Stand Fast

How beautiful it is here... 

weather wise. Low 90's with a gentle, cooling breeze... just a perfect day to be out of doors.

I hope this page

presents that same sort of release from the confines of life.

The background is

Golden's Cobalt Teal and Artist's Loft Parchment acrylics, toned down with a rub of a baby wipe, and a thin coat of gesso. Stamped first with script then an assortment of leaves with Jet Black Archival Ink. I then "painted" the leaves with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink.

My pretty songbird

is from Digital Perfection on Etsy and was distressed with my Idea-ology Paper Distresser and Black Soot Distress Ink. To go with him are several die cuts made with Alterations Caged Bird, Mini Butterfly Set and Mini Branch and Leaf Set.

I used Black Soot DI on

the die cuts and around the page edges. The pearls are from Queen & Co. The computer-made verse is outlined with an Ultra Fine Point Sharpie black marker and the reference is shadowed with soft charcoal. I wanted this to have a serene look about it... I hope that is what you see.

May you all have a wonderful and safe weekend.

I am linking my page to:
Balzer Designs: Art Journal Every Day

Thanks for the visit!

Hugs!

Linda

Bake Sale

City Crafters Challenge Blog

is having a Bake Sale this week.

Hostess Kirsty says the
challenge is to include any baking images, like cakes, cupcakes, or make a recipe card, recipe box, or any home-baked item decorated with papers, or even anything related to baking. Yummmm!!!! Sounds good, huh?

The other night my

daughter-in-law, Sarah, and I were making chocolate chip cookies, and I remarked that my recipe (cut from a magazine about a million years ago) was getting in pretty bad shape. Ahhh, now is the perfect time to make a new card, and enter the City Crafters challenge all at once.

The papers are all old

ones from my stash. Red corrugated cardstock, Webster's Pages Spring Market, and a Crate Paper Random Collection sticker. The other paper I used had already been de-labeled, so I haven't a clue as to what it is... but it has cute tea and coffee pots all over it... perfect complement to cookies. 

Be sure to check out the

CCCB Design Team's fabulous work and their Guest Designer is Rebecca Deeprose (awesome blog).

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

Linda

Extra Grungy Art Journal Pages

Jack, our canine house guest,

must be adapting to living with us, as he has taken to barking at everyone who walks down the street (forget yesterdays comment). Now I don't mean a bow wow... I mean... BWOOW WWOOW! It's amusing to watch grown men run past our yard in panic. And he's such a gentle looking animal!

Today I'm unveiling

the little gem that did this page in. After all the time spent on these pages, I was hoping for a better result... but never-the-less it finished up super grungy...

It started out with

burlap adhered with soft gel medium, a coat of gesso and some stenciling (which I hated and painted over).

I glued on some vintage

ephemera using the soft gel and applying a coat over top.

I mixed some molding paste

with paint and used it with a stencil... but it sunk into the burlap so I ended up smearing it around with my fingers.

Sponged on Vintage Photo DI.

Finished with some random

stamping with Jet Black Archival Ink.

Another learn by your

mistakes project... Paula Phillips calls them floppertunities. Ahhh, I love art journaling!

Hope you all have a good

day and may our southern USA friends stay safe with Isaac dumping tons of water in that area of the country.

Thanks for the visit!

Hugs!

Linda

I Found A Place Of Delight

In making ART!

Well, I guess to me it's art!

This page had gesso and 

some green ink splotches already on it (leftovers from a previous project), so I misted it with water, pulled the sprayer cap off my Dylusions Fresh Lime and dropped on a little more. Quickly blew on it using a drinking straw, spreading it across the page. I sponged on Tumbled Glass and Peeled Paint Distress Ink over that. Pulling out my Crafters Workshop Mini Tile Texture stencil, I dabbed on Evergreen Bough DI on top, then edged the page with Black Soot.

I had this torn piece 

of burlap in my scrap box. I cut the finished end off and glued it to the bottom of the page and the remainder in the center. Gave it a wash of Titanium White Liquitex acrylic paint and water. Topped it with a key and keyhole from Dear Lizzy and a bow of red May Arts burlap string.

My journaling is

ChitChat from Idea-ology, the heart is cut from ancient corrigated cardstock with Alterations Mini Heart Set and covered with Glossy Accents. I doodled Art with a #2 pencil and some coloring with a Cerulean Blue oil pencil. More outlining with my ultra fine point black Sharpie marker and soft charcoal. It still needed something... so I grabbed some rubber stamp sets... Stampers Anonymous Bitty Grunge and Unity's SHEart Doodles... and finished up with Jet Black Archival ink.

We have a visitor

staying at our house this week... Jack. Cassidy is not at all pleased about it, but the Penmaker and I are enjoying his company immensely.

It will be quiet here

when he leaves and goes back home. Not because he barks, but because our dog hasn't stopped since he came. Ahhh... the trials of owning a jealous canine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

Linda

Live And Learn

More lessons from

Linda's School of Hard Knocks... 

• NEVER, NEVER, NEVER start a new journal project on a page following one that you haven't photographed!
• Consider not using your cheap composition book for projects that require a lot of gesso even though Paula Phillips can get away with it!

Example...

 Just A FEW wrinkles!

So, I did this page

the other day while the Penmaker was out golfing. All was peaceful and quiet and I went to work with some of Golden's Cobalt Teal over dried gesso and a baby wipe. Topped that with Delta acrylic craft paint in Brown Iron Oxide and Passion Violet.

Several stencils from

Crafters Workshop came next... first Mini Summer (with a haircut) using Golden's Molding Paste plus a pallet knife, then Titanium White Liquitex brushed over it. Next was Mini Chicken Wire with Dusty Concord Distress Ink sponged onto three different areas. At this point I stamped on some script with Jet Black Archival Ink. Then grabbing my pallet knife again, I put on more Molding Paste using the Mini Time Travel stencil.

My computer generated

verse was sponged with Vintage Photo DI then glued and applied to my project. I did some outlining with my black Faber-Castell Pitt pen.

I added a bit of 

journaling on a scrap of copy paper, inked with Vintage Photo and shadowed with soft charcoal.

Why, oh why didn't I 

pick up my camera then and take the photo??? Who can tell... was it because the guys came bursting into the house with their score card... or that I had to fix supper... or that the light was gone from that side of the house... or about a dozen other reasons...

Actually, none of that matters anymore...

what is important is that I will NOT start the next page until I DO photograph the previous one!

Isn't it funny how that

layers of gel medium, burlap and gesso on the backside of two sheets of paper glued together can cause so many wrinkles on the front side?

You know, ladies... we have to 

keep a happy heart and smile at the little things! Love you all!

Thanks for the visit!

Hugs!

Linda

X-Treme

Do you save all

your vacation receipts? I generally keep those from hotels. If we want to stay at that particular one again, we have the phone number and a reference as to cost. But why did I put away this receipt from Disney for some gifts we bought our kids? I haven't any idea, but it sure brought back memories of that day. I can remember leaving our hotel and taking photos of each other out in front, the six of us having breakfast at Wolfgang Puck, shopping at Disney Marketplace and then the sad farewell as the Penmaker and I drove off toward Gatlinburg and the kids toward home. I've gotten a lot out of this little old receipt... I have to keep this gem!

This is that awful

background I started here and gave up on. This baby had about twelve layers of gesso, paint, distress stain, inks and molding paste piled on it before I finally liked what I was looking at.

I loved this X from

the Basic Grey Clippings sheet 5th Avenue. I did a little X-tra inking and doodling to get the look I wanted. Family adventures are from Authentique's Diction stickers. I used Crafters Workshop Mini Time Travel and Mini Tile Texture stencils.

Here is that little

slip of paper that caused all those memories to come flooding back to me.

I'm grateful I didn't throw it away!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

Linda

Wishi Washi 2

Ros, City Crafters hostess 

for Week 123, has come up with an interesting and fun challenge for us... use Washi or Tissue tape on your project... BUT... you can only use two other items. YIKES!!! Now that is a challenge!!!

Hope this little number qualifies...

I did a masculine card,

and used DP and a vintage ticket (from my friend, Deb Hickman) besides my tissue tape. The papers are Basic Grey Clippings and 7 Gypies Conservatory.

This was a tough one

for me as I always seem to use a bunch of different elements. When I'm limited in the amount, my ideas for design are hard to pull together. I added extra layers of die cuts made from my DPs to make up for the lack of variety. I "think" it worked! Anyhow... it was fun and definitely was a challenge.

Stop over at the CCC blog and take a look at the lovelies the DT girls have created for you.

I still haven't gotten

my new sewing machine out of the box... reading instructions and watching the DVD. My old Singer was bought in 1968, and I could work that baby blindfolded. So this old dog has to learn some new tricks!! Should be interesting.

Thanks for visiting!

Hugs!

Linda

Fun Times At Universal

After our super duper

garage sale over the weekend, we've been trying to get things back into shape... not an easy task considering it included "stuff to sell" from six families. Yesterday I finally had some time in my craft room to create, but no time to post. I did a card for granddaughter Penny, who's going back to school today and a page in my journal. I didn't have time (again with the no time) to take a photo of her card, but this morning I got some of the journal page...

I had saved these ticket

stubs from our Florida trip in February to scrap, but decided to add them to the journal instead. The background is tissue tape covered with gesso, gray and yellow ochre paint. I used the Bubbles mask from Studio Calico with Faded Jeans Distress Ink, Jet Black Archival Ink with a stamp from Claudine Hellmuth Studio called Dwelling and white paint with an empty toilet tissue roll.

This Tiny Text is from

Cosmo Cricket... I bought several sheets of these from Archivers. The tickets are highlighted with my Faber-Castell Pitt pen then soft charcoal.

My journaling was stamped

with the Jet Black AI and a set of rubber stamp alphas from Joann's that has lost it's label. They are highlighted with a white Jelly Roll pen. The page is edged with Faded Jeans.

The weather here has

turned to a soft, lazy feel of quietness and contentment... must be partly due to the fact that there isn't a kid anywhere to be found in our neighborhood... but also that the sky is a rich shade of blue and the temperature is in the mid seventies... a perfect day! Now, I must try out my new sewing machine!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

Linda

She Took A Leap Of Faith

Every Tuesday morning

the Penmaker and I head out to Amish country, enjoy some coffee and donuts, then do our grocery shopping at Walnut Creek Cheese. I've heard numerous people make disparaging remarks about Ohio, but we think it's beautiful... hilly, rolling countryside or city... we have it all!

So after the shopping, I made this...

Actually, this is my

second background... I didn't like the first, so I just turned the page and created one I did like. This is done with Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick and Faded Jeans Distress Ink.

The ballerina was fussy

cut from Prima's Fairy Belle "Firefly". What a gorgeous collection this is! See it all here. 

As much as I hate to

say it, we are having another family garage sale this week, so I may not be back for a few days. Have a wonderful week and I'll see you as soon as I can break away from the madness.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

Linda

Inspiration From Donna

Lately, I have been

spending more and more time in my art journal leaving my card making to times of necessity. What is it about smearing gesso and paint across a page... getting soft gel under your fingernails... sponging ink over a stencil??? I LOVE IT!!! Can't explain why! I absolutely LOVE IT!

This is a page I

just completed after watching Donna's video here.

I had none of the

supplies she used except for gesso and my Cobalt Teal is heavy body not fluid acrylic paint. Can't let that stop us... right?

The bird is chipboard

by Melody Ross for GCD Studio. He's stamped with the dots stamp from the Stampers Anonymous Bitty Grunge set with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. The poppy is from an old stamp set by Sweet 'n Sassy and is colored with Distress Inks in Festive Berries, Peeled Paint and Wild Honey. I highlighted the lines with my Faber-Castell black Pitt pen. My bird is shaded first with Vintage Photo DI, then some shadowing with soft charcoal.

The rays are from that

same SA set and stamped with Mustard acrylic craft paint. They, too, are shadowed with charcoal (told you last week I adore charcoal).

The text is by Authentique

called Diction... so handy! It's shaded with Vintage Photo as are the edges of the page. 

Now, we have several

birthdays coming up in our family, so I have to make some cards this week... but that's not going to keep me from having some messy fun time in my journal.

I'm linking to Julie's - Art Journal Every Day

Have a wonderful evening, girls! Love you all!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

Linda

Try

Before I made my card

for the Guest Designer spot at City Crafters Challenge Blog, I printed out a test of three different sizes of the gorgeous Papillons image from The Graphics Fairy on plain copy paper. After choosing the sizes I needed and printing them on cardstock, I laid aside the test sheet. Today I saw it in a pile of designer papers on my desk, and thought, the weight of the paper would be perfect for the project I was beginning. Here is what I did...

I started with two

journal pages painted with Mustard acrylic craft paint. Then on my craft sheet, I rubbed on three colors of Distress Inks... Peeled Paint, Old Paper and Forest Moss... spritzed them with water and dipped my pages onto the wet mass of green colors. Dried with my heat tool and repeated the process.

 I sponged on additional

inks of those same colors filling in the bare spots and deepening the hues. Then with the Mini Wood Grain stencil from Crafters Workshop, I added more Forest Moss. Using my CW Mini Chicken Wire stencil, I applied jet black Archival ink with a sponge dabber. Next came the Luscious Leaves stencil and Peeled Paint.

I outlined the leaves

with Faber-Castell's black Pitt pen, added letters from Idea-ology's Salvage Stickers to spell Try and highlighted them with the Pitt pen and soft charcoal. Then fussy cut those fabulous butterflies and glued them to the pages. I put just a touch of Mustard Seed Stickles on the wings for some sparkle.

The saying is from

Stampers Anonymous' Stuff To Say... and is highlighted with with my white Gelly Roll pen. For a finishing touch, I splattered on some random drops of Dylusions Fresh Lime ink.

I'm so happy I

didn't toss that test copy in the trash can. You just never know what you can do with "leftovers".

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

Linda

Express Yourself

I'm back to my stack

of old luncheon napkins, and this time I went for the dark blue one with the leaf. This technique is so easy and at the same time... 1. Creates the prettiest pages 2. Uses a minimum of supplies 3. Is my very favorite method of creativity in my journal.

I adhered my napkin

with soft gel and brushed on a top coat... dried with heat tool. Added a strip of tissue tape... more soft gel... dried again... then some faux stitching with my Faber-Castell black Pitt pen. 

I cheated on my

journaling today and used Tiny Text Art stickers from Cosmo Cricket. Added an I Am Roses bloom coloring the center with Mustard Seed Distress Ink. I sprayed on some Fresh Lime Dylusions ink using the Crafters Workshop Mini Harlequin stencil. Stamped on black Archival ink with a crackle patterned rubber stamp.

I rubbed on a few

number rubbings from 7 Gypies and finished up with my go to soft charcoal pencil.

I'm linking my page to:

Julie's - Art Journal Every Day

Thanks for the visit today!

Hugs!

Linda

Basic Grey Clippings

Our daughter-in-law's

dad had a successful gallbladder surgery this week and I wanted to make a card to send along to him. To make the creating of it a little more interesting, I looked up some challenges and made the card to fit the specifications of each. Here is what it looks like...

I started with the new

Clippings paper from Basic Grey that I bought at Archivers on Monday. It's teamed up with Bazzill's Raven cardstock and a piece from my old faithful BG's Basics Manila 6x6 paper pad. The vintage music sheet is from my stash, and the Distress Ink I chose is Walnut Stain.

The Alterations Mini 

Ticket was cut from a piece of canvas from Canvas Corp. The Psalm 33:1 verse was this week's free art  from Word Art Wednesday.

The black burlap string is 

May Arts, and the brads are My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday collection as are the kraft button and banner. I also used Spellbinder's Nestabilities Large Standard Circles.

The challenges I'm entering are:

Crafty Ann's - #71 Circles

Frilly and Funkie - Get Crafty with Canvas

Sugar Creek Hollow - #23 Something Old, Something New
The Shabby Tea Room - #126 Soft Neutrals

Word Art Wednesday - #40

Have a fun evening. The

Penmaker and I are heading out for a Mexican dinner with our son, Seth.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

Linda

Second Floor Challenge #7

This is the first of the

Second Floor Challenges that I am partaking in at Balzer Designs... Challenge #7 is using just five items to create a piece of art.

The five items I chose were:

1. My journal

2. Designer paper

3. Soft gel medium

 4. Acrylic craft paint

5. Brush

Since I couldn't use

scissors, I tore the paper to size. I wasn't sure about using my craft mat either, so I worked directly on my desk.

The brush I chose was

a fine liner for my journaling, so I had to apply the soft gel with my fingers. What a mess what was!!! Then to top it off, I couldn't grab a baby wipe because it wasn't on my five items list... nuts!

A little finger painting.

Then some more adhering with soft gel and paper scraps.

My finished piece.

Certainly not what I had in mind when I started out.

I have learned several

bits of truth through this experience...

1. When those more experienced then me say this is not an easy challenge, listen and don't think you know everything... Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

2. Paint WILL NOT MOVE on paper that has not been prepped with gesso, etc.

3. Charcoal pencils and Distress Inks will hide a multitude of mistakes and without them every little one will show.

4. Baby wipes are my best friend.

5. I have a long way to go and need a lot of practice.

But I do have HOPE!

Check out what Julie did here and Nathalie's work here.

I'm also linking my pages to:
Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog - #71 Circles

These have been busy,

busy days for the Penmaker and me. Among other things, today we watched two of our grandkids while a third was having a cast put on his fractured arm. This gave us an opportunity to have a picnic lunch in the backyard.

Happy times indeed!

Thank you, Papercraft Star ladies!

My "First Dream Then Set Sail" page won Super Nova!

Have a great day, friends...

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

Linda