Librarian Tag ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! Last week Vera Lane Studio released another wonderful set of images and sayings, this one called Teacher 2. I posted an art journal page created with one of the images earlier today. This time, I am sharing a tag with another of the images, this one carrying books. I decided she was a librarian.

I coloured her with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut and matted her the same way as the Wine Woman in my aj page. This one was popped up on foam tape to give her a natural shadow and a bit of dimension.

The #8 size tag was cut from a remnant of patterned paper which I matted with black cardstock. The top part of another tag, this time cut from kraft paper, was stamped with script and Coffee Archival before being matted with black and adhered over the base tag so the holes lined up. Slightly overlapping that tag was a library card which had been inked around the edges with Coffee Archival.

Both to decorate the bottom of the tag and to give our librarian a place to rest her weary feet, a folded, inked, and stitched strip of old book paper stamped with faux Latin words was adhered to the tag edge. I keep several of these on hand all ready to go so I don't have to stop and fiddle with them. The wording, which cracks me up, was printed onto white cardstock, matted with black, and popped up on foam tape. The finishing touches to the tag were the doodled black border and the twine used as the tag topper.

Thanks for popping by to visit with the librarian and me...and she thanks you for keeping your voice down. Never, ever tangle with a seemingly mild-mannered librarian. She has skills! When you get a chance, stop by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group to see what others on our DT and in our fabulous community are creating with these fun images from the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Sugar and Spice?...nuh-uh! ~ an art journal page inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! Last week Vera Lane Studio released another wonderful set of images and sayings, this one called Teacher 2. Having been a teacher for over 30 years, I could instantly relate to the sayings and the wonderful looks on the teachers' faces. The first of two projects I created was with the woman holding the wine glass. She could fit so many occasions for cards or tags, or in this case, an art journal page.

I coloured Wine Woman with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut her leaving a narrow white border. She was then matted with black cardstock, and fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border.

The 6x6 inch background was covered on the right side with packaging paper and on the right side with Starburst Sassy Sapphire spritzed paper I had used to catch over spray from another project. Once both papers were adhered to the background, pattern was added with Forget-Me-Not Archival Ink sponged through TCW Tiny Circles stencil and Jet Black Archival Ink applied to a Viva Las Vegas blanket stitch stamp. An arrow from a 49 & Market set was stamped with the same black to point to a fussy cut wine glass silhouette.

A section of a dictionary page was adhered to the top right corner of the page. Blue pencil was used to call attention to the word and definition for wine-bibber. I didn't even know that was a word but it's fun to say :)

Before Wine Woman was adhered to the page, a torn piece of patterned paper as glued to the bottom edge of the page to ground her. A little of the blanket stitch stamping was added to merge it with the rest of the background. The wording, which is me to a tee, was printed onto white cardstock, die cut into circles, and edged with Forget-Me-Not Archival Ink. The two circles were then matted with black to give them more visual weight and punctuation stickers were added to each. A wiggly wonky border was doodled around the outside edges of the page before black Big Brush Pen was added to frame it.

Thanks for joining Wine Woman and me today. We're delighted you did. Stay tuned for my second project from this set. There is a third image which I haven't played with yet but she will keep for another day :) You can see what others have created with them by stopping by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group or get your own set from the VLS Etsy shop.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 34 - Simplify

Hi everyone! It's Week 34 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and this week's prompt is urging us to keep it simple. Now you would think that that is an easy prompt and, for some, it likely is. Not, however, for others like me! Keeping it simple ranks right up there with leaving white space for me in terms of difficulty...even after the page is finished. I just want to go back and add one more detail or fill in that little space...again and again. I have to make a very conscious effort to step away from the page early in the process.

This page started with a gel printed 6x8 inch piece of mixed media paper to which I had already added Coffee Archival Ink stamping with Carabelle Studio Quadrillage stamps. It has been in my stash for ages because I loved it and didn't want to cover it with all kinds of other things. This seemed a perfect opportunity to take a minimalist approach to the page and let that background do most of the speaking.

I added a double line border using a ruler to create crisp straight lines instead of my usual wobbly ones. Part of me wanted to fill in that border with pattern but I resisted...go me! I then cut three triangles the same size from black cardstock and adhered them overlapping on the right corner. The first one is flat to the page, the second has foam tape to raise it slightly, and the last one has foam squares to raise it even higher. I used my 1/8 inch punch to create white circles, three of which I glued to the right side of each triangle.

The lettering was created with stickers which look like Dymo tape and spell the word "Simplify". The page was edged with black Big Brush Pen and matted with the black background common to all the pages in this journal.

Thanks for joining me today. I appreciate that. You can check out how others in our Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group respond to this prompt by following the link. We would love to have you become a part of our community.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Sweet Contessa Art Journal Pages ~ inspired by Vera Lane Studio images

Hi everyone! Yesterday, Vera Lane Studio released an adorable set of two images and two sayings and I am smitten with them... so much so that I couldn't choose between them so I created a journal page for each.

The set is called Contessa and they have the most fabulous expressions and hair...and stripes. Did I mention that they had those? They make me smile.

I coloured both images with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils except for their hair. Contessa in the dress had her hair paper pieced from ink sprayed book paper and she had yellow punched dots adhered to her dress because she loves stripes and dots together.

Contessa in the overalls had her hair paper pieced from Lindy's Starburst sprayed and Distress Oxide inked music paper. They were both fussy cut leaving a white border, matted with black cardstock, and fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border.

The background of Dress Contessa's page was spritzed with Lindy's Yellow Rose of Texas, California Yellow Gold, and Marigold Yellow Orange Starburst Sprays. Grid and number stamping were added with Jet Black Archival and dotty stencilling with Rusty Hinge Distress Oxide Ink. Images of a can of hair spray and a comb were fussy cut, altered in colour and labelling, and adhered to the top left corner of the page.

Contessa was grounded with a torn piece of green corrugated paper topped with a scrap of floral paper. The sentiment was printed onto white cardstock, trimmed into sections and matted with black. The outside edges of the page were darkened with Rusty Hinge Distress Oxide and black Big Brush Pen before a border was doodled to finish the page.

Overall Contessa's page was inked with Cracked Pistachio and Broken China Distress Inks and a torn piece of patterned paper was adhered to the lower half. Text and squares were stamped on both halves with the same Distress Oxide Inks used above. Contessa was anchored with a strip of washi tape, lined with black pen to look like a sidewalk. A world image was fussy cut and placed in front of her to tie in with the saying.

The page was finished with two epoxy hearts in the top left corner and two photo corners placed opposite each other. A border was doodled with black ink and the page edges were inked with Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink and black Big Brush Pen. The saying was done in the same way as the first page.

Thanks for joining the two Contessa's and me today. We are delighted that you did. When you get a minute, be sure to stop by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group each day to see what my other talented VLS DT buddies created with these sweeties. You'll be glad you did! Check out the Vera Lane Studio shop while you are at it. There are so many "must haves" there just waiting for you :)

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 33 - Transportation

Hi everyone! For Week 33 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure, the prompt is Transportation. I stretched that to include Road Trip/Scenic Route but it could be any type of transportation from cars to hot air balloons to a spaceship or rocket.

I started my page by adhering a piece of an old Ontario map to a 6x8 inch chipboard backing and applying a light coat of white gesso over top. I sprinkle/spritzed it with Lindy's Hottie Patottie Hot Pink and Yellow Rose of Texas Starburst Sprays trying for more drips than coverage. Black acrylic paint was brayered onto a gel plate and a small set of axle and tires removed from a Dollar Store car was loaded with the black from the gel plate. It was then applied to the map in a few directions.

I have various sizes and patterned tires...they make the coolest marks as you can see on this scrap piece I tried first. Just load the tires as you would a brayer.

Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide Ink was applied using a spiral stamp and a Studio Light Number stamp was also added using Tiger Lily Archival Ink. Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through TCW Tiny Circles stencil to break up the background a little more as well as adding texture.

The image from The Graphics Fairy was printed onto kraft cardstock, inked on the edges with Coffee Archival, and matted with black. Orange coloured pencils were added to the lips and Glossy Accents to the binocular lenses. The image was added over green corrugated paper to pull some of the green from the map into the focal. A wooden hand edged with Coffee Archival Ink was adhered to the corner of the page, overlapping the woman's sleeve and pointing to the binoculars which are taking in the wonders of the scenic route.

Two detour signs were matted with black and added to opposite corners. The sentiment was printed onto white cardstock, matted with black cardstock, and popped up on foam tape like the detour signs. To finish the page, the edges were hit with Forget-Me-Not Archival Ink as well as black Big Brush Pen. A simple doodled border was added before the background was matted with the black background common to all the pages in this art journal.

Thanks for popping by today. I appreciate that. To check out how others in the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group respond to this Transportation prompt, be sure to stop by over the next week or so. It's a wonderful and talented group of people and we would love to have you join us.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

August Bookmark Swap at Vera Lane Studio Facebook group

Hi everyone! Each month in the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group, we have a swap for those who want to participate. This month It is Sharon's turn and she has decide that we will trade bookmarks created for the theme All Creatures Great and Small. All you need to do is create a bookmark featuring a Vera Lane Studio critter image and post a photo in the album. I love to read so bookmarks always make me happy.

I combined three images for my bookmark focal. I used one of the birds from the Bird Houses digi set, the hat from the Boutique Hats set, and the books from the Book Lover set for Birdie to perch upon. The images were coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils and white gesso dots were added to Birdie's body. Glossy Accents was used on her eyes to give them both shine and dimension. Birdie was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black cardstock, and fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border.

The background for the 2.5x6.5 inch bookmark was a left over scrap from a paper included in a Somerset Studio magazine. Book paper scraps were inked with Coffee Archival and adhered in two places as a nod to the book theme. Jet Black Archival Ink was used to add the Viva Las Vegas numbers stamp and the TH splatter dots stamp. Black Pitt pen was used to create the circles and the doodled border around the four sides. To bring some of the orange colour from the bottom book to the top of the bookmark, an orange flower brad with an enamel dot center was added to the top circle. More orange was added to the bottom of the tag by edging it with Tiger Lily Archival Ink.

The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into segments, and matted with black. To add strength to the bookmark, it was mounted onto chipboard before the back was covered with black cardstock. The edges of the bookmark were inked with Coffee Archival Ink and then black Big Brush Pen.

Thanks for joining Birdie and me today. We would love to have you join our Vera Lane Studio Facebook group and this swap, too. It's always lots of fun and there are so many fabulous images from the Vera Lane Studio shop to choose that fit this theme. Hope to see you there!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Dancing to my drummer ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! This is the first of two posts today for Vera Lane Studio DT projects. I found this saying on Pinterest and went in search of the image that would help me illustrate it in my art journal. That image happens to be this awesome dancing pig from the Bacon Bits set. There are six hilarious pigs and two expressions in this set and I knew that this lovely ballerina was perfect for what I wanted.

I coloured Dancing Pig with a mix of Polchromos and Prismacolor pencils except for her sparkling skirt. That I fussy cut using the skirt image as a template from a scrap of glittery cardstock left from some packaging. Everyone deserves a little sparkle! She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black, and fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border to help her stand out against the background.

The 6x6 inch watercolour background was spritzed with water and sprinkled with Purple Brusho Crystals. More water was applied in some areas and the page was tipped in different directions to achieve the coverage and leave the white space I wanted. Extra crystals were dropped in a few places to get those tiny bursts of the various colours within the purple mix...love that! To ground Dancing Pig, a length of yellow music washi tape was added below her feet. The yellow colour pulls her top and flower colour into the background. Three pink stars were die cut using a Little B stars set and designer paper. These were edged in Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide and then matted in black to keep them from disappearing into the background before being adhered above/behind her.

The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections to fit on the page, and matted with black. Before they were adhered, Texture Paste was scraped through a TCW Netting stencil in three areas to break up the purple. Some of the colour was picked up from the background but I was OK with that look. To complete the page, a simple border was doodled around the sides and black Big Brush Pen was used to darken the page edges which helps to frame her.

Thanks for joining Dancing Pig and me today. We're glad you did. When you get a chance, be sure to check out the other awesome images in the Vera Lane Studio shop. New images are added all the time and featured on the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group. Stay tuned for my second project! It makes me smile, too.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 32 ~ S is for Superpower

Hi everyone! We are starting Week 32 in the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and this week, the prompt is S is for ... Superpower. We can choose to only do the first part (S is for...) or we can do the whole thing which is what I chose. Barb and I like to leave the prompt as open as possible and let each participant take it where they are inspired to.

I had two images I wanted to combine for this page. One was a digital stamp called Book Lover by SLS Lines (Sal Scheibe) of a woman peering over the top of a book. Love her images! I coloured her with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut her leaving a narrow white border, and matted her with black. She was popped up on foam tape to add dimension and natural shadow.

The second image of a female super hero from a magazine ad has been in my stash for a while. She was fussy cut leaving no border and outlined with black pen once she was adhered flat to the background. I made thought bubbles leading from the reader to the other one because that's what she is envisioning as she tells you about her superpower :)

The background began as a mop up paper where an alphabet stencil covered with Witch's Potion Purple Starburst Spray was turned face down on white cardstock to clean it. The green at the bottom was another ink spray clean up added to the same paper. Deep Purple Archival Ink was applied to Wendy Vecchi Open Dots background stamp and also Indigo Blu Tasty Textures script stamp to create more pattern and texture over the sprays. To pull a little green into the rest of the background, a Viva Las Vegas spiral stamp was added in a few places with Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide Ink.

The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into individual words, and matted with black. Black and white washi tape was added in three areas, topped by threaded red buttons to pull some of the superhero's red costume colour into the background. A simple border was doodled around the outside edges of the page which were also inked with Deep Purple Archival Ink and black Big Brush pen. The background was then adhered to a larger piece of black cardstock which serves to frame it.

Thanks for popping by today. I had so much fun with this prompt and can't wait to see what others in our Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group do with it, whether they go the superpower route or decide that S is for something completely different. We would love to have you join our friendly community whether you join to enjoy and be inspired by others or want to play along yourself.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Look and Believe ~ inspired by Vera Lane Studio Bee & Butterfly digi set

Hi everyone! It's time for another DT post for Vera Lane Studio. This time I created two tags using the absolutely darling images from the newly released Bee and Butterfly stamp set. It comes with two girls, a separate butterfly and bee, and two awesome sayings.

The images were coloured with Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils. I used a 1/8 inch punch to make the eyes from black cardstock and added white paint pen dots as highlights. The little buttons are blue gems. Their outfits remind me of the ones my mom used to dress my older sister and I in. We would have the same dress but in different colours so we looked the same but different...LOL. The images were fussy cut leaving a white border, matted with black, and fussy cut leaving a second black border. The girls were popped up on foam tape but the insects were adhered flat to the background.

In my effort to use things that have been hanging around for ages, I found some resist Artisan papers from Pink Paislee in my stash. I cut two tags with different patterns and used Cracked Pistachio and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Oxide Inks to add colour. Paper towel was used to remove the extra colour from the resist areas which remained shiny white. Stamping was added with Eleen Hutson Bokeh Circles and Viva Las Vegas Star Border using Stazon ink.

To ground the two girls, a length of washi tape was cut into two fishtail flags and overlapped with scraps of a gel printed paper in similar colours. These were each adhered near the bases of the tags and outlined with black Pitt Pen.

The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into individual words, and matted with black before being adhered flat to the tags. Faux stitching and black Big Brush Pen were added  to the outside edges. A metal butterfly brad with the legs cut off and a bee button minus the shank were added to the washi tape with foam circles. Turquoise and green ribbon was added to each tag as a topper.

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting with the girls, their wee friends, and me today. We appreciate that. To see this wonderful Bee & Butterfly image set as well as the other fabulous images from Vera Lane Studio, be sure to pop by the Etsy shop. There are so many must-haves there! Also check out our Vera Lane Studio Facebook group where there is wonderful inspiration using the VLS images posted daily. Both are great places to hang out!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 31 - Alter a Face

Hi everyone! It's Week 31 for the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group and the theme this week is to Alter a Face. This could be a face we have drawn or a face from a book or magazine...even a photograph. We can alter it in any way we wish, like changing the colours normally used, changing the features or their number, or any other way we want. I chose to grab a face from a magazine ad and altered it by adding doodling with Black Pitt pen and white Posca Paint pen. I loved every moment and can't wait to do it again!

The face itself was in colour and about 4.5x6.5 inches in size. I cut off the hair and neck leaving just the oval(ish) face itself. Some of the line work was done with the help of stencils and a lot was done freehand. A flower image was fussy cut from a magazine page , adhered over her eye, and doodled with both pens.

The background started as one of those extra papers they give you in Stampington magazines sometimes. As part of my Use It Already! mindset, I pulled it from a folder of saved papers, cut it to size (6x8) and added my own creative voice. Stamping and stencilling were added with Coffee Archival Ink and some layered washi was placed in opposite corners and topped with drywall mesh scraps.

Once the face was glued in place and outlined with black, Joggles/Margaret Applin Designs Rosette #2 stencil was used to add her hair design. Detail was added to the open areas to help the hair integrate with the face better.

The wording, Be an original, was created with a DYMO labeller and outlined with white Posca Pen. Scribble writing was added around the two circles which had also been outlined in black and a border was added to the outside edges with the same pen. I could have kept playing with adding more detail but I was happy with how it looked at this point and wisely decided to stop. The page was adhered to the black background to frame it and added to my journal.

Thanks for stopping by today. To check out what others in our awesome group do in response to this Alter a Face prompt, be sure to pop by the Joggles AJA Facebook group throughout the week. I can't wait to see where everyone goes with this! Fair warning...I have a whole lot of other faces from magazines just waiting for their turn to get altered. You'll be seeing this style of art again from me!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie