Art Journaling: Collaged Characters [2]

Hi again.

So, as I mentioned in yesterday's post, I've written this week's prompt for the UKScrappers art journaling 'Art Journey' and my focus has been on 'Collaged Characters'. You can visit the forum here to download the PDF which has lots of ideas on how to create your own, but for now, here's my second example:

This is a page from my notebook journal in which I generally use very little of anything wet eg. ink or paint.

This is both to avoid the pages going too wrinkly and  also because it's a much quicker process and one I've really come to enjoy. I think I'm more of a 'paper + scissors' girl than a 'paintbrush and paint' one. That said, the sunburst around the character is from where I spread gesso thinly through a stencil for a little experiment with texture.

In the 'Art Journey' tutorial I discuss 'head transplants' as a quick, easy and fun way to customise an image you've found in a magazine/catalogue etc. And this lovely creature was one of my examples:

I loved finding just the right sized body for this birdy head and that it even had the righ coloured hair to blend in!

The page itself is about the joys of a good face-scrub.

Yes. Face. Scrub.

Never let it be said art journal has to be deep and meaningful.

It really can be just about the surface. Even the surface of your face!

Ironically after creating a page on how buying some new face products made me feel good ... I'm currently not using them and have gone back to my plain old Simple + E45 cream as I suspect the new one might have been contributing to my allergies!

I suppose it oculd ahve been worse though ... at least my face didn't end up covered in feathers ...

Note to self: Be careful what you art journal about you never know what might happen.

I'll be back tomorrow with the 3rd and final page I created especialy for the 'Collaged Characters' prompt, so i'll see you then.

Julie :-)

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Shop Update:

My new range of creativity kits - which I've now begun adding to the shop, is called 'Blank Looks' and consists of various combinations of 'colour-hungry bare surfaces and textures' which are ideal for art journalers, arty scrappers, inky cardmakers, altered artists and anyone who loves mixed media and messiness.

There are 3 styles currently in the shop, but I'll be adding more, in different colourways and textures, ASAP.

As the product description reads: BLANK LOOKS are for:

• ANYONE with a stash of spray inks; acrylics; paint dabbers; dyes and pens which they can throw in the direction of these colour-hungry surfaces.
• ANYONE who wants to sample multiple textures and surfaces without having to invest in big packs / lengths of any single item ... think "artistic Pick 'N' Mix".
• ANYONE who wants a self-contained inspiration-kicking idea-sparking clean slate!

 I'm really pleased with how this range has turned out, so ... I guess I should go and start uploading some more ...

Art Journaling: Collaged Characters [1]

Hello, hello.

This week marks the release of my third tutorial created especially for the UKScrappers Art Journey, a series of inspiration prompts for anyone interested in art journaling.

So far, on the Art Journey, I've written about:

• journaling techniques;
• ideas for using numbers;
• ... and now today's focus is 'Collaged Characters', including this one:

The prompt itself has gone live today and [along with all the others in the series so far] is now available as free to download PDF. [You need to be a UKScrappers member to access the files,but it's also free to register for the forum.]

This page is one of 3 I've made to demonstrate the idea of 'Collaged Characters' on your pages -  the main details on the whys, hows and wherefores can be found on the PDF - but I'll be sharing the actual pages here today, tomorrow and Friday.

Regarding the model whose head I've used: either ...

• [a] I smudged her face with something as I was gluing it down; OR
• [b] she has a moustache.

Based upon what I know about:

• [a] my own messiness devil-may-care attitude when it comes to glue; AND
• [b] the kind of make-up you see on the catwalk ...

I'd say either is plausible ...

Anywho ... back to the collaging together of a character from various sources:

Who wouldn't want to wear a skull skirt / dress-making-diagram-bodice / telephone-bag combo? I know I would!

This is a page from a journal which has absorbent handmade-style paper in it and the background was created by spritzing ink through sequin waste direct to the paper - with no gesso or primer:

The darker areas are from where I turned the sequin waste over - after spraying through it with the yellow - and pressed it onto the page for a reverse image. The darker colour actually comes from the old ink colour which had dried on to the plastic and came off when it was wet!

Doesn't prime her pages?

Doesn't clean her masks + stencils of old ink?

It's alsmost as if she's a quite lazy art journaler ...

You may say that ... I couldn't possibly comment ...

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Don't forget to download today's prompt [from the Art Journey area of the UKScrappers forum] for more ideas on how + why you'd add some crazy collaged creations to your pages.

I'll be back with more chimeric creations tomorrow!

Julie :-)



Layout: There's A Hat For That!

Hello, hello.

Today's my day to share a project over on the 3DJean shop Design Team blog ... and this is what I shared:

It's a page based entirely around a text message James sent me while he was on a wander with his camera. And here's how the conversation went ...

Not that I should have given him any encouragement to go and find a deerstalker hat just in case he might at soe point in the future stumble across more wild deer ...

... because it's something that he's entirely likely to go and do even without me planting the idea in his head ... 

He likes hats. Quite a lot. Although, fortunately for my sanity, he really only wears 'normal' hats and that's only when it's necessary to stay cool or keep warm.

Instead ... he just gets it all out of his system by trying on all the abnormal nd embarrassing ones when we're in shops, or at the big market stalls at the airshow we visit each year. During which I can be minding my own business and nonchalantly turn around to spot him admiring himself in the biggest and most ridiculous hats in the place [think big Russian furry ones, pompous military ones ... pilot's ones!] .

And all the while he keeps an entirely straight face ... until he catches my eye and I can't stay embarrassed for too long ... and we laugh.

Usually followed swiftly by my walking away from himpretending I've never met him before in my life ... ;-)

OK, not sure I meant to ramble on this much about James's hat-based foibles ... so I think I'll end it here for now!

All of the papers used for my page are from the Pion 'For Father' range currently in stock at 3DJean.

Thanks for reading me today.

Julie x

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Shop Update:

I've spent the last week working on another new range of creativity / crafty-materials packs for my shop.

This has involved:

• covering my entire living room floor with paper, card and bits and pieces for 3 days!
• designing, arranging and packaging around 35 new kits;
• and taking hundreds of photos of them all.

I'm aiming to start adding them to the shop this week ... as soon as I get a good block of time free to tackle it.

If you're someone who's bought lots of spray inks, paints and other colour-wonderful stash recently ... you might just enjoy what's inside the packs ...

I can't wait to share!

Plundering Pages for cardmaking: Love hearts

Greetings.

Today's project is a card very similar to the one I shared last time, so you can either consider this latest effort 'consolidation' or 'repeating herself' ... depending upon how charitable you're feeling! ;-)

And, just as last time, once I had chosen the image I wanted to use all I had to do was cut around it and mount it on to a card I'd already covered in patterned paper.

[Theheart design paper is 'Edition Speciale - Love' by Infocrea from 3DJean:

I used 3D foam pads to raise it slightly from the flat card ... mainly because I have a filthy 3D foam pad habit [I do like a bit of dimension to a project!], but also because it makes it easer to place a thin paper image over the top of any ribbon/twine/trimming without any lumps and bumps being visible:

 I also mentioned previously how images taken from children's annuals and storybooks often come in existing framed squares/rectangles - just like this one - making them perfect for snipping out and palcing directly on a card.

Similarly, vintage, retro or in fact any illustrations you've cut from books [or found in your Plundered Pages packs] are just ideal for:

• anyone who loves the idea of beautifully coloured images as the focal point of their card ...
• but who doesn't like to [or can't] colour-in digital or rubber stamped images themselves:

This way of crafting really does embrace the most basic 'cutting + sticking' instincts of papercrafters. You simply:

• find an image you like;
• cut it out of the book [or let me do that bit!];
• stick it on the front of a card.
• The end.

And yet as simple as it is, you'll still have made a completley unique card!

I'd love to see your interpretations on the same idea and if you've bought a pack of Plundered Pages, I'd burst with excitement if you shared something you've made with them.

I've also been considering putting together some specific 'Plundered Pages for cardmakers' kits ... and I'd love to know if you think that sounds like a good idea.

I'll be back soon.

Julie :-)

To Boldy Go Home: for Sian's Storytelling Sunday

Hi you.

Today's post is my contribution to Sian Fair's 'Storytelling Sunday' feature over on From High in the Sky. If you'd like to join Sian's merry band visit her here for further details of how to begin telling - and sharing - your own tales.

Now here's mine ...

To Boldly Go ... Home
The nearest large town to where I live is a very much maligned one. It's one often criticised and held up for ridicule and it's one which gets kicked frequently, even when it's down.

So much so in fact that several years back it was named the worst place to live in Britain.

Nice, no?

But stick around, this isn't the full story. [If it was, it would be filed under 'fiction'.] No, it's just that you need to know that background in order to understand:

• [a] why I took the following photograph at a train station a few years back; and also ...
• [b] how come it makes me laugh ... [if I'm allowed to laugh that is ... what with living in the worst place in the country and all ...]:

The advertising poster couldn't have been more perfectly framed behind the sign for Middlesbrough could it?

So, not merely is it the worst town to live in ... Middlesbrough is now apparently also The Final Frontier too!

And, whatever else they say about us [and they say a lot]... no one can say that those of us living up here, at the heart of the final frontier, don't know how to see the funny side of life!

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Thanks for reading my story. There's plenty more waiting for you at Sian's place.

I'll be back later this week with ...  maybe some scrapbook pages ... maybe more cards ...probably both ... who knows.

Happy new month to you!

Julie :-)