Stencilled Flower Garden

Recently Julie Balzer has been sharing some of her most used and favorite art supplies on her blog.  She's also featured art by other readers along with some of their favorite art supplies.  I decided to see if I could create an art journal spread using only 10 things.  I counted my three different colors of Archival Ink as just one.  And the three colors of acrylic paint as one.  So call me a cheater but in my head it's one product (even if it is in three different colors).

Here's a photo of the supplies I used:

These supplies include:

1. Luminarte Silks Acrylic Paints

2. Archival Ink stamp pads

3. Color Bloom Spray Mist

4. Golden Acrylic Paint

5. Derwent Inktense Pencils

6. Stabilo All Black Pencil

7. Rubber Stamps

8. Stencils

9. Waterbrush

10. StazOn stamp pad

I love seeing and hearing about other people's favorite art supplies.  Often I say to myself, "oh, I have those Neocolor crayons or Inktense pencils, I just need to remember to use them".  It's also fun to see how different artists combine products to get unique and different looks.  The Internet is like one big show and tell!

Thanks for reading!

Large Art Journal Paint Scraping Fun!

Lately I have felt a little intimidated to work in my larger Dylusions Art Journal.  Some days it just seems like a lot of space to fill.  Kind of like starting on a large blank canvas.  But on Sunday I decided it was time to stop using that as an excuse and just start applying some paint.

First I dribbled some Golden Acrylic paint and used an old credit card to spread it out.  I did this with four different colors.  Then I used a few light blue Neocolor crayons and went around the edges coloring.  I then took a wet paint brush and blended this color in.  Next I used a few of my newer Dina Wakley stamps with some black Archival Ink.  I also used my green Wink of Stella pen to color in a few of the large circles and did some stenciling with a Crafter's Workshop Stencil and some purple paint.  The last few things I did were to use a black pen to draw a wavy line around the border and then color this area in with my bubblegum pink Dylusions spray ink (that I have poured into a water brush).  Oh, and I drew a few circles in the border that I colored in with a blue Montana Acrylic paint pen and then outlined with a white uni-ball pen.  There are also a few pieces of washi tape placed randomly here and there.

One thing I like about this art journal spread is that I left some white space.  I often feel I have to cover everything in paint.  I really like the look of some white space peeking through.  It lightens things up!

Here's another look:

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Easy Stenciled Card!

Doodlebugs, my local stamping and scrapbooking store in Sequim, Washington, is having a Creative Community Challenge this month.  The challenge is to create something using stencils.  Cathy has been posting all sorts of great ideas and examples using stenciling techniques.  (You can click here to visit Doodlebugs blog.)  As I was reading this post, I realized that I had forgotten about one very easy way to get lots of color using my stencils:  use my blending tools along with Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads.  I've recently invested in some of the Mini Ink Blending Tools and I love them!  This card was created using the Heartwood pattern designer stencil from Memory Box and 3 different colors of Distress Inks.  After mounting it on a card I took out my Stickles and added some small little dots.

It's amazing that we can so quickly and easily get such incredible detail by rubbing an inked foam blending tool over a stencil.  I love stencils!!

Here's a close-up of some of the detail and the Stickled dots.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Art Journal Fun With Color Bloom Spray Mist

I haven't had a chance to work in my art journal lately so last night I put it on my list of things to do today.  Ta da!   That almost always ensures I will get it done.  Sometimes I just have to make art a priority and put it on my to-do list.

As I opened my art journal today I knew that I wanted to give my new Color Bloom Spray Mist a try. The color is called Glistening Waves and it has a beautiful sultry shimmer to it!  It is a gorgeous aqua green!  I sprayed it into my art journal through two new Stencil Girl stencils.  I then outlined the stenciled areas with my Peeled Paint distress pen.  I also used some gelli printed deli paper, some tissue paper that I had previously painted, and some wide washi tape outside the stenciled areas.  One of the last things I did was to use some painters pens to add little dots in the stenciled areas.  I really like this added detail.

Color Bloom Spray Mist, wide washi tape, and Stencil Girl Stencils

Here is a close up of one of the stenciled areas.  I added an enamel dot to the middle.

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Easy Cards With Impress Stamps

I grew up in a suburb of Seattle called Woodinville (in Washington state).  The Seattle area has many rubber stamp and crafting related stores.  One of my favorites is called Impress.  There is an Impress store in Tukwila and University Village.  I don't get to shop at these stores very often since I live approximately 3 hours away but I have taken advantage of Impress's online store.  And, of course, I'm on their mailing list so I get an email every couple of weeks advertising classes, ideas and new products.

A few months ago I saw a card using these three flower stamps in an email I got from Impress.  I knew I had to have them!  The stamps are the mod wish flower, mod starburst, and mod cowslip.  One thing I love about Impress is their simple and quick card ideas.  I stamped the images, added some washi tape leaving room either at the top or bottom for a sentiment and mounted them on a background paper and then a card.  Pretty easy!

Here's a close up.

I'm always a sucker for something that is pretty and quick and easy!  Do you have any quick and easy card ideas??

Thanks for stopping by!

Elegant Lily Cards

It's always exciting to discover a blog where the artist posts often and showcases beautiful and inspirational art.  It's even more exciting when this artist puts together great tutorials and videos.  Recently I found just this when I discovered Jennifer McGuire's blog.  It's definitely worth checking out!  About a month ago I fell in love with her card using the My Favorite Things Lily die.  You can see her video tutorial here.  

Since we were invited to my Mom's cousin's house for Easter Sunday, I decided it would be nice to give her a card.  (I'm always looking for an excuse to do something crafty!)  Here is the card I made using the My Favorite Things Lily die and Jennifer McGuire's tutorial.   

I always feel a bit sad when I make a beautiful card and then give it away on the same day.  I guess I really enjoy having a few days to admire my work.  Fortunately my iPhone allowed me to take some pictures so I can look back and remember the beauty.

I like orange flowers . . . but I like pink flowers even more!  I decided to make another lily card (that I will probably hang onto until Mother's Day) using some pink Copic markers.  I'm happy with how it turned out!  The little pink dots really made me love it!

I definitely could use a lesson and some practice in shading and layering colors with the Copic markers.  I'll have to add that to my list of classes to take!

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Tall Birds on a Mixed Media Background

A week or so ago I found a tutorial for Stenciled Coffee Filter Art on the Crafters Workshop blog.  I had some old coffee filters in the pantry so I went to work collaging and stenciling.  You know how sometimes you end up with a bunch of leftover paint after a project?  Well, I had some left over aqua and green paint that I couldn't waste so I grabbed my small art journal and sponged away.  I decided to follow the whole stenciled coffee filter process in my art journal.   I absolutely love the results!  I'm  sure the fact that these are my favorite colors has nothing to do with it!  Then I used my new StencilGirl Tall Birds stencil for the birds.  I colored the birds' bodies in with a few of my Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush pens and stamped a swirly stamp through the stencil.

Here are the coffee filters I made.

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