Revisitation! Jennibellie Challenge

Over on the Jennibellie Ning site there is a monthly journal challenge. This month the theme is revisitation, where we are meant to go back to an old journal page that we don't like and rework it. 

So here is my contribution. 

This was the original page, I was stuck as to how to do it in the first place, and ended up rushing it. I was ok with the right side but really disliked the left side. 

I ripped off the silhouette of the fairy, and was left with this. 

I knocked back the leaves with some brown and green paint, just applied lightly with a fingertip. I then whited out this shape of a head using gesso. 

I used neocolor II crayons and Aquamarkers to fill in the face and wings. Finishing it off with white dots using a Posca pen. 

I also added white highlights to the other side. 

So here is the new finished page. it was difficult to take a good photo just because her face is created over collage and so the page is a bit bumpy. 

Darcy x

Sweet lil gift box [with Eclectica³ Lin Brown Stamps and dies}

This month for Letraset I have made a sweet gift box, perfect for the end of summer term gifts, why don't you make some of these for your children's teachers. 

I started by scribbling with Aquamarkers onto a non porous surface and spritzing this with water. 

I then used a brayer to pick up the ink and transfer it to a sheet of card. 

Next I scribbled with contrasting colours, this time I used the ink to coat text stamps.. ELB05 and ELB06

I stamped all over the previously coloured sheets. 

Once dry, I die cut these sheets to make some flowers,leaves and birds. 

I layered up the flower shapes, and curled back the petals. 

As I had cut the leaves and birds both ways, I was able to glue them back to back, making the colour on both sides. 

I then made a small box using more card that had been coloured in the same way as step 1. 

I tied up the box with a scrap of lace, and used more of the lace (trapped between the 2 layers of the bird) to attach the bird so that it dangles free.

Finally I glued on the leaves and one of the layered flowers. 

This box measures 7cm x7cm x4cm, (made using the WRMK envelope board) perfect for a small treat. 

After looking at it for a while, I decided it looked a little flat, so I added just a touch of metallic glaze around the leaves and on the edges of the petals. 

I have a pack of summery Aquamarkers to giveaway. 

Please do TWO things for me. 

1.Go to the Letraset blog and leave a comment for me there.

2. Come back here and add your name to the linky here.

(ps. the Letraset may be down for a couple of days for maintenance,(sunday and monday) so if you can't get in straight away then do come back, we are updating the site)

Tag Card

This month for my Letraset post I have  made an oversized tag card. I cut a double width tag, and punched holes in the top, adding hole reinforcers. I then scribbled onto my non porous paint palette with Aquamarkers. I spritzed the ink with a little water and then started to colour the tags. You can see I used several shades of blue. 

I added each colour, staritng with the palest in the middle, and added them in a circular motion. To finish I dabbed on some of the darker blue at the edges with a paper towel. 

Next I added several greens to the bottom, again scribbled ink onto a non porous surface, spritzing with water and picking up with a brush to transfer to the card. 

I then added some thin lines of darker green using a fan brush, and just quickly flicking the brush upwards from the base of the card.

Next I masked off half a rubber stamp, EM08 then scribbled directly over the stamp with a black aquamarker. I then stamped this on the lower edge of what will be the front of the card. 

I continued to use my stamps as focal images,firstly adding the tree from EDY06  colouring  in with the Aquamarkers.

I also stamped and coloured in the lollipop flower heads, remember the book covers I made in this post ? well I had some small pieces left over. I stamped over the previously made backgrounds, and cut them out. 

I continued to add stamped images, and then edged the tags with some watery brown aquamarker, again spritzed and picked up with a brush. 

Inside, I first coloured both halves with watery blues, then i added a darker blue through a great stencil, before adding a matted journalling space for a greeting. I doodled around the edge with a fineliner. 

To finish the tags I dipped some sheer ribbons into some watery blue Aquamarker and left them to dry. 

Here is the outside all finished, I also used one of my little house stamps, EM07

and the spotty inside.. 

and one more of the outside, you can see how the images wrap around both the back and front. 

I have a set of Aquamarkers to give away. 

If you would like to enter them please do TWO things for me. 

1. Add your name to the linky here

2. Go to the Letraset blog and leave a comment ( ON THIS POST)

Only names that appear in both places will be entered. 

Be my Valentine

Here is my January post for Letraset, just in time for those needing a romantic card. 

I started with a printout of this cute bunny image, drawn by Jay. 

I printed it out onto watercolour paper and then used Aquamarkers and a fineliner to colour it in. I find the best way to use Aquamarkers is to scribble onto a non porous sheet, spritz that with water and then pick up the ink with a brush. 

I built up washes of colour this way, dabbing the ink on rather than using smooth strokes. I wanted the bunnies to look like worn toys from a child's playroom. Who says the toys can't come to life and fall in love?

Once the bunnies were done, I used the wide nib to dab on colour for the background flowers. Using the nib direct to paper makes for a vibrant colour, so i gently spritzed the flowers with water to soften them. I then used a fineliner to write the sentiment onto deli paper. 

Would you like to win some Aquamarkers? i have this set of 6 colours to give away. 

To win you must do TWO things,

 first add your name to the linky below,

 then go to the Letraset blog and leave a comment on my post over there. (THIS LINK)

Only names that appear in both places will be entered. 

I will announce the winner on Mon 3rd Feb

Patchwork Diary

So this is not a new technique, I have shown it a couple of times before, using the pieces to make book covers and to cover boxes for storage, but as I am always asked how I made them i shall show you the latest bookcovers using this technique. 

Previously I had used acrylic paint to colour my patchwork pieces, but this time I used my Letraset markers. 

To start with I scribbled on a craft mat with Aquamarkers, I spritzed this with water. 

then I ripped up some pieces of cheap cartridge paper, and dragged them through the ink. 

next, and still using the Aquamarkers, I scribbled onto some stamps and then stamped the edges of all the pieces. I used complementary colours, so that the edge stamping becomes part of the background. 

To create the focal decoration on the pieces I used the Sara Naumann journal stamps from paperArtsy, I switched to the Limited Edition Promarkers and chose colours that would stand out against the background. So on the green background I used a red and on the purple I used a yellow and so on. 

Now to assemble all the pieces. I took another piece of cheap cartridge paper and cut it to size, measuring it around the diary. It needs to be slightly bigger in height than the diary and long enough to go around the front and back covers, and also enough to fold over inside. 

once the backing paper is cut to size you can start to add the patchwork pieces, I always dab a little glue stick on the back of each one. You don't need to glue the whole piece, just a dab in the middle to hold it in place while you sew. Make sure to slightly overlap each of the pieces. 

thread up your machine with a nice coloured thread and set it to zig zag. Now stitched over all the raw edges to hold them down. 

To finish it off and to cover all the backing threads, glue a piece of thin paper onto the inside of the cover. I used black wrapping paper. 

As soon as this is dry, you can stitch all around the outside edge, again with zigzag, then fold in the 2 short ends and stitch those into place, creating 2 end pockets. Now you can slip the front and back covers of the diary into the cover. 

I finished mine off with a little artwork on the front cover, again using the limited edition promarkers. 

I loved it so much I ended up making 3 of them, I will show you them all in another blog post on Weds. 

in the meantime how would you like to win some of the Aquamarkers. 

To win I need you to do TWO things for me, please do BOTH otherwise I cannot enter you. 

1. go to my post on the Letraset blog and leave a comment there.  LETRASET BLOG LINK

2. come back here and add your name to the link up tool.            

I will announce the winner on Monday 6th January.