Pretty Ladies Projects - Inspired by a Vera lane Studio collage sheet

Hi everyone! I am so excited. This is my first official post as a member of the Vera Lane Studio Design Team. I have long been a fan both of Janet's wonderful images and also of her creative team who have provided me with inspiration galore, encouragement aplenty, and from whom I have learned a ton. I am both delighted and incredibly honoured to have been asked to join them! Speaking of inspiration, have you seen the new Pretty Ladies Collage Sheet in the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop?  Oh my word, it's gorgeous and so versatile. Not only are there various sizes of the pretty lady but also various colourways, plus there are bits of border to act like washi, and sweet words, as well. I created three quick and easy projects to show just a few ways they can be used but the mind boggles with the possibilities!

The first creation I made was a notecard. I used a 3 5/8 x 4 3/4 inch rectangle of designer paper, matted with black cardstock as my background. Texture was added by applying French Ultramarine Archival Ink to Crafty Individuals Script stamp, Studio Light grid stamp, and Indigo Blu Tasty Textures dotty stamp, adding them to the background in several places. Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through TCW Punchinella stencil. The paste was brightened with white Posca Pen once dry and shaded next to using Inktense pencil and a waterbrush. The pretty lady was fussy cut leaving a narrow border, matted with black, and fussy cut leaving a narrow black border. She was then popped up on foam tape and grounded with two of the border strips added to cream cardstock. The Hello word was also matted with black and cream and adhered with foam tape. The final details before adding the background to a cream card base were a doodled border and a puffy triangle sticker.

The second project featuring another Pretty Lady from the collage sheet is a 6 x 2 inch bookmark. The base is a double layer of kraft cardstock which was edged with Coffee Archival Ink and a doodled faux stitching border. A left over scrap of gel printed, stamped, and Texture Paste background from a previous project was adhered to the left side with a piece of a small doily peeking out from its right side Both of these were outlined with black pen to help them stand out. The Pretty Lady collage image was fussy cut leaving a narrow border, matted with black, and trimmed out again leaving a narrow black border. To ground her, a length of the dashed border from the collage sheet was adhered beneath her feet along with a left over scrap of punched scalloped border. The other section of this same border was added to the top of the gel printed piece to repeat the element. White dots were added to both borders. The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. A small puffy star was added to the top right corner and black Big Brush pen darkened the edges.

The third and final project I created using one of the Pretty Ladies from the VLS collage sheet was a tag which could easily be a card focal. The kraft cardstock base was one already in my stash and cut with a Spellbinders Office Supply die. It was patterned using Inkylicious Rye Grass stamp and Coffee Archival in a couple of layers varying the intensity of colour to create depth. The other piece of the doily used previously was adhered to the same blue patterned paper as I used in the card front, and then trimmed out. The asterisk stars were stamped on the solid circles of the doily and the center was doodled with black pen. The mounted doily was then adhered to the left side of the kraft die cut. One of the 3 1/4 inch pretty ladies was fussy cut and matted in the same way described above, and popped up on foam tape. She was grounded with one of the striped borders from the collage sheet which was then outlined with black pen. The word hope has fussy cut and the loops of the scallops were doodled with black pen before it was adhered beside her and outlined to help it stand out. A simple partial border was doodled on the right side of the tag before it was adhered to the black background. Green seam binding was used for the topper.

Thanks for joining the Pretty Ladies and me today. I still have many of the collage sheet images left so I'm thinking of creating a few more of the cards to give as a set of five for a little gift for a friend. They are so quick to create and I know she'll just love them. To check out the other fabulous collage sheets and the plethora of fabulous images by Janet Klein, be sure to pop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop. I always come away with a bunch of new ideas and several must-haves :) For even more inspiration, check out the VLS Facebook group where there is always something new and drool-worthy.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure - Week 21 - Goddess or Monster

Hi everyone. It's Week 21 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and the prompt for this week is 80% Goddess and 20% Cookie Monster. We can feature either a goddess or a monster or both. I thought about doing something with a goddess but these cute monsters from Katzelkraft Stamps were calling to me in a rather noisy way and I couldn't resist. They make me smile :)

I started with 2.5 inch circles which were punched from white cardstock. Five Distress Oxide Inks ( Picked Raspberry, Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet, and Twisted Citron) were chosen to apply pattern to them through Carabelle Studio For the Love of Layers stencil as well as darkening the edge of the circle. I love this stencil because there are so many different patterns throughout it that it's like having many stencils in one...so easy to get different looks and only one stencil to clean. Each circle was made more interesting by using Jet Black Archival Ink on Crafty Individuals Script stamp. Black Pitt Pen was used to trace a 2.25 inch circle to serve as a border.

Once the circles were set out in the order I wanted, I was able to choose the main colour for each of the five monsters from the stamp set. I coloured each monster with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, using the colour that matched the Distress Oxide used on the background from the one before. I also made sure that each monster had some details coloured in the vibrant pink shades to tie them together. The pink and yellow monsters had Diamond Stickles added to their wings and they all had Glossy Accents added to their eyes. The monsters were fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black, and fussy cut again, leaving a narrow black border. They were popped up on foam tape and adhered to their circles which were then glued to the black background in a circular pattern.

The wording was done with white stickers dotted with black Posca Pen for added whimsy. White Posca Pen was used to doodle 3 rows of faux stitching around each circle as well as a simple border around the page.

Thanks for joining my friends and me today. That's always much appreciated. To check out what the others post in response to the Goddess or Monster prompt, be sure to pop by the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Group on Facebook. We would love to have more people posting their creations. It's always fun and inspirational to see what others are up to :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Check Your Attitude ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! Happy Saturday! I had fun creating a page in my art journal using the image by Vera Lane Studio called Wednesday and Pugsley since she has the perfect expression for the saying I wanted to illustrate. She comes with her brother, Pugsley but he will star in his own page at a later date.

I coloured Wednesday with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. Her dress was paper pieced using a piece of left over cardstock which had been spritzed with Lindy's Starburst sprays for another project and then shaded with Polychromos pencils. The buttons were added with Ebony Black Nuvo Crystal Drops. Wednesday was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black, and fussy cut a second time leaving a narrow black border.

The 6x6 inch watercolor paper background was colourized with Carved Pumpkin Distress Oxide Ink. Rusty Hinge Distress Oxide Ink was added through Carabelle Studio Mosaique stencil. Orange Blossom Archival Ink was used to apply one of the stamps from Carabelle Studio Grungy Patterns set (Kate Crane). Jet Black Archival Ink was used to add one of the circle stamps from the same Kate Crane set. More texture was added when white gesso was pounced through the harlequin design from Stamperia Steampunk Man stencil. Inktense pencil was used to shade to the left of the diamonds to help them show more.

Before Wednesday was adhered to the background, a length of washi tape was adhered to the same background as her dress to change the bright yellow to a colour which would blend a little better. This tape was then adhered to a punched scallop border and placed under her feet to ground her. A spiral stamp from Rubber Moon called Spiralstract was applied to white cardstock several times using Jet Black Archival Ink. It was then cut out using a .5 inch circle punch and Carved Pumpkin Distress Oxide was used to tint the background. The white sections were highlighted with Posca Pen and the center dot was plumped up with black Nuvo Drops like her buttons. These were then scattered around the page to add more pattern and whimsy.

The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. A scribbly border was doodled around the outside of the page and black Big Brush Pen was used to remove the white edges.

Thanks for joining Wednesday and me today. I'm happy you did that and Wednesday...well, she has an attitude...LOL. Be sure to check out the other fabulous images in the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop and pop by the Facebook group where there is wonderful new inspiration daily.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Wise Guys Artist Trading Coins ~ inspired by Vera Lane Studio images

Hi everyone! Just a quick post today to share these sweet artist trading coins I created featuring the four images from the Vera Lane Studio digi set called Vera's Owls.These coins are 2.5 inches in diameter and were punched from Gel printed scraps left over from other projects. ATCoins are quick and fun to create and a great use for those scraps too good to throw out.

The owls were coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. Extra patterning and dots were done with black Pitt Pens and White Posca pens. The owls were fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black, and trimmed out again. Foam tape was attached to the back of each to pop them up.

The backgrounds had mostly colour from acrylic paints on them so stamping, stencilling, and white Texture Paste were added to each to create more interest.

A doodled border was added to each coin with a black pen. Garden Patina Archival ink and then black Big Brush Pen were added to the edges of the background. The coins were adhered to recyled circles of chipboard and then a black circle slightly bigger than the 2.5 inches was adhered to the back to serve as a frame and to hide the unattractive recycled packaging.

Thanks for popping by today. We OWL appreciate that (groan!) ...I just had to do that :) Be sure to stop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop and Facebook group for more inspiration and a few must haves.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure - Week 20 - Blue

Hi everyone. It's Week 20 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and since yesterday was National Blueberry Cheesecake Day, our prompt today asks us to use the colour blue, or feature blueberries or a dessert. I decided to use as many shades of blue as I could and still come up with a page I liked. I also decided to use a paper weaving technique for my background from a YouTube Tutorial by the talented Paula Foerder. I love her videos and always come away inspired and having learned something new.

I have an abundance (!!) of designer paper which I want to start using up so I decided to use two relatively plain pages in two different shades of blue. One became the background which I sliced into wiggly lines and the other I cut into different width strips for weaving. I won't go into the details of this because Paula's video is very clear and explains the steps well. Once the weaving was finished and the ends glued in place, I spattered the page with white gesso and used a white paint pen to doodle faux stitching around the edges. I didn't want to do much because I wanted the weaving to show.

The image, called So Long Yesterday by Ching-Chou Kuik, is the most challenging digital stamp I have coloured in ages. It took a while and some thought but I enjoyed the process. She was coloured with Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils. The butterflies were decorated with paint pen and Nuvo Drops and given a swipe of Wink of Stella to create shimmer magic. 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 off the background.

The wording was printed on white cardstock, matted with black, and popped up with foam tape. To break up the darker background and add more texture, pieces of drywall mesh were adhered in 5 places using Matte Medium.

Puffy blue triangle stickers were added to opposite corners and above/below the word "seeds" to pull a little of the turquoise from the butterflies into the background. They also add pops of bright colour to contrast with the darker blues. The page was darkened around the edges before it was adhered to the black background common to all pages in this journal.

Thanks for joining us today. We appreciate that. To check out the other responses of the members of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group, be sure to pop round there throughout the week. We would love it if you decided to play along with us.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Overthink ~ inspired by Vera Lane Studio images

Hi everyone! I came across an altered version of a very familiar song that made me laugh out loud, mostly because I could see myself in it. I, like many people, am notorious for overthinking something, although strangely enough not when it comes to my art where I am intuitive and rarely think about what I am doing or where the piece is going. I decided that the digi set by Vera Lane Studio called Raven and Pixie was the ideal set to illustrate this message. Look at their faces...Yikes moments, for sure.

I coloured Raven and Pixie with a mix of Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils, using a black Pitt pen to go over the black lines that the coloured pencils dull. They were both fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black, and fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border. The double border helps them stand out next to the busy background and has become one of my signature details.

The background already had a little colour from a previous page where it transferred while I was working on it. I went with the same two colours of Distress Oxide but used the ink pads instead of the sprays. Fossilized Amber and Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide Inks were smushed one at a time onto a 3x3 inch gel plate, spritzed with water, and dabbed onto both pages of the spread. Drying with a heat tool was done between colours and between layers. Once the saturation and patterning were what I was looking for, I applied Magenta Hue Archival Ink in several places with one of the Carabelle Studio Grungy Pattern stamps by Kate Crane. Jet Black Archival was sponged through Alexandra Renke Grid of Crosses stencil and was also used to apply the lines from Indigo Blu Tasty Textures stamp. Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through TCW Mini Netting stencil to add dimension.

The song lyrics were printed onto white cardstock, cut into a rectangle, and matted with black. The word on Raven's page was done with a Lawn Fawn alphabet stamp and Jet Black Archival. It was outlined with black pen and lightened on the inside with white acrylic paint. Pink coloured pencil was used to shade around it on the outside to help it stand out. Piano washi tape was mounted on white cardstock, trimmed out, and used to ground Raven and Pixie as well as accent the song lyrics. Two black triangles were added to opposite corners and white dots were added to tie in with the piano keys. A simple doodled border was added around the outside of the two page spread which was also edged with black Big Brush Pen.

Thanks for joining Raven, Pixie, and me today. We appreciate that! To see all of Janet's fabulous images, check out the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop. Be sure to also pop by the VLS Facebook group, too, because there is new inspiration and projects featured daily. I hope that song isn't stuck in your head, and if it is, it at least makes you smile :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal \adventure ~ Week 19 ~ Celebrating the Invention of the Camera

Hi everyone! It's Week 19 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure. May is National Photograph month where we celebrate the invention of the camera and those wonderful photos which can instantly take us back to a moment in time. I went with a collaged page this time because I wanted to include this fabulous photo of my mom and dad taken when they were in their late teens...just before Dad went overseas with the Air Force for WWII.

When working on this page, I noticed something I hadn't before even though I have seen this photo many times...there's a camera in Dad's right hand which I thought made this photo especially apropos for this week's prompt.

I used a piece of  Stamperia scrapbooking paper from the Clockwise pad as my background. I was able to find a vintage ad for a Kodak camera online which I sized and darkened the edges of with Coffee Archival Ink. Two word embellies from another scrapbook page, Memories and Smile, were fussy cut, matted with black, and added to the collage.

I had a digital stamp of a camera in The Traveler set from Vera Lane Studio so I coloured it with Prismacolor pencils and added Red Stickles for the shiny lights. It was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black, and fussy cut leaving a narrow black border before being popped up on foam tape. A small amber coloured see-through sticker which I have had FOREVER was added to the background above the camera. Because it's domed, the wording appears slightly distorted which I love and the amber colour says aged to me.

I found a fabulous saying about photos which I printed onto white cardstock and die cut into tickets. These were edged and grunged up with Coffee Archival Ink and overlapped near the top left of the photo. The outside edges of the background were inked with Coffee Archival and then black Big Brush Pen before it was matted with the black page for my journal. Outlining and a simple black border were added with black pen to finish the page.

Thanks for joining the three of us today. It made me very happy to include this photo in my art journal and to share it with you as well. I'm excited to see how others in our Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group respond to this camera/photograph prompt. We would love it if you joined us :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie