Wanderlust 2024 - weeks seventeen to twenty-four - Writing

We started this theme with a patchwork of all kinds of writing.  I really enjoyed this and used a photo of my Granny aged around eight as a focal point.  We added words which we had stitched too.

The next week was lettering with a paintbrush.  I used a waterbrush as for some reason, I seem to get a better end result.  We did lots of practise for this one, using different paints and pens.  The lettering is much more effective in real life, with a lot of shimmer - sadly it looks a little flat here.

Being bold with our writing was the next lesson.  Underneath this black paint is a whole page of writing using swear words - we were told that this is a good way to get people to loosen up - especially if the  whole thing is going to be covered up!  We were encouraged to using big swoopy writing, no gaps, and move our whole arm while we wrote. It was a very freeing exercise.

Underneath this page is more of the loopy writing, which was dictated to us. There is no swearing in this one. We had to write one way and then cross the writing, so that even though I know what I wrote did make sense, it is quite difficult to make it out.  I did enjoy the loopy writing and you might notice it appearing now and again in future pages.

We used stencils, pens, gel plate, stamping to create the next page, in my favourite blue/green colours.it also features my favourite numbers.

This page was based on a stage of our life although mine ended up being all about the garden in April/May with alliums.

Lists were the focus here and I took the opportunity to crate little cards with the lists of some of my favourite books, films, food, plants and music.  I used some of my gel prints stash to cover the pockets and cards.

I 'cheated' somewhat with this page. We used brush pens to create the background smooshing and then to draw the wreath.  We were then shown how to create lovely brush lettering.  I did try, but wasn't happy with my attempt.  I wasn't surprised as with many things, you do need to practise, practise, practise.  I decided life was too short and I wasn't particularly desperate to learn, so I used some brush lettering stamps instead.  I was very happy with the end result.

The last page for this theme was the 'artful musings' and we were given prompts, together with a collage sheet of images to choose from. The prompts were:  Use a watersoluble pencil to make marks and activate it with water; Spread inks/watercolour on a page and blot or move it with a paper towel; Add a little black; Add a collage element (for me it was the owl on a branch and the mushroom); Yellow; Extend your collage element (I extended the branch and made a tree); Use a skewer and ink and make a fine pattern; Add some words; Turn the composition upside down and add something to it based on what you see upside down; Use something on your desk as a stamp (mine was the base of a glue stick which gave me the red circles).  Considering I had no idea what this would turn into when I started, it looks a bit like a rather abstract forest to me. 

Next we move on to Printing - I am really hoping this will be right up my street!

Junk Journal January 2024

Last month I took part in Junk Journal January for the first time.  This is organised by Meg from megjournals on Youtube and there is a list of prompts and daily videos from different people showing what they have made. I decided that it would be a good thing to start using some of the paper, digikits, and ephemera I have been collecting and this seemed do-able. Below are some of my favourite pages.

This is 'throwback' so I went for a vintage feeling, making a pretend slide with insects on it.  I made my colleague a birthday card similar to this last year so used some of the digital images I had left over, together with stamps, a postage stamp and some digi labels. 

There was 'eclectic' which was a mix of gel prints, a digikit photo, a die cut flower which I watercoloured, a leaf and a flower I made from last year's art journal, and a label I had inked and stamped.  An eclectic mix indeed, but I like it!!

'Fabric' was a sort of patchwork of scraps with an inked and dried baby wipe used as the focal heart.  

'Ombre' was easy with a watercolour background but I didn't know what I wanted to put on top until I thought about slow drawing so I added these ginkgo leaves, which are so relaxing to draw as they are lots of repeated lines.

'Translucent' was inspired by a piece of gel printed paper. I echoed the brushstroke pattern on a piece of tracing paper to become the translucent element.

Here's what's underneath - music paper, book page, the gel print paper, labels and a digikit camellia.

Finally, here is 'reflect' which I took to be reflecting on the whole Junk Journal January experience.  This page has a piece of paper pad, labels, book pages, ivy from a napkin, a piece of packaging from some bulbs and a digikit photo.  

I made this little journal for the challenge and I really enjoyed filling the small pages. Junk Journal July is also a challenge, so I may join in with that too.

Wanderlust 2021 - weeks twenty-nine to thirty-two - Texture

This month's theme was Texture.  The page above has lace, embossed card, a die cut, texture paste, acrylic paint and  water soluble crayon.

I created this simple page to showcase different textures which included collage, texture paste, sgraffito into acrylic paint, tissue paper, tea bag paper, a gel print and Liquid Pearls and Stickles to add interest to the background.

For week thirty-one, we started by making a 'mark making library' using pastes, paint, stamping and lots of different brush marks.

Then we created the layered page which had to be left to dry in between. This wasn't easy for me as I was impatient to keep going!  Small collage pieces were added as focal points.

Week thirty-two was more about how were feeling - what had gone well, what we were thankful for etc.  It was good to focus on positives.  We made a little origami envelope to hold a piece of paper on which we write our hopes and dreams - I haven't added these yet. My handmade felt became the focal point and dictated the colour scheme too. I haven't included any of my felt in my journal yet, so it was lovely to add it here.

On to the next theme - Rainbows.

Index-Card-A-Day (ICAD) challenge 2021 - weeks eight and nine

As promised, here are the final week of the ICAD challenge for this year.  Above is Typography (a definition, stamping and inks); Blur (another photo from a Christmas market of the Dodgems); and Ice Cream Sundae (inked background and magazine collage, which I really enjoyed making).

Then there was: Botanical (stamps and inks); Translucent (watercolours), Tendrils (inked background and die cut leaves) and Encyclopaedia (vintage encyclopaedia pages inked around the edges and a definition).

For the final week, there was Sea Anemone (inked background and gel print collage) and Improvise (printed definition on a gel print patchwork background).

Pocket (inked background and pocket with a die cut tag inside); Mix Tape (some of the songs on my Amazon playlist over an inked and stencilled background) and Forward (inks and stencils with a definition).

I really enjoyed the challenge again this year and found lots to think about from the prompts.  I also re-discovered my inks and have been using them a lot since then too.

Artists' Trading Card (ATC) - October

The first of another month and here is my ATC for October.  I used gel prints which I tore up for the collage background in shades of reds, oranges and yellows.  I then stamped pumpkins over the background.  I decided to go with a vintage pumpkin image for the main focal point (which I found at The Graphics Fairy  - a wonderful resource with free images although you can pay and subscribe for more options, should you wish to).

The gemstones have a suitably autumnal feel too, with dyed shell, garnet, red agate, mookite, smoky quartz, tiger's eye and more mookite.  The gemstone for October is opal, so that is added as the charm.

On the back of the card is another image from The Graphics Fairy, of a pheasant, with some stamped and watercoloured acorns and a conker.  This card does suggest autumn to me.