I would like to paint the way a bird sings.

Hi Everyone!

It’s my turn to share my project for the Either/Or challenge.

I’ve chosen to do a page, brights, circles and nice. 

 

Now bright is a bit of a kryptonite for me, but I’m improving.  So here goes…

First I stuck down some torn serviette into my Dylusions journal. I’ve had these for a while, (I think I got then from Kmart).

 

Then I sponged DinaWakley paints over the page. I’ve used Lime, Lemon, Ruby, Magenta, Peacock, Tangerine, Evergreen, Blackberry, Lapis and White.

 

My next step was to sponge more paint through various stencils, (7 Dots Studio and TCW).

 

Then I drew some circles and blocked out the rest of the page with Apricot. (I regret this; I should have used a different colour. Oh well.)

 

I did a second coat.  (I still didn't like it.)

 

I wanted to create a shadow around the circles so I used my Hickory Smoke Distress crayon and blended it with my finger. 

 

I then outlined the circles with a black pen. Adding scribbles and trying my hardest to be messy.  (This is hard for me.) It took a couple more circles before the perfectionist side of my personality would let it go.  (I’m a Gemini; one half chaotic, the other controlling.)

 

I stamped my leaves around the edges of some of the circles and the two birds in the larger circles in Jet Black Archival Ink. (Paperartsy Stamp Set ESN34).  Some didn’t stamp well and I coloured them in with a black pen.

 

I added the quote in pen and that’s it. I hope you like it.  I’ll be back later in the month with more to share. I’ll see you then.  Now it’s time to work on my Christmas gifts. 

Bye for now.

 

Jen.

 

Jen's Tag Ablum

 

Hi crafty people! I hope you are having a lovely day.  

I’m sitting on my back patio enjoying the lovely breeze on this 31 degree day.  Yes, Summer comes early up here, (and stays far too long).  This month’s challenge (Arabian Nights) has me dreaming of cool desert nights, wishing for some relief from our hot, humid nights. The price you pay for living in paradise.

 Today I’m sharing with you my tag album. 

I decided to tidy up my craft room while I was waiting for my parcel of goodies to arrive from Scrap Matrix, and I found some old chipboard albums from Kaisercraft that I was going to do ‘one day’.  Well ‘one day’ finally arrived.  I started by applying gesso to the pieces and allowing them to dry for a few days while still waiting for my goodies.

 I wasn’t sure how it would work out, but I started by applying Dina Wakley acrylic paints with a sponge and my fingers to blend them. 

Next I grabbed a few stencils (Tim Holtz, 7 Dots Studios and TCW). I did two techniques, (1) sponging through the stencil and (2) wiping the excess away with a baby wipe.

When I was happy with those results I grabbed the Art by Marlene stamp set and my gold embossing powder and embossing ink. I randomly stamped these on my tags, (repeating some of the patterns, especially the smaller ones).

For my next step I used the Art by Marlene Collage papers. These I tore into strips and pieces and applied them with Matte Medium.  On a couple I sponged some white paint through my stencil on top of the papers.  I also added some marks with my paint pen.

Lastly I added the Art by Marlene sticker quotes.  To finish it off I added bits of wool, lace, ribbon, thread and some metal elements along with some tassels given to me by my friend. (Thanks Kylie). 

Now this was not so easy to photograph, and my skills in photography are lacking, but I hope you can see how much fun I had making this.  

 

 

Now don’t forget to join in and add your creations to the Arabian Nights album on the Scrap Matrix Facebook share page.  Have fun!

Jen

 

Living life .. with Alz

Morning peeps!

I'm here to share another "You've been framed" layout with you ..

Living life

I had a ton of fun creating the background for this layout. It was a bit of an experiment with a new product (new for me that is) for adding colour and I wasn't at all sure how the colours would turn out. With a bit of blind faith, and a lot of Prima Metallic Accents Semi Watercolour Paints I made this ..

(I used a sheet of 12x12 heavy weight watercolour paper)

I love the way the colour has seeped into the watercolour paper whilst the mica powder has stayed on top, giving a kind of blended but opaque finish at the same time. Super cool!

