The first of the Adirondak Colorwash messes ;-)

Hello friends

Hope everyone is well & happy.

A while back I bought 4 bottles of Adirondak Colourwah sprays – Lettuce, Expresso, Wild Plum and Cranberry.  I was so excited to use them, probably over-excited, but all that happened was that I created a big, big mess.  This is the first spread I created using the Colorwash sprays and I mainly used Lettuce and Expresso with a touch of Cranberry:

Still without any stencils I used some more precut paper,  this time it was cut with big swirls.  In the end I did quite like how the spread turned out, it has a kind of surreal feel to it which is why I put the quote “It started out like any ordinary day”  Have you ever had days like that when everything starts out normal but things just get stranger and stranger?  No! well maybe it’s just me then. 😉

It took a lot of work before I was even slightly happy with the pages, there are layers and layers of paint, paper, gesso and stamping.  I can’t remember where most of the collaged images came from –  this is the troube with creating pages and then not putting them online until some time later, if I was organised I would keep a note of how each spread was made as this would help me to learn, I could give credit to others where it’s due and explain my process, but if you knew me you would realise that’s never going to happen, because ‘organised’ is not an adjective anyone would use to describe me!

I do know where the image of the Cheshire cat came from though, it’s from the Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland Collection. I bought 2 sheets of that paper when I purchased the colorwash sprays.  I had to take a deep breath before I could bring myself to cut into that beautiful paper.  I’ve always loved the Alice books and the image fitted in with the surreal feel to the pages.

Big love

AJ

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Wow! What an opportunity!

My friend Carolyn has a fantastic giveaway over on her blog A Colorful Journey.  

It’s a fantastic opportunity for one lucky person to have a spot in 21 Secrets!  I would love to win and have an opportunity to learn from all those amazing teachers, I think it would really help me grow.  I was thinking about it today and I realised if it’s meant to happen then it will and if it’s not going to be me I should at least give you, my new art journaling friends, an opportunity to participate too.

So drop on over to Carolyn’s blog have a look at her fantastic artwork and leave a message for your chance to take part in this awesome project.  Good luck everyone!

Big love

AJ

Think outside the box

Hello, I hope everyone is well and happy 🙂

After watching some of Journal Artista’s stencil tutorials I desperately wanted some stencils, but couldn’t find any locally.  Then I found this filigree cut paper and I used it as a stencil with some newly acquired Adirondak colourwash spray in Wild Plum and Cranberry.  I was so excited to try the spray, but so disappointed that all that happened was it made one almighty mess!  You’ll see the messy results next week, but I did like what happened to the paper it turned a deep purple.  This spread had already been created and I thought it was finished until I noticed that the filigree paper matched the design on the scrapbook paper I had used.  It is from the Papermania birdsong collection so I decided to rip it and add it to this spread.  The music paper came free with a craft magazine I bought years ago.  I really like the way these two pages turned out.

Big love

AJ

Dreams, illustrations and a confession

On this spread there are lots of layers of paper and acrylic paints.  The advert, German text and the lady came from free to use internet pages.  I bought a cheap little rubber stamp that says Dreams and the red dots are from another small square stamp from a retro collection.  I don’t know who made the collection.

The spread changed many, many times before I was happy with it.  The quote is by Marsha Norman an American playwright and dramatist who won the Pulitzer prize in 1983 for her play Night Mother.

I have a confession to make, a few weeks ago I said I was going to try and make art with the things I have around me and stop wanting more and more stuff.  Well it hasn’t worked the truth is I can’t go past a craft shop or a shop that sells some kind of craft supplies without going in, and I usually part with at least some money before I come back out again.  We don’t even have good suppliers near where I live.  I now also visit all the local charity shops and car boot sales whenever I can and buy bits and pieces that I think might come in useful.  The truth is I am now well and truly addicted, I’m a hopeless case!

On the plus side it feels really good to be creative.  I am the bread winner in my household, my husband was unable to work for many years due to health problems and now can only work part time.  I don’t like my job, apart from the pay, there is nothing rewarding about it.  My talents are overlooked and underutilised and I seem to spend most of my time supporting people (men) who get paid much more than I do and, who most of the time, haven’t got a (expletive deleted) clue!  BUT I decided a while ago that I wasn’t going to let it bother me anymore, I am at that awkward age when it would be difficult to get another job at the same salary and I do get paid a reasonable amount and at the end of the day I just switch off and come home.

I love the stuff I do with my local history group and that really gives me lots of job satisfaction and a sense of achievement and worth AND I am loving learning all this stuff about creating art.  I actually leap out of bed early each morning so that I can get my fix of being creative before I get dressed and ready for work.  Art in my Pyjamas!  Sometimes it’s hard to tear myself away and go and do the boring day job.  Then as soon as I get home I’m in my room again either working on the history group or making more art while my husband looks after the catering arrangements.

Big love

AJ

Follow your heart

I bought some packs of hand made papers from a local Pound shop, so this spread has lots of layers of torn paper, I love the papers that are translucent.  Unfortunately when I went back the shop had sold out, so I can’t get any more at the moment.  I used some gold leaf I’ve had in my cupboard for years, some little glittery heart stickers and white border paper (also from the Pound shop) and some pink acrylic paint.   I wanted to get a bit more ‘lightness’ into my art journal and I liked the way this came out.   My addiction to paper increases by the day! 😉

Big love

AJ

I’m so happy!

I have actually completed my very first journal.  I am only about a third of the way through sharing it on my blog, but it is actually complete and I love it.  I am now working on several other projects – five journals and a mini book made from envelopes, plus some boxes and various other bits and pieces I am altering.   There are other things I really should be doing but I am becoming addicted to creating and collecting useful stuff!

Anyway here is a sneek peak at the completed journal.

Big love

AJ 🙂

Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try

This page came out a bit different.  In one of those pound shops I found a die cut set of the alphabet, unfortunately the letters are BIG, but after I had pushed out all the letters I decided to use the cardboard blank as a stencil to outline the letters.  I used a lot of different paper for the background of this spread, and I am beginning to realise that I have a passion for paper of all kinds.

I’m happy with this spread and I like the sentiment – I should try more things…

Big love

AJ