A Traveler's Notebook for extra pix

 I started this TN (I did the outside long time ago and it just laid about). So watching some vids on this I decided I needed a place for "reject" or "double" or "wrong sized" pictures to go because why waste them. So I'm putting them in this album AND I'm trying to do it without pop dots. I KNOW. So far so good but its early yet. 🤣 And it kind of turned into "mixed media" but I have to be careful because the paper is thin.

Working on doing things a bit different but

a style is a style.

I'm also not needing to do a bunch of journaling because

I have journaled these photo in my Travelogue album

and sometimes its just not needed.

When trying to not use pop dots which is seriously tough

for me as I love dimension, stamps and 

stencils can be a friend.

Working on my layering of stamps and stencils.

There's a fine line between genius & crazy mini album - Made with Tim Holtz STUFF-mostly....

I don't normally order stuff on line but I was soooo

excited to get some TH stamps - called "Good Thoughts"

and there it is - one on the front cover.

In putting the album together, I picked out all the tags and

big stuff from one or two of his ephemera packs.

It laid around for awhile because I didn't know what I wanted to do.

In the meantime, since it was laying about - I took some

gesso and whitewashed the pages because they

needed to be mussed up a bit to hold stuff.

And it looked cool.

Once I got rolling it came together but I did have to remind

myself to not overthink things. 

Those stamps and envelops are from my Grandpop's collection

and it's soo cool that I have them throughout my 

albums.

I did use some of my handdrawn stuff and

a few other things that weren't gonna go anywhere else

found a home.

Love that pouch that my pal Holli die cut for me (I have 2 more)

which is a great spot for journaling or more photos.

I did leave some room for other embellies to join in 

because sometimes with titles you find you lack a photo to match.

Honestly I love this style and I used to do this shabby chic/ancestry look a lot.

Ii found it fun to match things up and they way things

are adhered, photos and such can be tucked under if necessary.

I also figured room for matting and I fussy cut the "love this" title from

an old project life card.

Fussy cutting and punches came in handy. 

I love the big finger pointing hand.

And that rooster, swoon.

Picked that stamp up from my LSS - and so far....yum.

I tried doing something on the back and it didn't quite work out

and my attempts at a cover up aren't 

working out either.

So I may need to resort in a heftier cover up. 

I'll keep ya posted.

 

My new 6x8 Chipboard album

I decided that after doing Traveler's Notebooks

in a homemade chipboard album 

using rings I wanted to do something a bit different.

I LOVE them don't get me wrong but I have concerns.

There are no page protectors and because

it's on rings I was also concerned about storage.

Tossing them in a box and hoping for the best without proection

SOOOOO

hunting around there are 6x8 albums

(I know where have I been)

with page protectors.

So I found an album and it's chipboard which means

DECORATING.

So technically this is still a Traveler's Notebook.

So I gessoed the album which kind of gave me choices,

inks, oxides and alcohol, oh my.

In addition to paint. 

Therefore, I found a tag I liked that had these colors

on it and I really really really liked it.

Of course it's not EXACTLY the same but I 

love how it came out all the same.

Inside.

I used Rustic Wilderness-ink and Blue Lagoon and 

Pickled Raspberry Oxides.

Then I dithered about the rest of it and decided on

these awesome stamps that I used before

on an album.

Why yes, yes I'm a copy cat. LOL.

I used this stencil on the inside of the book along with some stamps.

Love how it turned out.

And the rest of the stamps.

I just love this and yeah it's been done a bazillion times.

But I love it.

Oh and the page protectors are on the project life size.

Pockets. 

So that'll be fun to do on this trip which is called

Over the COVID Tour

😂

 

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.

 

Valentine Tags

 

For the grands.

I used some watercolor paper because I knew I was going

too use inks to making and I wanted the

background to have texture, so whipping out a cool embossing die

I didn't know I had sent 10 tags on through.

Using a few distress inks using the smack and dab technique

that Tim Holtz teaches and uses.

