Flaming Hot!

I am so in love once again with all my distress ink, paints and of course my Dylusions.  I have thoroughly enjoyed, loved even, getting back into my art journalling.  It is so relaxing, restful and down right so much fun.

Here is today's page. 

And this is how it looks in my journal.

The hearts are from Stampotique and they have had Glossy Accents added to give them a little extra.  The girls red lips have also had some Glossy Accent treatment giving their luscious lips a bit of a pout lol.

Hope your weekend is full of fun.  Take card of you.

Pauline x

Art Journaling Means Hours Of Fun.

Today I have been having more fun playing in my art journal.

Firstly I challenged myself again to use Stampin' Up! products in the main.  I used Distress Ink's for the background then I used only SU stamps and ink.  I used my set of Micron pens to doodle.

Tonight I used some new Distress Paints I just received and also my new Dylusions stamp called Pondering Petunia. 

I love to doodle and literally spend hours adding in all the dots and lines.  I find doing this so restful and I just completely zone out, with hours passing before I realise.  I love it.

I hope the week has been kind to you and you have a wonderful weekend.

Take care of you.

Pauline x

Stampin' Up! Art Journaling

I wanted to challenge myself to complete an art journal page in my style using only Stampin' Up! products.  

So, with the exception of the background, which I used Gelatos, sprayed water over them and then blended with a wide brush, a Micron pen and the girls head, everything else was SU!  I love it x

Hope you are all having a wonderful day.  Take care of you.

Pauline x

The Dylusions Facebook Challenge

Who doesn't love Dylusions?  It's been a while since I just let myself go, well in an art journal I mean, so I wanted to support one of my great admirers Sandra who has set up a new challenge page in homage to the one and only Dyan Reaveley.  So how else was I going to spend my day?  I had said I would do some housework and I have a bit, and now I'm all covered in ink and glue I will stick my hands in the sink.  The challenge was to use pink, turquoise and leaves.

So here is how I started.

This is a journal I received from Joanne James, my Stampin' Up! up line.  I started painting the pages with white gesso to create a base.

Then using my Gelatos, which I have not used like in 'forever', oh yes and completely forgetting already about the pink and turquoise challenge, I picked yellow, orange and red!  I adore Gelatos and if you haven't used them before you need to, they are great fun.

So after blending them this was my background.  I then forgot to take more photos, sorry, but well you're in the moment and you forget!  Everyone does this, right?  Ok, so I then stamped leaves using black ink and after waiting for what seemed ages (I did do some dishes) I proceeded to smudge the ink!  So out came my black gesso and I painted my leaves.

I then stamped this pretty lady out and using my Derwent Inktense and Faber Castel watercolour pencils I used lots of pink and purple.  I didn't really have a close turquoise so I used Distress Ink in Evergreen Bough, smudged onto my glass mat, spritzed with some water and coloured in her dress.  I then used a couple of green Inktense pencils to add some depth.

I used a micron pen, 03, and went back round all the black lines.

Here are some close ups so you can see all the added elements.  I used a Micron 01 pen.

As you can see I kinda went to town with dots.  Reason?  Well, because of the saying actually.  It's a new challenge and a new start.  A new start also means an 'end' and the end can be thought of with a full-stop or '.'!  Well I thought it was quite clever lol.  She was then cut out and adhered using Decopatch glue.

I also used Tim Holtz stencil, the cracked glass one and using a blender and Evergreen Bough ink created the added layer.  

So there we are, cracked glass, dots and lots of doodling.  Thanks for dropping by, back to the housework now.

Take care of you.

Pauline x

Items used:

Faber Castell Gelatos in cream, lemon, tango mango, tangerine and red cherry.

Faber Castell watercolour pencils in 131,132,119,125 and 134.

Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils in Fushia, Mauve, Violet, Poppy Red, Field Green and Teal Green.

Micron pens in 01 and Signo white pigment ink pen in white.

Dylusions stamps: Around The Edge, Further Around the Edge, Bordering On The Edge, The Right Words and Curious Corrin.

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Evergreen Bough, and Shatter stencil.

The Creative Blog Hop

Thank you Joanne for inviting me to be part of this blog hop and passing the mantle.  At first I was really excited then I read what I was asked to comment upon and my heart sank a little.  Not for any other than I was asked to complete a couple of questions and I really dislike speaking about myself.... when other people are so much more interesting.  So.....

Question 1:  What Am I Working On Now?

Well that's an easy one.  I'm preparing for Christmas.  I know it's far to early but I have enrolled in a course at uni and I will be really busy later in the year and I don't want to feel I have lost time and have been unable to get my christmas crafts done.

So that's what I am focussing on mainly right now, but just for you guys visiting I have made this...... but wait, let's go to the next question.  

Question 2:  How Does My Work Differ From Others In My Genre?

I honestly don't know is my answer.  I do what I love and love what I do, without that sounding too much of a cliche.  I don't believe it is different from other peoples greatly as we all motivate, influence and inspire each other.  However, I do have a very quirky and grunge side, which for me comes so much easier than a crisp and clean approach.  Here are some photos of what I mean...

Also my quirky side allows me to just let my imagination go.  I work in a stressful environment and we try hard to laugh as much as possible so being creative helps create my normality and reminds me work is work and life is life!

Question 3:  Why Do I Create What I Do?

Simply, because I love what I do, I hope it inspires others and reflects fun, not taking yourself too seriously and hopefully people enjoy seeing what I create, bringing them joy etc too.  I also make things for other people, some people pay me for cards, photo albums and other crafts I make, all of which can be seen throughout my blog.  However, I also make things and expect nothing in return but hopefully a little happiness they bring.  

At Easter I made these for children visiting my work who may not be getting eggs or who don't get a lot of gifts maybe because of poverty.  

At Christmas I will be making these....

and these....

It's good to give and it makes me feel good about myself doing something for others in what can be a very insular and materialistic world.

Question 4:  How Does My Creative Process Work?

Very rarely will I start knowing where it's going to end!  I don't plan, I'm not organised and I usually pull lots of bits and pieces, ink, stamps and paper from my stash then just start.  I do however, spend a lot of time on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and purusing other peoples blog and yes I have used their creativity and followed them.  Personally, I think it's ok to copy or 'case' as long as you are clearly giving them recognition and not claiming it as your own original idea.  As I said before, very rarely is something made completely unique as we are constantly being influenced through osmosis; pictures we see and what we hear, which then go on to be part of our own 'take' on our own crafts and arguably have similarities to something we have seen before.

My main claim to being original is through my photograph albums where I try not to copy other artists and find my own unique style.  Here are a couple of examples....

 and...

Oh I nearly forgot, what am I working on now, question 1.  Here it is....

I love, love love Project Life.  I cannot tell enough people to get their photos off their phones etc and get making memories.  I cannot help but think we will have a generation who have no access to their parents and grandparents stories because we are a generation who don't print our pictures.

I have made a variety of Project Life albums, some I made myself from scratch and some I have bought, embellished and saved the memories for my own children.  So I wanted to create my own take on Project Life, which I can honestly claim I have not seen anyone else do so far, although it is a genre which is not created by myself either...... My very own PL Family Tree.

I have used PL cards and embellished in my own style using a variety of different mediums.

Well that was me.  I now also have a confession!  As part of the blog hop I have asked other bloggers and people who I follow on Facebook if anyone would like to pick up the mantle and continue the blog hop. Alas, no-one has got back to me.  That said I am not a defeatist and so I will simply recommend two people who I have the greatest admiration from.  Both have a very different style to the other but their work is both inspirational and amazing.  I hope you love their craft as much as I do. 

So I give you 

Sandra Botham http://redkittybcreates.blogspot.co.uk/      

and 

Kay Wallace http://kaywallaceartjournaling.blogspot.co.uk/

I hope you take the time to check out both Sandra and Kay's blogs and that you have enjoyed my own.  Please also have a dander through some of my past blogs and I hope I manage to inspire your own imagination.  Take care of you.

Pauline x