Pop Me Your Art

As part of an art journaling circle journal on UKScrappers my current journal is called "Pop Me Your Art" by Tracy... there aren't many rules really except no bright colours which at first I wasn't sure about as I'm heavily into Dylusions sprays which are extremely vibrant and I had it in mind that not bright meant pastel but I realised it could also mean darker.

We were to choose a subject and base our page around it so as I love stamping I chose one of my favourite stamps, Pretty Girl by Suzi Blu, and found a quote that matched. The quote came from an art journal page I came across by a talented lady called Heather Foust so I scraplifted her page and here is the outcome...

I kept to the colour scheme of olive and aubergine which blended really well. The background was sprayed with Tattered Angels sprays Haunted Shadows and Olive Vine and left to dry overnight as it was printer paper so quite thin and vulnerable. I stamped a stampotique stamp all along the bottom of both pages and used black and white pens to create a frame and the flowers. I put crushed grape dylusions spray into a water pen and used it to colour in flowers. The stamp was coloured with pro-markers in pear green, plum, purple, orchid and pastel yellow. 

The clouds were cut out of white card, glued on and then a black pen used to create the shadows. I hand wrote the quote to give it a personal look rather than printed it. I used a gold pro-marker for the sun so it wasn't too bright and it complimented the colour scheme. I also added some flourishes from Tim Holtz stamp "Urban Chic". 

The signing in book was gorgeous. We had a double page each and two ATCs to fill in and then decorate to match our pages. I simply sprayed them with the same tattered angels sprays and repeated some of the elements from the main page.

Hopefully this meets Tracy's requirements and she likes it. It's been really enjoyable to work on. Sian xx

Decorated Notebook

How many crafters love stationary? Yes me too!!! So when I saw the decorated notebook swap on UKScrappers I had to join, my very own personalised notebook what's better than that? Not much! This was a direct swap and I was very pleased to get Chris aka scrapnanny whose likes were Tim Holtz, grunge, art journaling, graphic 45 and 7 gypsies.... yummy! Her dislikes were peeloffs, crows, people with one eye?? and cutesy. I happened to possess some gorgeous graphic 45 communique papers perfect for a notebook. I found decorating the book thoroughly enjoyable. Here it is...


The front is decorated with graphic 45 papers, lace, grungy flowers and a lock I'd been saving for something special...

The back is decorated with graphic 45 and 7 gypsies papers, more lace and flowers:

One of the graphic 45 papers had a spine length pen which I cut out and it fit perfectly here:

I hung cream ribbon through the notebook adding a key on one end and a 

Tim Holtz pin with "ideas" on it to the other end...

Inside the front and back I added more graphic 45 images:

Then finally inside I left these 3 journaling notes free for Chris to put anywhere. They came from the Graphic 45 Ladies Diary paper I bought:

I hope she likes it as much as I enjoyed making it. Sian xx

Look closer...

The regular monthly tag swap on UKScrappers has a theme in August of "canvas". I happened to have two pieces of printable canvas paper that mum gave me - I think they call that serendipity. I decided to print a vibrant background onto them before adding my images however printing on canvas turned out to be a washout - literally, the background looked washed out. So I sprayed over them with dylusions sprays with varying results. On one I added some water which succeeded in sealing that particular tags fate as a faded background. The others are more vibrant but it wasn't the easiest medium to work with in tag form.

I added Dylusions images to the tags and a quote which I hand wrote. I stuck to three colours - pink, green and blue. Here's the tags:

I wanted a quote that went with the emphasised glasses on the lovely Pondering Petunia. My mum says it reminds her of her huge glasses in the 80s :oD The quote also reminds me not to judge people by their initial appearance but to get to know them. I recently used the same quote on an art journal page I made with the help of Dyan Reaveley's fantastic new book, "My Creative Journal Journey" which gives you step by step guidance. Here's the page:

I'm not sure it's totally finished, but for now it is. I've some other projects to blog but I'm waiting until they've been received by the swappee so they get to see them first. 

Keep crafting! Sian xxx

Beauty and the Beast... ROCK!!! (and some colour)

I've changed puters again! I'd borrowed hubby's laptop but now thanks to my lovely parents lending me the money on the special daughter's payment plan I've got my very own lovely little purple lappy :oD So I've been busy transferring everything again! I've decided to leave most of my stuff on my external hard drive to save space and to save time. I'm sure one day this laptop will die (sorry laptop don't listen to this bit) and I don't want to have to worry that I've lost everything... again... anyway onto crafty business. I've been a busy bee and have some piccies for you...

First of all I've been finishing off my entries for the fantastic Rock Ressurected CJ on UKScrappers. It's my first experience of a CJ and it's been a brilliant one full of talented women into rock music (what's better than that?!). The first entry I completed was in what's become known as the Rock Disney CJ from Jasmine. It's a beautiful leather bound work of art. Jasmine asked for inspiration from the films/tv, what songs were we introduced to through the silver screen, and what rock stars would be paid millions to be in a re-make of a Disney film? Well Jas, I think I have the answers you're looking for!!! May I present to you all...

Beauty and the Beast ROCK!!!

Have you guessed it yet????....

So there you have it... my answer to one of the greatest questions known to womankind. Well, perhaps not! ;) This part of the entry (yes there's more, there's more) is in mini book form, overleaf I've done a layout about a tv program that influenced me throughout my twenties and introduced me to lots of music including to the fabulous Bif Naked - another lady with tattooed arms like myself....

And my sign-in/explanation.

So I hope it's entertaining enough for Jas and you never know it could happen...

I also completed an entry for Clare's Colours CJ. We were to make an entry based on a colour found in a band name or song... after much, much, much (and a bit more) deliberation i opted fro GREEN day. I created two different entries and threw them both away because frankly they were awful and ended up scraplifting something I found on the net that I loved.... here it is...

The backgrounds are done with the gorgeous Dylusions sprays and a Tim Holtz grunge stamp, the border is a Dylusions stamp and the writing of some of my favourite Green day songs is done simply with a black pen and a white pen. We also had to create a matching spine mount. I like the way the sprays blend together so well. Hopefully it's the right size for Clare. Unfortunately her CJ went awol so we are helping her to recreate it. I hadn't already done an entry but some others had so they are very graciously creating another one for Clare.

Ok that's it from Rock Ressurected for now. I have one more entry to do.... Linkin Park. Looking forward to it!

Bye for now.... keep rocking! \m/ Sian xx

August Card Swap

So for anyone who reads this regularly you will know I've taken over the card swap on UKScrappers. This month the swap was written as follows:

"Sadly this year we've had less and less butterflies than usual due to the weather. The wind has been blowing the pollen off the flowers - but if people buy plants such as buddleja's (also known as Butterfly Bushes) we can help. They are structured differently holding the pollen deeper within their flowers so the wind can't get at them. I'm not asking you to buy a buddleja (though they are gorgeous!!!) but let's bring those butterflies back ladies - August is (meant to be) summer and with summer comes birds, bees, dragonflies and butterflies - the theme therefore will be WINGED THINGS.

As an extra option for those who choose to accept (you don't need to do this part) it I'd like to see some purple on there as most Buddleja's are purple and some fabric (this can be interpreted as ribbon if you like)"

I did intend to use all three criteria but once I'd made the first one I decided that adding fabric or ribbon would spoil it so I've stuck to the theme and also used purple and here's the cards:

I stamped the papermania butterfly stamp onto stampin up whisper white card using fired brick, spiced maramalade, mustard seed and shabby shutters distress inks, drew a purple line around the image then cut it leaving a white border. I matted it onto tempting turquoise (stampin' up!) card then stamped the Indigo Blu stamp "let your could and spirit fly" onto acetate using royal purple staz on (everything else wipes off) I attached the acetate using mini foam pads then covered the pads with purple self adhesive gems. Finally I attached the lot using double sided tape to the gorgeous elegant eggplant stampin' up! card

The end of an era... and some crafty stuff

The end of an era you ask? Well yes, my desktop computer died a sad death a couple of weeks ago. It's pretty old, especially in today's fast-paced world of ipads, tablets, space stations, mars missions... my old computer just couldn't keep up. I'd saved most things on an external hard drive so I'm not too upset and fortunately hubby has a laptop which I've temporarily confiscated.

So onwards and upwards... I've a few craft projects I've not blogged due to said computer death and the battery on my camera seemingly running out every time I decided to upload pics again.

Ok so first up the July tag swap on UKScrappers - my favourite theme so far... STEAMPUNK... yay! And around the same time Daisytrail announced a deal on some new steampunk digi kits so who was I to turn down this serendipitous offer? First of all I embossed the tags with steampunk style folders then inked over them with distress inks in colours that matched my images. I cut the images from the digi kits and foam padded them on. I then added some metal here and there. For the final tag I wanted a quote about heartstrings but couldn't find one so I made one up... You should be able to read it by clicking on the picture to enlarge it.

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Next the end of another era. Sadly a CJ I participated in on UKS has come to an early end for various reasons. I completed my last entry in Chell's A Moment in Time book:

I cut a chipboard clock in half, inked it up and added Tim Holtz quotes about time in between. I used Bo Bunny journal papers to make the side panels which opened up to reveal two different "moments in time". On the left I've asked what moment from my childhood I would keep forever and I chose the security I would have felt as a 3 week old baby who was loved. On the right I've asked what moment from my adulthood so far would I keep forever and I've chosen the peace I felt at the moment this picture was taken when I was happy on holiday and truly living in the moment.

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Finally, for now anyway, I'm part of another CJ on UKS called "From the Ashes" its an art journaling CJ - something I'm still very much learning about but very much enjoying. This particular book was called "Everything Stops for Tea" and was all about Britain. I decided to create an entry called, "What I love about being British" - I often think Britain gets a hard press, we are criticised in many ways but as a British woman I feel priveleged to enjoy a freedom to be myself, a freedom that women are not given in some other countries or cultures...

I used Portobello Road papers for the background, added some paint, some stamping and some "She Art" rub ons. The stamped image is from Paperartsy. I liked her because she looks "proper" like a gentlewoman of England and also because she says dream and part of my journaling is about Britain being a place where I can realise my dreams. I left her black and white so she stood out against the busy background. The crown is a portobello road sticker to represent our rich royal history. The sunshine in the corner was a bit of a joke as Britain is notorious for its terrible weather. I then used my new metallic pro markers - green to draw the journaling lines and purple to write the words to express why I love Britain. On the back for the sign in I coloured the grungeboard in with the purple pro-marker and added a portobello road die cut.

I've now received a pop art journal which looks amazing so I've to get my thinking cap on. I'm participating in plenty of swap and CJs at the moment so expect more crafty blogness from me soon as I get cracking to finish all my projects.

Sian xx