Teabag Art for Elizabeth's Earthday Recycling Month.

 Hi everyone.

I'm back today, after dropping off the blogging planet, with a recycling page for Elizabeth's (Altered Book Lover) Earthday celebrations. Elizabeth is sharing my teabag art junk journal page on her blog today.

On a mixed media background I created a pocket with a used teabag, and inserted some cut off scraps from a previous project, adding a little button and some words for my finishing touches.

I'm typing this post one handed as a few weeks ago I tripped and fell in the street, fracturing the top of my humerous, the ball part of my arm that fits into my shoulder socket. Fortunately it was my non-dominant arm, so I'm not completely helpless, but my newly retired husband has stepped up and been amazing in his new job as my carer. Luckily I had this page already made, but I'm sure hubby would have helped with this too.

Thanks to Elizabeth for including my art on her blog, and to you for visiting today.

Alison xox

Robin Christmas Cards

 Hello All.

I've made a start on my Christmas cards, 18 so far. I treated myself to some new dies, Tim Holtz Sizzix birds and festive foliage.

Here are a selection of the cards.

I added gold sparkly ribbon and some Tim Holtz Distress Stickles to this one, so I'm linking up to Try It On Tuesday's Sparkle All The Way challenge.

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison 

Birthday card

 Hi everyone!

Here's a card I made for my aunt, using Crafty Individuals stamps. I used distress inks to watercolour the image.

I'm linking my card to Try It On Tuesday's Make It Feminine challenge.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison

Seek Gather Create August 2024 - Week Three

 Hello All.

Here is my art journal page for week 3 of the Seek Gather Create August Instagram Challenge.

The items are... The colour fuchsia, an eye, bubbles, and ruffles.

I used a PaperArtsy tissue paper eye, as well as some other elements from the sheet. The birds are from Crafty Individuals. The text is from my art room copy of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. The pink squares are from a master board I had in my stash. 

I'm linking my page to the following challenges...

Jo's Wonderfully Wild theme at Art Journal Journey. Wild birds

Try It On Tuesday's Make It Feminine theme. Pink and lace

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison

Try It On Tuesday - Small Things

 Hello All.

I'm delighted to tell you that I am the guest designer for Try It On Tuesday's new theme of Small Things.

I created an ATC for the challenge.

My base is a Stampbord ATC, which I coloured with Distress Inks. I stamped the Tim Holtz fairy children, then used Crafty Individuals stamps to create their garden, and used a script stamp to add interest to the grass and sky. I used coloured pencil to add more colour, then finished with some found words from a book page, and a few black paint splatters.

Please head over to Try It On Tuesday to see the team's wonderful artwork. I do hope you'll join in with the challenge.

Alison xox

365 Somethings 268-275

 Hello All.

Here are my latest two sets of mini collages for the 365 Somethings challenge.

Days 268-271

Did you spot that I used some pieces cut from the watercolour flowers pages that I made in Wanderlust live recently? Francisca suggested cutting them up to use on our art.

Days 272-275

The wonky black circles on these are a Crafty Individuals stamp.

Thanks so much for visiting and leaving your lovely comments on these little collages. I really appreciate it.

Alison xox

December Art Journal Calendar

 Hello All.

Finally found some time to fit in a blog post! It'll be a quickie, as I must write some Christmas cards, then get the dinner on, not necessarily in that order.

Here's my December calendar spread.

And here's my completed November spread.

I hope you're all having a good week.

Alison

More Seaside Memories

 Hi Everyone. Happy Saturday!

I have another two pages to share today, made for Elle of Empire of the Cat's Journal August challenge.

Day 17 - Black & White. I had a good rummage in my collage fodder box for this one.

Here's a closer look at the button. You may remember that I made it on the Collage Fodder course a while ago.

Day 18 - Sand/Castle. Another happy beach memory. My sandcastles always had to have a moat, a few shells to decorate them, and some paper flags from the beach promenade shops. I used some Crafty Individuals' beach stamps for the quote, shells and starfish.

I'm linking my sandcastle page to Chris' When We Were Young theme at Art Journal Journey.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison

EOTC Journal August - Days 15 & 16

 Hello All.

I have a couple more pages to share from Elle of Empire of the Cat's Journal August challenge.

Day 15 - Lost & Found

Day 16 - Rollercoaster. This brings back memories of trips to the seaside town of Margate on the SE coast of the UK. My auntie and uncle had a holiday flat there, so it was lovely to meet up with my cousins. As well as the beach, we enjoyed visiting the Dreamland Amusement Park. I was never a fan of the rollercoaster though, too scary for me! I did enjoy spending my pennies on the slot machines though.

I'm linking my seaside page to Chris' When We Were Young theme at Art Journal Journey.

Thanks for visiting and leaving your lovely comments,

Alison

April Art Journal Calendar & AJJ - Red Rain

 Hello All.

I finally got around to creating my April calendar yesterday, and it was inspired by the great Peter Gabriel's song Red Rain, which links it perfectly to my theme Play It Again Sam at Art Journal Journey.

I started with a layer of teabag papers, then scraped light blue acrylic randomly over this. I hand-cut the raindrops from various red gelprints, and die-cut Tim Holtz's Umbrella Man and lettering from scraps of black card.

I used a red acrylic marker to add shadow to Umbrella Man and my title, and also some red splatters. I used a black gel pen to write some of the lyrics of Red Rain around the edges of my spread, and to add shadow to the red raindrops. I wrote in the day numbers, and finished with some randomly stamped lines using a Crafty Individuals stamp.

Here's my March calendar all filled in with my daily happenings from last month.

I pleased to let you know that Hubby's MRI was clear on Friday, but he has to return to the hospital for a neck scan and more tests tomorrow. 

Wishing you a happy Sunday, and thanks for visiting me today.

Alison

Have We All Had This Dream?!

 Hello All.

Here's today's Scrappy September Scavenger page.

Day 16 - Light green, Postcard, A piece of plaid fabric, Zig zag.

Bonus Item - A family portrait.

I used DecoArt Green Gold fluid acrylic for the background, a Crafty Individuals stamp for the postcard, a Carabelle Studio stamp for the zig zags, and a Dymo printer for the words.

I'm linking my page to Wendy's Vintage theme at Art Journal Journey.

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison

TIOT - For The Man In Your Life

 Hi Everyone!

I'm thrilled to be the guest designer at Try It On Tuesday today! Their new theme for the next two weeks is 'For The Man In Your Life'.

I made a card for the challenge, using Crafty Individuals stamps and Ranger Distress Oxide inks.

Be sure to go and check out the amazing inspiration from the TIOT Gang HERE! I hope you'll be inspired to join in with the challenge.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison xox

TIOT - Butterflies

 Hello All!

Thank you so much for all the lovely birthday messages! I really appreciated them!

The weather hasn't improved much today, and I've managed to get a few projects made. I'm sharing one today, which is a card for the new Butterflies theme at Try It On Tuesday.

It's not often that I do clean and simple. I used stamps by Crafty Individuals. 

The beautiful butterfly collage is stamped and clear embossed onto white card, then matted onto black card, then adhered to an A6 white card blank. 

I stamped the butterflies again on a scrap of white card, coloured them with Distress Oxide ink, cut them out, applied glue to the bodies, then adhered them to the image. They can flap their wings if they wish ;-)

I finished with a stamped CI birthday message.

I hope you're all having a good week so far.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison xox

Washi Tape Class with Birgit Koopsen

 I signed up to a great online class with Birgit Koopsen this week. She showed us some wonderful techniques for creating our own washi tape. What a cool idea, to be able to make tape to match your projects.

Here are the tapes I made. I used masking tape as a base, with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylics, various stencils, and stamps by me, PaperArtsy, and Crafty Individuals.

I used some of my hand-carved stamps on these ones...

I love these ones, I think they look a bit like graffiti.

And these ones were fun to make. I love the colour blocks!

Look out for them appearing in a few projects 😀

Happy St. George's Day!

Alison xx

52 Weeks Art Journal - Week 11

 Hi Everyone!

This week's theme for RaspberryBlueSky's 52 Weeks Art Journal Instagram Challenge is to use a colour you don't normally use. I chose the colour purple, with some contrasting yellow and orange.

This started with some torn pieces of gel prints, then a scraping of heavy body gesso. I scribbled some circles into the gesso, then spritzed, stencilled and splattered with purple inks. I used purple Distress Oxide ink to stamp and colour book and music pages, then cut out shapes for the flower. The small circles and leaves are cut from leftovers. I've been making some collaged Easter bunting to hang on my house ;-) I finished with some buttons, black doodles and splatters.

I'm linking my page to Sheila's A Single Flower theme at Art Journal Journey.

Wishing you all a happy and creative weekend,

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

Gratititude Junk Journal Day 27

 Hi Everyone!

It's the final day of Leah's Art Every Day Month Challenge, and I've so enjoyed seeing everyone's creativity this past month.

Today I'm sharing another gratitude junk journal page, a two page spread in fact. I'm linking this to the final day of Wendy's Birds theme at Art Journal Journey.

I ripped up some pretty bird-themed patterned papers and collaged them on my pages. Then I brayered on a light layer of Seaglass Fresco acrylic, and stamped a few bird images with teal Stazon ink. I created the grass with Hyde Park Fresco acrylic, and used a piece of corrugated card to apply it. I drew the birds, cut them out, and added details with coloured paint pens, stamped my title and a circles border.

Wishing you all a very happy Advent, and new week ahead.

Alison xox