Sweet Little Sucker by Michelle Henderson

Hi all you crafty people!

My latest layout started out as a grid pattern, but I just couldn't bear to cover too much of the background 😁

Here's a wee taste...just look at that sparkle!

I used Colour Artist Inks to tint some Heavy White Gesso, starting with Oasis. I brayered a section with this, applying it quite heavily as I wanted to create some texture with it.

I added some Colour Shimmer Dust in Peacock, and mixed it a little, but not fully so there would be some striations. 

For the pink parts of the grid, I used Slipper Colour Artist Ink and Lollipop Colour Shimmer Dust. 

After that, I used plain Heavy White Gesso through a stencil for added texture.

As a final touch for the background, I splattered a little of the clear Colour Shimmer Marker ❤

I put everything together using some Cocoa Vanilla that was on my desk. I so love this photo of my great niece!

Thanks for visiting!

My Girl by Suzy Loudon

Bright is not normally my thing. I'm not sure what got into me. Think it must be this never ending summer & heat. But none the less I am quite happy with it.

For this layout I used watercolour card. I cut up small squares of bubble wrap I had laying around. Dabbing each square straight into my artist inks I transferred the colour onto my card. The Artist Inks I used were Sunburnt, Cider, Citrus, Grass, Calypso & Berry. Berry wasn't a dark enough purple that I was after so I overlapped/mixed it with Calypso.

Once dry I randomly stamped using the Colour Blast Stardust Butterflies & Live Your Dreams sets.

By this stage it was getting late & I was lazy so I just dipped my white flowers into my Artist Ink bottles. I left them to drip dry overnight. I mixed Cobalt & Berry to make the darker purple & painted 2 flowers.

As I had a feeling they would be, the dipped flowers were very dark. So With Calypso, Grass & Sunburnt I sprayed a little water on my craft mat before adding the Ink. Then using a paintbrush to transfer the ink.

I kept it pretty simple when putting my layout together.

Here's some close-ups.

Thanks for looking.

xxxx Suzy

"Too Glam" art journal spread by Sue Plumb

Hi everyone!

Sue Plumb here with my latest design team project with you. Today I am sharing a colourful art journal spread I created in my altered book journal using Colour Artist Inks, Colour Pastes and a Colour Shimmer Brush Marker. 

Here's a look at the entire spread...

And now for my process...

I began by priming my page using White Heavy Gesso. I used an old gift card to spread it to ensure a thin, even coat. I didn't want it too thick, as I still wanted some of the text to be visible.

Next, I began adding colour to my pages using Colour Artist Inks. I chose Berry, Bordeaux, and Slipper as my colour palette - all shades of pink / purple. I used a small, round brush to apply the ink, starting with Berry around the outer edge, then moving to the lighter Bordeaux inside it.

I then dried the two colours off with a heat gun before going in with the Slipper ink to add some extra colour along the very outer edge and in a few spots over the top of the Berry ink. 

Once all the inks were dry, it was time to add some features and dimension to my page. I used the 'Dream of Palms' stencil from StencilGirl; which I paired with Deep Water Colour Paste. I applied a thin layer of paste through the stencil in the top right corner of my page, before flipping the stencil over and applying more paste on the left side. 

I then moved onto adding the focal point for my page. I cut out a flamingo from a printed paper napkin and adhered it onto the page using a gel matte medium. I also tore up some other pieces featuring flowers and leaves and collaged them onto the page as well. The quote was cut from a card from Flutterby Designs, and I thought it was a perfect sentiment to use for a flamingo! 

To add a little extra texture and colour I then swiped some Lovely Lilac Colour Paste over a few random areas of my page with a narrow palette knife.

Next, I wanted to add some contrast and a little extra sparkle, so I used a Gold Colour Shimmer Brush Marker to add some highlights through the branches of the palm trees and on top of some of the collaged pieces. Sometimes it's hard to capture just how gorgeous the sparkle is in photos (especially when you are taking shots and the sun won't come out to help you!)

I decided my focal image needed a little something extra to help it pop and stand out from the page, so I used my Stabilo All pencil to add some shadowing to the outline. Once I had drawn it in, I blended it out with a water brush.

To finish off my page I decided to add some splatter using Cider Colour Artist Ink. I simply dipped a small, stiff bristle brush into the bottle and then tapped the ink off around the page.

You can see how the Cider ink brought extra warmth to the page and helped to tie in the gold from the Colour Shimmer Brush Brush Marker...

Here's a closer look at the finished page, so you can better see the colours and texture...

I love all the layers at play here...

That's all from me today; and as it will be the last time I post here for 2018, I would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and safe new year. Thank you to everyone for your kind words and support for my work throughout the year, it really is very much appreciated.
Until next year, happy creating!

Hey Pumpkin! Layout By Chrissi M

Hello Lovely's!

So I thought, being today is Oct 31st, I'd share a Halloween Layout with you. Now in Aus, Halloween isn't a big thing in a lot of areas, but we are lucky in our estate. Lots of costumes and lots of trick or treating in a safe place. Im lucky, when I noticed the date of my next post, I had just taken this awesome photo of my boys. There was a photo setup at our local shopping center and they couldn't wait to have their picture taken. So this is literally the most RECENT picture I have documented lol.

So I printed my photo, and got out my card stock. I had originally intended to just use white card stock, but I didn't want this layout to be like all my other mixed media layouts. I'm trying to mix up my mixed media lol. So I decided to use black and have the white as a focal point/mat behind my photo- with lots of Colour Blast Artist Inks. The bright Artist inks would pop beautifully off the black.

The colours I'm using are, Barley, Berry, Sunburnt and Soot. Quite halloweeny I think. I'm also starting with a wet page- wet on wet helps it to move freely and bleed together. So I have spritzed my page with water and then added drops my of colours straight to the page. I started with Barley and Sunburnt first.

After adding my colours, I spritzed with more water and than just moved my page around to move the ink. It gives a very free flowing, watercolour type of look. I kept adding more colour untill I was happy with the saturation.

Then it was time to add some of my darker colours. I added Soot Colour Artist Ink to my border- again, making sure I had some water down first so it would bleed and flow, and then to help the Soot blend into the Barley and Sunburnt, I added a few small spots of Berry to act as a transitional colour. Then I used the drooper from the Soot Artist Ink to throw some splatters on the page.

This is where my page took a turn, that at first I was not happy with. You may have heard me say that all art journal pieces go through a "Hot Mess" stage. A stage where it looks like, a hot mess lol. I felt that this layout did the same thing. The more I added, the more  I was unhappy lol. So I walked away and left it for the night, and came back to it this morning. When I came back to it, I was alot happier with it, and it just flowed together. It was a lot rougher, and 'Hot Messy' than I originally was going for, but than I realised it was a Halloween layout, and I could totally work with Hot Mess.

I wanted to add some texture to my background, so I got out my Colour Blast Colour Paste in Dusty Charcoal and one of the fabulous Colour Blast Stencils. This one came in my August Colour Blast Kit Club Kit. This is the A4 size 'That Way' Stencil designed by the lovely Michelle Grant exclusively for Colour Blast, and is available in the Colour Blast Store.

I'm using the Dusty Charcoal Colour Paste to add some stars to my background. I like that it is a subtle pop of texture, as you can see on the final piece, they aren't overly noticeable in the Charcoal colour. Take note, the colour of these pastes in the tub IS NOT the colour they will dry. I highly recommend swatching these out before using them. The colours are so vibrant and shimmery when dry and you will be surprised by the difference. 

To  finish off my layout, I matted my photo on some pattern paper from a Halloween collection, added cheesecloth behind it to add to the texture and feel of the layout, than added a few bits and pieces around. My background was my main focus for this page, and what I wanted to stand out the most, so my embellishing was pretty minimal. In the end, despite not liking where it was going to begin with, i love how this turned out. I feel like my background really did turn out perfect for this layout.

I hope you enjoyed my layout. Stop by soon for more awesome inspiration from the fab DT.

Chrissi xxx

"Take Me There" Art Journal Spread by Sue Plumb

Hi everyone!

Sue Plumb here to share my latest design team project with you. Today I am sharing a fun spread in my altered book art journal using Colour Artist Inks and Colour Paste. This page was inspired by the image of the hand holding the cocktail glass (those that know me, know how much I love a cocktail!); that I cut from a magazine advertisement. 

To create my page I began by roughly smearing some white heavy gesso across the book pages using an old gift card. I didn't go all the way to the edges of the pages, or worry about complete coverage as I wanted to show some of the original book paper.

I then added some colour to my pages using Oasis Colour Artist Ink, which I brushed on and then used a little extra water to move it around before using my heat gun to dry it off.

Once I had the base ink colour down, I wanted to add some contrast and texture using Fire Engine Colour Paste and a stencil from Flutterby Designs. I applied the paste through the stencil using a palette knife in 3 small areas close to the edges of the page; creating a "visual triangle" around where my focal image and words were going to be placed.

Once I looked at the red paste against the blue ink, I decided that it the contrast was too great, and I needed another colour to bring the two together. The obvious choice was a colour that met somewhere in the middle, so I looked for a shade of purple and chose Berry Colour Artist Ink. Again, I used a brush to apply the ink, dabbing it over and around the areas where the paste was to tie the colours together.

Once I had dried the background off, I added the large focal image that I had fussy cut from a magazine; along with the take me there quote that I had fussy cut from a Flutterby Designs Everyday Etc card; a Flutterby Designs sticker and a line of text from a magazine. I also added the fish and the (upside down) flower to the glass; then used a Stabilo All pencil to outline them all, before blending it with a water brush.

To finish my page I added some white highlights using a paint pen; some stamping using a roller phrase stamp and the Doodle Dots stamp from Viva Las VegaStamps. 

And last but not least, a single sweet little heart sticker.

That's all from me today, thanks for stopping by so I could share this with you. If you are an art journaler (or even if you aren't...yet); I would encourage you to keep an eye out everywhere for items you can use in your journal. (I keep a folder specifically for collecting things of interest that I find.)

Until next time, happy scrapping!