from a Walt Whitman poem "The Clear Midnight"

This quote I took from an old book of poetry I have. 

I've had a difficult year and this just summed up how I felt about certain things.

I used the blue to symbolise the night sky and saying goodnight to my 37th year.
Now onto part 2 - saying hello to 38!

I wanted to use colours for a pinky purple sunset to symbolise a new day

The large letters are an Autumn Leaves stamp set

The gorgeous female stamp is Carabelle Studios and again I love how she looks up.

The days are a Paperartsy stamp which I thoroughly enjoyed stamping and cutting out and I will be using it again - maybe cut in half?!

All pages were created with Dylusions acrylic paints then carious stamps and stencils helped to build up the backgrounds.

So I look forward (cautiously) to my 38th year - may it bring peace, joy and lots of creativity!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~