Artist Trading Coin: Let's go for a walk

This piece is another Artist Trading Coin
using a MDF round surface from That's Crafty,
which has a 2½ inch diameter.

The background is made up from scraps of printed paper,
with a single layer of teabag paper.

There is a Tim Holtz Paper Doll
& words cut from Pride & Prejudice.

I added mixed metal flakes from Eberhard Faber
around the edge.

That's Crafty have a monthly challenge blog
& this month the theme is animals.

There is a new theme on the first Wednesday of each month,
so there is still time to enter your own animal themed piece.

What do you think?

A double page spread in my Wanderlust 2018 collage journal,
celebrating my love of the Tate galleries in London.

The first page uses a frame image from Eliza's Collage Collection,
which was part of the Early Bird Wanderlust 2018 course content.

Inside is a comment postcard from Tate,
pencil & word images from Eliza
with some washi tape.

I added gold & silver metallic rub-ons around the frame
& used a Faber-Castell watercolour pencil around the edge of the word
& on the tip of the image of the pencil.

The second page already had the thought bubble,
but I used black acrylic paint to block out the printed text.

Once dried, I added my own printed words inside.

Apart from the miniature collage,
all the other images are from Eliza.

The miniature collage is actually a Moo Business Card,
with a copy of a postcard collage I made over five years ago now.

It is held in place by two black photo corners.

Tate published my collage on their website
& you can see the original article here.

My inspiration was the Kurt Schwitters Exhibition,
held at Tate Britain &
the Roy Lichtenstein Retrospective at Tate Modern,
which I visited on the same day.

A little more washi tape, gold thread
with four more of Eliza's images
completes the spread.

I have been to many exhibitions at Tate Modern,
together with a six week evening course,
various talks
& took part in a project there a few years back.

All hold such precious memories for me.

Is there a gallery that
constantly inspires you?

Artist Trading Coin: Cherish

This piece is another Artist Trading Coin
using a MDF round surface from That's Crafty,
which has a 2½ inch diameter.

The background is made up from scraps of printed paper,
one is a slightly altered image from Shawn Petite &
the other a Bingo card from REDlead.

Over the top I adhered a single layer of a used teabag
(from this afternoon's cuppa).

There is a Tim Holtz Paper Doll
one of his word Doo-Dads
& tissue tape.

The words were cut from Pride & Prejudice.

Take A Moment to Reflect

This piece is an altered DVD.

The old unwanted disc was covered in patterned paper

from Hot Off The Press.

Adhered over the top of the blue paper

is my own printed tissue collage,

created using images from The Graphics Fairy.

The words are from Indigo Skies Paper Pad

by Kaisercraft.

There is a Paper Doll from Tim Holtz,

together with a word Doo-Dad

& Remnant Rubs.

The bees are coated with Glossy Accents.

There are three altered glitter gems

on the Paper Doll

to act as his buttons.

He is gazing out into the garden,

watching the bees buzzing around,

reflecting on his thoughts.

We all need to take a moment to reflect.

Behind every Picture

The new theme on the online Wanderlust course,
with Everything Art is
Art Gallery.

This page in my collage journal
is just a quick page to get me thinking,
so I am sure there will be more pages soon.

Art galleries have played such an important role
in my life in recent years,
with my many visits & courses
documented on my other blog.

Here though I hope that this subject
will inspire me to create my own art,
 albeit simple collage art journal pages.

For my first page, I have used a piece of Tim Holtz
Kraft Resist card to act as the gallery wall.

The frames were images cut from a magazine.

I cut out the original portraits
& replaced them with book text
& Tim Holtz Paper Dolls.

Sold Already

They are hung on my gallery wall
with gold  thread
secured with white brads.

Just some printed text to finish.

Visit Room 33

Artist Trading Coin: Thoughts

Another Artist Trading Coin.

I used a MDF round surface from That's Crafty,
which has a 2½ inch diameter.

The background & butterfly are
slightly altered images from Shawn Petite.

There is a Tim Holtz Paper Doll
one of his word Doo-Dads
a piece of Papermania Vellum
& a couple of red star gems.

A Ramble through Time

Another page in my

Wanderlust 2018 collage journal,

this time inspired by Kasia's lesson.

The basis of the class was how to use inspiration

from a book in an art journal page.

Well, call me predictable,

but of course I had to use

Pride & Prejudice

by

Jane Austen.

This book has been my constant source

of creative inspiration for many years.

It is a story of human endeavour,
demonstrating the consequence
of making assumptions,
as we then follow the characters subsequent journeys
as they break down barriers of mistrust
to find love
& tearing down walls of deceit
to find truth.

Although written over 200 years ago,
the awkwardness of family relationships,
the complications in friendships
& the rush to form those hasty first impressions,
all have something important & relevant
to teach us today.

The base page is watercolour paper,

coloured with splashes of Distress Ink

(mustard seed, peeled paint & broken china).

The another page is one from my Wreck this Journal book,

which I have been using throughout the Wanderlust class this year. 

I used Eco-Crafts Acrylic Paint

(Pistachio & Waterfall)

with white gesso.

I used a rubber stamp from Papermania

over the dried surface

with Ranger Archival Ink

(Jet Black).

This page was then cut into panels

to fit my base page,

then edged with Distress Ink

(black soot).

There is also torn patterned vellum 

(also from Papermania)

some book text

& printed text.

The images of the lovely ladies

are all from The Graphics Fairy.

There is some old lace,

a few die cut hearts

cut from textural handmade paper

& a vellum sentiment from Sarah Lugg.

In all things of nature
there is something of the marvelous.
Aristotle 

Artist Trading Coin: Live Laugh Love

This is an Artist Trading Coin,
which has a 2½ inch diameter.

The background uses scraps of tissue paper,
pieces of printed paper from my off-cuts folder
& white gesso.

There is a Tim Holtz Paper Doll
with some Doo-Dad words.

A little shading with a
Stabilo All Black pencil
& green ribbon.

The base is an MDF round surface
from That's Crafty.

I used a We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile
to punch a hole through the MDF.

It went through it with ease!

Artist Trading Coin: In Search of Hope

This is an Artist Trading Coin,
which has a 2½ inch diameter.

The background uses patterned paper
from Hot Off The Press,
book text cut using a Sizzix die,
found text from the same book
with a Tim Holtz  Doo-Dad.

Just a few glitter gems
to add that touch of bling.

The base is an MDF round surface
from That's Crafty.

Artist Trading Coin: Moments

This is an Artist Trading Coin,
which has a 2½ inch diameter.

The background is made of paper scraps from my desk,
including numbers from a bingo card image from REDlead,
with a Tim Holtz Paper Doll
& one of his word Doo-Dads.

The base is an MDF round surface from That's Crafty.

The Mountains of Life

Another page in my
Wanderlust 2018 collage journal
on the current theme of
Hills & Mountains.

I used an image from a magazine,
washi tape
with printed text
& words cut from
my Pride & Prejudice book.

The quote is

Be still like a mountain
& flow like a great river.

A simple page,
but one which offers food for thought.

Artist Trading Coin: Have Patience - Make Today Count

This is an Artist Trading Coin,
which has a 2½ inch diameter.

The base is an MDF round surface from That's Crafty.

The image of the little girl is from Stephanie Rubiano
& the bingo card is from REDlead.

I used scraps of torn paper from my typewriting manual
& two words from my Pride & Prejudice book.

I also used scraps of white tissue paper,
black & white patterned tissue paper,
light blue mulberry paper,
buttons & cotton thread,
white gesso
(the base was coated with white gesso
coloured with blue Distress Ink).

The quote is from a Kaisercraft Indigo Skies Paper Pad.

A Simple List for August

This month's
To Do List
inspired by a regular feature in The Simple Things magazine.

Each month they publish a list of things to try.

I have taken their words,
(adapting them slighty)

typed them on background images
from Emily at Sweetly Scrapped

then adhered to Tim Holtz Resist kraft card.

Each card can be used

as a prompt to try something new,

to go on an adventure that month

or just spark your creative imagination.

Each card measures 7.5 cms by 5.5 cms
& they are kept together in an altered matchbox.

birds were called 9

For the 2018 Index Card A Day creative challenge,
I created a paper collage & ink series entitled

birds were called

The challenge started on 1st June & ran daily through until the end of July.

My aims for ICAD this year,
in addition to being creative each day,
were to focus on colour observations &
examine balance & flow within each piece of art.

I used 4 x 6 inch index cards.

The lined index cards were purchased from WH Smith
in a clear plastic two holed ring binder.

Below are my final cards in this series,
numbers 56 to 61.

Card 56: watched

Card 57: for certain

Card 58: down

Card 59: double clutch

Card 60: divided

Card 61: blue

To see them altogether on Instagram,
click here or watched the video flip through below.



I used scraps of coloured card,
some used envelopes,
Distress Inks,
Mod Podge,
& printed bird names.

The images & book text were cut or torn from a bird handbook,
found at a charity shop last year.

A colour guide to familiar
Garden and
Field Birds
Eggs and Nests

by Jiří Felix

Illustrated by Květoslav Hísek

Published by Octopus Books