Using masks and Xmas makes

I have been practising with using masks in my art journal. Some have come out well, some not so well!

I like the colours on this one but the masks have not worked very well! I also found that I loved the colours on the actual masks when I was finished with them so I have stuck them on the page as well.

I drew around my hand for this mask. Again, I like the colours on this one but wish I had resisted the urge to doodle on it afterwards!

This is my favourite one. I took the idea from a blog I found by Michelle Ward (I forgot to save blog to my favs so will have to find it again.) On her blog there was an area called Street team (I think!) where there were ideas for different techniques and challenges. I loved the poppy heads and it was weird because I used poppy heads on a page last week before I had found her blog. I drew the poppy heads by hand and cut them out to use as masks. I also stuck the masks onto the page afterwards as the colours on them were so nice. I stamped the dragonfly image and cut that out as a mask.

I also made this little xmas tree yesterday with instructions from Sarahs blog, http://stampinsarahiow.blogspot.com I used a mixture of old xmas scrapbook paper and grungepaper for the star. Thanks Sarah for picking us all up the poly cones!)

In the afternoon, the kids, my mum and me all went to my sisters to make some xmas wreaths. My mum had bought the wicker rings a while ago for a bargin 50p each! My sisters partner cut a load of greenery from the garden for us to use. We used garden wire to tie the greenery on but had to resort to the glue gun for the fir cones! Our fingers got all pricked by the fir (surprisingly the holly wasn't as dangerous!) and covered in sap that wouldn't come off, but I was really pleased with how they all turned out.

TFL,

Sami x

Bombshell stamps giveaway

Bomshell stamps are having a giveaway of one digital stamp and one rubber stamp. All you have to do is become a follower and place a link on your blog.

To enter go to http://bombshellstamps.blogspot.com

Sami x

Art journalling mojo

My scrapbooking mojo may have left the building for a while but my art journalling mojo has taken up residence in its place! I am really enjoying doing these journals and am trying to doodle something everyday.

This one has my fav poem on it. I covered the page with old texts and music sheets and then drew the face and the bird over the top. I then used my watercolour crayons for the background and some stamps to finish it off.

On this one I wanted to try using some masks. I have not had a lot of luck using masks on my other pages, the colour always seems to leak underneath the mask, but I have found what the problem was...I need to be patient and wait for the paint to dry so that the mask sticks to the paper! I covered this page with brown kraft wrapping paper and old text pages and then gessoed over sections of it. I cut the lady from a magazine and used re posisional spray to stick it down. I used watercolour crayons to paint the background, let that dry and then used Tim Holtz alphabet mask for the words and a compass mask and inked around them with distress inks and used some mica sprays. I drew the poppy heads on and wrote the quote on the ladys body. I am really pleased with how this has turned out and will be practising with masks some more.

Also, I only have two pages left to complete on the sketchbook project and then I can get that sent off. I am pleased I took part in the project, even though I am rushing the end pages slightly to get it sent off in time! I will post them when Im done.
Thanks for looking,
Sami x

Scrap with us

I have finally caught up with the weekly challenges over at the Wight craft circles Scrap with us challenge. I am not very happy with these latest pages, my scrapbooking mojo has gone at the moment, replaced by my enthusiasm for art journalling!

WK 36 Think pink

Me and my sis doing Race for life

WK 37 patchwork
Various photos of me

WK 39 scrap your friends

Zoe and Paige at Glastonbury Abbey

WK 40 scrap something scary

Scary zombie girl at the ghost walk we did at halloween! She freaked the hell out of me on the walk, she just kept appearing everywhere standing in the shadows with her head to one side like that!! Big cheat with this one as I used the poster that advertised the walk as my background, (sorry Paige I was trying to get it done quickly!)

Thanks for looking

Sami x

Wk 4 Art, heart and healing

Wk 4 over at Art, heart and healing was all about creating a needs angel. The focus behind it was asking the universe for your needs.

I did my angel in my art journal instead of A3 size, because I didn't have any good quality bigger paper!

We used texture gel on the wings and then painted over it.

I then painted an Angel for my friend as she is going to do my Reiki 2 attunement soon. I did this one on canvas and just did the head and wings. I got really stuck in with the texture paste on these wings as they were a lot bigger! I then painted over the gel and used an irridesent medium over the top to make them all shimmery!

I have really enjoyed Tam's free course. The amount of work and dedication she has put into a freebie is amazing and I have learnt so much. Tam is keeping the course up indefinately so I recommend you go check it out (link button on the right).
Thanks for looking,
Sami x

FREEBIE ART JOURNAL COLLAGE SHEET!!

I have been working on producing some art journal collage sheets. It started off for my own benefit so I could scan them and print images off to use again in my art journals and then I thought about offering one on my blog to see what you thought! I have had so many lovely, encouraging comments about my art journal work. When I started art journalling and was so unsure of what I was doing it was the comments from you guys that gave me the confidence to carry on with it!

So here is a freebie for you. This is the first one I have done, I have drawn and painted every image myself, I don't know whether you will like it or even want it, but if you do take a copy please let me know what you think and show me anything you use the images on!!

Paige has helped me test out how you can copy it so heres what to do...click on the picture so it opens in a new window then right click the picture and save image/save as. Save to your files then you can open it and print it out!

Thanks for looking,

Sami x

Art, heart and healing wk 3

Its week 3 over at Tam's Art, heart and healing course and this week we are doing the front cover of our board books, creating a celebration page and making an empaphy monstah!!

This is my front cover. The book will be a book about honouring yourself. We had to make a tag with our favourite quote on to attach to the book and I also added a couple of stamped tickets and a Tim Holtz silver disc.

This is my celebration page. I am really pleased with how the colours have come out but you can't really see it from the photo! This is a feel good page about all the things in my life that I need to celebrate.
I have not looked at the video yet to make the empapthy monstah, but I hope I have time to make one as they look really funky!
Thanks for looking x