Nest building journal page

I'm trying trying trying so hard to bring some spring into my life. It's surely not far away and little signs of it are all around if you look hard enough. The best sign is when I hear and see the geese flying overhead in that V formation on their way to new nesting grounds.


My journal page started out with the sketch of the bird done on a book page and coloured with watercolour pencils. 

I stamped leaves around the background using a hand carved stamp from Softcut, some Picket fence Distress paint through a stencil and a few black marks here and there.

Here's my birdy.

I made good use of some pieces of washi tape namely My Minds Eye and Tim Holtz. My title is the alphabet from a Jenni Bowlin sticker sheet  and my Dymo.

Here's hoping spring isn't too far away,

Jaine

Layout for December

By the time you're reading this, Trish and I will be at the NEC in Birmingham at the CHA UK trade show looking at all the good things coming out this spring.

Anyway, I felt it was time to do a December layout before spring comes and everyone is totally fed up with all things Christmas.

I didn't want to go down the usual Christmassy route so opted to use a kit called Freedom by Jenny Bowlin for Echo Park as I love that red and black look.

For the stars I used a Balzer Designs stencil called Punchinella  and tried out some black embossing paste by Dreamweaver for the first time and was totally blown away by it. I've usually added black gesso to my paste before but I thought I'd try out one which was black to start with and it's gorgeous. It's thick so no leaking under the stencil and glossy so you have this gorgeous shine when it dries.

The only other things I used on the page were some white gesso, Broken China Distress paint and a few bits of shiny turquoise washi tape by MME.

Have a good weekend what ever you're doing.

Jaine x

Charade....

Hello!

Right...take a deep breath and be brave! (that's me talking to myself btw.....but if it applies to you as well this morning, consider yourself told!)

Today I'm sharing a first for me.... I made a video tutorial! (well, I made three, but more about that in a minute!)

I created this page using loads of colourful paints... with a few background stamps thrown in too...

Lots and lots of layers...

and a quirky figure too!

I videoed the entire process, and then split it up into three separate tutorials. The smeared paint background, the secondary layers (stencilling/stamping etc), and lastly adding in the figure.

The whole process lasts less than an hour, but it's much more accessible in three 'chunks!'

The first video is below...the other two can be found today over on my blog HERE, or you can watch them all via Vimeo (just search for Trish Latimer!)

I really hope you like them...

Welcome to a brand spanking new team.

Thank you thank you to everyone who submitted an application for a place on our Design Team. The response was fantastic and with so many talented applicants our job was really hard. I'm sorry if you didn't get a space this time but we wanted to keep the team small and the work of a few individuals stood out as being just what we were looking for. 

So without further ado let me introduce you to our brand new Design team and I hope you'll join us in welcoming them on board. 

Trish Latimer Design Team Coordinator

 

 

My name is Trish Latimer, and I'm a paintaholic......

I'm also addicted to colour, texture, quirky figures and rubber stamps.

Combine all that together and you basically get the idea of what I love to create, a often as I can!

I'm lucky enough to to be a full time mixed media designer, (fancy title for 'plays with paint 24/7' ), which is a very good thing.... I get very twitchy if I haven't created something for a few hours!

I've been crafting, teaching (and learning) for around 20 years now, all kick started off by watching a stamping demo on the shopping channel whilst at home when my eldest was a baby! I now write for Craft Stamper, Beads and Beyond and Creativity magazines, and I released a 'how to' DVD all about paint in conjunction with Traplet. This year I'm determined to master the art of video tutorials...so watch this space!

Trish xxx

Trish's blog Ink Paint Beads.

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Jaine Drake Design Team Coordinator

Hello there, I'm Jaine and I think I've tried every craft out there (except for chainsaw wood carving and arc welding, although there's still time). 

I have three art journals on the go at any one time, started Project Life in 2014 and love to make mini books. 

I'm lucky enough to be published in Craft Stamper and in the past Scrap 365 and Sewing World magazines. I also design craft products for Sarah Hurley which gives me such a thrill to see my name on the packaging.

When I'm not crafting I'm being Mummy to three (grown up) girlies, wife to an understanding man and the keeper of a cottage style garden.

Jaine xxx

Jaine's blog Confessions of a Craftaholic.

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Georgie Connelly

 

Helloooo!! My name is Georgie from the Little Blue Craft Box blog, I’m based in the quiet county of Dorset in the UK. Artistically, I am a lover of altered art, shabby chic, grunge, art journalling, paper crafting… anything arty/crafty really, I love it all!!! My biggest love is mixed media within any of these forms.

Colours really entice me!!! From light and airy, to dark and gothic (and everything in between). I believe the way hues ebb and flow together is what really makes a project, and gives it that ‘wow factor’. I adore how colours are enhanced by mediums used beneath, around, or over them. The possibilities are beautifully endless…

Hugs,

Georgie xx

Georgie's blog little Blue Craft Box.

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Elena Ovchinnikova

My name is Elena and I am addicted to Scrapbooking :)) I was born in Russia but I have been living in Spain for 14 years. I'm married and  I have a 4-year-old daughter who is my muse and the main source of my inspiration. When she sees me to scrap, she immediatelly wants to create her own big priojects. It makes me smile, it is so cute, so we often scrap together. When I was a child, I went to the art school in my city but I was too much young to finish it, because I was only thinking about playing and having fun with the friends. After years passed, I grew up, I started to study law in the University (in those times it was fashionable to study it, so...) but luckily my family and me immigrated to Spain so I had to leave my studies... I cannot imagine myself as a lawyer :))  Only here I returned to my passion for art and design, so I finished studies of Interior Designer. Then, one day of 2012, searching in internet, I discovered  Scrapbooking, and all my world changed. I was so amazed of so many creations and the talent artists, I could not think about anything else. An interior design projects require much time and dedication. However in the Scrapbooking, the projects are shorter, which means that your head is always keeps the fresh ideas and  you can express them immediately . I love to create a lot of beautiful things, especially I find myself in Mixed Media. I love textures, gesso, modelling pastes, paints, sprays... In my projects I like combining fabric with paper, use some small pieces of something what I have saved  from waste bin :)))

It's great to be able to do what you really love! I am very happy when I am creating and I feel full of the energy and the creativity.

Thanks :) xx

Elena's blog Elena Arts.

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Honorata Chorazyprzybysz

 

 

I like to describe myself as semi - artist, poet attempter and a messy art journalist…And please excuse me my surname that not many people can pronounce…

I started my art journey totally by accident at age of 33 when attended Art Journal workshop in Derbyshire two years ago. As I always kept old letters, notes and diaries I simply wanted somehow to organise them in a creative way and the name of the workshop “Art Journal” seemed to fit the purpose! This is how the journey begun with art journals then mixed media and lately also I started an affair with assemblage and painting. I love mixed media approach with its variety of materials, technics and its non-judgmental attitude towards art. It’s all about creativity, letting go and simply expressing my own life philosophy…

I live in the heart of England with my husband, 6 years old daughter and a black cat. I regularly drive my family crazy with the ideas of new projects and complaints about lack of time to make more art!

I also love vintage, smell of old books and slow life…

Honorata's Facebook page.

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 Tracy Scott

Hi 

What a pleasure it is to be here, my name is Tracy Scott, I am the wrong side of 40 and although born a West Country lass, I was raised in Essex and am now a fully fledged 'essex girl'. 

I have always been 'arty' and have pretty much tried every craft out there but discovered my true passion for mixed media and art journalling only a year ago. I love nothing more than playing around with inks and paints, stamps and stencils, and am obsessed by every new technique I see. This past year has been a whirlwind journey for me and being asked to join the 'A Sprinkle of Imagination' design team for 2015 has definately started this year with a bang. I very much look forward to getting to know you all this coming year...... What a great time we are going to have together xx

Tracy's Facebook page.

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Please give them all a big welcome and visit their links to see more. We look forward to getting to know them better and seeing what they come up with for us.

Jaine, Trish and Vicki.

xxx