Time flies!

It does not seem like yesterday that I was breaking up for the summer holidays and now I am back at school again. Also another month has started so time to do my September page.  I went with the 'Back to school' idea and used post-it notes for the journalling dates, leaving them stuck to the page only at the top.  Anyone who works in a school will understand the use of post-its; they are everywhere in the classroom and very useful.

Materials used:
stamps from Creative Stamping magazine
Clarity letterbox kit
memento tuxedo black, lady bug, cottage ivy, and Danube blue ink pads
wax crayons
Spectrum Noir pencils



Method:
I used the stamps to make the background on my page, arranging the a b c from the letterbox kit on one mount. The crayons I coloured in with the wax crayons and the other images with the Spectrum Noir pencils. Finally I used post-it notes for the days of the month putting extra glue on top of the sticky part.


I have surprised myself at getting this one done in the first week!  Sometimes a quick page is needed to meet deadlines.

Thanks for dropping in.  Take care.

Pippa

 

See you on the flip side

August is our holiday month, working in a school we are still tied to school holidays and the most expensive time to go away!  Anyway we will be off for a couple of weeks or so and this will be my last post for a while. My final offering before the break is August's page for my Art Journal Calendar. I know, I've managed to get it in really early for a change, the deadline of getting it done before we go away galvanized me into action!

Apart from holidays, August is a busy month for celebrations. A lot of family members have birthdays this month, including yours truly , and it is our wedding anniversary - biggish one next year.  So the theme for the August pages had to be Celebrate.



Materials used:
Clarity Stamps: Letterbox Kit, Word Chain - Celebrate
Clarity Cloud stencil
Adirondack Black inkpad
white gesso
blue acrylic paint
red Spectrum Noir pen
various distress inks
glossy accents
black fineliner pen

Method:
I mixed a little blue acrylic paint with some white gesso and painted the pages. When they were dry I used the stencil and plain white gesso to add clouds. Being impatient for the clouds to dry I heated them with my heat gun and discovered that they bubbled and made the paint even more textured.

[caption id="attachment_674" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Close up of the clouds showing texture[/caption]

I used a clip art balloon outline and printed out 31 balloons then cut them out. I edged each balloon with distress inks and distressed the middles too.

Using the black ink I stamped August and Celebrate onto the pages before arranging the balloons in groups of 7. When I had got them arranged to my satisfaction I stuck them onto the page then added the strings and the hearts by hand. I coloured the hearts with the red pen then added glossy accents on them to give them a bit of shine.

So now on with the holiday and the celebrations to fill the pages!

Thanks for popping in. Take care.

Pippa

Oh yes, if you were wondering where the numbers are, I added very, very small ones to the balloon knots after taking the photos!

Did it before the end of the month!

Having failed dramatically to meet the deadline for June's calendar page I was determined to do better this month.  OK it may not be that much better but at least the month as not actually ended this time!

Working in a school the only theme that I could do really for July is the fact that the academic year is over - as much a joy to teachers as it is to the children!


Materials used:
Distress Inks: Ripe Persimmon, Dried Marigold
Adirondack Inks: Butterscotch, Lemonade
Memento Ink: Tuxedo Black
Circle Die
Spectrum Noir pens and pencils
Clarity Sunburst stencil
Clarity Letterbox stamps
Penny Black Girls Rock stamp

Method:
Working directly onto the pages I used the yellow and orange inks to stencil the sunburst in the middle of each page. I punched 31 circles out of white paper and used the yellow inks and stencil to form the pattern around the edges before numbering them with a black pen. I stamped the children along the bottom of the page then again onto paper. I coloured in the skin, hair, shoes and hairbands of the children on the page with pencils and the clothes of the images stamped onto paper with pens. I cut out the coloured clothes and stuck them onto the children with 3d glue gel then arranged the circles and stuck them in place. Finally I added the words using the Letterbox stamps.



This year the sun did not stop shining as soon as we broke up, in fact it has been glorious all week. I will probably get shot down in flames for this but I think it is just a tad too hot and as it has been very dry some overnight rain would be good for the pond and the garden!

I hope you are having a good summer wherever you are, or maybe a good winter. In the international community that is the internet you just never know who might be popping in or where they come from! So whoever you are and wherever you are thanks for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa

Where did June go?

Two things that have taken me by surprise:
1. It is 2 weeks since I last posted.
2. We are already over a week into July!

Working on the premise that occasionally it is better late than never, here is my Art Journal page for June.

Materials used:
Clarity Poppy stamps (two stamps)
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Adirondack Stonewashed ink
scalloped circle die
Spectrum Noir pencils

Method:
I stamped the poppies in black and coloured them in with the pencils. Using the die I made a paper stencil and stencilled in the journalling circles with blue ink. I used a black micron pen to write June down the side.




 

I chose to do poppies for June because on my drive to school I pass a glorious patch of bright red poppies.  They always make me smile even on dull, damp mornings.  I would have taken a photograph to show you but there is no where to pull over safely to do so.

 

 

Thank you for popping in.  Take care.

Pippa

May at last!

I have been joining in with a Facebook Art Journalling Calendar Challenge this year.  May crept up rather suddenly and with all the busyness of Easter my page was some what late in the creating.  In the end I went for a very quick and simple design.

Materials used:
That special touch leafy mask
various green inks
Docrafts flower die
snippets of coloured paper and card.

Method:
Very simple - I stencilled the leaves using the mask and green inks then stuck on the cut flowers. Job done!



 

With all the snippets I think I might just pop into the playground at Pixie's place and be an early bird for once!

Thanks for dropping in.  Take care.

Pippa

A bit late, but at least it is still April!

I have been taking part in a journalling challenge this year and had thoughts on what to do for my April pages right back at the beginning of March!  The problem is these thoughts are no good until they come out of my head and actually materialize as said pages.  So here they are at last!

Materials Used:
Clarity stamps - various and letterbox set
Clarity clouds stencil
Hills and mountains stencil
Adirondack inks - lake mist, slate and juniper
Archival black
Distress ink - black soot

Method:
Using juniper, lake mist, slate, black soot, and the stencils I created the background.


I then used a variety of Clarity stamps and black archival ink to create a little scene on each page. (The left hand page is now mostly covered with the journalling rain drops but there is some visible on the right hand page.)


Finally I printed out the tear drop shapes from the computer, distressed them slightly with the same inks used for the background, cut them out and arranged them on the page. Pages done!


Thanks for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa

OK, new feature, that is what I did, now for what I should have done!
1. Put the hills higher up and make them further apart so the fields are bigger.
2. Worked out the positioning of the rain drops before stamping.
3. Started earlier!

Mad March Hares

Can you believe it, two months of this year gone already! Time to post the page for March in my Art Journal for the challenge. 

Firstly I painted my two page spread with white acrylic paint to strengthen the pages and give some texture.  I then used Adirondack inks in greens and blues with a moon mask and hill mask to create the background. I stamped a bare tree from the Pilkington Wood set using Memento Rich Cocoa ink.

The next task was to create my hares. I do not have a stamp so resorted to using a digital image. I changed the colours for a mixture and made the 'Sunday hares' slightly bigger. My plan was to have each Sunday surrounded by a family of six other hares, it sort of worked!

The cloud was made using a clarity mask and white acrylic paint. March is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black using the Clarity letterbox set and the birds, also Clarity, added to the sky. 

Finally the tree had it's leaves added using a selection of Spectrum Noir pens.

All ready to record the exciting events of March, hopefully sunshine and flowers rather than floods and leaks!

Thanks for visiting.  Take care.

Pippa

Calendar Page Two

A while back, well last month, I shared my first ever art journalling attempt with you.  So I thought I would share February's page too.  I have to admit I am not as happy with this one as I was with January.  I had a rough plan of what I wanted to do but really needed to plan it better, in the end I was making it up as I went along!





