The 100 Day Project - 22-28

 Hello All.

I here today with my hand-carved stamps for the past week.

I'm really pleased with the word stamps, and they're so easy to carve on the erasers. And I absolutely love that flower! The crosses are going to be so useful for mark making. Let me know what you think :-)

Hope you're having a great weekend,

Thanks for visiting!

Alison xox

52 Weeks Art Journal - Week 8 - Bloom

 Hello All. I'm joining in with Raspberry Blue Sky's 52 Weeks Art Journal Challenge on Instagram, and this week's prompt is Bloom.

I already had a page started with some paint, marks and collage, and I sketched a flower shape over this with black india ink. I added some scribble writing, splashes and the flower centre with white ink, and also some gold ink marks and splashes.

I'm linking my page to Valerie's Heavy Metal theme at Art Journal Journey.

Thanks for visiting, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Alison xox

Art Journal Journey - Heavy Metal

 Hi Everyone!

I'm back today with another page for Valerie's Heavy Metal theme at Art Journal Journey.

I used a few of my recent hand-carved stamps on this page, with PaperArtsy Fresco acrylic paints, including their lovely Gold shade. I used Ranger archival black ink too. I needed to fill the black stamping in a bit as there was so much texture from the paint, and used a black Stabilo All pencil for this. I drew in some long legs for the bird, which looks like it's wearing stilettos! Lol

Thanks for dropping by today,

Alison xx

Creative JumpStart with Caylee Grey

Caylee Grey's 'Story of an ordinary day' class was the final class in the CJS course. There were a few that I missed out, and I might go back to those. But here's my page inspired by Caylee's class.

 I used magazine images to represent myself, my Husband and son, and my Mum. I had some sort of contact with them all in my day. I used colours from my day too, colours from my garden and the colour of my favourite chair. Music paper represents the music on the radio. 

I used staples to assemble my collage, so I'm linking this page to Valerie's Heavy Metal theme at Art Journal Journey.

I hope you're all having a good week,

Thanks for visiting,

Alison xox

Creative JumpStart with Danny Gregory

 Hello All.

Danny Gregory's class at CJS was titled Every Day Matters. We sketched, watercoloured and journalled everyday occurrences.

I used some copper metallic watercolour paint on my plate and mug, and silver on my crochet hook, so I'm linking up to Valerie's Heavy Metal theme at Art Journal Journey.

Thanks for visiting me today, I hope you have a great new week.

Alison xox

The 100 Day Project - 15-21

 Happy Sunday everyone!

Here are another week's worth of my hand-carved stamps for The 100 Day Project.

I hope you get inspired to start carving some stamps of your own! 

Have a wonderful day,

Alison xox

Creative JumpStart with Rachel Greig

 Hello Everyone!

Rachel's Greig's class for CJS was 'A letter to my younger self'. She used distress inks and Darkroom Door stamps to create an art journal page. Here's my version. I used Crafty Individuals and Darkroom Door stamps on my page.

I added brads to the rose window images, so I'm linking up to Valerie's Heavy Metal theme at Art Journal Journey. 

Won't it be lovely when we can go traveling again?! I live on the outskirts of London, so I've been there many times. I've visited Paris and Prague too. I've been to Italy, but never visited Rome. I'd love to see the Colosseum someday.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison xox

Creative JumpStart with Dina Wakley

 Layered thoughts was the title of Dina Wakley's class on CJS. We layered text on tissue paper, using stencils, paint, coloured pencils and paint pens. Then we ripped it up and used it as the background for a collage page, with a few added drips and splatters, and some words.

I'm linking my page to Valerie's Heavy Metal theme at Art Journal Journey. Isn't that Amsterdam Deep Gold acrylic ink just sublime?! Makes me feel good. Are you all singing now? :D

Thanks for visiting me today, I hope you all have a great weekend.

Alison xox

Creative JumpStart with Mary Beth Shaw

 Hello All. 

Day 40 (9th Feb) of CJS was A Patchwork Of Your Own Life with Mary Beth Shaw. 

I created a mixed media canvas using Mary Beth's stenciling techniques.

I started by creating blocks of white, black and gold gesso, then used a variety of stencils with embossing enamel and Lumiere metallic paint. I used watercolour paint to stencil on some music paper, then adhered this across the centre of the canvas, then stenciled on that with black gesso, and added marks with a gold paint pen. I stencilled the small squares between the blocks, then finished with splashes and drips of black india ink.

I'm linking my canvas to Valerie's Heavy Metal theme over at Art Journal Journey.

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison xox

More Creative JumpStart

 Hi Everyone!

I have a few more CJS projects to share with you today, starting with Rae Missigman's Colour Story on 5th Feb (Day 36).

After creating some large pieces with acrylic paint, watercolour paint, and soft pastel marks, we cut them up into various sizes of squares and rectangles.

On 6th Feb (Day 37), Vicki Boutin showed us a fun faux watercolour mon-printing technique, using Distress Inks. Here's the background I created.

And on 7th Feb (Day 38), Cheiron Brandon showed us how to create a background, and make up a story with Tim Holtz Paper Dolls and story stickers. I'm linking my page to Valerie's Heavy Metal theme at Art Journal Journey.

Thanks for visiting me today,

Have a great week,

Alison xox

The 100 Day Project - Week Two

 Hello All!

I have another week of my hand-carved stamps to share with you today.

It's quite a mixed bag, as you can see. The last few stamps have been carved from erasers, which are really soft and easy to carve, but the size is limited of course.

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison xox

Creative JumpStart and More

 Happy Weekend Everyone!

I'm up to Day 35 (4th Feb) of CJS, and this class by Jane LaFazio was titled Mono-printed Mini Quilt.

I love an excuse to get out my Gelli Plate, and I decided to print and stitch onto a cotton bag. I put a sheet of plastic inside the bag, to avoid the paint going through to the other side.

For the mono-printing, I cut out some masks, and starting with my lightest colour, I built up some colourful layers on the bag. 

I haven't done chainstitch or french knots for a very long time, so I was impressed that I remembered how to do those. I used two strands of embroidery thread for all of the stitching.

I used the same mono-printing technique on an art journal page for RaspberryBlueSky's 52 weeks art journal Instagram challenge, the theme this week being Be My Valentine.

I added some silver metal eyelets and pen stitches, and stapled my page into my art journal. I'm linking this page to Valerie's Heavy Metal theme at Art Journal Journey.

Thank you for dropping by today,

Alison xox

Creative JumpStart Days 33 and 34

 Hi Everyone!

It was Tina Walker's lesson on Day 33 (2nd Feb), with Storytelling through Art Journaling. Here's my interpretation.

And on Day 34 (3rd Feb), Jen Crossley showed us how to create a story in an art pendant. I hadn't done anything like this for a long time, but I managed to find the perfect items to use in my stash, and some Crafty Individuals images, and words from book pages.

Wishing you all a happy, creative and safe weekend,

Alison xox

Creative JumpStart Day 32

 Day 32 (1st Feb) of CJS was Visual Poetry with Rachel Juanita Bellamy. We used mono-prints, marks and poetry to create an abstract piece.

I added cream paint pen splatters and a sprinkling of Stampendous Frantage Aged Gold embossing enamel to bring it all together.

I'm linking my page to Valerie's Heavy Metal theme over at Art Journal Journey.

Creative JumpStart Day 31

 Day 31 of CJS was A Personal Journey with Rowan Sivyer. Rowan created a page about her mum who has dementia, using image transfers and mixed media. 

My page is less personal, as I used a magazine image to transfer, but I  used one of my hand-carved stamps, and I found some book text to tell a story. My image transfer didn't work perfectly, but I'm happy with the grungy effect.

I'm linking up to the More Mixed Media Challenge of Anything Goes, with Optional Red.

Thanks for visiting, have a happy and creative day,

Alison xox

Creative JumpStart Day 30

Day 30 of CJS was Show And Tell with Glenda Miles. She created a collage on a wooden block with photos of loved ones, then covered it with encaustic medium.

I used a flat wooden canvas with photos, collage and natural beeswax, then rubbed some Treasure Gold around the edges.

 I'm linking up to Valerie's theme Heavy Metal at Art Journal Journey.

Alison xox

The 100 Day Project - Week One

 Hello All! 

Instead of doing the 365 Somethings Challenge this year, I thought I'd do something a little less challenging, The 100 Days Project. I'm challenging myself to carve a stamp a day for the 100 days. I'm hoping to improve my stamp carving skills. At the moment, my stamps are a little organic, or maybe just messy. :D Anyway, I'm starting with some abstract designs, and hopefully I can progress onto more detailed ones. We'll see.

I'm going to enjoy using these in my art, and I look forward to reading your comments on my stamps.

Have a great weekend,

Alison xox