Book of Days 2015 : With Effy Wild

I have really left this very late.

Launching registration for a class like this should be done months in advance. Because I've only given myself a few weeks, I'm going to need your help. In return, I will enter you in a draw for a giveaway: A free seat in ALL the sessions of Book Of Days I teach next year. I've got three of these to giveaway, so here's how to enter:

Share the permalink for this post on Facebook. Come back here and comment that you did it.

Share the permalink for this post on Twitter. Come back here and comment that you did it.

Share the permalink for this post in a blog post. Come back here and comment that you did it.

Here's the permalink. Copy, paste, share: http://wp.me/p1ZQyo-1nw

If you do all three, that's three entries in the drawing.

Woot!

Thank you so much for your help. xo

***

I will be opening Moonshine 2015 for registration next week. Watch this space or sign up for my newsletter for details.

xo

Effy

Digi Stamps 4 Joy : Mid-challenge #98 - NEW - Poplap

I have been meaning to participate for quite some time now and then finally took the plunge.

Digi Stamps for Joy South-Africa has this challenge up at the moment.

One has to create a card celebrating something NEW. The only 'new' I have at the moment is my DGD3's 5th Birthday and I created this card for her:

I used Spectrum Noir pens to colour the images. The garden gate image is from Digi Stamps 4 Joy and the Teddy image is from Dominique Boudlei? got it from a friend as a free digi.

I fussy cut the teddy image and raised it with foam squares.

All other embellishments except for the ribbon on the inside of the card, are from Enmarc Crafts. The word tile on the front and the floral bling on the inside of the card are discontinued products.

The little surprise on the inside of the card: (I had to scan the inside of the card as I forgot to photograph the inside of the card and there is no sunshine this time of the night ;-) )

Thank you for stopping by :-)

My Paper Bag Art Journal : If I had a Flower

On to page 6 of my Papaer Bag Art Journal.

I chose another watercolour paper for this page.

This page was inspired by this gorgeous darling little angel I found on Pinterest. The original image belongs to Becky Hetherington – attic-crafter.blogspot.com

Ain’t she just way too sweet!?

As you know, I am a wanna-be-artist and I copied this sweetie as I just HAD to have one of my own ;-)

AND . . . . here is mine ;-) 

I enlarged the coloured stamped image and used watercolour paper to trace the image on. Then did the outlines with a uni-ball black pen.

For the colouring of my image, I used Inktense Blocks and my water brush .

Enmarc Crafts has such a big variety of WHITE board embellishments and I chose their Nature Element :  Flower Layers 2 to add to my journal page. These were also coloured with the Inktense Blocks.

Whilst I waited for the flowers to dry, I coloured the background and left it to dry naturally.

Then added Stickles (Crystal) to the fairy’s wings and dress. I used a brush to spread the stickles as I wanted to create a very faint shimmering effect.

And here is a close-up of the stickles after it was dry.

For the edges I used Distress Ink : Vintage photo.

Then added a piece of lace to the left side. Next I stacked the Flower Layers and pasted it randomly down. I used my Distress Marker : Pumice Stone to add shading.

The flowers need stems ;-) Also added grass.

Then a gazillion liquid pearls! I am still trying to bond with these and who knows, I might make them perfect someday! 

Lastly, I used my uni-ball black pen to redo all the black lines.

Close-up of the sweet fairy.

Enmarc Crafts Product used :

  Nature Elements : Flower Layers 2

Thank you for stopping by :-) Your comment will be much appreciated!

My Paper Bag Art Journal : Lessons from a Dragonfly

This is actually my 4th page of my art journal, but I could not find my photos and posted page 5 instead. 

After searching for hours, I realised that I have lost all my photo's for this project, so only a photo of the finished art journal page :-(

This page was inspired by one of the techniques taught by Tim Holtz during a teacher’s class I attended recently. 

Then there is this beautiful poem Lessons from a Dragonfly by Ruth O'Neill . 

I wanted to do the same technique and thought this poem would emphasise my dragonfly theme I wanted to use.

Here is what I came up with:

I used watercolour paper as I intend to include one or two watercolour pages to my paper bag art journal.

The stamps I used, are from Great Impressions, a South African based manufacturer. 

I stamped the dragonfly image on the right side with Ranger Archival Ink : Jet Black and coloured it with Distress Markers and a water brush. 

The other stamp I used on the left side, has the same pattern as the background of the dragonfly stamp.

I coloured the rest of the paper with Distress Inks Walnut Stain and Fired Brick.

Then I used the Tim Holtz® Distress Marker Spritzer and Fired Brick Distress Marker to spritz all over the page.

Next I used a watermark embossing pen to 'glue' the small dragonfly postage stamp (coloured green) and embossed it with clear UTE.

The chipboard dragonflies are white board embellishments from Enmarc Crafts : Nature Elements - Dragonflies.

I coloured the dragonflies with Distress Markers too and when it was dry, I added Diamond Stickles to the wings and left it to dry completely. 

Then added rhinestones to the wings and painted the dragonflies with Distress Crackle Paint Clear Rock Candy.

When the dragonflies were dry, I pasted it onto the background and added shadows.

I did not have enough space on the background for the complete poem and used only excerpts of it. I used a uni-ball black pen to do the writing.

Here is the full poem:

Lessons from a Dragonfly

A dragonfly accepts it’s brevity of life 

With its gossamer wings feeling the breeze
Full of freedom it watches our joy and our strife
Its wisdom learned flitting from water to air to trees

With wings that shimmer showing purpose and duty 

Obedient to all of life’s changes in flight

Modestly it shows us its outer beauty 

Always gracious, mindful and full of delight

So whether what life gives you is good, bad, or sad

Show others that inner beauty counts and matters

Make your actions amount to many smiles and be glad

For the dragonfly knows it lives a brief life this way 

So I learn from this creature to live wisely each day

And make every minute special to those that you love

As the dragonfly watches our actions from above

~Ruth O'Neil

Lastly I added trails behind the dragonflies with a Marabu Fun Liner Glitter : Reddish Gold.

Enmarc Crafts Product used:

  Nature Elements : Dragonflies

Thank you for stopping by and your comments will be much appreciated :-)

My Paper Bag Art Journal : Autumn is a Second Spring

Time ran away from me AGAIN!!! ;-)

Another one of my only 10? minutes-a-day art journal pages :

I started off with painting 2 layers of canvas primer on the paper bag. I wanted to draw something and whilst I was waiting for the primer to dry, I browsed in the shop for something with easy lines as I am a wanna-be-artist ;-) I came upon this stamp and then drew it on the white background.

At this stage I still did not know what exactly I was going to do, so I coloured the image with Graphitint water-soluble crayons and a water brush.

I suppose I should have done some texture first, but I wanted to have a more smooth surface on which I could draw my sketch. Next I tore a paper serviette into pieces and used gel medium to paste it down.

When the gel medium was dry, I painted a layer of canvas primer on top of the serviette. By now, I decided to do something about winter or maybe autumn, seeing that the girl image was dressed up warmly.

Next I used a leaf stencil and gesso paste and scraped with an old credit card a few leaves randomly on the background. So, now it will be Autumn!! Thinking of the wind blowing leaves all over ;-)

Whilst the gesso paste was drying, I coloured a few white board chippies - from Enmarc Crafts - with Distress Markers. I love the WHITE board, because it is so easy to colour it with almost any medium. - Product = Nature Element : Rustling Leaves.

Next a bit of Distress Stain : Wild Honey and the water spritzer.

When it was dry, I added more colour with Distress Paint: Wild Honey

and some green with green craft paint

Then more colour to the gesso leaves with Color Wash Cranberry and Sunset Orange.

I used a uni-ball black pen to redo the lines of my sketch and added a bit of detail.

Applied vintage photo Distress ink randomly with a sponge applicator and the added green glimmer glam with a brush around the edges.

Needed to add more colour to the gesso leaves and added Distress Stain : Fired Brick

Next I glued the coloured chipboard leaves down. I did not like the green edge and added brown Glimmer Glam to the edges, also inked the edges with brown. Added shadows to the elements and glossy accents to the acorns. When all was dry, I added the quote : "Autumn is a second Spring when every leaf is a flower" ~ Albert Camus

Close-up of the Girl Image:

Enmarc Crafts White Board used :

  Nature Element : Rustling Leaves

Thank you for stopping by :-) 

Final Round Audition for the Scrap-a-Doodles 2014 Design Team

I have made it through to the final round for the Scrap-a-Doodles 2014 Design Team Audition and here are the rules 

(http://www.scrap-a-doodles.co.za/blog?mc_cid=eb63d0d8dc&mc_eid=a01505a934) :

What a hectic week! *Pffffeeww!* Working full time and playing at night time . . . .

I decided to create 2 double page layouts for the final audition and here is what I have created :

Tutorials removed as I do teach scrapbooking classes ~ 18/08/2014

#1

I was intrigued by the 'chalkboard' effect floating around on the internet and wanted to try it out. For my first layout I created a faux chalkboard background and titled it 'Keradie's Garage'. My DGS1 could not say 'Conradie' when he was a todler and when I asked what his surname is, he replied : 'Keradie' and I thought I would like to capture this sweetness on my layout.

Keradie's Garage

CHALKBOARD ADVERTISEMENT

I have created the chalkboard ‘advertisement’ with different fonts on my computer. 

BACKGROUND

 A few Close-ups:

Enmarc Crafts Products used

  The Maverick Collection : Dirty Martini

  Design Element : Which Direction?

  Divider : Flags

  La Petite : Tools

  La Petite : Vintage Cars

  Dress-me-Up : Plain Photo Corners Style 1

#2

 For my second double page layout, I created a mixed media background A-la-T!m-Holtz-Style.

Good Times Together

A few Close-ups:

  

Enmarc Crafts Products used:

  Collage Sheet : Vintage Postcards

  Doodle Words : English Set 2

  Dress-me-Ups : Bigger Corners 9

  Flexi-Board-er : Grunge Polka Strip

  Page Essential : Harlequin Pattern Pieces

  Plain Embellishment Set : Gears

  Plain Embellishment Ser : Tags 'n Things 2

  Steampunk : On Tap Corner

Thank you for stopping by :-)