I won, I won, i won!!!

Yes, I am a little excited!!! last week I was contacted by AALLandCREATE to find out I had won the INSTAGRAM competition, which gave me access to all their current online classes!! OMG...The collaboration of talented artists and their work is amazing, and I am happy to say, I had time to play on the weekend and take my first class by Flore Thannberger!! It was a card class, her card was amazing!!! here is my take on her class and details of the products I used!!! I can't wait to do the next one!!!

I've used Kaszazz cardstock in bling for the base card, then a piece of A6 watercolour paper. My watercolour base is Dylusions inks and Distress ink refill.

I have these gorgeous little Kelly Purkey stamps in my stash which I love, particularly the numbers and the Live big, so they went on there in Colorbox ink. The gorgeous fox, flowers and Dragonfly stamps, I have been dying to use. They are Uchi's Designs stamps and I won those in a CSI challenge.

The original card sample by Flore had machine stitching, which I almost did, but it was late at night, the hand machine didn't want to play and too noisy to get the sewing machine out. So, I stamped a few arrows, and bundled up some black cotton for a similar effect. The cute little flair is from D-Lish Scraps.

You can see on the Dragonfly above, I have some shimmer, that is Perfect Pearls! There are a few little touches of that on the fox and flair.

Finally, see this cute photo corner??? Well, I have a little box of metal Provocraft embellishments, that I thought I would never use!! The photo corners, (they are brads), were an ugly blue & green colour. So I sponged some Gesso on to prime them and then when dry, sponged some Distress Stain in Brushed Pewter!! Voila, silver photo corners!! I so love making use of old stash and re-purposing!!!

I can't wait to share more creations from these fabulous classes and teachers!! Our very own Fiona Paltridge is teaching over there, why don't you check them out, it's lots of fun!!!! Click here

I'm an ICADian!!!!

I'm a little excited to be starting a new challenge!! Yes, another one, but this one is really, really cool. The challenge of ICAD, (index-card-a-day), has been running once a year for 61 days for the last 6 years, by the lovely Tammy at DAISY YELLOW ART. The idea is to use a packet of index cards, either 5x3" or 4x6" and make some free art on them, 1 per day! How cool is that for us time poor peeps. A little bit of something just for us every day. Experiment, be inspired by others and have fun...love that idea! It starts on June 1st and I couldn't help myself last night, I had a bit of a warm up and made this, using Blended Distress inks, sprayed with a Perfect Pearl mist, stamped with a Kaisercraft Stamp and Archival Ink. I also used a Kaisercraft stencil and some Archival ink for the pink dots! It made me happy, I went to bed feeling accomplished!

Go and check it out if you're up for the challenge. There is also a FB page where everyone is going to share their creations!!!!
TFL.... Tania

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!

More than Words mini challenge

Well I just scraped in with the deadline to play along over at More Than Words!!! they are a relatively new challenge site, and I am loving all of the beautiful entries to this mini challenge, so many elaborate tags!! Mine is not quite as elaborate, but I had fun playing with my Perfect pearls, and gold paint mixed with texture paste!!! The chipboard butterfly is from Kaszazz and there's some Craft Queen Ribbons in there!!!

You can only play along with the mini challenge on their facebook page, which you can find here!!

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!!!

Challenge Day for me....ANOTHER FREAKING SCRAPPY CHALLENGE!!!

Well, what a cool name for a challenge site!!! Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge has a different take on challenges, and one I like, not too demanding or stessful this month, Just CREATE WITH THE COLOUR BLUE, or CREATE ABOUT SOMETHING THAT MAKES/MADE YOU BLUE.
So Blue it was, and funnily enough, I now have a few projects on the go using the colour blue!!!
Here's my entry:

It's a Mixed media Art Journal page, created with tons of stuff. After priming my pages with Gesso,  I started by slapping some paint onto my acrylic block and then stamping it onto my pages, which created some uneven gaps. In the gaps, I used some Gelatos, (thanks to my friend Vicki at Scrap matrix!!!), and loved playing with these by the way, great for blending some added colour highlighs. I then went a bit stencil crazy with the stars and a beautiful flourish. I then used some Kaszazz and Kaiser stamps with black acrylic paint and Staz On, The middle of the dream catcher started as a stencilled image, then I added a bit of black texta and filled in the outsied edge with some black lace!! Wowza, another item I've used that's been in my stash forever!! In the middle of the dream catcher I used some micro beads, clear gesso, which for some reason didn't dry clear, so I added some Perfect Pears over the top!!! The feathers were also a much held onto item in my stash!! And the beads are from a much loved broken necklace!!! Very happy to have used up some stuff! TFL!

D-Lish Scraps November moodboard challenge!

Hi again! I can't believe another month has come around since the last moodboard challenge at D-Lish Scraps. I'm glad though, as i was in need of some more challenge inspiration!
here's the November moodboard!!! (I love that they also give you a sketch, which makes it super easy to play along in a short time frame!!!)
http://d-lishscraps.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/november-inspiration-board-challenge.html

And here's my layout: 'Story' is about my two little darlings who are growing up so fast! This photo was taken in 2008, just after i had my first solo holiday away from them. I had missed them so much, and i got home and they were so sun tanned. They had been in the pool every day with their Dad! This is one of my favourite pics!

.

I love all the gold in this one, 

 I went a bit mad, using loads of Heidi Swapp project life embellishments, aswell as her papers and fab plastic words which I attatched to some white cardstock and fussy cut to make them stand out as my title on my page.

This pic shows up close, the Perfect Pearls I used with Perfect medium and a Kaszazz stencil. There's also a little Ranger Ice Stickles on there, some American Crafts-Dear Lizzy papers, washi tape and some cute banner stickers from Echo Park.The gold cardstock is from Kaszazz.TFL!!!