A Right Mixed Bag

I'm part of the "From the Ashes" art journaling CJ over on UKScrappers and the latest CJ to come to me is from the fabulous Karen entitled, "A Right Mixed Bag" which is code for do whatever you like!! So I did what I liked and here it is:

I made them to work as layouts in their own right or they can be put together and work as a double layout. I used Dylusions sprays and stamps, Stampotique stamps and Dawn Inskip images. The rub-ons are gorgeous Kaisercraft ones called "Inner Self" and as Karen will know I'm quite a nag about beauty being an inner trait. People fall in love with hearts not faces :)

We also had to make matching ATCs so here they are:

I hope Karen likes them, she wanted a lot of different pages and there wasn't any quite the same as these so hopefully it's added to her right mixed bag. Looking forward to the next CJ in this group! Keep Crafting - Sian xxx

Freaky Cards

The theme of the October Card Swap over on UKScrappers this month was FREAKS! This could include characters by stampotique, the octopode factory, Dylusions, Tim Holtz, Kenny K.... anything alternative alongside a non-traditional sentiment. I decided in the end to go with my beloved stampotiques. Here they are:

I used Stampin Up!s Indigo Island and Whisper White card, various Stampotique images, a Dylusions border, a sentiment I typed and printed out and for the background I used the gorgeous Tattered Angels Haunted Shadows spray - if you click on the photos you may be able to see the lovely gold mica in it.

This has been my favorite card swap month since I started hosting in July these cards are right up my street and I could make them all day and night. I've received some brilliant interpretations from those who have participated and will try to remember to photograph them all together for a real freak show :D Sian xx

Frankenfings

Another UKS Tag Swap hosted by the lovely Leanie. This months theme is "Frankenfings" celebrating the art journaling trend of creating a collaged person. I thoroughly enjoyed cutting the heads off magazine models for this swap!! I also cut out legs, arms and other bits and I used Dylusions stamps and sprays and my ever faithful promarkers:

I love how confused the frog looks scratching his (or her?) head! Hopefully Leanie will like them and they are sufficiently freaky. Sian xx

Rock Resurrected

My gorgeous Rock Resurrected CJ has finally returned home and I LOVE it! My theme was lyrics and everyone has done a great job. Here it is:

Thanks everyone for a brilliant CJ experience! Sian xx

Art Journals

After an upsetting weekend art journaling has been very therapeutic. I was glad I had a background ready to journal on. I made this:

I went to a 12 hour crop on Saturday and was pleased to make my first ever calendar page as demonstrated by Kate Crane. It's far from perfect but for a first attempt I'm really pleased.

I was going to do them slightly differently initially (as shown below)

but after watching Kate Crane's DVD and seeing a whole book of the kind that she does it really did look so amazing that I thought I would try that for a while. I do like both though. Sian xx

Stuff

I realised that I only ever blog swaps or CJs here at Live Scrap Love so I thought I'd be brave and blog some other "stuff" of mine!

Starting off small, here's a little card I made to accompany something very small I was sending somebody - I didn't want to put it alone in an envelope as it would be flimsy. It's made using stampin up card, Tim Holtz stamps and an image from a Jem's Design's goth CD.

I rarely if ever post my scrapbook pages, not sure why but here's a few - some my favourites, some just happen to be recent pages:

Ok, onto art journaling... a recentish discovery of mine and something I love and hope to love for the rest of forever! I've got Kate Crane's art journaling dvds and that is where the majority of my inspiration comes from - and Dyan Reaveley. In fact I've just booked a course at Art From the Heart, something I've wanted to do for aaaages! Here's some backgrounds, for those of you familiar with Kate Crane's DVDs you will be able to spot what I've done a mile off haha.

And here's one I finished ages ago... hoping to improve my technique but not bad for a newbie-ish

And finally some cards I've made over the years:

(real smarties - yummy!)

Ok that's it for tonight. Still busy making lots of things so hope to blog again soon! One of these days I will blog regularly :oD Sian xxx

Linkin Park

The end of another era... last night I completed my final entry for the fantastic Rock Ressurected CJ I've been a part of for a year now. The final CJ was Linkin Park by Virginia and it's amazing, really well made! Virginia is a very giving person and I know she has a tendency to finish of people's CJs if there are still empty pages at the back. So I thought I'd do the same for her. There were 4 pages left but I inadvertently stuck two of them together so that left 3.

We were asked to choose a Linkin Park song, create a LO, suggest some music that Virginia would like and then create our own symbol.

I chose "Lost in the Echo" as my first song - I LOVE the video and it gave me the idea for my LO which you will understand if you've seen the video which I'm sure Virginia has.

For music I chose Ani DiFranco and the Voodoo Queens. And my first symbol is a Yin Yang symbol to represent balance.

The second song I chose is Numb. Again I love the video and its message. 

For the music this time I chose Two Steps From Hell who I have only recently discovered. This time my symbol was a purple shield with wings as I'm a very guarded person. The full explanation of each symbol is written on the back for Virginia to read.

Finally I chose Crawling, a song I've always loved.

For music I chose The Pretty Reckless' cover of Seven Nation Army which I only heard when I heard them live, supporting Evanescence. My final symbol was a Rock Angel symbolising my love of rock music and the freedom of dancing.

So I hope it all lives up to what has come before as I was intimidated by this journal before it even came to me having seen it on Virginia's blog when she made it. I will be sending it home this week to complete it's circle and await mine from Karen :o)