Back to my roots with art journaling on a scrapbook layout!

It's been a while since I pulled out texture paste, and glass bead gel. It's been forever since I used roller stamps and just randomly stamped around a page mark making. And it FELT SO GOOD! I know that being back to this style of scrapbooking and creativity is right for me, because it speaks to my heart.

I can't wait for you to see my latest creation here:

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A delightful return

I love days like this - where the sky is grey and looks so cold but I set out to do something creative and productive. I dug out my art journal supplies and loaded them into a box I had and brought them downstairs to the kitchen table. Then I started on a page with splatters and streaks of colour.

It felt so good to dive into the stencils and textures, and get my fingers into gesso, and sprays. And so the name of the page - Return. In hindsight, I did notice a little something on the page that might be an alternate title. See if you see it as well.

Did you notice the title that popped off the page? Return Ticket. I thought that was kind of fun. I had no intention of that going together but they did.

This page really is like a return to art journaling for me. A return to my roots of journaling with textures, sprays, stencils, inked canvas and cardboard. I definitely live for the grunge when it comes to journaling.

I hope you enjoyed looking at this and get to journaling too sometime this week. It's a great way to clear your head after a week of craziness.

Latest projects

Seems like it's been a while since I've posted anything that I've been working on here on my blog. Time to catch up. These are just a few of the projects I worked on recently this past weekend.

I have to say, I still love Prima for my mixed media layouts. Hope you enjoyed these and if you have any questions about the projects, just comment below! Have a great week!

Mixed media bookmark fun

Up until last night we finally got some glorious sunshine and warmth again and it completely lifted my spirits. I decided to get into my craftroom, open the roman blind, and let the sun pour in to inspire me. 

I've been a collector of paint chips from just about anywhere I can get them, from the time I started doing art journaling. Not only do I love the colours, but they make an excellent journal strip if you need something colourful and practical at the same time. But a couple of days ago, I decided on another use for them....mixed media bookmarks.

Whenever I go to Chapters with my husband, I'm always looking for unique bookmarks and I came up short last week when I went to get one. So it was time to make my own, I figured. I created one using a pink chip, some Prima paper scraps I had that I love, and some canvas and Prima embellishments and stamps. I adored how it turned out, so I made three others to give away to friends.

If you want to make your own, I would highly recommend that you reinforce them with some strong scrapbook paper glued to the back. That way you know the bookmark will last for a long time without becoming ratty and torn (unless of course you like that look).

I hope you are inspired by this and have fun with your scraps to create something similar. I'm going to make many more of these in the near future because they make me happy.

Have a great week!

Strong silent type

I really felt the need to do a layout that's about my hubby's strong silent moods sometimes. He makes me laugh a lot but lately I've been needing his strength, and he's given it to me in spades.

I used lots of Prima flowers and embellishments from the Engraver line.

Who says you can't have flowers on a masculine layout? :) The final touch was using the Lump of Coal by Lindy Stamp Gang. It's a black pigment with gold glitter.

Hope you enjoyed this, and have a great weekend!

We are family

Hi everyone. I thought I'd show you my layout today that I created for the Creative Embellishments August Challenge, and Lindy Stamp Gang's August Colour Challenge. They really went hand in hand when I sat down to create. Everyone knows I love my Lindys so I pulled out the Hydrangea Blue, Sweet Violet Purple Teal and Whale Watch Blue to create my background and colour the frame and chipboard from Creative Embellishments. The inspiration I used from their challenge was the circle theme, dots and music. So I used bubble wrap to create the background and used flair and gems to really pull the theme together.

Here's the inspiration photo:

And here's the Lindy Stamp Gang Challenge photo:

My husband said he liked this layout so much, he wants me to frame it. I love it when he says that. You can click on the photos to see more detail.

I used lots of Prima flowers and embellishments that I had in my stash, which are always fun to use.
And now for some fun closeups.

You should play along too! It's so much fun to find inspiration that pushes me to use my stash instead of just using kits. I'd love to hear what you think of this layout. Feel free to leave me comments. 

Have a great Sunday!

