donderdag 29 mei 2014

Yeahhhh, I made top three with the Crafty Girl Challenges!!

I love it when I make top three witj my 'Live mindfully' spread; getting picked by a Design Team is such a reward en recognition of your work. Thanks ladies!

zondag 25 mei 2014

Note to self: live Mindfully!

I have a subscription to a magazine called: The Flow, and a lot of the time there are these articles on mindfullness. It;s something that I can very much relate to in my busy life as a schoolteacher. The other day there was this drawing of a lady with ballons in the magazine. The only thing coloured was one brownish balloon, her face and hair. I decided to use her on my art journal page. I started the background by cutting out my lady and drawing her out on a piece of paper. I cut her out again thus making a mask which I used when putting down some modeling paste through a Crafters Workshop stencil. What was left over on modeling paste was used to make some more texture on the pages here and there and applied with a palet knife.
I then used only 2 colours of gelatos, Licorice and Snow Cone. I added them to the background and then used lots of water to let the colours run. I love the way it settled in all the nooks and crannies.

My lady had a plain white dress which I coloured in yellow with my Copic Markers. I found the skirt of the dress a bit dull so I decided to add pleats, which I thought worked out fine. I also colorued one of her ballons yelllow and added some shading on the brown balloon. Then I glued her down on my page.
I used gel medium to glue down some stitching yarn which acts as if it were a doodle. Like the effect.
The text was written by me; I always have trouble with my own handwriting on a page and usually I print out my text, but on this page, the text was quite personal and I wanted to write. Still not sure whether I like it though.
 Hope you like my spread, I certainly enjoyed making it. Have a great week, hugs Frea
Challenges:
http://artbymiranchallenge.blogspot.ca/2014/05/challenge-5-anything-goes_16.html
http://brownsugarchallenge.blogspot.nl/2014/05/challenge-95-anything-goes.html
http://pattiescreationschallenge.blogspot.nl/2014/05/challenge-92-no-no-no-cards-must-always.html
http://scrapping4funchallenges.blogspot.ca/2014/05/challenge-17-technique-challenge.html
http://milkcoffeechallenge.blogspot.nl/2014/05/anything-but-card-challenge.html
http://www.4craftychicks.blogspot.nl/2014/05/4-cc-195-no-stamping-zone.html
http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-18-dt-call.html
http://eclecticpaperie.blogspot.ca/2014/05/eplay-challenge-get-stenciled.html
http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.nl/2014/05/challenge-133-anything-goes.html
http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.nl/2014/05/anything-goes.html
http://alteredeclectics.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/1st-of-may-omw.html
http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/l-is-for-lots-of-layers.html
http://rheddscreativespirit.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/may-challenge.html
http://liastampz.blogspot.nl/2014/05/challenge-65-texture.html
http://justbcreativecrazy.blogspot.nl/2014/05/mays-just-because-linky-party.html

woensdag 14 mei 2014

Happy Time, bright sunny colours!

I made this spread in my large Dylusions journal with lots of texture and happy sunny colours. I started - after gessoing my page - by gluing down some papers from an old encyclopedia. Then I glued down strips of open ribbon over that with gel medium. I put it close together so there are hardly any seams visible. After that I put down some texture paste to create even more texture. Then I mixed several colours of paint with glazing medium and painted over the page. After letting it dry for a minute or so I wiped some of it away with a babywipe, thus revealing the texture of the paste even more.
The butterflies are from a paper napkin; I glued them down on thick paper with gel medium and cut them out. Glueing them down I left the wings free so they would stand up a little. The stems of my butterfly flowers were made with thick bakers twine which was white and dark green. I used a green Dylusion spray to make it entirely green. Over de stems I glued some washi tape.
I diluted some darkbrown acrylic paint with water and with a brush I flecked some splatters over my page, making sure the butterflies stayed 'clean'. On the edges of my pages I added Chocolate Gelato and I wrote down the quote with a brown Sharpie pen. I hope you all like my spread. Happy hump day!!!
Challenges:
http://www.sparklingblackrose-craftmylife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/all-crafts-challenge-aprilmay.html
http://justinspirationalchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/team-b-with-random-fan-and-zuri-vice.html
http://ladybugscraftsinkchallengeblog.blogspot.nl/2014/05/newe-release-eunice-ramsay-anything-goes.html
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.nl/2014/05/pretty-pastels.html
http://artisticinspirationschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-91-no-designer-papers.html
http://craftingfromtheheartchallengeblog.blogspot.nl/2014/05/challenge-18.html
http://craftcreatoins.blogspot.nl/p/new-challenge.html
http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.nl/2014/05/challenge-156.html
http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.nl/2014/05/challenge-81-anything-goes.html
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-41-anything-goes.html
http://avenue613.blogspot.nl/2014/05/challenge-71-anything-goes-woptional.html
http://thepapernestdollschallenge.blogspot.nl/2014/05/anything-goes-10.html

zondag 11 mei 2014

Yeahhhhh, I am this week's guest designer for Quirky Crafts!!!!!

I was really pleased when winning the Quirky Crafts Challenge, and even more pleased when asked to be theur guest designer! I received some digipapers and some digistamps to work with, and I picked this gorgeous 'peacock lady' by Alipeeps which I think is just brilliant. 
I printed her out on tissue paper and coloured her in with my trusted Copics. After gluing her down on the background with matte gel medium, I painted the darkblue centers of the feathers and the greek ovals around the centers with metallic Lumière Paint. Around her face an the hair I added some shadow with a Faber Castel big brush Pitt pen.
To do the background I started with gessoing the page after which I randomly applied Rayher Antique Medium. I hadn't used it before, but it turned out to be this glue like medium and after drying it actually looked and felt like dried glue. The surface was shiny and very smooith and since I wanted to use a LSG spray I decided to add a layer of transparant gesso before spraying in order to give the spray something to hold on to. I used LSG Treasure Island Aqua spray which gave the lovely aqua shimmer in the background. 
Now in the background you can still see bits of the digipaper I used. The dots were made with a TCW stencil and Copper coloured Maya Gold. The edges of the spread were distressed with a Gelato in chocolate colour. And this was the endresult (to give you an idea of the size, it was made in the small Dylusions journal). 
I hope you like my spread an will start looking for challenges tomorrow. For now, it's bedtime, tomorrow is my first workday after a 2 weeks holiday. Have a great week, hugs Frea
Challenges:
http://cmdchallenge.blogspot.ca/2014/05/challenge-9.html
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-41-anything-goes.html
http://avenue613.blogspot.nl/2014/05/challenge-71-anything-goes-woptional.html
http://ditziedigidesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/anything-goes-week-3.html
http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.nl/2014/05/challenge-81-anything-goes.html
http://www.scribbleandscrapcrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-18-always-anything-goes.html
http://asprinkleofimagination.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html
http://alteredeclectics.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/1st-of-may-omw.html
http://doodlepantryblog.blogspot.nl/2014/05/doodle-pantry-digital-challenge-46.html
http://justbcreativecrazy.blogspot.nl/2014/05/mays-just-because-linky-party.html
http://liastampz.blogspot.nl/2014/04/challenge-64-anything-but-card.html
http://rheddscreativespirit.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/may-challenge.html
http://craftingattheweekend.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-1.html

 

donderdag 8 mei 2014

The month of May, and I'm actually not thát late!!

I had absolutely no inspiration for the month of May, so I decided to pick the least likely colours for the background; I used Naples Yellow Light, Naples Yellow deep and Azo Yellow Medium acrylic paint by Amsterdam..
At the bottom I stamped with an Indigo Blue stamp and green permanent ink. The 'day' flowers were made by making a stencil with the Tim Holtz tattered floral die and a sheet of transparant film. I sponged through the stencil with Golden Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold. I went around all the flowers with a Yellow Faber Castel Big Brush Pitt pen.
At the sides I used a TCW stencil and sponged ferns with several green colours acrylic paint. I stamped some dragonflies in the background with a brown Stazon ink and used a pearlescent acrylic medium for the wings. Last but not least I used the dark green permanent ink around the spread to 'frame' the spread.
Hope you like my month of May, considering I started with a blank, it didn't turn out too bad, though I must say I made better pages LOL! Hugs Frea
Challenges:
http://dianamlarson.blogspot.nl/2014/05/dlart-may-linky-challenge.html
http://www.4craftychicks.blogspot.nl/2014/05/4-ccc-193-flowers.html
http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-17.html
http://delightfulsketches.blogspot.nl/2014/05/weekly-challenge-petal-power.html
http://www.dreamweaverstencils.blogspot.nl/2014/05/dreamweaver-designs-are-to-die-for.html
http://eclecticpaperie.blogspot.ca/2014/05/eplay-challenge-get-stenciled.html
http://craftingbydesigns.blogspot.nl/2014/04/may-anything-goes-challenge.html
http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.nl/2014/04/262-anything-but-card.html
http://scrappers-delights-challenge-blog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-22-anything-goes.html
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/simon-says-spring-flowers/
http://www.craftysentiments.blogspot.nl/2014/05/anything-goes.html
http://www.lovesrubberstampschallenges.com/2014/05/challenge-102-anything-goes.html
http://www.ttcrd.blogspot.nl/2014/05/ttcrd-challenge-may-6-12.html
http://thepapernestdollschallenge.blogspot.nl/2014/04/ch-9-and-500-follower-giveaway.html
http://www.sparklingblackrose-craftmylife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/all-crafts-challenge-aprilmay.html
http://craftingfromtheheartchallengeblog.blogspot.nl/2014/05/challenge-17-anything-goes.html
http://scrapbookstampsocietychallengeblog.blogspot.nl/2014/04/challenge-40-anything-goes-option-use.html

zondag 4 mei 2014

The last Follow Friday video; subscribe and win a mini tag set!!









Love these videos my dear friend Astrid makes and if you subscribe and leave a comment you can win a lovely mini tag set!