Out with the Old and In with the New - Take 2

I'm still working on the concept of out with the old and in with the new here at present but rather than throw out the old, it's in my heart to be repurposing as much as I can. 

I have been painting over old paintings and my journal to kick start this year was made from a piece of cardboard that came perfect in size and already scored to have a spine, and big enough to fit Signatures of A3 Size Sheets of Water Color Paper.

To cover the outside of my journal I used the fabric of an old shirt and the inside was lined with some papers I handmade in 2017.  
My internal spine was cut from another piece of sturdy cardboard and I simply lined up and punched three holes at the top and bottom on this piece.  I then took a piece of red elasticized thread and weaved this through the holes to create four page holders in my journal.  By pulling this thread tightly they hold the pages in firmly but allow me to remove each piece to work on them separately meaning I don't get lots of fun creative inky mess on my journal and its covers.

You can see in the photos it holds the page I shared with you from my last post beautifully and because our post today is all about the heart I am doing a bit of a Throwback Thursday also showing you a Gel print I did some time ago where I used punched out heart shapes as a mask.  The other page was done taking inspiration from my frangipanis in flower.  I used my watercolor pencils (see the special offer and get a FREE watercolor tube Brush) and gelatos to do this.

I am loving that I am in my creative flow at present, I've been journaling and painting and even writing some haiku poetry of late also.  If you are looking for lots of product inspiration to get creative in 2019 then be sure to check out all the wonderful supplies here on the website.

Have you already found this New Year has you all inspired and ready to create?  I'd love to know.

Danie xx

Thursday Makes - Tiny Art Tiles with Scraps

Christmas is one of the times of year that thoughts may turn to religion, it may be the only time you go to mass or find yourself thinking of Jesus. 

 For me its also a time my creating connects me to it.

Creating can be a fleeting few moments or a day of focus depending on your time constraints, usually, at this time of year, it is a fleeting few moments.

I often gather bits and pieces, leftover scraps on my desk etc to begin and see what can come to mind.

Some simple bases (eco artboard squares) painted black, then teamed with leftover cutoffs from Gelli Prints, a religious icon image, a touch of glitter and glossy dimensional glue to seal and create a glass like finish, form small works of art in no time which can be put to use in a variety of ways.  You just have to remember to let the glue dry before touching it.

Icon suggestions click here

Holy Cards click here

Gold Leaf Click here

Eco Art Boards ON SALE click here 

Bee-ing Happy Creating a Journal for a Friend

Bee-ing Happy Creating a Journal for a Friend

Recently I attended a workshop with Cheryl Boglioli Gel Press Ambassador where we used the Gel Plate and a Sizzix Travellers Journal Die to create a fun journal. I wanted to make another journal having purchased the die to share this method and idea with a friend who I know loves bees as I had just brought a magazine that included a Bee die. I thought this would be perfect to share for our Die Cut Theme this month.

I worked with honey tones of yellow and orange paint along with white and black to decorate the covers of my journal by layering paint on my gel plate and taking prints and starting with the darker tones working to the light tones, subtracting the paint of various layers from the plate using stencils etc. including a hexagonal pattern to represent honeycomb.  My first layer was black.

I kept layering on color with my Gel Press Plate and Stencils until I was happy with the look of my inside and outside covers.  Any excess paint I had on my brayer I painted over a page in my journal with.

Once I was happy with the look of my journal covers I constructed my journal gluing the two halves of my die cut journal together.

I created signatures using bee patterned paper in a PAPER COLLECTION and Watercolor Papers.

   

To finish my cover I die cut 3 bees out of glossy black card stock and stamped out the sentiment BEE Happy on a white piece of paper in black ink and then proceeded to cut this out before coloring it yellow with a Paint Pen.  Using the same Paint Pen I outlined some of my honeycomb/hexagonal stenciling.

Now it's just a matter of fastening the signatures in place inside my journal and adding a band to keep my journal held shut working with elasticized cord weaving it through the allocated holes.  This style of binding I love as it requires no stitching.

I will hopefully have the binding completed and some pages decorated to share with you next time.

Danie xx