The pages are painted with red and white acrylic paint, mixed to produce a graduated effect.

Then large hearts stencilled on using pink and red inks. 









The hearts and February were printed and cut out with my Craft Robo. Before sticking the hearts in place I blended some pink ink around the edges.  The roses were stamped and embossed with clear and gold embossing powder before the hearts and letters were stuck on.. The stamp is from Clarity.

February ready to go, I just hope it does not end up being full of entries about the Somerset floods.

Thanks for visiting.  Take care.

Pippa

Every book needs a cover

I enjoyed myself so much doing the Art Journal Calendar Challenge that I got carried away and made the cover for the book as well.  As it is a calendar journal I went with a four seasons theme, to cover the whole year.

Materials Used:

Stencils:

That special touch - Grid, Small Polka
Clarity - Leafy Swirl
Swirly one unknown

Acrylic paint - red, purple, yellow, gold

Adirondack Inks:
Wild Plum
Meadow
Denim
Lettuce
Rust

Core'dinations Card - pale blue, pale green, darker green, browny orange

Various stamps from Creative Stamping Magazine
Large number stamps Papermania

Spectrum Noir pens

Paper string - various colours
Wool - various colours
Mixture of beads

For the background I used my stencils and acrylic paints in a random design,  and added a few spots of gold paint here and there. 

When the paint had dried, I blended different coloured inks onto some of the white areas. I cut four large tags from the Core'dinations card, then stamped the numbers in similar colours onto white card.  I then stamped the designs on each number to represent the four seasons, and coloured with Spectrum Noir Pens, before cutting out and sticking onto the tags.  I threaded a piece of paper string, again in similar colours, through the hole in the top of each tag before sticking them onto the cover.

I then threaded some strands of wool through the spine, knotting them at the top to keep them in place and adding different beads to the bottom of some of the them.

So now my Art Journal is covered and January ready to  be written in.  Better start thinking about February's page now!

The Finished Cover

Rising to a challenge

My first ever Art Journalling Calendar Page

My thanks to Sheila Cross for introducing me to the concept of Art Journalling Calendar pages.   So this is my first attempt.  For January I decided to try a snowy scene to make up for being surrounded by floods.

Ingredients:
Stamps:
Pilkington Wood bare tree Stamps Away
Pine Forest Clarity Stamps
January and frame free with a magazine
Snowman Get Stamping magazine
Snowflake unknown origin
Alphabet stamp set Hampton Art
Numbers stamp set Panduro Hobby

Inks:
Adirondack Denim
Memento Paris Dusk

Cutting Dies:
Circle Stampin' Up
Spellbinder Rounded Square

A4 Art Pad
White Gesso Primer Daler Rowney
Spectrum Noir TB4 and TB9
Inkilicious Ink Dusters
Make up sponge

How I did it!

1.  I painted a two page spread with white gesso and left to dry.

2.  Using a piece of torn copy paper as a sky line and a die cut circle for the moon I made the sky by blending Denim ink across the top with the ink duster.

3. I stamped the Pine Forest using Paris Dusk randomly over both pages.  I then used the make up sponge and Denim to put some mounds in the snow and shadow under the trees.  I also put in the horizon through the moon.  Using a piece of scrap paper as a mask I stamped a border with Paris Dusk and the bare tree stamp.

4. With the rounded square die I cut 35 squares of white paper and stamped a snowflake on each in different positions with Denim ink and using the third impression.  Then I stamped two frames and January in one of them, and cut them out.  I then arranged the labels and squares on my pages before sticking them down and numbering them using the stamp set. On the extra four squares on the bottom row of the left-hand page, I stamped 'Notes' with the alphabet stamps.

5.  Finally I stamped a snowman onto a scrap piece of Centura Pearl card, cut it out and stuck it in the bottom right corner.  All done.

There are a lot of mistakes in it and things I would do differently but for a first attempt I am quite pleased with the outcome. So perhaps I might even go on to do the rest of the year, in time.