52 pages 2011

Page 26. Alliance


Definition= a group of people who have come together because of shared interests or aims.

Who do you share your interests with, how did you find them? Do you consider them just acquaintances or have they become friends? How important is this alliance…or do you go into battle alone? Do you feel stronger with them by your side, could you achieve your goals without them?

52 pages 2011

page 25. Illusion.

This was giving me problems, I had absolutely no ideas for this page, none at all. Usually I have at least something, a quote in mind, or a technique for the background or an image.But nothing for this page.

On Thursday I was having a rough day,worried about someone who was going through hell,and feeling powerless to help. On edge I lit up a yankee candle at the side of my desk, throwing the dead match onto my cuttting mat.

While waiting for news I reached for my stack of precut pages. I stared at the page and the blank page stared back at me. Idly I reached for the dead match and scribbled the charcoal onto the page, smooshing it around with my fingers. I felt miserable and the page felt miserable, to me it looked like a black hole. I didn't see how this page could be anything or how it could relate to this weeks word.

I don't know much about black holes, can't say that I fancy being sucked into one to find out...so I googled..as you do. The images I  saw were beautiful, not at all like my black sooty page.So I grabbed the colours I saw on screen and started to add them.

Suddenly the page had life. I added some white acrylic.

The images on screen sparkled and shone....only way to go was to add glitter right?..So i got out the stickles, choosing 6 colours. I swirled them around.

Suddenly the word 'Illusion' seemed fitting, this pages started as one thing and turned into something else.
I wanted my title to be not quite what it seemed either. I wanted it to look like I had written it, but not...that leaves printing right?..but on printer paper you would see the edges...so I printed onto tissue paper..

At least I did after 4 attempts.It's always a bit of trial and error doing this,but effective when it works.

I tore out the words and played with placement.

Then I glued them down...and voila! the tissue disappears leaving just the words.....like an illusion.

On the back I used a mixture of Stewert Gill paints and Shimmerz paints, topped with some silver leafing.

Finally adding my journalling, which is a quote. Again I printed onto tissue paper.

The photo isn't too clear, this is the quote...

“It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts... For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.” ...Patrick Henry

I still wasn't clear how this page works, or how it had become, then I heard that 2 little girls had brightened up my friends day.

Two glittering swirls out of an otherwise black hole of a day.

Sometimes it only takes the arms of a child to make things not quite so bad as you thought they were.

At last I can show you the PIF I made for woyww 104. I started by cutting up these leather samples that I had. Making a back,front,spine and flap...

Then using double thread I stitched the pieces together...first I marked where all the holes would need to be, and then using a pokey tool I made all the holes...It was a heck of a lot of measuring, marking,poking and finally stitching...

but it was so worth it, I think the stitching turned out great...

Next I glued matching cardstock to the inside to add a little strength..

Then I cut up lots of heavy cartridge paper, approx 130gsm...I wanted it to be heavy enough to take paint if need be. I fold some in half, some into 3, cut angled flaps on some going in different directions, just to make it interesting. Then i began stitching them to the leather spine. Again i measured,marked and poked holes first.

I added an eyelet and leather thong to the front leather flap. Adding beads to the ends.

As you can see the tie wraps completely around the journal 3 times..

Here you can see how full the book is with pages..

and how some of them fold out..

As this PIF was part of the woyww anniversary, I had to add the acronym 'WOYWW' somewhere on the project for it to qualify..So on the first page I drew out a design, and included the letters.

Then I filled all the spaces in using zentangling..

This was all then sent off to TERTIA , a lovely lady living in South Africa. I cannot tell you how many times I checked the tracking number online to see if it had arrived lol Today it finally did and i have had a lovely email from Tertia thanking me...makes it all worthwhile.

52 pages 2011

Page 25. Illusion


Definition = something that is not really what it seems to be.

Are you true to yourself and others, do you hide behind the illusion. What façade do you create for yourself? Are you able to see beyond the illusion that others create?

52 pages 2011

page 24.. Voyage.

The word voyage immediately makes me think of ships and travelling the seas.Which in turn makes me thinkof my favourite romantic qute of all time, from the film Bram Stoker's Dracula.

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you"

I just love it, makes me go a bit weak at the knees. So I knew I wanted to use this quote, but I wanted the page to be about that journey for true love...rather than being about vampires.

I coloured the front and back with blue acrylics..

I also find Celtic history romantic, the knots are never ending, and are often used in wedding bands. So I added some Celtic stencilling, again to both back and front.

Next I added some vintage images of a watch and a poster for a watchmaker to the front. I also added some black hearts, they were more of a reference to the vampire.

On the back I added another huge watch face.

Then I added my title to the front and journalling to the back. i printed it out, stuck it on and coloured it red...big mistake. by the time I had finished waffing about with it, drying it, taking photos...I hated it. So at 4am this morning i was carefully peeling all the text back off.

So now it has been redone, and I am happier with it.

The front..

and the back.....going back to the vampire quote, I wanted my personal journalling to be in the same style. So even though I had had half a bottle of wine I set about writing how it would be to search for a true love....not sure whether the wine helped or not, the thesaurus proved to be a lifesaver.


"The voyage has been long and not without heartache. I have battled against the winds of time, facing each change of course with steadfastness.


Through the darkest of days and the loneliest of nights I have searched. I have felt the compass of my heart strain with the effort; followed the path of stars left in the wake of your smile.

To find you. To gaze upon that which binds me to this journey. Knowing with utmost certainty that one glance from you, one accidental brush of your skin against mine, one sweet kiss…and I will be lost.

Lost for all time. It is this fate I rush headlong towards, willingly. Proffering my heart before me, bound in the recognition that it is already yours."

strength of a tiger...

that's what we women have...

I started by writing a message to myself , about staying strong, being focused, living to fight another day... i then gessoed over this.

I then coloured this with neocolours.

To this I added lots of background stamping,layers of white acrylic, more stamping,more paint etc

I then added some print outs of acanthus leaves... and some leaf stencilling.

I coloured the print outs with necolour washes...

Then I drew my tiger girl, easier said than done. She almost went in the bin several times. Once happy with the position I glued her into the journal.

then i painted her, adding hair that flowed into the page...

Finally I printed out 3 verses of a poem by Kavita Ganness and added the to the right hand side, blending in the edges with more neocolours and paint.

the poem...

A couple of things..

You remember the post I made about the raffle to help Daisy dog with her operation....well she is doing just fine, this is the bag I made as one of the raffle prizes.

I hope whoever wins it, likes it.

Some friends and I recently had a sewing day together. I gathered all my leftover scraps of fabric, that were really too small do do anything much with..and I set about making this bag.

You can make one too. The destructions are on this blog....

I have had them printed out for absolutely ages, so I was pleased to finally get around to making it. i made mine slightly bigger, it measures 15.5inches tall by 12 inches wide, and each handle is 21 inches long.

Oh and I also added a simple rectangular pocket inside mine too.

Since making it I have had 3 people ask where they could buy it from. I love it when people do that lol

This week I felt the urge to make a mermaid page in my journal...so I did.

It is mostly neocolours and white acrylic, but there is also a lot of stamping with navy stazon. 3-4 layers of stamping with colours over the top, they really don't show well on camera, especially in the sea area.

close up of the sea..

close up of texture...

52 pages 2011

Page 24. Voyage.

Definition = a long journey, especially by ship.

Describe your journey, have you travelled a long and winding road…or several roads to reach this point? How does your voyage continue? What have you experienced, how have these experiences shaped you?

52 pages 2011

week 23 Pattern.

I coloured the page with letraset promarker Aquamarkers, I scribbled on the page and then blended the colours using a wet brush.  to this I added some fine glitter, and then painted over the whole lot with matte medium to seal it.  I did the same back and front.

On the back I then drew a zentangle.

I then took some images from a book of Art Forms in Nature, I ripped them up and glued some pieces over the zentangle patterns.

Over this I added my journalling..

On the front, I tore another, larger nature image and glued it on...framed with a doodled border.

Over this I added my title..

couple of birthday cards...

for twins, so almost the same but different, just like them.

I started by colouring 2 pieces of cartridge paper approx 130gsm, using neocolours,water and a little white acrylic. I then added some torn pieces from a decorative, lightweight paper bag.

Next i took some wall filler, and squidged it thru a number 2 stencil...

Once dry, I coloured each number with a little acrylic paint.

Next I added some stamped images, of bubbles and hearts. I rolled white acrylic over them, and then added some more stamping. I had some stampotique images already on white paper, so I cut them out and glued them to the pages, blending more neocolours around them. I deliberately left the stampotique images black and white, and just added a coloured hat to each.

I stamped the birthday greetings onto white paper,cut out and glued on. then coloured with neocolours and outlined with graphite and white acrylic.I doodled with a black pen around the edges then  I added some art institute glitter to the numbers and a little around the edges, before sticking the pages onto square blank cards.

..by this point me, my clothes,my arms,my face and the whole desk are covered in ultra fine glitter...

Finished cards...