Dance With Your Whole Heart

Hi everyone. For this art journal page, I decided to play with one of Sandra Caldwell's quirky and adorable images because they are such fun to colour and make me smile. I was introduced to Sandra's delightful images when I was on Sweet Peas Stamps DT but when that closed, I lost track of her. Recently I discovered that she has an Etsy shop all her own called Babycakesdnd with all kinds of wonderful new images as well as some old favourites.

I have a real soft spot for ladybugs which is good because we often have them in the house. I call them Waldo because you never know where you will find them. Yesterday there was one on the bedroom wall and another on the headboard. I coloured Ladibug Ballerina with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. She was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border. Ladibug was matted with black cardstock, trimmed out again leaving a narrow black border, and then popped up on foam tape to add dimension and shadow.

The 6 x 8 inch rectangle of mixed media paper was spritzed with Drop Dead Gorgeous Green and Cathedral Pines Green Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays plus a little water. I experimented a little by using a baby wipe to remove some of the dried ink by scrubbing it off with a baby wipe through TCW's Spinning Tops stencil. A tiny ladybug stamp was applied randomly to the background with Library Green Archival ink. A TH text stamp was rolled onto the background here and there using Forget-Me-Not Archival ink. Texture Paste was scraped through TCW's Mini Netting stencil and allowed to dry thoroughly before paint rings were added with Dylusions Black Marble and White Linen paints and two sizes of bottle lids.

The computer generated saying was cut into single words, matted with black, and popped up on foam tape. Torn and exposed corrugated cardboard was adhered to the bottom of the page to form a ground line and yellow and red punched flowers with brad or pearl centers embellished that. Three layered hearts punched from red mop up cards and black cardstock were adhered around Ladibug both to illustrate the theme and to add more pops of red to the page. A die cut black border was adhered to the left side and a hand drawn border added as well. The black and white striped border is washi tape adhered to white cardstock and adhered to the back of the page before the black mat was added to frame the entire page.

Thanks for joining Ladibug Ballerina and me today. We are delighted you stopped by. Be sure to pop by Sandra's shop or her Facebook group, Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans, to see more of her adorable images and get tons of inspiration. You will certainly come away with a smile after visiting.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Guest designing & Exciting Joggles news

Hi everyone. I am fortunate to be a guest designer again today on the Joggles blog and it's doubly exciting because I was able to work with some of the new Joggles/Bloobel cling mounted rubber stamps which the wonderfully talented Lisa Bloobel Graham has designed and Joggles has produced. The designs are fun and quirky and like all of Joggles stamps, they are of top notch quality. The lines are so fine, the detail very clear, and they stamp like a dream. Happy Dance!! I decide to create a masterboard background which I chopped into four separate projects: a journal page; tag; ATC; and card front. They are CUTE!! To see the full tutorial and step out photos, pop over to the Joggles blog where you can view my entire process. I am so excited that Bloobel Stamps and Joggles have teamed up!

And now for another exciting piece of news which I have been sitting on for a while...Joggles had a DT call a while ago and since I am a huge fan of Joggles products and customer service, as well as Barb and her awesome art, I applied. The team was chosen and I was invited to be a part of it. Actually, I am acting as the lead. SO EXCITED!! My teamies are a very talented group of people from all over the world and I'm thrilled to be creating with them. You can check out the team on the DT page on the blog.

Now pop over to my tutorial there (pretty please) so you can get a better look at the adorable stamped images (close ups) and how I played with them! Thanks for visiting today and for sharing in my exciting news.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Original ~ An RSD inspired journal page

Hello everyone. Today I am sharing a mixed media journal page featuring a Rick St. Dennis image which would also fit the current Facebook theme in the Fans & Friends group, Metal Magic. The image is called Kitchen Robot 4 and it makes me smile. I imagine all of these robots who come to life like the toys in Toy Story. Imagine the fun they must have!

I coloured this image with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. It was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and then matted with black cardstock. Once it was trimmed out again, foam tape was added to the back for dimension and to create a shadow around it.

