A bit of this & a bit of that.

All images by Tumblefish Studio at Deviant Scrap

Spray inks by Altered Originals at Art from the Heart

I had a bit of time to myself today so I started on this new journal page in my large A4 Moleskine using Tumblefish Studios' lovely new beach/seaside themed images. The schools around here finish for the summer this Friday so we're in a holiday mood (although desperately trying to ignore the thunder and lightning outside at the moment!) so I will be journaling on this page very soon to celebrate 5 1/2 weeks of NO SCHOOL!!

Some of you have been asking me for more step-by-steps, so this is how this page started. I used an old credit card to scrap a light blue acrylic paint over the entire page, followed by a slightly darker blue. I then wiped some patches off to create lighter areas.

I then used the credit card to add an even darker layer leaving some of the lighter colour showing through:

At this point it was very dark looking so I added a layer of white and cream over the top using the same technique, to tone it down a bit:

I learned some of this technique watching a youtube video by Paula aka JournalArtista. Have a look here.

Now, here's my favourite bit! After adding small areas of yellow acrylic paint, I used a spray ink in sky blue and allowed it to drip down the page Lush!

Then I sponged a few circles though a stencil using two contrasting shades of paint:

Some of you have told me that when you try to do backgrounds like this you end up with a 'muddy' colour. I'm not sure why this happens sometimes but I always make sure that each layer is dry before I add the next and that seems to do the trick. And yes I do cheat with the heatgun!

Ok, back to my journal page ...... I wanted a border along the top so I hand cut a series of shapes from the Tumblefish Studio vintage beach collection:

Then added a few more details. Hint: If you want a black and white striped border use your computer to print a row of capital 'I's - that's what this is!

And that is how I created the background to the page :-)  It's not finished yet of course, and I will probably add more doodling as I journal on it. I was supposed to be adding the words 'DOWN BY THE SEA', which I cut up ready, but I seem to have lost the word 'sea'!! Ha ha ha! I will probably find it later stuck to my elbow or something ........

A while ago I posted my birthday journal page, and here it is again with the journaling on it:

And finally onto some art I have received recently. It is always a real treat to receive art from someone else in the post, and this was no exception.  This came from the lovely and talented Monique of A new leaf blog. Monique is a Twilight fan, and so am I which is why I appreciate this so much:

I don't know if you can tell by this photo but Edward really sparkles, vampire style! Cool! :

Thanks Monique, I love it!

And last but by no means least ..... Siobhan aka Piddawinkle of 'Piddawinkle's caged thoughts' blog, sent me this ATC, Gotta love a dancing skeleton! Thanks Siobhan, I LOVE it!

Byeeeeeeee for now