Live life as you have imagined

Yesterday was a pretty productive day overall for me. Some days I have a lot of energy and so I try to use it wisely. And once I was done with the day's chores, I sat down to play a little. I looked for a fun challenge, and found the July challenge for Creative Embellishments and Paper Wings Production. It's an inspiration challenge and we had to emboss something, either dry emboss or heat emboss. I've not done a lot of either, so I thought it high time to use my new Lindy Stamp Gang embossing powders I had won a while back, and used some of their gorgeous sprays as well, to create my background. Here's the picture that was used for the challenge.

I was definitely inspired by the tropical feel of this layout, but also what it meant for me... vacation. So I scrapbooked a photo from our vacation in Quebec a while back. I loved the feel of the building behind me, with its bright windows and its old stone.

I used quite a bit of Prima materials in this layout, including the old brick stencil, flowers, butterflies and chalk ink, and Creative Embellishment's chipboard flourish and greenery.

I love when I can dip into my stash and find a whole bunch of items that will work together on a layout. So here are some closeups so that you can see some details.

The chipboard flourish is heat embossed with Lindy Stamp Gang embossing powder

Chipboard with Prima chalk ink. I love how opaque it is

I thoroughly enjoyed working on this layout, and it's been good to get back to a scrapbook style that is so free and fluid. I hope you enjoyed seeing it.

Have a great weekend!

High time for a new canvas

It's been a while since I've slapped paint, modelling paste and fabrics onto a canvas. I decided that it was high time that I design something for our home, and get some use out of all the Prima embellishments and flowers I have in my craftroom. So here's the result of an afternoon of play.

I love all the hidden details in this piece.

My only difficulty now is figuring out exactly where to put it!

Blast from the past - Art gives me wings

Today I thougtht I'd share a blast from the past, and an art journal page that I really loved working on.

Putting stencils on paper and spraying vibrant colours sometimes is all I need to get my mojo going and pour out my feelings onto paper. Today I woke up feeling rather down, for no apparent reason, but I decided not to waste my day in negativity.

I put Crafter's Workshop stencils and Dylusion stencils down on watercolour paper. I sprayed with some vibrant Dylusions sprays, and then my muse came out to play. I layered more stencils, sprays, strips of Basic Grey Plumeria papers I had from my Scrap'n with Flair July kit, down on the page. Texture paste ... and of course my trademark canvas and inked paper towels. Add some Prima resist canvas pieces, sprayed lace and I was well on my way. Christy Tomlinson stamp for some texture, dew drops and Prima gems and crystals. I dove in head first into my art journal. Grabbed a coordinating paint swatch and stamped my journalling down.

The complete spread in my Prima mixed media art journal

Left page

Right page

Inked paper towel ribbon and resist canvas stamp

Art gives me wings

Inked lace and gems on Plumeria papers

Inked paper towel flower on Prima resist canvas flower

Inked canvas and texture paste, Basic Grey papers and stamps. Heaven.

Negativity does not live in this mind today, not any more. I cut my paper in half and glued it down into my Prima mixed media art journal. And I am happy once again.

Vacation on the Coast - what a sparkling delight!

This past weekend I finally got around to scrapbooking a family vacation that I took with my husband to Oregon. It was such an amazing trip. I instantly fell in love with the Oregon Coast, with it's rugged coastline, sandy beaches and lighthouses. So when I opened up my Carta Bella Beach Boardwalk collection pack, from Tina's Scrapbooking Creations, I knew that it would be delightful for pictures of the trip.

Of course I had to use some Prima embellishments like flowers, some bark butterflies and sparkling gems.

And let's not forget just how yummy things turn out when you spray them with Lindy Stamp Gang Starburst sprays which give a beautiful two-toned effect. I used it on the title, and also on the butterflies for a little glittery accent.

And I got plenty of use from my Silhouette Cameo as well. So glad that I got it since I can usually find shapes and die cuts I need to go along with things.

I can't wait to share more with you from my vacation album. If you have used any of these products, I'd love to see how you used them. I love learning new techniques and gather new ideas.

Have a great weekend!

Another peek at my altered book

I've gotten back to art journaling and I'm loving it! So much texture, so much play. Especially when you start without knowing what the ending will look like.

I used lots of gesso, book paper, Prima papers, lace, Helmar Decoupage Craft Paste and more to get the texture I wanted on the page. And then I pull out my Shimmerz....love them! Had to use some lovely greens and pinks. My favourite colour combination lately.

Hope you enjoyed this look into my altered book art journal!