Whilst this was drying, I played with the idea of leaving the background as it was to show off the beautiful colour, shimmer and shine, or to add more layers. In the end, more is always more, lol, so I grabbed some stencils (many stencils!) and my Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass, Pumice Stone, Tea Dye and Broken China) and using (mostly) like colour on colour, went to town.

(I've used TCW 12x12 Tiny Circles, TCW 6x6 Mini Well Rounded,

13@rts Rain of Dots and Aall and Create Stencil #13)

So I'm digging this, but it needed more because, well, more is always more! It needed texture. Something organic and beach-y. Because this was my photo ..

(I love, love, love the new Tim Holtz Mixed Media Mat!)

The Finnabair Texture Paste in White Sand with the Joggles 9x12 Wander stencil would be perfect, or so I thought.

But, once dry, now you see it ..

and now you don't ..

.. which was a bit of a nuisance cos I wasn't going for 'subtle' lol!

(Oh and this depended on the angle from which you were looking at the background.)

What to do la? It'd been a while since I played with my Faber Castell Gelatos so figured 'why not?'. Using Gold Champagne and Silver Ice from the Metallics pack, I placed the Joggles stencil back over the White Sand Texture Paste and smeared the Gelatos on top of the texture paste with my finger and once dry ..

now you see it ..

and now you don't now you still see it ..

magic! (lol)

That was my background done and dusted.

I knew I wanted to use polaroid style frames and chipboard circles to create a layer of frames behind my photo. Because I couldn't cut in a straight line if my life depended on it, I decided to die cut some frames using both 13@rts Colour Basics patterned paper from the 6x6 pad and Tim Holtz Idea-ology tissue paper which I adhered to white cardstock to give it some substance. Although the tissue paper I used is currently not in store, you could just as easily use the Botanical Collage Paper.

For my chipboard circles I used Blue Fern Studios Graduated Circles, the largest of which measures 11" across. The smallest, which I've used on this layout, measures 3" across. In all, you receive five funky circles in the one pack. Oh and I also used the 6" circle on my layout.

(cool huh?!)

I inked both circles with the Pumice Stone Distress Ink, coated them with Ranger Glossy Accents and, whilst wet, sprinkled on some Prima Art Sugar Glitter in Antique Silver. I stapled my paper frames to my background, glued down my chipboard circles, added White French Lace Embossed Paper Lace, and that was my layers done.

ps: if you check out my yellow polaroid frame you can see

that I can't even die-cut in a straight line lol!!

As you probably know by now, I love using flowers on my layouts. This one would be no different and, luckily for me, Petaloo had the perfect flowers for my page .. Ivory Burlap Blossoms and Ivory Mini Paintables. I tucked a teal bloom Um Wow Flair in with a couple of my flowers and added my title "living life" using individual words from Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chit Chat Stickers on top. I printed my journaling using a free font 1942 report and I was done. Here's a few close ups of my finished page ..

Oh and by the way I forgot to add that when it was all stuck down and finished, or so I thought, I decided to flick around a small amount of Turquoise 13@rts Splash Glitter Ink!

Have you thought of playing along with our "You've been framed" challenge this month? You have until midnight on the 30th to upload a pic of your project to the Scrap Matrix Facebook Shares Page. Oh and heh don't forget to let us know which products available from Scrap Matrix you've used.

That's it for me today. I hope you're having an awesome start to your weekend.

'Til next time.

Cheers .. Alz  :)

Scrap Matrix products used:

Prima Metallic Accents Semi Watercolour Paints

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

TCW 12x12 Tiny Circles

TCW 6x6 Mini Well Rounded

13@rts Rain of Dots

Aall and Create Stencil #13

Finnabair Texture Paste in White Sand

Joggles 9x12 Wander stencil

Faber Castell Gelatos - Metallics pack

13@rts Colour Basics 6x6 pad

Blue Fern Studios Graduated Circles

Ranger Glossy Accents

Prima Art Sugar Glitter - Antique Silver

White French Lace Embossed Paper Lace

Petaloo Burlap Blossoms - Ivory

Petaloo Mini Paintables - Ivory

Um Wow Flair - Teal Blooms

Tim Holtz Idea-ololy Chit Chat Stickers

13@rts Splash Glitter Ink - Turquoise Glitter

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