Peace, Love and Art

This art journal page started with the stunning image Sandy Allnock draw and her Peace Love and Art Challenge. The challenge ends at the end of July. You can read all about it by clicking here.

– I printed the image on watercolour paper and a few times on regular copy paper.
My favourite medium to watercolour is Distress Ink, as I also used for this image.
– The apron I coloured using my gel plate and a piece of denim with Chipped Sapphire to  give it texture and the look of soft denim.
– I primed my journal page with diluted white paint.
Next I took out my large gel plate and inked it with Chipped Sapphire and after rolling it out with my brayer I sprayed it very light with alcohol (a great tip from Robyn McCledon) to get instant texture. Instead of putting the paper on the gel plate, I took the gel plate and pressed it to my right page in my art journal. I repeated this for the left page.
– I stamped the sunflowers and coloured them also with Distress inks. When dried I cut it in to a smaller size.
– I printed the text for the quote and coloured a piece of paper on the gel plate for behind the text. Before fussy cutting the letters I put some Stick It behind it for easy adhering later on.
– It took me an evening to make an A4 ful of flag edges, I used the flags of all the countries of Europe and
some countries outside Europe. The flags I copied from the internet.
– The strip of text was made with Google Translate, I used again all the countries of Europe and some countries outside Europe. I made a few Peace symbols in light gray behind the text. First I wanted to print this on to tissue paper but after one of my printers had “eaten” the paper and I tried several other ways including using another printer I gave up and used vellum. That was glues with matt medium to the page.
– The Peace symbol is also from the internet and was colourd with ink.
– The brush on top of the word “make” was drawn by myself.

I wanted a simple page because the message on the page is the most important.
I hope you love it just as much as I do!
The used materials are under the image and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

Used Materials

Peace Love and Art image Sandy Allnock
Ranger Dylusions Large Creative Journal
Distress Re-inker and ink pads in a brod range of colour
Alchol 96 %
Gelli Arts Gel plate 6” x 6” and  9” x 12” 
Stick It
Vellum
A few Faber Castell Polychormos pencils, black for the edges of all the cut outs and the glasses, red for the lips of the girl and white and yellow for the sunflower hearts.
Marianne Design Sunflower stamp set

It’s been a very long time.

Again my posts stopped, this time in 2021 and it took until now before I could post something.
And just like 2020 it all started with lung surgery (August 2021) and not as planned one but two operation (sounds familiar doesn’t it). So a much longer stay in hospital than planned and a huge longer time to recover. And if that wasn’t enough, when I finally recovered and enjoying live again (end of March 2022) I got a lung attack where I’m still not completely recovered from. But slowly starting crafting again.
I sincerely hope I can post more regular because I still have cards I never posted and would love to share.
But I can’t promise anything, health problems or live itself can just throw a spanner in the works
I also want to write shorter posts, meaning that I will only write the important things, the material list and at one or more photo’s. Off course you always may ask how or what.
Have a wonderful day.

The 30 Day Coloring Challenge Day 6 – Bee Happy

Finally I made these art journal pages that have been in my head for a long time.

I diluted Wild Honey re-inker in my mini mister to start my background.
After drying I applied white paint in some places through a honeycomb stencil.
Because I wanted a little more depth in the middle I used my Distress brush to put some
Gathered Twigs on the page. I then put the journal aside to dry.

I die cut several hexagons with two dies for an outline and one die, de largest, for the full hexagons to make a honeycomb. With three different colours of Distress Ink I coloured those. I also put them aside to dry.
On the picture you see a smaller size hexagon, coloured and with embossed images. I didn’t use them, I made other ones but by the time I did, my outlines were already glued to the page.

In the meanwhile I stamped a bunch of flowers and gave the petals a hint of colour with my Wild Honey and a brush and coloured the hearts of the flowers with Mustard Seed.

After watching an YT Live with Tim Holtz (2021 Sizzix Chapter 2) and seeing the make of Anita Houston (https://www.artfulmaven.net/) I came up with the idea to use acetate for my bees.
I stamped my bees several times on cardstock, acetate and a few on paper to use later as a mask. The ones on cardstock I coloured and put a layer of Glossy Accent over the body and a little on the head. After letting it dry a little I poked with a toothpick in it to make some texture like a hairy body of a bee is. Then I let them dry overnight.
The next day I cut out the body with the head that was the only part I needed.
From the acetate I cut out upper and lower wings and put them aside too.

Time to put some things onto the pages.
I started with the field of flowers I wanted to make in the lower left corner and glued them with a piece of foam tape on the page.
Then I laid out my hexagons and outlines, moving them around until I was satisfied with how the colours where divided and glued them to the page. But watching out that there was no glue where I wanted to stack a flower behind the outline.
I glued with some foam tape a few flowers in the hexagon outlines.  

Then the tricky part came, I wanted to stamp the bee on the page without the wings, I only needed the antenna, body and legs. I inked my stamp and whipped of the ink from the wings and stamped on to the page multiple times. Letting it dry and in the meanwhile I glued the wings to the body of the bees.
Then I glued them on to the stamped body and gladly they where fitting all well.

I die cut the letters from white and black cardstock. The white I coloured in the same colours I used for the hexagons and outlines. I glued the black letters as a shadow behind the coloured ones and glued them on my page.

Taking an overview now it was almost finished I felt like it was missing something, so I stencilled with the used colours small honeycombs in the hexagon outlines and finished it all with drawing stems in between de flowers.
I love these pages and can’t get enough of it. I hope you do too and Be Happy!

The used materials are under the image and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

Used Materials

Ranger Dylusions Large Creative Journal
Distress Re-inker Wild Honey
Ranger Mini Mister
Stencil Honeycomb brand unknown
Distress Paint Picket Fence
Distress Ink Mustard Seed – Rusty Hinge – Wild Honey and Gathered Twigs
Tim Holtz Blending Brushes
White cardstock
Nellie Snellen MFD059 Hexagon Straight
Bee Stamp brand unknown
Acetate
Glossy Accent
Penny Black Petal Power 30-225 Stamp set
Distress Archivel Ink Black Soot
Joy Crafts ATC stencil Honeycomb (small honeycomb)

The 30 Day Coloring Challenge Day 4 – Poppy

I started this colouring a few years ago as little project while I was reorganizing the tiny craft room.
And… I lost it, couldn’t find it anywhere and thought I must have thrown it away by accident.
The first day of the  30 Day Coloring Challenge I pulled a 4 drawer organizer aside and there it was……my little half finished image.
So I finished it today for the 4th day of the Challenge.

The used materials are under the image and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

Used Materials

Papicolor Black Cardstock
Mary Rahder Stamp set Poppy
Derwent Coloursoft Pencils.

Cheers!

If you, just like me, have quite a large stash of pretty papers and
don’t have always the time to make a complicated card?
Take than a look at the Gentleman’s Crafter’s blog.
John Bloodworth (aka Gentleman Crafter) has started a series of gorgeous lay-outs with beautiful example cards and a how-to YouTube video. He already made 57 (yes you read it correctly 57) lay-outs!

My card is made with one of these lay-outs with my own twist because my image looked better on a square card. These lay-outs are great for masculine cards. The card was made in no time and looks great. I’ll be using my paper pads and these lay-outs more often, that’s for sure!
The used materials are under the image and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask

Used Materials

This is the link to the Gentleman Crafter’s Blog:
https://gentlemancrafter.com/
Gentleman Crafter lay-out number 4
Medium Bleu Pearlescent Cardstock
Joy Crafts Design Papers from my stash
Studio Light Design Papers from my stash
Marianne Design 3D Decoupage sheet EWK1228 –  I’s a Men’s World
Hobbydots Alphabet Stickers Copper

The Coloring Challenge Day 10 – Hello Gorgeous

On the front of this card I used the Giraffe image I coloured a while ago, see the post about this here.
I mentioned in the post that the marker ink had bled outside the lines and that I would fussy cut the image. Because the tufts on top of his head are difficult to cut out properly I cut them off and stamped them on a new panel, which I also did with the fringes.
Before I fussy cut the image I placed the panel on top of the new panel in to my TH stamping tool to position my stamp precisely and picked it up with my tool door.
I removed the image and inked only the upper part of the stamp to stamp the tuffs. After the ink was dry I placed the coloured image back on top to position the scarf for the missing fringes. I inked only the small parts I needed and stamped it on my uncoloured panel. This are the times I’m so glad I have a stamping tool.
While the panel was drying I fussy cut the image and made all the cut edges black with a marker.
I glued the giraffe on top of the stamped parts and it fitted like a glove. If you don’t know it you will never see that it is stamped twice.
I put this aside for now together with a black panel that I cut slightly bigger and my folded base card.

If you have read the earlier posts then you know that this giraffe was intended to be for the pop-up 18th birthday card (see here) but I couldn’t match it with the cupcakes inside. So I used it on today’s card which is also a pop-up card but of a whole different kind.
The pop-up inside is a flower bouquet and instead of writing down how to make it I will reference to a great post on Jennifer McGuire’s blog where Rina Krupsky (daughter of Gina K) was guest designer and made the pop-up flowers, on the blog you can find also a video how to make them. It’s easy and fun to make.

I did a few things a little different, instead of fussy cutting the leaves I used the top of a wavy die, if you want to do this also a tip: use thin paper. My paper was a little thicker than normal paper, 180 gr., and I had to run the die with the paper 10-12 times trough the machine for each flower before it cut through all the folded  layers.
I also cut the stamen with a die from the same colour as the folded card. I glued the stamen in the middle of the flower before I followed the instruction Rina gives on how to assemble the bouquet. When this was finished I put my bouquet aside.

The evening before I put some Tombow Multi Mono Glue on the back of my stencil and let that dry overnight, this way the glue is repositionable.
I positioned the stencil in the lower left corner and used a blending brush and Picket Fence to colour.
When finished I put the stencil in the same way to the upper right corner and repeated the process.
I put it aside to dry. That didn’t take long because it was a thin layer.

In the meanwhile I cut a strip of black cardstock and stamped my sentiment with VersaMark before adding  white embossing powder on top of that. After I heat embossed the sentiment I let it cool down for a few moments and cut the strip in the right size and on both sides I cut a fishtail.

When all parts where finished I assembled the card.
First I glued the black and giraffe panel on to the front of the card.
Then the pop-up flower bouquet was adhered as shown in Rina’s video in the inside of the card.
And the last part was the sentiment strip that I adhered with some foam tape also in the inside.
I was so very happy with this card, I love how it turned out and hope the birthday girl will love it to.

The used materials are under the image and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

Used Materials

Jennifer McGuire’s blog post with Guest Rina Krupsky Pop-up Flowers;
https://www.jennifermcguireink.com/2019/01/guest-artist-rina-krupsky-with-pop-up-floral-card.html

The used materials for the Giraffe panel you can find here

Papicolor Cardstock Mustard Yellow and Black
Papicolor Paper Black, Mustard Yellow and White
Marker Friendly White cardstock
Sentiment stamps by Nicole Verkooijen (Hello Gorgeous)
Nellie Snellen Die set Wavy Ovals for the petal outline of the flowers
Marianne Design Die set LR0111 Frame for the stamen
Studio Katia Mandala Stencil
Distress Ink Picked Fence
Blending Brush
Marianne Design Stamp CS0960 Gefeliciteerd, this is Dutch which translates into Congratulations
VersaMark (sticky ink for embossing)
Ranger Embossing powder Superfine Detail White
Heat tool

The Coloring Challenge Day 8 – Finally Finished

Finally finished my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils Hex Charts.
I started this project, you won’t believe it, in April 2020 during the 16^th 30 Day Coloring Challenge.
The (empty) Chart is made by Sandy Allnock.
Here you can find her blog: http://sandyallnock.com/ and this is the site where you can purchase this and other Hex Charts:  https://art-classes.com/product-category/color-charts/

I learned during colouring these that some colours really turned out different on the different colours of paper.  So it wasn’t a waste of time colouring on other papers too.
What I also learned was that the Kraft and Black coloured paper from my stash are not papers I love to work on with my coloured pencils.
I didn’t love how the colours turned out on the paper and on the black paper it looks like I used chalk instead of coloured pencil. Something I will keep in mind in case I wanted a chalky look (LOL).
What I will do is when I want to use another brand of paper with my pencils I will print a Hex Chart on the same paper and will fill it only with the colours I use on that moment or wanted to use.
That takes a lot less time and I will see immediately how the colours are on that specific paper.

If you’re not familiar with Hex Charts, here is a blog post in which I talk about it in depth
https://henriettecreativelyhappy.wordpress.com/2020/04/26/day-20-of-the-30-day-coloring-challenge-hex-chart/

The Coloring Challenge Day 8 – Coloured Strips

In one of the earlier videos (I even think the video is from a few years ago.) made by Kathy Racoosin (aka The Daily Marker and organizer of the Challenges) I noticed that she had coloured strips in her tin/case with pencils.
I loved that idea and made them for in my Faber Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil wooden case.
So much easier to find my pencils in this way and to put them back at the right spot after using them

Although you didn’t mention it in the video because it wasn’t about that, I only saw it, I wanted to say thank you so much Kathy for this great idea!

The Coloring Challenge Day 4 – Sea – a masculine card

Making a men’s card is not always easy, but sometimes an idea comes up and everything works. And that happened with this card.

I started with a white piece of cardstock to blend with different blue Distress colours the sky and the ocean.

While the panel was drying I die cut my ocean set and rope.
With different colours of ink I shaded my die cuts and coloured with Zig markers some parts of the boat.
I cut a card base from blue cardstock and placed my die cuts on top to see where and how I would stamp the fishnet on to my background panel. I used the acetate front that’s in the package when you buy your stamp, as a guide.

I made a slit in the background just big enough to insert a small portion of the bottom of the boat. This way the boat appears to be sailing in the water instead of on it.
I glued the boat, seagull and pole to the background panel with 3D glue for dimension. After this I stamped the fishnet on the panel over the pole, as if it is hanging in front of it.
After the ink was dry I placed the panel on top of my card base en glued, again with my 3D glue, the rope to my card. And that finished this card and I totally love how this card turned out.

The used materials are under the image and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

Used Materials

Blue Linen cardstock for the card base
White Velvet Cardstock, this is similar to Elizabeth Crafts Soft Finish cardstock
Different shades of Blue Distress Ink for the sky and ocean
Tim Holtz Blending brush
Marianne Design Die set CR1279 Tiny’s Ocean Set
Marianne Design Die set LR0418 Rope
Scraps of different colours cardstock for die cutting
Different shades of Distress Ink and Oxide to colour and highlight some areas of the die cuts
Zig markers to colour some part of the die cut boat
Marianne Design Stamp TC0839 Tiny’s Fishnet
Distress Oxide Hickory Smoke to stamp the Fishnet
Olba 3D glue, this is a odourless glue specially for dimension

The Coloring Challenge Day 2

Yesterday the Coloring Challenge by Kathy Racoosin aka The Daily Marker started.
Usually it’s a challenge that takes 30 days but this time a shorter one, 10 days.
This is my first post for the challenge.

I blended with a stencil and two colours Distress ink a background.
Die cut the flowers from white and made the stems yellow with ink to make sure I had the same yellow colour.
Cut a strip for my sentiment from blue cardstock and made a card base from the same colour.
I stuck my sentiment on to the strip with alphabet stickers in Dutch which translates into Congratulations.

I glued the stencilled background to the blue card base and for the flowers and sentiment strip I used foam tape for dimension.

That’s my card for this day, which was fun and easy to make. Hopefully this will give the birthday girl a sunny feeling even though it is still cold here.
The used materials are under the image and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

Used Materials

White cardstock, brand unknown
Clarity Stamps Art Stencil Abstract Squares 2
TH Distress Ink Squeezed Lemonade and Salty Ocean
TH Distress Blending Brushes
Leane Creatief Multi Die Flowers 008
Blue cardstock for my card base and the sentiment strip
Alphabet stickers for the sentiment.