Cards...

While vacationing in St. Louis this past week, I managed to make two sets of cards and do several pages in the bird art journaling album that I will teach in July at Paper Arts.  My mother and I visited the Checkered Cottage in Kirkwood - a real cute scrapbooking store that's been in business for 17 years.  Got some ideas and made some small purchases.

Let's get on to the cards:

I made the background using my version of the Bokay method.  First, I masked off some dots, using punched sticky notes.  Then I used a blending tool and Barn Red Distress Ink to add the ombre background.  Next, I placed a stencil I made from cardstock and various circle punches over the ombre background and inked in some darker circles.  Finally, I removed the stencil and masked circles to add just a hint of color to the lower white circles.  Using Versamark ink, I stamped the sentiment and embossed it with white embossed powder.  The panel is mounted on a white card base.

This masculine card is my version of one I found on Pinterest.  All the stamps are from Stampin' Up.  First, I stamped the world map onto a piece of white cardstock, using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.   After drying, I added some smudges of Salty Ocean Distress Ink.  This is attached to a khaki colored card base. The anchor  was stamped on white cardstock.  The brown ring was die cut.  Using the solid circle from the inside of the ring, I drew around it onto white cardstock for a guideline, then stamped the ship in the middle of that circle using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.  Using a wet paint brush and Wild Honey Distress Ink, I painted in the sails on the ship and the anchor.  Using the same technique and Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink, I painted in the ship's hull.  The water was created using a blending tool and Salty Ocean Distress Ink.  Linen string was wrapped and tied around the ring.   I cut out the ship's circle, outside the penciled guideline and adhered it behind the ring, then adhered the assemble to the lower card front.  After carefully cutting out the anchor, I adhered it using foam tape. 

Red, White and Blue

It's time to decorate the house for the 4th of July.  I just finished this table runner - it's machine pieced and hand quilted.  Don't you think it looks great on the island in my kitchen?

A rope design in quilted in the red border.

A star motif is quilted in the center of each pinwheel.

Spotlight

Do you like to be the center of attention?  I think this girl does:

I'd like to credit someone with the idea for this page, but sadly, I can't find the pin on Pinterest.  

The background is a Gelli print.  The next layer is the black oval "stage", then the vellum spotlight.  I stamped and embossed the doll's skirt on glitter paper.  The dress bodice shimmers from the pink Wink of Stella pen.  The shoes' sparkle comes from a glitter pen. Her headband is adorned with stick-on sparklers.  I used Stampendous frontage around the front of the "stage" and heated it from below.  The sentiment stamp, "I'm pretty sure that with sparkly shoes and a new tiara she could conquer the world" is from Dylusions by Ranger.  Lastly, I sprinkled some shabby pink embossing powder on the background and heated from below to add just a little more sparkle.

This is probably my favorite Prima Doll journal page, so far?  What do you think?

Laughter

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."  These friends certainly enjoy a good time together.  

The page is based on a Gelli print, using a home made foam stamp to remove paint from the plate before printing, to get the word "laugh" down the left side of the page.  (I used foam letters on a thicker piece of fun foam to make the stamp.) An acrylic paint marker provides the dark green ground for the girls to stand on.  The flowers behind them are from a two-layer stencil - I don't know who produced the stencil because there's no markings on it!  The sentiment stamp is from the "Feel Goods" set by Stampin' Up.  The girls dresses are paper-pieced,  and their hair and head bands are colored with Pitt pens.

Sure hope you like these friends!  I had a blast putting this page together.

City Girl

Let's go back to the Prima Doll Art Journal I started in April.  Here's another page:

Sometimes you can get lost in the big-city, but this girls finds inspiration in her surroundings.  I like the quote  "You are braver than you believe, Stronger than you seem, Smarter than you think, And loved more than you know."  when you feel alone and doubtful about what you are doing.

A book page and a piece of clothing pattern tissue was adhered to the card stock base before I added the Gelli printing - it makes a really nice background.  Apparently I used some metallic paint because there's a nice sheen to the whole page.  The house stamp is from Cocoa Daisy - who knows how long I've been hoarding that one.  I used Pitt pens to color the houses and an acrylic paint pen to color the street for the girl to stand on.  The "Today I Am" stamp is also from Cocoa Daisy.  The quote done in yellow embossing powder on the teal cardstock is a Dylusions stamp from  Ranger.  Across the bottom, I added some map style washi tape, outlined with Pitt pens.

Look back at the archives for more Prima girls and stay tuned for more - I just uploaded 4 more pictures for future publication.

Journal by 5's

This is how I spent last weekend - creating an art journal using Shannon Green's idea of journaling by 5's.  Check out her blog:  shannongreen.blogspot.com for more info on the process.  (Sorry - I don't know how to add a proper link.)  I didn't follow her instructions exactly - I forgot to time myself a couple of sessions, and I went back and repeated session one after completing session two.  (Personally, I would switch the prompts for sessions 1 and 2.)  After going through all the sessions, I had a good basis for a journal.  I added scriptures, quotes, stamped images, the instructions on the back of the front cover, my thoughts on the back of the last page, Gelli prints to the front and back covers and a couple more pictures to fill in the blank spaces.  Finally, I rubbed Van's wax on all the pages so they won't stick together - thank-you Donna Downey for that idea.  This was a great exercise and I'd like to do it again in different colors that maybe won't get so muddy.  Maybe I'll do a video of the next journal - have to keep trying new things, right?

Inside the front cover I included the instructions on how to create this type of art journal.

1st page

Back of the last page - I recorded  how I did the journal (because I didn't follow the instructions exactly) and added some ideas on how to maybe teach this type of journaling in a classroom setting.

This is actually the front cover - I used an old Gelli print to hide the Composition Book front.

This is the inside of the back cover - I used some Gelli print scraps to make it prettier.