Joggles Art Journal Adventure ~ Week 17 - Fairy Tale

Hi everyone! It's Monday again and that means it's time for another Joggles Art Journal Adventure prompt. The one for this week is "Life isn't a fairy tale. If you lose your shoe at midnight, you might want to cut back on the booze." We can do anything fairy tale related, or shoes, or booze... or... or...whatever it inspires. I chose to go with  the fairy tale idea but definitely an empowered princess...more in line with the Paper Bag Princess :) I decided to feature this fabulous image by Studio Duda Art (Diane Duda) called Frog Princess. I have always loved Diane's art and was delighted to learn that she has released some digital stamps. I want them all! Isn't Frog Princess pretty?

I coloured Frog Princess with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, then did the fussy cut thing with the narrow white border. She was then matted with black cardstock, and fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border. Foam tape was used to pop her up. I wanted her to be standing in front of a big open hardcover book, as if she was writing her own story. I printed a free black and white clip art image, and then coloured it with the same types of coloured pencils, darkening the page edges using Coffee Archival Ink. The book was fussy cut, edged with black Big Brush Pen, ready to be adhered flat to the background.

I wanted to use a page out of an old children's book as my first layer of background so I adhered it sideways to white cardstock using matte medium. White gesso was used to knock back the text and give tooth for the next layer of Neocolor II crayons. The gesso also allowed the colour to be moved about with water to get the blending I wanted.

Texture was added using three different stamps from Carabelle Studio 9 Square Textures stamp (I cut it apart to get 9 separate stamps) with Picked Raspberry and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide Inks, as well as Jet Black Archival. Texture Paste was scraped through a BadAss Mini stencil to create the raised stars. Because the paste picked up the Neocolor II and Distress Oxide colours, I went over the stars with a white Posca Paint pen once the paste was dry. I used a waterbrush and the same pink Neocolor II to darken next to the left side of the stars to help them stand out and add depth.

The sentiment was one I had in my stash from Create With TLC. I just printed it twice so I could cut it apart, matted the sections with black cardstock, and trimmed them out, popping them up on foam tape. A border was doodled around the outside of the page with black pen, and the edges were inked with Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide Ink before black Big Brush Pen was added to the edges. To balance out the design and finish the purple visual triangle, a small triangle was cut from purple mop-up paper and adhered to the upper left corner.

Bits of drywall mesh were adhered in a few places for a little more texture. Black epoxy circles were added to the top right corner before the background was adhered to the black background common to all my pages in this art journal.

Thanks for joining Frog Princess and me today. We are happy as heck to see you! To check out how some of the others in our Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group, be sure to pop in from time to time. It's an awesome place to hang out!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Brave Spirit ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! I love this Vera Lane Studio image named after the wonderful Stephanie on the VLS design team. She's so cute, has fabulous hair, and has inspired me to create a page just for her. It had to be bright, bold, and brave to match her spirit and feature hearts because Stephanie has a big heart.

I coloured Stephanie with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils using white acrylic paint and a stylus to dot her hair. The dress pattern was created with a fine tip red pen and the purple collar pattern with a purple Staedler Fineliner. She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black, and fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border.

The background was super simple. Lindy's Hag's Wart Orange, Pretty in Pink Pink, and Yellow Rose of Texas Starburst sprays were dribbled into small puddles on the watercolor paper background. Using a combination of a straw for the larger drips and a TH spritzer tool for the tiny drips, the ink was moved around the page to get the background I wanted. FW black Pearlescent Ink was used to add Darkroom Door Paint Splats stamps to the background in 3 places. It was also used to make splatter dots and add some marks with a rake brush.

The message was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. A black border was doodled around the outside edge and orange epoxy hearts were added to opposite corners.

Thanks for visiting Stephanie and me today. We love that! To see other fabulous images by Janet Klein, be sure to pop over to the Vera Lane Studio Shop. To see other awesome creations made with those images, check out the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group. There's new inspiration every day!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Don't Have Time? ~ Inspired by a Vera Lane Studio Image

Hi everyone! I love this image from Vera Lane Studio called Bright Ideas. There are two sweet girls, this one with the confuzzled look and another having a eureka moment, a cute saying, a light bulb and a thought bubble...lots to create different stories. I found this awesome saying which made so much sense to me and it seemed to suit the one image and would serve as a good reminder to me when I feel like rushing.

I coloured her with a mix of Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils, and used black Nuvo Crystal Drops for her buttons. She was fussy cut leaving a white border, matted with black, and fussy cut leaving a narrow black border. She makes me smile.

The 6x6 inch watercolour paper background was coloured with a 3x3" gel plate which had been smushed with Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, and Wilted Violet Distress Oxides one at a time. Each time the ink was spritzed while on the gel plate and then set down and picked up, repeatedly until I had the pattern and amount of coverage I wanted. Each colour was dried before the new one was added. When all 3 had been applied and dried, Lindy's Witch's Potion Purple Starburst Spray was splattered over the background using a fan brush. A grid stamp from Visible Image Mesh-ellaneous set was added with Jet Black Archival Ink. Torn book text was adhered in three places and then scrubbed with a scruffy brush and white gesso to push the words into the background.

To give my little friend a place to stand, a length of striped washi tape adhered to a strip of white cardstock plus another strip of dotty paper were adhered to the lower part of the page. The leftover bits were added to the top right of the page and two sizes of pink enamel dots were layered on the outside edges to tie in with her dress and the pinky purple from the Wilted Violet ink. The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black before they were adhered to the page. A doodled border and inking of the page edges with black Big Brush Pen were the final touches.

Thanks for dropping by today. We appreciate that! When you get a chance, pop by the Vera Lane Studio shop to check out the fabulous images. Janet has both uncoloured and pre-coloured images and wonderful collage sheets to suit every whim.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure ~ Week 16 - Earth Day

Hi everyone! Happy Earth Day! To honour and celebrate that, the Joggles Art Journal Adventure prompt for Week 16 is to feature something nature inspired. The choices are endless but I had seen this amazing digital stamp at Faery Ink when I was sorting out my response to the cherry blossom prompt. At the time, it was too time consuming for me to consider but I really wanted to colour her. She is amazing! Now seemed to be the perfect opportunity. She is called Cherry Blossom Dryad Tree Woman but maybe she's really Mother Nature in disguise :)

I coloured her with a mix of Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils, adding flower dots with Pentel Milky Pops pens. I also used Magenta Stickles for her necklace gem. Once coloured (all those flowers!), she was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black, and fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border. Foam tape was used to pop her up and add dimension.

The background began as a 6x8 inch rectangle of mixed medium paper. This was spritzed with Faded Jeans (toward the top) and Cracked Pistachio (heavier at the bottom) Distress Oxide Sprays plus water. Ocean Heidi Swapp Color Shine was spritzed in a few areas of the blue to change up the colour and add some shimmer. Once dry, white gesso was pounced through Studio Light MB03 Mask to add texture and pattern and also around where the tree would go to create a halo. Crafty Individuals script stamp was added with Brilliance Moonlight White Ink and Inkylicious Rye Grass was stamped along the bottom edge using Library Green Archival and also the same white ink. Light Blue Permanent Liquitex acrylic paint was sponged through TCW Punchinella stencil. Those dots were shaded and highlighted with Inktense pencils and White Posca Pen to help some stand out.

A circle (sun/moon) was punched from a scrap of Lindy's sprayed yellow cardstock which was also dry brushed with white gesso to lighten it in some areas. This was adhered to the top right corner and a scrap of cheesecloth was glued over that to create a cloud. A border was doodled around the outside edges of the background using both white and black Posca paint pens and black Big Brush Pen was used to darken the white edge of the page. The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black cardstock. Foam tape was used to adhered the sections to the background. Scraps left from die cutting an evergreen tree from green painty paper were chopped into little sections and added to the base of the tree to create depth and dimension by being in front. The page was then adhered to the black background common to all pages in this journal.

Thanks for joining Tree Woman and me today. We're glad you did! To see what the other creative and talented participants in the Joggles Art Journal Adventure FB group create in response to the Earth Day prompt, be sure to pop over to the Joggles AJA Facebook group. Maybe you'll be inspired to play along, too.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Take that ~ inspired by the Vera Lane Studio swap

Hi everyone! In an earlier post, I shared the two ATCs I made for the Off With Their Heads Swap at Vera Lane Studio Facebook group. I always like to create a card to go with the theme so I can write a little note for my partner. The idea with this theme is to take the head from one image and combine it with a body from another image. I love this...it's so fun and never fails to make me laugh. This time I chose to pair the head of a goat from Vera Lane Studio Farm Animals Set 2 with the body from one of The Foxes. The fox was holding an acorn but I wanted the merged guy to hold a cupcake so I took one from Caroline's Cupcakes.

I coloured the three parts for the merged image with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, cut the head and the body, leaving a narrow white border, and glued them together. Before matting him with black cardstock and trimming him out again, I used an Exacto blade to slice around his hand so that I could tuck the cupcake behind it in a more natural way. Foam tape was adhered to the back of him to pop him up when attached to the background.

The background was a gel printed rectangle covered with acrylic paint and the design from a piece of plastic mesh. Stencilling was added with Jet Black Archival Ink and AALL & Create Lotza Dotz template. Stamping was added with the same ink and a Viva Las Vegas stitching stamp.

To ground my friend, striped washi tape adhered to a strip of  white cardstock layered over a torn strip of black was added to the bottom of the background. A black pen was used to doodle a border around the card front and two epoxy dots were added to the top left corner. The wording is two Big Chat Stickers with black backgrounds. The entire front was matted with black cardstock before it was adhered to the white card base.

Thanks for visiting today. My little friend and I appreciate that. It's not too late to play along in this fun ATC swap so hop on over to the VLS Facebook group to check out the details and gain some inspiration from the ATCs already completed and placed in the album. They are awesome!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Leaf Me Alone ~ Inspired by Vera Lane Studio images & Collage Sheet

Hi everyone!I love the new leaves background collage sheet in the Vera Lane Studio shop. It comes in ten colourways including black and white so the possibilities are incredible. I decided to make it a huge part of my art journal page background. Then I got all punny with the sentiment so I needed an image where the character clearly was sending this message. Enter Blossom who is being bothered by the cat from the Girl and Cat With Hats set. I love the way she is looking at him.

Blossom and Cat were coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, and matted with black cardstock. They were then fussy cut a second time leaving a narrow black border. Iridescent white Nuvo Dream Drops were added to Blossom's buttons to add dimension and shimmer.

The 6x8 inch mixed media paper substrate was spritzed with Lindy's Delphinium Turquoise and Bachelor Button Blue Starburst Sprays. To add a little interest and texture to the center blue section which was the only part that would show, Forget-Me-Not Archival Ink was applied to a spiral circle stamp. Jet Black Archival was used to add an asterisk stamp next to the circles. The Fall Tones leaf background ( love these colours) was printed onto white cardstock and cut smaller than the blue background. It was then torn to leave a strip of blue showing in the middle and adhered to the top and bottom in an offset way.

Small sections of black cardstock were torn following the slope of the leaf pieces and adhered next to them to finish the edges. Sections of white watercolour paper border, cut from the top edge when torn from the pad, were glued over the seam where the black and patterned paper meet. To ground Blossom and her wannabe friend, washi tape was adhered to white cardstock, fussy cut, and then adhered to a black mat. Sidewalk lines were drawn in with black pen which was also used to doodle a border around the outside edges and to outline next to the torn leaves background. A blue Pentel Milky Pop pen was used to doodle circles on the black papers.

The sentiment was printed onto white cardstock, cut apart, and matted with black. Foam tape was used to pop up the images and the words, and a punched scalloped border was added to the bottom of the word "alone" for emphasis. The entire page was matted with black cardstock to frame and finish it.

Thanks for visiting Blossom, Cat, and me today.  We appreciate that even if Blossom is in a mood right now :) Be sure to pop over to the Vera Lane Studio Shop to see the other fabulous images. There is inspiration galore. Check out the Vera Lane Facebook group, too. Not only is it a wonderful community but it's also a great source for even further inspiration!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure ~ Week 15 - Chicks and/or Bunnies

Hi everyone! We are just around the corner from Easter as I'm sure you have noticed by all of the tempting chocolate you see in the stores. As a nod to that, the prompt for Week 15 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure is Hey Chickie. We are to include chicks and/or bunnies in our project. I love rabbits so this was an easy choice for me. We do have them as frequent visitors to our yard and I am forever trying to capture them in a photo...or two...or three. Sometimes they cooperate and sometimes not so much. That's what inspired this art journal spread today.

I began with these wonderful doodled bunnies which I had in my digital collection from an Etsy shop called Artpavo. They were originally done in pink ink and were the cutest line drawings with no shading. I sized  five of them to fit my photo frames, printed them onto white cardstock, and set about adding my own details. The shading was done with coloured pencil and I outlined them with black Pitt pen. They were then fussy cut and the edges were darkened with black Big Brush Pen to get rid of the white edges. I chose bunnies who looked like they didn't want their pictures taken to go along with the story I imagined.

The photo frames were 3 1/8 inch squares cut from white cardstock using decorative scissors to give that retro edge photos used to have. A corner roundeed square was die cut from black cardstock to fit inside the white frame leaving about .25 inch border on all sides. The black square was centered on the white frame and adhered with Scor tape. I wanted my bunnies to have some lovely grass to ground them so I die cut dotty green paper which I glued either in front of the bunnies or behind them.

Tiny pink flowers were punched from gel printed scraps and Nuvo Crystal Drops were used to create the centers. These were adhered to the grass where it was in front of the bunnies and also to the center bunny's head. Two other die cut flowers, a gift from a friend, were inked with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink, dotted with black Nuvo, and adhered to the two bunnies who had no flowers.

The wording (and yes, I know these aren't really hares) was printed onto white cardstock, matted with black, and popped up on foam tape. The same tape was used to lift the center "photo". The photo ops sign was cut with a TH label die and the two cameras are washi tape adhered to white cardstock and fussy cut. Bits of green checked washi tape were used to embellish the photos to look like they were used to adhere them to the background. A silver nail head embellie was adhered to the center bunny's frame to give the appearance of it being tacked to the page.

My goodness, I had fun playing with these guys and creating this page. I imagined me asking them to look at the camera, say cheese, and all those other  things you do with a reluctant photo subject. Above is a photo of one of the bunnies who visits our yard and is not camera shy. To see how some of the others in our wonderful Joggles Art Journal Adventure group respond to this prompt, be sure to pop over to the Facebook group. They never fail to inspire and delight me with their creativity.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Whatcha doin? ~ inspired by Vera Lane Studio images

Hi everyone! Sometimes I get an idea and I can hardly wait to see how it turns out This two page spread in my art journal was one of those times. It combines four separate Vera Lane Studio images from two different sets: the two girls from Peekaboo and the crayons and watercolour palette from Max Makes Art. I love the Peekaboo sweeties and have all kinds of ideas about things they could be peeking over or around but I thought it would be so fun to have them wanting to play along as I make art.

I coloured all of the images with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils and fussy cut them leaving a narrow white border. I then adhered the crayons and the palette to black cardstock, and adhered the two peekers in place before fussy cutting the images leaving a narrow black border. This gives them strength, allows each pairing to be treated as a single image, and better integrates the girl with her art supply.

I wanted a very drippy "watercolour" like background in rainbow colours so I pondered all of the possible options and settled on seven colours of Lindy's Starburst sprays. In rainbow order, each one was spritzed in a small section at the top of the page and , with the occasional help of water and some tipping of the journal, was allowed to drip down the page. I used Rudolph's Nose Red, Hag's Wart Orange, Yellow Rose of Texas, Drop Dead Gorgeous Green, Sassy Sapphire, Afternoon Delight Denim, and Witch's Potion Purple. The book was then laid flat and the colours were allowed to pool at the top over the previous spraying. Once dry, the upper edges of each colour were intensified with a corresponding Archival Ink.

The wording was printed onto white cardstock and matted with black. A torn strip of black cardstock was adhered to each page to ground the images and Jet Black Archival Ink was applied to a star stamp to add a little magic. White gesso was also dotted onto the pages throughout the more solid colours at the top. To complete the page, a simple border was doodled around the outside edges and black Big Brush pen was used to edge and frame the pages.

It turned out just the way I hoped and makes me smile every time I look at it. For me, it seems to capture the fun of creating. To see these and other fabulous images by Janet Klein, be sure to pop over to Vera Lane Studio on Etsy. Check in with the Facebook group, too...there is inspiration daily and it's a great community.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Off With Their Heads ~ a Vera Lane Studio ATC swap

Hi everyone! The monthly swap in the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group is called Off With Their Heads. Corrie, our swap leader this month, has asked us to take the head from one fabulous Vera Lane Studio image and pair it with a body from another. This is such a fun idea and the possibilities are endless. Although we are only swapping one artist trading card (2.5 x 3.5 inches) per person, I couldn't resist creating two...and I have a page filled with other possible combinations. Somebody stop me...LOL

The first ATC, Fairy Godmother, stars the incredible Miss Dee's head on one of the Firefly Fairies' bodies. This makes me laugh because Miss Dee is the least likely fairy in the world. She is no nonsense, grumpy as heck, and a little intimidating. I wouldn't ask her for a wish....ever! This mash-up was coloured with Prismacolor and Polychomos pencils and her wings were covered in Diamond Stickles. The background is a mop-up ATC rectangle with torn book text paper, Texture Paste stencilling, and additional stamping/stencilling with Jet Black and Manganese Blue Archival inks. Black epoxy dots and a doodled border finished the card.

The second ATC, the Dashing Fellow, is a combination of the awesome moon image from Le Petit Prince atop the body of Theodore from the Quirky Men set. The fellow was coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut, and matted the same as the Fairy Godmother. Foam tape was used to pop both images up. The background began as a mop-up rectangle with added stencilling using black gesso and Texture Paste, script stamping with Jet Black Archival Ink, and rings done with a spool end and white gesso. Inktense pencil activated with water shaded the inside of the rings to add dimension. Silver sequin stars (he is the man in the moon after all) and a doodled border finished the card.

Thanks for visiting today. Fairy Godmother, Dashing Fellow, and I appreciate that. To see what the other talented swappers have created, and maybe to join in yourself, pop over to the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group and look in the Off With Their Heads album in the photos section. You are sure to be inspired and to crack a smile or two :)

Life is good, so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure ~ Week 14 - Hearts

Hi everyone! It's Week 14 in the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and the prompt this week asks us to include hearts in our project. This was fun for me because I'm usually a star girl so I was able to pull out some things I don't use often. I included 5 different ways of featuring hearts and actually had ideas for more but held off...not like me at all :)

The 6x8 inch mixed media background was first stencilled by sponging Versamark Ink through the three hearts from TCW Complicated Hearts Stencil. They were then coated with white embossing powder and heat set to create a resist. Colour was added with Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, and a little Seedless Preserves Oxide Inks applied to the craft sheet one at a time and spritzed with water before dipping the background into the puddle. This was dried between colours and was repeated a few times to create more depth from layering. Torn book text was added and white gesso was used to knock back the writing so it was less visible.

More patterning and texture were added with stamping: Forget-Me-Not Archival on Carabelle Mini Textures hearts and Jet Black Archival on a stamp from the Carabelle Studio Grungy Patterns set. Black gesso was applied with a gift car to create lines. To create a place for the angel to stand, a vine with heart shaped leaves was stamped on the background with Jet Black Archival Ink and again on white cardstock so that the leaves could be coloured with pencils, cut out, and adhered over the ones on the background. Inktense pencil activated with a waterbrush was used to shade under the vine and leaves. White gesso rings were added with a bottle lid.

The sweet angel is one of the Kate Crane images from Carabelle Studio Angels stamp. She was inked with Jet Black Archival onto white cardstock and coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. Diamond Stickles were added to her wings and the dots in her hair. She was fussy cut leaving a white border, matted with black, and fussy cut again leaving a black border. Foam tape was used to adhere her to the background. Love these Kate Crane stamps!!

The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. Foam tape was used to adhered them and add some dimension. To add a little more detail and some brightness, white Posca Paint Marker was used to make some dots in a few places. A border was doodled around the outside edges with black pen and Blueberry Gelato was used to darken the area between the doodled border and the outside edge to serve as a frame and also around the embossed hearts to help them stand out. Black Big Brush Pen was used to colour the white edges of the background before it was adhered to the black page which frames each spread in this journal. The final touch to balance the design was to add three puffy metallic stars to the upper right corner.

Thanks for joining my angel friend and me today. We appreciate that. We would love to have you join us in the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group. It's a wonderful group of creatives who are talented, supportive, and friendly.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Glad you like my shoes! ~ Inspired by a Vera lane Studio image

Hi everyone! I love the Vera Lane Studio version of Lydia from the Beetlejuice (Betelgeuse) set. She has a wonderful attitude and a killer facial expression. I couldn't wait to colour her in her business attire and pair her with this saying. It suits her hands-on-the-hips stance beautifully.

I coloured Lydia with my usual mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut her leaving a white border, and then again leaving a black border once she was adhered to a layer of black cardstock. Don't you love those pleats in her skirt?

The background on this page visited several stages of ugly before it made me happy. That's the thing with nmixed media...if you don't like it, add another layer or six :) I began by spritzing the 6x6 inch watercolour paper with Lindy's Drop Dead Gorgeous Green and Bachelor Button Blue Starburst sprays. Then I added two stamps from Indigo Blue tasty Textures set with either Cracked Pistachio or Blueprint Sketch Oxide Inks. White gesso was brayered over the background to break it up and knock back the colour in some places. Manganese Blue Archival Ink was sponged through AALL & Create Lotza Dots stencil and the larger dots were circled with black pen and charcoal outside that. The blue was not as bright as I hoped so both Inktense pencils and Neocolor II crayons were addded to them to shade and highlight...and add a little life to them. A spiral stamp from another AALL & Create set (Dot Matrix) was added to the two largest circles with Jet Black Archival and more loose outlining was added to all of the dots.

The page still wasn't bright enough nor was there enough contrast so I added  Ranger Texture Paste through Studio Light MB03 Mask. It picked up the colours from the sprays and Inktense so once dry, I used a Posca Paint marker to brighten the white. Then, with a waterbrush,  I added more Inktense pencil between the raised white Texture Paste and let it drip and run a little. Phew! Happy Place at last! To give Lydia a place to stand, a torn piece of book text was gessoed and added beneath a torn piece of black cardstock, and a length of washi tape with shaped ends. A black punched star was coated with Black Diamond Stickles and added to the fishtail end of the washi.

In the opposite upper right corner, a black fishtail flag was cut and two sparkly teal epoxy stars were adhered to the banner. The two stars help move the eye through the page and the three pops of black do the same thing. The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. To finish the page, the outer edges were inked with Cobalt Blue Archival Ink and Black Big Brush Pen.

Thanks for joining Lydia and me today. We appreciate that. I will be sure to feature Lydia's companion from the set, Beetlejuice himself, in another page. After all, fair is fair :) To see more of Janet Klein's fabulous images be sure to pop by the Vera Lane Studio shop. It's filled with must-haves :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie