The New Midnight ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! I'm back again for the second of my art journal pages for today, both featuring Vera Lane Studio images. This one stars the lovely Ester Jean who is all dressed up for New Year's Eve which she and I celebrate a little early :) I'm an early-to-bed, early-to-rise kinda person and apparently Ester Jean, a former night owl, is, too...NOW! LOL

I coloured Ester Jean with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, using Dandelion Yellow Nuvo Crystal Drops for her necklace and earring tops. She was fussy cut leaving a white border, matted with black, and fussy cut again.

The 6x6 watercolour paper background was generously sprized with Lindy's Delphinium Turquoise and Yellow Rose of Texas. The Tim Holtz Spritzer tool was used to move the puddles around resulting in the most gorgeous green shade where they mixed. Love that! Once dry, an Indigo Blu Tasty Textures stamp was added with Manganese Blue Archival Ink. Jet Black Archival was used to apply Ellen Hutson Bokeh Circles stamp in a few clusters. A length of dotty Duck tape, which was doodled around, was used to ground Ester Jean so she didn't get carried away with celebrating.

A doodled border was added around the page using a black pen. The message was printed on white cardstock matted with black. Three enamel dots were added to the top right corner to add balance and a bit of shine, finishing the page.

Thanks for joining Ester Jean and me today. We appreciate your fine company. We wish you a wonderful 2020, filled with good health, laughter, creativity, and special moments. 2020 is going to be an amazing year at Vera Lane Studio...you should see what Janet has in store for us! Pop by our VLS Facebook group for all the latest as well as a lovely dose of inspiration and friendship.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

This magical world ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! Wow! This is the last day of 2019 so I wish you all a Happy New Year. I hope 2020 is spectacular for you! I am finishing off 2019 with a couple of art journal pages featuring images by Vera Lane Studio because it makes me happy to play with those images and I want to end 2019 on a good note :) The image I used for my first aj page is from the set called The Fairy House. I used the sweet fairy who also comes with a mushroom house, a flower, and two sentiments. Her joy and knowing smile seemed appropriate for the spread I had in mind.

I coloured Fairy with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, adding Clear Wink of Stella to her star, wings, and eye heart for a bit of magical shimmer. She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black cardstock, and fussy cut again.

The background is 6x6 watercolour paper which I spritzed with Lindy's Hottie Patottie Hot Pink and Yellow Rose of Texas Starburst Sprays making sure to leave lots of big drips and splats by pushing the pump only half way in. The bigger splats were then moved into finer drips using the Tim Holtz Distress Marker Spritzer tool. I find I can get thinner, finer runs with this tool than with a straw. Brilliance Rocket Red Gold ink was applied through Bad Ass Mini Stencil 1037 to create the spray of stars around Fairy's head. The stars were then outlined with black pen to help them stand out and add that pop of black I love. A larger star was stamped with the same ink where her one foot would be situated.

The saying was printed onto white cardstock and matted with black. A very scribbly border was doodled to frame the page and the edges were darkened with the Rocket Red Gold ink. Four sparkling puffy stars were adhered to the corners.

Thanks for joining Fairy and me today. We are delighted to have you here and hope you will hang around to see my other art journal page. While you are waiting, why not pop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop and the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group? We would love to see you there and there's always lots going on :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure ~ Week 52 ~ Goodbye 2019

Hi everyone! Happy New Year! Well, we made it! This is Week 52 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure, the last one of the series and the last one of this Adventure. I am stepping down from running it and Barb has decided not to continue for another year. It has been quite a run, and I have met some fabulous people who I now call friends. Thank you all! The prompt for Week 52 is Goodbye 2019 which as you may remember is the Year of the Pig. I began this year with a page featuring a watercolour image of the front view of this fabulous pig, a download from Lola Graphic Images. It seemed fitting to say goodbye to 2019 using an image from the same Etsy shop except this time with a back view.

The background began with spritzing the 6x8 mixed media paper with Lindy's Creme Brulee Cream and Opal Sea Oats Starburst Sprays. Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Ink was mixed with water and flicked over the Lindy's once it dried to create even more splatter dots. The same Oxide Ink was used to apply the patterns from Carabelle Studio Des Carrés avec des Ronds stencil. Coffee Archival Ink was used to apply Ellen Hutson Bokeh Dots stamp as well as Crafty Individuals text stamp in a few places. Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through AALL & Create Lotza Dotz stencil. Because the Texture Paste picks up the colour from the Lindy's beneath it, I added white Posca paint pen over the stencilling to brighten it up.

A simple border was doodled around the page to frame it and Coffee Archival Ink was applied to the edges. Two strips of washi tape adhered to white cardstock and then matted with black were added to the bottom of the page to ground Mr. Pig who was popped up on foam tape. The wording was printed on white cardstock, matted with black, and also popped up with foam tape. To finish the page, black Big Brush Pen was applied to the edges of the background before it was adhered to the black cardstock which is the background for all the pages in this set of journals. Just for fun, here's a photo of what 52 weeks of art journals look like:

Thank you so much for popping by this week. Thanks to Barb for allowing me the privilege of running this challenge and Facebook group. A very special thanks to all who participated in the weekly prompts and those who followed our adventures. You made it all worthwhile! I will miss you!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Hello, sweet friend card ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio collage sheet

Hi everyone! My second DT project today for Vera lane Studio is a quick and easy "thinking of you" type of card. This would make an adorable gift if you made a set of them. They would also be wonderful to have on hand when you want to send a little note to a friend. The card features one of the fabulous pre-coloured images from the Doodle Flower Stamp and Collage Sheet. If the colour palettes don't fit  what you are creating, there is an uncoloured digi in the set for you to colour as you wish. Love that!

I fussy cut one of the pre-coloured flowers, leaving a white border, and matting it with black. I added a few extra white details with a Posca pen both because I like to add my own voice and to help pick up the white spaces left in the background. I also cut out two leaves from a scrap of gel printed paper, matting them with black and adding black doodles to tie in with the flower.

The background was simply a rectangle cut from a paper I had used to catch the over-spray from Lindy's Starburst sprays. I chose the section I wanted, cut it to fit the black mat, and doodled a simple border around the outside edge. The sentiment was printed onto white cardstock and matted with black to frame it. I love the results and how quickly the card came together.

Thanks for stopping by today. I appreciate that, especially during such a busy time of year. When you get a bit of a break, be sure to stop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop and the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group to catch up and gather some inspiration for crafting when life settles into its quiter routine again.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

So Very Merry card ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! I am posting my very last Christmas card for 2019 today. It's a little one (only 3.5 x 4.5 inches) just big enough to accommodate the sweet little image called Treena by Vera Lane Studio. She is one of two images plus a sentiment from the set. She is so cute I want to hug her!

Treena was coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, and then matted with black cardstock to give that second narrow border. She was popped up on foam tape to create dimension and shadow.

The background was a rectangle of plaid paper matted with black cardstock. A strip of washi tape was used to ground her and faux stitching created a border using black pen. The sentiment from the digi set was printed onto white cardstock, matted with black. Once it was adhered to the top right corner, two enamel holly stickers and a berry were added, overlapping the sentiment and the plaid background.

What a sweet and simple card to create! Thanks for joining Treena and me today. We both want to wish you a Merry Christmas or a happy holiday depending upon what you celebrate. Be sure to pop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop and the VLS Facebook group when you get a minute. There is a lot of inspiration and more than a few must-haves to discover :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 51 ~ Winter Solstice

Hi everyone! It's Week 51 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure. One more week after this and we will have completed all 52 of the year's prompts. The one for this week is Winter Solstice or just plain Winter since Saturday marked the shortest day in the year for this part of the world. I am one who is really affected by the lack of light, to the point where I use a special light each day over the winter months, so I am really happy that the days will start getting longer from now on. Bring on the light! LOL

I chose a Mo's Digital Pencil image called Happiness is as the focal for this page. We have had lots of snow and very cold temps lately so that seemed like a natural fit for a page about the official start of winter. I coloured the image with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cutting around the sweet girl and her new friend leaving a white border and also leaving some extra white at the bottom for the snow on the ground.

I wanted to create a large ray of sunlight coming from the sun which is a Mary Engelbreit chipboard piece. I wanted the rest around the ray to be black to show that there's only a small portion of daylight and a bigger portion of darkness each day. I drew an angle on mixed media card coming from the sun and just wide enough for the image to fit. Once it was cut out, the angled section was dipped first into Antique White Distress Oxide + water on my craft sheet and then Scattered Straw Distress Oxide Ink + water. This was repeated a few times, drying between layers until I was happy with the build up of colour and pattern. The Scattered Straw was also applied just to the edges of the angle coming from the sun to darken them slightly.

Once the sun, ray, and image were adhered in place, a few punched snowflakes were added to the sunny part. Shading around the image and the flakes was added with Neocolor II crayon and a water brush. The lettering for Winter Solstice was added with glittery white stickers and the saying was printed onto white cardstock which was popped up with foam tape. Metallic silver sequin stars were scattered around the black areas to make it seem more like a night sky.

Thanks for joining us today. All four of us appreciate that as well as those extra few minutes of daylight we gain each day :) I hope to see you next Monday for the final Art Journal Adventure post!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Ugly Sweater Tags ~ inspired by Vera Lane Studio images

Hi everyone! I wanted to create some cute little gift tags to attach to presents and, more importantly, I wanted to colour 4 of Lulu's Ugly Christmas Sweaters by Vera Lane Studio because each one makes me smile. The tags are about 2.5 x 3.75 inches and are a great way to use up scraps of patterned paper. The girls were coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut leaving a white border and again leaving a black border. They were popped up on foam tape to add dimension.

The backgrounds were cut into a tag shape, matted with black cardstock, and faux stitched around the edges. Black reinforcements were punched and adhered to the holes in the tags. Lengths of washi tape or a strip of patterned paper were adhered across the bottom of the tags to ground the images. Gold circle embellies were adhered to both ends of the contrasting strips. To finish these super simple tags, white satin ribbon was added as a topper to each one. The to/from will be added to the back with white pen.

Thanks for joining the Sweater Girls and me today. We're so glad you did. Be sure to pop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop and the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group when you get a chance. Both are great places to hang out and are chalk full of inspiration!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Dear Winter...~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! For my first DT project today, I decided to create a postcard featuring some designer paper and one of the sweet It's Fall, Y'all images by Vera Lane Studio. I love how bundled up she is and her expression seemed to suit the letter I imagined her writing. This postcard could easily be attached to a card base to use it in another way.

I coloured Acorngirl (that's her name!) with a mix of Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils, fussy cutting her to leave a 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 and create a shadow. Glossy Accents was applied to her eyes to give them some shine.

The "sky" area was a rectangle of snowflake printed paper. To create the snowy ground, a strip of embossed white cardstock left from a previous project was adhered to black cardstock, and then to the base of the green background. The letter was printed onto white cardstock, edged with Coffee Archival Ink, and faux stitched. Once adhered to the background, it was outlined with black pen and skinny washi tape was adhered to opposite corners. Two sizes of snowflakes were punched from white cardstock, adhere around the page, and topped with Icicle Stickles to make them sparkle. Three little enamel dots and a doodled border finished the background before it was adhered to a black mat.

Thanks for joining Acorngirl and me today. I hope her letter doesn't make Winter mad. Trust me, you don't want to annoy Winter! LOL For more inspiration and to find some must-have images, stop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop and the VLS Facebook group. There is so much fabulous choice and ideas galore!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 50 ~ Relax, Refresh, Re-connect

Hi everyone! It's Week 50 of the 2019 Joggles Art Journal Adventure and the prompt for this week is Relax, Refresh, Re-connect. What do you do during super hectic and busy times to wind down or reward yourself with a break? One of my favourite ways to unwind is to relax in a nice hot bubble bath, often with a book and hot beverage, and almost always with one of my cats sitting on the edge of the tub playing with the bubbles :) I found this sweet image by Oddball Art Co. called Lazy Louise and a great quote by Brené Brown to illustrate this practice.

Louise was coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black cardstock, and fussy cut a second time leaving a narrow black border. Foam tape was applied to the back to lift the image off the page and create a natural shadow.

The floor of the background was a strip of woodgrain patterned paper which was set on top of a piece of blue textured patterned paper. I rarely work with these two colours for a background so it was fun to experiment. The blue section (walls) was patterned with Carabelle Studio Toujours des Ronds stencil using Cornflower Blue Archival Ink to create a bubble effect. Jet Black Archival Ink was used to apply rings using Ellen Hutson Bokeh stamp. By overlapping both the floor and the walls with thise stamp, it unified the two. A length of skinny washi tape was placed under the tub legs to ground it and hint at a shadow. A cup shaped brad with cheesecloth steam was added on top of the washi.

The quote from Brené Brown was printed onto white cardstock, cut with a die, and matted with black to give it more visual weight. Cornflower Blue Archival Ink was used to edge the page and a simple border was doodled with black pen. As usual, the background was adhered to the black page to frame and finish it.

Thanks for stopping by today. Louise and I appreciate that and hope that you remember to take the time to Relax, Refresh, and Re-connect during this busy season. Self-care is so important!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Thirty seconds in my head ~ Inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! I created a second art journal page for my Vera Lane Studio DT post today. I couldn't resist the fabulous image called Sassy which was released last week. I love everything about her and wanted her to be the star of her own page. Her name suits her attitude so well.

I coloured Sassy with my usual mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. She was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and matted with black.

I wanted a pink and purple background to coordinate with her fabulous pink hair and her outfit. The background 6x6 watercolour page was spritzed with Lindy's Cotton Candy Pink Starburst Spray. Once dry, it was stencilled in several areas with Wilted Violet Distress Oxide applied through Studio Light Mask L13. The same ink was used to apply Stampotique Dotted Squares stamp as well as one of the stamps AALL & Create Hearts and Lines set. Small Xs were added with black pen through an Alexander Renke stencil and the same pen was used to doodled a simple border around the edges of the page.

The wording, which was printed onto white cardstock and matted with black, was placed top and bottom of the page. The bottom sections were staggered so that Sassy's feet were stepping up from one level, to the next. Three circles were punched from black paper with white dots. Once they were adhered to the background, black pen and a template were used to add a double circle around them to add visual weight.

Thanks for joining Sassy and me today. We appreciate that. When you get a chance, pop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop to check out this set as well as the huge variety of others available...so many must-haves. We would love to have you pop by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group as well. It's a great place to hang out and get inspired.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Well Behaved Women ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! Did you see the new release of  Princess Leia and Yoda yesterday from Vera Lane Studio? Oh my word, they are so cute! I mean, seriously cute!! I had a hard time deciding between them for this art journal page because I want to play with both. I finally settled on Leia because I figured Yoda might have more patience to wait.

I coloured Leia with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, using a silver Posca Paint pen for her buckle. She was fussy cut leaving a white border, matted with black, and fussy cut again. Although I usually glue images in flat in this journal, I wanted that shadow behind her so I used foam tape to pop her up.

The watercolour paper background had Wilted Violet and then Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxides added separately. They were smushed onto a 3 inch gel plate, spritzed with water, and then tapped onto the page, drying between colours. Black ink was splattered over the page once the Oxide layers were dry. To add to the galaxy feel, a Stampotique Dotted Spiral stamp was added with Jet Black Archival Ink. Silver star sequins were scattered above and beside her to catch the light. To ground Leia, blue starry washi tape was adhered to a strip of white cardstock and then to the page. That prevents the background colours from showing through the white areas and also preserves the pattern.

The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. A simple doodled border was added with black pen to finish the page.

Thanks for joining the lovely Princess Leia and me today. We are delighted that you did. Stay tuned to our Vera Lane Studio Facebook group this week to see more projects using this amazing Star Wars set created by my talented teamies. Pop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop where you will find many many images and collage sheets sure to inspire you.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure ~ Week 49 ~ G is for...

Hi everyone! it's Week 49 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure which means we have three more to go after today's post. The time...she flies :) The prompt for Week 49 is the Letter G. I have been seeing gnomes absolutely everywhere lately so I had to try my hand at colouring and creating with one. I found an artist gnome digital stamp at KLM Digital Designs on Etsy and felt that Painter Gnome was perfect for this prompt.

I coloured Painter Gnome with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. I used both a paint pen and watered down white chalk paint to create the top layer of his beard and bring back the brightness because with all of the layers of gray, it was looking a little smoky. PG was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black cardstock, and fussy cut a second time leaving a black border. Foam tape was used to adhere him to the background and add dimension/shadow.

The 6x8 inch mixed media paper background was splattered with Brusho crystals and water mixed as well as a few colours of Lindy's Starburst Sprays flicked with a paint brush straight from the bottle. The splatters were mainly placed in the top 2/3 of the page. Black gesso was slightly watered down and added with a bottle lid to make rings in three places. To ground PG, three lengths of splatty washi tape were stacked across the bottom of the page. The colours were similar to the ones used to make the splatters. There are numbers within the washi. Do you think PG likes to paint by number sometimes? LOL

The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. Foam tape was used to pop them up. The Gg are Idea-ology Ransom letters. To finish the simple background, a border was doodled with black pen, the edges were sponged with Vermillion Archival Ink, and the edges were darkened with black Big Brush Pen before the piece was matted with black.

Thanks for joining PG and me today. I can't wait to see what others in the Art Journal Adventure group choose for the letter G. They are a creative bunch so I'll just have to wait and see.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Mini Envelope Tabs following a tutorial by Junk Journal Ideas YT channel

Hi everyone! I made these sweet little fold out letters following a tutorial on YT by Donna Phillips (Junk Journal Ideas) called Mini Envelope Tabs. It's an easy to follow tutorial so I'm not going to go into the details of how to construct them because she explains it better than I could.

Basically, she takes a rectangle of paper, folds it in thirds, and then folds the top section in like an airplane. I have seen my talented friend, Jen (Jenny Miller on YT) use these in her fabulous junk journals all the time. What I liked about Donna's tutorial was where she went next with these embellies.

She layered the flap with bits of lace, circles of paper, and sweet metal charms plus a plethora of other sweet ideas. Then she tucked the flap over a page edge and used a tiny paper clip to hold it in place as needed.

I used threaded vintage buttons, tiny crocheted doilies, bits of cheesecloth, ribbon, cork, and pretty much anything else that I could get my hands on. Some of the envelopes were made from coffee dyed paper, some patterned paper, some stamped and others not. It's pure play with no rules...a lovely playground for the imagination!

Thanks for popping by today. Thanks also to Jen and Donna for the inspiration. It's greatly appreciated.

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Poor Rudolf ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio digi set

Hi everyone! I have a quick post sharing a fun Christmas card I made with one of the images from the Rudolf digi set by Vera Lane Studio. They are the cutest reindeer with 3 different poses and the loveliest big noses.

I coloured Rudolf with a mix of Prismacolor, Polychromos, and Caran D'ache pencils. He was then fussy cut, leaving a narrow white border. Once matted to black cardstock, Rudy was fussy cut a second time leaving a narrow black border. This helps him stand out against the plaid background. Rudy was popped up on foam tape to give him dimension.

The plaid paper was matted with black cardstock which was cut slightly smaller than the black so it framed the plaid. This was adhered to the white card base which added a white border to the black. Three enamel berries and two holly leaves were glued to the upper right corner.

The saying was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. The wording was then popped up on foam tape to create a natural shadow. To ground Rudolf, although he wants to remind you that he can fly, a piece of washi tape was adhered to white cardstock and glued between the wording and Rudy.

Thanks for popping by to visit with Rudy and me. I hope you get a chance to stop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop and our VLS Facebook group. There's lots to see both places :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie