6x6 chipboard Album covers

I love how this turned out and it was going to be

outside covers, however,

after gessoing the chipboard (I really want

to find heavier chipboard but no luck so far) I

used the oxides. I actually handpainted the background

and then stamped the rest.

I love it.

I love oxides.

However, because they are water based, I have not

found a product such as modge podge and a 

matte gel smudge everything up

that whole beautiful scene would be blended.

I need to have some protection because my s/b desk

is in the "kitchen" and there's issues

because where the album will sit.

So....

the outside became the inside and I created a new outside

using the distress inks. I also handpainted that

background too and then used a bunch of

of stencils and stamps.

I'm trying to decide if it needs a "title" or saying 

on the front.

Whatcha think?

Oh I'm making 6x6 album because I want to

put non travelogue photos in a special album and

I found that albums don't store well when

they're not in page protectors and I had some 6x6 on hand,

so............😊

 

A challenge among friends!!! Oh what FUN!!

So my pal Brooke and I did a thing.

We challenged each other.

Goodbye comfort zones.

Here we go.

The challenge was to provide a sketch - 

and 5 things to incorporate in

said sketch.

My challenge to Brooke.

I love this sketch I found on Page Maps. 

No sense in drawing when you can get one from the best.

Her 5 things:

Mixed Media background

Work in the tag I gave her.

Thread or Twine.

Fussy cut something

Use her new TH alphas - the skinny ones that I love.

AND WA-LA!!!

Brooke totally rocked it!!!

Using stencils and inks in her background.

I LOVE how she did the title.

She rocked my tag - changed it up a bit and love it.

And fussy cut the butterflies.

Twine behind the tag.

She did work in 8x8 page.

A beautiful photo of her mom rounds it out.

Love love love how it turned out.

And we're so gonna do it again.

I need to get to pondering.

Again.

My challenge from Brooke went down like this.

A sketch she found on pinterest.

3 arrows 

(I struggle with arrows)

Nuvo drops

3 pattern papers

staples

paint

I work in 8.5x5 in my traveler's notebook so I took

it right down the middle.

I managed to work in 4 arrows - using pattern paper

and my arrows were PP but the anchors didn't come through LOL

however the tiny flowers are heart PP.

I did use 2 photos because I didn't want to

waste - I used 2 different sizes which worked out great

because it highlighted the 'rentz.

I used a doily as the "round" thing

The nuvo drops are in the flowers I drew and

on the tag.

The paint is on the homemade washi tape because

I really couldn't think of another way to

work it in.

So I made my own washi tape using Studio Calico

blush crush and arrow stamps with

versifine black ink.

Splattered some watered down paint.

I love how BOTH turned out.

It was sooooo much fun we're gonna do it again.

I'll keep you posted.

 

Just doodling around

I was up late one night and I bought these mixed media

art journals to mess around with different

kinds of inks, paints, crayons, stamping and also

use them for journaling without all the creative stuff in it

so I decided why not mess around and doodle.

So I grabbed a black pen and graphite pencil and just

started messing around.

Now, I seriously have no drawing skills. 

However, I found I can draw flowers so I started with that.

And then birds, a really bad copy of some

Dina Whakely's birds but none-the-less they came out

seriously not bad.

I also did the backgrounds, my fussy cut doodlings are on.

Not bad for an amature.

I love how they came out. 

I colored them in with distress crayons and honestly 

using them like watercolors made my drawings look pretty good.

Surprised me too.

Found more backgrounds I did with TH inks and Nuvo shimmer paints 

because I did a lot of doodling that needed a background.

So I laid all these out and didn't adhere them because I

was not sure I want to add to the backgrounds

so just to keep things interesting

 I opened the window, next to my desk, 

and everything blew everywhere

Good thing I took a couple of photos LOL.

It'll be fun putting them all back together.

 

Travelers Notebook - Concertina fold

Technically, it's Adele's (Inky Quills) fault because I

have watched her whip these folds up a few times.

Effortlessly.

Therefore, I thought why not give it awhirl.

How hard can it be.

Well....

It's tricky especially if one's fingers aren't real nimble.

Also, I used wet glue and couldn't figure

out which side the clue should go.

I'll watch the vid again.

I double backed this page because the front looked

weird to me. 

Not quite as um uniform shall we say.

Anyway, using the colors from the tissue paper

more or less, I die cut the and punched

the flowers. Buttons galore on the buttons

and sequins. .

And the canning jar just was soooo neat.

I stamped it in grey on mixed media paper and

thought I would stamp flowers on it.

And for some reason I fail to remember, it didn't work.

You can see the stems down there soooo

I added some butterflies and a saying.

I am really happy with that.

It surprised me.

So what to do with the back side of the concertina fold and

not be too much of a copy cat because I love

that flower page.

Anyway some TH to the rescue (which caused me to sort

a bunch of stuff out - because I thought tossing

everything together in one big bin

was a good idea) and found some really fun

ephemera to work in.

But first, I created that background page from Dristress Inks,

assorted stamps in the background. 

That was a lot of fun to do...

And the sentiment is sooooo true.

I love doing filler pages and it's been especially fun since

I quite worrying about storage and space.

 

Tag booklet complete - the backside

I finished this baby fast.

You can see the start and additions of the booklete here and here.

I was making the tags and the majority are mixed media

and therefore, a lot of bleeding going on the backside.

Therefore, a solution was required more or less.

I was still out on the fence because mixed media is supposed

to messy, however.

There's messy cool and messy messy.

So my pals Holli and Brooke convinced me that maybe the

backside needed some cover.

(as if a normal scrapper couldn't figure that one out)

LOL.

 

I could've covered with mixed media and/or plain ole

pattern paper.

Where's the fun in that. 

So....I decided that embellishing would be 

great fun and it was.

Not necessarily in any particular order because blogger

is a pain in the ass about that.

Heaven forbid they actually upload in the order

I went to great pains to do.

But I digress.....It turned out to be a lot of fun

and I did all the pages in one night

and doesn't that prove the fun.

Using a bit of this and that from PebblesWoodland Forest.

That paper bad is soooo cool and I felt it

complimented the mixed media I was using on

the tags.

Got to use a lot of stash.

I think the deer is Bo Bunny but I can't swear to it.

I have a bad habit of tossing packages and

tossing everything into one tub.

Sadly, my head is like I can remember it and

my memory is like - yeah no.

It was a great play and I got brave and started

splatting some mists and nuvo around.

I love that lady - it's TH - a stamp and die.

OOOOO and I love those fauna and flowers

and decided that the bold colors

would be rather pretty.

I love that sentiment.

Love the Christmas cheer and I think I 

need to add a few splats as I look

at this photo.

I got to use some washi tape.

I have issues with using it - it just doesn't look right

when I plop it down.

This actually worked out.

Love my tag booklet and I'll be making a few more.

For some reason I flung out a lot of creativity

that I would normally stifle on other projects

because I have a set thing in my head

that screams you can't do that.

Well I did it.

And I'm gonna do it again.

Happy New Year!

 

Mixed Media - Twelve and then some

This was a fun page to make, however, if you skim

down, I made it for the photo of my favorite, fearless eldest son

jumping out of a perfectly good airplane but the colors

didn't work. At. All.

However, this page of Owen turning 12 is perfect.

It turned out really fun.

Lots of TH - using the oxides sprays.

I'm still trying to get the hang of the sprays, etc.

stamps, but the embellishment side of it.

I still scrapbook it LOL.

However, it turned out using the packaging technique

and some stencils from Art-C and some

Tim Holtz tags and embellies.

The title was done with stamps I bought from M's

and even though I have the packaging - there's no name.

I also use some same stamps from the Art-C.

Thanks to my pal Holli who gifted me with this

TH die cut of flowers.

Love the colors!!!

Those butterflies are made of wax paper. I find

that if you layer in wax paper when die cutting

intricate dies - it helps pop them out easier and the

wax paper does make a cool embellie.

This was a premade page - using watercolors.

Had a lot of fun making these pages and as I said

I'm feeling my way. 

I also found these pages are sticking together so I'm

only doing one side with photos in this album as well.

In this album which is a mixed media watercolor album I gessoed

the pages and I think that is the sticky culprit.

I'll keep you posted.

 

Mixed Media - Can one have too much glitter

Why no, no one who thinks that can be a friend.

Who needs that negativity.

Well this pre done page had Nuvo sparkly dots

and rubbed it all over in the background.

I couldn't leave the sun and clouds unscathed.

Arthur is a Tim Holtz production die that has such personality

it blows one's mind. 

It's a lot of fun to put all 16 pieces together.

Mind boggling actually.

Some are soooo tiny - they're gonna be lost forever.

Sigh.

I have enough trouble to keep track of big dies.

Heavy sigh.

Anyway, There are some boo-boos going on there but

for a first time putting this bad boy together

it turned out not so bad.

As noted, the dies are numbered and HAVE colors on them.

Well, there are 6 major body dies that are purple 

that I'm sure run the shades.

I didn't have that many purple shades.

Only pink.

Arthur looks quite manly in pink, gotta say.

Of course I had pieces left over because that's mostly how I roll.

Actually the branch was the easiest part to put together.

I HAD TO DO THIS TONGUE IN CHEEK PAGE.

My attitude putting the pieces together

just SCREAMED it LOL.

QK holiday alphas, tim holtz, unknown pack of alphas and numbers.

Love that booklet.

Mixed Media - Solo'd

 

Favorite eldest son is a daredevil, adrenaline junkie, and all

around crazy....

He just passed his test on jumping out of a perfectly good airplane

and landing in one piece so now he can rock

the 'chute all by himself.

Sigh.

Lots of prayers going on...

Just sayin....

Anyhoo, proud of him, love that he pursues his passions.

He also rocks the camera too.

Tim Holtz, watercolors, spicy chicken, ephemera, 

my art stencil, studio calico, unknown stuff (sorry).

Mixed Media album - Merry Christmas in July

Christmas in July seems to have made the big time

and more people are celebrating.

Here are the grandsons representing in their 

favorite grinch shirts.

I love the grinch.

So the pink and the red - meh - this was a premade

page that needed a photo - so ignored the red and I concentrated on

all the greens and got to USE a lot of stash.

Yasss!!!

Didn't need a lot of journaling and if one opens

the file folder

 (a die cut which makes me swoon) 

there are some TH sayings...

Love how fun it turned out.

Mixed Media - Bold colors

I also made this page ahead of time and when a former

co-worker and pal of mine who took this picture of me

in our work space many many years ago
1980ish and felt it was perfect with my red dress.

And didn't my dress/outfit SCREAM to go on this page.

Of course it needed some taming so I added

the big envelope - I tried red (as I do have red ones) but

it was too much and the blues didn't match.

Love all the little deets that did tame, the flower bouquet 

and the dictionary paper and that doily.

I love doilies.

On the fun side I did journal about my "catch phrase" at work.

This was back in the 80's and one had to catch the phone

by the third ring. I was their secretary, however,

when tied up and unable to answer 

I felt it necessary to sing out "get that it could be the phone" 

due to their lack of attention lol.

Not really their job unless it was THEIR phone.

dylusions paints swirled with a paint brush

no talent necessary

Mixed Media - "no beauty shines brighter than that of a good heart"

Love how this turned out.

You may remember I did this page ahead of time 

in a "just because I could" frame of mind.

Using inks and watercolors with stencils I had

trying to make a "scene."

The sun that I drew and the clouds I made were from

thread. 

And it looked stupid.

So I pulled them all off the page which then required

some covering up.

The sun I tried to fix it with just wasn't quite right

but I had this doily thingy for cake decorating more or less

The clouds were stamped on cardstock and I

had the creative moment in swishing white paint across the clouds.

Love the photo of Annie and Owen but the background

had a lot going on AND I screwed up the 

photo after it was printed and no covering that up.

SO...I fussy cut it out.

I'm liking that look.

Having them framed on top of a bird looked fun.

I had to cover up the original TH sentiment because it didn't

go with the photo.

I also decided a title wasn't required.

Traveler's Notebook & Mixed media albums update

I know you have seen these pages before but I decided

something was needed on that white page

other than that saying......

I printed a few of these chimney rock photos

because we happened to pass the rock a bazillion times.

Did we actually get to the rock?

Nope.

It closes at 4 p.m. who does that in the summer?

Anyway, everytime we went by it I snapped a photo.

And I had to journal about because 

it's a story to tell.

And yes I actually did the Fort Knox in

my travelers notebook, but I printed these first

and decided I needed bigger.

So instead of tossing them, I added them to

 my mixed media 

journal.

The pages in this album were done way ahead 

of time so now I'm matching pictures to pages.

It's kinda fun.

Another photo I printed and didn't know what to do with.

So I fussy cut the birds and feeder and

raised it on the page.

It's a journal so it doesn't have to be just so.

I invested in some Tim Holtz rabbits.

Aren't they a hoot?

Of course I added them to this page

 and

decided that it should be an Easter page.

Got the neices and the grands.

This photo came out purple because my printer

needed ink.

I had been getting the danger ink low sign for

awhile and heaven forbid I don't squeeze a few more out.

I printed a lot of this photo mostly because

it actually came out good (when it's not purple)

however, I printed it in different sizes so

you'll be seeing more of this one

Used Tim Holtz stamps and sissix trees.

This album is coming to an end - it's sooooo fat 

and bulky - I don't get a lot of pages in an album so

I'm looking at changing up the size 

because I have a ton of 5x7 photo paper that

needs to be used (I ran out of 4x6).

So.....whatcha think?

I have a couple of albums going on...

Mostly because I've been playing with watercolors, Tim Holtz inks,

sprays, crayons, and oxides oh my...

However, I was dabbling in this album before I binge watched

Tim and decided that I had to have his product.

But I digress.

Saw this photo of our beautiful granddaughter and I was like

SO WHEN DID SHE GET TALLER

and more grown up.

When did that happen?

Obviously, when I wasn't looking.

This is my "Wonder" album - mixed media artist album

from Michael's, I think.

I created some pages uses watercolors, sprays and dylusions

that you may have seen some previews here.

Anyway the rainbow drips did the trick, add a TH sentiment

with a doily and and inked up butterfly from

messing the TH inks.

Love how it turned out.

Traveler's Notebook - Last pages of the book

I love how these pages turned out. I had the bag in there first

with the Tim Holtz card tucked in AND premade the front of the envelope

soooooo..............

I need to figure something out.

I love this sticker of the USA that my pal Holli gifted me 

and it was perfect because it's big and needs its own page.

I couldn't figure out the journaling but again

TH to the rescue and they say it way better than me.

 Love that camera.

 Mostly because I wanted to use my new printer

I did this "collage" of fruit and veggies from the u-pick.

 I wanted the name of the grove on the that bowl

not thinking that it may not be the best surface for that.

But I like it anyway.

In the making of the page on the left - I pulled one of the watercolor
pages I did in my "watercolor album". It totally fit well
with the last page of this notebook. 

 This is the last 2 pages of the book - because (see below) it

it is quite fat and cumbersome.

So mostly these sticker words say it all and I got to use

my new stamps from HL "bucket list" and Kellianne stickers.

Love how it turned out and I have the other TN I premade

and decided I wanted to use this one first.

My new 7x9 mixed media album

I JUST KNOW YOU'RE EXCITED!!

I am because it's really fun.

I decided that the pages needed to be gessoed even

though it's deemed a "mixed media" book.

Canson from Hobby Lobby - and it does keep

the pages flat and it does "smear" different.

Tell me you can see a "horse" in this photo

or maybe a "knight"? 

as in chess?

And yes it's quite purple.

 Love the colors on this. 

I'm quite diggin' the bigger size I am really

getting bored with small sizes.

I'm so used to doing whatever size I please.

I miss that.

 This turned out quite monochromatic and soft.

Pretty.

 And then I got bored.

I broke out the dylusions and just went for it.

Mostly just smeared the paint around and

decided that some black dots were needed so

I broke out this huge stamp.

And went to town.

 These colors are fun too.

Just smearing the watercolors all over

using the packaging technique.

 And then I broke out the dylusions again.

I found that even "I" as unartistic as I am

can do swirls with a paint brush.

It took FOREVER for the paint to dry.

And it some cases it really wasn't totally dry.

I like it.

And of course nothing is complete without black splatters.

So now I have completely different paints
bright and soft.
While it's cool - it does blow the whole concept of
cohesiveness throughout.
Unless.............

Mixed Media - Rock on

Used some water colors in the background, and now I'm

wondering why I didn't use them on the journaling tag page.

Doh! 😑

Anyway I painted some rocks.

I did turn them lose on unsuspecting people at 

a campground in Oregon.

It appears I really, really, really need to keep it simple.

I am not a good draw-er.

And it shows.

The grinch is okay and the smiley face (can't mess that up) and

the pink one with the eyelashes isn't bad either,

I have no clue the black with goofy face - your guess and

the other is a mountain, with sky and a sun

I can't decide if they're clouds or snow LOL. 

Sigh.

This was the first round and I think I may try a second round

and look to pinterest for some inspiration.

Those are dylusions paints and a matte finish gel to seal.

The rest of the embellies are Pink Paislee.