It was a lot of fun actually, and normally I don't

heat dry the layers, but I did this time.

The background looks great.

 

Oh I added the pockets on the back to hold the $1

I took in - quite the big spender.

That was a total stash bust, but I love those envelopes

and have no clue where I got them or the brand.

Some punched and die cut hearts.

M's dinosaur stamp.

 

Had a play with Nuvo shimmer powders and distress inks

Heard a lot about the Nuvo shimmer powders and

I broke down and bought 2 - blue blitz and golden sparkler

and I loved how it turned it.

I felt it needs another color so I popped in some

distress ink - fired brick.

Just a touch.

It was so much fun to use the powders I went back

to my LSS and bought all she had.

I found out later I did miss a color so I need another

trip back LOL.

I also broke out the distress inks

and didn't write down the colors but

it was a fun play spraying,

using the packaging technique

and just splattering ink about.

Love how they turned out and these will

be used for tags, die cuts and stamping.

I also bought Oliver and love how he

pops off the blues, greens and purples.

You'll be seeing more of him.

Oliver wasn't so bad to put together.

Lots of moving parts and layers are the fun of it.

Also can drive one batty too.

LOL.

Love how he pops off the background.

 

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.

 

Traveler's Notebook - Yosemite part 2

I couldn't just have lame photos of Tom and I

when there are soooo many pretty scenes

in the park to behold.

Plus I bought the Yosemite stickers at the ranger station

and 2 came in the pack.

So of course they both had to be used.

When I purchased the MS punch I also picked

up a Tim Holtz stencil and stamp set.

You will be seeing a lot of this set.

Just sayin......

Using the new set along with TH distress ink

stormy sky, peeled paint and faded jeans.

It sortof, well okay, it did end up more or less 

monochromatic.

I'm down with that AND I got to use

some Pinkfresh wooden embellies, and momenta 

wooden stickers. 

And the adorable big eared bunny is Technique Tuesday.

And the cute stamp in blue in Studio Calico.

Fun birthday page

Using ledger paper from Studio Calico.

I love ledger paper.

Did some background stamping using a block

dot stamp and TH distress inks - spiced marmalade

and peeled paint. 

 Also used stars stamp from a SC pack with black ink

and I don't remember the MFG on the birthday candles and "presents".

There's some old Basic Grey in there too.

Owen turned  9 - this past September.

That went really fast and it wouldn't hurt my feelings

if all the grands slowed this down a bit.

Banners and mixed media

I am really on a mixed media roll this week, here I

used molding paste and paint for the "stars" and

ink and stencils for the dots.

Of course the packaging technique came into play using

green and orange mists because I felt the brown and grey were too dull.

These are the photos I had in mind for Monday's page

that just didn't quite work out.

 For some reason I only mixed media half the page and felt the

bottom looked really plain - even with 3 photos so.....

banners. A mix of triangle and fishtail.

 I did get inspiration by watching a ton of Missy Whidden's videos.

I've been binging on videos since I got home.

She uses different mats for each photo.

I found I like that.

I did use a quite obvious title but hey

sometimes you just gotta roll
with it.
Studio Calico, Basic Grey, Paper Issues,
Tim Holtz and Crafters Workshop stencils.

Cutting background paper

Can be a tricky thing.

For instance, that compass you can barely see was

painstakingly measured and cut so that it would be a prominent

feature on this 8x8 page.

You can see how well that worked out.

However, I'm not going to stress out about it

because - well the page actually worked out without it.

Shocking.

This is very old Creative Imaginations pirate paper.

Had to dig for it.

"Twas worth the effort because don't those two cutie pies

look like pirates which I'm not sure was intentional.

Some old Tim Holtz grungeboard - sadly I used up all but one

skull and crossbones and that on remaining one

was way too big for the page which is okay

because I am already obvious enough.

Thickers and an anchor exuberantly punched by my friend Holli

finish the whole pirate/boat/yo ho thing.