Friday, 20 March 2015

More quickie mini journaling ...


Ooh, I love a quick bit of mini journaling. And a lot of stamps are the perfect size for small journals. This one is my mini Moleskine which measures just 10x15cm.

The Bunny Boy stamp is one of my new range for Stampotique Originals. This stamp makes me smile ... it reminds me of my kids in their onesies ;-)

I painted a frame for the bunny, and then I stamped around the edge with the new Design Cube 2 by France Papillon for Stampotique. Love that crackle effect!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Wednesday, 18 March 2015

Art journaling ... on a mini scale ...


I truly love playing around in my mini moleskine journal. It measures just 10 x 15 cm when closed, so the pages are quick, quick, quick to do! And so much less pressure than working on a large scale.

I used my new Guardian stamp for the page above, and she is looking over a fab quote I found. Anyone else recognise this feeling?!

Smaller stamps are perfect for working in a small journal as they fill the page nicely, but hey! if your stamps don't fit, chop them in half and make them fit!

Perspective by Tim Holtz


I like a good ol' grump in my journal every now and then. Ok, ok, it's probably a bit more frequent than that ;-) Daniel Torrente's stamps are perfect for when I'm in the mood for a moan ... they have such attitude!

Penelope by Daniel Torrente

Sometimes just something random such as a capital letter from an alphabet stamps can work ....

Letter O from Numeric by Tim Holtz

... I think they look pretty good side-by-side:


I'm teaching  class on mini journaling at Art from the Heart (Harrogate, UK) on 26th March - still a couple of places left if anyone fancies it. 

And why not check out the new classes schedule at Art from the Heart *here*. Classes are filling up really fast so if you fancy something you'll have to be quick!

Byee for now!


Monday, 9 March 2015

Playing around with Stampotique ...


Boots by me!
Daisy Daisy by Jo Capper-Sandon
Design Cube 2 by France Papillon

I've had a very nice day indeed playing around with Stampotique stamps :-) I wanted to see what my Boots bunny would look like on a birthday card. I painted a background and added texture with France's fab new design cube stamp, then stamped by bunny and coloured her with Polychromos. I kind of like the way it turned out all blue except for eh boots and the heart - love those pops of colour!


Then I decided to make an ATC. Just because a stamp doesn't technically fit within the 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 " boundaries of an ATC doesn't mean you can't use it - it just means you just have to chop something off!

Kate's Angel by me!

And then I made a tag using Daniels's lovely new 'Skiddy' - another girl with attitude! Love her!

Skiddy by Daniel Torrente
Sentiment by Carol's Collection
Design Cube 2 by France Papillon

Ah, I LOVE having a play day :-)


Friday, 6 March 2015

A quickie guide to colouring

I'm the first to admit that I'm not the world's greatest at colouring in images, and that there are people out there who can do marvellous and mystical things with Copics (how do they do that?!). But here it 
is, my quickie guide to colouring in!

I only have a couple of rules when I'm colouring .... Always start with the lightest colour and add the darker shades, and always work in two or three shades of the same colour family to allow you to blend and build the lighter and darker areas.

I sometimes colour with Distress ink pads, sometimes with Copics (but I'm very new to Copics), but today I coloured with my Polychromos pencils. These are very similar to use as Prismacolor pencils - one is wax based and one is oil based, but they blend the same.

I used my 'Queen of Everything' stamp and started with the lightest flesh tone:


Then I took it one step darker around the edges:


And then one step darker still:


I used the same principle for the cheeks .. starting with the light pink and taking it one step darker around the edges:


I could have left the face like that but I wanted to add some shape to the nose, so I lightly drew a line from the eyebrow down the side of the nose:


This gave me a guide for adding a little more shading. Here I have shaded just one side:


When adding colour to anything else I followed the same principle of starting with the lightest shade and adding darker around the edges:


I wanted to add more than one colour to the body and this is when pencils are really great! I began with adding some green ... but still darker round the edges:


And then the same again with reds and pinks:


And then I added blues and yellows:



To break up areas of colour I like to add a random bit of scribbling, and touches of white gel pen:


And here she is finished. Ta-da! If you would like to see how she looks when added t a journal page, have a look at this post here. Byee for now!


Wednesday, 4 March 2015

Angelic Miniatures!

Kate's Angel for Stampotique Original

I never get tired of making mini matchboxes with something cute inside. Never! And this time I've used my new Angel stamp for Stampotique. I coloured the angel with Polychromos and then added her to a painted (brayered) background. A bit of doodling with a white Signo Uniball pen, and a few scrapes of paint and it was good to go!

Inside I made a mini journal from vintage papers and text, and bound it with Duck tape.



In the USA you can order Stampotique stamps direct from Stampotique 

In the UK the stamps are available at:

Byeeee for now!



Tuesday, 3 March 2015

A royal message!

Queen of Everything - designed by me! 
Design Cube 2 by France Papillon

I've been having a lot of fun playing with my new stamps for Stampotique Originals :-) You may have seen this page as a work in progress on an earlier page but here it is finished!

I started by colouring my image with Polychromos pencils (Faber Castell). I don't always use pencils to colour images but they do allow you to build up different colours and to build up the shading. See how I shaded along the eyes to create more depth to the nose?


And I added lots of different colours within the body:


This is how the background began. I used a brayer to get a quick layer of paint down:


And then I just kept adding more .... and more ... ! I am loving the new Design Cube 2 by France - great for backgrounds.


 Of course I had to add a colour wheel! I stamped a bottle lid with white which then looked as if it needed colouring in, so I did! I turned it into a colour wheel using my Polychromos again.


And then I typed a quote. This is a quote by Oprah Winfrey ... so wise! I love it! I honestly think that the best thing you can do for your kids is allow them to fail. It's ok to get things wrong. And you must allow yourself to get things wrong occasionally too. It's OK.




In the USA you can order these stamps direct from Stampotique 

In the UK the stamps are available at:

Monday, 2 March 2015

Girls with attitude.


Penelope by Daniel Torrente 
Texture Cube by France Papillon
Quote from Carol's Collection

Ooh, I love a girl with attitude! And Daniel Torrente's new 'Penelope' stamp certainly has plenty of attitude. I used a large tag to make this hanging, and sprayed with Dylusions inks before adding touches of paint, gesso and stitching. I also added lots of texture with France Papillon's new Texture Cube. Love that stamp!
I coloured the gal with my Polychromos pencils. Her hair is actually quite blue ... it may look a little grey in the photo. I doodled some flowers along the border and she looks as if she is about to snip their heads off with those scissors in her hand LOL!




Sunday, 1 March 2015

A work in progress..

'The Queen of everything' by me! for Stampotique Originals

Just a very quick post today to share a work-in-progress. I'm really working on my colouring in skills .... which to be honest, have been a bit lacking! I can be a bit lazy when it comes to colouring in and usually reach for my Distress ink pads and a water brush. But with the arrival of my new stamps I'm trying different things. I coloured 'The Queen of Everything' with Polychromos pencils and I'm quite pleased with how she turned out! I'll be back when I have finished the page!

Byeeeeee - enjoy the rest of the weekend!