The background was created on a 5 x 6 inch piece of watercolour paper. bells of ireland Green and Cathedral Pines Green Lindy's Starburst Sprays were spritzed through TCW's Harlequin Stencil and then quickly lifted off the paper. A light misting around the stencilled pattern was done to soften the pattern and fade it out. One of the images on Stampotique's Circle Cube was stamped onto the background with Library Green Archival Ink. A TH text stamp was applied to the background using Forget-Me-Not Achival Ink. In order to give KR4 a place to stand, drywall mesh tape was layered over a mop-up card and cut into three fishtail flags. These were edged with Big Brush Pen to remove the white edge before being adhered in two areas. Black enamel dots were added to the outside edge of each.

The sentiment was computer generated and printed on white cardstock. It was trimmed close to the single words, matted with black, and then foam tape was added to the backs. A simple star border was doodled around the page edge and the flags were outlined. To complete the page, a black mat was added to the outside after the white edges of the page were lined with Black Big Brush Pen.

Thanks for joining Kitchen Robot 4 and me today. We are delighted that you did. You can check out the Metal Magic Facebook Challenge here. You have until the end of March to enter and we'd love to see you then.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Balance ~ Week 11 Joggles Art Journal Adventure response

Hi everyone. Week 11's Joggles Art Journal Adventure prompt from Barb is to Pick A Word and then make it the focal of the journal page. I knew immediately which word I would choose...my word of the year for the second year in a row. This one is quite a challenge for me and one I want to keep in the forefront for another year. The word I have chosen is balance.

Like Barb, I finger painted the background with two of the three Dina Wakley's Media Paints she used (Magenta, Tangerine ) although I substituted Blackberry Violet.for the Turquoise. To knock back the colour a little, I applied a wash of white gesso. Stamping was added with Magenta Hue Archival Ink on Joggles Spark stamp and Tiger Lily Archival Ink on Joggles Nonsense Latin Text stamp. The lettering was penciled in first and then coloured black with a Brush Tip Pitt pen. White paint pen dots were added for interest.

I wanted the middle A to look like the fulcrum for a scale or a teeter totter (seesaw) and the other letters to be balanced on either side.  two pieces of washi tape were adhered to white cardstock and placed below the large A to ground it. Stampotique's Strut Your Stuff bird stamp onto white cardstock and coloured it with coloured pencil. He was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and matted with black. He was adhered to the top of the A with foam tape and  tipped slightly so he was balancing on one leg.

A border was created with black punched circles and a black pen. A white star was placed in the center circle of each grouping of three. White paint pen was used to fill in the board of the seesaw and white Texture Paste was scraped through TCW's Mini Netting stencil in several places to add a little dimension and texture to the background. Black Marble Dylusions Paint was used to create the black rings using a bottle lid which finished off the page.

Thanks for hanging out with me today. I appreciate your stopping by. To check out Barb's weekly prompts and maybe play along, pop by the Joggles blog every Monday where she posts her latest Art Journal Adventure spread. We also have a AJA Facebook group where people are enjoying posting their own responses and enjoying tons of inspiration from all of the fabulous art being shared. We'd love to see you there.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Every Bunny ~ An RSD inspired mixed media page

Hi everyone. It's my turn to create a little something for a Rick St. Dennis Fans & Friends Facebook group post. I decided to play with the adorable image from Rick's Zibbet shop called Easter Buddies. I was going to create an Easter card and then decided to make it an all occasion art journal page instead...just to show that these two aren't just for Easter.

I coloured them with Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils and added flat pearls for her dress buttons. They were then fussy cut leaving my usual narrow white border and matted in black. Foam tape was added to the back of thembecause I like the dimension and shadow that creates.

The 6 x 8 inch mixed media paper background was spritzed with Lindy's Stamp Gang Witches' Potion Purple and Delphinium Turquoise Starburst sprays both through TCW's Bingo stencil and directly onto the paper.The paper was tipped to allow the colours to blend in some places. Embossing paste was scraped through Dina Wakley's Plastic Canvas stencil with a palette knife in several areas. Two rows od die cut grass were layered, one behind the Buddies feet and one popped up of foam tape  over their feet to ground them. Three different washi tapes were layered onto white cardstock, trimmed out, and added as strips or punched semi circles. White enamel hearts were added to the ends of the strips and outlined.

The computer generated saying was printed on white paper, trimmed around and matted with black. Foam tape was used to adhere the words to the background. Can anyone else hear Dean Martin crooning this or is it just me?? A doodled border was added to the outside edges and Black Big Brush Pen lined them as well. I always try to bring that onto the front a little because I like that messy uneven look.To fill in the "foliage" on either side of the grass, Stampotique's Curly Stalks stamp was applied with both Forget-Me-Not and Deep Purple Archival Inks. To complete the page, a black mat was added to the back to frame it.

Thanks for joining the Buddies and me today. We are always happy to have you visit. To see more inspiration pieces from Rick's EDT members as well as his fans & friends, be sure to stop by the RSD Facebook group each day. There's always something new to see.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure ~ Week 10 response

Hi everyone. I've been playing along with Barb's weekly prompts for the Art Journal Adventure she features every Monday on the Joggles blog. I'm enjoying pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone and focusing my mixed media journal page on specific products and techniques. Week 10's focus was on applying tinted/coloured Texture Paste onto a background through a stencil. While you can buy black embossing paste, I buy white and add colour with paint.

I began my journal page by coating the background with Golden Titan Buff paint. While it was still wet, I streaked in Mocha Fresco Finish chalk paint making sure not to blend it too much because I wanted two different colours to show. Once dry, I mixed black acrylic paint with Texture Paste and applied it through Dylusions  12 x 12" Diamond of a Border stencil with a palette knife. This was allowed to dry completely before torn pieces of Postale Tissue Wrap were added in several spots using Matte Medium. It was allowed to dry thoroughly before Joggles Nonsense Latin Text stamp was rolled onto the background using Coffee Archival ink.

While all of that drying between layers was going on, I stamped the fabulous Joggles' Abigail with Goggles & Hat image onto white cardstock using Jet Black Archival. The goggles were stamped a second time on a white scrap with embossing powder and fine black embossing powder was applied and heated. Abigail was gently coloured with coloured pencils. I was looking for the tinting effect that they used to do with old photos and the grayscale of the stamped image certainly helped with that. Turquoise Stickles was applied to the pattern and top of her hat. The embossed set of goggles was fussy cut and popped up on foam tape. It was then layered over the original goggles to add dimension and shine. Clear rhinestones were added to the top "corners" of the goggles. Abigail was then fussy cut, and the outside edges were inked with a Black Big Brush Pen to remove the white. I love how she turned out!

Once she was adhered to the background, the sentiment was computer generated and printed onto white cardstock. The words were cut out individually and matted with black cardstock before they were adhered to the background. Two die cut black arrows were adhered next to Abigail and two punched photo corners were added to the left side. A border was doodled around the page with a black pen to finish it.

Thanks for visiting today. Abigail and I both appreciate that. To check out Barb's weekly Art Journal Adventure prompts, be sure and pop by the Joggles blog. There is also a wonderful AJA Facebook group where people are sharing their own takes on the prompts and enjoying lots of inspiration. It's a great place to hang out.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Irish Aurora ~ The East Wind Challenge #51 project

Hi everyone. It's time for our mid-month challenge over on The East Wind blog. Our theme this time is Recycle /Re-purpose which is one of my favourite things to do in my mixed media projects. I often save packaging, corrugated cardboard, junk mail, bits of ribbon or string...anything I think might be fun to incorporate in my art. Bit of a magpie I guess :) I think most people who play with mixed media are so I'm in excellent company.

For this project, I chose to feature the sweet faced Aurora St. Patrick's Day (on sale as this goes live) because she only comes out once a year. I coloured her with a mix of Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils and then fussy cut her leaving a narrow white border. Black cardstock was added to the back and trimmed out again to create a mat. She was then popped up on foam tape for dimension.

The 6 x 8 inch recycled white cardboard background had yellow and two shades of green acrylic paint brayered over it to get the background layer. Viridian Archival Ink was applied with a crosshatch stamp and Joggles Nonsense Latin Text stamp was rolled on using Jet Black Archival Ink. A Stencil Girl X stencil was sponged through with White Linen Dylusions paint and once dry a few of the x shapes were outlined loosely with black pen. To create the ground for Aurora, a piece of corrugated cardboard was ton and then the top layer peeled back to expose the corrugation. A piece of drywall mess was re-purposed into a second layer of ground and a star brad was used to anchor the left corner. Two clouds were die cut from French book text, matted with black, and the smaller one popped up on foam tape.

The sentiment, a freebie from Create With TLC (Thanks, Paulette), seemed like the perfect accompaniment to Aurora. It was fussy cut , matted with black, and  I coloured in some of the shamrocks with green gel pen. It was then popped up on foam tape. A simple black pen border was doodled around the edges and they were inked with Black Big Brush pen. Two tiny green clothespins were added to the left side before the black mat was added to frame the page.

Thank you for joining Aurora and me today. We both want to wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day on the 17th. To see the rest of the wonderful projects by my talented teamies, be sure and pop by The East Wind blog. We would love to have you play along with our Recycle/Re-purpose challenge.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Vintage Style Collage in a Drawer

Hi everyone. Every once in a while, I get the urge to change up some of my home decor items. This week, it was an empty drawer that I have hanging as part of a group of three things in our living room. I had a painted background in there but I was tired of it and it didn't fit the room as well as it used to. Anyway, I decided to cut an insert from chipboard so that I could collage on it and then slide it over the previous insert. I collected a group of papers, ephemera, and embellies plus an old post card image from Steve's Mom's place.

I tore. inked using Vintage Photo and Black Soot Distress inks, and layered text, dotty, and a composite page to cover the chipboard. Then I adhered a piece of piece of crocheted lace to the right side. Two punched and matted photo corners were adhered in the two left corners. The photo image was adhered next and then  a sentiment pre-printed on a label was inked around and tucked slightly under the photo. Two black photo turns were attached with brads to overlap the photo. Two lengths of drywall mesh tape were cut and layered over the photo and the background, visually tying them together. A wood compass embellie along with two vintage buttons (thanks, Gram) were adhered to the top left of the photo.

Two wooden keys were overlapped along the bottom edge of the photo and a burlap flower was placed so that it linked the photo to the lace. The wooden button which was on the flower was removed and replaced with a vintage button. An Idea-ology metal word band was adhered with Scor-Tape and then brads to complete the bottom embellishing. The final steps were to add Vintage Photo and Black Big Brush Pen to the edges, to outline the layers, and to doodle a border before it was popped into the drawer which serves as a frame.

This is the grouping where the collaged drawer hangs. It fits perfectly with the colours and furniture now in the room. Happy Dance! Thanks for visiting today. I'm happy you did that. I have a couple more home decor projects in the works for future posts. One down...many to go :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Coffee ~ Inspired by a Bloobel Stamps image

Hi everyone. I love coffee...especially in the morning. When I saw this fun image from Bloobel Stamps, I could relate to that look of bliss on her face as she was sipping her coffee. The image is called My Cup of Tea which might be my late afternoon beverage of choice but to me, she is partaking of a steaming hot cup of joe.

I coloured her with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils adding Clear Wink of Stella to her eyeshadow and the steam from the cup for a little shimmer. She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black cardstock, and popped up on foam tape.

The 5 x 6 inch background of mixed media paper was spritzed with Lindy's Starburst Sprays in Witches' Potion Purple and Delphinium Turquoise through TCW's Bingo Stencil. You will  not get a crisp design because the sprays are too thin and seep everywhere but I love that blurry watercolour effect. I use very little spray and lift the stencil immediately flipping it over onto another sheet of paper to sop up the ink left on the front. The word coffee was stamped several times using a Penny Black alpha set and Forget-Me-Not Archival Ink. Deep Purple Archival Ink was sponged through TH's Splatters Layering Stencil to get the rings.

The sentiment from Create With TLC was printed on white cardstock, matted with black, and popped up on foam tape. A Starburst spritzed little doily was cut in half and tucked partly under the sentiment. Three coffee cup brads were attached to the left side of the page and steam was doodled in with a black pen. Dylusions Black Marble Paint was slightly watered down on my craft sheet and lines were created with it using an old gift card. A black photo corner was punched and added to the top right corner. Deep Purple Archival Ink was sponged onto the outside edges before they were edged again with Black Big Brush Pen. Finally to finish off the page, a black mat was added to frame it.

Thanks for visiting today. We appreciate your fine company even if one of us (ahem) is not willing to share her coffee. To see more of Lisa's quirky and whimsical stamps, pop on over to her Etsy shop. She also has a Facebook group where the members share their creations and celebrate all things Bloobel.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Week 9 ~ Joggles Art Journal Adventure

Hi everyone. I played in one of my art journals today completing my spread in response to Barb's prompt for the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 9 which was Longing For Spring. And boy, am I ! As usual, I kept some elements the same and varied others to suit my personal style. Instead of using Dylusions paints in the background, I spritzed the page with Lindy's California Poppy Gold and Marigold Yellow Orange and dried it with the heat tool. Then I spritzed Drop Dead Gorgeous Green Starburst Spray through TCW's Tile Texture Stencil and dried it again.

Yellow Ochre Archival Ink was sponged through the harlequin portion of Dylusions Diamond of a Border in several places. Peacock Feathers Distress Ink was applied with a TH splatter stamp to create the green coloured dots.

Joggles' Large Doodle Circle and Scribble Flowers #2 stamps were applied with Jet Black Archival to scraps of watercolour paper coloured with Starburst Sprays. Scribble Flowers #2 and #4 were also stamped onto mop-up cardstock with orange tones. I always keep ATC size rectangles of cardstock on my desk and use them to gather up the over-spray when spritzing with ink. They come in very handy for things like this. Stickles were added to the flower circles both for the sparkle and for the dimension it added. Music paper with left over green paint was used to stamp Joggles Leaf #2 and #4 and also to freehand cut the stems. Black pen was used to outline them and Idea-ology rub-on words were added near the leaves and stems.

I wanted to add a"Ground" line so the stems were anchored in some way so I cut a wonky strip of drywall mesh and colourized it with Peacock Feathers Distress ink. Black pen was used to outline it and create a border. The word Spring was stamped with a Hero Arts set of letters in three places to become part of the border. Black Marble and White Linen Dylusions Paints were used to add the rings using bottle lids. The final touch was to stamp a wee ladybug onto the same paper used for some of the flowers and adhere it next to the one stem.

Thanks for popping by today. I am delighted that you did that. If you haven't checked out Barb's Weekly Art Journal Adventure prompts on the Joggles blog, I encourage you to do that. They are a lot of fun and we have an AJA Facebook group with fabulous, friendly and talented folks who are also playing along. It's a great little community and we'd love to have you join us.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

The East Wind New Release ~ Anne with an E

There is something very charming and Canadian about the Anne of Green Gables book series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Anne Shirley is such a firecracker, wise, and definitely her own person. I think many of us grew up reading about her adventures. I was so excited to see that Unky captured her in today's new release, Anne With an E,  at The East Wind. Of course, I had to colour her, using a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. Like most of my images, she was fussy cut leaving a white border and matted with black cardstock so she would contrast with the busy background.

The background began as a  5.75 a 8.5 inch remnant of  green designer paper...mostly plain with some faded writing here and there. Scraps of collaged text DP were torn and adhered to the green paper before Unity's Cooped Up Notes stamp was rolled onto it using Coffee Archival Ink. The same ink was used to apply one of the Stampotique Circle Cube stamps...love that stamp! White circles were added with gesso stamped using a mini-mister lid.

The quote from Anne herself was printed onto white paper, shaped with a stencil, and fussy cut. It was then faux stitched and matted with a gray blue paper to match her dress. Both the quote and Anne were popped up on foam tape. A black pen was used to outline the scraps of text paper and a black mat was added to frame the background.

Thanks so much for joining Anne and me today. To see the wonderful creations from my talented teamies, Be sure to pop over to The East Wind Facebook group where they will be posted throughout the day.We would love to see what you do with Anne as well.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

March RSD Facebook Challenge - Metal Magic

Hi everyone. With the beginning of the new month came the start of a new challenge theme on Rick St. Dennis' Fans & Friends Facebook group. The theme for the month of March is Metal Magic so we want to see you either add a metal embellishment, colour something to look like metal within the image or add some metallic paper or effects.Of course, you have to use a Rick St. Dennis image from either his Zibbet or Etsy shops. Easy, right?

I have found myself short of "no occasion" cards lately so that's what I decided to create featuring the sweet image called Astor. I coloured her with a mix of Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils adding clear rhinestones as rivets on her metal wings. She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and then matted with black before being trimmed out again. Astor was then popped up on foam tape.

The white card base is 4.5 x 5.5 inches. A piece of textured black cardstock was trimmed to fit inside that base. The black was then run through my Cuttlebug using a TH embossing folder called Riveted Metal. Treasure Copper, Treasure Silver, and two colours of Treasure Gold were then applied with my fingers over the embossed cardstock. Some went onto the flat spots but most highlighted the raised areas creating a shimmery and distressed effect. The black was then adhered to the card base and Astor was adhered to the background.

To continue with the metal theme, three gear embellies were adhered below her using Glossy Accents. Metal trim was adhered along the bottom edge of the background and shiny silver letters spelling out Wish were placed vertically along the left side. And there we have it...a project following the RSD FB Challenge theme of Metal Magic and a card to add to my "no particular occasion" stash.

Thanks for joining Astor and me today. We appreciate that so much. Tune into Rick's Fans & Friends FB page throughout the month of March to see how the other talented DT members respond to this challenge. We would love to have you play along.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

The East Wind Challenge #50 ~ Going Round in Circles

Hi everyone. It's the beginning of March...big YAY to that! One step closer to spring...we hope :) Today also marks the beginning of a new challenge at The East Wind Blog. Our theme for Challenge #50 is Going Round in Circles and all of the Blog DT are playing with the new release in the March TEW newsletter called Spring Has Sprung. I absolutely adore this character...she is sweet and innocent and loves simpler times and nature. She makes me smile.

I coloured her with a mix of Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils. She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border around her and then matted with black cardstock to create a frame. This is my go-to style because it allows me to create a busy background and still have her show up well. Foam tape was added to the back to give the image dimension and create a shadow around it.

The 6 x 8 inch background of mixed media paper was spritzed with Drop Dead Gorgeous Green and Delphinium Turquoise Lindy's Starburst Sprays and then again with the same colours through TCW's Harlequin Stencil. Faint text stamping can be seen on the background as an Inkadinkado stamp was applied with Viridian Green Archival Ink. The black circles were created with one of the images on the Stampotique Circles Cube and Jet Black Archival Ink. The same ink was used to create the splatter dots with a TH stamp. The white circles were done with Dylusions White Linen paint and a bottle lid. A zigzag stitch stamp was applied to the background with Forget-Me-Not Archival Ink. White embossing paste was scraped through Dina Wakley's Plastic Canvas stencil for texture and dimension.

The sentiment was computer generated and printed onto white cardstock. It was then trimmed close, matted with black, and popped up on foam tape. To continue the circle theme, half circles were punched, faux stitched, and added above the sentiment to give it more visual weight. Pink and white washi tape was adhered to white cardstock, cut into flags, and adhered to the two sides. Small enamel star stickers were used to accent them. A narrow doodled border and Black Big Brush pen were added to the outside edges before a black mat was adhered to the background to frame it.

Thanks for stopping by today. When you get a chance, pop over to The East Wind Challenge Blog to see the other DT members' fabulous creations using this sweet image. We would love to have you play along with our Going Round in Circles challenge.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie