"Beautiful Things" layout for Creative Artiste

 Hello and Happy New Year, creative friends! I'm happy to be back with a mixed media layout to share with you. As some of you my know, I love squirrels, and found this wonderful photo and quote online ages ago, printed it out and saved it to use on a page "someday". Now more than ever we need to be aware of the beauty around us to stay grateful and positive,  so I thought this was the perfect "someday" to create a page with it.

I used some lovely Blue Fern Studios papers from my stash, fussy cut some elements from the Blue Fern paper as well as from some Graphic 45 Woodland Friends, added flowers, jute and burlap fibers, punched leaves, and strips made with a Martha Stewart border punch. I used a Prima stencil to add homemade texture paste here and there, and then added a few light spritzes of Tattered Angels glimmer mist in Rose Gold. This was the first layout I had made in a while and it felt good to be "back in the saddle, as it were.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I wish you beautiful things every day!
xx Lynne

"Graham at 19 months"-a12 x 12 layout for Creative Artiste

 Hello friends and Happy November! I know most crafters love Halloween and the chance to make wild and crazy, creepy projects, but I'm not a fan and am always glad to see that stuff gone from the stores (and it doesn't break my heart to see the Christmas stuff starting either!) I came across this adorable photo of my son (who is now 29 years old) and just had to put it on a page.

The ohoto was taken in front of our fireplace and had a pretty cluttery background, so I decided to just use the silhouette, which made it so much easier to choose paper that looked great with it! These are Blue Fern Frolic and Autumn Anthology papers.I used a Tim Holtz alphabet stencil and a Prima stencil for the other design, along with homemade texture paste.   Because of the colours. I didn't feel the flower collage was too "girly" for this page, and I was happy with the way it came out. I hope you like it, and also hope you decide to join us at Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog this month-it's always anything goes, as long as you use 3 or more mediums! Hope to see your lovely entries there!
xx Lynne

Fireweed-a 12x12 layout for Creative Artiste

 Hello there! It's garden season here, so I ddecided to scrap a flower photo I had in my stash. Fireweed is a wildflower that's common in northern British Columbia  where I used to live. When there's a whole field of it, these vibrant plants make it look like it's on fire, hence the name given it by the native people of the area.

I treated myself to some lovely paper that I found on Amazon and found it was perfect to set off this photo. I loved the paper so much I didn't want to cover too much of it up (that's often a problem of mine!!) The rainbow was torn from another sheet and inked with a rich blue. I added stenciling with texture paste, used some Martha Stewart border punches randomly around the edges, and tore the remaining edges between the punching. Again these were inked in blue to further define the punched designs and tearing.

The title letters were originally a deep maroon, so I painted them white before inking them in pink.I gathered random flowers from my stash in bright pink and fresh green to echo some of the shades in the papers. The diecuts are from a BoBunny collection and I thought the colours coordinated really well with my other embellishments.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my page; I'm happy to have it as a keepsake of the lovely wildflowers from a province I lived in for several years; I wish you flowers and blue skies this season and always xx

Breaking Even-an art journal page for Creative Artiste

 Hello there crafty friends-I love using song lyrics, poetry and quotes in my artwork, so when I recently heard Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler"again, some of the words jumped out at me and I incorporated them here.

I started by mod-podging some tissue paper onto my page, making sure to crinkle it up a bit here and there, and then painted it red when it was dry. I had this adorable deck of mini playing cards in my stash, and they were perfect for this project. I inked and distressed them along with the background and all the other paper used here. I had a bunch of random chipboard numbers, so I grabbed some of those and heat embossed them in gold, then rubbed them with the same ink. The pair of buttons are meant to represeent coins. the diamond pattern and rows of numbers were stenciled with black texture paste, but I kept it a little thin to create a less crisp edge than I usually try to achieve. The black swirls and red patterned circles were from papers in my scrap file ( I keep everything bigger than about 2" in a large accordian file)

I hadn't done any art journaling for a while and it was fun to get back to it; hope you enjoyed seeing my page, and I'd love to see things you've created using song lyrics! Happy May xx

Sunshine round canvas for Creative Artiste

 As I write, the sun is shining through my dining room windows and there are cats sprawled out sunbathing everywhere!! It's a perfect time to share my "Sunshine" canvas with you.

Once I had figured out the general layout of the pieces, I added stenciling with homemade texture paste before attaching all the elements. I then primed the entire piece with white gesso before adding mists in a variety of shades of yellow, peach, orange and burgundy. I then took rose gold metallique wax and rubbed some onto the edges of the chipboard elements and some of the flowers & buttons, keeping the effect subtle. This is a small thin canvas, so I attached a magnetic strip to the back for display on a fridge or other metal surface. I love adding lace to this type of project, as I think it looks so interesting when misted and adds an extra little touch of warmth.

As always, our challenge at Creative Artists Mixed Media Challenge Blog is "anything goes"-as long as it's mixed media, you're welcome to enter it!! Find all the information you need here and I hope to see your entry!

https://creativeartistemixedmedia.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoyed seeing my project, and I wish you sunshine and joy
xx Lynne

Beachy door hanger for Creative Artiste

 Hello crafty friends! The October Challenge at Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog is on, and it's anything goes!! Hope you join us this month!

Yes, I know fall is here and beach season is over, but my bathroom has a beach theme and I made this to hang on the door.

I've never wanted to keep my bathroom doors closed, but I have a houseful of cats who have decided that unrolling the TP and tearing it to shreds is just SOOOO much fun that I have to resort to this.

I used a chipboard piece from Gypsy Soul Lasercuts, one of the Botanical Journaling Blocks, as the base. I painted each side a light tan colour, then added pale green stenciling. The chipboard shapes, also from Gypsy Soul, were painted the same pale green (after some were dry embossed with my Cuttlebug) then added. A few "bubbles" were added here and there, some clear and some iridescent, and sprinklings of microbeads as well as a few tiny real seashells. When making a two-sided project like this, it's important to allow glue to dry before turning it over.

I misted lightly with Tattered Angels Leap Frog, Money Bags and Maya Blue, then rubbed Finnabair Metallique waxes in Peacock and Lucky Emerald. Some silver alphabet stickers and a simple twine hanger finished the project off. Now all we need to do is teach the cats to read!! Just kidding....I think it'll be more about training hubby to remember lol!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I wish you a happy, healthy October....and I'd love to hear some of your destructive pet stories!! xx hugs, Lynne

"FLY" canvas for Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge Blog

 Hello there and happy September! It's still hot here in Southwestern Ontario and I'm not quite ready to start fall crafting, so instead I decided to embrace the last of summer with butterflies and blue skies:

This is a 10 x 10 canvas, and I just love the main chipboard piece, which  is from Gypsy Soul Lasercuts 

 I figured out roughly where the elements were going to go, then stenciled randomly with homemade texture paste, concentrating on the areas that wouldn't be covered. After adhering all the elements, I painted the surface in a pale teal blue, then spritzed Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists in Amethyst and Maya Blue.

More definiteion was added to the title and other elements by rubbing with Art Alchemy Metallique Waxes in Peacock, Royal Robes and Old Silver. The finishing touch was a few sprinkles of clear glass glitter.

I love the way the waxes enhance the textures without overwhelming the soft colours. You can of course apply them less sparingly for bolder, stronger colours-they look amazing on black backgrounds!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my project, and I wish you a delightfully creative September! xx
Lynne

Magnetic canvas trio for Creative Artiste

Hello crafters! Hope all is well in your world; thanks so much for stopping by! I found some cool 6x6 magnetic canvases at Dollarama and thought they'd make great fridge art. I found some images and sayings that I liked together and then had fun embellishing, misting and waxing them.

 Although I referred to them as a trio, I did not create them to be a set, as the themes are all very different!

 

After I decided on the placement of the words, burlap/fabric, drywall tape and images, I stencilled here and there with texture paste, then attached the other elements I wanted to mist over and followed that with a coat of gesso over the whole thing. When that was dry, I adhered the words and images and any embellishments I wanted to use in their natural state (ie the broom, flowers, cloud etc)

Love the gypsy image from 7Gypsies "Gypsy Moments" paper, and that flourished stencil is one of my favourites!

I had some "Wizard of Oz" themed papers and absolutely could NOT resist using this fun combination of words and images!

I think we all have days when we feel like this; I know I've had several of them lately!
This image and quote is also from the "Gypsy Moments" paper line.

These were so much fun to do; small canvases seem to come together so easily! The store had other shapes as well-I remember heart and flower shapes, and just may have to grab some more! So glad you stopped by, and I wish you a colourful and creative November xoxo