Creating With Wendy

This months challenge for the Gina Ahrens Design Team was a lot of fun. We had to make our own designed washi tape and then use it in a project. I started making the traditional type of washi by using masking tape and adding some paint and stamping on it and made it very decorative. I also used a couple of Gina's art backgrounds and placed double sided tape on the back, then cut them into stips for washi. Both methods ended up being wonderful to use in my project. Washi strips from using Gina's art backgrounds  I decided to make some chalk and white boards and decorate the edges with the washi I had just made using Gina's products. Using a thick cardboard very similar to chipboaard, I painted one side with blackboard paint and on the reverse side I glued down some adhesive white board film. Then using the washi I glued it round all the edges of the boards, to make them look very decorative. These message boards were fun to make and also make awesome gifts to ...

 HANSEL and GRETEL I based my layout on the tale of Hansel and Gretel for Jenny's journal. This is a well-known fairy tale of German origin and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister kidnapped by a cannibalistic  witch living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery. The two children escape with their lives by outwitting her. I started by putting some colour on the page using gelatos and then decided to do a collage spread. The left side being the imagery of the children walking in the forest where Hansel is dropping pebbles on the ground so they could find their way out. And the right hand side being where the children come upon the house made from all kinds of sweets. I collaged the trees on as well as the images of Hansel and Gretel and in the center of the layout is where they were coming out of the forest finding the witch's cottage. I tried to make the witch's cottage look child like, for som...

Hello everyone! This was a very fun layout I did in Annabelle's journal. Sometimes it is hard for me to 'Just be myself' but I think I did achieve it with this layout. At the start of my layout, I had put some 'washable' craft paint down and of course by experimenting with it, it wasn't working how I wanted it to. So staying true to myself, I gave it a good wash over with gesso and started again. This happens to me quite a bit sometimes...LOL... So after covering up the first layer with gesso, I then grabbed out a few gelatos and gave the background a good patching with all the colours. The next layer was some stamping with a black stazon ink and a script stamp. Not really sure with what I was going to do for a focal image, I decided to grab a make-up sponge and play with making circles. This is a fun and relaxing process for me, I love circles. So I used some purple and white acrylic paint and then brought in some blue and white acrylic paint making and...

 This is a fun, easy and very satisfying project for August with my take on an eye-catching piece of       WALL ART. Here is what you will need: *Gina's Digital Background Bundle *Gina Ahrens Book (some pages photocopied) *Ginas Ahrens Stamp set No.3 *Recycled cardboard  (To cut into smaller shapes and a large piece as a backing board) *Gina's Downladable Words *White & Black gesso *Double sided tape, thin and dimensional *Glue stick *Scissors *Distressing tool *Black Ink Pad *Sharpie fine point Marker Let's get this project started! The recycled cardboard needs to be cut into small square or rectangular shapes. The size really depends on your own preference. I cut mine to about an inch by three inches and two inches by two inches and then some at two by three inches. You need to cut quite a few to fill your large piece of backing board. When cut, I gave each piece a light brayer of gesso which will add a bit...

This months Design Team Challenge for Gina Ahrens products was one I thoroughly enjoyed, We had to make some tickets and then use them in a project. I started by downloading the new digi Gina has out in her store, the patterned backgrounds. I then cut them to the desired width to make the tickets and folded then and cut the corners out, so they resembled a ticket.  I used a vintage ink around the edges and then added two colours of acrylic paint on them, making sure I could still see the pattern on the background. I adhered a word from another of Gina's digi downloads and then backed the ticket onto some heavy card board for strength.  I then proceeded to use the tickets as an embellishment on an altered paint brush in the theme of steampunk. The process can be seen in the video below. I think it turned out awesome, even if I do say so myself. Hope you enjoy and get inspired. xox HAVE A GREAT DAY !

Before I started work in Janie's Journal, I thought to myself how far I have grown when it comes to working in another artists journal. I remember my very first swap and the feeling of being so very nervous that I would make some sort of mistake in that person's journal. Then I looked down at the blank page in Janie's  SIMPLY WHIMSICAL  journal and couldn't wait to start experimenting...lol. I gave the page a light layer of gesso and have wanting to try the 'streaking' or dragging effect for some time, so why not now! I can always paint over it if it doesn't turn out. After the gesso dried, I used a paint spatular to drag a few colours from top to bottom and bottom to top to get the streaking I was hoping for. Not quite happy with the way it was going by using the spatular, I ended up using a dry hard bristled brush and found this gave me the more smudgier look, which is what I was looking for. I then used a few stencils using the same paint colours that h...

Number 3. For this project, I used a couple of jelly boxes for the covers of mini journals. I adhered some scrap watercolour papers on to cover the boxes and added some cut to size patterned papers for the pages inside. I also used up a few of the layered beads for dangles and decoration on the spine of the journals. Number4. Here I have crochetted some wool flowers to use in a mixed media project. They were made from watching a few videos on YouTube. Number 5. This project was a cosmic smash book. I have been wanting to get this journal done for such a long time and doing now as one of the projects in the #100thingschallenge seemed to be appropriate. Number 6. This project for the #100thingschallenge was inspired by the lovely Laurie Richardson Haley on youtube. Here I used patterned papers to fold into pockets and the front has sewn assorted papers on it and then the sides of the pockets are also sewn together. Thes turned out so cute and are very useful when usin...