Don’t worry, be happy

Today I’m sharing another texture inspired page to join the Texture challenge that I’m hosting this month over at Art Journal Journey.

The quote “don’t worry, be happy” was used recently on a page by Valerie over at Bastelmania; it resonated with me as I have a sign in my kitchen saying exactly that – thanks so much for the inspiration!

For the grungy background, I started by collaging lots of scrap pieces of paper that were sitting on my craft desk (my scraps pile seems to be multiplying not decreasing – grin!). I used Liquitex matte gel medium to stick them in place and the scraps included some grey design paper, some Typeset collage paper from Tim Holtz and some test stamped papers from previous pages. Then I applied some Pébéo white gesso to the page with my finger. With the Indian Summer we’ve been having here, I was in the mood for bright hot colours so I painted Rose Madder, Lemon Yellow and Cadmium Scarlett Kuretake watercolours over the top varying the shades by applying water to the page first and then applying the paint colour.

Next I applied some Black Soot Distress Ink and some Ranger Texture Paste through an Iso Fun mixed media stencil from Paperbabe Stamps. When dry I covered the paste with Pébéo white gesso so it stood out more. I stamped three text stamps from a Documented stamp set by Tim Holtz using black Archival Ink and then I splattered the whole page with white and black DecoArt acrylic paints. The quote was created using white foam letter stickers and to finish, I added some white Glitterations dots and smiley stars which are stickers too.

This sign always makes me happy and I see it everyday when I make a cuppa as it hangs on the wall above the kettle; it was bought many moons ago from a local store in town (grin!).

Hoping that you’re all staying safe and well! x

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

With my bright coloured background that I created for my page, I’m pleased to join the Staying In The Background challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog .

I’m happy to be able to join the #128 – Dimensions challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the foam letter dimension on my page.

I’m also joining the Favourite Bright or Pastel (& why) challenge over at the As You Like It Challenge as the bright colours with reminded me of the lovely Indian Summer we had here this month. 

Don’t forget that you still have until next Tuesday to join our Use Your Scraps Challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too; it would be lovely to see you there!

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Scraps of collage, design and stamped papers
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolour Paint set (Rose Madder No.34, Lemon Yellow No.40, Cadmium Scarlett No.31)
• Paperbabes Stamps Mixed Media Stencil (Iso Fun)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Documented CMS226)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Simply Creative Alphabet & Number Stickers (White Glitter SCSTK025)
• Docrafts Anita’s Glitterations (Dots – White ANT8181041)
• UPIKIT Stickers (216005 – Stars)

Robins all the time

My sister kindly bought me a beautiful rusty style robin garden decoration, as you may know I love robins and it really makes my day when I see them in our garden so this was the perfect gift. I wanted to capture it along with the words she wrote on the note that she gave me with this gift which reads “now you can have robins in your garden all the time” (grin!).

For the background I stamped the pink blossoms using black Archival Ink and a blossom stamp from Stampendous; they are painted using Twisted Citron Distress Ink for the leaves and a mixture of Fired Brick Distress Ink and White Linen Dylusions Ink Spray for the flowers with additional touches of Putty colour from a Winsor & Newton Promarker. I applied Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink using a blending tool through a doily stencil randomly around the flowers then I spritzed the stenciling with water to re-activate the ink to give a washed out effect.

For the robins, I drew around my robin garden decoration using a pencil onto some mixed media paper and then spread Ranger Texture Paste in-between the drawn lines using a palette knife to create the rust texture. Once dry, I gradually coloured the texture paste to build up the rust effect using quite a few layers of Sanguine and Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush markers and Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. Next I cut the robins out of the mixed media paper and I applied some Orange Soda and Mango Faber-Castell Gelatos by scraping them over the raised areas of texture paste and smudging the colour with my finger which finished the rust effect wonderfully.

For the sign, I cut a piece of white cardstock to size and stuck the message that my sister had written on one side of the card. I coloured the other side using a Sanguine and Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and attached the four seasons stickers from Graphic 45 over the top. I then framed the front and the back edges with texture paste using a palette knife and I also used the texture paste to cover a brad too. When dry, I add a piece of cotton string to the sign and then coloured both the string and the texture paste using the Sanguine and Dark Sepia markers and then the Orange Soda and Mango Gelatos to create a rusty effect.

Next I attached the sign by the string to the page using the brad; this allows it to be turned over to reveal the message from my sister which reads “now you can have robins in your garden all the time!!”; which is why I chose to list all the seasons on the other side (grin!).

The robins look so pretty in my garden; I have placed them just outside my kitchen window so I can see them all the time and as you can see they are so beautifully rusty – perfect!

I hope that you are all staying safe and well!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

With rusty texture that I created, I’m pleased to join the Texture challenge over at Art Journal Journey that I’m hosting this month; thanks to everyone who has joined so far!

I’m so happy to join the Staying In The Background challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog with the pretty stamped and stenciled background that I created on this page.

I’m also happy to be able to join the #128 – Dimensions challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the rusty elements and signage dimension on my page.

I’m joining the Complimentary Colours challenge over at Country View Challenges with the blue background and rusty orange of the robins.

I’m also pleased to join the Animal Antics challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the robins and butterflies on this page.

I’m also joining the Favourite Stencil (and why) challenge over at the As You Like It Challenge with my stencilled background; I love the pretty doily pattern that this stencil creates as it looks so delicate, this stencil is also versatile as it can be joined together to create one whole doily or just used randomly as I did on this page.

Here is a list of all the scrap materials used to create this art journal page:

• Stampendous! Stamps (Cling Blossom Spray CRP136)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Twisted Citron, Fired Brick, Blueprint Sketch, Rusty Hinge)
• Dylusions Ink Spray (White Linen)
• Winsor & Newton Promarker (Putty 0618)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Daler Rowney Mixed Media Paper
• Robin garden decoration
• Ranger Texture Paste
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt Artist Pen (Sanguine 188 B, Dark Sepia 175 B)
• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Orange Soda, Mango)
• Pritt Stick
• White cardstock
• Graphic 45 Cardstock Stickers (Seasons Decorative Stickers 4501629)
• Message from gift
• Recycled string
• Craft Sensations (Brads CRO550/A)