Journal spread - a la Teesha ....

... Hello from a sunny Northville. I think I've finally caught up with my lack of sleep from the Back to Back Retreat and hopefully should get back to normal soon. I don't have a card to share with you this afternoon, but I do have a finished (at least I think so) double page spread from the weekend.

Supplies:
Dylusions Square Journal
Dylusions Paints - various
Teesha Moore Collage Sheets
Pens - many and various
Pan Pastels

We had two fantastic teachers at the retreat - Dyan Reaveley and Teesha Moore. I am very familiar with Dyan, and absolutely love her and her style. I think her paints and inks are just wonderful - and the stamps too. But it was the first time I'd come across Teesha Moore. I did have a brief look at her work online, but seeing it all in real-life was amazing.

We spent some time colouring pages in our journal using Dyan's spray inks and paints, and then adding texture with ghosting and stencils and doodling. Teesha's style is to simply paint a background page in one or maybe two colours and then add lots and lots of collage and doodle like mad! I had such fun.

The double page spread above is complete - at least I think it is. I painted several solid blocks of colour on the pages and then went over them with some white paint to lighten them a bit. Teesha gave us a selection of her collage pages and I spent some happy hours cutting out and gluing in. Here are a couple of large photos of each page:

I think the figure is either a fairy or a genie, as she is going to grant my wish. Or at least provide me with the means to fulfil my wish!!  She was built up from a number of cutout images. I went round the image with some pan pastels to blend the image into the page. I also added some doodling to her face.

On this side of the page I added the word WISH from the collage sheet, and the more I worked on the page, the more I realised I was humming the song "When You Wish Upon A Star" from Pinocchio. So I decided to write down the words on the page! I also drew in some more swirls and curls, along with another tree in the Teesha style. I'm going to submit this to Love to Craft Challenge Blog - LTCCB#08 where the theme is Anything Goes and they like to see all sorts of papercrafts.

I had such fun making this page. The journal that we started at the retreat is going to be used exclusively for my Dyan and Teesha style work. I'll share more, when I've finished some more pages. That's all for now.

Exciting news ....

.... Hi all!  No card to share at the moment; busy doing various challenge admin duties.  This would normally be my post for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, but we've extended our holiday break. However, we do have new DT members joining us today - see full details on our blog.  We are being joined by Kaja, who lives in Slovenia, and we are so pleased to welcome Jacqueline back to the team. The challenge was originally created by Jacqueline and Mynette in December 2011 and it's still going strong!  Our first challenge of the year is back next Saturday 9th January - don't miss it.

I've more exciting news to share today.  I'm going to the Back to Back No Rule Retreat with Dina Wakley and Dyan Reaveley from 19th to 21st February in Florida.   Yes, so, so excited!!!!

I've been lucky enough to attend several weekend classes with Dyan, so am looking forward to seeing her again,  This will be first time at Dina's classes - can't wait to play!!  The bonus is that the retreat is in Florida where it will be hot and sunny, and not in Michigan in the winter!  Can't stop grinning :)))

Now that I've given you all the news, I'm off to my craft room to have a play - enjoying the last weekend of our long Christmas holiday.  Take care xx

Black and white ....

.... Good afternoon!  The Dylusions Facebook Challenge this month is to use only BLACK AND WHITE (if you have a person you can use flesh tones).  The perfect challenge to start off my new square black art journal.  Here's the spread:

Stamps: Dylusions - Two Heads are Better than One, Word Love
Inks: Archival - Jet Black; Dylusions Paint/Ink - White Linen
Accessories: Dylusions Sq Black Journal; Dylusions 8" × 5" Stencils - Flower Medley, Arrow Borders, Stars (not sure of the name); Signo White Pen; Wink of Stella - Black, Clear; Sakura Glaze Pen - Black; Sharpie Fine Liner - Black

I wasn't at all sure where I was going with this spread.  I started on the right side and sprayed White Linen ink through stencils.  I added white lines around the borders of some images and filled in most of the petals on the flowers at the top of the page.  I added a border of arrows down the side - some I coloured white, some were painted with black or clear Wink of Stella - they shimmer so much in real-life!  On the left page I decided to keep the background simpler, but echoed the patterns on the right.  I painted a couple white patches on which I stamped two words "Love Life" - seems a good motto to live by.  I lightly sprayed with the white ink and added arrows across the bottom.  I finished the spread with this fabulous image.  I stamped her on white paper and to add definition to the image went over portions with a black glaze pen, black Wink of Stella and a white Signo.  I ran her through my Xyron and adhered her flat to the page.  I had lots of fun with this.  Here are a couple of close up photos of each page:

I finished the spread just in time to play along this month.  That's all for now!  Bye!

Diamonds are a girl's best friend ....

....sang Marilyn Monroe in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and that song is the inspiration for my art journal double page spread.  I joined the  Facebook Dylusions Challenge (a closed group, but you can ask to join) back in June, but haven't been able to play along with any of the challenges until this month.  The challenge prompt for August is to use YELLOW, PURPLE AND DIAMONDS.  I thought of several quotes, but settled on Marilyn's quote after watching a clip from the film.  Here's my finished double page spread:

Stamps: Dylusions - Pin Up Queen, Clearly Alpha; Cas-ual Friday Stamps - My Precious
Inks: Dylusion Sprays - Lemon Zest, Pure Sunshine, Black Marble, Crushed Grape, White Linen; Dylusions Paints - Crushed Grape, Lemon Zest; Archival - Jet Black, Violet; Stampin' Up! - Craft Whisper White
Accessories: Dylusions - Large Art Journal; Stencils - Dylusions - Shattered, Flower Medley, Suits (Diamond); Kite - Hishi; MFT - Graduated Diamonds; Tim Holtz Deco Sheets - Silver; Signo - White Pen; Sharpie - Black Pen; Glossy Accents; Copic Markers

A quick step by step guide to how this spread was created:

1. Spritz the right hand page with water and liberally spray on both Lemon Zest and Pure Sunshine inks.
2. Close other page over and press together, open up and dry off any excess with kitchen roll.
3. Create some ghost images using stencils and water.  Leave water to stand for about 30 seconds and dry with kitchen roll - see ghosted images.
4. Add more background pattern by spraying through more stencils using Lemon Zest and Pure Sunshine.  Allow to dry.
5. Using my diamond mask as base, I created four more masks 1" and ½" bigger and the same smaller.  I lay these over the yellow background and sponged on Crushed Purple paint.  The paint is reasonably translucent, so I added a second layer of paint.
6. While the paint dried I stamped the Pin Up Queen images on white paper and coloured with Copic Markers and then cut them out.  I added Glossy Accents to the skulls eyes and nose - they are, after all, diamond cabochons!
7. I stamped a variety of gem images onto silver Deco Paper, allowed them to dry and cut them out.  Love the sparkle on the gems.
8. Once the purple paint was dry (very important as writing on paint that's not dry will kill your white pen) I drew some white lines around the diamonds and added Marilyn's quote around the largest diamond.
9. I added more pattern to the spread by adding some yellow paint through diamond and flower stencils, and then spritzing white and black inks through stencils too.
10. I stamped the quote "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" in archival ink and added definition by drawing around the letters in black.
11. I ran the Pin Up Queen through my Xyron and adhered her to the spread and added a large diamond in her hand.
12. I finished the spread by adding more sparkling gems, gems stamped in white directly on the pages and some words.

Here are a few photos showing how the spread progressed.

Only one layer of Crushed Grape here - you can clearly see the patterns underneath.

 Colouring the images with Copic markers - I usually go outside the lines if I'm cutting them out.

 Checking layout!

After the second layer of Crushed Grape - you can still see the patterns underneath which is fine, 

but the depth of colour is much better here.

Beautiful sparkly gems!

 Almost finished here - quote stamped, more background patterns added.

You can see the glossy accents on the eyes and nose here,

they are diamond cabochons!

Close up of the finished left-hand page.

Close up of the finished right-hand page.

I had lots of fun creating this page and found the challenge prompt a great help.  And today I'm off to our regular monthly meeting of the Scrappy Chic Kitchen Roll Stampers where we'll be revisiting some of the techniques that Dyan demonstrated in March.  And I get to see what else everyone has created since our last meeting.  And some news too - Dyan is coming back to see us all in October - my classes are already booked and I can't wait!!  That's all for now - have a good weekend.

Art Journal ....

.... I've not managed to get much crafting done this last week - what with the car breaking down for the third time in two weeks and taking Kathryn to the other side of the state for a summer camp. 

Last Sunday (26th July) I was at Scrappy Chic Kitchen Roll Sprayers Art Journal Club.  This group was formed after a group of us attended Dyan Reavley's classes in March and we meet each month to carry on working on our journals.  We get to review techniques, share ideas and generally play.  I finished a double page spread - making some pockets in which to store secrets.

I used mostly Dylusion products to make the pages, adding a touch of sparkle to the flowers with Wink of Stella brushes.  This is still a work in progress - I've got some tags and such to make, but I'm please with how it's coming along!

Yesterday I was at a stamp show in Novi - I got some new bits and pieces to add to my art journal supplies - pan pastels, stencils, paints and lots of tiny pots of Inka Gold!  I'm a very happy girl!