Tag Archives: stamping

Queen of HeARTs

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Hello friends!

I hope everyone is well.

It’s been a week since I last posted, couldn’t post at the weekend due to various other tasks that had to be done.  I am getting behind with things at home and at work.  I spent the first part of the week at work preparing for two presentations I had to give today.  I’m glad I spent the time on them because I think they went well.  My presentations were on Employee Engagement and I was trying to be motivational to a group of people who were not really that interested, but I did OK and I was pleased with how I handled it.   But tomorrow I will have to try and catch up with over a week’s backlog of emails and other stuff I should also have been doing.  Oh well that’s life I guess, and I am pleased to say that although I am not managing to keep on top of things I’m not getting freaked out by that fact either.  There was a time when I’d have been full of anxiety and stress at the thought of my workload, but now I’m just going to try and work my way through it and eventually it will get done.

This page is from my A4 art journal and there is a bit of a ‘royal’ theme to it.  The page was gesso’d, then there are layers of acrylic paint.  I used white acrylic paint to make the ‘drippage’ lines which I thought gave a sort of tartan effect. The blue paper with the crown is a scrap book paper by Teresa Collins (torn and edged with blue distress ink).  Then I stamped over the page with a cheap foam crown stamp in black and some small hearts in red.  I stamped Queen of HeARTs with black Stazon but it looked odd so I edged and dotted the letters with a white gel pen.

I’m not sure what the significance of this page is, except it was one of those experimental and learning processes.

Big love to you all

AJ

Cut not the wings of your dreams…

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Cut not the wings of your dreams ....Hello friends

I hope everyone is well and happy.

This spread is from my 6″ x 6″ journal.  I covered the pages with printed tissue paper then coloured them with yellow and green sparkly paint, the same batch that had set to a thick jelly and I thought would be unuseable.  Then I added the borders with red acrylic paint.  I know, I know another strange colour (Eng. spelling :-)) combination from me, but I like it.  The background text is from a Tim Holtz reflections stamp. The two patches under the images are some translucent paper I coloured and edged with  distress inks.  The image of the man’s head is from the Graphics Fairy‘s blog.  The girl with the wings may also be from the Graphic Fairy.

The wonderful quote is from Flavia.

That’s all for now.

Big love

AJ


All wrapped up and Ready to Go

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Hello Friends

First of all I’d like to wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.  May all your dreams come true 🙂  I’ve added a little festive snow to my blog.

With just a week to go all the hand made presents are finished and ready to be delivered.  I hope my friends enjoy them, I had fun making them, so I hope that will show through.

I can’t tell you what’s inside the parcels yet, but I will show you after Christmas.

Now I can relax a bit and stop panicing.  I will be at work all this week and on Wednesday I am going to meet the other members of my team for the first time (I work in a remote location) and we will be having a Christmas lunch.  That should be fun, I’ve spoken to a couple of them on the phone and they sounded nice.

The spread above is another from my 6×6 journal – textured gesso ground, torn pages from an old dictionary, vintage images of women, acrylic paint, stamping and hand drawn swirls and writing.  Afterwards I thought it probably would have been better to have printed the words as, like many people, when I try to write by hand it hardly ever comes out as I expect and this was a style I’d not tried before.  I wasn’t entirely happy with the results, but hey-ho that’s how things turn out sometimes and I do like the message.  My life has been extraordinary so far, I’m grateful for that and hoping for more extraordinariness in the future, for me and for you too.

Oh, I just noticed the date 18 December 2011! Today is the 41st anniversary of my first date with my soul mate and life companion. Wow, now isn’t that extraordinary!

See you soon.

Big love

AJ

Completeness

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Hello Friends, I hope everyone is well.

So this is the final bit to show you of my first art journal – the cover.  I left the cover till last for two reasons, firstly so that I could carry the journal around with the plain cover so it would not attract too much attention (although it did start to intrigue people as it ‘fattened up’); and secondly because while I was working on the journal the cover got covered in paint and dirty marks and by leaving the decoration until the end it meant that I could make the finished journal look ‘pretty’.

One day a friend saw the journal on my desk at work and without asking grabbed it and started looking through it, it felt a bit like he had picked up my personal diary and started to read it.  I don’t think he was very impressed.  He said “Who’s done this?” and I replied “Me” to which he enquired “And how old were you when you did it?”

On front and back covers there is gesso, collage, stamping, acrylic and watercolour paints and distress inks.

On the Front cover I added a little bit of bling and a panel with the title ‘AJ’s Art Journal’.  I found some big cardboard floor dominos made for small children in a charity shop.  I actually liked the images that were on the dominos but I also found that I could peel the shiney cover off them, decorate them and for the cover title I used glossy accents to give it a shine.  I didn’t know how to make a closure so I sewed a flower bead on the front and back covers and used a bit of fibre to wrap around the beads and form the closure.  I also added fibres to the wire spine of the journal.

The panel on the back cover is something I found by the waste bin at work, it’s an identification plate for a pump, and I coloured it with stazon ink, put two brads through the screw holes and stuck the whole thing on with glossy accents.

I’ve shown this image before but this is the finished journal.  I really love it and I’ve had so much fun making, showing it and I’ve really appreciated the encouragement, lovely comments and the new friends I’ve made.

Creative people are just The Best!

That’s all for now, see you soon

Big love

AJ

The End and a Beginning

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Hello Friends!

These are the last pages in my first art journal, and as I managed to complete a whole journal without actually journaling anything I decided to write some words of my own on these pages.  Next time I’ll show you the cover which I left till last.

Hopefully my journaling on this spread will explain what it has meant to me to complete my journal.

Well I’ve just about finished sorting out my work room.  It still looks really cluttered and that’s because there is simply too much stuff in it, but at least there is now a semblance of order.  As I said before it probably won’t last long because I am naturally an untidy person, but it’s done me good to have a clear out.   The piles of ‘Things to Do’ will soon start to accumulate again.  I gave up with trying to shred the stack of old personal papers as my shredder kept jamming up every few minutes, so I went outside and burnt them in our ‘burning bin’.  My two cats were fascinated, I don’t think they have ever seen flames before, fortunately they had the sense to watch from a distance.

Today I am going to Osborne House with my local history group.  It’s our winter outing.  Osborne House is where Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their large family came to live on the Isle of Wight.  It’s a huge house in magnificent grounds and today it will be decorated for Christmas.  Because we are a history group we are having an educational trip (i.e. the admission fee is waived) and we will be having a guided tour and talk.  We will be giving a donation to English Heritage who are allowing us to visit today.  Afterwards we are all going back to a friend’s house for mince pies and tea.  It should be a good day.

Hope everyone is well and happy

See you soon

Big love

AJ

If you want to get ahead…

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Hello Friends!

I had the day off work today and I went to Chichester to do my Christmas shopping.  I left home at 7:30, drove to Fishbourne and got the ferry to Portsmouth then drove to Chichester arriving there at 9:30.  Chichester is a small city on the south coast, it has lots of interesting shops.  At first I didn’t think I was doing too well, I was doing lots of looking but not buying much.  Eventually I managed to get presents for most of the people on the list.  I also bought a few bits and pieces for myself: some trousers for work, some embellisments and charms from a £1 shop, and in a charity shop I found an A4 water colour pad for £2 and a large illustrated Victorian Songbook for £3 (it’s not actually Victorian that’s just what it’s about) it has some great illustrations that I will be able to use for my history group and also for my art.

I left Chichester at 1:30 and on the way back to Portsmouth I stopped off at Hobbycraft in Havant .  I always get excited when I go to Hobbycraft it’s a massive craft store and it’s so easy to spend lots of money there.

Before coming home I stopped off at a big shopping centre in Portsmouth and bought one last present.  Got the ferry back to the island at 4pm and was home at about 5pm.

My legs ache, my feet are sore and I’m shattered, but that’s the bulk of the Christmas presents out of the way, I just have a couple more to get then I can wrap everything and this year there should be no last minute panics.  I bought the present for my husband and also the present from him to me on the internet.  The present for him was delivered to my office at work and the present from him to me was delivered to home yesterday.  He has no idea what it is, so he says he is just going to wrap it up without opening it and at least that way one of us will be suprised on Christmas morning!

I had a long soak in the bath after I got home  then Tony served up delicious home made Leek & Potato soup and now I’m ready for bed.  I’ve got another day off work tomorrow so I might get time to do some art although I really should try and tidy up my room.

So anyway here is another grungy spread.  The images of the four lovely ladies in their hats is from the Graphics Fairy (thanks Karen), the other images may be as well (I’m sorry I can’t remember), the Graphics Fairy certainly is a wonderful source for the sorts of images I love.  For some reason the phrase ‘If you want to get ahead, get a hat’ always makes me smile, probably because it appeals to my sense of the ridiculous, and it seemed a perfect title to the spread.  The spread has textured gesso, acrylic paints, stamping, collaging and inktense watercolours to brighten it up.

That’s it folks, I’m off to bed, see you soon.

Big love

AJ

Live the Life…

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Hello friends I hope everyone is fine 🙂

Here is another spread from my first journal.  What I really like about this spread is the way the letters, and the bird in particular, seem to lift off the page, all done with just a bit of shadowing and highlighting.

The theme follows on from my previous post and is about me changing and attracting into my life good things.  I truly feel things are slowly but surely changing for the better.

The spread has the usual textured gesso ground with lots of layers of acrylic paint, stamping and paper.  I used some scans of old newspapers my history group had used for research, printed them out on matt photo paper and then aged it with tea and distress inks,  I then tore pieces of the print to add to the page.  The ephemera is from a packet of goodies I bought at Hobbycraft in the UK and is made by K & Co.

I have a new love in my life at the moment and it’s ‘ModPodge’.  I’ve been using it to cover some plain boxes with collage.  The boxes will contain some small some gifts I am making for some friends for Christmas.  I LOVE the ModPodge, even if it does smell a bit strange, the finish is soooo smooth and lovely.  I bought it when I was in America. It is available in some shops local to where I live but I’ve never bought any before because it always seemed far too expensive.  Then when I was in LA I asked my friend to take me to ‘Once Upon a Page’ in Burbank, it’s the nearest craft shop to where she lives in the Hollywood Hills.  It’s mainly a scrapbooking store and was a treasure-trove of goodies for me.  There were loads and loads of lovely papers so many it was hard to make a choice but eventually I managed.  I also bought some distress inks, chipboard pieces, some fauxphemera, a few stamps, the lovely ModPodge and a few more bits and pieces.  I probably went a bit over the top but I was on holiday and I had very little opportunity to spend any money during my visit so I thought it was OK to splash out on supplies. Besides I’m an addict and I just can’t stop myself.

That’s all for now folks

See you soon

Big love

AJ

Mother and Daughter

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Hello Friends

This spread came out a bit grungy looking but I really like it.  I textured the gesso, by sticking the wet pages together and then opening them while the gesso was still wet (a top tip from Journal Artista).  Then I layered over several different colours of acrylic.  The images on the first page are of my maternal grandmother and my Mum as young girls and the image on the second page is me at 6 months old.   I stamped small flowers and stuck die cut paper flowers from K & Co over the top.  I found the Graycie Herman quote and I loved it.   My Mum (and my Dad) have been loving and supportive to me and my brothers all our lives and I realise I am not always as grateful as I should be.

I know that many people (my husband for one) had a difficult and traumatic childhood, but for me, I honestly only have happy memories.  My parents didn’t have much money, my dad was a low wage earner and my mum had to stay home and look after three small children, but they both spent lots of time with us.  Although we didn’t have lots of things, or holidays, or gadgets, we did have lots of country walks, days at the seaside, picnics, encouragement to use our imaginations and follow our dreams and lots and lots of fun.

Now my parents are old it’s time for me to look out for them.

Hope everyone is good

Big Love

AJ

Back from my trip

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Hello friends!

I am back from my trip to LA and trying to re-adjust my internal clock.  The trip from door to door takes over 20 hours – taxi from home to pier, ferry to Portsmouth, taxi to Heathrow (hanging about at the airport), direct flight to LA, taxi from LAX to my friend’s house in Hollywood).  There is an 8 hour difference and it took me a couple of days to get used to being on the other side of the world.  The weather was fantastic but best of all was seeing my friend G to celebrate her 85th birthday.  We have been pen friends for over 30 years and have met several times both in the UK and US.  G used to travel a lot but now it’s all too exhausting for her so she’s settling down to being a ‘home girl’ from now on.  I was there 10 years ago for her 75th birthday and again four years ago.

G organised a gathering of friends and family for a lunch on her birthday and 60 people came from all over the states to be with her that day.  She is an amazing woman who has inspired me for most of my adult life.  She is funny, feisty, brusk, chatty, interested, opinionated, loving, caring, generous, inclusive, open, sometimes (quite often actually) foul-mouthed, smart – the truth is, she is a ‘diamond’ in my life and I love her.  You can see the gift I made for her on my Other projects page.

Having just got used to LA time it was time to come home and now I’m struggling again.  Today my husband woke me up today to ask if I was OK.  I thought it was a strange question, but he explained that it was well past mid-day!  I had no idea, I thought it was about 7am.  I usually get up at 6am and today I remember getting up around that time to let the cats out and thinking I would go back and get another hour’s sleep.  Well more than 6 extra hours as it turned out!  Still I haven’t got to go back to work for a couple of days yet, so I should be back to normal by then.

The image is another spread from my first art journal.  I like the colours and I had fun doing it, but the process was definitely more important than the end result…   When I was scanning the page I realised that I had used the image of the lady from the cigar box on a previous page and in almost exactly the same position.  How strange.

Hope everyone’s good

Big love

AJ

Be the Star that You Are!

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Hello friends!

This is about self-confidence, something I’ve struggled with for a lot of my life.  I have to say it has got easier as I’ve got older and this is a reminder to myself, that actually, I am OK, some of the things I do are pretty good and have value.  I need to stop listening to the negative voices and start paying attention to the positive ones.

The base for this spread is gesso which I textured and made waves in, with the wrong end of a paintbrush, then there are layers of acrylic paint and scrapbook paper, gesso’d and painted over again.   The star and letter stamps were cheap foam stamps, I wanted the lettering to look big and bold, but it was far too black after I had done it so I cut out some more scrapbook paper to accent and tone down the letters, then I tore some handmade (not by me) transculent paper and stuck over the top of parts of the spread.  I coloured in some of the areas with Inktense water colour to just give some highlights too.

Right now I am really busy, my history group has it’s AGM this coming Saturday and I have to give the annual report on the many activities and successes we have had in the past year, so there’s a bit of preparation to do for that.  Also I am going to visit a friend in LA in a week’s time, and I have to get packed and ready for that trip too.  I have prepared a little travel journal to take with me so hopefully when I get back I will have filled it with doodles, journaling and interesting stuff I’ve collected on the way.

I hope you are all doing fine and shining like the stars you are too.

Big love

AJ 🙂