Halloween ATC Trio ~ inspired by Vera Lane Studio collage sheets

Hi everyone! Have you seen the new Halloween Collage Sheets newly released by Vera Lane Studio? Oh my word, they are fabulous...to the point where I want to create something with every one of the images on the two sheets. I'm not a scary Halloween lover but I do love cute Halloween and these are exactly that. With the mix of sizes and colourways, as well as the adorable images which play well together, there is inspiration galore.

I covered the atc bases with Halloween themed pattern paper, adding a border made of either washi tape or a strip of patterned paper across the bottom of each. It's a quick and easy formula which works well.

The images were fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and then matted with black cardstock. I like to add my own touches to collage sheet images, although these certainly don't need it. You can see where I added some coloured pencil, gems for eyes, or Wink of Stella to make those teeth sparkle. Foam tape was used to adhere the images to the background, adding dimension.

The sayings were cut from a downloaded sheet from Lisa's Altered Art which has been in my stash forever. They were matted with black and popped up on foam tape, as well.Extra embellies like the cheesecloth, drywall mesh, and spiders were added to complete each story. To finish them off, a border was doodled around the two lighter coloured ones, and black Big Brush Pen was inked around the outside edges. How fun are these three!

Thanks for stopping by today to visit with the ghouls and me! If you are looking for quick and easy but highly effective images for a project, the collage sheets at Vera Lane Studio are definitely the way to go but don't forget about all of the other fabulous images waiting for you to colour them up, as well. There's something for every occasion!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

That's on You! ~ an art journal page inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! I am so close to being finished my art journal filled with Vera Lane Studio images only. Today I created an art journal page on the second last page of this very chunky journal (page 47) filled with images I adore. For this page, I chose one of the Heads and Borders images, which while not in the shop at the moment, is available upon request from Janet. She had just the look I wanted to suit my quote.

I coloured Pinhead (I didn't make that up...LOL) with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, keeping things vibrant and very colourful because she is a bit wacky which I love. She was fussy cut leaving the narrow white border I favour, and then matted with black. Red epoxy dots were added for earrings to match her lovely top.

I wanted a fairly chaotic background so I picked up Lindy's Rudolph's Red Nose and Yellow Rose of Texas Starburst sprays using pipettes and added drops here and there on the watercolour paper background. Then I used TH spritzer tool to spray air onto the plops of ink to create yummy drips and runs. I love this tool because it can create really tiny runs or larger ones depending upon how you hold it. Once that was dry, black Fireworks spray ink was dropped in three places and treated the same way. Once all the drips, splats, and runs were dry, Deep Purple Archival ink was sponged through a Bad Ass Mini stencil (1205).

The saying was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. A simple border was doodled around the page using a purple Sparklepop gel pen and a smaller red dot was added to a punched photo corner to finish the design.

Thanks for joining Pinhead and me today. That was awesome of you! To see more Vera Lane Studio projects by the rest of the talented DT and our equally creative and talented community, be sure to stop by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group. Check out the amazing images both in digital stamp and collage sheet form in the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop, too.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 36 - Spirals

Hi everyone! It's that time again! Time for another prompt for Joggles Art Journal Adventure. It's Week 36 and this week, the prompt is to include spirals of some sort in your project. When I think of spirals, my thoughts go first to Alice in Wonderland and her fall down the rabbit hole so that's where I decided to venture. I never miss an opportunity to do something Wonderlandish :)

I traced off-center circles getting progressively smaller and then lined and coloured them in with black Pitt pens. That was a long process and one where I had to forego perfectionism very quickly or go as mad as the Hatter. Instead of a four sided border, I added checkered washi tape to the top and bottom of the page, heavier on the bottom because I wanted it visually weightier.

I dove into my box of charms, buttons, and other ephemera to come up with some things significant to the story to swirl around the spiral. I had some mini playing cards, a clock, teapot, and teacup charm, a miniature doorknob set and key, and another clock button, all of which were glued, and in the case of the charms, also attached with a brad to the background.

Little Alice is a digital image from Paperbabe Stamps called MayLeeDee in Wonderland. I coloured her with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut her leaving a narrow white border, and matted her with black cardstock. She was popped up with foam tape as were the two Jack cards to add dimension and natural shadow.

The sentiment, cut from a collage sheet, was matted with black and popped up on foam tape as well. The page was finished by darkening the edges with black Big Brush Pen and adhering it to the black  background common to all the pages in my Joggles AJA journal.

Thanks for joining Alice and me today. We appreciate that. If you are interested in seeing what others in our AJA community do with the Spirals prompt, pop over to the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group. We would love to see you there,

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Got Boo ATCs ~ inspired by Vera Lane Studio images

Hi everyone! I have a super quick post today. When I saw the adorable Got Boo images set by Vera Lane Studio, I couldn't wait to play with them. I decided to make two artist trading coins featuring one of the girls and one of the sayings on each. I love them! The girls were coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, and then matting with a narrow black border. I went with my favourite Halloween colour palette for both, but changed it up so they look slightly different.

I kept the backgrounds really simple, relying on patterned paper both for the background and for the borders at the bottom of each atc to ground the images. The sentiments which come with the set were cut apart and matted with black cardstock. The saying with the pumpkin faces was layered onto a scrap of cheesecloth...just because :)To finish the atcs, the outsides were inked with black Big Brush Pen and a border was added to each with a black pen. Epoxy stickers were added to both atcs to complete the designs. Easy peasy designs but so fun to do!

Thanks for stopping by today. The girls, their little friends, and I are delighted you did. If you get a chance, pop by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group and check out Stephanie's September postcard swap. It will send you directly to the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop to find the perfect image to describe you:)

The Bird Family Artist Trading Coins ~ Inspired by a Vera Lane Studio collage sheet

Hi everyone! I am a huge fan of the Vera Lane Studio collage sheets because they give me an awesome head start when creating. The images are beautifully pre-coloured and come in a wonderful variety of sizes so there is great choice for all kinds of projects. The collage sheet I used today is called For The Birds and actually comes with two pages so that there are larger images for cards and art journal pages. All you have to do is fussy cut! I also added a hat to each one because the birds requested them. The party hat comes from the Boutique Hats set, the derby from Quirky Men, and the lampshade from the Housewives set.

I always have scraps left over from other projects and usually have a stack of potential backgrounds cut for both artist trading cards and coins. I also have chipboard backings cut from recycled packaging to adhere to the coin or card fronts to strengthen them. Combined with the collage sheets, it makes for a quick project.

I added a little stamping with Distress Oxide inks and a VLV grid stamp in colours close to the backgrounds. Then I added some tiny numbers with another VLV stamp and Jet Black Archival.

To finish the coins, the outside edges were edged with the same Distress Oxide Inks used for the stamping, and a border was added to each with a black pen. Black Big Brush Pen was used to darken the edges of the circles and Glossy Accents was added to the birds eyes to add shine and dimension.

Thanks for joining us today. We appreciate that. Be sure to check out the other amazing collage sheets as well as the huge selection of images to colour in the Vera Lane Studio shop. There is a wealth of inspiration there!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Goodnight Moon ~ inspired by a Vera Lane Studio digi set

Hi everyone! Yesterday a brand new digi set called Goodnight Moon was released in the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop and I am smitten. It reminds me of sweet dreams, parents reading bedtime stories to little ones, and lots of love. The set consists of four images and a sweet saying. I chose to feature Sleepy Moon Girl with Flowers to star in my art journal page.

I printed the image onto white cardstock which had been spritzed with Lindy's Yellow Rose of Texas and Marigold Yellow Orange Starburst Sprays before printing. It was shaded and the flowers coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils and the fussy cut along the outside black lines of the moon only. The image was printed a second time onto white cardstock so that Sleepy Moon Girl could be coloured using the same pencil brands. This image was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and the yellow moon was then adhered on top of the white one from the second image. The finished image was then adhered to black cardstock and fussy cut leaving a narrow black border to help it stand out from the background.

I wanted a cloud behind the moon image so one from the Helga's Hedgehog set was printed, coloured with pencils, and fussy cut the same as the main image so it could be tucked behind when I was gluing things in place.

The background, a 6x6 watercolour page, was spritzed with Afternoon Delight Denim Starburst Spray to create a shimmery night sky. To break up the blue, Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through TCW Tiny Circles stencil. White Posca paint pen was used to brighten the dots which had absorbed some of the blue water based spray. The wording was printed onto white cardstock and the openings in the letters were coloured with yellow pencil. The words were then matted with black cardstock. A doodled border was added to frame and finish the page.

Thanks so much for joining Sleepy Moon Girl and me today. To see more amazing projects created by my talented VLS DT teamies, be sure to pop over to the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group throughout the week. Check out the Goodnight Moon digi set along with the plethora of fabulous other sets in the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop. Both are some of my fave places to hang out!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 35 ~ Labour/Work

Hi everyone! Happy Labour Day! It's Week 35 of the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and the theme for this week is something labour-related like a labour of love, something work related or whatever else this brings to mind. I chose to illustrate a quote by Thomas A. Edison using a digi stamp by Lili of the Valley. I love this little guy and he reminds me of how much work we have put into our house to make it a place where we both love to be. Every drop of sweat and sore muscle was worth it.

I coloured A Lick of Paint with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils and fussy cut him leaving a narrow white border. He was then matted with black cardstock and fussy cut a second time leaving a narrow black border. Foam tape was used on the back to add dimension.

The 6x8 inch mixed media paper background was colourized by adding Antique Linen Distress Oxide with a foam blender. The same ink was used to add a text stamp from Hot Off the Press and a texture stamp of solid circles from Indigo Blu. Lindy's Rudolph Nose Red Starburst Spray was spritzed onto the craft sheet along with a little water and then added to the top edge and encouraged to drip down the page. Coffee Archival Ink was used to add pattern through the diamonds of the Stamperia Steampunk Man stencil as well as adding ink to the edges. Black pen was used to trace some of the circles from Carabelle Studio Toujours des Ronds stencil because I wanted a touch of black but also wanted to keep it light and barely there.

The quote was printed onto white cardstock which was then darkened with Antique Linen Distress Oxide Ink to remove the starkness of the white card. It was matted with black, faux stitched around the edges, and popped up on foam tape. A simple border was doodled around the outside of the page and black punched photo corners were added to the opposite corners to balance the page. Black Big Brush Pen was used to ink the page edges before it was adhered to the black background common to all the pages in this journal.

Thanks for joining this little guy and me today. He's so dedicated, he's not even taking a break to turn around so I've said it for both of us. I can't wait to see what others in the Joggles AJA Facebook group do in response to this prompt. We all go in different and interesting directions which makes it all the more fun!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie