Another Colour Me Positive Update

Now that the school holidays are over, I can finally get round to posting again. I've managed to more or less get up to date with Colour Me Positive so thought I would share some art journal pages with you. 

Week 28 - Smile. Never regret anything that made you smile.

Week 29. Journey. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - Lao Tzu

Week 30. Creativity. All who are creative, in whatever way, are doing something very important for the well being of the world - Sandra Chantry.

Week 31. Sparkle. Every day life begins to sparkle when we realise our friends are the glitter.

Week 32. Alive. Respond to every call that excites your spirit.

Thanks for visiting me today, looking forward to sharing some new creations soon.

Jen xxx

Catching up with Colour Me Positive

Hi Crafty Friends. Well it's been a long, long time since I've blogged. In face, my crafting time is limited nowadays. I've been volunteering in the art department in my son's special needs school and loving it!!!  

My altered art is non existent, I don't scrap anymore but I'm completely addicted to art journalling. I've been playing catch up with colour Me Positive so I'm sharing my most recent pages with you today. I've been messing about with encaustic as well and hope to share that soon once I've got the hang of it.

Thanks for visiting, 

Jen xxxx

Week 12 - Expanding. Paints used are Dina Wakeley for Ranger. Background and border stencils by Stencil Girl. Angel stencil I've had forever and lost the packaging.

Week 13 - Eyes. Dylusions paints and stencil by Stencil Girl. The eyes were an image I found on Google and I painted over them.

Week 14 - Hope. Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Dina Wakeley paints and stencils are Seth Apter for Stencil Girl. Flowers by Prima.

Week 15 - Happy. Original digi image courtesy of Catrin Welz Stein, I then did some shading with Derwent Intense Blocks. Paints are Dylusions and stencil is by Stencil Girl.

Week 16 - Art. Background stencils are Stencil Girl. Focal point stencils by Donna Downey Studios.

week 17 - Friendship. Background stencils are Tim Holtz and Stencil Girl. Images are Stampotique. Paints are Dina Wakeley. Chipboard is Scrap FX and Dusty Attic and the bottom is collaged napkins.

Week 18 - Healing. A very person page for me. I've been wanting to use this image for a long, long time. Reminds me of Maisie and my grieving process. Chipboard by Dusty Attic, stencil by Prima Marketing. Shaded using Faber Castell Big Brush pens and paints are Amsterdam acrylics.

Week 19 - Balance.  Stencils by Stencil Girl. Paints are Dina Wakeley.

Week 20 - Wonder. Stencils are by Stencil Girl. Paints are Fresco Finish by Paper Artsy.

Week 21 - Abundance. Paints by Paper Artsy, stencils by Stencil Girl and image is from The Avenues paper line by Bo Bunny.

Week 22 - Forward. Stencils by Stencil Girl. Paints are Dylusions.

Week 23 - Opportunity. Stencils are by Stencil Girl, paints are Paper Artsy and the butterfly images are collages napkins.

Week 24 - Courage. Paints are Paper Artsy, wave stencil is by Stencil Girl and images are Graphic 45.

Art Journalling

Hi everyone, I've been having so much fun following the art journalling prompts via Colour Me Positive and have sadly neglected my poor little blog. Today I'm going to share the first 8 weeks journal pages. I haven't done a step by step because they were all a bit intuitive, so I didn't always have my camera to hand. I promise I will get more tutorials out soon :-).

Week 1: Gratitude

Week 2: Be Brave

Week 3: Live Life

Week 4: Believe in Yourself (optional prompt use photo or image of yourself)

Week 5: Dream Big

Week 6: Kindness

Week 7 : Heart

Week 8: Fearless

I'm currently working on week 9 and 10 and will share them at the end of he week.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Jen xx

Book of Ruination Bold and Bright Andy Skinner Challenge

Hi Crafty Friends, I'm back today with another challenge entry. I love Andy Skinner's work for Decoart, his tutorials and You Tube videos have inspired me so much. His first challenge was Bright and Bold, right up my street!!! I love his Book of Ruination and decided to do my take take on it, Bright and Bold style.

I only decided to take part in the challenge at the end of last week so no step by step but I'll walk you through how I created the book.

I started off by priming with white Gesso. The book was made from paper mache so my paint needed a good surface to work on. After the Gesso had dried I applied 2 coats of Decoart Media Fluid acrylic in Cadmium red hue. Once that had dried I applied Decoart crackle paste to the centre and Decoart texture sand to the edges.

Once the crackle paste was dry, I sprayed Decoart shimmer misters in violet and turquoise.

I absolutely love the crackle paste and the effects were amazing with the misters. I then added more Decoart media acrylics in primary yellow, yellow green light and the red. I colour mixed with some white acrylics to create the light blue and orange colours seen.

The chipboard frame is by Australian chipboard company ScrapFX and I painted and mixed all the previous colours. I painted my card stock with the primary yellow then mixed the leftover with red and stamped with some Unity Stamp Co butterflies. I then used black Gesso with Andy Skinner's stencil and outlined with white Stabilo Uniball pen. 

Isn't the texture sand amazing?

I added some lilac chain from my stash and added a Tim Holtz word band. I used some Vintaj Patina in purple to colour the word band. I then added holes and threaded some ribbon and a Prima ladybird embellishment to the side.

I used some Kaisercraft paper to edge my book and inked with some Distress Inks in Old Paper.

On the inside I used my scrap water colour paper. I've been doing a lot of art journalling recently (photos soon, I promise!) using my Decoart paints and I always keep some cheap watercolour paper at the side to use up my excess paint. That's what created my back  pages on the inside.  I just added some more layers and I think the result was really effective. I used the same technique in the middle panel and used white acrylic paint this time with Andy's stencil.

I picked up the butterfly in a homeward shop when I lived in Australia. I used my Decoart Metallic Lustre creams in majestic purple, radiant red and elegant emerald to make the butterfly pop. The middle square is a piece of polystyrene covered with tissue paper.

Thanks for popping in today, I hope you liked my version of Andy's Book of Ruination, Bright and Bold style.

Jen xxxx

Hello!!!! I'm back! Decoart Winter Wonderland Challenge

Hello my beautiful crafty friends, long time no speak!!! Last year was a whirlwind of change for me. I made the massive move from Australia back to my home in Scotland. I took 6 months off to adjust to all the changes in my life (marriage breakup, international move, getting the boys settled, house hunting) so much happening but now I'm back creating. My studio still isn't set up so back drops for photos etc are not perfect but I'll get there. 

Mt term with Art Anthology has ended so time to expand my horizons and play with some new products and first on my list was Decoart.  They have an amazing challenge on at the moment and the theme is winter wonderland. You all know how much I love to alter stuff so when I saw this little bust she was the perfect Snow Queen!

She started off looking like this:

I used Gelatos to add some shading to her face as seen below.

The image below shows her hair painted in Decoart Purple Pearl metallics acrylic paint. I have discovered the best crackle paste EVER!!!! It's in the Decoart Media line and I wish I had discovered it sooner. It's so easy to use, I just spread some on her hair to create a cracked ice effect. I watered down some of the Purple Pearl paint to create a glaze to blend in with the rest of her hair. I then rubbed some gilders wax into the cracks. Decoart metallic wax is next on my list of purchases.

More details of the crackling below, isn't this stuff amazing!!!

I added a Tim Holtz snowflake and  diamante necklace I had in my stash. 

Close up of her face. she's quite scary looking but don't you just love that beautiful, vibrant purple?

I added more crackle paste to her shoulders and again rubbed in some gilders wax.

 On her left shoulder I used Decoart Crackle Glaze. This is is liquid consistency rather than paste and is transparent. Again, I love it and would recommend both these products. I've used a ton of crackle products over the years and these are by far my favourite.

The base is just a cake support. I painted the edges with Decoart Sapphire Blue Glamour Dust. To create the snow I used modelling paste. I then painted the tips with the Glamour Dust. I added some flock, tinsel glitter and some pearls to create a snowy, Winter effect. My Queen's bustier was created using Powertex which is a fabric hardener. I then painted the edges again with Blue Sapphire Glamour Dust. I will do a Powertex tutorial at a later date. I used a Tim Holtz die for my title. Yes, I love Game of Thrones ;-).

I hope you like my snow queen, I had so much fun creating her and experimenting with Decoart products. I've got tons more stuff to share with you soon.

It's great to be back!!!!

Jen xxx