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