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

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