CSI CASE FILE NO. 192

Hello, I've just snuck in with this layout in the nick of time for Case file no. 192 over at CSI-Color Stories Inspiration. I loved the colour palette with this one, it was actually quite a challenge in the end, but I got it done, Yay! Here's the Case File:


And here's my take on the challenge!

I'm actually quite happy with this one. Also, because it tells not such a happy story which I normally tell. Poor Taylah had a rough year in 2013 with her teeth, She had so many trips to the dentist and orthodontist, and had to have a few teeth pulled out. She is so petrified of the Dentist, it was a very harrowing year!!! In this story, she was in Hopsital, in Day Surgery, and had just had 2 teeth pulled, one was an adult tooth, which she wont get back, and she  was only 10 yrs old!

I popped my journaling on a tag behind the layers! you can also see as part of my TESTIMONY, that I put some of the journaling in the bird cage. I used all of the colours, and my EVIDENCE IS: newspaper/text print, (my newsprint stamped background and patterned paper!) I have birds, a bird cage, a heart, (2 Crafty Chipboard), I distressed the edges of my paper and tore them slightly. I also have a bow on my journal tag, which is twine from Kaszazz, and eyelets and brads which are all metal!!! (How glad am I to bust some of my very old stash using up some of those!!!)

Oh and there are also plenty of flowers on there, from Kaszazz, Prima & Scrap Matrix. My papers are from Kaszazz, Amy Tangerine and Rosie's Studio, cardstock, Kaszazz. There's washi tape, Gesso, Dylusions spray inks and Perfect Pearls, (Background), Grant Archival & Amy Tangerine Alphas, a Dear Lizzy Tag & some inks by Ranger and colorbox!!! TFL!

A bit of Mood board inspiration!

So just sharing my take on the Feb 2016 Moodboard Challenge over at Scrappingclearly!
I just Love these blue colours and with the butterflys, it immediately inspired me to telll the story about my butterfly tattoo and why I got it!
Here's the gorgeous Moodboard:

And here's my take on it:

I was inspired by the lovely colours, the butterflys and the Morroccan Tiles.
I used some Kaszazz cardstock, Heidi Swapp & Blue Fern Studios papers, There's a journal spot which came from a FREE paper with Scrapbooking Memories Mag. Washi tape, a Chipboard title from Blue Fern, Stamps from Kaisercraft & Kaszazz, Dylusions spray inks & paints. I found my gold paint dabber and did some stamping with the Morroccan tile background stamp and love how this came out! I also used the old faithful Gesso and some Alcohol Ink Art markers!
I did some hidden journaling, describing when and why i got my tattoo and what it represents to me!

Art Journal page tutorial, by ME!!!

Hello, so as I made a promise to a few people who wanted instructions for this Art Journal page: ALWAYS BELIEVE, here I go with the how to!! I created this page for one of the Art Journal classes I teach, and it was a big hit. The creations made by my students were awesome, and i loved seeing the different takes!!!

So, as with most journal beginnings,
1 .YOU NEED TO GIVE YOUR PAGES A GOOD COAT OR 2 OF GESSO!!!

2. DIG OUT THAT STASH OF LACE YOU HAVE, ANY COLOURS, RANDOM BITS, LONG, SHORT, ANY BITS, AND ADHERE THEM IN STRIPS DOWN THE LEFT OF YOUR PAGE. (I used multi medium for an adhesive, but any collage or fabric glue will work!)( I STARTED LONG, & STAGGERED THEM, GETTING SHORTER AND SHORTER.) I STOPPED ABOUT 3/4 THE WAY BEFORE THE MIDDLE OF THE PAGE.
3. DO THE SAME ON THE OPPOSITE PAGE, STARTING AT THE EDGE WITH LONG BITS AND WORKING YOUR WAY BACK TO THE MIDDLE, TOP OF PAGE, WITH THE SHORTER BITS. ONCE AGAIN, STOP ABOUT 3/4 OF THE WAY ACROSS.
4. NOW YOU NEED TO HUNT THROUGH YOUR STASH OF UFO'S (unidentified objects, we all have them, in a tin, or a jar, and you have probably been collecting them for years!!! Guess what, Art Journaling allows a space for you to use them!!!!)BY UFO'S, I MEAN, METAL TRINKETS, BEADS, BROKEN JEWELLERY, CHARMS, FOUND ITEMS ETC.
5. YOU WILL ALSO NEED OTHER EMBELLISHMENTS, LIKE FLOWERS, CHIPBOARD BITS, OLD KEYS!!!
6.  NOW BECAUSE I DO WANT TO CLOSE THE PAGES OF MY BOOK, I WENT WITH FLOWERS, & A CHIPBOARD KEY, BUT YOU CAN ADD EXTRAS, AS LONG AS THEY ARE NOT TOO BULKY!
7.  FORM A CLUSTER OF FLOWERS, OR EMBELLISHMENTS IN THE BOTTOM LEFT AND TOP RIGHT HAND CORNERS OF THE PAGES, AND WHEN YOU ARE HAPPY, ADHERE THESE THINGS TO THE PAGE. (Please note, I have gemstones on my flowers, but they will be adhered to the page at the very end!)
8.  ONCE YOUR GLUE IS COMPLETELY DRY, MAYBE THE NEXT DAY IF YOU DON'T HAVE A HEAT GUN, PAINT OVER YOUR ENTIRE LACE AND EMBELLISHMENT AREAS WITH MORE, WHITE GESSO. MAKE SURE YOU GET A SMALL BRUSH FOR UNDERNEATH THE FLOWERS AND CHIPBOARD BITS, TO COVER COMPLETELY IN WHITE!)
9.  WHEN COMPLETELY DRY, SPRITZ THE ENTIRE PAGE WITH A LIGHT COLOURED SPRAY INK. PREFERABLY ONE THAT HAS A SLIGHT SHEEN OR SPARKLE TO IT!(I used a perfect pearls spray mist I made up myself.)
10.  ONCE THIS IS DRY, GRAB YOUR STAZ ON OR ARCHIVAL INK AND SOME BORDER STAMPS, OR BACKGROUND STAMPS, AND STAMP RANDOMLY ALONG THE EDGES, OVER THE LACE, IN BETWEEN EMBELLISHMENTS, WHEREVER ELSE YOU FEEL IS GOOD AND DO SO ON BOTH SIDES.
11.  NEXT, PICK A LIGHT C0LOURED DYLUSIONS SPRAY, (or other spray in your stash), I USED FRESH LIME, & STARTING WITH THE BOTTOM LEFT CORNER, (TURN YOUR BOOK UPSIDE DOWN, SO YOU CAN SPRAY FROM THE TOP OF THE PAGE,) SPRAY SMALL BURSTS AND LET IT RUN DOWN THE PAGE. ( JUST DID IT OVER THE LACE AREA TO ONCE AGAIN CREATE A STAGGERED LOOK!) UNSCREW THE LID OF THE INK AND USING THE STEM, FLICK SOME INK DROPS RANDOMLY OVER PAGE.

12.  WHEN THE INK IS DRY, TURN YOUR BOOK UPSIDE DOWN AGAIN AND DO THE OTHER CORNER, REPEATING PROCESS. (IF THE INK DOESN'T RUN, SPRAY SOME WATER OVER THE TOP OF IT TO THIN IT OUT, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A CRAFT SHEET OR NEWSPAPER UNDERNEATH!)
13.  YOU WILL WANT THE DYLUSIONS TO BE COMPLETELY DRY BEFORE YOU SPRAY YOUR NEXT COLOUR, SO A HEAT GUN WILL COME IN HANDY TO SPEED UP THE PROCESS!- CHOOSE A 2ND SPRAY INK COLOUR, MINE WAS BUBBLEGUM PINK, A REPEAT THE PROCESS FOR THE FIRST COLOUR, BUT USE IT SPARINGLY, JUST A FEW BURSTS, REFER TO MY PHOTO! (I have tried to keep the centre area clean with plenty of white space for your quote!)
14.  DRY 2ND COLOUR & ADD A 3RD LIGHT COLOUR, LEMON ZEST WAS MY CHOICE! (This is also a good time to add any small areas of stencilling if you wish, I used my honeycomb stencil as a stamp with Dylusions ink and did a little randomly on the page.)
15.  WHEN THE INKS ARE DRY, YOU CAN DO A BIT MORE STAMPING WITH YOUR CHOSEN BLACK INK, (I did some music notes, and Script& Newsprint stamping!) (See photo!)
16.  NOW, IT GETS EVEN MORE 3 DIMENSIONAL!!! CHOOSE YOURSELF A COUPLE OF STENCILS, SOME TEXTURE PASTE, MATT OR GEL MEDIUM, OR IF YOU HAVE NONE OF THOSE, GESSO WILL WORK. I ONCE AGAIN, FOLLOWED THE PATTERN OF THE LACE AND ADDED TEXTURE PASTE THROUGH ONE MY STENCILS, ALTERNATING DIFFERENT ONES, AND BEING CAREFUL AROUND THE EMBELLISHMENT CLUSTERS. DO THE SAME ON EACH PAGE. *Once this starts to dry, and over a few days, you will notice some magic. The colours of the Dylusions, will be soaked up by the texture paste and you will see the colour in areas of your texture paste.














17.  WHEN THE TEXTURE PASTE IS COMPLETELY DRY, PICK A DARKER SPRAY INK COLOUR, MINE WAS POLISHED JADE, AND GIVE A FEW VERY SMALL SPRAYS IN EACH CORNER, TURNING THE BOOK UPSIDE DOWN FOR THE BOTTOM LEFT, AS BEFORE! *I watered this colour down as it was quite dark! Spray over the top with the water spray.

18.  ADD ANOTHER LAYER OF TEXTURE PASTE, USING A DIFFERENT STENCIL, AND WHEN DRY, ADD A 3RD LAYER OF TEXTURE PASTE IF YOU HAVE ANOTHER DIFFERENT STENCIL.
*While you are waiting for each layer to dry, you can have a look at your stash for your quote. (I used up words from parts of rub on quotes, stamps, stickers, magazine cut outs etc. I backed all of my words onto cardstock.)
18.  CUT EACH WORD OUT LEAVING A SMALL BORDER OF CARDSTOCK AROUND EACH ONE, THEN BLEND AROUND THE EDGES WITH SOME DISTRESS INKS. * I used Shabby Shutters, Milled Lavendar & Peacock Feathers. Set aside till the wet mediums are all dry.
19.  WHEN PAGE IS COMPLETELY DRY, STAMP A DREAM CATCHER STAMP, OR STAMP OF YOUR CHOICE IN BLACK INK AT THE TOP LEFT AS SHOWN, AND AN ARROW STAMP DOWN THE BOTTOM RIGHT. I ALSO STAMPED A SMALL SCRIPT STAMP NEXT TO THE DREAM CATCHER. WHEN INK IS DRY, COLOUR THE STAMPED IMAGES WITH DISTRESS INKS & A WATER BRUSH. *I use my acrylic block to dab some ink on, then spritz with water or use a waterfilled brush.


20.  ADHERE YOUR QUOTE TO THE PAGE AS SHOWN, OR WHERE YOU WOULD LIKE IT TO GO.
21.  I ADDED A FEW MORE FLOWERS, WHICH I COLOURED WITH DISTRESS INKS AND A WATER BRUSH AS ABOVE.
22.  ADD YOUR GEMSTONES TO CENTRE OF LARGER FLOWERS, AND ICE STICKLES OR OTHER GLITTER GLUE TO THE CENTRE OF SMALLER FLOWERS. *The Dylusions magic will happen again with the glitter glue and will soak up the colours of the inks.

So there you have it, quite lengthy, but a really fun process. Can't wait to show you some more projects using these techniques. Make sure you leave me a comment if you are here, especially if you are going to have a go at this page, would love to see the end results!!!

October Mid-month challenge, SCRAP AROUND THE WORLD

The lovely Heather McMahon has challenged me to play along with her amazingly, gorgeous moodboard over at SCRAP AROUND THE WORLD! I was already inspired by the gorgeous colours, and couldn't go past this one! Take a look at the board:



I had a layout in mind, using a Selfie I took recently, and something that has been going on in my head for quite some time. Thinking about taking a huge Leap of Faith. this is a message to myself, and I wanted it to be a big, bright reminder every day!!! Here's my layout:

I was initially inspired by the water colour image, top left, which gave me the idea for a shaving foam and  Dylusions  background!...That was alot of fun! I then added a bit of Distress ink by wiping the ink pad directly over the coloured background. I used a Kaszazz stencil and some Dylusions paints for the gorgeous circles, which were inspired by the bottom, middle image, and tried to mimic alot of the colours from the mood board. The gorgeous flowers are from Scrap Matrix, Prima, Kaszazz and an Op shop find, I recoloured the pink ones with Dylusions sprays. There's some 7 dots papers, H. .Swapp papers, Paint chips & Kaiser papers. I love the Collected & Co. alphas! Lots of Kaszazz stamps on there and enamel dots are by Francheville. I've fussy cut some little hearts as I loved the hanging mobile in the bottom right image. So as you can see, the whole Moodboard pretty much inspired me!!! Well done Heather!

Here's a few images showing the shaving foam background up close.